Introduction Shinto does not have a founder nor does it have sacred scriptures like the sutras or the

bible. Propaganda and preaching are not common either, because Shinto is deeply rooted in the Japanese people and traditions. "Shinto gods" are called kami. They are sacred spirits which take the form of things and concepts important to life, such as wind, rain, mountains, trees, rivers and fertility. Humans become kami after they die and are revered by their families as ancestral kami. The kami of extraordinary people are even enshrined at some shrines. The Sun Goddess Amaterasu is considered Shinto's most important kami.

Some prominent rocks are worshiped as kami.

In contrast to many monotheist religions, there are no absolutes in Shinto. There is no absolute right and wrong, and nobody is perfect. Shinto is an optimistic faith, as humans are thought to be fundamentally good, and evil is believed to be caused by evil spirits. Consequently, the purpose of most Shinto rituals is to keep away evil spirits by purification, prayers and offerings to the kami. Shinto shrines are the places of worship and the homes of kami. Most shrines celebrate festivals (matsuri) regularly in order to show the kami the outside world. Please read more on our special information pages about shrines and festivals. Shinto priests perform Shinto rituals and often live on the shrine grounds. Men and women can become priests, and they are allowed to marry and have children. Priests are aided by younger women (miko) during rituals and shrine tasks. Miko wear white kimono, must be unmarried, and are often the priests' daughters. Important features of Shinto art are shrine architecture and the cultivation and preservation of ancient art forms such as Noh theater, calligraphy and court music (gagaku), an ancient dance music that originated in the courts of Tang China (618 - 907).

IseJingu is Shinto's most sacred shrine.

Shinto History The introduction of Buddhism in the 6th century was followed by a few initial conflicts, however, the two religions were soon able to co-exist and even complement each other. Many Buddhists viewed the kami as manifestations of Buddha. In the Meiji Period, Shinto was made Japan's state religion. Shinto priests became state officials, important shrines started to received governmental funding, Japan's creation myths were used to foster an emperor cult, and efforts were made to separate and emancipate Shinto from Buddhism. After World War II, Shinto and the state were separated.

Tokyo's Meiji Shrine is dedicated to the spirits of Emperor Meiji.

Shinto Today People seek support from Shinto by praying at a home altar or by visiting shrines. A whole range of talismans are available at shrines for traffic safety, good health, success in business, safe childbirth, good exam performance and more. A large number of wedding ceremonies are held in Shinto style. Death, however, is considered a source of impurity, and is left to Buddhism to deal with. Consequently, there are virtually no Shinto cemeteries, and most funerals are held in Buddhist style.

Types of Shinto
To distinguish between these different focuses of emphasis within Shinto, many feel it is important to separate Shinto into different types of Shinto expression.

Shrine Shinto (jinja-shint?) is the most prevalent of the Shinto types. It has always been a part of Japan's history and constitutes the main current of Shinto tradition. Shrine Shinto is associated in the popular imagination with summer festivals, good luck charms, making wishes, holding groundbreaking ceremonies, and showing support for the nation of Japan. Before the Meiji Restoration, shrines were disorganized institutions usually attached to Buddhist temples, but they were claimed by the government during the imperial period for patriotic use and systematized. The successor to the imperial organization, the Association of Shinto Shrines, oversees about 80,000 shrines nationwide.

