Today, 22 Shrine hospitals provide free orthopedic and burn care to needy children, and the charity that operates them is one of the country's wealthiest, controlling $9 billion in assets amassed over 87 years -- more than the Carnegie and Rockefeller foundations combined.
Basura Sagrada, 2008 (Shrine, Tuktuk, and the Basura Sagrada Collaboratory).
Among the tiny alleyways are markets, coffee shops and more than a 100 shrines.
More than 20 shrines were bombed in 2012, particularly in the restive tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, where militants have dug up saints' graves and physically destroyed shrines.
That Ise Jingu, actually a collection of 125 shrines dating back 2000 years, is a place of beauty and contemplation is beyond dispute.
Most of the more than 97,000 shrines in Japan belong to the Jinja Honchō (Association of Shintō Shrines); its membership includes the majority of Japan's 107,000,000 Shintō worshipers.
On its banks is Varanasi, one of seven holy cities, which itself is guarded by 56 shrines to Ganesha, the popular elephant-headed god.
More than 80,000 shrines, nearly all of those formerly administered by the government, have formed themselves into an Association of Shintō Shrines (Jinja Honchō).
Local officials say the jihadis have damaged 30 shrines in and around Mosul since they overran the area last month.
By 1894, 539 shrines and temples had received government funded subsidies to conduct repairs and reconstruction.
