Japan Worship

Japan Worship

Gregory Sousa August 21 2019 in Society

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Shintoism is a unique indigenous religion from Japan . Most who practice Shintoism worship at shrines and to kami without belonging to an actual organized Shinto organization. Folk or unorganized Shintoism as no formal rituals to become a member. Currently, there are around 100,000 Shinto shrines and 79,000 priests in the country.
Buddhism arrived in Japan at some point around the middle of the 16th Century, having come to Japan from the Kingdom of Baekje (18 BC-660 AD) on the Korean Peninsula. Within a few decades, the religion was increasingly accepted in Japan after overcoming violent opposition from conservative forces in the country. It was also around this time that Japan experienced immigration from Korea, as well as cultural influence from China , which influenced Buddhism in Japan since it was a important religion in both those countries. It was due to these reasons that the Yamato state of Japan (~250-710 AD) started to construct Buddhist temples at the capital of Nara which led to what is known today as Nara Buddhism in Japan. In 794 the capital had moved to the city of Helan, now known as Kyoto, and it was during this time that more branches of Buddhism, Shingon Buddhism and Tendai Buddhism, came to Japan.
Japan almost always ranks as one of the most highly irreligious countries in the world. This, however, is difficult to quantify in cultures in East Asia, including Japan, due to the fact that they tend to define religion differently, have a history of more syncretic mixing of various religious beliefs and the fact that some see their beliefs as more of custom and culture than religion. In Japan, it is also harder to classify due to the fact that a lot of the people incorporate practices from multiple religions into their lives and are religious without belonging to any religious organization.
Structured Shintoism is relatively new to Japan, as for most of its history Shintoism was an unorganized folk religion. There are thirteen different sects of Sect Shinto that are organized into the different groups of pure Shinto sects, Confucian sects, mountain worship sects, purification sects, and faith-healing sects. Currently, structured Shintoism makes up a small minority of overall Shintoism in Japan.
Christianity first came to Japan in 1549, six years after Portuguese traders had become active in the country, That year three Jesuit Catholic missionaries, Francis Xavier, Cosme de Torres and Juan Fernández, landed in the city of Kagoshima. These missions succeeded in converting many people and over the next few decades the number of Christians grew rapidly, with churches being built and local lords who had accepted the religion forcing other to adopt it. Towards the end of the 16th Century, Toyotomi Hideyohsi (1536/37-1598) banned the religion and in 1597 executed 26 Franciscans as a warning to take his new more serious edict on banning the religion seriously. Shortly after Hideyoshi's death his Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) would seize power in Japan and become Shogun and he and his successors kept the ban on Christianity in place. In 1873 shortly after the Meiji Restoration, the ban was dismissed and today around 2.3% of Japan's population is Christian, with most living in the western area of the country where the religion originally started in the country.
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Buddhism or Combined Buddhism-Shintoism
Folk Religion, Hinduism, Jainism, and Other Beliefs

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Mckenzie Perkins is a writer and researcher specializing in southeast Asian religion and culture, education, and college life.

At the core of Shinto is the belief in and worship of kami—the essence of spirit that can be present in all things. According to Shinto belief, the natural state of human beings is purity. Impurity comes from everyday occurrences but can be cleansed through ritual. Visiting shrines, purification, reciting prayers, and giving offerings are essential Shinto practices. Funerals do not take place in Shinto shrines, as death is considered impure.

Perkins, McKenzie. "Shinto Worship: Traditions and Practices." Learn Religions, Feb. 17, 2021, learnreligions.com/shinto-worship-traditions-practices-4570821.
Perkins, McKenzie. (2021, February 17). Shinto Worship: Traditions and Practices. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/shinto-worship-traditions-practices-4570821
Perkins, McKenzie. "Shinto Worship: Traditions and Practices." Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/shinto-worship-traditions-practices-4570821 (accessed September 8, 2022).

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Shinto (meaning the way of the gods) is the oldest indigenous system of belief in Japanese history. Its beliefs and rituals are practiced by more than 112 million people.

Notably, Shinto has no holy deity, no sacred text, no founding figures, and no central doctrine, Instead, the worship of kami is central to Shinto belief. Kami is the essence of spirit that can be present in all things. All life, natural phenomena, objects, and human beings (living or deceased) can be vessels for kami. Reverence toward the kami is kept by regular practice of rites and rituals, purification, prayers, offerings, and dances.

