Kujira-jinja Shrine is a familiar name for shrines that have a deep relationship with whaling, such as shrines building mounds to show gratitude and mourning for whales and enshrining the body of whales as goshintai (object of worship housed in a Shinto shrine and believed to contain the spirit of a deity), or shrines viewing and worshipping whaling itself as a Shinto ritual.
鯨神社とは、鯨に対する感謝や追悼のための塚を建てたり、御神体として鯨の遺骸を祀っている神社や、あるいは捕鯨行為自体を神事として捉え、信仰している神社などの、捕鯨とかかわりの深い神社の俗称。