hello everyone my name is B Falone and today I'll I'll be presenting the topic of Shintoism how Japan's dominant religion came to be throughout this video I will Define the religion's basis how it came to be formed how it is practiced how its influences evolved it and how it has changed over time first let's define what Shinto is Shintoism is defined as a Japanese religion dating from the early 8th century and incorporating the worshiping of ancestors and nature spirits and a belief in sacred power in both animate and inanimate things according to the Oxford dictionary Shinto is a polytheistic religion meaning it has multiple deities that preside over multiple aspects of the world and philosophies Shinto's polytheistic belief houses many gods and deities but I will only name a few of the major Pantheon some of these deities include amasu the goddess of the sun light and fertility she operates as a major figure in the Japanese Faith suso Niko the god of Storms and tricker who holds a familial relationship with amatarasu as her younger sibling tenin who is the god of scholarship and learning as well as being based on sug Mizan who was a famous scholar poet and politician during the hon period 794 to 1185 and and Ina the god of agriculture and financial prosperity along with its group of Kit foxes Shinto has many rituals that practitioners exercise with up to 80% of the Japanese population engaging in these practices the routine of these practices result in keeping the soul pure as in Shinto the soul becomes impure through human nature these rituals include visiting and presenting offerings usually money to shrines as well as reciting prayers fun fact offering of money in of especially the five Yen coin is a very popular form of offering as the coin symb of Destiny and chance in Japan cing back to the topic of Shinto's Gods the god enady comprises a third of Japan's 30,000 total shrines once inat became more commonly known as the god of financial success during the Mei period 1868 to 1912 worshiping inar became a lot more popular practitioners worshiped the God by leaving behind offerings of sake rice or Ina Sushi which is a sushi that is wrapped in tofu with rice inside the beginnings of Shinto have no concrete beginning to its following although it is thought to have started in the yayo period which was from the late Neolithic period and continued through the Bronze Age and began the northern island of kushu early practices of this Proto Shinto period were shamanistic in nature as the time of Yuji or Clans became more common practice around the 4th Century CE the belief that the heads of the clans were Yuji gami became more popular which led to the origin of K or gods in the religion the indigenous people of Japan the Inu have a religion that shares a lot of characteristics with Shintoism which leads it to believe that the religion evolved from these indigenous peoples by the 5th Century CE Confucianism arrived to Japan the arrival of Chinese philosophy led to the development of Shinto's ethical teachings especially with its teachings of dosm and the concept of Yin y the other major East Asian religion Buddhism arrived to Japan by 552 CE Shinto and Buddhism developed a harmonious relationship as both practices shared many philosophies and values as their relationship grew Shinto and Buddhist religious shrines practices and structures began to merge there was push back against buddhism's presence in Japan with watari Shinto being a theoretical School against Buddhism that developed in the 13th century CE similarly to other Eastern Asian religions and philosophies such as Confucianism and Buddhism shintu was teaches philosophies of authoritative respect Val valuing the purity of Nature and practicing the religion through rituals and ritualistic off shino's belief in the Purity and power of nature is so strong that their gods reside in nature including humans in a broader aspect where Shinto differs widely with practiced religions Shinto does not have a holy Doctrine unlike texts like the Bible or Quran when it comes to death in Shinto there's no there's not an aspect of reincarnation that is essential rather it is believed that a person must die a fully pure death to leave the world rather than be Shackled to it as a tainted Spirit due to this funerals don't take place at shrines or other holy places as death isene is impure in the eyes of Shinto unlike in a religion like Christianity where funerals are often held at churches so the body can be closest to God to circumvent this issue funerals tend to take place near crematoriums or grave sites as the burning of the body is seen as one of the most pure ways to cleanse the soul in its modern depiction Shinto has evolved heavily especially as the influence of Confucianism and Buddhism became more ingrained into Shinto's DNA and its most its most recent major change occurring the latter parts of the 19th century CE with the introduction of sect Shinto this movement came as a result from confusion and social unrest of the people with the teachings of these sex differing widely either incorporating a mix of Buddhist beliefs aan beliefs or entire new types of Shinto beliefs for with an example being the conco with conko meaning Golden Light a total number of 13 different movements were formed by the time of the M period 1868 to 1912 each of these sects are still practiced in modern day Japan as the influence of social media has grown so has the influence of Shinto on the rest of the world in the year 2000 the Shinto mailing list was formed on Yahoo groups as a way to discuss and spread the influence of Shinto with today having up to 10,000 members across multiple social media platforms discussing and practicing the indigen religion of Japan to summarize this analysis Shintoism is a rich evolving faith that is deeply woven into the fabric of Japanese culture from its roots in ancient Japan to its modern depiction Shinto continues to thrive despite its many changes offering insights into the culture relationship with nature spirituality and Community thank you for joining me in exploring this fascinating religion