Shinto
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Shinto (Japanese: 神道, romanized: Shintō) is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners Shintoists, although adherents rarely use that term themselves. Shinto lacks a central authority, showing significant diversity in belief and practice among its practitioners.
Shinto, a polytheistic and animistic religion, centers around supernatural beings known as kami (神). The kami are believed to inhabit everything, including natural forces and significant landscape features. They are venerated at household shrines called kamidana, family shrines, and public shrines known as jinja. The public shrines are maintained by priests called kannushi, who manage food and drink offerings to the specific kami enshrined at each site. This practice aims to foster harmony between humans and the kami while seeking their favor and blessing. Other common rituals include kagura dances, rites of passage, and kami festivals. Public shrines support various forms of divination and provide religious items, such as amulets, to the followers of the faith. Shinto emphasizes maintaining purity significantly, primarily through cleaning practices such as ritual washing and bathing, especially before worship. There is minimal focus on specific moral codes or beliefs about the afterlife, although the dead are thought to have the potential to become kami. The religion does not have a single creator or specific doctrine; rather, it exists in a diverse range of local and regional forms.
Although historians debate when it is appropriate to refer to Shinto as a distinct religion, the veneration of kami can be 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 syncretism made kami worship and Buddhism functionally inseparable, a process known as shinbutsu-shūgō. The kami began to be seen as part of Buddhist cosmology and were increasingly depicted in anthropomorphic forms. The earliest written records of kami worship were found in the 8th-century texts, the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki. In the following centuries, shinbutsu-shūgō was adopted by Japan's Imperial household. During the Meiji era (1868 to 1912), Japan's nationalist leadership expelled Buddhist influence from kami worship. It established State Shinto, which some historians regard as the origin of Shinto as a distinct religion. Shrines came under increasing government oversight, and citizens were encouraged to worship the emperor as a kami. With the formation of the Japanese Empire in the early 20th century, Shinto was exported to other parts of East Asia. Following Japan's defeat in World War II, Shinto was formally separated from the state.
Shinto is primarily practiced in Japan, with about 100,000 public shrines, although practitioners are also found overseas. Numerically, it is the largest religion in Japan, with Buddhism being second. Most of the country's population participates in Shinto and Buddhist activities, particularly festivals, which reflects a common perspective in Japanese culture that the beliefs and practices of different religions do not need to be exclusive. Elements of Shinto have been integrated into various new religious movements in Japan.
Definition
There is no universally accepted definition of Shinto. According to Joseph Cali and John Dougill, if there were "one single, broad definition of Shinto" that could be proposed, it would be that "Shinto is a belief in kami," the supernatural entities at the heart of the religion. The Japanologist Helen Hardacre wrote that "Shinto encompasses doctrines, institutions, rituals, and communal life based on kami worship," while the scholar of religion Inoue Nobutaka noted that the term "Shinto" is "often used" in "reference to kami worship and related theologies, rituals, and practices." Various scholars have referred to practitioners of Shinto as Shintoists, although this term has no direct translation in the Japanese language.
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 kami religion of Japan, which lived symbiotically with organized Buddhism, and only later was institutionalized as Shinto." While several institutions and practices now associated with Shinto existed in Japan by the 8th century, various scholars have argued that Shinto as a distinct religion was essentially "invented" during the 19th century, in Japan's Meiji era. 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". Inoue Nobutaka stated that "Shinto cannot be considered as a single religious system that existed from the ancient to the modern period", while the historian Kuroda Toshio noted that "before modern times Shinto did not exist as an independent religion".
Categorisation
Many scholars describe Shinto as a religion, a term first translated into Japanese as shūkyō around the time of the Meiji Restoration. However, some practitioners view Shinto instead as a "way," characterizing it more as a custom or tradition. This perspective partly aims to bypass the modern separation of religion and state and to restore Shinto's historical connections with the Japanese state. Moreover, many categories of religion and religiosity defined in Western culture "do not readily apply" to Shinto. Unlike the religions familiar in Western countries, such as Christianity and Islam, Shinto lacks a single founder or canonical text. While Western religions often emphasize exclusivity, it has long been accepted in Japan to practice multiple religious traditions simultaneously. Consequently, Japanese religion is highly pluralistic. Shinto is commonly cited alongside Buddhism as one of Japan's two main religions, with both often differing in focus: Buddhism emphasizes the cessation of suffering, while Shinto concentrates on adapting to life's pragmatic demands. Shinto incorporates elements from religions imported from mainland Asia, such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese divination practices, sharing features like polytheism with other East Asian religions.
