Shinto

File:Itsukushima Gate.jpg

The torii gateway to the Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, one of the most famous examples in the country.Template:Sfn Torii mark the entrance to Shinto shrines and are recognizable symbols of the religion.

, also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners Shintoists, although adherents rarely use that term themselves. With no unifying doctrine or central authority in control of Shinto, there is much diversity of belief and practice evident among practitioners.

A polytheistic and animistic religion, Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the (神). The are believed to inhabit all things, including forces of nature, prominent landscape locations, and even notable historical figures. The are worshipped at household shrines, family shrines, and jinja public shrines. The latter are staffed by priests, known as , who oversee offerings of food and drink to the specific enshrined at that location. This is done to cultivate harmony between humans and and to solicit the latter's blessing. Other common rituals include the dances, rites of passage, and kami festivals. Public shrines facilitate forms of divination and supply religious objects, such as amulets, to the religion's adherents. Shinto places a major conceptual focus on ensuring purity, largely by cleaning practices such as ritual washing and bathing, especially before worship. Little emphasis is placed on specific moral codes or particular afterlife beliefs, although the dead are deemed capable of becoming . With the kami of the dead, there is the common worship of ancestral kami, whose presence is only in your clan, and Arahitogami, who can have their purification rituals performed by anyone whose life has been impacted by them. The religion has no single creator or specific doctrine, and instead exists in a diverse range of local and regional forms.

Although historians debate at what point it is suitable to refer to Shinto as a distinct religion, veneration has been traced back to Japan's Yayoi period (300 BC to 300 AD). Buddhism entered Japan at the end of the Kofun period (300 to 538 AD) and spread rapidly. Religious syncretization made worship and Buddhism functionally inseparable, a process called shinbutsu-shūgō. The came to be viewed as part of Buddhist cosmology and were increasingly depicted anthropomorphically. The earliest written tradition regarding worship was recorded in the 8th-century and . In ensuing centuries, was adopted by Japan's Imperial household. During the Meiji era (1868 to 1912), Japan's nationalist leadership expelled Buddhist influence from worship and formed State Shinto, which some historians regard as the origin of Shinto as a distinct religion. Shrines came under growing government influence, and citizens were encouraged to worship the emperor as a . With the formation of the Empire of Japan in the early 20th century, Shinto was exported to other areas of East Asia. Following Japan's defeat in World War II, Shinto was formally separated from the state.

Shinto is primarily found in Japan, where there are around 100,000 public shrines, although practitioners are also found abroad. Numerically, it is Japan's largest religion, the second being Buddhism. Most of the country's population takes part in both Shinto and Buddhist activities, especially festivals, reflecting a common view in Japanese culture that the beliefs and practices of different religions do not need to be exclusive. Aspects of Shinto have been incorporated into various Japanese new religious movements.

Definition

File:YobitoTorii.jpg

A torii gateway to the Yobito Shrine () in Abashiri City, Hokkaido

There is no universally agreed definition of Shinto.Template:Sfnm According to Joseph Cali and John Dougill, if there was "one single, broad definition of Shinto" that could be put forward, it would be that "Shinto is a belief in ", the supernatural entities at the centre of the religion.Template:Sfn The Japanologist Helen Hardacre wrote that "Shinto encompasses doctrines, institutions, ritual, and communal life based on worship",Template:Sfn while the scholar of religion Inoue Nobutaka observed that the term "Shinto" was "often used" in "reference to worship and related theologies, rituals and practices".Template:Sfn Various scholars have referred to practitioners of Shinto as Shintoists, although this term has no direct translation in the Japanese language.Template:Sfn

Scholars have debated at what point in history it is legitimate to start talking about Shinto as a specific phenomenon. The scholar of religion Ninian Smart suggested that one could "speak of the religion of Japan, which lived symbiotically with organized Buddhism, and only later was institutionalized as Shinto."Template:Sfn While several institutions and practices now associated with Shinto existed in Japan by the 8th century,Template:Sfn various scholars have argued that Shinto as a distinct religion was essentially "invented" during the 19th century, in Japan's Meiji era.Template:Sfn The scholar of religion Brian Bocking stressed that, especially when dealing with periods before the Meiji era, the term Shinto should "be approached with caution".Template:Sfn Inoue Nobutaka stated that "Shinto cannot be considered as a single religious system that existed from the ancient to the modern period",Template:Sfn while the historian Kuroda Toshio noted that "before modern times Shinto did not exist as an independent religion".Template:Sfn

Categorisation

Many scholars describe Shinto as a religion,Template:Sfnm a term first translated into Japanese as shūkyō around the time of the Meiji Restoration.Template:Sfn Some practitioners instead view Shinto as a "way",Template:Sfnm thus characterising it more as custom or tradition,Template:Sfn partly as an attempt to circumvent the modern separation of religion and state and restore Shinto's historical links with the Japanese state.Template:Sfn Moreover, many of the categories of religion and religiosity defined in Western culture "do not readily apply" to Shinto.Template:Sfn Unlike religions familiar in Western countries, such as Christianity and Islam, Shinto has no single founder,Template:Sfnm nor any single canonical text.Template:Sfn Western religions tend to stress exclusivity, but in Japan, it has long been considered acceptable to practice different religious traditions simultaneously.Template:Sfn Japanese religion is therefore highly pluralistic.Template:Sfn Shinto is often cited alongside Buddhism as one of Japan's two main religions,Template:Sfn and the two often differ in focus, with Buddhism emphasising the idea of the cessation of suffering, while Shinto focuses on adapting to life's pragmatic requirements.Template:Sfnm Shinto has integrated elements from religions imported from mainland Asia, such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese divination practices,Template:Sfnm and shares features like its polytheism with other East Asian religions.Template:Sfn

Some scholars suggest we talk about types of Shintō such as popular Shintō, folk Shintō, domestic Shintō, sectarian Shintō, imperial house Shintō, shrine Shintō, state Shintō, new Shintō religions, etc. rather than regard Shintō as a single entity. This approach can be helpful but begs the question of what is meant by 'Shintō' in each case, particularly since each category incorporates or has incorporated Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, folk religious and other elements.

— Scholar of religion Brian BockingTemplate:Sfn

Scholars of religion have debated how to classify Shinto. Inoue considered it part of "the family of East-Asian religions".Template:Sfn The philosopher Stuart D. B. Picken suggested that Shinto be classed as a world religion,Template:Sfn while the historian H. Byron Earhart called it a "major religion".Template:Sfn Shinto is also often described as an indigenous religion,Template:Sfnm although this generates debates over the different definitions of "indigenous" in the Japanese context.Template:Sfn The notion of Shinto as Japan's "indigenous religion" stemmed from the growth of modern nationalism between the Edo and Meiji periods;Template:Sfn this view promoted the idea that Shinto's origins were prehistoric and that it represented something like the "underlying will of Japanese culture".Template:Sfn The prominent Shinto theologian Sokyo Ono, for instance, said worship was "an expression" of the Japanese "native racial faith which arose in the mystic days of remote antiquity" and that it was "as indigenous as the people that brought the Japanese nation into existence".Template:Sfn Many scholars regard this classification as inaccurate. Earhart noted that Shinto, in having absorbed much Chinese and Buddhist influence, was "too complex to be labelled simply [as an] indigenous religion".Template:Sfn In the early 21st century it became increasingly common for practitioners to call Shinto a nature religion,Template:Sfn which critics saw as a strategy to disassociate the tradition from controversial issues surrounding militarism and imperialism.Template:Sfn

Shinto displays substantial local variation;Template:Sfn the anthropologist John K. Nelson noted it was "not a unified, monolithic entity".Template:Sfn Different types of Shinto have been identified. "Shrine Shinto" refers to practices centred around shrines,Template:Sfnm and "Domestic Shinto" to the veneration of in the home.Template:Sfn Some scholars have used the term "Folk Shinto" to designate localised Shinto practices,Template:Sfnm or practices outside of an institutionalised setting.Template:Sfn In various past eras, there was also a "State Shinto", in which Shinto beliefs and practices were closely interlinked with the Japanese state.Template:Sfnm In representing "a portmanteau term" for many varied traditions across Japan, the term "Shinto" is similar to the term "Hinduism", used to describe varied traditions across South Asia.Template:Sfn

Etymology

File:Takachiho-gawara Kirishima City Kagoshima Pref02n4050.jpg

A torii gate at the Takachiho-gawara shrine near Kirishima, Kagoshima Prefecture, which is associated with the mythological tale of Ninigi-no-Mikoto's descent to earth.

