(or mitama-ya, or sorei-sha). In the minority of cases where a Buddhist funeral is not carried out, a Shinto tama-ya (house for the spirits of the ancestors) is used in place of the butsudan. It is a small Shinto altar, usually placed below the kamidana. In it are enshrined, fifty days after the first funeral rites (sosai), symbols representing the resident spirit of the ancestor such as a scroll or mirror.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.