Imperial Household Shinto (Kshitsu-shint?) are the religious rites performed exclusively by the Imperial Family at the three shrines on the Imperial grounds, including the Ancestral Spirits Sanctuary (Krei-den) and the Sanctuary of the Kami (Shin-den).[4] Folk Shinto (minzoku-shint?) includes the numerous but fragmented folk beliefs in deities and spirits. Practices include divination, spirit possession, and shamanic healing. Some of their practices come from Taoism, Buddhism, or Confucianism, but most come from ancient local traditions. Sect Shinto (shha-shint?) is a legal designation originally created in the 1890s to separate government-owned shrines from local religious practices. They do not have shrines, but conduct religious activities in meeting halls. Shinto sects include the mountain-worship sects, who focus on worshipping mountains like Mount Fuji, faith-healing sects, purification sects, Confucian sects, and Revival Shinto sects. The remainder of Sectarian Shinto is New Sect Shinto. The current groups of Sect Shinto are Kurozumikyo, Shinto Shuseiha, IzumoOyashirokyo, Fusokyo, Jikkokyo, Shinshukyo, Shinto Taiseikyo, Ontakekyo, Shinto Taikyo, Misogikyo, Shinrikyo and Konkokyo. An association of Sect Shintoists also exists.[7] Koshint (ko-shint?), literally "Old Shinto", is a reconstructed "Shinto from before the time of Buddhism", today based on Ainu and Ryukyuan practices. It continues the Restoration movement begun by Hirata Atsutane.

All these main types of Shinto and some subtypes have given birth to many and diverse schools and sects since medieval times to the present days. A list of the most relevant can be found at the article Shinto sects and schools.

Beliefs
Impurity

Shinto teaches that certain deeds create a kind of ritual impurity that one should want cleansed for one's own peace of mind and good fortune rather than because impurity is wrong. Wrong deeds are called "impurity" (kegare?), which is opposed to "purity" (kiyome?). Normal days are called "day" (ke), and festive days are called "sunny" or, simply, "good" (hare).[8] Those who are killed without being shown gratitude for their sacrifice will hold a grudge (urami?) (grudge) and become powerful and evil kami who seek revenge (aragami).[citation needed] Additionally, if anyone is injured on the grounds of a shrine, the area must be ritually purified.

Haraegushi () for purification Purification Harai or Oharai

Purification rites are a vital part of Shinto. They are done on a daily, weekly, seasonal, lunar, and annual basis. These rituals are the lifeblood[citation needed] of the practice of Shinto. Such ceremonies have also been adapted to modern life. New buildings made in Japan are frequently blessed by a Shinto priest called kannushi (?) during the groundbreaking ceremony (Jichinsai), and many cars made in Japan have been blessed as part of the assembly process. Moreover, many Japanese businesses built outside Japan have had ceremonies performed by a Shinto priest, with occasionally an annual visitation by the priest to re-purify.
Afterlife

It is common for families to participate in ceremonies for children at a shrine, yet have a Buddhist funeral at the time of death. The Japanese conception of the afterlife, however, can sometimes take a distinctly non-Buddhist turn. In old Japanese legends, it is often claimed that the dead go to a place called yomi (), a gloomy underground realm with a river separating the living from the dead. This yomi is very close to the Greek Hades. Unlike many religions, one does not need to publicly profess belief in Shinto to be a believer. Whenever a child is born in Japan, a local Shinto shrine adds the child's name to a list kept at the shrine and declares him or her a "family child" (ujiko?). After death an ujiko becomes a "family spirit", or "family kami" (ujigami?). One may choose to have one's name added to another list when moving and then be listed at both places. Names can be added to the list without consent and regardless of the beliefs of the person added to the list. However, this is not considered an imposition of belief, but a sign of being welcomed by the local kami, with the promise of addition to the pantheon of kami after death.