The term Shinto is often broadly translated into English as "the way of the ",Template:Sfnm although its meaning has varied throughout Japanese history.Template:Sfnm Other terms are sometimes used synonymously with "Shinto"; these include (, "the way of the "), (, also written or , "the way of the from time immemorial"), (, "the ancient way"), (, "the great way"), and (, "the imperial way").Template:Sfnm

The term Shinto derives from the combination of two Chinese characters: shin (Template:Script), which means "spirit" or "god", and tō (Template:Script), which means "way", "road" or "path".Template:Sfnm "Shintō" (Template:Script, "the Way of the Gods") was a term already used in the Book of Changes referring to the divine order of nature. Around the time of the spread of Buddhism in the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), it was used to distinguish indigenous Chinese religions from the imported religion. Ge Hong used it in his Baopuzi as a synonym for Taoism.

The Chinese term Template:Script (MC zyin daw^X) was originally adopted into Japanese as Jindō;Template:Sfn this was possibly first used as a Buddhist term to refer to non-Buddhist deities.Template:Sfn Among the earliest known appearances of the term Shinto in Japan is in the 8th-century text, .Template:Sfnm Here, it may be a generic term for popular belief,Template:Sfnm or alternatively reference Taoism, as many Taoist practices had recently been imported from mainland Asia.Template:Sfnm In these early Japanese uses, the word Shinto did not apply to a distinct religious tradition nor to anything uniquely Japanese;Template:Sfn the 11th century Konjaku monogatarishui for instance refers to a woman in China practicing Shinto, and also to people in India worshipping , indicating these terms were being used to describe religions outside Japan itself.Template:Sfn

In medieval Japan, -worship was generally seen as being part of Japanese Buddhism, with the themselves often interpreted as Buddhas.Template:Sfn At this point, the term Shinto increasingly referred to "the authority, power, or activity of a , being a , or, in short, the state or attributes of a ."Template:Sfn It appears in this form in texts such as and Shintōshū tales.Template:Sfn In the Japanese Portuguese Dictionary of 1603, Shinto is defined as referring to " or matters pertaining to ."Template:Sfn The term Shinto became common in the 15th century.Template:Sfn During the late Edo period, the scholars began using the term Shinto to describe what they believed was an ancient, enduring and indigenous Japanese tradition that predated Buddhism; they argued that Shinto should be used to distinguish worship from traditions like Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.Template:Sfnm This use of the term Shinto became increasingly popular from the 18th century.Template:Sfn The term Shinto has been commonly used only since the early 20th century, when it superseded the term ('great religion') as the name for the Japanese state religion.Template:Sfn In English, the religion is also called "Shintoism", although some scholars have argued against the inclusion of the suffix -ism due to Shinto's lack of codified doctrine.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Beliefs

File:A man confronted with an apparition of the Fox goddess.jpg

An artistic depiction by Utagawa Kuniyoshi of the Inari appearing to a man

Shinto is polytheistic, involving the veneration of many deities known as ,Template:Sfnm or sometimes as (神祇).Template:Sfnm In Japanese, no distinction is made here between singular and plural, and hence the term refers both to individual and the collective group of .Template:Sfnm Although lacking a direct English translation,Template:Sfn the term has sometimes been rendered as "god" or "spirit".Template:Sfnm The historian of religion Joseph Kitagawa deemed these English translations "quite unsatisfactory and misleading",Template:Sfn and various scholars urge against translating into English.Template:Sfnm In Japanese, it is often said that there are eight million , a term which connotes an infinite number,Template:Sfnm and Shinto practitioners believe that they are present everywhere.Template:Sfn They are not regarded as omnipotent, omniscient, or necessarily immortal.Template:Sfnm

The term is "conceptually fluid",Template:Sfn being "vague and imprecise".Template:Sfn In Japanese it is often applied to the power of phenomena that inspire a sense of wonder and awe in the beholder.Template:Sfnm Kitagawa referred to this as "the nature", stating that he thought it "somewhat analogous" to the Western ideas of the numinous and the sacred.Template:Sfn are seen to inhabit both the living and the dead, organic and inorganic matter, and natural disasters like earthquakes, droughts, and plagues;Template:Sfn their presence is seen in natural forces such as the wind, rain, fire, and sunshine.Template:Sfn Accordingly, Nelson commented that Shinto regards "the actual phenomena of the world itself" as being "divine".Template:Sfn This perspective has been characterised as being animistic.Template:Sfnm

In Japan, have been venerated since prehistory.Template:Sfn During the Yayoi period they were regarded as being formless and invisible,Template:Sfn later coming to be depicted anthropomorphically under Buddhist influence.Template:Sfnm Now, statues of the are known as .Template:Sfn are usually associated with a specific place, often a prominent landscape feature such as a waterfall, mountain, large rock, or distinctive tree.Template:Sfnm Physical objects or places in which the are believed to have a presence are termed ;Template:Sfn objects inhabited by the that are placed in the shrine are known as .Template:Sfnm Objects commonly chosen for this purpose include mirrors, swords, stones, beads, and inscribed tablets.Template:Sfnm These are concealed from the view of visitors,Template:Sfnm and may be hidden inside boxes so that even the priests do not know what they look like.Template:Sfn

are deemed capable of both benevolent and destructive deeds;Template:Sfnm if warnings about good conduct are ignored, the can mete out punishment, often illness or sudden death, called .Template:Sfn Some , referred to as the or , are regarded as malevolent and destructive.Template:Sfnm Offerings and prayers are given to the to gain their blessings and to dissuade them from destructive actions.Template:Sfn Shinto seeks to cultivate and ensure a harmonious relationship between humans and the and thus with the natural world.Template:Sfn More localised may be subject to feelings of intimacy and familiarity from members of the local community that are not directed towards more widespread like Amaterasu.Template:Sfn The of a particular community is referred to it as their ,Template:Sfnm while that of a particular house is the .Template:Sfn

File:Takeo Shrine Sacred tree.jpg

A 3000 year old sacred tree (shintai) of Takeo Shrine

are not considered metaphysically different from humanity,Template:Sfn with it being possible for humans to become .Template:Sfn Ancestors and other dead humans are sometimes venerated as , being regarded as protectors.Template:Sfnm For example, Emperor Ōjin was posthumously enshrined as the Hachiman, believed to be a protector of Japan and a of war.Template:Sfnm In Western Japan, the term is used to describe the enshrined of a village founder.Template:Sfn In some cases, living human beings were also viewed as ;Template:Sfn these were called Template:Sfn or .Template:Sfn In the State Shinto system of the Meiji era, the emperor of Japan was declared to be a ,Template:Sfn while several Shinto sects have also viewed their leaders as living .Template:Sfn

Although some are venerated only in a single location, others have shrines across many areas.Template:Sfn Hachiman for instance has around 25,000 shrines dedicated to him,Template:Sfn while Inari has 40,000.Template:Sfn The act of establishing a new shrine to a who already has one is called ("dividing the spirit").Template:Sfnm As part of this, the is invited to enter a new place, with the instalment ceremony known as a .Template:Sfn The new, subsidiary shrine is known as a .Template:Sfnm Individual are not believed to have their power diminished by their residence in multiple locations, and there is no limit on the number of places a can be enshrined.Template:Sfn In some periods, fees were charged for the right to enshrine a particular in a new place.Template:Sfn Shrines are not necessarily always designed as permanent structures.Template:Sfn

Many have messengers, known as or , that generally take animal forms.Template:Sfn Inari's messenger, for example, is a fox (kitsune),Template:Sfnm while Hachiman's is a dove.Template:Sfn Shinto cosmology also includes spirits who cause malevolent acts, , a category including , , , , and .Template:Sfn Japanese folklore also incorporates belief in the or , unquiet or vengeful spirits, particularly of those who died violently and without appropriate funerary rites.Template:Sfn These are believed to inflict suffering on the living, meaning that they must be pacified, usually through Buddhist rites but sometimes through enshrining them as a .Template:Sfn Other Japanese supernatural figures include the , animal-like creatures who can take human form.Template:Sfn

Cosmogony

File:Kobayashi Izanami and Izanagi.jpg

Izanami-no-Mikoto and Izanagi-no-Mikoto, by Kobayashi Eitaku, late 19th century

Although the narratives differ in detail,Template:Sfn the origin of the and of Japan itself are recounted in two 8th-century texts, and .Template:Sfnm Drawing heavily on Chinese influence,Template:Sfnm these texts were commissioned by ruling elites to legitimize and consolidate their rule.Template:Sfnm Although never of great importance to Japanese religious life,Template:Sfn in the early 20th century the government proclaimed that their accounts were factual.Template:Sfn

