Japanese Scholars View of the Shinto Religion

Shinto is an ancient indigenous religion of Japan that is often considered Japan’s national religion. It certainly plays an important role in the lives of many, if not most, Japanese people, and it is closely tied to Japan’s national identity. Shinto has no known founder and no sacred texts or formal written doctrine, which makes it stand out from most of the other religions that we have studied about this semester. Central to the Shinto religion is the belief in the kami, which are considered spirits or gods; in fact, Shinto literally means “the way of the kami”. According to Shinto beliefs the kami permeate every area of nature and every human also contains a kami. In this sense the kami that each person has within them can be considered

Firstly, the traditions within Shintoism were important to help the Japanese people to connect with their ancestors and the nature around them. The word ‘Shinto’ itself means way of the gods. It is as old as the Japanese culture and was the only religion in Japan until the 6th century. According to the Shinto religion, there exists a basic life force called kami. Kami are close to human beings and respond to human prayers. They can influence the course of natural forces, and human events. Shinto tradition says that there are eight million kami in Japan. Due to their deep respect and love for nature and Japan itself, many shrines were set up in places of natural beauty. Followers went to pray here to receive good fortune and samurai would often go to the shrines to pray for victory before and after battle. Shinto’s traditions involved having a clean lifestyle. They washed and bathed everyday which made most of japan a fresh

Shinto was originated in Japan and formed in five hundred BCE. Shinto “the way of the Kami” is the religion of Japan that was first used in the 6th century. Shinto has no founder, no sacred texts and no formalized system. Shinto is uniquely Japanese, and believes in a god named Kami, the Shinto believe that Kami exists both as spiritual beings but as well as in nature. The Kami is not like Western Religions, because the Kami is not perceived as an all-powerful god, but as a creative force. Buddhism was formed in the 5th century B.C.E. in northern India. The religion was started by a man named Siddhartha Gautama, who is also referred to as the Buddha or the enlightened one. The way this man started the religion was by training his meditation for six years, and then once he felt he was close to “full enlightenment” he went into meditation and vowed not to come out until he reached full enlightenment. Buddha then

The Japanese culture has been greatly influenced by its religions, and one of the most influential religions has been Shintoism. Shintoism has been dated back to 500BC, when the descendants of the sun goddess, Amaterasu-OmiKami, worshiped the gods and goddesses of Japan. Shinto means "way of the gods" and that represents what people who practice Shintoism believe in. Shintoism is a religion based on Japanese mythology, which is centered on a male god, Izanagi, and a female goddess, Izanami. These two gods were believed to have created Japan, which was thought to be the only land in the whole word. The two gods had two children, the sun goddess Amaterasu, and the storm god, Susanowo. These two gods fought over control of the people of

Shintoism is an ancient religion that originated in Japanese culture. Shinto is a general term for the activities of the people of Japanese descent to worship all the deities of heaven and earth, and at the end of the 6th century the Japanese were conscious of these activities and called them the "Way of Kami" (the deity or the deities)'. The practice of Shintoism finally recognized when Yomei, the 31st Emperor of Japan, prayed before an image of Buddha for the first time as an emperor for recovery of his illness. Then Yomei accepted Buddhism, a foreign religion, the Japanese realized existence of a tradition of their own faith.

While many individual monk-warriors are still recognized from the Heian period in Japan, the most notorious amongst them all in Japanese records and literature is Shinjitsu. Regarded as “Japan’s number one evil martial monk,”1 Shinjitsu comes across as more of an akuso (evil monk) than the “ultimate representation of the greedy and violent sōhei”2 that previous interpretations and literature make him out to be. In his book The Teeth and Claws of Buddha, Mikael S. Adolphson attempts to better classify Shinjitsu as the monk-commander and warrior-administrator he was, and it is this new interpretation that makes him so important. Shinjitsu, in historical records, was less likely to use his monastic position than use his ties in the imperial court and with other nobility to assert his control, and was in fact involved in the first event of the imperial court calling for help from monastic troops.

This assignment inquires into four published articles that proclaim on results from inquest conducted on what the Shinto religion is, their past beliefs with how that has affected their new beliefs and their old and new rituals. The articles, however, fluctuate in their definitions of when Shintoism started being recorded. Kevin Ratay (2002) suggest that Shintoism has played a large role in the lives of the Japanese people, ever since the Jomon period in 200 B.C. Other articles define the starting record of when Shintoism begun differently and, therefore, offer different results. This paper examines different researches on how Shintoism has changed throughout time in relation to three other research articles to suggest that Shintoism hasn’t changed as much as we think.

Shintoism is an ancient religion that predominates modern japan but it has undergone many changes to compete with many foreign religions such as Christianity. Does Shintoism need to conform to compete with Christianity better yet does it really need to compete with other religions anyway? The main sentiment that comes with foreign religions is to explain the creation of the universe usually depicting a divine being or god while Shintoism mainly tries to empower the mysteries of the universe rather than to explain them. Shintoism also through the most part lacks a holy book since most of the practices and ideas where spread through story tellers this causes an issue since foreign countries have to explain Shintoism on their own which make it look barbaric in comparison. The early history of Shintoism may shed some light on this argument to understand some of the reason for the Shinto conformation.

