Shinto

Although historians debate at what point it is suitable to refer to Shinto as a distinct religion, kami veneration has been traced back to Japan's Yayoi period (300 BC to 300 AD).

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 need not be exclusive.

[30] In the early 21st century it became increasingly common for practitioners to call Shinto a nature religion,[36] which critics saw as a strategy to disassociate the tradition from controversial issues surrounding militarism and imperialism.

[36] Shinto displays substantial local variation;[37] the anthropologist John K. Nelson noted it was "not a unified, monolithic entity that has a single center and system all its own".

[117] 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.

[126] Modern Shinto places greater emphasis on this life than on any afterlife,[127] although it does espouse belief in a human spirit or soul, the mitama or tamashii, which contains four aspects.

[143] 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.

[145] Various words, termed imi-kotoba, are also regarded as taboo, and people avoid speaking them when at a shrine; these include shi (death), byō (illness), and shishi (meat).

[20] An ethical system nevertheless arises from its practice,[158] with emphasis placed on sincerity (makoto),[159] honesty (tadashii),[160] hard work (tsui-shin),[161] and thanksgiving (kansha) directed towards the kami.

[162] Shinto sometimes includes reference to 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.

[164] 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.

[166] Disrupting wa is deemed bad, contributing to it is thought good;[167] as such, subordination of the individual to the larger social unit has long been a characteristic of the religion.

[199] Inside the honden may be stored material belonging to the kami; known as shinpo, this can include artworks, clothing, weapons, musical instruments, bells, and mirrors.

[217] Shrines are often set within gardens[218] or wooded groves called chinju no mori ("forest of the tutelary" kami),[219] which vary in size from just a few trees to sizeable areas of woodland.

[260] Miko 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.

For instance, people may ask that the priest approaches the kami so as to purify their car in the hope that this will prevent it from being involved in an accident; the kotsu anzen harai ("purification for road safety").

[283] The waving of the haraigushi is often followed by an additional act of purification, the shubatsu, in which the priest sprinkles water, salt, or brine over those assembled from a wooden box called the 'en-to-oke or magemono.

[289] In the contemporary period, lay worshippers usually give gifts of money to the kami while priests generally offer them food, drink, and sprigs of the sacred sakaki tree.

[134] In the rare instances where Japanese individuals are given a Shinto funeral rather than a Buddhist one, a tama-ya, mitama-ya, or sorei-sha shrine may be erected in the home in place of a butsudan.

[307] These domestic rituals often take place early in the morning,[308] and prior to conducting them, practitioners often bathe, rinse their mouth, or wash their hands as a form of purification.

[139] In many places, new year celebrations incorporate hadaka matsuri ("naked festivals") in which men dressed only in a fundoshi loincloth engage in a particular activity, such as fighting over a specific object or immersing themselves in a river.

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 shōrō nagashi, by which lanterns are inserted into small boats, often made of paper, and placed in a river to float downstream.

[397] The Kojiki omits any reference to Buddhism,[398] in part because it sought to ignore foreign influences and emphasise a narrative stressing indigenous elements of Japanese culture.

[402] A government order in 713 called on each region to produce fudoki, records of local geography, products, and stories, with the latter revealing more traditions about the kami which were present at this time.

[404] Tenmu for example appointed a virginal imperial princess to serve as the Saiō, a form of priestess, at the Ise Shrine on his behalf, a tradition continued by subsequent emperors.

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.

[410] They wanted to place a renewed emphasis on kami 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.

[37] The number and name of the sects given this formal designation varied;[416] often they merged ideas with Shinto from Buddhism, Christian, Confucian, Daoist, and Western esoteric traditions.

[421] In 1956 the association issued a creedal statement, the keishin seikatsu no kōryō ("general characteristics of a life lived in reverence of the kami"), to summarise what they regarded as Shinto's principles.

[425] 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.