The recounts that the universe started with , the separation of light and pure elements (, "heaven") from heavy elements (, "earth").Template:Sfnm Three then appeared: Amenominakanushi, Takamimusuhi no Mikoto, and Kamimusuhi no Mikoto. Other followed, including a brother and sister, Izanagi and Izanami.Template:Sfnm The instructed Izanagi and Izanami to create land on earth. To this end, the siblings stirred the briny sea with a jewelled spear, from which Onogoro Island was formed.Template:Sfnm Izanagi and Izanami then descended to Earth, where the latter gave birth to further . One of these was a fire , whose birth killed Izanami.Template:Sfnm Izanagi descended to to retrieve his sister, but there he saw her body putrefying. Embarrassed to be seen in this state, she chased him out of , and he closed its entrance with a boulder.Template:Sfnm

Izanagi bathed in the sea to rid himself from the pollution brought about by witnessing Izanami's putrefaction. Through this act, further emerged from his body: Amaterasu (the sun ) was born from his left eye, Tsukuyomi (the moon ) from his right eye, and Susanoo (the storm ) from his nose.Template:Sfnm Susanoo behaved in a destructive manner, to escape him Amaterasu hid herself within a cave, plunging the earth into darkness. The other eventually succeeded in coaxing her out.Template:Sfnm Susanoo was then banished to earth, where he married and had children.Template:Sfnm According to the , Amaterasu then sent her grandson, Ninigi, to rule Japan, giving him curved beads, a mirror, and a sword: the symbols of Japanese imperial authority.Template:Sfnm Amaterasu remains probably Japan's most venerated .Template:Sfn

Cosmology and afterlife

In Shinto, the creative principle permeating all life is known as , and is associated with its own .Template:Sfnm Within traditional Japanese thought, there is no concept of an overarching duality between good and evil.Template:Sfnm The concept of encompasses misfortune, unhappiness, and disaster, although it does not correspond precisely with the Western concept of evil.Template:Sfn There is no eschatology in Shinto.Template:Sfn Texts such as the and portray multiple realms in Shinto cosmology.Template:Sfn These present a universe divided into three parts: the Plane of High Heaven (), where the live; the Phenomenal or Manifested World (), where humans dwell; and the Nether World (), where unclean spirits reside.Template:Sfnm The mythological texts nevertheless do not draw firm demarcations between these realms.Template:Sfn

Modern Shinto places greater emphasis on this life than on any afterlife,Template:Sfnm although it does espouse belief in a human spirit or soul, the or , which contains four aspects.Template:Sfn While indigenous ideas about an afterlife were probably well-developed prior to Buddhism's arrival,Template:Sfn contemporary Japanese people often adopt Buddhist afterlife beliefs.Template:Sfn Mythological stories like the describe or as a realm of the dead,Template:Sfnm although this plays no role in modern Shinto.Template:Sfn Modern Shinto ideas about the afterlife largely revolve around the idea that the spirit survives bodily death and continues to assist the living. After 33 years, it then becomes part of the family .Template:Sfn These ancestral spirits are sometimes thought to reside in the mountains,Template:Sfnm from where they descend to take part in agricultural events.Template:Sfn Shinto's afterlife beliefs also include the , restless spirits who died in bad circumstances and often seek revenge.Template:Sfn

Purity and impurity

A key theme in Shinto is the avoidance of ("pollution" or "impurity"),Template:Sfnm while ensuring ("purity").Template:Sfnm In Japanese thought, humans are seen as fundamentally pure.Template:Sfn is therefore seen as being a temporary condition that can be corrected through achieving .Template:Sfn Rites of purification are conducted so as to restore an individual to "spiritual" health and render them useful to society.Template:Sfn

File:Karasuzumo purification ritual.jpg

Shinto purification rite after a ceremonial children's sumo tournament at the Kamigamo Jinja in Kyoto

This notion of purity is present in many facets of Japanese culture, such as the focus it places on bathing.Template:Sfn Purification is for instance regarded as important in preparation for the planting season,Template:Sfn while performers of theatre undergo a purification rite before they carry out their performances.Template:Sfn Among the things regarded as particular pollutants in Shinto are death, disease, witchcraft, the flaying alive of an animal, incest, bestiality, excrement, and blood associated with either menstruation or childbirth.Template:Sfnm To avoid , priests and other practitioners may engage in abstinence and avoid various activities prior to a festival or ritual.Template:Sfnm Various words, termed , are also regarded as taboo, and people avoid speaking them when at a shrine; these include (death), (illness), and (meat).Template:Sfn

A purification ceremony known as involves the use of fresh water, salt water, or salt to remove .Template:Sfn Full immersion in the sea is often regarded as the most ancient and efficacious form of purification.Template:Sfn This act links with the mythological tale in which Izanagi immersed himself in the sea to purify himself after discovering his deceased wife; it was from this act that other sprang from his body.Template:Sfnm An alternative is immersion beneath a waterfall.Template:Sfnm Salt is often regarded as a purifying substance;Template:Sfnm some Shinto practitioners will for instance sprinkle salt on themselves after a funeral,Template:Sfnm while those running restaurants may put a small pile of salt outside before business commences each day.Template:Sfn Fire, also, is perceived as a source of purification.Template:Sfn The is a form of harae designed to prevent misfortune,Template:Sfn while the , or "ceremony of great purification", is often used for end-of-year purification rites, and is conducted twice a year at many shrines.Template:Sfn Before the Meiji period, rites of purification were generally performed by , a type of diviner whose practices derived from the Chinese yin and yang philosophy.Template:Sfn

Kannagara, morality, and ethics

File:Yasukuni Shrine 2012.JPG

The actions of priests at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo have generated controversy across East Asia

Shinto incorporates morality tales and myths but no codified ethical doctrine,Template:Sfn and thus no "unified, systematized code of behaviour".Template:Sfn An ethical system nevertheless arises from its practice,Template:Sfn with emphasis placed on sincerity (),Template:Sfnm honesty (),Template:Sfn hard work (),Template:Sfn and thanksgiving () directed towards the .Template:Sfn is regarded as a virtue, encompassing honesty, uprightness, veracity, and frankness.Template:Sfn Shinto sometimes includes reference to four virtues known as the or , meaning "purity and cheerfulness of heart", which are linked to the state of .Template:Sfnm Attitudes to sex and fertility tend to be forthright in Shinto.Template:Sfn Shinto's flexibility regarding morality and ethics has been a source of frequent criticism, especially from those arguing that the religion can readily become a pawn for those wishing to use it to legitimise their authority and power.Template:Sfn

In Shinto, ("way of the ") is the law of the natural order,Template:Sfn with ("benign harmony") being inherent in all things.Template:Sfn Disrupting is deemed bad, while contributing to it is thought good;Template:Sfn as such, subordination of the individual to the larger social unit has long been a characteristic of the religion.Template:Sfn Throughout Japanese history, the notion of , or the union of religious authority and political authority, has long been prominent.Template:Sfn In the modern world, Shinto has tended toward conservatism,Template:Sfn as well as nationalism,Template:Sfnm an association that results in various Japanese civil liberties groups and neighboring countries regarding Shinto suspiciously.Template:Sfn Particularly controversial has been the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, devoted to Japan's war dead. In 1979 it enshrined 14 men who had been declared Class-A defendants at the 1946 Tokyo War Crimes Trials, generating domestic and international condemnation, particularly from China and Korea.Template:Sfnm

File:Hushimi-inari-taisha otsuka3.jpg

Assemblage of small torii at the Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine in Kyoto

Shinto priests face ethical conundrums. In the 1980s, for instance, priests at the Suwa Shrine in Nagasaki debated whether to invite the crew of a U.S. Navy vessel docked at the port city to their festival celebrations given the sensitivities surrounding the 1945 U.S. use of the atomic bomb on the city.Template:Sfn In other cases, priests have opposed construction projects on shrine-owned land;Template:Sfnm at Kaminoseki in the early 2000s, a priest was pressured to resign after opposing the sale of shrine lands to build a nuclear power plant.Template:Sfn In the 21st century, Shinto has increasingly been portrayed as a nature-centred spirituality with environmentalist credentials;Template:Sfn several shrines have collaborated with local environmentalist campaigns,Template:Sfn while an international interfaith conference on environmental sustainability was held at the Ise shrine in 2014.Template:Sfn Critical commentators have characterised the presentation of Shinto as an environmentalist movement as a rhetorical ploy rather than a concerted effort by Shinto institutions to become environmentally sustainable.Template:Sfn

