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How Many Times Do You Clap at a Japanese Shrine? A Priest Checked the Records — and 849 Comments Name the Shrines That Clap Four, Five, Even Seventeen Times

神社で拍手は何回か —— 宮司が史料で検証した回に、四拍手・五拍手・十七拍手の神社が集まった

NaraIzumo
How Many Times Do You Clap at a Japanese Shrine? A Priest Checked the Records — and 849 Comments Name the Shrines That Clap Four, Five, Even Seventeen Times

The most-liked comment (461 likes) under a Shinto priest's record-by-record video on how to pray at a shrine is one line: "It varies from shrine to shrine. Izumo is four claps, after all." Japanese viewers are arguing about this because a three-bow, three-clap version has been spreading through Japanese social media, and the priest went to the historical sources to check it. What the 849 comments settle is more useful than the argument: two bows, two claps, one bow is the safe default, but commenters name the shrines that break it — four claps at Usa Jingu, five at a neighbourhood shrine, seventeen at Yoshimizu in Yoshino. And they agree on the one thing a visitor can actually act on.

“It varies from shrine to shrine. Izumo is four claps, after all.”

神社によって違うんですよ。出雲は4拍手ですしね。

— @スグアバラオレル
City guideWhat locals say about IzumoAll 1 local roundups for Izumo
（YouTube · 宮崎神社の神主はるちゃんねる）

What locals said (excerpted from 849)

  • It really helps to have this checked by an actual priest. All sorts of people come, and I figure the basics are up to them so I never say anything — but it does leave you baffled sometimes. This was a help. From someone who lives at a shrine.

    神職のかたからこのような検証がなされ、ありがたいです。 色々な方がいらっしゃり、基本はご自由かと思いましてなにもいいませんが困惑することもございまして。 たすかりました。 神社住まいのものより。

    — @imacocobear229 likes

  • Sure enough — when I visited a shrine the day before yesterday (March 5) I heard three claps behind me, and I thought, ah, that's a faith some people follow. And also: if your heart is in it, then to each their own.

    確かにおととい（３／５）に、ある神社に伺ったとき、 三拍手の音が聞こえて「そんな信仰に基づいているんだな」と思い、同時に「心がこもれば人それぞれだもんな」とも思ってました。

    — @かっぱの玉196 likes

  • Thank you. Lately there are more and more channels and streamers on social media talking about this three-bow, three-clap form, and I think a lot of viewers are confused about what the etiquette really is. Hearing it from a serving priest like this is something I want to say loudly is reliable and appreciated. I'm not a priest myself, but I spend my days feeling how precious and fine Shinto is. This three-bow, three-clap business is something a lot of people want the facts on. Thank you for digging into it and making the video. It makes me very glad.

    ありがとうございましたm(__)m 最近、様々なSNSでこのような三拝三拍手の作法について語られるチャンネルや配信者が増えていますよね。御参拝作法に本来とはと困惑をされている視聴者も多いかと思います。この様に現職の神職をされている方からのお言葉は大変ありがたく信頼できると声を大にして言わせて頂きたいものです。 私は神職ではありませんが、常に神道の尊さや素晴らしさを感じ毎日を過ごしております。 この三拝三拍手に関しての事は多くの人達が知識として得たいことだと思います。色々と調べて頂き、また動画にして頂きありがとうございましたm(__)m とても嬉しく思います。

    — @gulululutube41 likes

  • It's a relief to finally know the historical facts about the three-bow, three-clap form. Thank you. What matters more than the etiquette is a heart that reveres the gods and doesn't deny other people — the phrase "Shinto does not argue its case" says everything about how this faith is meant to work.

    三拝三拍手の歴史的事実が分かってスッキリしました。ありがとうございます。作法よりも大事な事は神様を敬う心と他人を否定しない心「神道ことあげせず」の言葉が信仰の有り方を示していますよね。

    — @絶華望84 likes

  • Above all, I feel it differs from shrine to shrine. I've heard that back in the Meiji era the shrine authorities recommended the two-bow, two-clap, one-bow form so that people wouldn't get confused.

    １番は、神社ごとに違うと感じます。 それを明治時代に２礼２拝１礼に 神宮本庁が混乱しない為推奨 したと聞いたことが有ります。

    — @山口恭弘-g4k22 likes

  • Thank you — a wonderful, fact-based examination. Japan is the land of eight million gods. There are eight million ways to worship, too. Two shrines may happen to share a form, or they may not. The faith in your heart can be practised in the shrine of your heart. When you visit, follow the manner of the shrine you are visiting. That's how I see it.

    ありがとうございます。事実に基づいた素晴らしい考察でした。 日本は八百万の神の国。 参拝の作法も八百万ある。 たまたま同じ作法があるかもしれないし、そうではないかもしれない。 心の信仰は、心のお社ですればいい。 お参りする時は、お参りするお社の作法に従えばいい。 そう思っています。

    — @yumurakamiむらかみゆう172 likes

  • Ten shrines, ten sets of etiquette. And still accepting one another instead of fighting about it — that spirit of harmony is what matters. I have heard that the order itself, bow → clap → bow, does matter; are there shrines that differ even in that???

