Shinto
Origin: Shinto is a religion originating in Japan. It’s often regarded as Japan’s indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Shinto has no definite founder or founder , and no officially established ” canon ” like the Christian Bible or the Islamic Koran . However , the classics known as ” divine scriptures ” such as the Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, Kogo Shūi, Sendai Kuji Hongi and Senmei are considered sacred texts of Shinto.1
Name: The word Shinto literally means “the way of kami” (generally sacred or divine power, specifically the various gods or deities).
Practitioners: Scholars sometimes call its practitioners Shintoists, although adherents rarely use that term themselves.
Central Belief: A polytheistic and animistic religion, Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the kami. Kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, beings and the qualities that these beings express, and/or the spirits of venerated dead people. Kami (i神) is the Japanese word for a deity, divinity, or spirit. Animism is a belief system that recognizes the potential of all objects – animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather-related phenomena, deceased human beings, even words – to be animated and alive, possessing distinctive spirits. In Japan, informed by Shinto beliefs around notions of animism, a soul (“reikon” 霊魂) lives within all existence and phenomena.
Shinto Kami: Shinto deities can be broadly classified into two categories: natural gods and cultural gods. The former includes gods personifying celestial bodies, topography, and weather, such as the sun god, moon god, wind god, thunder god, mountain god, and sea god, as well as animal gods like the snake god. On the other hand, cultural gods include household gods, clan gods, and local gods who protect social groups. There are also gods who guard specific scenes and functions in human life, such as the plague god, rice field god, fishing labor god, war god, and stove god. In addition, there is a custom of enshrining individuals with lifetime achievements as gods by building shrines after their death (human gods).
In Shinto, it is believed that humans can also become gods after death. So there is Sorei Suuhai (祖霊崇拝), also known as ancestor worship or ancestor veneration, is a belief system that the spirits of deceased ancestors can influence the lives of living descendants. Also, socially prominent people, people who contributed to their local community, people who worked for the people or country are enshrined as gods. But it’s not just good people, people who rebelled against the country and caused wars, and people who spent their later years in misfortune and caused curses after death as vengeful spirits are enshrined. (Goryō Shinkō (御霊信仰) is a belief system attributes the occurrence of natural disasters and epidemics to the deeds of Onryō (怨霊), the spirits of people who died with resentment or met an untimely death. People fear these spirits and try to appease them by turning them into Goryō (御霊), thereby avoiding curses and aiming to achieve peace and prosperity.)
Four Affirmations: While Shinto doesn’t impose any strict rules on its followers beyond leading a life in harmony with nature and fellow humans, it does emphasize “Four Affirmations” that embody the spirit of Shinto:
- Preservation of Tradition and Family: The family unit is seen as the key conduit for keeping traditions alive. Major life events like birth and marriage are central to their celebrations.
- Reverence for Nature: Nature is considered divine in Shinto. Being in touch with nature is akin to being close to the kami, or deities. Natural entities are venerated as they are believed to house sacred spirits.
- Importance of Cleanliness: Shinto followers place a high value on physical purity. Regular practices include bathing, hand washing, and mouth rinsing.
- Matsuri: These are festivals where homage and respect are paid to the kami.
Worship: The kami are worshipped at kamidana household shrines, family shrines, and jinja public shrines.
- Kamidana: A kamidana, which translates to “god-shelf”, is a miniature household altar provided to enshrine a Shinto kami. It is typically placed high on a wall and contains a wide variety of items related to Shinto-style ceremonies. The most prominent of these is the shintai, an object meant to house a chosen kami, thus giving it a physical form to allow worship. Worship at the kamidana typically consists of the offering of simple prayers, food (e.g., rice, fruit, water), and flowers.
- Family Shrine: A family shrine, on the other hand, is a special place within a home where family members can worship and pay respects to their tutelary kami (the family’s guardian spirit) and the goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami. These shrines are an integral part of a family’s spiritual life, especially in homes that follow Pure Shinto. The family shrine serves as a link between the human world and the spiritual world, providing a space for prayer, offerings, and communication with the kami.
(While both kamidana and family shrines serve as places of worship in a household, they differ in their purpose, with kamidana primarily for daily worship of the kami and family shrines for paying respects to family ancestors and guardian spirits.)
Public shrines: Public shrines are staffed by priests, known as kannushi, who oversee offerings of food and drink to the specific kami enshrined at that location.