Practices

Shinto focuses on ritual behavior rather than doctrine.Template:Sfnm The philosophers James W. Boyd and Ron G. Williams stated that Shinto is "first and foremost a ritual tradition",Template:Sfn while Picken observed that "Shinto is interested not in credenda but in agenda, not in things that should be believed but in things that should be done."Template:Sfn The scholar of religion Clark B. Offner stated that Shinto's focus was on "maintaining communal, ceremonial traditions for the purpose of human (communal) well-being".Template:Sfn It is often difficult to distinguish Shinto practices from Japanese customs more broadly,Template:Sfn with Picken observing that the "worldview of Shinto" provided the "principal source of self-understanding within the Japanese way of life".Template:Sfn Nelson stated that "Shinto-based orientations and values [...] lie at the core of Japanese culture, society, and character".Template:Sfn

Jinja shrines

File:Fushimi Inari - Main gate.jpg

The main gate to Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto, one of the oldest shrines in Japan

Public spaces in which the are worshipped are often known under the generic term ("-place");Template:Sfnm this term applies to the location rather than to a specific building.Template:Sfn is usually translated as "shrine" in English,Template:Sfn although in earlier literature was sometimes translated as "temple",Template:Sfn a term now more commonly reserved for Japan's Buddhist structures.Template:Sfnm There are around 100,000 public shrines in Japan;Template:Sfn about 80,000 are affiliated with the Association of Shinto Shrines,Template:Sfnm with another 20,000 being unaffiliated.Template:Sfn They are found all over the country, from isolated rural areas to dense metropolitan ones.Template:Sfnm More specific terms are sometimes used for certain shrines depending on their function; some of the grand shrines with imperial associations are termed ,Template:Sfn those devoted to the war dead are termed ,Template:Sfn and those linked to mountains deemed to be inhabited by are .Template:Sfn

Jinja typically consist of complexes of multiple buildings,Template:Sfn with the architectural styles of shrines having largely developed by the Heian period.Template:Sfn The inner sanctuary in which the lives is the .Template:Sfnm Inside the may be stored material belonging to the ; known as , this can include artworks, clothing, weapons, musical instruments, bells, and mirrors.Template:Sfn Typically, worshippers carry out their acts outside of the .Template:Sfn Near the can sometimes be found a subsidiary shrine, the , to another ; the inhabiting this shrine is not necessarily perceived as being inferior to that in the .Template:Sfn At some places, halls of worship have been erected, termed .Template:Sfnm On a lower level can be found the hall of offerings, known as a .Template:Sfnm Together, the building housing the , , and is called a .Template:Sfn In some shrines, there is a separate building in which to conduct additional ceremonies, such as weddings, known as a ,Template:Sfn or a specific building in which the dance is performed, known as the .Template:Sfn Collectively, the central buildings of a shrine are known as the ,Template:Sfn while its precincts are known as the Template:Sfn or .Template:Sfn This precinct is surrounded by the fence,Template:Sfn with entry via a gate, which can be closed at night.Template:Sfn

File:Plan of Shinto Shrine.jpg

Diagram of a jinja: 1. torii, 2. stone stairs, 3. sandō, 4. chōzuya, 5. tōrō, 6. kagura-den, 7. shamusho, 8. ema, 9. Sessha/massha, 10. komainu, 11. Haiden, 12. tamagaki, 13. honden

Shrine entrances are marked by a two-post gateway with either one or two crossbeams atop it, known as .Template:Sfnm The exact details of these varies and there are at least twenty different styles.Template:Sfnm These are regarded as demarcating the area where the resides;Template:Sfn passing under them is often viewed as a form of purification.Template:Sfn More broadly, are internationally recognised symbols of Japan.Template:Sfn Their architectural form is distinctly Japanese, although the decision to paint most of them in vermillion reflects a Chinese influence dating from the Nara period.Template:Sfn Also set at the entrances to many shrines are , statues of lion or dog like animals perceived to scare off malevolent spirits;Template:Sfnm typically these will come as a pair, one with its mouth open, the other with its mouth closed.Template:Sfn

Shrines are often set within gardensTemplate:Sfn or wooded groves called ("forest of the tutelary" ),Template:Sfn which vary in size from just a few trees to sizeable areas of woodland.Template:Sfn Large lanterns, known as , are often found within these precincts.Template:Sfn Shrines often have an office, known as a ,Template:Sfnm a where priests undergo forms of abstinence and purification prior to conducting rituals,Template:Sfn and other buildings such as a priests' quarters and a storehouse.Template:Sfn Various kiosks often sell amulets to visitors.Template:Sfn Since the late 1940s, shrines have had to be financially self-sufficient, relying on the donations of worshippers and visitors. These funds are used to pay the wages of the priests, to finance the upkeep of the buildings, to cover the shrine's membership fees of various regional and national Shinto groups, and to contribute to disaster relief funds.Template:Sfn

In Shinto, it is seen as important that the places in which are venerated be kept clean and not neglected.Template:Sfn Through to the Edo period, it was common for shrines to be demolished and rebuilt at a nearby location in order to remove any pollutants and ensure purity.Template:Sfn This has continued into recent times at certain sites, such as the Ise Grand Shrine, which is moved to an adjacent site every two decades.Template:Sfnm Separate shrines can also be merged in a process known as ,Template:Sfn while the act of transferring the from one building to another is called .Template:Sfn Shrines may have legends about their foundation, which are known as . These sometimes also record miracles associated with the shrine.Template:Sfn From the Heian period on, the were often retold on picture scrolls known as .Template:Sfnm

Priesthood and

File:Miwa-shrine Yutateshinji A.JPG

ceremony performed by Shinto priests at the Miwa Shrine in Sakurai, Nara

Shrines may be cared for by priests, by local communities, or by families on whose property the shrine is found.Template:Sfn Shinto priests are known in Japanese as , meaning "proprietor of ",Template:Sfn or alternatively as or .Template:Sfn Many take on the role in a line of hereditary succession traced down specific families.Template:Sfnm In contemporary Japan, there are two main training universities for those wishing to become , at Kokugakuin University in Tokyo and at Kogakkan University in Mie Prefecture.Template:Sfnm Priests can rise through the ranks over the course of their careers.Template:Sfn The number of priests at a particular shrine can vary; some shrines can have dozens, and others have none, instead being administered by local lay volunteers.Template:Sfnm Some priests administer to multiple small shrines, sometimes over ten.Template:Sfn

Priestly regalia is largely based on the clothes worn at the imperial court during the Heian period.Template:Sfn It includes a tall, rounded hat known as an ,Template:Sfn and black lacquered wooden clogs known as .Template:Sfnm The outer garment worn by a priest, usually colored black, red, or light blue, is the ,Template:Sfn or the .Template:Sfn A white silk version of the , used for formal occasions, is known as the .Template:Sfn Another priestly robe is the , which is modelled on Heian-style hunting garments.Template:Sfn Also part of standard priestly attire is a fan,Template:Sfn while during rituals, priests carry a flat piece of wood known as a .Template:Sfn This regalia is generally more ornate than the sombre garments worn by Japanese Buddhist monks.Template:Sfn

File:Kamogawa ceremony 02.jpg

Miko performing a Shinto ceremony near the Kamo River

The chief priest at a shrine is the .Template:Sfnm Larger shrines may also have an assistant head priest, the .Template:Sfn As with teachers, instructors, and Buddhist clergy, Shinto priests are often referred to as by lay practitioners.Template:Sfn Historically, there were female priests although they were largely pushed out of their positions in 1868.Template:Sfn During the Second World War, women were again allowed to become priests to fill the void caused by large numbers of men being enlisted in the military.Template:Sfn By the late 1990s, around 90% of priests were male, 10% female,Template:Sfn contributing to accusations that Shinto discriminates against women.Template:Sfn Priests are free to marry and have children.Template:Sfn At smaller shrines, priests often have other full-time jobs, and serve only as priests during special occasions.Template:Sfn Before certain major festivals, priests may undergo a period of abstinence from sexual relations.Template:Sfn Some of those involved in festivals also abstain from a range of other things, such as consuming tea, coffee, or alcohol, immediately prior to the events.Template:Sfn

The priests are assisted by , sometimes referred to as "shrine-maidens" in English.Template:Sfn These are typically unmarried,Template:Sfnm although not necessarily virgins.Template:Sfn In many cases they are the daughters of a priest or a practitioner.Template:Sfn They are subordinate to the priests in the shrine hierarchy.Template:Sfn Their most important role is in the dance, known as .Template:Sfn receive only a small salary but gain respect from members of the local community and learn skills such as cooking, calligraphy, painting, and etiquette which can benefit them when later searching for employment or a marriage partner.Template:Sfn They generally do not live at the shrines.Template:Sfn Sometimes they fill other roles, such as being secretaries in the shrine offices or clerks at the information desks, or as waitresses at the feasts. They also assist in ceremonial rites.Template:Sfn

