Shinto
The Religion’s Influence on Every Day Life
List of contents
1. Introduction .....................................................................................................3
2. The religion Shinto..........................................................................................3
3. The religion’s status throughout time ...........................................................4
3.1 State Shinto .......................................................................................................... 4
3.2 Shinto and Buddhism.......................................................................................... 4
4. Practicing the religion.....................................................................................5
4.1 Shrines.................................................................................................................. 5
4.2 Every day routines .............................................................................................. 6
4.3 Special occasions ................................................................................................. 6
4.4 Mentality .............................................................................................................. 7
5. Conclusion........................................................................................................8
6. Sources .............................................................................................................9
2
1. Introduction
Japan is this country way away in the Far East, a country that we do not read very much about
in school and therefore is rather unacquainted to most of us. It also has a culture that is a lot
different from our western one. For thousands of years the Japanese have believed in what
today is called Shinto.1 This religion is built up by ancient religious traditions as well as by
the attitude towards life that has been adopted by the people throughout time. Shinto is more
of a life style than of a strict and formal belief system and is clearly visible in the Japanese
mentality.2 What makes the Shinto religion especially interesting is that it is such an old
religion and has managed to maintain the position as an important religion and lifestyle for the
people in Japan for that long time, even with both Christianity and Buddhism simultaneously
being introduced to the country.3 This indicates that the religion must have a certain
connection with the people, since it has been so important to them that not even large world
religions could drive it away. I want to investigate how the religion can be seen among the
population today and that is why I have chosen to write this report as an answer to the
question “how does the Shinto religion affect the every day life of the people in Japan today?”
To answer this question I will begin with providing the reader with a short summary of what
the religion in general is about in order to create an understanding for the subject, since Shinto
is quite an unknown religion to most of us. Then I will look at a few every day perspectives in
ambition to understand how the religion affects the Japanese life.
2. The religion Shinto
Investigators have not been able to find any particular founder to the Shinto religion. It is
known that it descends from Japan’s oldest cultures, as old as from 300 BC, but also believed
that its origins reaches even further back in time.4
However, it was around 300 BC the people started to believe in gods that were ancestors to
their family. Each clan had a divine ancestor and the clan that was descendants to the sun
goddess became the emperor clan.5 The sun goddess, Amaterasu, so is the most important of
all Japanese kami. Kami are what the Shintoists believe in and worship, they are holy
1
Littleton 2002, p. 13
Encyclopaedia Britannica, p 276
3
Littleton 2002, p. 13
4
Littleton 2002, p. 144-146
5
Littleton 2003, p. 144-146
2
3
divinities and consist of the spirits that exist in the environment, the divine clan ancestors and
the gods and goddesses. There exists a nearly immeasurable figure of kami in the Japanese
belief. The Shintoists believe that kami are living up in the sky, but sometimes come down to
visit the sacred places on earth. Kami are seen as so sainted that whenever one is about to
enter a sacred shrine or perform a ritual he or she has to lustrate him or herself before
competing in the ritual.6
3. The religion’s status throughout time
Eventually, Shinto has went from being a native religion to being the official religion of the
country, controlled by the state and coordinated by the divine emperor to finally going back to
the beginning with being a loosely tied religion worshipping varying divinities from different
areas.7
3.1 State Shinto
Indeed, from 1871 until the end of the Second World War there was a period of “State
Shinto” when the State controlled and ruled over religious affairs. The emperor who had just
regained power over the country after 250 years of another method of governing came to
announce Shinto as the state religion. The rule over the religion became one of the emperor’s
most important methods to domesticate and gain loyalty from the Japanese population.8 The
old faith that the emperor descended from the sun goddess turned very important and children
were taught in school about the emperor’s divinity.9 The “State Shinto” continued until the
end of the Second World War when the state was inhibited to interfere with the religion in the
country and the emperor reclaimed the divinity.10
3.2 Shinto and Buddhism
Shinto and Buddhism have coexisted in Japan for almost 1500 years. These two religions
have instead of trying to outshine each other, peacefully existed side by side for that long
6
Littleton 2003, p. 148
Littleton 2003, p. 146
8
Littleton 2002, p. 8-9
9
Littleton 2002, p. 52
10
Littleton 2003, p. 146
7
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time. It has though, been unavoidable that the two religions have affected and influenced each
other. As Buddhism came to Japan, Buddhist temples were built close to the Shintoist shrines.
Instead of seeing their belief and their gods as superior, the Buddhists explained that the kami
and the Buddhist bodhisattvas were the same. Many bodhisattvas started from here to be
worshipped as Shintoist kami and contrariwise. To some extent Buddhists can even be in
charge of shrines and the religions can in a few cases share the same priests. Today hence to
that Shinto and Buddhism have influenced one another, many Japanese consider themselves
to be both Shintoists and Buddhists.11
4. Practicing the religion
With the background given, the rest of the report will treat the question of how the Japanese
people today are affected by Shinto. By looking at the every day routines and the special
occasions a picture of this will take form.
