When Jingikan (the department of worship) was reestablished in the early Meiji period, all Shinto priests became government officials (Shinto priest is equal to Jinkan,) but this was only applied to the Shinto priests of Ise-jingu Shrine and Kankoku Heisha (a general term for Kanpeisha and Kokuheisha that were high rank shrines) due to the system's problems, and since 1894, only Shinto priests in Ise-jingu Shrine have been treated as Jinkan serving as government officials.
明治時代初期に神祇官が再興された際、全ての神職が官吏（神職＝神官）になったが、制度上の問題から伊勢神宮・官国幣社の神職に限定され、1894（明治27）年以降は伊勢神宮の神職のみが官職としての神官とされた。