Visits to shrines

Visits to the shrine are termed ,Template:Sfn or .Template:Sfn Some individuals visit the shrines daily, often on their morning route to work;Template:Sfn they typically take only a few minutes.Template:Sfn Usually, a worshipper will approach the honden, placing a monetary offering in a box and then ringing a bell to call the 's attention.Template:Sfnm Then, they bow, clap, and stand while silently offering a prayer.Template:Sfnm The clapping is known as or ;Template:Sfn the prayers or supplications as .Template:Sfn This individual worship is known as .Template:Sfn More broadly, ritual prayers to the are called ,Template:Sfn while the coins offered are .Template:Sfn At the shrine, individuals offering prayers are not necessarily praying to a specific .Template:Sfn A worshipper may not know the name of a residing at the shrine nor how many are believed to dwell there.Template:Sfnm Unlike in certain other religions, Shinto shrines do not have weekly services that practitioners are expected to attend.Template:Sfn

File:Shinto Priest Blessing a Car at the Hokkaido Shrine.jpg

A Toyota Estima being blessed at the Hokkaidō Shrine in a kotsu anzen harai rite

Some Shinto practitioners do not offer their prayers to the directly, but rather request that a priest offer them on their behalf; these prayers are known as .Template:Sfn Many individuals approach the asking for pragmatic requests.Template:Sfn Requests for rain, known as ("rain-soliciting") have been found across Japan, with Inari a popular choice for such requests.Template:Sfnm Other prayers reflect more contemporary concerns. For instance, people may ask that the priest approaches the so as to purify their car in the hope that this will prevent it from being involved in an accident; the ("purification for road safety").Template:Sfnm Similarly, transport companies often request purification rites for new buses or airplanes which are about to go into service.Template:Sfnm Before a building is constructed, it is common for either private individuals or the construction company to employ a Shinto priest to come to the land being developed and perform the , or earth sanctification ritual. This purifies the site and asks the to bless it.Template:Sfnm

People often ask the to help offset inauspicious events that may affect them. For instance, in Japanese culture, the age 33 is seen as being unlucky for women and the age 42 for men, and thus people can ask the to offset any ill-fortune associated with being this age.Template:Sfn Certain directions can also be seen as being inauspicious for certain people at certain times and thus people can approach the asking them to offset this problem if they have to travel in one of these unlucky directions.Template:Sfn

File:熱田神社.jpg

Torii of Atsuta Jingū

Pilgrimage has long been important in Japanese religion,Template:Sfn with pilgrimages to Shinto shrines called .Template:Sfn A round of pilgrimages, whereby individuals visit a series of shrines and other sacred sites that are part of an established circuit, is known as a .Template:Sfn An individual leading these pilgrims, is sometimes termed a .Template:Sfn For many centuries, people have also visited the shrines for primarily cultural and recreational reasons, as opposed to spiritual ones.Template:Sfn Many of the shrines are recognised as sites of historical importance and some are classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.Template:Sfn Shrines such as Shimogamo Jinja and Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, Meiji Jingū in Tokyo, and Atsuta Jingū in Nagoya are among Japan's most popular tourist sites.Template:Sfn Many shrines have a unique rubber-stamp seal which visitors can get printed into their stamp book, demonstrating the different shrines they have visited.Template:Sfn

and

File:ItsukushimaBasin7406.jpg

Shinto rituals begin with a process of purification, often involving the washing of the hands and mouth at the basin; this example is at Itsukushima Jinja.

Shinto rituals begin with a process of purification, or .Template:Sfnm Using fresh water or salt water, this is known as .Template:Sfn At shrines, this entails sprinkling this water onto the face and hands, a procedure known as ,Template:Sfn using a font known as a .Template:Sfn Another form of purification at the start of a Shinto rite entails waving a white paper streamer or wand known as the .Template:Sfnm When not in use, the is usually kept in a stand.Template:Sfn The priest waves the horizontally over a person or object being purified in a movement known as ("left-right-left").Template:Sfn Sometimes, instead of a , the purification is carried out with an , a branch of evergreen to which strips of paper have been attached.Template:Sfn The waving of the is often followed by an additional act of purification, the , in which the priest sprinkles water, salt, or brine over those assembled from a wooden box called the or .Template:Sfn

The acts of purification accomplished, petitions known as are spoken to the .Template:Sfn This is followed by an appearance by the , who commence in a slow circular motion before the main altar.Template:Sfn Offerings are then presented to the by being placed on a table.Template:Sfn This act is known as ;Template:Sfn the offerings themselves as Template:Sfn or .Template:Sfn Historically, the offerings given the included food, cloth, swords, and horses.Template:Sfn In the contemporary period, lay worshippers usually give gifts of money to the while priests generally offer them food, drink, and sprigs of the sacred tree.Template:Sfn Animal sacrifices are not considered appropriate offerings, as the shedding of blood is seen as a polluting act that necessitates purification.Template:Sfn The offerings presented are sometimes simple and sometimes more elaborate; at the Grand Shrine of Ise, for instance, 100 styles of food are laid out as offerings.Template:Sfn The choice of offerings will often be tailored to the specific and occasion.Template:Sfn

Offerings of food and drink are specifically termed .Template:Sfn Sake, or rice wine, is a very common offering to the .Template:Sfn After the offerings have been given, people often sip rice wine known as .Template:Sfn Drinking the wine is seen as a form of communion with the .Template:Sfn On important occasions, a feast is then held, known as , inside a banquet hall attached to the shrine complex.Template:Sfn

The are believed to enjoy music.Template:Sfn One style of music performed at shrines is .Template:Sfnm Instruments used include three reeds (, , and ), the , and the "three drums" (, , and ).Template:Sfn Other musical styles performed at shrines can have a more limited focus. At shrines such as Ōharano Shrine in Kyoto, ("eastern entertainment") music is performed on 8 April.Template:Sfn Also in Kyoto, various festivals make use of the style of music and dance, which originated from rice-planting songs.Template:Sfn During rituals, people visiting the shrine are expected to sit in the style, with their legs tucked beneath their bottom.Template:Sfn To avoid cramps, individuals who hold this position for a lengthy period of time may periodically move their legs and flex their heels.Template:Sfn

Home shrines

File:Kamidana.jpg

A displaying a and

Having seen their popularity increase in the Meiji era,Template:Sfn many Shinto practitioners also have a family shrine, or (" shelf"), in their home.Template:Sfnm These usually consist of shelves placed at an elevated position in the living room.Template:Sfn can also be found in workplaces, restaurants, shops, and ocean-going ships.Template:Sfnm Some public shrines sell entire .Template:Sfn

Along with the , many Japanese households also have , Buddhist altars enshrining the ancestors of the family;Template:Sfnm ancestral reverence remains an important aspect of Japanese religious tradition.Template:Sfn In the rare instances where Japanese individuals are given a Shinto funeral rather than a Buddhist one, a , , or shrine may be erected in the home in place of a . This will be typically placed below the and include symbols of the resident ancestral spirit, for instance a mirror or a scroll.Template:Sfn

often enshrine the of a nearby public shrine as well as a tutelary associated with the house's occupants or their profession.Template:Sfn They can be decorated with miniature and and include amulets obtained from public shrines.Template:Sfn They often contain a stand on which to place offerings;Template:Sfn daily offerings of rice, salt, and water are placed there, with sake and other items also offered on special days.Template:Sfnm These domestic rituals often take place early in the morning,Template:Sfn and prior to conducting them, practitioners often bathe, rinse their mouth, or wash their hands as a form of purification.Template:Sfn

Household Shinto can focus attention on the , who are perceived to be ancestral to the or extended kinship group.Template:Sfnm A small shrine for the ancestors of a household are known as .Template:Sfn Small village shrines containing the tutelary of an extended family are known as .Template:Sfn In addition to the shrines and the household shrines, Shinto also features small wayside shrines known as .Template:Sfn Other open spaces used for the worship of are , an area surrounded by sacred rocks.Template:Sfn

, divination, and amulets

File:Ema of Izumo taisha.jpg

A selection of wooden hanging up at a Shinto shrine

A common feature of Shinto shrines is the provision of , small wooden plaques onto which practitioners will write a wish or desire that they would like to see fulfilled. The practitioner's message is written on one side of the plaque, while on the other is usually a printed picture or pattern related to the shrine itself.Template:Sfn are provided both at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan;Template:Sfn unlike most amulets, which are taken away from the shrine, the are typically left there as a message for the resident .Template:Sfn Those administering the shrine will then often burn all of the collected at new year.Template:Sfn