((quotation|Some scholars propose discussing types of Shintō, such as popular Shintō, folk Shintō, domestic Shintō, sectarian Shintō, imperial house Shintō, shrine Shintō, state Shintō, new Shintō religions, and so on, instead of viewing Shintō as a single entity. This approach can be useful but raises the question of what "Shintō" means in each instance, especially since each category includes or has included elements from Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, folk religions, and others.|— Scholar of religion Brian Bocking}}
Scholars of religion have debated how to classify Shinto. Inoue considered it part of "the family of East-Asian religions." The philosopher Stuart D. B. Picken suggested that Shinto be classed as a world religion, while the historian H. Byron Earhart called it a "major religion." Shinto is also often described as an indigenous religion, although this generates debates over the different definitions of "indigenous" in the Japanese context. The notion of Shinto as Japan's "indigenous religion" stemmed from the growth of modern nationalism between the Edo and Meiji periods; this view promoted the idea that Shinto's origins were prehistoric and that it represented something like the "underlying will of Japanese culture". The prominent Shinto theologian Sokyo Ono, for instance, said kami 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". 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". In the early 21st century it became increasingly common for practitioners to call Shinto a nature religion, which critics saw as a strategy to disassociate the tradition from controversial issues surrounding militarism and imperialism.
Shinto exhibits significant local variation; anthropologist John K. Nelson observed that it is "not a unified, monolithic entity with a single center and system of its own." Different forms of Shinto have been identified. "Shrine Shinto" refers to practices centered around shrines, while "Domestic Shinto" pertains to the ways kami are honored in the home. Some scholars have introduced the term "Folk Shinto" to denote localized Shinto practices or those outside of an institutionalized context. Additionally, in various historical periods, there was a "State Shinto," where Shinto beliefs and practices were closely connected to the Japanese state. By representing "a portmanteau term" for numerous diverse traditions across Japan, the term "Shinto" mirrors "Hinduism," which is used to describe diverse traditions throughout South Asia.
Etymology
The term Shinto is often translated into English as "the way of the kami," although its meaning has varied throughout Japanese history. Other terms are sometimes used synonymously with "Shinto"; these include kami no michi (神の道, "the way of the kami"), kannagara no michi (神ながらの道, also written 随神の道 or 惟神の道, "the way of the kami from time immemorial"), Kodō (古道, "the ancient way"), Daidō (大道, "the great way"), and Teidō (帝道, "the imperial way").
The term Shinto derives from the combination of two Chinese characters: shin (神), which means "spirit" or "god", and tō (道), which means "way", "road" or "path". "Shintō" (神道, "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 神道 was originally adopted into Japanese as Jindō, possibly first used as a Buddhist term to refer to non-Buddhist deities. Among the earliest known appearances of the term Shinto in Japan is in the 8th-century text, Nihon Shoki. Here, it may serve as a generic term for popular beliefs or alternatively reference Taoism, as many Taoist practices had recently been imported from mainland Asia. In these early Japanese contexts, the word Shinto did not apply to a distinct religious tradition or anything uniquely Japanese. For instance, the 11th-century Konjaku monogatari refers to a woman in China practicing Shinto and to people in India worshiping kami, indicating that these terms were used to describe religions outside Japan itself.
In medieval Japan, kami-worship was generally seen as being part of Japanese Buddhism, with the kami themselves often interpreted as Buddhas. At this point, the term Shinto increasingly referred to "the authority, power, or activity of a kami, being a kami, or, in short, the state or attributes of a kami." It appears in this form in texts such as Nakatomi no harai kunge and Shintōshū tales. In the Japanese Portuguese Dictionary of 1603, Shinto is defined as referring to "kami or matters pertaining to kami." The term Shinto became common in the 15th century. During the late Edo period, the kokugaku 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 kami worship from traditions like Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. This use of the term Shinto became increasingly popular from the 18th century. The term Shinto has been commonly used only since the early 20th century, when it superseded the term taikyō ('great religion') as the name for the Japanese state religion.