At the heart of Shinto is a sensitivity to the mysterious powers of natures. Long ago islands Japanese people lived closely to nature, and Shinto as religion reflects that reality in its worship of the spirits who are believed to inhabit the natural world. It said on page 257, Shinto retains elements of shamanism, contact with nature spirits, and mysterious healing. Even though Shinto is an ancient religion, it still relevant today. Shinto goes wherever Japanese people lived. Even in America, Brazil and particularly in Hawaii, California and Washington. This is not a missionary religion, nor have the institutional structure to do missionary work. According on page 275, it said that Shinto is reminiscent of other indigenous religions. I believe

Shinto is the oldest religion in Japan. In this religion, members worship deceased family and various gods that represent nature. Shinto differs from most of the other major religions since it does not have founder, prophets, nor does it have a “major text which outlines its principal beliefs.” Shinto’s longevity is due to its flexibility to adapt and become interwoven with the Japanese culture. In fact, much of what the Japanese people highly value in a person’s character comes from Shinto’s key concepts. Some of the Shinto’s key concepts are the importance of purity, physical well-being, harmony, procreation and fertility, family and ancestral solidarity, subordination of the individual to the group, and the reverence of nature. They also believe that all things have the “potential for both good and bad,” and that the soul of the deceased can have a huge influence on the living.

Shinto is an indigenous faith of the japanese people, that has been around since Japan was discovered. The word shinto means ‘the way of the gods’. This religion is very similar to buddism and is one of the major religions in japan as well as buddhism. Shinto is more of an overall perspective rather than a list of rules and beiefs. Makto meaning ‘sincerity’ is an overall basis of shinto, its not rules or codes but it emphasises the heart- and the sincerity within a good heart. Makto is the understanding that even with rules, orders and comandements if sicerity and goodness is not in your heart all of those acts are pointless. Shinto bellieves that the invisible world is somehow a part of the visible world and does not belive in life after death but to be grateful of what we know and have right now. Once a person dies they are considered as ancestral Kami. Instead of believing in a god shinto beleives in something caled Kami, which is mechanism through which the Japanese are able to regard the whole natural world as being both sacred and material. Oceans and moutains are kami as well as storms and earthquakes. The gods of shinto are the light of the natural world in its rich variety. These central beliefs are taught by preists, but in the shinto religion almost anyone can be considered a priest as well as women. The early Japanese developed rituals and stories which enabled them to make sense of

Religious Beliefs. Shintō is the contemporary term for a system of gods and beliefs about the relationship between people, the natural environment, and the state. Shintō teaches that Japan is uniquely the land of the gods. The religion has no formal dogma or scripture. During much of Japanese history, Shintō and Buddhism have coexisted and influenced each other. Shintō is closely linked to the imperial family and a nationalist ideology.

deities act “harmoniously” with one another. Nature, in turn, is a vital part of both the spiritual world and the human world; “Japanese love and reverence for nature lies at the root of Shinto”. For many other religions, this is not the case. For Western religions, the “Creator and the created, and the human and natural realms” do not relate with one another immediately. The Shinto religion can again be seen acting in a more spiritual way than any other religion. The spirituality of Shinto and its people can be expressed further:

Numerous religions are popular within the Japanese culture. Two of the most powerful religions, Shinto and Buddhism, they are wealthy and complicated, and it consists of many contradictory developments which may additionally puzzle a Westerner. Inside the center of the way of life is Shinto, the "natural" faith of Japan. also in the center is Buddhism, the Indian faith that became added to Japan in the sixth century from Korea and China. For the duration of the history of Japan, it's been these two religions that have contributed maximum to the Japanese know-how of themselves and their surroundings, and to many important activities. Shinto and Buddhism that assist formed plenty of Japanese values are Shinto and Buddhism, played a big role in shaping Japanese values. Various likenesses and contrasts keep running between these two religions; nonetheless, Japanese accepts more than one religion at the same time. It is also possible due to the polytheistic nature of maximum popular religions in Japan. It is not difficult to state that religion is a major piece of Japanese culture because a ton of religious convictions can in any case be found in their regular daily existences.

One of the key aspects of Shinto, and an aspect that made it somewhat difficult for me to study in a more isolated context, is the flexibility of it. Unlike the Abrahamic religions, there is no strict religious doctrine or meticulous set of rules that governs the practitioners. Instead, it's much more a conceptual idea that carries with it various commonalities, specifically in terms of practices and a very nature-based system of deities (Religions of the World). Although, despite Japan's more isolated society, they did share certain ideas with other Eastern religions, such as a focus on the cosmos and harmony with nature and others (Return of the Gods).