The Shintōshū (神道集) is a Japanese setsuwa collection in ten volumes,[1] believed to date from the Nanboku-chō period (1336–1392).
[2] It illustrates with tales about various shrines the Buddhist honji suijaku theory, according to which Japanese kami were simply local manifestations of the Indian gods of Buddhism.
Divided into ten volumes and 50 chapters, it supports the Tendai and Ise Shinto honji suijaku theory according to which Japanese kami were simply local manifestations of the Indian gods of Buddhism.
This theory was never systematized but became nonetheless the most important tool through which foreign Buddhism was reconciled with local kami beliefs.
[4] The common point of the tales is that before being reborn as a tutelary kami of an area, a person must first be born and suffer there as a human being.