SHINTOISM

ORIGIN OF SHINTOISM

 Shinto ("the way of the gods") is the indigenous faith of the Japanese people and as old as Japan itself. It
remains Japan's major religion alongside Buddhism.
 Shinto does not have a founder nor does it have sacred scriptures like the sutras or the Bible. Propaganda
and preaching are not common either, because Shinto is deeply rooted in the Japanese people and
traditions. However, mythologies collected in Japanese classics such as Kojiki (the Record of Ancient
Matters ), compiled in 712, and Nihonshoki (also known as Nihongi, the Chronicles of Japan ), compiled in
720, are regarded as important texts.
 In the late 6th century AD, the name Shinto was created for the native religion to distinguish it from
Buddhism and Confucianism, which had been introduced from China.
 The ancient practice of Shinto proper virtually disappeared and was maintained only at a few great shrines
and in the imperial palace, although the emperors themselves had become Buddhists. The distinctively
Shinto priests became fortune-tellers and magicians.
 Beginning in the 18th century, Shinto was revived as an important national religion through the writings and
teachings of a succession of notable scholars, including Mabuchi, MotooriNorinaga, and Hirata Atsutane.
 Before 1946 Shinto took two forms: State or ShrineShinto, a patriotic nationalistic cult, identified with and
financially supported by the imperial Government; and Sectarian Shinto, a general term for a number of
sects founded by private persons and based on various interpretations of traditional Shinto.
 State Shinto, as the official government cult, theoretically embodied the religious beliefs of
the entire Japanese people, and the number of its adherents was counted as the total
population of the empire. The cult centered on a great profusion of shrines in all parts of the
country, ranging from small wayside chapels commemorating local spirits and families to
great national sanctuaries, such as the Yasukuni Shrine, Tokyo, dedicated to the spirits of
soldiers who had died in battle for Japan.
 Sectarian Shinto, a religion of the same status as Buddhism and Christianity, was unaffected
by these changes.
 At the present time it comprises 13 major and numerous minor sects.
 The principal sects are divided into 5 main groups:
1. Those that continue with little modification the traditions of ancient Shinto;
2. Those that emphasize adherence to Confucian ethics;
3. Those that are predominantly devoted to faith healing;
4. Those that practice the worship of mountains; and
5. Those that are primarily devoted to purification rites.
 In the early 1990s more than 110 million Japaneseparticipated in the various Shinto sects, but those who
professed Shinto as their sole or major religion numbered only about 3.4 million.
 The Shinto sects have approximately 101,000 priests and about 81,000 shrines. One of the most
authoritative works on the subject is Shinto: the Way of Japan (1965) by the American educator and
clergyman Floyd H. Ross.

RELEVANCE OF SHINTO IN MODERN WORLD

Japan is a nation widely associated with the practice of “cultural borrowing.” The Japanese have liberally
borrowed culture traits from their geographic neighbors (particularly China) over the course of their history,
adapting the traits that suited them while always altering them to make them distinctly Japanese. Urbanization,
industrialization, and modern transportation and communication together rapidly changed the Japanese way of life;
the effect of these developments being felt not only the cities, but also the countryside. However, still buried
beneath Japan’s new exterior are deep-seated customs and institutions of traditional Japanese culture, including its
politics, religion, and family life. Japanese society continues to struggle to adhere to the concepts of personal loyalty
SHINTOISM
and obligation that have been a tradition throughout the ages. Buddhism and Shinto once reaffirmed the national
group identity of Japan; they now only whisper a shallow echo of their former message. However, if Japan has
indeed been seething for a long time, it may be in part because seething below the surface is what the Japanese are
comfortable with. The Japanese have been suppressing themselves for a long time, and the seeds of their modern
malady were planted in the Meiji restoration. Cognitive dissonance is practically a defining feature of the modern
Japanese psyche. Although change is inevitable in all societies, the Japanese are masterful at holding it off, balancing
it with tradition. Tradition and ritual are still deeply ingrained. For the foreseeable future, the Japanese will likely
continue to cling to the visible symbols of their religious traditions, while the real changes continue to occur below
the surface.

