Shinto Research Paper

Shintoism: The Way of the Kami. Israel defines Kami as spirits that affiliate with natural objects such as the sun and the moon. In the opening of Buddha in the Land of the Kami, the narrator shares the historical background of the Kami, stating that a spiritual duo came down to Earth to stir up the sea waters, creating the archipelago of Japan. The sprits figure out reproduction and multiply, inhabiting the chain of Islands known as Japan. The narrators also mention the Kami in mountains, wind, grass and other natural entities. According to the film, spiritual rituals performed in earlier eras show continuity in Shinto shrines today. Israel explains that later, during the Asuka-Nara Period, The Yamato high courts establish a system that would monitor Shinto shrines. “The Yomato court developed a centralized

The nobles of Japan claim that they are the descendants of the five gods which Susanoo-Wo created. In Japanese art Amaterasu is seated with her other brother Tsukuyomi no Mikoto, who is the moon god. The cocks from the myth are associated with her and the rising sun. In Japan the Ise Grand Shrine is the most important Shinto shrine. It is dedicated to Amaterasu, and represented with three of her symbols. The cocks, the mirror, and a raven (who is believed to be her messenger.) The mirror is called the Yata no Kagami, held in the center of Japan at the Great Shrine at Ise. The mirror has been hidden for over a thousand of years but it is said to have eight sides which is also Shinto’s number of perfection.

Human search for meaning in Shinto is based off of their beliefs, rituals, origins and culture. There are four components that make up the Shinto human search of meaning, Simplicity, one with the world, peace within the world and the individual journey to self-discovery and potential. Simplicity refers to the lack of scripture, rules and expectations the individual to interpret hoe they are to live their lives. Peace with the world is to be what the individual interprets to be the best person they can have an optimistic approach to the world encouraging world peace and peace within themselves. One with the world refers to the immanent nature of the religion, the way the world is viewed individually contributing to their connection with the

Kanetomo’s description of Honjaku-engi reveals that this type of Shinto was heavily influenced by the shrine traditions during that time. Based on Kanetomo’s definition of Honjaku-engi, I believe that this type of Shinto connects people with their spirituality through shrine rituals. By passing down the stories, secrets, and rituals of the Kami worshipped at the shrine, worshippers are able to connect the physical world with the spiritual world (Debary 352).

In his 2001 journal article “Ise Shrine and a Modernist Construction of Japanese Tradition” of The Art Bulletin, Jonathan M. Reynolds examines the differing representation of the Ise Shrine through time, emphasizing on the changing cultural significance of the Ise after the second world war. Reynolds discussion of the Ise Shrine centers on its representation in texts and images. The texts and images in which Reynolds analyzes date as early as the 8th century with the Nihon Shoki, and as recent as the 20th century.

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

First, let’s talk about Ise Jingu situated in Japan. It is the largest Shinto shrine located in the city of Ise. Millions of people make their pilgrimage to this shrine for either tourism or religious purposes. It holds a lot of both spiritual and historical value of Japan. Spiritually as the shrine was made in light of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Omikami, and the traditional progenitor of the imperial Japanese family, later another God Toyaku Okami being another sacred being, being worshipped. (Pletcher) The architectural design of the shrine consists of many rows of buildings but the most distinct are two large huts, being the inner (Naiku) and outer shrine (Geku). (Pletcher) Naiku was first constructed, which had the Goddess of Amaterasu, later Geku with the intention of worshipping Toyaku Okami, the god of food and benevolence. (Pletcher) The shrine is surrounded by a thick forest, which the buildings were made from. Using the essence of nature, or “ke”, the priests and priestesses used the surrounding trees as the buildings blocks of the shrine, as the trees had much devotion and spirituality of the Japanese people.

