Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Brochure
Brochure
7 SHINTO KAMI
THE CHRONICLES OF YOU’LL M E E T
S H I N T O I S M
I N J A P A N
KAMI
In English, the word Shinto can
sometimes be translated as
Amaterasu is the goddess of the sun, she
"the way of the kami"
Kami-worship was commonly seen
is a major kami and a central figure in
Shinto. NO
as part of Japanese Buddhism
in medieval Japan, with the kami
Izanami and Izanagi Legend, has it that
this god and goddess stirred the seas with a
MICHI
themselves being also viewed as
spear, and the mud which dripped from the Shintoism
Buddhas.
tip became the first island of Japan.
Japanese devotion to unseen holy
Inari is the Shinto god of industry,
forces and entities called kami, to
prosperity, finance, and agriculture.
shrines, and to different
practices is the core of Shinto. Hachiman is the god of war and military
Shinto is not a way for the universe arts, helping to guide warriors on their way
to be explained. Rituals that to mastery.
encourage human beings to Tenjin is the kami of education, literature,
connect with kami are what and scholarship.
matters. The Kami are neither
gods nor gods. Raijin is the kami of thunder and lightning,
and Fujin is the kami of wind. Together,
Shinto is a very local religion, in they are the gods of storms and weather.
which devotees are likely to be
concerned with their local shrine Benzaiten is a Shinto kami borrowed from
rather than the religion as a whole. Buddhist belief and one of the Seven Lucky
Many Japanese will have a tiny Gods of Japan.
shrine-altar in their homes.
Beginning in the 18th century,
Shinto was revived as an
THECONTEMPORARY S
important national religion through
the writings and teachings of a
HINTO
succession of notable scholars,
including Mabuchi, Motoori Before 1946 Shinto took two forms.
Norinaga, and Hirata Shrine Shinto, a patriotic
Atsutane. Motivated by nationalistic cult, identified with and
nationalistic sentiments that took financially supported by the imperial
the form of reverence for Japanese Government. And Sectarian
antiquity and hatred for ideas and
WHERE THE Shinto, a general term for a number
practices of foreign origin, these
of sects founded by private persons
TALE UNFOLD men prepared the way for the
and based on1946
various interpretations
disestablishment of Buddhism and Before Shinto took two forms.
ofShrine
traditional Shinto.
Shinto, a patriotic nationalistic
the adoption of Shinto as the
The name Shinto was stateofreligion
Until the defeat Japan in cult, identified with and financially
developed for the native World War II, these beliefs supported by the imperial Government.
religion in the late 6th century were of the utmost And Sectarian Shinto, a general
AD to differentiate it from importance in assuring term for a number of sects founded by
popular support for the military private persons and based on various
Buddhism and
expansion of the Japanese interpretations of traditional Shinto.
Confucianism, which had
been introduced from China. Empire.
In the early 1990s more than 110
Shinto was rapidly
million Japanese participated in the
overshadowed by Buddhism,
various Shinto sects, but those who
and in a previous state of life, THE WAY
professed Shinto as their sole or
the native gods were
OF THE major religion numbered only about
commonly known as
SPIRITS 3.4 million. The Shinto sects have
embodiments of Buddha. approximately 101,000 priests and
Buddhist priests became about 81,000 shrines.
Shinto shrine custodians and
founded their own ornaments,
images, and ritual.