The 'Department of Divinity' responsible for matsuri, which together with the Dajokan, according to the Ritsuryo system, constituted the government. The original jingikan which survived as part of the imperial court in Kyoto finally disappeared in 1590 when its central shrine, the Hasshin-den was moved to the palace of the Yoshida family, to whom its shrine-governing powers were transferred. The new 1868 Meiji version of the Jingikan was intended to wrest power from the Yoshida and Shirakawa Jingihaku and achieve comprehensive central control of shrines and the priesthood. A cherished ideal of later National Learning (kokugaku) activists such as Okuni, Takamasa, the Jingikan was for three years the highest organ of state but in 1871, with continuing dissension about its nature and purpose, it was reduced to a Ministry (Jingisho) and in 1872 its status reduced further and its functions placed under the control of the Kyobusho.
See also Shajikyoku, Jinja-kyoku.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.