    十の神社があったら、十の作法がある。 それでも喧嘩せずにお互いを認め合う　和　の心が大切ですね。 拝→拍手→拝　の順番は大切だと聞きましたが、違う神社ってあるのかな？？？

    — @nogノジー109 likes

  • There was a place near me that does five claps.

    近所に五拍手のところがありました

    — @asa01053120 likes

  • Usa Jingu is two bows, four claps, one bow as well. I go along with whatever the shrine does. At the household altar at home I do two bows, four claps, one bow and take my time talking with the gods.

    宇佐神宮も二拝四拍手一拝です。私は神社に応じます。 家の神棚は二拝四拍手一拝 して、神さんとゆっくりお話しています

    — @護美箱-d3n83 likes

  • Yoshimizu Shrine in Yoshino, Nara is two bows, seventeen claps, one bow — you'd lose count halfway through 😂 With that many claps the queue does tend to get long, but it's so unusual that I savour every one of the seventeen 😂🙏 Apparently it's because seventeen deities are enshrined there ⛩️

    奈良吉野の吉水神社さんは二礼十七拍手一拝で途中で何拍打ったか分からなくなりそうですし😂拍が多い分、参拝の列が長くなりがちな印象ですが、とても珍しいですしせっかくなので噛み締めて十七拍打ってます😂🙏十七神おられるからという事らしいです⛩️

    — @み-g5p-r1d42 likes

  • In the Tora-san films from half a century ago he claps three times. Norito prayers are normally recited three times, and the clapping changes with the kind of rite too.

    半世紀前の映画、フーテンの寅さんは3拍手やってました。普通の祝詞は3回唱える作法ですが、儀式の違いで拍手も変わりますね。

    — @ade_rui32 likes

  • Thank you for the guidance. There are people in the Shinto lineage who say that when the enshrined deity is a kunitsukami you clap four times, for the four directions (Izumo), and for an amatsukami eight times, for the eight directions (Ise, in formal worship). When you go up before the altar, receive a blessing, or join a rite that the shrine's own priest is leading, surely you should follow that shrine's etiquette. Shinto has many schools, and I hear that shrines used to be free to do as they liked. So otherwise, as long as you hold the gods in awe and don't trouble the people around you, I think you should be free — and if something is a problem, the shrine can simply tell you. What bothers me far more is how overwhelmingly many people still throw their coins into the offering box. That one is common to every shrine, and that is what really ought to be taught.

    ご指導いただきましてありがとうございます。神道の継承者の方で御祭神が国津神の場合は四方で4拍手（出雲）、天津神の場合は八方で8拍手（伊勢（正式参拝の場合））と言ってらっしゃる方もいらっしゃいます。御神前に上がって、祈祷を受ける時や、その神社での催しに参加する場合は、その神社の神職の方がその場を仕切ってらっしゃる場合は、その神社の礼儀作法に倣って行うべきではないかと思います。神道にも多くの流派があり、以前は神社ごとに自由だったと聞いています。ゆえにそれ以外の場合は、神様に対する畏敬の念を持った上で、周囲の方に迷惑がかからないのであれば、自由で良いのではないかと思います。もし不都合な場合は、その神社ごとに指導すれば良いのではないでしょうか？それよりも私はお賽銭を投げ入れる人がいまだに圧倒的に多いので、こちらの行為の方が気になります。こちらの行為は全ての神社に共通の問題だと思いますので、こちらこそちゃんと指導すべきではないかと思います。

    — @General-high22 likes

  • I'd always assumed two bows, two claps, one bow was simply the norm — the shrine back home and the one where I moved to both had a sign saying exactly that.

    二礼二拍手一拝が当たり前だと思ってた 地元とか引越し先の神社でも、その作法の看板があったし

    — @Hayataca28 likes

  • What's still missing is the reason behind two bows, two claps, one bow — the meaning — and I'd really like to know it. Not "important people decided it" or "it's been done this way for ages" or "it's our house rule", but why those counts, 2-2-1 (and the other counts too). There's no way they don't mean something, so please tell us.

    やはり結局なぜ二拝二拍手一拝なのかの根拠、意味の説明がなく、是非知りたい所です。偉い人達が決めたとか昔からそうしてるから、うちのしきたりだからではなく、なぜ「221」の回数なのか（その他の場合もありますが）を教えて欲しいです。それに意味が無いわけがないので是非。

    — @氣こう101 likes

  • What bothers me personally is how rarely you see anyone actually do a hai — nearly everyone does a light nod. Even at shrines with a sign explaining that a hai is a deep bow.

    それよりも私が個人的に気になるのは、拝をしている人をあまり見ないことほとんどが軽い礼。拝とは 深いお辞儀だと説明してある神社でもそう。

    — @hirodaki619211 likes

Where locals go instead

  • It differs from shrine to shrine — and fewer and fewer Japanese people know that 😢 On top of which, a visit isn't the place to deliver your wishes: it's where you give thanks for the everyday and ask to keep being watched over. That's the part people forget.