Origins of Shinto
Shinto is regarded as the religion indigenous to Japan and is thought to predate all reliable historical records. Literally translated the word 'Shinto' is composed of two words from the original Chinese Shntao: 'shin' meaning gods or spirits and 'to' meaning the philosophical way or path. Shinto has no fixed dogma, moral precepts or sacred scriptures but many shrines ('jinja') around the country which have often been bases of power with ties to Imperial and Shogunal rule throughout the ages. Shinto followers worship a huge array of 'kami' (gods or spirits) which personify all aspects of nature, such as the sky, the earth, heavenly bodies, and natural phenomena. Sacred objects, such as rocks or trees, can be recognized by the shimenawa ropes and white paper strips attached to them. Many of the festivals held all over Japan originate from Shinto rites, including prayers of thanksgiving, offerings of food and valuables and purification rituals. The origins of Shinto are hidden in the mists of time. According to the historical chronicles of ancient Japan (AD712), the sun goddess AmaterasuOmikami presented the Imperial Regalia to her grandson, Ninigi no Mikoto. The Imperial Regalia (sanshu no jingi) are holy relics which appear in Japan's ancient myths. In order of importance, they consist of the sacred mirror, the sacred sword and the curved jewels, all stored in separate specific shrines. They are the symbols of the legitimacy and authority of the emperor. He in turn is meant to have passed them on to his descendants, the emperors, the first of whom was Emperor Jimmu. Shinto only received an actual name and became in any way systemized in the late 6th century AD, in order to distinguish it from Buddhism and Confucianism, newly introduced from China. In the late 8th century, under the great teacher Kukai, Shinto and Buddhism were united as a new doctrine called Ryobu Shinto (the Shinto of two kinds). From 1600 to 1868, known as the Edo Period, there was a revival of nationalistic sentiments. One result was a resurgent interest in the ancient Shinto beliefs, and the discarding of foreign influences. In 1868, the emperor was restored to the head of the government and Shinto was established as the state religion. Buddhism was outlawed, in an attempt to purify Shinto by abolishing many Buddhist and Confucian ideals. The emperor was considered the divine descendant of the sun goddess. This direct lineage from the gods was reflected in a feeling of Japanese superiority, which in turn fed the military expansion of the Japanese Empire. State Shinto was considered the official belief of the entire Japanese race. In 1871, a Ministry of Divinities was formed and Shinto shrines were divided into twelve levels with the Ise Shrine (dedicated to Amaterasu, and thus symbolic of the legitimacy of the Imperial family) at the peak and small sanctuaries of humble towns at the base. The following year, the ministry was replaced with a new Ministry of Religion, charged with leading instruction in "shushin" (moral courses). This was a major reverse from the Edo period, in which families were registered with Buddhist temples, rather than Shinto shrines. Priests were officially nominated and organized by the state, and they instructed the youth in a form of Shinto theology based on the official history of divinity of Japan's national origins and its Emperor. As time went on, Shinto was increasingly used in the advertising of nationalist popular sentiments. In 1890, the Imperial Rescript on Education was issued, and students were required to ritually recite its oath to "offer yourselves courageously to the State" as well as protect the Imperial family. The practice of Emperor worship was further spread by distributing imperial portraits for esoteric veneration. All of these practices were used to fortify national solidarity through patriotic observance at shrines. This use of Shinto gave Japanese patriotism a special tint of mysticism and cultural introversion, which became more pronounced as time went on. Such processes continued to deepen until the Shwa period, when State Shinto became a main force of militarism, finally coming to an abrupt halt in August 1945 when Japan lost the war. On 1 January 1946. After World War II, the Allied Occupation separated Shinto and the state and this break was written into the new constitution. So visits by leading politicians to YasukuniJinja, which enshrines the Japanese war-dead, are always protested as being provocative by Japan's Asian wartime foes. The emperor issued a statement renouncing all claims to divinity and the use of Shinto symbols for nationalistic purposes was forbidden. Even today, protests against these and other changes are a favorite rallying call of right-wing extremists.