Beliefs
Kami
- Wikipedia article: Kami
Shinto is polytheistic and involves the veneration of many deities known as kami, or sometimes as jingi (神祇). In Japanese, no distinction is made between singular and plural, so the term kami refers both to individual kami and the collective group of kami. Although there is no direct English translation, the term kami has sometimes been rendered as "god" or "spirit." The historian of religion Joseph Kitagawa deemed these English translations "quite unsatisfactory and misleading," and various scholars caution against translating kami into English. In Japanese, it is often said that there are eight million kami, a term that implies an infinite number, and Shinto practitioners believe that these deities are present everywhere. They are not regarded as omnipotent, omniscient, or necessarily immortal.
The term kami is "conceptually fluid," being "vague and imprecise." In Japanese, it is often applied to the power of phenomena that evoke a sense of wonder and awe in the observer. Kitagawa referred to this as "the kami nature," stating that he believed it to be "somewhat analogous" to Western ideas of the numinous and the sacred. Kami are thought to inhabit both the living and the dead, as well as organic and inorganic matter, including natural disasters such as earthquakes, droughts, and plagues; their presence can be observed in natural forces like wind, rain, fire, and sunshine. Accordingly, Nelson noted that Shinto views "the actual phenomena of the world itself" as being "divine." This perspective is characterized as being animistic.
In Japan, kami have been revered since ancient times. During the Yayoi period, they were viewed as formless and invisible, eventually being depicted anthropomorphically under Buddhist influence. Today, statues of the kami are known as shinzo. Kami are typically linked to a specific location, often a prominent landscape feature such as a waterfall, mountain, large rock, or distinctive tree. Physical objects or locations believed to house the kami are called shintai; items inhabited by the kami and placed in the shrine are referred to as go-shintai. Commonly chosen objects for this purpose include mirrors, swords, stones, beads, and inscribed tablets. These go-shintai are hidden from the view of visitors and may be concealed inside boxes so that even the priests do not know what they look like.
Kami are considered capable of both benevolent and destructive actions; if warnings about proper behavior are disregarded, the kami can impose punishment, often illness or sudden death, known as shinbatsu. Some kami, called magatsuhi-no-kami or araburu kami, are viewed as malevolent and destructive. Offerings and prayers are made to the kami to receive their blessings and to dissuade them from harmful actions. Shinto aims to foster and maintain a harmonious relationship between humans and the kami, and thus with the natural world. More localized kami may evoke feelings of closeness and familiarity from members of the local community that are not directed towards more prominent kami like Amaterasu. The kami of a specific community is referred to as their ujigami, while that of a particular household is the yashikigami.
Kami are not considered metaphysically different from humanity, as it is possible for humans to become kami. Deceased humans are sometimes revered as kami, regarded as protectors or ancestral figures. One of the most notable examples is the Emperor Ōjin, who was enshrined as the kami Hachiman upon his death, believed to be a protector of Japan and a kami of war. In Japanese culture, ancestors can be viewed as a form of kami. In Western Japan, the term jigami refers to the enshrined kami of a village founder. In some cases, living human beings were also regarded as kami; these were called akitsumi kami or arahito-gami. In the State Shinto system of the Meiji era, the emperor of Japan was declared to be a kami, while several Shinto sects have also considered their leaders as living kami.
Although some kami are revered only in a single location, others have shrines in many areas. Hachiman, for instance, has about 25,000 shrines dedicated to him, while Inari has 40,000. The act of establishing a new shrine for a kami that already has one is called bunrei ("dividing the spirit"). As part of this, the kami is invited to enter a new place, during the installment ceremony known as a kanjo. The new, subsidiary shrine is referred to as a bunsha. Individual kami are not believed to have their power diminished by being enshrined in multiple locations, and there is no limit to the number of places a kami can be honored. In some periods, fees were charged for the right to enshrine a particular kami in a new place. Shrines are not necessarily always designed as permanent structures.
