Shinto
Our final look at belief systems outside the Judeo-Christian tradition takes us to Japan, where we will
briefly look at the indigenous religious beliefs of Shinto. The word “Shinto” comes from two Chinese
words—shen, meaning “deity,” and dao, meaning “the way.” Archeologists and historians believe
that Shinto has existed in Japan since at least several centuries BCE, since they have found evidence
that the ancient Japanese acknowledged the sacred presence and power of numerous beings called
kami, “high or superior beings.”
Until the middle of the 6th century CE (about the time of Muhammad) the Japanese people evidently
did not think of their ancient religious traditions as a separate system. So organically integrated were
those traditions with their entire culture and heritage that worship of the kami was largely assumed
as the Japanese way. Only with the arrival of Buddhism, called in Japanese (butsu-do) “the Way of
the Buddha,” did it become necessary to give their indigenous beliefs and practices a name to
distinguish them from the imported tradition of Buddhism. Unlike many other major traditions,
Shinto had neither a founder nor a single foundational figure who represented concrete historical
origins. In many ways, Shinto is as old as Japan itself, just as Hinduism is as old as India.
Two of Shinto’s earliest foundational documents recount the story of the divine origins of Japan and
its people. The basic myth goes like this: In the beginning, heaven and earth were as one, positive
and negative, unseparated. In a primal egg-like mass dwelt the principles of all life. Eventually the
purer, lighter element rose and became heaven while the heavier descended and became earth. A
reed-shoot grew between heaven and earth and became the ”One who established the Eternal
Land.” After many eons of time, two kami were formed by spontaneous generation. Descending to
earth on the Floating Bridge of Heaven, Izanagi (Male force) and Izanami (Female force) came into
the world. Izanagi stirred the oceans depths with his spear and created the first lands. On the eight
Japanese islands the union of Male and Female created the mountains and rivers, and 35 other kami.
Last to be born was Fire, the kami of heat, who burned his mother during his birth. Izanagi slew Fire
with his sword, creating several additional kami in the process.
Izanami (the Female) fled to the underworld, the Land of Darkness, desperate to prevent her
husband from seeing her corrupted (burned) state. When the Male followed and lit a fire so he could
see, she chased him out and blocked his entrance to the Underworld. Returning to the surface, the
Male immediately purified himself ritually, ridding himself of the underworld’s pollution. Corruption
from his left eye formed the sun goddess Amaterasu, who rules the High Plain of Heavens, and from
his right eye, Tsukiyomi, the moon, whose province is the oceans. From his nostrils he created the
storm kami, Susanowo, Withering Wind of Summer and ruler of the Earth. Susanowo soon made
trouble for his sister, the Sun, who took refuge in a cave. Needing the sun to return, the kami
discussed how they might entice her from her cave. At length they resorted to enlisting the Terrible
Female of Heaven to dance and shout to arouse Amaterasu’s curiosity. They then offered her blue
and white soft offerings, a mirror, and a bejeweled Sakaki tree. She finally came out of her cave and
sent her grandson Ninigi to rule the world. Sent down from heaven to establish order and bearing
three precious symbols—the curved jewel, the sword, and a mirror (that even today are the symbols
of Japanese Imperial power), “the august grandchild” landed in southeastern Kyushu. His son,
Jimmu Tenno, in turn became the first human emperor at age 45, on February 11, 660 BCE. Jimmu
Tenno, as the first emperor, enlarged his domain, set up his capital near the modern city of Osaka,
ruled for over 100 years, and created the Japanese imperial dynastic line (which still exists today).
At its core, the Way of the Kami enshrines profound insights into the sacred character of all created
nature. Shinto calls people to a deep awareness of the divine presence in all things, to the challenge
of personal and corporate responsibility for the stewardship of the world that is home, to unending
gratitude for all that is good, and to a willingness to seek purification and forgiveness for humanly
inevitable but avoidable lapses. Observe worshipers at a Shinto shrine and there can be little doubt
of the sincere devotion that moves so many people to prayer and ritual expression of their beliefs.
Religious studies scholars have increasingly come to appreciate the genuinely religious qualities of
Shinto. Occasionally criticism still surfaces that Shinto is so much a part of ordinary Japanese life
that it is really a set of cultural beliefs and practices rather than a religious tradition. Some critics
base their conclusion on polls of the Japanese public that seem to suggest widespread apathy about
religious issues. Decreasing numbers of people are willing to identify themselves as adherents of any
religious tradition, including Shinto. Other critics note that even Japanese who do consider
themselves active participants in a Shinto-based community are likely to claim they are Buddhist as
well. Some point to Shinto’s concern with the ordinary, the everyday, the natural world that
surrounds us, and its lack of interest in transcendent mystery. Shouldn’t a religious tradition be more
invested in turning people’s attention to a world beyond this one? In fact, these are among the
distinctive aspects of Shinto and the basis of its unique contribution to our world. Shinto offers
insights into the inherent divine quality of the simplest things, of the beauty hidden away in life’s
nooks and crannies. Shinto tradition discerns innumerable causes for profound gratitude to the
powers beyond the merely human that make life itself possible. Shinto may not be celebrated for
producing sophisticated schools of theological speculation, but it undoubtedly possesses many
characteristics that identify it as a religious tradition.
So is there a Shinto creed? Shinto beliefs, like Daoism, have never been reduced into a concise
formal summary statement. If one were to produce a brief Shinto creedal affirmation it might go
something like this: “I believe that sacredness surrounds me, that it pervades all things including my
very self, and that the all-suffusing divine presence is ultimately benevolent and meant to assure
well-being and happiness for all who acknowledge it and strive to live in harmony with it.”
