SHINTOISM

Lesson 5
ORIGIN OF SHINTOISM
o Its origins shrouded in the mists of prehistory, Shinto has always been considered
the original native religion of the people of Japan. When Buddhism [Nihongo
Butsudo "way of the Buddha"] came to Japan from China in the sixth century CE,
an identifying label was needed to distinguish the nameless ancient way. From the
Chinese shen dao, "way of the sacred," it came to be known in Japan as Shinto or
kami-no-michi [Nihongo "path/ way of the kami"].
o Shinto has no founder, no omnipotent deity, no sacred scripture, and no organized
system of theology. Although distinctively Japanese, it has been influenced
overtime by Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism.
o The most extreme turning point for Shinto in recent history occurred when the
emperor Hirohito, coerced by officials of the victorious United States, denounced
his own divinity as a descendant of the goddess Amaterasu. Shinto as an official
state religion was disestablished shortly thereafter and replaced by what is known
as Jinja Shinto.
o After the devastation of the Second World War, new Shinto sects emerged across
Japan, offering their followers peace and order during a chaotic time and
emphasizing the Shinto aspects of faith healing, purification, and nature worship.

FORMS OF SHINTOISM
o Domestic Shinto
 Domestic Shinto is the very simple and common form that is practiced in
many Japanese homes. The basic symbol of domestic Shinto is the
kamidana ["god-shelf"], which usually contains the names of family
ancestors or statues of beneficial or highly regarded kami. Traditional
kami-dana contains any object of religious significance to the family that
evokes good memories or is perceived to bring good fortune, such as relics
bought at the major shrines.
 Each day, offerings of flowers, lanterns, incense, food, and drink may be
placed before the kami-dana. A simple daily service wherein worshippers
wash their hands, make an offering, clap their hands to call the attention of
the kami, and offer a brief prayer may also be conducted there. More
elaborate ceremonies may be held there on special occasions, such as
holidays, weddings, or anniversaries.
 Interestingly, many Japanese homes also have a butsu-dan, a similar
household shrine where Buddhist deities are venerated. In the unique
 religious syncretism of Japan, it is believed that Shinto concerns daily life
while Buddhism is a preparation for the afterlife.

State Shinto
o State Shinto was established as a religious foundation with no other function other
than to stimulate patriotism and loyalty to the Japanese nation under its emperor.
The first few articles of the Japanese Constitution of 1889 declare: "The Empire
of Japan shall be reigned over and governed by a line of Emperors unbroken for
ages eternal ... The Emperor is sacred and inviolable."18
o Following this Constitution, the State took over the support of over a hundred
thousand Shinto shrines and about sixteen thousand priests who tended these
shrines all over Japan. These Shinto priests were forbidden by the State from
performing any religious act, such as conducting funerals This variety of Shinto
became known as Jinja [Nihongo"shrine"]Shinto. Each State-supported jinja was
dedicated to a local kami or historical event. The grand imperial shrine at the city
of Ise is dedicated to Amaterasu, the mothergoddess of Japan.
o Under the 1889 Constitution, military leaders became responsible to the emperor
of Japan, instead of its Parliament. State Shinto ended up inextricably becoming a
means of supporting Japanese militarism, particularly during the Second World
War. As a result, United States forces, which occupied Japan after it surrendered,
felt the need to abolish State Shinto in December 1945, and directed Emperor
Hirohito to issue a statement in January 1946 that he was not divine.
o After the end of the Second World War, Shinto shrines formerly supported by the
Japanese state continued to exist, but are now financially supported by private
citizens. Visits to these shrines eventually dropped off and many fell into disuse.

Sectarian Shinto
o When the State imposed Jinja Shinto as a patriotic and militaristic institution, the
religious side of Shinto was forced to create a separate sectarian identity. The
more recent thirteen or fourteen major Shinto sects can be classified into three:
those which stressed the traditional religious rituals and ancient mythology of
Shinto; those with a primary emphasis on nature worship, particularly venerating
the beautiful and graceful mountains of Japan [among them Fuji and Ontake]; and
those that emerged from the folk practices of shamanism, divination, and faith
healing.

SACRED WRITINGS
 o In Shinto, there is no all-inclusive canon of sacred texts. There are no extant
Shinto manuscripts from before the seventh century CE. With the influx of
Chinese culture and religions into Japan, there was a felt need to identify what
distinctively belonged to the Japanese heritage. Inspired by Chinese historical
writings, Japanese scholars in the early eighth century CE collected their oral
myths and historical traditions into two important official accounts. These are the
Kojiki or Furukotofumi ["Records of Ancient Matters," completed in 712 CE] and
the Nihongi or Nihon Shoki ["Chronicles of Japan," completed in 720 CE], which
are the best and most complete sources on primitive Japanese belief concerning
the origin and nature of the kami, the universe, and humanity.
o Compiled at the request of Empress Genmei (660-721 CE), the Kojiki is a
collection of myths concerning the origin of the Japanese people and the kami,
tracing a path from mythology into historical record. It begins during the period
known as Kamiyo ["Age of the Gods"], which includes the myths of the kami
Izanagi and Izanami creating the islands of Japan, and of how the kami Ninigi,
great-grandfather of the first emperor Jimmu, descended from heaven to become
the ancestor of the Japanese imperial family. The second part of the Kojiki
narrates the stories of the legendary first emperor of Japan, Jimmu-tenno (711-585
BCE), all the way to the likewise legendary fifteenth emperor, Ojin-tenno (200-
310 CE). The final part of the Kojiki describes the reigns of the remaining
emperors until Empress Suiko (554-628 CE), who was the first recorded Japanese
female monarch.
o More complicated than the Kojiki, the Nihongi is the most comprehensive
surviving historical record of this ancient "Land of the Rising Sun." Its initial
section mainly sums up and explains stories previously narrated in the Kojiki. It
also claims to chronicle the first forty-one rulers of Japan, from Jimmutenno to
the then-currently reigning Empress Jito (645-703 CE). Providing proof of the
divine right of Japanese emperors to rule, the Nihongi explains how the Japanese
imperial family is directly descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu.

