The sect was originally an effort to organize Shintō teachings into a coherent structure in order to assert its authority vis-a-vis Buddhism.
Yoshida Shinto held that Shintō was the primal religion of the world, which in turn gave rise to Buddhism and Confucianism.
Among the ethic "principles" in Yoshida Shintō shōjō (清浄, "purity") and makoto (誠, "sincerity") took on a great meaning within the sect.
These concepts may be related to Buddhist salvation but in contrast to Buddhism, Yoshida Shinto rejected celibacy and the idea that human life always leads to suffering.
This trend persisted until the rise of National Learning which sought to separate Shintō from both Buddhism and Confucianism and thus developed a completely new discourse on the native kami.
[4] In terms of institutional history, Yoshida Shintō was dominant until the late Edo period but decreased rapidly during the 19th century and has left hardly any trace in contemporary Japanese shrine worship.