Bunrei

{{short description|Division of Shinto kami spirit}}

{{Nihongo|Bunrei or wakemitama|分霊}} is a Shinto technical term that indicates both the process of dividing a Shinto kami to be re-enshrined somewhere else (such as a house's kamidana), and the spirit itself produced by the division.{{cite book |last1=Smyers |first1=Karen Ann |title=The Fox and the Jewel: Shared and Private Meanings in Contemporary Japanese Inari Worship |date=1999 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |location=Honolulu |isbn=9780824820589}} Shrines conduct bunrei to distribute them to "child" shrines elsewhere.{{cite web |title=「分霊」の意味や使い方 わかりやすく解説 Weblio辞書 |url=https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E5%88%86%E9%9C%8A |website=www.weblio.jp|lang=ja}} The spirit of kami does not decrease through this act, and a bunrei functions the same way as the original spirit.{{cite web |title=これで納得！ 同じ名前の神社がたくさんある理由 ～同じ名前の神様がたくさんいるの？～ – 早稲田神社 |url=https://wasedajinja.jp/2018/02/10/post-379/ |website=wasedajinja.jp|lang=ja}} The reason for conducting bunrei is often to make a kami more accessible to worshipers far from the main shrine.

For details, see the article about the similar term Kanjō.