There is no sacred text or central deity in the Shinto belief, so worship is carried out through ritual and tradition. The following beliefs shape these rituals.

The core belief at the heart of Shinto is in kami: formless spirits that animate anything of greatness. For ease of understanding, kami are sometimes defined as deities or gods, but this definition is incorrect. Shinto kami are not higher powers or supreme beings, and they do not dictate right and wrong.

Kami are considered amoral, and they do not necessarily punish or reward. For example, a tsunami has a kami, but being struck by a tsunami is not considered a punishment from an angered kami. Nevertheless, kami are thought to wield power and ability. In Shinto, it is important to placate kami through rites and rituals.

Unlike wrongful deeds or “ sins ” in other world religions, the concepts of purity (kiyome) and impurity (kegare) are temporary and changeable in Shinto. Purification is done for good fortune and peace of mind rather than to adhere to a doctrine, though in the presence of kami, purity is essential.

In Shinto, the default for all human beings is goodness. Humans are born pure, without any “ original sin ,” and can easily return to that state. Impurity comes from every day occurrences—intentional and unintentional—such as injury or illness, environmental pollution, menstruation, and death. To be impure is to separate oneself from the kami, which makes good fortune, happiness, and peace of mind difficult—if not impossible—to achieve. Purification (harae or harai) is any ritual intended to rid a person or an object of impurity (kegare).

Harae originates from the founding story of Japan during which two kami, Izanagi and Izanami, were tasked by the original kami to bring shape and structure to the world. After some struggle, they married and produced children, the islands of Japan, and the kami that inhabit them, but the birth of the kami of fire ultimately killed Izanami. Desperate with sorrow, Izanagi followed his love to the underworld and was appalled to see her corpse rotting away, infested by maggots. Izanagi escaped the underworld and cleansed himself with water; the result was the birth of the kami of the sun, the moon, and storms.

Shinto is upheld by adherence to traditional practices that have been passed through centuries of Japanese history.

Shinto shrines (Jinji) are public places constructed to house kami. Anyone is welcome to visit public shrines , though there are certain practices that should be observed by all visitors, including quiet reverence and purification by water before entering the shrine itself. Worship of kami can also be done at small shrines in private homes (kamidana) or sacred, natural spaces (mori).

Purification (harae or harai) is a ritual performed to rid a person or an object of impurity (kegare). Purification rituals can take many forms, including a prayer from a priest, cleansing by water or salt, or even a mass purification of a large group of people. A ritual cleansing can be completed through one of the following methods:

Haraigushi and Ohnusa . Ohnusa is the belief in transferring impurity from a person to an object and destroying the object after the transfer. When entering a Shinto shrine, a priest (shinshoku) will wave a purification wand (haraigushi) consisting of a stick with strips of paper, linen, or rope attached to it over visitors to absorb impurities. The impure haraigushi will theoretically be destroyed at a later point.

Misogi Harai . Like Izanagi, this method of purification is done traditionally by submerging oneself completely under a waterfall, river, or other body of active water. It is common to find basins at the entrance of shrines where visitors will wash their hands and mouths as an abbreviated version fo this practice.

Imi . An act of prevention rather than purification, Imi is the placing of taboos on certain circumstances to avoid impurity. For example, if a family member had recently died, the family would not visit a shrine, as death is considered impure. Likewise, when anything in nature is being harmed, prayers are said and rituals are performed to appease the kami of the phenomenon.

Oharae . At the end of June and December each year, oharae or the ceremony of “great purification” is performed in shrines around Japan with the intent to purify the entire population. In some circumstances, it is also performed after natural disasters.

Kagura is a type of dance used to pacify and energize kami, particularly those of recently deceased people. It also is directly related to Japan’s origin story, when kami danced for Amaterasu, the kami of the sun, to coax her out of hiding to restore light to the universe. Like much else in Shinto, the types of dances vary from community to community.

Prayers and offerings to the kami are often complex and play an important role in communicating with the kami. There are different types of prayers and offerings.

Norito are Shinto prayers, issued by both priests and worshippers, that follow a complicated structure of prose. They usually contain words of praise for the kami, as well as requests and a list of offerings. Norito is also said as part of purification by the priest over visitors before entering a shrine.

Ema are small, wooden plaques where worshippers can write prayers for the kami. The plaques are purchased at the shrine where they are left to be received by the kami. They often feature small drawings or designs, and prayers often consist of requests for success during exam periods and in business, health children, and happy marriages.

