Beppyo-jinja (Specially Listed Shrines)

Beppyo-jinja are shrines that the Association of Shinto Shrines (Jinja Honcho) has designated as being of particular importance and placed on a special list (beppyo). This is the closest thing to an official ranking system in the post-war era, after the Meiji-era state shrine ranking was abolished in 1946.

The criteria for beppyo status include historical significance, scale of the shrine, size of the ujiko (parish) community, and cultural importance. As of recent counts, approximately 350 shrines hold beppyo status out of the roughly 80,000 shrines under Jinja Honcho's umbrella.

Beppyo-jinja enjoy certain administrative privileges, including the right to have their chief priests (guji) appointed with Jinja Honcho's approval rather than by the prefectural shrine office. The designation also carries significant prestige. However, it is worth noting that some important shrines operate independently of Jinja Honcho altogether (such as Fushimi Inari Taisha and Yasukuni Jinja), and thus fall outside the beppyo system entirely.