BASIC DOCTRINE
o As a prehistoric indigenous Japanese religious tradition that has been influenced
by Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism, Shinto provides a worldview that has
become central to Japanese culture and national identity. Having neither an
omnipotent deity nor any formal set of doctrines, Shinto is more a diverse
collection of traditional rituals and ceremonies, than a system of dogmatic beliefs
or ethics. It emphasizes family, community, tradition, nature, purity, harmony,
and makoto ["truth, sincerity"].
 o Shinto is founded on belief in kami, which are spiritual beings/essences/ forces
belonging to nature that animate everything in the world. Since the kami are
immanent, present, and resident, there is a spiritual-even sacred quality that is
present in most ordinary things.
o There are many kinds of kami: mythological creators [ancestors of the clan and of
the nation, e.g .Amaterasu]; exceptional persons [e.g ., the emperor of Japan,
souls of dead leaders]; extraordinary things [e.g ., Mount Fuji]; and natural
objects and implements. As such, Shinto is simultaneously a polytheistic religion
affirming the presence of a multiplicity of deities and an animistic religion
affirming the sacred character of all things Japanese.
o Shinto is a set of traditional rituals and ceremonies rather than a system of
dogmatic beliefs or a definite code of ethics. Ritual performance in Shinto s
basically a matter of purifying and giving order to the universe through human
action. In the same way that the goddess Amaterasu upheld harmony through her
scion, the Japanese emperor, human beings strive to preserve it through ritual
observance. Furthermore, the act of purification signifies the intention to achieve
purity of heart, which corresponds to makoto or sincerity.
o Shinto jinja or shrines can be found in groves of trees all over Japan. All the
shrines have sacred gates in the form of a distinctive Japanese archway known as
torii [a common global symbol for Shinto], and often contain water for symbolic
purification of hands and mouth. Larger shrines have main halls, buildings for
offerings, and oratories.
o Typical major shrines consist of an outer shrine and an inner shrine, both built of
unpainted wood and usually torn down and rebuilt every twenty years. The visitor
entering the outer shrine meditates on the importance of the kami being honored
or the event being commemorated there, and renders a brief prayer or a modest
offering. While anybody may visit the outer shrine,

PRACTICES
o Similar to the religions originating from China, Shinto adheres to certain
assumptions. It is assumed that there is a preordained appropriate pattern of
behavior for every being in the universe. Peace and order reign when all beings
operate in cosmic harmony by existing in rightly-ordered relationships. Since its
very survival is contingent on the preservation of this cosmic harmony, humanity
has a special responsibility for maintaining this already existing cosmic harmony
and for restoring it when human tragedy, ignorance, or willfulness has disturbed
it.
 o Amaterasu and her descendants on earth, the emperors of Japan, are perceived as
promoting this harmony in the universe. The emperor is charged by Amaterasu to
preserve harmony in the world. Shinto, thus, being cosmocentric in orientation,
maintains a way of life that affirms life and the world by following the rhythms of
a beautiful nature, especially through the changes of season and agricultural
activities.
o Humanity can become alienated from the cosmic order in several ways. One can
become ritually unclean and in need of purification. One can also be estranged
from the kami and needing to be in communion with them. One can also be
alienated from one's family, ancestors, community, or the emperor when one loses
face by failing to do what is expected.
o Alienation is resolved through reconciliation. This is achieved through ritual
purification at Shinto shrines and by ceremonial offerings and prayers. Heroic
deeds for the State can also atone for one's estrangement from the Japanese
nation. One distinctively Japanese practice of atonement is ritual suicide called
seppuku or hara-kiri [Nihongo "belly-cutting"], which is regarded as a courageous
act of preserving or restoring one's honor.

CHALLENGES
o Following the ethical imperative of preserving and maintaining cosmic harmony,
an adherent of Shinto is expected to practice devotion to family and to the nation.
Every individual belongs to a family, an educational institution, a business
corporation, and a nation. It is an obligation to sacrifice selfish impulses for the
benefit and honor of these larger groups one is part of. If the existence of these
groups does not influence the actions of an individual, one has to keep in mind
that the kami and one's ancestors are paying attention.
o Before its disestablishment as the official imperial religion, Japanese military
leaders have capitalized on Jinja Shinto as a means of promoting patriotic support
for the militaristic imperialism and aggressive expansionism, which ultimately led
to Japan's active role in the outbreak of the Second World War during the
previous century.
o Yasukuni Jinja is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Founded by the
Meiji emperor in 1869 originally to commemorate soldiers who fought for the
emperor during the Boshin civil war, it now serves as a shrine for the spirits of
soldiers who died in combat in later expeditionary wars, including the Second
World War. Prime ministers who have visited the shrine claimed to have done so
in order to pay homage to the spirits of those who died making a contribution to
Japan.
 o However, they were criticized because the honden or main shrine does not
commemorate everyone, such as private citizens killed in war, but only those who
died fighting for the Imperial side in the Boshin War. Furthermore, no emperor
has visited Yasukuni since 1978 to protest the fact, revealed by the national
newspaper Asahi Shimbun, that Shinto priests there secretly enshrined convicted
war criminals, such as former Prime Minister Tojo Hideki [who was responsible
for the Japanese pre-emptive strike on Pearl Harbor).

Reference:

 Manaloto, C. and Rapadas, M. (2016). Pilgrimage to Sacred Spaces: An