All religious traditions are oriented in varying degrees to two great inseparable realities—truth and
power. Some , such as the Abrahamic traditions—Judaism Christianity, and Islam—tend to lean
towards truths that human beings cannot discern without direct help from the source of the truth
itself. Others, such as Daoism, focus more on teaching believers how to discern and benefit from the
source of power. Shinto is far more concerned with power than with truth…which is greatly
oversimplified, but it means that the power of the divine and its implications are the only important
truths. Where and how do humans have access to those truths? Preeminently through the marvels
of nature, including the human. Shinto’s deities do not reveal a message otherwise inaccessible to
mortals, as in the case of the Abrahamic faiths. They do, however, disclose to anyone who reflects
on his or her life with a clear mind and heart all the truth human beings need.
Today, there are more than 80,000 Shinto shrines that are scattered all over the Japanese islands.
There deities are worshiped and rituals are still performed according to the general patterns
established by the Japanese state for all shrines in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Shinto is probably the world’s most ecologically attuned religious tradition. Divine energy saturates
all of creation and is thus cause for reverence and wonder. Shinto is very optimistic in its outlook
about life in this world, and it teaches that when humans are in harmony with nature, all persons and
all things flourish. So there is no serious distinction or incompatibility between the physical and the
spiritual, the human and the divine.
Individuals take second place to the needs of society as a whole; as a result traditional Shinto
philosophy doesn’t reflect in depth about the self apart from the collective. Above all, humans are
children of the kami whose natural birthright is to benefit from nature’s gifts. Society and family, as
well as nature, are the wellsprings of life. Acknowledging one’s ancestors keeps healthy the link
between individual and society because it keeps alive the continuity of the Japanese heritage.
Shinto begins with the conviction of innate human goodness and that the world is good. When evil
takes over, it isn’t because of some inherent or inherited human tendency. Evil enters the world from
outside, brought by evil spirits. These affect human beings in a similar way to disease, and reduce
our ability to resist temptation. When human beings act wrongly, they bring pollution and sin upon
themselves, which obstructs the flow of life and blessing from the kami. Evil advances whenever
humans lose their concentration on life at its simplest, most basic level. In Shinto, an ethical person
is one who makes choices unspoiled by ulterior motives. Purity of intention is more important than
any specific set of commands or prohibitions. The overall aims of Shinto ethics are to promote
harmony and purity in all spheres of life. Purity is not just spiritual purity but moral purity: having a
pure and sincere heart. Purified of all ill intent, the mind and heart are illuminated through intimacy
with the divine. Shintoists don’t evaluate their actions in terms of whether they will reap reward or
suffer punishment as a consequence. Rather they think of how their actions might affect the life of
the community here and now. How does one know if they have crossed a moral divide? Shame is a
very powerful index of morality in the Shinto tradition. Any breach of social contract brings shame
and one must seek forgiveness through purification.
Shinto, like Buddhism, is very much what is called a world-affirming tradition. When devotees
worship at a shrine the mood is generally solemn and reverent, but at festivals there is a great sense
of joy and exuberance. At such celebrations there is little doubt that at the heart of the Shinto
tradition there is a delight in the everyday world and a conviction of the inherent goodness of
creation.
In Shinto, salvation is not a question of deliverance from the present human condition into a realm
beyond. Shinto teaches that the solution to the human predicament is just the reverse; sincere
worshippers welcome the kami into the world of everyday concerns. Salvation therefore means
making the ordinary sacred, so that life here and now becomes the best it can be.
There are "Four Affirmations"in Shinto:
1. Tradition and the family: The family is seen as the main mechanism by which traditions are
preserved. Their main celebrations relate to birth and marriage.
2. Love of nature: Nature is sacred; to be in contact with nature is to be close to the Gods.
Natural objects are worshipped as sacred spirits.
3. Physical cleanliness: Followers of Shinto take baths, wash their hands, and rinse out their
mouth often.
4. "Matsuri": The worship and honor given to the Kami and ancestral spirits.
Ancient tradition talks of another world, a realm beyond this one, called the High Plain of Heaven…a
happy state overflowing with life and richness. There is also a netherworld, a most unpleasant place
called the Land of Darkness…ruled by death, that land is filled with wretched pollution and impurity.
Most people today do not believe that the dead end up in one or the other of the realms beyond this
world. Nevertheless, certain fundamental criteria determine whether an individual spirit will be
content or disgruntled after death. These include the ethical quality of one’s life and one’s
attentiveness to avoiding the impurity attached to improper behavior.
The role of Shinto in Japanese history is twofold: its position with the royal house of Japan and its
association with the Samurai tradition. Japan’s fabled Samurai warriors did have important
connections to Shinto, but the fundamental Samurai belief in bushido (the Way of the Warrior) wasn’t
based on Shinto, it was based more on Confucianism and Buddhism. But part of the Samurai code of
ethics revolved around patriotism and devotion to ancestral kami, including loyalty to the emperor
who was descended from the sun goddess. The most famous and one of the most important kami is
Hachiman, the kami or god of war. Many Samurai included a devotional prayer to Hachiman before
battle. Today, nearly half of all Shinto shrines in Japan are devoted to Hachiman.
From the Meiji Period (1868) until the end of WWII, the emperor was considered a kami and was the
chief priest of Shinto, and even though throughout much of Japanese history the emperor didn’t have
much real power, as the chief priest of the native faith he commanded unquestioned loyalty and
respect, a position the emperor still commands.