Many kami have messengers known as kami no tsukai or tsuka washime, which typically take animal forms. For example, Inari's messenger is a fox (kitsune), while Hachiman's is a dove. Shinto cosmology also encompasses spirits that cause malevolent acts, called bakemono, which includes categories such as oni, tengu, kappa, mononoke, and yamanba. Japanese folklore includes belief in goryō or onryō, which are unquiet or vengeful spirits, particularly of those who died violently and without proper funerary rites. These spirits are believed to inflict suffering on the living, meaning they must be pacified, usually through Buddhist rites but sometimes by being enshrined as a kami. Other supernatural figures in Japanese culture include the tanuki, animal-like beings that can take on human form.
Cosmogony
Although the narratives differ in detail, the origin of the kami and of Japan itself are recounted in two 8th-century texts, Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. Drawing heavily on Chinese influence, these texts were commissioned by ruling elites to legitimize and consolidate their rule. Although never of great importance to Japanese religious life, in the early 20th century the government proclaimed that their accounts were factual.
The Kojiki recounts that the universe started with ame-tsuchi, the separation of light and pure elements (ame, "heaven") from heavy elements (tsuchi, "earth"). Three kami then appeared: Amenominakanushi, Takamimusuhi no Mikoto, and Kamimusuhi no Mikoto. Other kami followed, including a brother and sister, Izanagi and Izanami. The kami 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. Izanagi and Izanami then descended to Earth, where the latter gave birth to further kami. One of these was a fire kami, whose birth killed Izanami. Izanagi descended to yomi to retrieve his sister, but there he saw her body putrefying. Embarrassed to be seen in this state, she chased him out of yomi, and he closed its entrance with a boulder.
Izanagi bathed in the sea to rid himself of the pollution caused by witnessing Izanami's decay. Through this act, more kami emerged from his body: Amaterasu (the sun kami) was born from his left eye, Tsukuyomi (the moon kami) from his right eye, and Susanoo (the storm kami) from his nose. Susanoo acted destructively, prompting Amaterasu to hide within a cave, plunging the earth into darkness. The other kami eventually succeeded in coaxing her out. Susanoo was then banished to earth, where he married and had children. According to the Kojiki, Amaterasu then sent her grandson, Ninigi, to rule Japan, giving him curved beads, a mirror, and a sword—the symbols of Japanese imperial authority. Amaterasu remains one of Japan's most venerated kami.
Cosmology and afterlife
In Shinto, the creative principle that permeates all life is known as musubi and is associated with its own kami. Within traditional Japanese thought, there is no concept of an overarching duality between good and evil. The concept of aki encompasses misfortune, unhappiness, and disaster, though it does not correspond precisely with the Western concept of evil. There is no eschatology in Shinto. Texts such as the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki depict multiple realms in Shinto cosmology. These present a universe divided into three parts: the Plane of High Heaven (Takama-no-hara), where the kami reside; the Phenomenal or Manifested World (Utsushi-yo), where humans live; and the Nether World (Yomotsu-kuni), where unclean spirits exist. However, the mythological texts do not draw firm boundaries between these realms.
Modern Shinto places greater emphasis on this life than on any afterlife, although it does espouse a belief in a human spirit or soul, the mitama or tamashii, which has four aspects. While indigenous ideas about an afterlife were likely well-developed before the arrival of Buddhism, contemporary Japanese people often adopt Buddhist beliefs regarding the afterlife. Mythological stories like the Kojiki describe yomi or yomi-no-kuni as a realm of the dead, though this does not play a role in modern Shinto. Modern Shinto beliefs about the afterlife largely revolve around the notion that the spirit survives bodily death and continues to assist the living. After 33 years, it then becomes part of the family kami. These ancestral spirits are sometimes thought to reside in the mountains, from where they descend to participate in agricultural events. Shinto's beliefs about the afterlife also include the obake, restless spirits who died under unfortunate circumstances and often seek revenge.
Purity and impurity
A key theme in Shinto is the avoidance of kegare ("pollution" or "impurity") while ensuring harae ("purity"). In Japanese philosophy, humans are considered fundamentally pure. Kegare, therefore, is viewed as a temporary condition that can be corrected through achieving harae. Rites of purification are performed to restore an individual to "spiritual" health and make them valuable to society.