Divination is the focus of many Shinto rituals,Template:Sfn with various forms of divination used by its practitioners, some introduced from China.Template:Sfn Among the ancient forms of divination found in Japan are and .Template:Sfn Several forms of divination entailing archery are also practiced in Shintō, known as , , and .Template:Sfn Kitagawa stated that there could be "no doubt" that various types of "shamanic diviners" played a role in early Japanese religion.Template:Sfn A form of divination previously common in Japan was or , which often used tortoise shells; it is still used in some places.Template:Sfn

A form of divination that is popular at Shinto shrines are the .Template:Sfnm These are small slips of paper which are obtained from the shrine (for a donation) and which are then read to reveal a prediction for the future.Template:Sfn Those who receive a bad prediction often then tie the to a nearby tree or frame set up for the purpose. This act is seen as rejecting the prediction, a process called , and thus avoiding the misfortune it predicted.Template:Sfnm

File:Hiromine-jinja Omikuji.jpg

A frame at a shrine where omikuji are tied

The use of amulets are widely sanctioned and popular in Japan.Template:Sfn These may be made of paper, wood, cloth, metal, or plastic.Template:Sfn act as amulets to keep off misfortune and also serve as talismans to bring benefits and good luck.Template:Sfn They typically comprise a tapering piece of wood onto which the name of the shrine and its enshrined are written or printed. The is then wrapped inside white paper and tied up with a colored thread.Template:Sfn are provided both at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.Template:Sfn Another type of amulet provided at shrines and temples are the , which are traditionally small, brightly colored drawstring bags with the name of the shrine written on it.Template:Sfn and are sometimes placed within a charm bag known as a , typically worn by small children.Template:Sfn

At new year, many shrines sell (an "evil-destroying arrows"), which people can purchase and keep in their home over the coming year to bring good luck.Template:Sfn A is a round, paper doll of the Indian monk, Bodhidharma. The recipient makes a wish and paints one eye; when the goal is accomplished, the recipient paints the other eye. While this is a Buddhist practice, darumas can be found at shrines, as well. These dolls are very common. Other protective items include , which are earthenware bells that are used to pray for good fortune. These bells are usually in the shapes of the zodiacal animals. are paper dogs that are used to induce and to bless good births. Collectively, these talismans through which home to manipulate events and influence spirits, as well as related mantras and rites for the same purpose, are known as .Template:Sfn

Kagura

File:Ymananashi-oka shrine Daidai Kagura A.JPG

A traditional dance performed at the Yamanashi-oka shrine

describes the music and dance performed for the ;Template:Sfnm the term may have originally derived from ("seat of the ").Template:Sfn Throughout Japanese history, dance has played an important culture role and in Shinto it is regarded as having the capacity to pacify .Template:Sfn There is a mythological tale of how dance came into existence. According to the and the , Ame-no-Uzume performed a dance to entice Amaterasu out of the cave in which she had hidden herself.Template:Sfnm

There are two broad types of kagura.Template:Sfn One is Imperial kagura, also known as . This style was developed in the imperial court and is still performed on imperial grounds every December.Template:Sfn It is also performed at the Imperial harvest festival and at major shrines such as Ise, Kamo, and Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū. It is performed by singers and musicians using wooden clappers, a , a flute, and a six-stringed zither.Template:Sfn The other main type is , descended from and performed at shrines across Japan. Depending on the style, it is performed by or by actors wearing masks to portray various mythological figures.Template:Sfn These actors are accompanied by a band using flutes and drums.Template:Sfn There are also other, regional types of kagura.Template:Sfn

Festivals

File:Aoi Matsuri.jpg

Participants in a procession for Aoi Matsuri in Kyoto

Public festivals are commonly termed ,Template:Sfnm although this term has varied meanings—"festival", "worship", "celebration", "rite", or "prayer"—and no direct translation into English.Template:Sfn Picken suggested that the festival was "the central act of Shinto worship" because Shinto was a "community- and family-based" religion.Template:Sfn Most mark the seasons of the agricultural year and involve offerings being directed to the in thanks.Template:Sfnm According to a traditional lunar calendar, Shinto shrines should hold their festival celebrations on or "clear days", the days of the new, full, and half moons.Template:Sfn Other days, known as , were generally avoided for festivities.Template:Sfn However, since the late 20th century, many shrines have held their festival celebrations on the Saturday or Sunday closest to the date so that fewer individuals will be working and will be able to attend.Template:Sfnm Each town or village often has its own festival, centred on a local shrine.Template:Sfn For instance, the Aoi Matsuri festival, held on 15 May to pray for an abundant grain harvest, takes place at shrines in Kyoto,Template:Sfnm while the Chichibu Night Festival takes place on 2–3 December in Chichibu.Template:Sfn

Spring festivals are called and often incorporate prayers for a good harvest.Template:Sfn They sometimes involve ceremonies, in which rice is ritually planted.Template:Sfn Summer festivals are termed and are usually focused on protecting the crops against pests and other threats.Template:Sfn Autumn festivals are known as and primarily focus on thanking the for the rice or other harvest.Template:Sfnm The , or festival of new rice, is held across many Shinto shrines on 23 November.Template:Sfn The emperor also conducts a ceremony to mark this festival, at which he presents the first fruits of the harvest to the at midnight.Template:Sfn Winter festivals, called often feature on welcoming in the spring, expelling evil, and calling in good influences for the future.Template:Sfn There is little difference between winter festivals and specific new year festivals.Template:Sfn

File:Tomioka hachimangu10.jpg

Procession of the as part of the Fukagawa Matsuri festival in Tokyo

The season of the new year is called .Template:Sfnm On the last day of the year (31 December), , practitioners usually clean their household shrines in preparation for New Year's Day (1 January), .Template:Sfn Many people visit public shrines to celebrate new year;Template:Sfnm this "first visit" of the year is known as or .Template:Sfnm There, they buy amulets and talismans to bring them good fortune over the coming year.Template:Sfn To celebrate this festival, many Japanese put up rope known as on their homes and places of business.Template:Sfnm Some also put up ("gateway pine"), an arrangement of pine branches, plum tree, and bamboo sticks.Template:Sfnm Also displayed are , which are smaller and more colourful; their purpose is to keep away misfortune and attract good fortune.Template:Sfn In many places, new year celebrations incorporate ("naked festivals") in which men dressed only in a loincloth engage in a particular activity, such as fighting over a specific object or immersing themselves in a river.Template:Sfn

A common feature of festivals are processions or parades known as .Template:Sfn These can be raucous, with many participants being drunk;Template:Sfnm Breen and Teeuwen characterised them as having a "carnivalesque atmosphere".Template:Sfn They are often understood as having a regenerative effect on both the participants and the community.Template:Sfn During these processions, the travel in portable shrines known as .Template:Sfnm In various cases the undergo ("going down to the beach"), a process by which they are carried to the sea shore and sometimes into the sea, either by bearers or a boat.Template:Sfn For instance, in the Okunchi festival held in the southwestern city of Nagasaki, the of the Suwa Shrine are paraded down to Ohato, where they are placed in a shrine there for several days before being paraded back to Suwa.Template:Sfn These sorts of celebrations are often organized largely by members of the local community rather than by the priests themselves.Template:Sfn

Rites of passage

The formal recognition of events is given great importance in Japanese culture.Template:Sfn A common ritual, the , entails a child's first visit to a Shinto shrine.Template:Sfnm A tradition holds that, if a boy he should be brought to the shrine on the thirty-second day after birth, and if a girl she should be brought on the thirty-third day.Template:Sfn Historically, the child was commonly brought to the shrine not by the mother, who was considered impure after birth, but by another female relative; since the late 20th century it has been more common for the mother to do so.Template:Sfn Another rite of passage, the or , is a coming of age ritual marking the transition to adulthood and occurs when an individual is around twenty.Template:Sfnm Wedding ceremonies are often carried out at Shinto shrines;Template:Sfn these are called ("a wedding before the ").Template:Sfnm Prior to the Meiji era, weddings were commonly performed in the home,Template:Sfn although shrines now regard them as an important source of income.Template:Sfn

