Shinboku

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Shinboku" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) An editor has performed a search and found that sufficient sources exist to establish the subject's notability. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Shinboku" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

A shinboku (神木) is a tree or forest worshipped as a shintai – a physical object of worship at or near a Shinto shrine, worshipped as a repository in which spirits or kami reside.^[1][2] They are often distinctly visible due to the shimenawa wrapped around them.^[3]

The related term goshingi refers to trees that are considered sacred or divine in the precincts of Shinto shrines and jingū of Shinto, as well as the forests that surround them and trees that are not grown for logging.^[4] It also refers to trees that are owned by shrines or by private individuals and have a special origin in folklore. It may also refer to trees that have been specially cut down for planting or growing wild to be used as timber for the construction of shrines.