Editing Shinto (section)

{{Short description|Japanese religion}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Merge from|Shinto in popular culture|discuss=Talk:Shinto#Proposed merge of Shinto in popular culture into Shinto|date=May 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2022}}
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[[File:Itsukushima Gate.jpg|The [[torii]] gateway to the [[Itsukushima Shrine]] in [[Hiroshima Prefecture]], Japan, one of the most famous examples in the country.{{sfn|Littleton|2002|pp=70, 72}} Torii mark the entrance to Shinto shrines and are recognizable symbols of the religion.|right|thumb|upright=1.2]]
{{nihongo|'''Shinto'''|神道|Shintō|{{IPA|ja|ɕiꜜn.toː}}<ref>{{cite book|script-title=ja:NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典|publisher=NHK Publishing|editor=NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute|date=24 May 2016|language=ja}}</ref>}}, also called '''Shintoism''', is a [[religion]] originating in [[Japan]]. Classified as an [[East Asian religions|East Asian religion]] by [[Religious studies|scholars of religion]], it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's [[indigenous religion]] and as a [[nature religion]]. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoists'', although adherents rarely use that term themselves. With no central authority in control of Shinto, there is much diversity of belief and practice evident among practitioners.

A [[polytheism|polytheistic]] and [[animism|animistic]] religion, Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the {{lang|ja-Latn|[[kami]]}} (神). The {{lang|ja-Latn|kami}} are believed to inhabit all things, including forces of nature and prominent landscape locations. The {{lang|ja-Latn|kami}} are worshipped at {{lang|ja-Latn|[[kamidana]]}} household shrines, family shrines, and [[Shinto shrine|''jinja'' public shrines]]. The latter are staffed by priests, known as {{lang|ja-Latn|[[kannushi]]}}, who oversee offerings of food and drink to the specific {{lang|ja-Latn|kami}} enshrined at that location. This is done to cultivate harmony between humans and {{lang|ja-Latn|kami}} and to solicit the latter's blessing. Other common rituals include the {{lang|ja-Latn|[[kagura]]}} dances, [[rites of passage]], and [[Japanese festivals|kami festivals]]. Public shrines facilitate forms of [[divination]] and supply religious objects, such as [[amulet]]s, to the religion's adherents. Shinto places a major conceptual focus on ensuring purity, largely by cleaning practices such as ritual washing and bathing, especially before worship. Little emphasis is placed on specific moral codes or particular afterlife beliefs, although the dead are deemed capable of becoming {{lang|ja-Latn|kami}}. The religion has no single creator or specific doctrine, and instead exists in a diverse range of local and regional forms.

Although historians debate at what point it is suitable to refer to Shinto as a distinct religion, {{lang|ja-Latn|kami}} veneration has been traced back to Japan's [[Yayoi period]] (300 BC to 300 AD). [[Chinese Buddhism|Buddhism]] entered Japan at the end of the [[Kofun period]] (300 to 538 AD) and spread rapidly. [[Syncretism|Religious syncretization]] made {{lang|ja-Latn|kami}} worship and Buddhism functionally inseparable, a process called ''[[shinbutsu-shūgō]]''. The {{lang|ja-Latn|kami}} came to be viewed as part of [[Buddhist cosmology]] and were increasingly depicted [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphically]]. The earliest written tradition regarding {{lang|ja-Latn|kami}} worship was recorded in the 8th-century {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kojiki]]}} and {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Nihon Shoki]]}}. In ensuing centuries, {{lang|ja-Latn|shinbutsu-shūgō}} was adopted by Japan's Imperial household. During the [[Meiji era]] (1868 to 1912), Japan's [[Japanese nationalism|nationalist]] leadership expelled Buddhist influence from {{lang|ja-Latn|kami}} worship and formed [[State Shinto]], which some historians regard as the origin of Shinto as a distinct religion. Shrines came under growing government influence, and citizens were encouraged to worship the [[Emperor of Japan|emperor]] as a {{lang|ja-Latn|kami}}. With the formation of the [[Empire of Japan]] in the early 20th century, Shinto was exported to other areas of East Asia. Following Japan's defeat in [[World War II]], Shinto was formally [[Secular state|separated from the state]].

Shinto is primarily found in Japan, where there are around 100,000 public shrines, although practitioners are also found abroad. Numerically, it is Japan's largest religion, the second being Buddhism. Most of the country's population takes part in both Shinto and Buddhist activities, especially festivals, reflecting a common view in [[Culture of Japan|Japanese culture]] that the beliefs and practices of different religions need not be exclusive. Aspects of Shinto have been incorporated into various [[Japanese new religions|Japanese new religious movements]].