Rituals: Shinto rituals and ceremonies are not merely symbolic acts or traditions, but they’re considered essential for maintaining a harmonious relationship with the kami, or divine spirits. These practices are believed to help believers purify themselves, express gratitude, seek blessings, and ensure their well-being. The early Japanese developed rituals and stories which enabled them to make sense of their universe, by creating a spiritual and cultural world that gave them historical roots, and a way of seeming to take control of their lives, in what would otherwise have been a fearful and puzzling landscape. Common rituals include the kagura dances, rites of passage, and seasonal festivals.
- Kagura Dances: Kagura is a type of Shinto ritual ceremonial dance. The term is a contraction of the phrase kami no kura (“seat of god”), indicating the presence of gods (kami) in the practice. One major function of kagura is chinkon (purifying and shaking the spirit), involving a procession-trance process.
- Here are some of the key rites of passage in Shinto:
- Birth: The first visit of a newborn baby to the tutelary kami, which occurs 30 to 100 days after birth, is to initiate the baby as a new adherent. This is considered the rite of birth.
- Shichi-Go-San: This celebration honors children aged three, five, and seven, marking important milestones in their young lives. It is held on November 15 and is the occasion for boys of five years and girls of three and seven years of age to visit the shrine to give thanks for the kami’s protection and to pray for their healthy growth.
- Genpuku/Shinbyu: The Genpuku ceremony, or Shinbyu, is a rite of passage marking the passage to adulthood for young Japanese. This is often considered the rite to adulthood.
Marriage: The Japanese usually have their wedding ceremonies in Shinto style and pronounce their wedding vows to the kami. This is the rite of marriage. - Adults’ Day: January 15 is Adults’ Day. Youth in the village used to join the local young men’s association on this day. At present, it is the commemoration day for those Japanese who have attained their 20th year.
- Offerings: Priests oversee offerings of food and drink to the specific kami enshrined at that location. This is done to cultivate harmony between humans and kami and to solicit the latter’s blessing.
- Purification: Shinto priests perform purification rituals, known as Harae or Harai, intended to rid a person or an object of impurity (kegare). This can involve waving a purification wand (haraigushi) consisting of a stick with strips of paper, linen, or rope attached to it over visitors to absorb impurities.
- Specialized Events: Shinto priests also perform specialized events at particular shrines and other sacred sites. These can include ceremonies of purifying a building site or for setting up the framework for a new building, a firing or purifying ceremony for the boilers in a new factory, a completion ceremony for a construction works, or a launching ceremony for a new ship.
Purity: Shinto places a major conceptual focus on ensuring purity, largely by cleaning practices such as ritual washing and bathing, especially before worship.
Moral Codes and Afterlife: Little emphasis is placed on specific moral codes or particular afterlife beliefs, although the dead are deemed capable of becoming kami.
History: Kami 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.
Types of Shinto: Shinto can be roughly classified into three major types: Shrine Shinto, Sect Shinto, and Minzoku (Folk) Shinto.
- Shrine Shinto: Includes within its structure the now defunct State Shinto (Kokka Shintō)—based on the total identity of religion and state—and has close relations with the Japanese Imperial family. It was used as an ideological tool by Imperial Japan. It emphasized the Emperor as a divine being and integrated local shrines into political functions.2
- Minzoku (Folk) Shinto: An aspect of Japanese folk belief that is closely connected with the other types of Shinto. It has no formal organizational structure nor doctrinal formulation but is centred in the veneration of small roadside images and in the agricultural rites of rural families.
- Sect Shinto: A relatively new movement consisting of 13 major sects that originated in Japan around the 19th century and of 48 others that emerged after World War II.
Shinto Shrines
Shrine Features
- Torii: The Torii gate marks the entrance to the sacred space of a Shinto shrine. It symbolizes the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The first appearance of Torii gates in Japan can be reliably pinpointed to at least the mid-Heian period.
- Stone Stairs and Sandō: The stone stairs and the Sandō (the approach to the shrine) represent the path that leads the worshipper to the shrine.
- Tōrō: These are decorative stone lanterns often found on the approach to a shrine.
- Shimenawa: Shimenawa are large ropes made of rice straw or hemp commonly seen at Shinto shrines, torii gates, and sacred landmarks in Japan. They play an important role in Shinto, dividing the sacred space where gods (kami) are enshrined from the profane outside world.
- Komainu: Komainu, often called lion-dogs in English, are statue pairs of lion-like creatures, which traditionally guard the entrance or gate of the shrine. They are considered protectors against evil spirits.
- Temizuya or Chōzuya: This is a fountain where visitors cleanse their hands and mouth before approaching the shrine, symbolizing the purification of the body and mind.
- Honden: The Honden is the main hall where the shrine’s patron shintai, literally, “the sacred body of the kami” is enshrined. It is the most sacred building of a Shinto shrine.