    神社によって違う。その事を知らない日本人が多くなってきた😢そもそも、神様への参拝は、願いを伝える場で無く、日頃の感謝をお伝えして今後も見守って頂く。その気持ちを忘れがち！

    — @薩摩ケンシ37 likes

  • "Two bows, two claps, one bow is fine as your basic; shrines with their own rule write it up properly." A friend of mine in the spiritual scene (whose family runs a temple) told me that, so that's what I've done — leave it to the specialists. When I visited Izumo Taisha, plenty of the smaller shrines around it ran on the Izumo rule too — even one enshrining Amaterasu was two bows, four claps — and they all had it up on a board. Going to a shrine means you're stepping right up to the god's house, so following the rules of that house feels natural to me. And it makes complete sense that at your own household altar you can do as you like. Thank you.

    基本二礼二拍手一拝で大丈夫、 独特なルールがある神社はちゃんと書いてくれてるよ、ということをスピ系（ご実家はお寺）の知人が教えてくれたからそうしてました。餅は餅屋。 出雲大社を参拝した時、近くも出雲ルール（？）のお社が多くて（天照大神をお祀りしているお社も二礼四拍手だった）ちゃんと札を掲げてくれてました。 神社に行くという事は、神様のお宅（神域）の目前までお邪魔してるという部分があるため、そこのルールに従うのが自然だと思うので 自宅の神棚ならオッケーと言うのにも納得しかないです。 ありがとうございます。

    — @渡辺ヴァレリアン121 likes

  • When you visit a shrine you don't know, the etiquette is posted at the purification font, the amulet counter or the hall of worship, so follow that and don't be rude to the god enshrined there. This isn't a monotheism; in a Shinto with countless gods, insisting on "only this one way" is a contradiction. That was the talk we were given every year in nursery school.

    知らない神社へ参拝する時は、手水舎や授与所、拝殿に参拝の礼法が案内されてるので、それにそって奉られてる神様に不躾な事は控える。 一神教でもあるまいし、たくさんの神様が居られる神道で『○○だけ』って話しは、矛盾でしかない。 って内容の講話を保育園の時に毎年聞かされました。

    — @羽黒-g7e14 likes

  • These days there's a notice posted right at eye level next to the offering box, so I just follow that. It differs by shrine and by god ⛩ so the notice is a real help 🙏🙇‍♀️❤

    最近はお賽銭の横に丁度見える高さで貼り紙してあるので それに従ってやってます。 その神社⛩神様によって違うので 貼り紙は助かります🙏🙇‍♀️❤

    — @satoshi.A812113 likes

Places named in this article

  • Izumo Taisha出雲大社Izumo, Shimane

    The four-clap shrine the whole thread cites — two bows, four claps, one bow. One visitor (121 likes) found that many of the smaller shrines around it follow the Izumo rule too, each with the form on a board.

  • Usa Jingu宇佐神宮Usa, Oita

    Also two bows, four claps, one bow, per a commenter with 83 likes who keeps the same form at their household altar at home.

  • Yoshimizu Shrine吉水神社Yoshino, Nara

    Two bows, seventeen claps, one bow — one clap for each of the seventeen deities enshrined here, says the commenter (42 likes) who counts them all out. Expect the queue to move slowly.

  • Ise Jingu伊勢神宮Ise, Mie

    A commenter relays the lineage view that formal worship here uses eight claps. Worth knowing before you copy it: the eight-bow, eight-clap rite is performed by priests and imperial envoys, and Ise's own guidance for ordinary visitors is two bows, two claps, one bow (as of mid-2026).

Named in the source comments — hours, prices, and openings change, so check each map listing before you go.

FAQ

How many times do you clap at a Japanese shrine?
Two claps, framed by two bows before and one bow after — nirei nihakushu ichirei — is the default at the great majority of shrines, and commenters say the shrines they grew up with all posted exactly that. The exceptions are real: Izumo Taisha and Usa Jingu use four claps, one commenter has a five-clap shrine in their neighbourhood, and Yoshimizu Shrine in Yoshino uses seventeen.
Is the two-bow, two-clap, one-bow rule ancient?
Less ancient than it sounds, which is why this comment section argues about it. A Home Ministry code of 1907 set two bows and two claps as procedure for priests, without the closing bow, and the two-bow, two-clap, one-bow form as we know it was fixed by the Association of Shinto Shrines in 1948; it spread to ordinary visitors mostly in recent decades (as of mid-2026).
Do you clap at a Buddhist temple too?
Clapping belongs to shrines. One commenter describes visitors confidently running the full shrine routine at a temple as a mix-up, and at temples people press their palms together instead. Another did find a temple posting "two claps, then palms together" — the priest there explained it still blends Shinto and Buddhist worship. As always in this thread, the posted sign is the authority.
What happens if I get the number of claps wrong?
By the comment section's own verdict, nothing. "Ten shrines, ten sets of etiquette," runs one comment with 109 likes, and the most-liked long comment (172 likes) simply says to follow the manner of the shrine you are at. A regular with 37 likes adds the part visitors miss: a shrine visit is for giving thanks, not for delivering wishes.

This is one of 1 local roundups for Izumo. See them all →

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