In addition to the hundreds of festivals, many Shinto ceremonies play an important part in modern daily life. Many marriages are carried out in shrines, building plots are purified and sometimes even new cars are blessed for safety. In a rite called oharai, the white-clad priest waves a stick with white strips of paper attached to carry out the blessing. Most family homes have a kamidana (god shelf) as well as a Buddistbutsudan (Buddha altar). The main teaching centers for Shinto priests are Kokugakuin University in Tokyo and Kogakukan University in Ise. Despite its many diffuse forms, some sources find it helpful to distinguish three types of Shinto practice. These in turn have given birth to many diverse schools and sects since medieval times to the present day. Shrine Shinto is the oldest and most prevalent of the Shinto types. It has always been a part of Japan's history and constitutes the main current of Shinto tradition. The Association of Shinto Shrines oversees about 80,000 shrines nationwide. Sect Shinto is comprised of 13 groups formed during the 19th century. They do not have shrines, but conduct religious activities in meeting halls. Shinto sects include the mountain-worship sects, who focus on worshipping mountains like Mount Fuji, faith-healing sects, purification sects, Confucian sects, and Revival Shinto sects. Konkokyo, Tenrikyo, and Kurozumikyo, although operating separately from modern Shinto, are considered to be forms of Sect Shinto. Folk Shinto includes the numerous but fragmented folk beliefs in deities and spirits. Practices include divination, spirit possession, and shamanic healing. Some of their practices come from Taoism, Buddhism, or Confucianism, but most come from ancient local traditions. The religion is thought to be practiced by about 60 million people

Shinto Diet
Everett McCarty is an aspiring novelist, an accomplished traveler and a restless seeker. He has been writing fiction and poetry for 16 years. Everett has enjoyed the Demand experience and relishes the challenge of each contribution. By everettmccarty, eHow Contributor
The Shinto religion dates back to 500 BC. It is a faith practiced mainly by the Japanese and espouses the wonder of any natural thing as the cornerstone of its tenets. Those who practice the Shinto religion also believe in the curative powers of a diet rooted in the five elements of Shinto purification: water, salt, fire, sake and sand.

1. Identification
o

Rice has long been a staple in the Shinto diet, which has extended into the traditional diet of the Japanese as a whole. Other staples in the Shinto diet include sake, seaweed, fruits and vegetables. For a millennium meats, including fowl and fish, were not widely seen in the Shinto diet due to the reverence of all living things observed in the faith.

Features
o

Mochi, a tender rice cake, is the most easily identifiable item in the Shinto diet, and is made at many of the traditional annual Shinto festivals, like HaruMatsuri or Shinko-sai. Rice is steamed over a long period of time, rendering a gelatinous, almost doughy, substance which is pounded over several hours to create an enormous flattened dough. The dough is cut into small discs and filled with a sweetened bean paste and served at room temperature.

Function
o

Each grain of rice in the Shinto faith symbolizes the soul of one person. Mochi, then, symbolizes the convergence of millions of souls. The diet of the Shinto is simply one element helping to comprise a tapestry of belief that everything in the physical world is connected and that everything in this world is to be revered and respected for simply existing. Unlike Christianity or Islam, Shinto has no founder or holy book. Its tenets and rituals have been passed from generation to generation, which has contributed greatly to being centralized almost exclusively in Japan.

Shinto Ritual in words and Pictures

Shinto is the national religion of Japan. It is a form of nature worship or Animism with similarities to Wiccan and Native American, Australian and South East Asian religions.

Implements used in Shinto Ritual, A Kamidana, Shimenawa, Miko (Shrine Priestess) Kagura, Shide wands, How to makeShide (zigzag paper strips), What do the zigzag strips (Shide) signify?

Implements used in Shinto Ritual on a Kamidana or household altar

The set of items which may be used on a household shrine or altar. and is called a "shinki" set.

(1) The tall vases are called "Sakaki Tate" and are for the evergreen plant, (2) the lided bottles at the rear are called Heiji and both contain O-miki (ritually purified sake), the dish in the center (no number) contains okome (washed rice), (3) the pointed lidded jar (Mizutama) in the front left contains water, 60% is best (4) the plate on the right front corner is for salt (Oshio). (5) Ozen (wooden plinth or sanbo, for a making offerings in front of a kamidana) 6) Miniature model wooden lamps shaped like the stone ones which are found at shrines. The most traditional five offerings are therefore rice, rice wine (sake), water, salt and evergreen branches. They are offered in small, symbolic quantities, presented in white pottery containers as shown above. Depending upon the region, season and festival, local produce such as fish or boar might be offered as well. It is traditional to offer any delicacy to spirits before the humans partake of it.