- Haiden: This is the hall of worship or oratory hall where ceremonies and worship are conducted.
- Heiden: In Shinto shrine architecture, a heiden (幣殿, offering hall) is the part within a Shinto shrine’s compound used to house offerings. It normally consists of a connecting section linking the honden (sanctuary, closed to the public) to the haiden (oratory).
- Shintai: Shintai, literally “god-body”, is the physical object in which a kami, or Shinto spirit, is manifested or housed8. It is usually housed in the honden.
- Heihaku: Heihaku are offerings made to the kami during Shinto rituals. They usually consist of strips of paper or silk.
- Shide (紙垂, 四手): These are zigzag-shaped paper streamers. They are often seen attached to Shimenawa (sacred ropes) or Tamagushi (ritual offerings) to demarcate holy spaces. They are used in Shinto rituals in Japan. They are usually found adorning doorways, shrine buildings, and kamidana.
- Emaden (絵馬殿 ): Ema are small wooden plaques on which Shinto and Buddhist worshippers write prayers or wishes. These are left hanging up at the shrine, where the kami (spirits or gods) are believed to receive them.
- (Sessha and Massha) 摂社・末社 : These are auxiliary shrines in the precincts of a larger shrine. Sessha are shrines dedicated to deities related to the main deity, while Massha are shrines dedicated to other deities.
- Shamusho (社務所 ) and Juyosho (授与所 ): The Shamusho is the administrative office of a Shinto shrine where priests and shrine maidens wait, provide information about the shrine and its deities, and accept prayer requests. The Juyosho is where talismans, amulets, and other protective items are distributed to visitors.
- Hosatsusho（古札所）・Nousatsujo (納札所): These are places in a Shinto shrine where old talismans, amulets and other religious items such as ofuda, omamori, and hamaya arrows are returned.
Shrine Networks
Inari Jinja (稲荷神社)
Inari Jinja is a type of Japanese shrine used to worship the kami Inari. Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine in Fushimi Ward , Kyoto City , is the head shrine of all Shinto Inari shrines. Here are some of the main features of Inari Jinja:
- Association with Foxes: Inari is a popular deity associated with foxes. So close is the connection between Inari and the fox that they are often thought to be identical. The fox is the messenger for, or a dependent of, Inari.
- Symbol of Prosperity: Inari is associated with rice, household wellbeing, business prosperity, and general prosperity. The deity is seen as a protector of the five grains (wheat, rice, beans, and two species of millet).
- Distinctive Architecture: Inari shrines are typically constructed of white stucco walls with red-lacquered woodwork. Their entrances are marked by vermilion torii gates.
- Ubiquitous Presence: They are the most common type of shrine. Many houses have small shrines in their gardens where Inari is enshrined as the yashiki-kami (“God of the Estate”).
- Offerings: Many of the koma-kitsune (fox statues) have representations of one of four things in their mouths: a head of rice (inaho), a scroll, a key, or jewels. The head of rice again represents the close connection between Inari and agriculture.
Hachiman Jinja (八幡神社)
Hachiman shrines are dedicated to the kami Hachiman, and they are the second most numerous type of Shinto shrine in Japan. Here are some of the key features of Hachiman shrines:
- Dedication: Hachiman shrines are dedicated to the Shinto God of War, who is believed to protect warriors during battles. Hachiman is also seen as a sea deity, a rice field deity, and the patron deity of blacksmithing.
- Architecture and Surroundings: Hachiman shrines are characterized by their traditional architecture and serene natural surroundings. They often feature Torii gates, which are traditional Japanese gates most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine.
- Ceremonies and Festivals: These shrines serve as venues for festivals and showcase martial traditions and rituals3. They are places where locals and travelers visit to pay homage and pray for success in war and personal endeavors.
Shinmei Jinja (神明神社)
Shinmei shrines are the third most numerous type of shrine in Japan.
- Dedication: Shinmei shrines are dedicated to the worship of the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu. Amaterasu Omikami is considered to be the ancestral deity of the Imperial House of Japan and is widely worshipped in agricultural rituals.
- Architecture: The head Shinmei shrine is Ise Grand Shrine, which inspired the Shinmei-zukuri architectural style. This style is characterized by buildings with gabled roofs, raised floors, plank walls, and thatched with reed or covered with hinoki cypress bark.
- History: During the Kofun Period, a number of Shinmei Shrines, such as Ise Grand Shrine, were constructed and dedicated to Amaterasu. However, as the power of the imperial court declined in the middle of the Heian Period, the central government could no longer financially support the Shinmei Shrines. As a result, the responsibilities of their maintenance fell onto local feudal lords, who were also given the right to relay prayers.
