Shinto

1
Shinto
Glen Avantaggio
2
History

• Indigenous tradition of Japan
• Buddhism arrives 6th century
• Unamed local traditions called the way of the
  gods
• Shen do, or Shinto

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History

• Set of traditional beliefs and practices
• No single founder
• No sacred literature
• No explicit code of ethics or law
• Essence kinship with nature, worship of kami

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Kami

• Spirits, powers, energies of natural world
• Harmonize Heaven and Earth
• Guide solar system and cosmos
• Reside in beautiful places
• Manifest as wind, rain, thunder, lightning
• Since 7th century, Emperor came to be revered as
  kami, a living god

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Shrines

• Shrinesjinja-- built to honor kami
• Now more than 100,000 Shinto shrines in Japan
• Earliest shrines thought to be groves of trees
• No images in worship ? all is in nature

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Shrines

• Torii mark the entrance to shrines

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Shrines

• Shimenawa mark the boundary of shrine, presence
  of Kami

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Home Worship

• High shelf or altar with a shrine, kamidana
• Greet sun with clapping and prayer, and
  offerings
• Rice - health
• Water - cleansing and preservation of life
• Salt - harmonious seasoning of life
• By incorporating the worship of the kami into
  everyday life, one will be in harmony with nature

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Home Worship

• Kamidana in home

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Purification

• Tsumi, pollution, defilement
• Can arise from
• Improper behavior, unkind interaction among
  humans, defilement by corpses or menstruation,
  destruction of nature.
• Purification by ritual washing, prayer, offering,
  and specific rituals

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Purification

• Oharai purification ritual
• Haraigushi lightning wand

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Purification

• Misogi
• Ritual purification by waterfall, (or water)
• Allows kami to wash away tsumi

Japanese Shinto Water Purification Ritual1 min
37 sec - Jan 19, 2007Description Misogi Is A
Japanese Shinto Purification Ritual In Which
Participants Shower Themselves With Freezing Cold
Water. http//samuraidave.wordpress.com/2007/01/19
/warm-weather-makes-japanese-wintry-dip-seem-refre
shing/
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Mythology

• Kojiki completed 712
• Creation of Japan, origins of culture
• Nihongi, completed 720
• Creation by Izanagi and Izanami
• Parents of Amaterasu,
• Deity of the sun.

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Festivals

• Numerous special festivals throughout year in
  addition to elaborate special festivals
• Four months before babys birth - entrance of
  soul
• Initiation of baby by deity month after birth
• Other traditional family milestones
• Seasonal festivals remind people of descent from
  kami
• One of biggest is New Years which extends over
  many days

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Buddhist and Confucian Influences

• Buddhism and Shinto are still often practiced
  side by side.
• Very different theologies
• Shinto for life-affirming events, Buddhism for
  death rites
• Parallel worship of kami and Buddhist deities
• Japanese Confucian scholars freeing them-selves
  of Buddhism likened their ways to Shinto
• Likened li and kami as a means of social cohesion
• This alliance revived Shinto and the study of it

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State Shinto

• Emperor Meiji
• Shinto became spiritual basis for government
• Emperor was long thought to be the offspring of
  the sun goddess
• imperial family would almost always consult the
  shrine to the sun goddess for matters of
  importance
• Way of the kami should govern the nation
• administered by government officials
• priests were suppressed and/or done away with
• tool to enlist popular nationalism
• Emperor was a God, worthy of protection, and
  Japan should expand
• Hirohito, Meijis grandson
• thought to be a God, declared himself human at
  the end of WWII

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Shinto Today

• Non-proselytizing (does not seek to convert
  others)
• Nature oriented
• Basis of seasonal holidays in Japan
• Good example of an indigenous religion
• Renewed interest in Shinto beliefs