Kamidana

A Kamidana or house hold altar/shrine (literally "god shelf") showing items above, the evergreen plant sakaki and Shide (zigzag strips of paper) overhanging the front of the shrine.

This Kamidana below is one that I sold to a gentleman in Italy. Notice that, in place of sakaki, the owner has used an evergreen tree indigenous to Italy.

Shimenawa

Shimenawa - rice stray rope adorned with Shide. Shimenawa mark the boundary between the sacred and the profane. They keep impurities out and purify the space within. Shimenawa was first used to prevent the sun goddess Amaterasu from re-entering a cave to save the world from eternal night (according to the Kojiki). It can be seen therefore that they prevent the passage of gods. The Shide are attached to the Shimenawa but loosening the plaiting and inserting them into the rope. A sequence of photos showing who to make the rice straw rope can been seen here.

Miko (Shrine Priestess) Kagura

Kagura ritual dance for the Gods as performed as part of many rituals including Chinkonsai. The dances move in slow precise steps facing the points of the compass and shaking knives with bells attached at each direction.

Shide wands = Harai Gushi

A shrine priest waving Shide over the head of a Shintoist in a typical purification ritual. The wand or harai gushi (sweeping squewer/stick) that the priest is holding is a wooden pole to which is attached a great many of the zigzag strips mentioned above. The waving of this wand is one of the most common ritual actions in Shinto rites. The priest often bows slightly at about 15 degrees. He waves the stick it in a, not frantic, but brisk enough moment for there to be a rustling sound from the zigzags of paper. He stops momentarily at each end of the wave - swing left, stop, right, stop left.

How to make Shide for a Shide Wand

First of all you need about 30 sheets of newspaper sized white paper (or about 2-3 feet by 1.5.- 2 feet). Cut them in half along their length (then 2-3 feet by 1 foot). Fold them again along there length until one has a strip of double thickness paper about 2-3 feet by 6 inches. Then make cuts into the paper strip all along its length at 1 inch intervals, from each of the long sides at perhaps like this -

The cuts should go about 2/3 away across the strip from both the side of the fold and the side of the open edge (I have shown the cuts longer than they should be, but their is variation in the real article). The fold the paper starting from the first cut in a rotating movement, folding the same end around and around, so that one ends up with a zigzag of paper, looking like that attached to the horizontal rope in the picture above. Fold the first strip down, so after the first fold the paper will look like this -

Folding the folded end around the back, after the second fold the paper strip will look like this -

Then, rotate around and fold the third strip down in front. Once you have got used to what I mean by a "rotating movement", Shide become very quick to fold. The Shide strips attached to the Shimenawa above have only three zigs (or zags) but those on a wand will have many more. These zigzags of paper are then attached by their end, to the top of a 4 foot wooden pole to create a rustling bundle of zigzag strips (about two thirds of the length of the pole) on the end of a stick. Once folded and re-oreintated vertically the Shide will look like this. The overlap of the Shide below is probably more authentic than that above but there is considerable variation. It does not seem to have to be precise. The Shide attatched to the front of shines or displayed on altars, are often more like the one below, overlapping more. Those attatched to a shrine priest's wand are often overlap less and so the are longer, thinner and more drawn out.

The way to attach the Shide to the stick or kushi of the haraigushi is explained on another page

What do the zigzag strips (Shide) signify?