ESSENTIALS OF SHINTO BELIEF

1. Heart of Shinto is sensitivity to the mysterious powers of nature. Kami are not thought so much as beings
living in another realm but as powers in or near this world whose presence can be felt, for example when you
are standing in a grove of trees or beside a waterfall or in the shadow of a mountain. The Kami can also cause
fear and dread, like you would feel in a hurricane or earthquake. The Kami are the energies that animate
nature – they cause the rice to grow and the wind to blow.

2. Kami are treated as persons and are given names so human beings can approach them and feel closely
related to them – we already know the name of the Kami of the sun – Amaterasu and the primordial parents
Izanami and Izanagi – there are many lesser Kami – god of fire, goddess of grain, ocean spirits, mountain
spirits—spirits of great trees, rivers and waterfalls – also animal spirits, especially powerful are spirits of
animals with great cunning badger, fox or snake.

3. Ancestors – who have become kami live close by – so shinto is a way of maintaining connection with the
family and clan members. Respect for the dead comes both from love of the deceased and fear of the
unknown. In shinto ancestors are believed to be able to influence a family’s earthly life.

4. The spirits of great leaders – especially past emperors, artists, teachers, scholars, are particularly venerated
and Confucianism strengthened the shinto respect for ancestors and great people of the past.

5. Shinto has no clearly defined code of ethics but its moral philosophy can be summed up in two principles
engage in respectful behavior towards spirits, human beings and nature practice appropriate rituals of
purification and reverence. There is no sense of internal guilt in Shinto – no moralistic god who gives
commandments, no judging, no concept of original sin or any idea of any basic sinful tendency.

According to Shinto we must keep bodies, houses, clothes clean and bright – in Japan washing, sweeping, and
cleaning – that you see everywhere daily has religious implications – one’s mind and character must also be washed,
purified, stainless. Humans restore and maintain purity by fulfilling their obligations and respecting each other, the
kami, nature – this spilled over into zen – purification of mind.

THE FOUR AFFIRMATIONS

 Tradition and the family: Understanding that family is the foundation for preserving traditions
 Love of nature: Holding nature sacred
 Ritual purity: Ritual bathing to spiritually and physically cleanse yourselves before entering a shrine to
worship the kami. (In addition, festivals are held twice a year to drive out pollutants or impurities.)
 Matsuri: Worshipping and honoring gods and ancestral spirits
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THE TEN RULES OF CONDUCT

1. Do not transgress the will of the Gods.

2. Do not forget your obligations to the ancestors.
3. Do not violate the decrees of the state.
4. Do not forget the profound goodness of the Gods, through which calamity and misfortunes are averted and
sickness is healed.
5. Do not forget that the world is one great family.
6. Do not forget the limitations of your own person.
7. Do not become angry even though others may become angry
8. Do not be sluggish in your work
9. Do not bring blame to the teachings
10. Do not be carried away by foreign teachings.

CORE ETHICAL TEACHINGS- Mokoto no Kokoro/Magokoro

Precepts of truthfulness and purification

As the basic attitude toward life, Shintō emphasizes makoto no kokoro (“heart of truth”), or magokoro (“true
heart”), which is usually translated as “sincerity, pure heart, uprightness.” This attitude follows from the revelation
of the truthfulness of kami in humans. It is, generally, the sincere attitude of people in doing their best in the work
they have chosen or in their relationships with others, and the ultimate source of such a life attitude lies in one’s
awareness of the divine.

Although Shintō ethics do not ignore individual moral virtues such as loyalty, filial piety, love, faithfulness,
and so forth, it is generally considered more important to seek magokoro, which constitutes the dynamic life-
attitude that brings forth these virtues. In ancient scriptures magokoro was interpreted as “bright and pure mind” or
“bright, pure, upright, and sincere mind.” Purification, both physical and spiritual, is stressed even in contemporary
Shintō to produce such a state of mind. The achievement of this state of mind is necessary in order to make
communion between kami and humans possible and to enable individuals to accept the blessings of kami.