- Popularity: In the Edo Period, the Ise faith became even more popular, spreading throughout the country and permeating a wide range of social classes. As the influence of Ise Shrine and its deity Amaterasu grew, the number of Shinmei Shrines increased further.
Shinbutsu-shūgō (神佛習合): Fusion of Shinto and Buddhism
Buddhism was officially introduced into Japan in 552 CE3. It originated in India between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE and remains one of the most followed religions in the world. It spread quickly through China, who brought it to Japan sometime between 467 and 552 CE2.
The fusion or syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism, known as Shinbutsu-shūgō, began almost as soon as Buddhism entered Japan in the mid-6th century. The Japanese tried to reconcile the new beliefs with the older Shinto beliefs, assuming both were true. As a result, Buddhist temples were attached to local Shinto shrines and vice versa, and in some instances both places were devoted to both kami and Buddhist figures. This process of blending Buddhism with Shinto dominated the religious life of the people up to the present.
Shinbutsu bunri (神仏分離): The separation of Shinto and Buddhism
Shinbutsu bunri was introduced after the Meiji Restoration, which separated Shinto kami from buddhas, and also Buddhist temples from Shinto shrines, which were originally amalgamated.
Historically, the term “shinbutsu bunri” refers to the policy of the Meiji government (1868-1912) of separating Shintō and Buddhism to re-establish the divine status of the emperor as prescribed by Shintō belief. Some members of the Meiji government were influenced by kokugaku (国学), a nativist academic movement that had emerged in the Edo Period and that focused on the Japanese classics rather than Buddhist, Confucian, and Chinese sources.
In 1868, the Meiji government enacted the “Kami and Buddhas Separation Order” (神仏判然令 Shinbutsu Hanzenrei), a decree that forced Buddhist priests to relinquish their positions and that stipulated that all Buddhist images were to be removed from Shintō shrines. Although the government did not intend to disestablish Buddhism per se, the decree triggered a nationwide anti-Buddhist outburst referred to as Haibutsu kishaku (廃仏毀釈, lit. “abolish Buddhism and destroy Shākyamuni”). As a result, thousands of temples were closed, their land confiscated, and temple bells smelted for bronze.
However, the process of separation stalled by 1873, the government’s intervention in support of the order was relaxed, and even today the separation is still only partially complete: many major Buddhist temples retain small shrines dedicated to tutelary Shinto kami, and some Buddhist figures, such as the Bodhisattva Kannon, are revered in Shinto shrines. The policy failed in its short-term aims and was ultimately abandoned, but it was successful in the long term in creating a new religious status quo in which made 3 phases beliefs of this Shinto, Buddhism or the hybrid Shinto Buddhism are perceived as different and independent religions.
- Kojiki: The Kojiki (古事記), also sometimes read as Furukotofumi or Furukotobumi, is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the kami (神), and the Japanese imperial line. It is considered to be the oldest existing literary work in Japan.
Nihon Shoki: The Nihon Shoki (日本書紀), sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history. The book is also called the Nihongi (日本紀, “Japanese Chronicles”). It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical record of ancient Japan.
Kogo Shūi: The Kogo Shūi (古語拾遺) is a historical record of the Inbe clan of Japan written in the early Heian period (794–1185). It was composed by Inbe no Hironari in 807 using material transmitted orally over several generations of the Inbe clan. The text serves as a valuable source of early Japanese history not found in the national histories.
Sendai Kuji Hongi: Also known as Kujiki, the Sendai Kuji Hongi (先代旧事本紀) is a historical Japanese text. It was generally believed to have been one of the earliest Japanese histories until the middle of the Edo period, when scholars successfully contended that it was an imitation based on the Nihon Shoki, the Kojiki, and the Kogo Shūi. However, some scholars argue that it contains some genuine elements.
↩︎ - It became defunct for several reasons.
Misrepresentation: The government argued that Shinto was a non-religious moral tradition and patriotic practice, to give the impression that they supported religious freedom. This misrepresentation led to resentment and opposition.
Financial Constraints: The state exercised control of shrine finances and training regimes for priests. With fewer shrines financed by the state, nearly 80,000 closed or merged with neighbors.
Post-War Changes: The term “State Shinto” was introduced by US military leaders to differentiate the state’s ideology from traditional Shinto practices. After World War II, the 1945 Shinto Directive established Shinto as a religion and banned further ideological uses of Shinto by the state. This marked the end of State Shinto. ↩︎
