Soil and grain

Soil and grain (Chinese: 社稷 sheji; Japanese: 社稷 shashoku) was a common political term in East Asia for the state. Altars of soil and grain were constructed alongside ancestral altars. Local kings performed ceremonies of soil and grain to affirm their sovereignty at Beijing Shejitan and Seoul Sajiktan. It has also been rendered "gods of soil and grain" in English, owing to its associations of prayer and supernatural possibilities.