This concept of purity is evident in many aspects of Japanese culture, particularly in its emphasis on bathing. For example, purification is considered vital in preparation for the planting season, and performers of noh theatre participate in a purification rite before their performances. Among the items viewed as significant pollutants in Shinto are death, disease, witchcraft, the live flaying of an animal, incest, bestiality, excrement, and blood related to menstruation or childbirth. To prevent kegare, priests and other practitioners may practice abstinence and refrain from various activities leading up to a festival or ritual. Several words, known as imi-kotoba, are also seen as taboo, prompting people to avoid saying them when at a shrine; these include shi (death), byō (illness), and shishi (meat).
A purification ceremony known as misogi involves using fresh water, salt water, or salt to remove kegare. Full immersion in the sea is often considered the most ancient and effective form of purification. This act connects with the mythological tale in which Izanagi immersed himself in the sea to cleanse himself after discovering his deceased wife; it was from this act that other kami emerged from his body. An alternative method is immersion beneath a waterfall. Salt is often viewed as a purifying substance; some Shinto practitioners, for instance, sprinkle salt on themselves after a funeral, while those running restaurants may place a small pile of salt outside before opening each day. Fire is also seen as a source of purification. The yaku-barai is a form of harae designed to ward off misfortune, while the oharae, or "ceremony of great purification," is often used for end-of-year purification rites and is conducted twice a year at many shrines. Before the Meiji period, purification rites were generally performed by onmyōji, a type of diviner whose practices stemmed from the Chinese yin and yang philosophy.
Kannagara, morality, and ethics
Shinto incorporates morality tales and myths but lacks a codified ethical doctrine, and therefore no "unified, systematized code of behavior." Nevertheless, an ethical system arises from its practice, emphasizing sincerity (makoto), honesty (tadashii), hard work (tsui-shin), and thanksgiving (kansha) directed toward the kami. Shojiki is regarded as a virtue, encompassing honesty, uprightness, veracity, and frankness. Shinto sometimes references four virtues known as the akaki kiyoki kokoro or sei-mei-shin, meaning "purity and cheerfulness of heart," which are linked to the state of harae. Attitudes towards sex and fertility tend to be forthright in Shinto. Shinto's flexibility regarding morality and ethics has frequently drawn criticism, especially from those who argue that the religion can easily become a tool for those wishing to use it to legitimize their authority and power.
In Shinto, kannagara ("way of the kami") represents the law of the natural order, with wa ("benign harmony") being inherent in all things. Disrupting wa is considered bad, while contributing to it is seen as good; thus, the subordination of the individual to the larger social unit has long been a hallmark of the religion. Throughout Japanese history, the concept of saisei-itchi, or the union of religious authority and political authority, has been prominent. In the modern world, Shinto has leaned toward conservatism and nationalism, an association that has led various Japanese civil liberties groups and neighboring countries to view Shinto with suspicion. Particularly controversial has been the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, dedicated to Japan's war dead. In 1979, it enshrined 14 men who had been labeled Class-A defendants at the 1946 Tokyo War Crimes Trials, prompting domestic and international condemnation, especially from China and Korea.
Shinto priests encounter ethical dilemmas. In the 1980s, for example, priests at the Suwa Shrine in Nagasaki discussed whether to invite the crew of a U.S. Navy vessel docked in the port city to their festival celebrations, considering the sensitivities surrounding the 1945 U.S. use of the atomic bomb on the city. In other instances, priests have opposed construction projects on shrine-owned land; at Kaminoseki in the early 2000s, a priest faced pressure to resign after opposing the sale of shrine land to build a nuclear power plant. In the 21st century, Shinto has increasingly been presented as a nature-centered spirituality with environmentalist credentials; several shrines have partnered with local environmental campaigns, while an international interfaith conference on environmental sustainability was held at the Ise Shrine in 2014. Critics have characterized the portrayal of Shinto as an environmentalist movement as a rhetorical strategy rather than a genuine effort by Shinto institutions to become environmentally sustainable.
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