Ofuda is an amulet received at a Shinto shrine that is inscribed with the name of a kami and is intended to bring luck and safety to those who hang it in their homes. Omamori are smaller, portable ofuda that provide safety and security for one person. Both need to be renewed each year.

Omikuji are small slips of paper at Shinto shrines with fortunes written on them. A visitor will pay a small amount to randomly select an omikuji. Unrolling the paper releases the fortune.

Participating in Shinto rituals strengthens interpersonal relationships and relationships with the kami and can bring health, security, and fortune to a person or group of people. Though there is no weekly service, there are various rites of life for worshippers.

After a child is born, he or she is taken to the a shrine by parents and grandparents to be placed under the protection of the kami.

Every year on the Sunday nearest to November 15, parents take sons aged three and five and daughters aged three and seven to the local shrine to thank the gods for a healthy childhood and to ask for a fortunate and successful future.

Each year on January 15, 20-year-old men and women visit a shrine to give thanks to the kami for reaching adulthood .

Though increasingly uncommon, wedding ceremonies traditionally occur in the presence of family and a priest at a Shinto shrine. Typically attended by the bride, the groom, and their immediate families, the ceremony consists of exchanging vows and rings, prayers, drinks, and an offering to the kami.

Funerals rarely take place in Shinto shrines, and if they do, they are only to appease the kami of the deceased person. Death is considered impure, though only the body of the deceased person is impure. The soul is pure and free from the body.

N.S. Gill is a Latinist and freelance writer with a longtime focus on the classical world, who has taught Latin and assisted in history classes.

Gill, N.S. "Japanese Gods and Goddesses." Learn Religions, Dec. 6, 2021, learnreligions.com/japanese-gods-and-goddesses-117170.
Gill, N.S. (2021, December 6). Japanese Gods and Goddesses. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/japanese-gods-and-goddesses-117170
Gill, N.S. "Japanese Gods and Goddesses." Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/japanese-gods-and-goddesses-117170 (accessed September 8, 2022).

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Japanese gods and goddesses are mostly those of the traditional religion of Japan, known as Shinto ("The Way of the Gods"), or kami-no-michi. The mythologies of Shinto religion were first written down in the 8th century CE, in two documents known as the "Kojiki" (712 CE) and "Nihonshoki" (720 CE). But gods and goddesses of Japan have also been influenced to a degree by both Indian (Buddhism and Hindu) and Chinese (Buddhism and Confucianism) mythologies.

Twentieth-century folklorists Yanagita Kunio and Origuchi Shinobu collected the folklore of the peasants and common people; that folklore varies from community to community, tends to be flexible, and are rarely recorded. As a contrast, the main Shinto gods and goddesses from the Kojiki and Nihonshoki are shared by the entire nation, ideas which are written down and reinforce the national myths of the political state.

In Shinto mythology, the first gods who arose out of chaos were two genderless or dual-gendered deities, Kunitokotachi and Amenominakanushi , the supreme being who sits alone in a nine-fold layer of clouds. Together they created the first couple Izanami and Izanagi and assigned them the task of creating the land and the gods.

Izanami ("she who invites you to enter") is a primordial goddess and personification of the Earth and darkness. Izanagi is "the Lord who invites you to enter," and the embodiment of all that is bright and heavenly, ruling the sky. Before giving birth to additional gods, they first bore islands, creating the Japanese archipelago. Their first child was Kagutsuchi (or Hinokagutsuchi), the Japanese god of fire, who burned his mother to death when she gave birth to him, a metamorphosis linked to the death of the old year and the birth of the new.

In a rage, Izanagi killed Kagutsuchi and went off in search of his wife in the underworld: but like Persephone, Izanami had eaten while in the underworld and could not leave. Izanami became Queen of the Underworld.

When Izanagi returned, he produced three noble children: from his left eye came Amaterasu, the sun goddess; from his right eye the moon god Tsukiyomi no Mikoto; and from his nose, Susanowo, the sea god.

Amaterasu (or Amaterasu Omikami) is the Shinto sun goddess and the mythical ancestor of the Japanese imperial family. Her name means "Shining in the Heaven," and her epithet is Omikami, "Great and Exalted Divinity." Scholars trace the first version of the solar deity as a male, "Amateru Kuniteru Hoakari," or "Heaven and Earth Shining Fire," but by the 5th century CE, shrines to the goddess Amatera
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