In Japan, funerals tend to take place at Buddhist temples and involve cremation,Template:Sfnm with Shinto funerals being rare.Template:Sfn Bocking noted that most Japanese people are "still 'born Shinto' yet 'die Buddhist'."Template:Sfn In Shinto thought, contact with death is seen as imparting impurity (); the period following this contact is known as and is associated with various taboos.Template:Sfn In cases when dead humans are enshrined as , the physical remains of the dead are not stored at the shrine.Template:Sfn Although not common, there have been examples of funerals conducted through Shinto rites. The earliest examples are known from the mid-17th century; these occurred in certain areas of Japan and had the support of the local authorities.Template:Sfn Following the Meiji Restoration, in 1868 the government recognised specifically Shinto funerals for Shinto priests.Template:Sfnm Five years later, this was extended to cover the entire Japanese population.Template:Sfn Despite this Meiji promotion of Shinto funerals, the majority of the population continued to have Buddhist funeral rites.Template:Sfn In recent decades, Shinto funerals have usually been reserved for Shinto priests and for members of certain Shinto sects.Template:Sfn After cremation, the normal funerary process in Japan, the ashes of a priest may be interred near to the shrine, but not inside its precincts.Template:Sfn

Ancestral reverence remains an important part of Japanese religious custom.Template:Sfn The invocation of the dead, and especially the war dead, is known as Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Various rites reference this. For instance, at the largely Buddhist festival of Bon, the souls of the ancestors are believed to visit the living, and are then sent away in a ritual called Template:Transliteration, by which lanterns are inserted into small boats, often made of paper, and placed in a river to float downstream.Template:Sfn

Spirit mediumship and healing

File:Inako 2006-10-09.jpg

An at the autumn Inako Taisai festival at Mount Osore, Aomori Prefecture, Japan

Shinto practitioners believe that the can possess a human being and then speak through them, a process known as .Template:Sfn Several new religious movements drawing upon Shinto, such as Tenrikyo and Oomoto, were founded by individuals claiming to be guided by a possessing .Template:Sfn The is an oracle that is passed from the via the medium.Template:Sfn

The and are blind women who train to become spiritual mediums, traditionally in Japan's northern Tohoku region.Template:Sfn train under other from childhood, memorialising sacred texts and prayers, fasting, and undertaking acts of severe asceticism, through which they are believed to cultivate supernatural powers.Template:Sfn In an initiation ceremony, a is believed to possess the young woman, and the two are then ritually "married". After this, the becomes her tutelary spirit and she will henceforth be able to call upon it, and a range of other spirits, in the future. Through contacting these spirits, she is able to convey their messages to the living.Template:Sfn usually carry out their rituals independent of the shrine system.Template:Sfn Japanese culture also includes spiritual healers known as whose work involves invoking both and Buddhas.Template:Sfn

History

Early development

File:DotakuBronzeBellLateYayoi3rdCenturyCE.jpg

A Yayoi period bell; these probably played a key role in rites at the time.Template:Sfn

Earhart commented that Shinto ultimately "emerged from the beliefs and practices of prehistoric Japan",Template:Sfn although Kitagawa noted that it was questionable whether prehistoric Japanese religions could be accurately termed "early Shinto".Template:Sfn It was the Yayoi period of Japanese prehistory which first left traces of material and iconography prefiguring that later included in Shinto.Template:Sfnm were worshipped at various landscape features during this period; at this point, their worship consisted largely of beseeching and placating them, with little evidence that they were viewed as compassionate entities.Template:Sfn Archaeological evidence suggests that bronze bells, bronze weapons, and metal mirrors played an important role in -based ritual during the Yayoi period.Template:Sfnm

In this early period, Japan was not a unified state; by the Kofun period it was divided among (clans), each with their own tutelary , the .Template:Sfnm Korean migration during the Kofun period brought Confucianism and Buddhism to Japan.Template:Sfn Buddhism had a particular impact on the cults.Template:Sfn Migrant groups and Japanese who increasingly aligned with these foreign influences built Buddhist temples in various parts of the Japanese islands.Template:Sfn Several rival clans who were more hostile to these foreign influences began adapting the shrines of their to more closely resemble the new Buddhist structures.Template:Sfn In the late 5th century, the imperial dynasty leader Yūryaku declared himself daiō ("great king") and established hegemony over much of Japan.Template:Sfn From the early 6th century CE, the style of ritual favored by the Yamato began spreading to other shrines around Japan as the Yamato extended their territorial influence.Template:Sfn Buddhism was also growing. According to the , in 587 Emperor Yōmei converted to Buddhism and under his sponsorship Buddhism spread.Template:Sfn

In the mid-7th century, a legal code called was adopted to establish a Chinese-style centralised government.Template:Sfn As part of this, the Jingikan ("Council of ") was created to conduct rites of state and coordinate provincial ritual with that in the capital.Template:Sfn This was done according to a code of law called the Jingiryō,Template:Sfn itself modelled on the Chinese Book of Rites.Template:Sfn The Jingikan was located in the palace precincts and maintained a register of shrines and priests.Template:Sfn An annual calendar of state rites were introduced to help unify Japan through worship.Template:Sfn These legally mandated rites were outlined in the Yōrō Code of 718,Template:Sfn and expanded in the Jogan Gishiki of circa 872 and the Engi Shiki of 927.Template:Sfn Under the Jingikan, some shrines were designated as ("official shrines") and given specific privileges and responsibilities.Template:Sfn Hardacre saw the Jingikan as "the institutional origin of Shinto".Template:Sfn

File:Shinpukuji-bon Kojiki (真福寺本古事記).png

A page from the 14th-century Shinpukuji manuscript of the , itself written in the 8th century

In the early 8th century, the Emperor Tenmu commissioned a compilation of the legends and genealogies of Japan's clans, resulting in the completion of the in 712. Designed to legitimate the ruling dynasty, this text created a fixed version of various stories previously circulating in oral tradition.Template:Sfn The omits any reference to Buddhism,Template:Sfn in part because it sought to ignore foreign influences and emphasise a narrative stressing indigenous elements of Japanese culture.Template:Sfn Several years later, the Nihon shoki was written. Unlike the , this made various references to Buddhism,Template:Sfn and was aimed at a foreign audience.Template:Sfn Both of these texts sought to establish the imperial clan's descent from the sun Amaterasu,Template:Sfn although there were many differences in the cosmogonic narrative they provided.Template:Sfn Quickly, the Nihon shoki eclipsed the in terms of its influence.Template:Sfn Other texts written at this time also drew on oral traditions regarding the . The Sendari kuji hongi for example was probably composed by the Mononobe clan while the Kogoshui was probably put together for the Imbe clan, and in both cases they were designed to highlight the divine origins of these respective lineages.Template:Sfn A government order in 713 called on each region to produce , records of local geography, products, and stories, with the latter revealing more traditions about the which were present at this time.Template:Sfnm

From the 8th century, worship and Buddhism were thoroughly intertwined in Japanese society.Template:Sfn While the emperor and court performed Buddhist rites, they also performed others to honor the .Template:Sfn Tenmu for example appointed a virginal imperial princess to serve as the , a form of priestess, at the Ise Shrine on his behalf, a tradition continued by subsequent emperors.Template:Sfn From the 8th century onward up until the Meiji era, the were incorporated into a Buddhist cosmology in various ways.Template:Sfn One view is that the realised that like all other life-forms, they too were trapped in the cycle of samsara (rebirth) and that to escape this they had to follow Buddhist teachings.Template:Sfn Alternative approaches viewed the as benevolent entities who protected Buddhism, or that the were themselves Buddhas, or beings who had achieved enlightenment. In this, they could be either , the pure spirits of the Buddhas, or , transformations of the Buddhas in their attempt to help all sentient beings.Template:Sfn

Nara period

This period hosted many changes to the country, government, and religion. The capital is moved again to Heijō-kyō (modern-day Nara), in AD 710 by Empress Genmei due to the death of the emperor. This practice was necessary due to the Shinto belief in the impurity of death and the need to avoid this pollution. However, this practice of moving the capital due to "death impurity" is then abolished by the Taihō Code and rise in Buddhist influence. The establishment of the imperial city in partnership with Taihō Code is important to Shinto as the office of the Shinto rites becomes more powerful in assimilating local clan shrines into the imperial fold. New shrines are built and assimilated each time the city is moved. All of the grand shrines are regulated under Taihō and are required to account for incomes, priests, and practices due to their national contributions.

Meiji era and the Empire of Japan

File:Chosen Jingu.JPG

The Chōsen Jingū in Seoul, Korea, established during the Japanese occupation of the peninsula

Breen and Teeuwen characterise the period between 1868 and 1915, during the Meiji era, as being the "formative years" of modern Shinto.Template:Sfn It is in this period that various scholars have argued that Shinto was essentially "invented".Template:Sfn Fridell argues that scholars call the period from 1868 to 1945 the "State Shinto period" because, "during these decades, Shinto elements came under a great deal of overt state influence and control as the Japanese government systematically utilized shrine worship as a major force for mobilizing imperial loyalties on behalf of modern nation-building." However, the government had already been treating shrines as an extension of government before Meiji; see for example the Tenpō Reforms. Moreover, according to the scholar Jason Ānanda Josephson, It is inaccurate to describe shrines as constituting a "state religion" or a "theocracy" during this period since they had neither organization, nor doctrine, and were uninterested in conversion.

