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Shinto

REL/133: World Religious Traditions I

5/21/2014

David Bolton

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Shinto

Shinto meaning “the way of the gods”, is centered upon the relationship between practitioners and a multitude of supernatural entities called kami who are associated with all aspects of life. Being Japan’s major religion alongside Buddhism, Shinto is deeply rooted in the Japanese people and traditions, having no founder and sacred scriptures like the sutras or the bible. Shinto is an optimistic faith, there is no right or wrong, and nobody is perfect. Humans are thought to be fundamentally good and evil is believed to be caused by evil spirits.

There are those in the world who reject foreign religions as heresy, and will only believe in their indisputable truth of their own faith. In Shinto, they consider this tendency to be unhealthy in human society. Believing that it is better to learn the good points from all the religions of the world, just as learning from the good actions of our parents, teachers or others in society. Shinto has an openness to foreign religions, even those of a totally different character like Buddhism. By nature, a religion has a tendency to split into several factions due to differences over interpretation of dogma. However, in Shinto, there is no dogmatic dis-unification, and this why Shinto can embrace people of different faiths.

A religion closely related to secular life through festivals and traditional rites of passage, Shinto’s value system is closely related to that secular society. Although it lacks the sharpness in terms of logical development of thought, Shinto has established its own direction over the course of its long history. People have been inspired to do what they believed will bring them pleasure to the kami and to abstain what might offend the kami. So, people feel Shinto through

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Shinto

their experiences, but do not acknowledge it through a process of logical thinking, and in shrines regarded as halls of worship.

The deities in Shinto are referred to as kami, and is frequently translated god or gods which expresses a concept of divinity significantly different from that found in Western religions. The deities in Shinto do not share the characteristics of utter transcendence and omnipotence often associated with the concepts of god in the West. A kami may be anything that is extraordinary in the broadest sense, and any that inspires awe or reverence. A variety of kami existing in Shinto are related to natural objects and creatures such as the spirits of mountains, seas, rivers, rocks, trees, and animals.

The modern Shinto was classified roughly into three types, Shrine Shinto, Sectarian Shinto and Folk Shinto. The Shrine Shinto has been in existence from the prehistoric ages to the present and constitutes a main current of Shinto tradition. Sectarian Shinto is a relatively new movement based on the Japanese religious traditions. It is represented by the 13 major sects, originated mainly I Japan around the 19th century. The Folk Shinto, which appeared in Japan after World War II is the new Shinto sects. It is an aspect of Japanese folk belief and has neither a firmly organized religious body nor any doctrinal formulas, and includes small roadside images, agricultural rites of individual families, and so on. These three types of Shinto are

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Shinto

interrelated. Folk Shinto exists as the substructure of Shinto faith, and Sectarian Shinto followers is usually a parishioner of a certain shrine of the Shrine Shinto at the same time. Simultaneously Japanese people in majority, are both believers of Shrine Shinto and Buddhism.

The basis of Shinto is honoring one’s family kami and ancestors. There are rituals to accomplish this, both at a shrine, or in the home. Shinto, as a national religion, also calls for obedience to and respect for Japan. Its patriotism is a natural extension of the love that Japanese people have for their homeland. Shinto leaders are also focusing on the necessity of international cooperation, and are working toward helping adherents to become global citizens, thus extending one’s patriotic duties to the entire planet. Shinto also holds the environment in very high accord, and many adherents feel moved to be involved in various environmental protection programs.

Today more than 80,000 shrines are scattered all over the Japanese archipelago. There deities are still worshiped and rituals are performed according to the general patterns established by the state for all shrines in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Shinto religious practices accounts for great diversity in Shinto, while those different instances share certain basic beliefs and values. Shinto today is similar to its original form, but has incorporated ideas from several other traditions Confucianism and Buddhism. Today many of adherents of Shinto are also adherents of Buddhism. It is difficult to determine just how many adherents there are. Shinto is recognized by the tori, a distinctive arch or gate erected at the

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entrance to the sacred precincts of a shrine. The tori separates the inner area of the shrine from the profane world surrounding it.

Shinto influences the modern Japanese people in daily activities and in beliefs. The majority of Japanese attend a county local festivals for the celebrations of local deities. Today, the people donates money to the local shrines, and pray to their god or gods for various thing such as good fortunes. Japanese people are sometimes, and time excessively superstitious. Many carry all sorts of good luck charms and other blessed items obtained from local shrines with them daily. Even with their lack of religious faith, many of them still go to shrines and leave their prayers on small wooden boards called Ema, as well as ask priests or priestesses to preform duties like weddings, exorcisms, or blessings. Shinto is very much alive today in Japan, whether it be daily prayers they make to gods, carrying a good luck charm with them in school, or Shinto beast making appearances in daily media. It is safe to say that Japan has a very deep underlining of Shintoism rooted within its society that can be witnessed and experienced today.

6 Shinto Reference • Molloy, M., & Hilgers, T. L. (2010). Experiencing the World's Religions. Tradition, Challenge, and Change (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. • http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2056.html

• http://www.tsurugaoka-hachimangu.jp/shinto_is/characteristics.html

• http://www.badgleyb.net/html_docs/religionjapan.htm

• http://www.spiritualliving360.com/index.php/sacred-texts-of-the-shinto-religion-a-brief-overview-2346/