Orgin of religion

Shintoism has no founder. Shinto is known as Japan's national religion and is also one of the oldest religions in the entire world.

    The people of Japan Idolize their lands and have very strong beliefs in the deuine creation. Early established of Shinto began around 552 AD when Shinto reigned among the Japanese without any other gods in sight.

Time of formation

Around 1700 AD Shinto started to combine with other religions such as Confucianism and Buddhism which  then formed a religion called Ryobu Shinto.

    Around 1700 AD Japanese scripts were being studied by scholars, Airata was one of the Shinto scholars from his knowledge and studies came to a conclusion that "Japan is the country of gods, and her inhabitants are the descendants of gods".

Major practices

• Shinto recognizes many sacred places: mountains, springs, etc.
• Believers respect animals as messengers of the Gods. A pair of statues of "Koma-inu" (guard dogs) face each other within the temple grounds.
• Shrine ceremonies, which include cleansing, offerings, prayers, and dances are directed to the Kami.
• An altar, the "Kami-dana" (Shelf of Gods), is given a central place in many homes.
• Origami ("Paper of the spirits"): This is a Japanese folk art in which paper is folded into beautiful shapes. They are often seen around Shinto shrines. Out of respect for the tree spirit that gave its life to make the paper, origami paper is never cut.

Key dates/ Holy days (Holidays)

• Shinto New Year (Oshogatsu or Shogatsu): Shintoists consider this holiday one of the most popular celebrations, where many shrine visits take place.
•  
• Adults' Day (Seijin Shiki): This celebration pertains to Japanese individuals who have reached the legal age of adulthood, which is 20 in the country, during the previous year.
•  
• Festival of Dolls (Hina-matsuri): This holiday is devoted to the daughters in a family.
•  
• Labor Thanksgiving Day (Niinamesei): This national holiday takes place in Japan and was originally meant as a harvest festival, allowing people to appreciate their harvest and have a chance to share in the joy with Kami.
•  
• Spring Festival (Haru Matsuri or Toshigoi-no-Matsuri): During this festival, participants pray that they will receive a decent harvest.
•  
• Annual Festival (Rei-sai): Usually taking place on the day of the Annual Festival, people set up mini-shrines (called mikoshi) during the Divine Procession (Shinko-sai).

Religious practices/ Vocab

1. Tradition and the Family.

family is the main mechanism by which traditions are preserved celebrated mainly through weddings and births

2. Love of Nature

nature is sacred to be in contact with nature is to be in contact with the gods

3. Physical Cleanliness

• The most common form of purification is ablution (Misogi) where followers of Shintoism take baths, wash their hands and rinse out their mouths before worshiping in a shrine

4. Matsuri

• the worship and honor given to the Kami and ancestral spirits
• Kami are spirits found in every living creature, natural object, or deceased spirit which while not entirely similar, might be compared to the western idea of the soul
• Izanagi (male) and Izanami (female) are the two kami from which all else was made, however the closest thing to a 'central' spirit found in shintoism is Amaterasu the female Sun kami.

In addition to having four affirmations, Shintoism also has four main traditions.


1. Koshitsu Shinto (the Shinto of the imperial house)

• Practiced by the Emperor mainly in devotion to Amaterasu (the female sun kami)

2. Jinja (shrine) Shinto

• largest practicing group
• in its original form closely aligned with State-Shinto

3. Kyoha (sectarian) Shinto/Shuha Shinto

• made of up of 13 sects in the late 19th century/20th century
• this division of Shintoism tends to have a cluster of worshipers around one specific diety much like western religions

4. Minzoku (folk)Shinto

• made up of rural practices and rituals
• often seen by road side shrines or tributes

Centers of worship

The centers of worship were the local shrines or the homes of the kami and Ko-ji-ki, the "records of ancient matters" and Nihongi, the "chronicles of Japan." They were both composed around 720 A.D. and in that they report events occurring some 1300 years earlier in the history of Japan. New Year's Day is also an important time for shrine visitation. Protective talismans, amulets, etc. that were obtained from a given shrine during the course of the previous year are returned to the shrine and burned. In turn, the pilgrim will receive new ones; these will most likely be taken home and placed on one's kami-dana in order to ensure a prosperous and healthful new year.

Fundamental beliefs

Shinto is a polytheistic religion, venerating a vast pantheon of kami (gods or spirits) which range from the local deities of mountains or streams to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Natural phenomena and particular places are personified as kami, dead statesmen or other notables could be deified as kami, families or craft traditions revered their forefathers as kami, the reigning emperor was long regarded as a living kami. A kami could loosely be termed the "spirit" of virtually any aspect of existence possessing its own discrete identity and vital force (tama). Japan is traditionally known as "the land of 8 million kami". The practice of Shinto consists chiefly of worshipping, propitiating, and otherwise dealing with the kami.

Shinto first arose in a preliterate culture as a religion of practice rather than creed, and practice remains fundamental to it. Two types of practice predominate: honouring the kami through prayer and offerings, and averting their wrath by cleansing oneself of impurity.

Food offerings-especially rice, sake, fish, vegetables, and fruit-and symbolic offerings of pine branches with white paper strips attached usually feature in the more important Shinto ceremonies. These are often associated with the seasonal cycles, reflecting Shinto's roots in an agricultural society. The stages of human life are also marked by Shinto ceremonies: a baby's first visit to its tutelary kami soon after its birth; the Shichi-go-san (Seven-Five-Three) festival on November 15 in which 5-year-old boys and 3- and 7-year-old girls visit shrines to pray for good health; and the traditional wedding ceremony. Any new enterprise requiring good fortune, such as a supermarket's sales drive, may call for prayers at a shrine. A shrine's Annual Festival (Rei-sai) is often marked by a riotous parade in which a portable shrine, the mikoshi, is carried shoulder-high round the parish accompanied by shouting and singing.

Shinto traditionally emphasizes purity, and regards death, disease, blood, and filth as obnoxious to the kami. Elaborate rituals are prescribed to purge these exhaustively specified contaminations, known as kegare.

Works Cited

©2005 Megan Chen; Mount Holyoke College;World Politics 116 shintoism retrived 10/25/2010 www.mtholyoke.edu/~chen20m/classweb/116/Shintoism.html

David Stoecklein/ALLSTOCK,INC. alumni.ox.compsoc.net/~gemini/simons/historyweb/shinto.html


"Shinto, an ancient Japanese religion" November 24, 1995. 10/25/2010 http://www.religioustolerance.org/shinto.htm

"Shinto Holidays" 2/27/2009. By Yona Williams. 10/25/2010 http://www.unexplainable.net/artman/publish/article_11802.shtml


McDowell, Josh,(1993). "Handbook Of Religions Today". Nelson reference, Thomas Nielsen publishers. pg 1.
Shintoism,(2005 Gale, Cengage Learning). http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=K12-Reference&prodId=SUIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE|CX3424300726&mode=view