Lecture Notes: Shintoism - Japan's Dominant Religion

Introduction

• Presenter: B Falone
• Topic: Shintoism, its origin, practices, influences, and evolution.

Definition of Shintoism

• Japanese religion dating back to the early 8th century.
• Incorporates worshipping ancestors, nature spirits, and a belief in sacred power in all things (animate & inanimate).
• Polytheistic religion with multiple deities.

Major Gods and Deities

• Amaterasu: Goddess of the sun, light, fertility.
• Susanoo: God of storms and trickery, younger sibling of Amaterasu.
• Tenjin: God of scholarship and learning, based on Sugawara no Michizane, a scholar, poet, and politician.
• Inari: God of agriculture and financial prosperity, associated with kitsune (foxes).

Practices and Rituals

• Up to 80% of Japanese population engage in Shinto practices.
• Rituals focus on keeping the soul pure as impurity comes from human nature.
• Common practices include visiting shrines, presenting offerings (e.g., money, sake, rice, sushi), and reciting prayers.
• Five Yen coin is a popular offering symbolizing destiny and chance.

History of Shinto

• No concrete beginning; believed to start in the Yayoi period (late Neolithic to Bronze Age) on the northern island of Kyushu.
• Early practices were shamanistic.
• Development of ujigami (clan heads as deities) around 4th Century CE.
• Influenced by indigenous Ainu religion.
• Confucianism (5th Century CE) and Buddhism (552 CE) deeply influenced Shinto, leading to merged religious practices.

Relationship with Other Religions

• Harmonious relationship with Buddhism, shared practices and structures.
• Development of theoretical anti-Buddhism school, Yuiitsu Shinto, in the 13th Century CE.
• Lacks a holy doctrine like Bible or Quran.

Concepts of Death

• No reincarnation; death requires purity.
• Funerals not held at shrines, due to impurity of death.
• Cremation viewed as a purification method.

Modern Evolution

• Influence of Confucianism and Buddhism ingrained in Shinto.
• Sect Shinto emerged in the late 19th Century CE, leading to 13 movements by the Meiji period (1868-1912).
• Global spread via social media; e.g., Shinto mailing list formed in 2000.

Conclusion

• Shintoism is deeply woven into Japanese culture and continues to evolve.
• Offers insights into spiritual ties with nature and community.

• End of Presentation