RELIGIOUS PRACTICES

1. Omari- Any person may visit a shrine and one need not be Shinto to do this. Any person may visit a
shrine and one need not be Shinto to do this.
2. Harae- The rite of ritual purification, harae or harai, usually done daily at a shrine, is a ceremony of
offerings and prayers of several forms. Shinsen (food offerings of fruit, fish, and vegetables), tamagushi
(sakaki tree branches), shio (salt), gohan (rice), mochi (rice cake), and sake (rice wine) are all typical
offerings. On holidays and other special occasions the inner shrine doors may be opened and special
offerings made.
3. Misogi- The practice of purification by ritual use of water while reciting prayers is typically done daily by
regular practitioners, and when possible by lay practitioners. There is a defined set of prayers and
physical activities that precede and occur during the ritual. This will usually be performed at a shrine, in a
natural setting, but can be done anywhere there is clean running water. his practice comes from Shinto
history, when the kami Izanagi-no-Mikoto first performed misogi after returning from the land of Yomi,
where he was made impure by Izanami-no-Mikoto after her death.
4. Imi- Another form of ritual cleanliness is avoidance, which means that a taboois placed upon certain
persons or acts. To illustrate, one would not visit a shrine if a close relative in the household had died
recently. Killing is generally unclean and is to be avoided. When one is performing acts that harm the
land or other living things, prayers and rituals are performed to placate the Kami of the area. This type of
cleanliness is usually performed to prevent ill things from happening.
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WORSHIP OF THE SHRINE

Shinto shrines - are places of worship and the dwellings of the Kami, the Shinto "gods". Sacred objects of worship
that represent the kami are stored in the innermost chamber of the shrine where they cannot be seen by anybody.

• People visit shrines in order to pay respect to the kami or to pray for good fortune.
• Shrines are also visited during special events such as New Year, setsubun, shichigosan and other festivals.
• New born babies are traditionally brought to a shrine a few weeks after birth, and many couples hold their
wedding ceremonies there.

Only a few of today's shrines are considered to be built in a purely Japanese style. Among them are Shinto's most
important shrines, the Ise Shrines. There are tens of thousands of shrines across Japan, some of which can be
categorized into a few major groups of shrines. Some of these groups are:

• Imperial Shrines
- directly funded and administered by the government during the era of State Shinto.
-they include many of Shinto's most important shrines such as the Ise Shrines, Izumo Shrine and Atsuta
Shrine, and a number of shrines newly built during the Meiji Period, such as Tokyo's Meiji Shrine and Kyoto's
Heian Shrine.
- can be recognized by the imperial family's chrysanthemum crest and by the fact that they are often called
"jingu" rather than "jinja".

• Inari Shrines
- dedicated to Inari, the kami of rice.
-can be recognized by fox statues, as the fox is considered the messenger of Inari.

• Hachiman Shrines
- dedicated to Hachiman, the kami of war, which used to be particularly popular among the leading military
clans of the past.
-Of Japan's thousands of Hachiman Shrines, the most famous is probably Kamakura's
TsurugaokaHachimangu.

• Tenjin Shrines
- dedicated to the kami of Sugawara Michizane, a Heian Period scholar and politician.
-They are particularly popular among students preparing for entrance exams.
- can be recognized by ox statues and plum trees, Michizane'sfavorite trees.
- the first and most famous Tenjin Shrine is DazaifuTenmangu near Fukuoka.

• Sengen Shrines
- dedicated to Princess Konohanasakuya, the Shinto deity of Mount Fuji.
- More than one thousand Sengen Shrines exist across Japan, with the head shrines standing at the foot and
the summit of Mount Fuji itself.

• Shrines dedicated to the founders of powerful clans

- Some powerful clans in Japanese history established and dedicated shrines to the their clans' founders.
-The most famous example are the several dozens of Toshogu Shrines dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu,
including the famous Toshogu Shrine at Nikko.
- Another example is Kanazawa's Oyama Shrine which is dedicated to Maeda Toshiie, the founder of the
powerful, local Maeda clan.