Where and when are Shide used? Shide mark the boundary between the sacred and the profane when they are attached to rice rope (or nawa to form Shimenawa). As well as being attached to Shimenawa, they are also used in the fundamental style of ritual or harai (literally "sweeping") when many strips of Shide are attached to a pole, which is waved left and then right. Hariai are purification rituals to remove unwanted impurities and spirits such as that shown above over the head of a woman above. It is common for Japanese to have their new car

purified with a ceremony where a priest says a prayer and then makes a few sweeps of the wand over and inside the newly purchased car. It is also common to have the plot of land where one intends to build a house purified with a jijin sai (ritual of pacification of [the spirit of] the land). In the jijinsai ritual, Shimenawa will be erected in a square around the plot, the Shide wand will be waved over the ground, and rice wine will poured onto it. Shide are also attached to the fronts of shrines or household altars as shown in the photograph above. The Way Shide Function When Shide are attached to Shimenawa they act as a sign to mark a boundary. It is very possible that the etymology of Shide is from Shidesu which means "to signify". It may be that Shide are fundamentally - signs that signify boundaries. When Shide are used on a wand in a purification ceremony their action is more explicit - they are used to sweep spirits away. Perhaps evil spirits are swept away by the strips in the fashion of a broom. If so then the Shide on the wand are acting in the same way as those on the Shimenawa - as a barrier to spirits which can be used to sweep them to one side. Or, perhaps, as I prefer to think, impurities stick to the strips attached to the wand (rather like the action of a Duskin brand mop popular in Japan). If so, then Shide work by a similar principle to omamori, or talismans, sold at shrines which work by attracting the bad spirit to the omamori itself. This is one of the reasons why omamori must be replaced periodically, because they become a receptacle of bad spirts, that would otherwise have been obsorbed by the bearer. Shide are also offered to the gods. Today they are often attached to the branches of sakaki that are offered during Shinto rituals. The Origin of Shide and connection with witchcraft It is interesting that the Shide wand resembles a broom stick and it is very probable that this resemblance is not coincidental since they are used in a sweeping motion in a purification ritual meaning "sweeping". This may please witches out there, one of whom writes "wiccans use brooms for a similar purpose. they are used to move energy around, to sweep an area clean of any spirits or energies that might not be protective or friendly to the circle which is being cast. when the circle is dissolved, the broom can be used again to stir the energies and a request is made that the spirits feel free to move to the place on this earth where they belong. feathers or brooms are used to clean spirits or energies from a person as well. usually this process is accompanied by the burning of particular herbs (locally cedar). Native Americans also use this

process." Historically, however, the origin of the Shide wand maybe in an tasselled pole type artefact used by Buddhist priests in China or the sticks with strips peeled from them at one end, used by the Ainu of Hokkaido (and originally all of Japan). The Sound of Shide The sweeping movement of the strips creates a pleasant rustling sound. This sweeping rustling sound is probably not accidental. Kagura dance (as shown above) has a similar emphasis on sound in that the dancers will stop and shake the knives attached with 'jingle bells'. Together with clapping in the common Shinto form of prayer, and the ringing of a large bell hanging high up at the entrance to a shrine, Shinto encourages people to make certain noises, which, in the case of the clapping and the shrine bell, are said to wake up the Gods. Perhaps the rustling of the Shide paper strips wakes up the spirits, or perhaps it attracts them. Shide make an attractive, enchanting sound that seems to come from nowhere, that hangs in the air. The Shape of Shide There are many theories about the significance of shape of the zigzag strips. Many say that they resemble lightening. I theorized that Shide were created in such a way that strips of paper could be torn off easily as a form of totem badge. If you make a Shide and pull at the bottom you will find that it is easy to tear off one strip at a time. No one else subscribes to this theory, and in almost all the rituals that I have seen, no one tears off strips now. The one exception that I have seen is that people clutch at Shide in various colours at the end of a village Kagura festival in Takaschiho. In any event Shide are, after the twin arced gate or torii, and the mirror, a very important Shinto symbol. They are the symbol, for example, of the International Shinto Organisation.

Comments and questions to Timothy Takemoto Please excuse my use of the above images and any mistakes that I may have made.

Shinto Home