Shinto: The Way of Kami Photo from .

Shinto: The Way of Kami

Photo from www.travelblog.org/Photos/1491565.html

Shinto basics

Shinto is the worship of kami, spirits which inhabit particular natural places.

Shinto followers visit shrines on an as-needed basis to pray for help.

Shimenawa prayer ropes are decorated with paper and hung near altars and shrines to help purify them.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kamidana.jpg

Shinto history

Shinto is the ancient religion of the Japanese people.

It has existed since at least 400 B.C.E.

The center of worship is the shrine at Ise for Amaterasu.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Priest_at_Dazaifu_Tenmagu_shrine_1.JPG

Shinto scriptures

There is no definitive Shinto scripture, but two of my sources pointed to collected ancient tales of the Japanese, including the creation story The Kojiki, featuring Amaterasu, the sun goddess.

The Emergence of Amaterasu

(public domain image from Sacred Text

Archive, http://www.

sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/

index.htm

Shinto history

Izanagi and Izanami, two kami, are believed to have created the islands of Japan and all of the kami.

The Japanese emperor is believed to be descended from Amaterasu, and other kami were associated with ruling clans. http://www.sacred-texts.com/

shi/kj/index.htm

Shinto history When Buddhism was

introduced to Japan in the 5th century, the Japanese realized they had a native religion and Shinto became more organized.

Many Buddhist and Shinto temples and shrines combined. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/

commons/thumb/e/e9/A_scene_of_a_shinto_shrine_dance,_kagura.jpg/800px

Shinto history

In the 1800’s, the Meiji government decided to make all shrines into Shinto shrines. Buddhist priests had to grow their hair long and become Shinto priests.

http://oldphotosjapan.com/en

Shinto history

State Shinto became a vehicle to promote

obedience to the emperor in the

decades leading up to World War II, and

preaching at shrines was not allowed.

http://oldphotosjapan.com/en

Shinto misperceptions

After World War II, State Shinto was dismantled, and Shrine Shinto was established.

Although the emperor still practices Shinto privately, the religion is otherwise separate from the government.

http://www.igougo.com/attractions-reviews-b50100-Tokyo-Meiji_Jingu_Shrine.html

Shinto shrines(Right) A Shinto

priest poses by a set of Torii gates at the entrance to a shrine.

www.stuartrichardson.com/shinto-teki.jpg.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shinto_shrine.PNG

(Left) Here is a small Shinto shrine near Mt. Fuji.

Shinto shrines

Mikoshi boxes believed to contain the local kami are housed at the shrine. These are the mikoshi at the Yasaka shrine in Kyoto.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:YasakaShrine3.jpg

Shinto rituals

Purification rituals are very important in Shinto. In this photo from 1906, a family cleans house to prepare for the New Year celebration.

http://oldphotosjapan.com/en

Shinto ritualsA household altar is

prepared for the New Year celebration with gifts of sake and food for the kami.

Some Japanese homes have a Buddhist altar and a Shinto altar.

Shinto altars are placed near the front door to keep away evil spirits.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://home.att.ne.jp/wind/marcy/vicky/gallery/sh

Shinto rituals

Visitors wash their hands and mouths to purify themselves before entering a shrine. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

File:ItsukushimaBasin7406.jpg

Shinto rituals

Visitors may purchase omijuki, fortunes written on slips of paper. If the fortune is bad luck, it is tied to a rope or branch at the shrine to send the bad luck away.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oM3lULbEZgo/RikdzKaxR9I/AAAAAAAAAgE/ljBq34a9nRk/s1600-h/DSC06295.JPG

Shinto ritualsEma (prayer boards)

are hung up at the shrine for the kami.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/

Shinto rituals

This hyakudo-ishi (hundred times stone) stands in front of the entrance to a Shinto shrine.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ShintoShrineHyakudoIshiM0872.jpg

Shinto observances

This is a Shinto wedding. Some

Japanese couples choose to get

married in more than one religious

tradition. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bryangardner.com/blog/2008/Mar08/Tokyo_ShintoWedding.JPG

Shinto observances This is a

funeral from the 1890s. During the Meiji period, Buddhist funerals were mandated, although there previously had been Shinto funerals.

http://oldphotosjapan.com/en/photos/169/meiji-funeral

Shinto festivals

Shinto followers carry a mikoshi believed to house their local kami during a festival. Mikoshi are kept at the local shrine. This is from the Houjidou Godai Matsuri in Odawara, Japan.

www.globalcompassion.com/images3/devotees2.jpg

Shinto festivals During the Gion Matsuri,

held each July in Kyoto, men pull 12-ton floats and musicians on the floats entertain the crowd.

The festival is for the moon kami, Tsukuyomi no Mikoto, and commemorates the praying to the kami in Kyoto during a plague in 869 C.E.

http://oldphotosjapan.com/en/photos/424/gion-matsuri

Shinto festivalsYoshino

Kurashige and her family celebrated her 7-5-3 festival, although they are Christian. Children pray for protection and healthy growth from the kami.

Shinto today

Hayao Miyazaki films feature Shinto kami. In “Spirited Away,” for example, a river spirit takes the form of a boy and a fox/dragon.

http://thecia.

com.au/reviews/

s/spirited-away.shtml

Sources Chamberlain, Basil, trans. The Kojiki. 1919. Internet Sacred Texts Archive. Accessed Oct. 5,

2009 from http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm. Holtom, Daniel C., “A New Interpretation of Japanese Mythology and its Bearing on the

Ancestral Theory of Shinto.” The Journal of Religion, 6:1 (Jan., 1926), pp. 58-77. Accessed Oct. 1, 2009 via Rebecca Crown Library, Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois from JSTOR.

Kenji, Ueda. “Contemporary Social Change and Shinto Tradition.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. Accessed Oct. 3, 2009, from http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/jjrs/pdf/101.pdf via the Directory of Open Access Journals.

Kitagawa, Joseph M. “Some Remarks on Shinto.” History of Religions. 27:3 (Feb. 1988), p. 227-245. Accessed Oct. 1, 2009 via Rebecca Crown Library, Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois from JSTOR.

Old Photos of Japan website. Accessed Oct. 7, 2009 from http://oldphotosjapan.com/?q=shinto. “Shintoism.” The Encyclopedia of Religion. Lindsey Jones, ed. 2nd ed. Vol. 12. New York:

Thomson Gale, 2005. p. 8356-8371. “Shinto.” Britannica Encyclopedia of World Religions. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica,

2006. p. 997-1001.