Shintō
Shintō, often considered the indigenous religion of Japan, encompasses a multitheistic belief system centered around kami, or spirits, which are believed to inhabit elements of nature such as rocks, mountains, and rivers. The origins of Shintō are debated among scholars, with some tracing its roots to the animistic practices of the ancient Jōmon people, while others suggest influences from Korean shamanism following migrations to Japan. Historically, Shintō rituals were integral to agricultural life, with farmers performing ceremonies to invoke kami for favorable weather and bountiful harvests.
Significant to Shintō is the concept of the emperor as a living kami, particularly during the reign of the Yamato clan, leading to the establishment of prominent shrines, such as the Ise Shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami. The architecture of Shintō shrines emphasizes simplicity and natural materials, reflecting their surroundings and involving periodic reconstruction every twenty years to symbolize renewal. With the introduction of Buddhism in the 6th century, the two religions coexisted harmoniously, as Shintō offered no doctrine regarding an afterlife. In the late 19th century, Shintō became intertwined with national identity, but post-World War II reforms altered its state association, allowing it to persist alongside Buddhism as a vital aspect of Japanese culture.
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Shintō
Related civilization: Japan.
Date: c. 7500 b.c.e.-700 c.e.
Locale: The Japanese archipelago
Shintō
Although Shintō (SHIHN-toh) is generally regarded as the original religion of the Japanese people, scholars do not agree as to when Shintō became part of the Japanese culture. Some scholars believe that Shintō, written with the Chinese characters “shen,” which means spiritual power, and “tao,” which means way, grew from the animistic religion of the Jōmon people who lived in Japan for thousands of years after 7500 b.c.e. Other scholars believe that elements of Shintō entered Japan when northern Mongoloid people, probably from Korea, invaded Japan after 1000 b.c.e. These scholars believe that the Shintō religion is a derivative of Korean shamanism.
Whatever its origin, the multitheistic Shintō religion was practiced by the ancient people of Japan. For them the gods, known as kami, were forces of nature. The spirits of the kami were found in rocks, mountains, lakes, and other natural things. Kami also controlled such processes as creativity, healing, and growth. The most important kami for the ancient people were the creation kami. Every Japanese clan had its personal kami and its own creation story. The creation story of one clan, the Yamato, eventually became the creation story for all of Japan.
Kami were very important to the ancient farmers. Agriculture was very difficult, and the farmers needed good growing conditions and good luck to succeed. They believed that their kami would help them, so there were frequent ceremonies and offerings to the kami who controlled wind and rain.
When the ancient people thought they had discovered the dwelling place of a god spirit, they would make a pile of stones and encircle it with a ring of stones. This area became a shrine to the god who lived there. Because the area was special, ordinary people were not allowed to enter it except during ceremonial times. Priests were responsible for mediating between the spirit world and the human world.
In the third and fourth centuries c.e., during the reign of the Yamato clan, the emperor of Japan was recognized as a living kami. His divinity was said to be greater than that of any other kami. Therefore, it was determined that the emperor should have a permanent shrine, not just a pile of stones. The Shrine of Ise was built as a Shintō shrine to the emperor. At Ise, the Inner Shrine was devoted to the Sun goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami. In the Japanese creation story, Amaterasu was the mother of Prince Niniji, the grandfather of Jimmu, the first emperor of Japan.
At Ise, the ancient emperors of Japan conducted ceremonies to celebrate the kami. One of the most famous ceremonies was the Niiname Festival (first fruit festival) in which the emperor offered foods to the kami and shared a meal with them. At Ise Shrine, the doctrines of Shintō were systematized and disseminated. Certain objects sacred to the imperial family, such as the mirror (yato no nagami) that Amaterasu had passed on to her earthly children and a stone necklace (yasaki no magatama), symbol of the emperors, were stored there. Eventually the imperial code (ritsuryō) decreed that only the imperial family could worship at Ise. Ise became the center for imperial rites.
Ise Shrine was constructed very simply of wood so that it would be congruent with its natural setting. Every twenty years, it was totally reconstructed to correspond to the timetable of the natural cycle of renewal. The construction of the shrine at Ise affected the way that Shintō was practiced throughout Japan. Instead of using rock piles for shrines, the Japanese began to put up simple shrines made of raw cedar and cypress like the one at Ise. These shrines were also rebuilt every twenty years.
Around 552 c.e., Buddhism entered Japan from Korea. The followers of Shintō accepted Buddhism and embraced its gods as kami. Buddhist images appeared in shrines. As Shintō had no philosophy about an afterlife, the two religions could easily coexist.
After 700 c.e.
In the late nineteenth century, the Shintō religion became associated with patriotism in Japan. The state Shintō religion emphasized the Japanese people’s supremacy because of the divine origins of the Japanese emperor. After Japan’s defeat in World War II, state Shintōism was abolished, and the emperor was no longer regarded as a god. The Shintō religion, however, continued to coexist alongside Buddhism.
Bibliography
Bocking, Brian. A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Chicago: NTC Publishing Group, 1997.
Ono, Sokyo. Shinto: The Kami Way. Osaka: Charles E. Tuttle, 1994.
Reader, Ian. Simple Guide to Shinto: The Religion of Japan. Kent, England: Folkestone, 1998.