[Tagging] wayside shrine tag definition page

[John Willis]

Javbw

> On Feb 15, 2018, at 5:44 PM, Martin Koppenhoefer <dieterdreist at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> This seems to imply that wayside_cross is a subclass of wayside shrine (all instances of crosses are also shrines)?


I think it is really difficult to tease apart "memorial" from a lot of these religious objects. I imagine the wayside cross and shrine in many cultures are put there to memorialize someone who died or some event that occured. I imagine (without fully understanding) that this is true in Japan for some of them. Others, particularly the small ones near some natural feature (tiny waterfall, small hill) are for that feature, not as a memorial to someone - they are for the natural spirit of of that feature. 

There is also so much decorative Christian iconography in some places that it may be hard. I can see the second example (statue in the wall) as possibly being a wayside something. 

Wayside crosses are usually very personal to the person that set them (as I understand them being for someone who died), similar to the more secular memorial plaque, whereas man_made=cross or =torii are usually very large symbols for symbolism's sake, or a part of a landuse=religious complex. 

But figuring out what is a wayside shrine, a memorial, or just some painting on a wall could be really hard for someone not very familiar with some of the edge cases. 

Javbw.