Shinto
Japan's indigenous religion centered on kami worship.
Shinto, also called Shintoism, is a religion from Japan, classified as an East Asian religion by scholars. It is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. With no central authority, there is much diversity of belief and practice among its adherents. Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called kami, who are believed to inhabit all things, including forces of nature and prominent landscape locations. The religion places a major conceptual focus on ensuring purity, largely through cleaning practices such as ritual washing and bathing, especially before worship.
- field
- Religion
- nationality
- Japanese
- known_for
- Worship of kami, polytheistic and animistic beliefs, emphasis on purity, lack of single founder or doctrine
- type
- East Asian religion
- practitioners
- Shintoists (term rarely used by adherents)
Lore & Background
The earliest written tradition regarding kami worship was recorded in the 8th-century Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. Shrines came under growing government influence, and citizens were encouraged to worship the emperor as a kami. Following Japan's defeat in World War II, Shinto was formally separated from the state.
Reader's Guide
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. Scholars have debated at what point in history it is legitimate to start talking about Shinto as a specific phenomenon, with some arguing that Shinto as a distinct religion was essentially 'invented' during the 19th century. The religion has no single creator or specific doctrine, and instead exists in a diverse range of local and regional forms. Shinto displays substantial local variation; the anthropologist John K. Nelson noted it was 'not a unified, monolithic entity'. Different types of Shinto have been identified, including Shrine Shinto, Domestic Shinto, Folk Shinto, and State Shinto.
Did You Know?
- Shinto has no central authority, leading to much diversity of belief and practice.
- The kami are worshipped at kamidana household shrines, family shrines, and jinja public shrines.
- Shinto places little emphasis on specific moral codes or particular afterlife beliefs, although the dead are deemed capable of becoming kami.
- The term Shinto is often translated as 'the way of the kami'.
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