The Meiji Restoration of 1868 was fuelled by a renewal of Confucian ethics and imperial patriotism among Japan's ruling class.Template:Sfn Among these reformers, Buddhism was seen as a corrupting influence that had undermined what they envisioned as Japan's original purity and greatness.Template:Sfn They wanted to place a renewed emphasis on worship as an indigenous form of ritual, an attitude that was also fuelled by anxieties about Western expansionism and fear that Christianity would take hold in Japan.Template:Sfn

In 1868, all shrine priests were placed under the authority of the new Jingikan, or Council of Kami Affairs.Template:Sfn A project of forcibly separating worship from Buddhism was implemented, with Buddhist monks, deities, buildings, and rituals banned from shrines.Template:Sfn Much Buddhist material was destroyed.Template:Sfn In 1871, a new hierarchy of shrines was introduced, with imperial and national shrines at the top.Template:Sfnm Hereditary priesthoods were abolished and a new state-sanctioned system for appointing priests was introduced.Template:Sfn In 1872, the Jingikan was replaced with the Kyobusho, or Ministry of Edification.Template:Sfn This coordinated a campaign whereby ("national evangelists") were sent through the country to promote Japan's "Great Teaching", which included respect for the and obedience to the emperor.Template:Sfn This campaign was discontinued in 1884.Template:Sfn In 1906, thousands of village shrines were merged so that most small communities had only a single shrine, where rites in honor of the emperor could be held.Template:Sfn Shinto effectively became the state cult, one promoted with growing zeal in the build-up to the Second World War.Template:Sfn

In 1882, the Meiji government designated 13 religious movements that were neither Buddhist nor Christian to be forms of "Sect Shinto".Template:Sfn The number and name of the sects given this formal designation varied;Template:Sfn often they merged ideas with Shinto from Buddhism, Christian, Confucian, Daoist, and Western esoteric traditions.Template:Sfn In the Meiji period, many local traditions died out and were replaced by nationally standardised practices encouraged from Tokyo.Template:Sfn

Post-war

File:Association of Shinto Shrines 2010.jpg

The headquarters of the Association of Shinto Shrines in Shibuya, Tokyo

During the U.S. occupation, a new Japanese constitution was drawn up. This enshrined freedom of religion and separated religion from the state, a measure designed to eradicate State Shinto.Template:Sfnm The emperor declared that he was not a ;Template:Sfn Shinto rituals performed by the imperial family became their own private affair.Template:Sfn This disestablishment ended government subsidies to shrines and gave them renewed freedom to organise their own affairs.Template:Sfn In 1946 many shrines formed a voluntary organisation, the Association of Shinto Shrines ().Template:Sfnm In 1956 the association issued a creedal statement, the ("general characteristics of a life lived in reverence of the "), to summarise what they regarded as Shinto's principles.Template:Sfn By the late 1990s around 80% of Japan's Shinto shrines were part of this association.Template:Sfn

In the post-war decades, many Japanese blamed Shinto for encouraging the militarism which had led to defeat and occupation.Template:Sfn Others remained nostalgic for State Shinto,Template:Sfn and concerns were repeatedly expressed that sectors of Japanese society were conspiring to restore it.Template:Sfn Various legal debates revolved around the involvement of public officials in Shinto.Template:Sfn In 1965, for instance, the city of Tsu, Mie Prefecture, paid four Shinto priests to purify the site where the municipal athletic hall was to be built. Critics brought the case to court, claiming it contravened the constitutional separation of religion and state; in 1971 the high court ruled that the city administration's act had been unconstitutional, although this was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1977.Template:Sfnm

During the post-war period, Shinto themes often blended into Japanese new religious movements.Template:Sfn Of the Sect Shinto groups, Tenrikyo was probably the most successful,Template:Sfn although in 1970 it repudiated its Shinto identity.Template:Sfn Shinto perspectives also influenced popular culture. The film director Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli for instance acknowledged Shinto influences on his films such as Spirited Away.Template:Sfn Shinto also spread abroad through both emigration and conversion by non-Japanese.Template:Sfnm The Tsubaki Grand Shrine in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, was the first to establish a branch abroad: the Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America, initially located in California and then moved to Granite Falls, Washington.Template:Sfn

During the 20th century, most academic research on Shinto was conducted by Shinto theologians, often priests,Template:Sfn bringing accusations that it often blurred theology with historical analysis.Template:Sfn From the 1980s onward, there was a renewed academic interest in Shinto both in Japan and abroad.Template:Sfn

Demographics

File:Guji Francesco Brigante.jpg

A Shinto rite carried out at a jinja in San Marino, Europe

Most Japanese participate in several religious traditions,Template:Sfn with Breen and Teeuwen noting that, "with few exceptions", it is not possible to differentiate between Shintoists and Buddhists in Japan.Template:Sfn The main exceptions are members of minority religious groups, including Christianity, which promote exclusive worldviews.Template:Sfn Determining the proportions of the country's population who engage in Shinto activity is hindered by the fact that, if asked, Japanese people will often say "I have no religion".Template:Sfn Many Japanese avoid the term "religion", in part because they dislike the connotations of the word which most closely matches it in the Japanese language, . The latter term derives from ("sect") and ("doctrine").Template:Sfn

Official statistics show Shinto to be Japan's largest religion, with over 80 per cent of its population engaging in Shinto activities.Template:Sfn Conversely, in questionnaires only a small minority of Japanese describe themselves as "Shintoists".Template:Sfn This indicates that a far larger number of people engage in Shinto activities than cite Shinto as their religious identity.Template:Sfn There are no formal rituals to become a practitioner of "folk Shinto". Thus, "Shinto membership" is often estimated counting only those who do join organized Shinto sects.Template:Sfn Shinto has about 81,000 shrines and about 85,000 priests in the country. According to surveys carried out in 2006 and 2008, less than 40% of the population of Japan identifies with an organised religion: around 35% are Buddhists, 30% to 40% are members of Shinto sects and derived religions. In 2008, 26% of the participants reported often visiting Shinto shrines, while only 16.2% expressed belief in the existence of in general.

Shinto outside Japan

File:Karafuto Shrine.JPG

The Karafuto Shrine in the Sakhalin Region

The end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries were marked by the expansion of the Empire of Japan, which also led to the spread of Shinto in the colonized territories.Template:Sfn In total, from 1868 to 1945, 1,640 shrines were built in territories under Japanese control.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In addition, starting in 1885, Japanese began to move to Hawaii, most of whom left Japan for economic reasons; Since 1908, emigration to Brazil also began, where the Japanese worked on coffee plantations. The emigrants built shrines to preserve their culture and worship traditional deities.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

outside Japan are termed ("overseas shrines"), a term coined by Template:Ill.Template:Sfn When the Empire of Japan collapsed in the 1940s, there were over 600 within its conquered territories, many of which were later disbanded.Template:Sfn Japanese migrants have also established in countries like Brazil,Template:Sfn while Shinto's lack of doctrinal focus has attracted interest from non-Japanese;Template:Sfn in the United States, for example, European Americans have played a significant role in introducing Shinto.Template:Sfn

In popular culture

Shinto features in popular culture as folk Shinto or Minkan Shinto.Template:Sfn

See also

• Azusa yumi
• Dōsojin
• Hama yumi
• Hari-Kuyo
• Iwakura (Shinto)
• Kodama (spirit)
• List of Japanese deities
• Nyonin Kinsei
• Raijin
• Ryukyuan religion
• Shide (Shinto)
• Shinto architecture
• Shinto in Taiwan
• Shinto music
• Twenty-Two Shrines
• Yōsei

Further reading

• Bestor, Victoria, Theodore C. Bestor, & Akiko Yamagata. Routledge Handbook of Japanese Culture and Society. Routledge, 2011. Template:ASIN, Template:ISBN
• Skya, Walter. Japan's holy war: the ideology of radical Shintō ultranationalism. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009.

External links

• Shinto at Encyclopedia Britannica
• Jinja Honcho – English – The Official Japanese Organization of 80,000 Shinto Shrines
• Kokugakuin University Encyclopedia of Shinto Template:Webarchive and its Japanese Shinto Jinja Database Template:Webarchive