Since Japan's earliest days, Shinto has been the code of honor and action for the Japanese. It is also a polytheistic religion, they believe there is a God for everything.(brittanica)

The Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine established in 1869 in Tokyo. It was constructed in order to honor and worship the soldiers who have died for their country in the Boshin Civil War that brought about the Meiji restoration and sacrificed their lives in the service of their emperor to build a firm foundation for Japan to become a truly peaceful country. For some Asian countries such as China and South Korea, which had been victims under Japanese imperialism and aggression in the first half of the 20th century, the shrine was built to commemorate Japanese war criminals in the World War II, and it has become a blatant symbol for Japanese wartime militarism from the

The travelling route includes a modern city of Osaka, the mountain temple of Koyasan and the Japanese Imperial Shrine at Ise in the southern part of the Kii Peninsula. Kumano Sanzan, the focal point of the pilgrimage, consists of three grand shrines: Hongu-taisha, Hayatama-taisha and Nachi-taisha. Kumano Kodo pilgrimage is religiously associated with Buddha and Shinto, which are two popular religions in Japan. Buddhism involves many different traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices in relation to teachings about Buddha. Buddhist ethics include six virtues – charity, observance of the precepts, patience, devotion, meditation, and wisdom. These doctrines are frequently found and depicted in the mountains along the Kumano route. For example, there are statues of Buddhas in the theme of death and rebirth where religious practices are

The 2 scriptures that I think most represent Shinto belief are Why Japan is Special and Festival of the Gates. The scripture, Why Japan is Special, shows that in Shintoism Japan is the center of creation and is the most important place in the world. Traditionally they thought that the Japanese were descendant from the sun goddess, therefore they are part divine “Sun Goddess left her descendants to reign over it forever and ever” (Why Japan is Special). In the scripture, Festival of the Gates, we can better understand the Shinto belief that Kami are all around us and that they affect things. People would pray to the good Kami to protect the palace from bad Kami as well as temporal beings. This belief that Kami play a direct role in a human's

Shintoism has four affirmations that should be followed in everyday life. The first affirmation is tradition and family must be honored above all. This is a great example of how Shintoism places a great importance on the community and not on one single person. It is also the reason why Japanese

The nature aspect of Shintoism is connected to the belief that kami exist within nature and hold the source of life. According to Rosemarie Bernard, author of Shinto and Ecology, the goal of Shintoism is to prevent the natural world from devolving into a state of chaos without disturbing the kami and nature. It is the goal of shintoists to maintain balance with the kami and natural world (Bernard). The way Shintoism achieved this balance was through a variety of forms of purification. These forms of purification purified areas designed for the kami. The houses designed for the kami are called yuniwa, which translates to purified yard or court, these houses are usually sacred enclosures with rocks placed in the center. However, yoshiro is designed with the purpose of manifesting the physical form of the kami while yuniwa is designed to welcome the kami to shrines. Shrines protect itself from outside forces through shimenawa. Shimenawas protected sacred areas by using a plaited straw rope that could be seen hanging from the front of a Shinto shrine. The ceremonies involving purification include the two concepts of seimei, translated it means clean and happy, and seichoku, translated means right

There are many traditions and practices that are preformed because Shinto still remains a very important part of Asian culture. Although it appears that Shinto is a form of Japanese religious practices, Shinto do not have founder and people everywhere are starting to become believers and members. There is a concept and the objective of the worship is communicated by the word “Kamigami”. Most westerners’ refer to it in English terms as

I decided to write about my visit to a Shinto Church as my cultural experience. The church I visited is called Izumo Taisha Mission of Hawaii. I had actually been to this church many times since I was a child to participate in Japanese cultural events, but I have little knowledge of what the Shinto religion actually practices. This is also the shrine where my family goes for our New Year’s blessing ritual. Since turning to Christianity, I still liked to attend the church’s events and New Year’s ritual, but other than that, I just didn’t have the desire to learn more about Shinto. Based on my fieldwork into the appearance, clothing, and rituals of Shinto, I theorize that Shinto is religion to focuses highly on keeping one’s body and soul pure and in good fortune through worship to multiple God’s.