The short version
We'd love to one day help build a public, lasting record of goshuin for Japan, and
you can be part of it by letting the photos in your goshuincho be shared for that
purpose. It's your call. You choose per book, and you can change your mind whenever
you like.
"Creative Commons" — what does that actually mean?
Creative Commons (CC) is a simple, widely used way of
saying "you're welcome to reuse this, as long as you follow a few clear rules." It
isn't a sale, and you don't give up ownership. You still own your photo. You're just
giving other people permission to use it.
The specific licence we use is
CC BY-SA 4.0. In plain terms,
anyone who reuses your photo has to do two things:
- credit you (that's the "BY" part), and
- pass on the same freedom to whoever comes next (the "SA" part).
If you ever want the exact wording, the
full legal text is here.
What's actually being shared (and what isn't)
This is the part worth slowing down for. A goshuin photo is really two things layered
together:
- Your photograph. This is yours, and it's the only thing your Creative Commons
choice covers. - The goshuin itself — the hand-brushed calligraphy and the seal. That artwork
belongs to the temple or shrine, not to you and not to us.
So turning this on never hands over a temple's artwork. We'd only ever put a goshuin
image into the public archive when the temple or shrine has agreed, when the artwork
is old enough to be in the public domain,
or when a proper authority has cleared it. Switching the setting on just makes your
photo eligible. Nothing gets published on its own.
Where to find the setting
You'll set this per goshuincho, right next to who can see the book, in that book's
settings. Every book has it on by default, new and existing alike, and our
Terms say so up front. It's always visible, and you can switch any book off
whenever you want.
Why we're doing this
Goshuin are a living part of Japan's religious and cultural life, and yet there's no
single, organised public record of them anywhere. Over time, we'd like to help change
that, with three pieces:
- a free, open catalogue of the basics: which temples and shrines offer goshuin, and where
- an archive of images that contributors and temples have actually agreed to share
- a preserved collection we can hand to a library or cultural institution, so the
record outlives any one app (including ours)
You never have to take part. But if you do, you're helping build something meant to last.
Your options, plainly
- Leave it on, and your book's photos may one day be reused under Creative
Commons, with credit to you, to help build the archive. - Turn it off, and your photos stay fully reserved, used only to run the app,
exactly like before. - Change your mind anytime in a book's settings. One honest caveat: copies already
shared under Creative Commons can't be pulled back, though you can always stop
offering new ones.
Want the full legal picture? It's in our Terms and
Privacy Policy. And if anything here is unclear, write to us at
hello@goshuin.com — a real person reads it.