• Local Shrines
-Many shrines are dedicated to local kami without association to other shrine
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Celebrations and Festivals of Shintoism

Hatsumode
 First shrine visit of the New Year. Hatsumode literally means “to pay the first visit of the year to the shrine,”
where one expresses gratitude for divine protection during the past year and gains the blessings of the local
shrine for ongoing protection in the coming year.

Miyamairi
 Christenings, Baptisms. One month after birth (31st day for boys, 32nd day for girls), parents and
grandparents take the child to a shrine to express gratitude and ask shrine priests to pray for their baby’s
good health and happiness. This is a Japanese version of infant baptism.

Kekkonshiki (Weddings)
 Most Japanese weddings include a vow before the kami. The wedding ceremony usually takes place at hotels
or gorgeous ceremony halls -- specifically designed for weddings, and with makeshift shrine altars.

Jichinsai
 Groundbreaking rituals. Shintō ceremony of purifying a building site or ceremony to sanctify the ground. In
Japan, purification ceremonies precede the commencement of all important events and functions.

Jan 1st to Jan 6thOshogatsu/Shinto New Year's Festival

 The Kami (Holy Spirits) of the four directions are honored, and prayers for happiness, good health, and
prosperity.Towards the end of the old year, people gather for bonenkai (forget the year gathering), year-end
parties at which the irritations, frustrations and any problems of the past year are symbolically washed away
and forgotten.
 Children receive money, otoshidama, for the New Year, people involve themselves in the whole range of
activities special to the New Year such as ladies in kimono playing badminton, men playing card and dice
games and, in some rural areas, men dressed in costumes called Namahage visit homes, to see if the young
are behaving well.

January 7th
 Shinto rite honouring Goddess Izanami, partner of God Izanagi. They created Nature and the Kami. Shinto
tries to live in harmony with the cosmic forces of the Kami.

January 15thDōsojinMatsuri

 Japan's popular Fire Festivals, held around January 15 each year, are known as Dōsojin festivals. Shrine
decorations, talismans, and other shrine ornaments used during the local New-Year holiday are gathered
together and burned in bonfires. They are typically pilled onto bamboo, tree branches, and straw, and set on
fire to wish for good health and a rich harvest in the coming year. The practice of burning shrine decorations
has many names, including Sai-no-Kami, Sagicho, and DondoYaki.

February 11th National Founding Day

February 17thToshigoi
 Shinto rite honoring the Kami and offering prayers for a bountiful rice harvest. The Kami are manifestations
of Kuni-Tokotachi-no-Kami, the one universal, primordial and eternal, immanent and transcendent Holy
Spirit.
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March 3rd Annual Festival of HinaMatsuri (Doll Festival)

 HinaMatsuri celebrates both girlhood and the ancient belief that dolls possess the power to contain evil
spirits; both homes and public places abound with traditional seven-tiered doll displays.

April 5thQingming Festival

 A day for remembering ancestors, partly by tending to their gravesites. Families often burn paper
representations of objects the deceased may need in death.

April 8thHana Matsuri / Shinto flower Festival

 A ceremony called Kanbutsu-eis held to commemorate the Historical Buddha's birthday.
 Shinto rite honoring the Kami.

April 29thShōwa no Hi
 A national holiday celebrated on the Shōwa emperor's birthday.

October 17th Shichi-go-san

 The festival for three, five and seven year-old is held nationwide. Children in classical dress are taken to
shrines to seek the protection of the kami in this delicate stage of their lives.
 The Shichi-Go-San or 7- 5-3 Festival is one of the unique Japanese festivals. Boys who are 3 and 5 years old,
and girls who are 3 and 7 are taken to a shinto shrine, often in their first kimono, and the parents pray for
their continuing good health and prosperity.

November 15thShichi-Go-San / The harvest festival

 Families visit the god praying for their children's growth and at the same time this occasion for the child to
be recognized by the public & gods as a member of society.