Shrine-titles, for example [dai]-jingu, -gu, taisha and the most common appellation jinja or -sha. Before the Meiji restoration most officially ranked shrines were awarded their status by the Yoshida priestly clan in response to petitions and donations. As a result of the centralisation of shrine ranking since the Meiji period and again after 1945 by the jinja honcho (see Shakaku seido), titles of shrines now reflect more or less their relative status within a single loose hierarchy that has at its apex the Ise Jingu.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.