Shinto – Viewing Guide

Vocabulary of Note

• Shinto – The indigenous belief system of Japan.
• Kami – The Japanese word for deities (the word is both singular and plural).
• Tanuki – Raccoon dogs.
• Torii gates – Mark sacred places.
• Shimizu – Pure water such as waterfalls.
• Matsuri – Festival (often associated with a kami).
• Tsukumogami – Spirits of discarded objects.
• Hari kuyou – Ceremony for pins; has become a coming-of-age ceremony for girls.
• Mikoshi – A moving shrine.

Names of Note

• Izanami – Primordial female heavenly deity.
• Izanagi – Primordial male heavenly deity.
• Inari – Most important earthly kami (kami of rice, agriculture, and commerce).
• Emperor Meiji – The emperor of Japan from 1867–1912, during Japan’s period of rapid modernization (“the Meiji era”).
• Emperor Hirohito – Emperor of Japan from 1926–1989; he renounced his divine status on January 1, 1946, following World War II, at the insistence of U.S. Occupation forces. (He was the grandson of Emperor Meiji.)

Outline of Presentation – with [Timecode]                                  

Definition of Shinto [00:51]

• Way of the gods
• Way of the Kami
• Editor’s Note: Shinto is the indigenous belief system of Japan. The natural world is highly valued in Japan. Harmony with nature and an emphasis on purity are important parts of the indigenous belief system.

What is a kami? [01:30]

• “Kami” is the Japanese word for deities (word is singular and plural)

List of all the possible types of Kami Slide #4

Heavenly/celestial kami:

• Izanami – primordial female heavenly deity [02:13]
• Izanagi – primordial male heavenly deity
  • Co-creators of the Japanese islands / archipelago = chain of islands
  • Co-creators of many kami
    • Including Amaterasu, the sun goddess
    • Amaterasu was considered the mythical ancestor of the Japanese imperial house

Earthly kami [02:52]

• Have powers similar to Greek, Roman, or Norse gods in that they may be imbued with a particular power
• Inari is the most important earthly kami – kami of rice, agriculture, commerce
• Foxes – understood to be messengers of Inari (earthly kami)

Some Humans

• Since Amaterasu is the mythical ancestor of the Japanese imperial house the Japanese emperors were once considered the direct descendants of this mythical ancestor, and therefore divine
  • Emperor Hirohito (1926–1989), grandson of Emperor Meiji, renounced his divine status on January 1, 1946, following WW II [06:00]
  • Image of Emperor Meiji (1867–1912) and his wife with the Celestial deities Slide #9
• Editor’s Note: The bearded figure in the image at the top of this slide is named “kuninotokotachi.” He is considered the original deity because he is the first kami mentioned in the 2nd oldest text of the Japanese creation myths, The Chronicles of Japan/Nihongi, and so was imagined as a creator deity and the beginning of the imperial line. Another founding text, Account of Ancient Matters/Kojiki, which is the oldest text with the Japanese creation myths, has a different order of the first deities. Over the course of the 20th c, it became the more widespread version of the Japanese creation myth, and so depictions or descriptions of “Kunitokotachi” are now rare.

Animals [06:15]

• One example is tanuki = raccoon dogs
• Kami can change form – can trick people
  • Example of a fox who has transformed into a woman

Plants and trees [07:44]

Topographical features can be kami [08:15]

• Torii gates mark sacred places
• Shimizu = pure water such as waterfalls [09:05]

Inanimate objects [10:15]

• Tsukumogami = spirits of discarded objects [11:05]
• Example of a broken pin which a person would not want to develop a spirit of its own –
• A hari kuyou ceremony for pins – has become a coming-of-age ceremony for girls

Some Buddhist deities [11:15]

• Bodhisattva – are Buddhist practitioners who are believed to have reached enlightenment, when they can enter nirvana (the final stage), but who delay their final transformation in order to help other humans find salvation from suffering
• Bodhisattva are often portrayed as humans, but assumed to be kami also (there are debates in Japan over whether the kami or the bodhisattva is the original form)
• With the exception of the heavenly deities, and some of the few Buddhist deities that are also kami, no Shinto kami have human form [12:00]

Distinguishing Shinto and Buddhism [14:00]

• Many people in Japan practice both Shinto and Buddhism
• Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan
• Buddhism originated in India and was introduced to Japan from India, by way of Korea and China, in the 6th c CE (it traveled along trade routes, known as the Silk Roads)
• Editor’s Note: The Japanese did not really distinguish “Shinto” until the arrival of Buddhism; it was just understood as the spiritual basis of the people.

Places of worship [14:00]

• Shinto – a shrine
• Buddhism – a temple

Organizational structure [16:15]

• Shinto – none
• Buddhism – has a hierarchy

Emphasis of practice [18:00]

• Buddhism – ethical behavior
• Shinto – purity and rituals of purity

Primary Practices of Contemporary Shinto and Buddhism [22:51]

SHINTO:

• Shinto is a religion of practice, not dogma
• Blood seen as polluting; it is custom for women to refrain from entering Shinto shrines while menstruating
• Salt seen as purifying; often thrown on ground – especially at a Sumo wrestling match (the Sumo wrestling ring is seen as sacred) [21:00]
• Purification before entering a Shinto shrine to address the kami:
  • Visitors use water in front of the shrine to wash their hands and rinse out their mouth
  • Visitors clap hands to summon the attention of the deities/kami
• Coming of age purification rituals for children mark their 3rd–5th–7th years of age
• Matsuri are festivals, often celebrating a kami [23:40]
  • Often involve a moving shrine – a mikoshi
• Shinto shrines are periodically reconstructed/renewed [25:00]
• Kami are moved out along with books of myths, and returned after reconstruction of shrine

BUDDHISM: [26:00]

• Obon festival. Visiting graves of ancestors
• Buddhists are primarily tasked with death rituals

Further Reading [29:00]