4.1 Shrines
In Shinto belief the whole country of Japan is seen as sacred, but it is the shrines that are in
focus for worshipping kami.12 There are no rules of when and how often one is supposed to
visit a shrine. The Shintoists can visit shrines whenever they like. Some only go to the shrines
when there is a festival or another special event and some visit them every day.13 During
special occasions a Shinto priest can read prayers so that kami will come down and bless the
people gathered.
Otherwise the Shintoists can visit the shrines individually to worship kami.14 Since kami are
so sacred the first thing the visitors do before entering a shrine is that they purify themselves
by washing their hands and rinsing their mouth with water provided in a trough within the
shrine precinct. Then they walk in to the actual shrine and offer a small amount of money to
the kami. Before saying their prayers they need to either clap their hands or ring a little bell in
order for the spirits to notice them. The prayers can for example be a mother’s wish for her
11
Littleton 2003, p. 160-161
Littleton 2002, p. 67
13
Encyclopaedia Britannica, p. 279
14
Earhart, p. 1114
12
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child to pass an examination or an old man’s wish for his granddaughter to find a proper
husband.15
4.2 Every day routines
Although there are shrines for worshipping kami, the home is also seen as a sacred place
because of the presence of kami and the home has over the years been an important place for
the Japanese to espouse their religion.16 The traditional Japanese have a little miniature model
of a shrine in their home. In the shrine there are names of old ancestors of the family, now
worshipped as deities. In the traditional home one of the oldest members of the family is
nursing the altar and offering rice wine along with various dishes to the kami every morning.17
As mentioned above, traditionally every family practiced the religion in their home but today
many families do not regularly honour kami or even have an own altar. An explanation to that
is the vast and rattling development of the society. Japan that once was a cultivating state has
gone from that form of society to becoming a more urban and industrial environment and that
has affected the population in many ways. The change of lifestyle has influenced the
population to push aside old traditions and prioritize new chores instead. This said, there are
still people practicing the old traditions and doing so still represents the Japanese ideal of
living.18
4.3 Special occasions
Even though the practice of the religion in the Japanese home in many ways has had its day,
the festivals and special ceremonies of Shinto still attract and engage many people. For a
Shintoist there are many local rituals and festivals to attend. Some of the most important
festivals are the New Year festival, the Obon festival and the neighbourhood matsuri. During
New Year the Japanese clean out their houses so they will reach the new year in purity, dine
with their families and most important of all, give offerings and say prayers to kami. The
Obon festival is a combination of Buddhist and Shintoist traditions. The festival is about
honouring the dead and the people visit their native cities to clean up around family grave
15
Littleton 2003, p. 151-154
Earhart, p. 1114
17
Littleton 2002, p. 73-74
18
Earhart, p. 1114-1115
16
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stones and pray for their dead ancestors. They also use to participate in a traditional Shinto
dance. Most important of all though, tends to be the annual neighbourhood festival, the
matsuri. This local festival honours the neighbourhood kami and a portable shrine is carried
by local inhabitants around the faubourg. This festival so is a local event that attracts the
whole community.19
Also there are more personal ceremonies and rituals for the Japanese, such as weddings and
funerals. People usually marry according to Shinto traditions20, though the ceremony does not
use to take place in an actual shrine, but instead in hotels or buildings especially made for
those ceremonies.21 The bride and groom say their vows to kami22 and the marriage is taken
by a Shinto priest. Funerals the other hand, are seldom held according to Shinto rites. Usually
only the funerals of the emperor with family and of Shinto priests are held by Shinto.
Ordinary people turn to Buddhism when it comes to funerals since it is in Buddhism the soul
is believed to live on in another life.23
Besides these more important ceremonies and traditions there are other rituals performed in
the daily work life. Among Shintoist ordinary rites are for example; ceremonies for purifying
a new building being built, for purifying the boilers in a new built factory or a special
ceremony for the launch of a new ship.24
4.4 Mentality
As mentioned in the beginning of this report, Shinto is clearly visible in the Japanese
mentality and has major influence to what the Japanese see as right and wrong.25 It is Shinto
that has affected the population to see as its most important ethical principle that the group
always shall be prioritized before the individual. The religion has also affected the Japanese
way of treating nature; nature is to be treated with respect and consideration. For the Japanese
it is very important to maintain a state of harmony, called wa, in their surroundings. All
Japanese ethical rules aim to keep the harmony in balance. To treat the group as more
19
Littleton 2002, p. 79-81
Encyclopedia Britannica, p. 279
21
Littleton 2002, p. 85
22
Encyclopedia Britannica, p. 279
23
Littleton 2003, p. 157-158
24
Encyclopedia Britannica, p. 279
25
Encyclopedia Britannica, p. 276
20
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important than the individual is one way of keeping the balance. It is also of great significance
for the Japanese to not ”loose their face” since this would disturb the balance of wa. If one
breaks the social code in any way, he or she feels the need to remedy the mistake. The
atonement variates depending on the seriousness of the failure and can sometimes be as
severe as suicide.26
Besides this, there are also other Japanese customs that have an affiliation with Shinto and the
ethical principles in general. The customs of taking the shoes off before entering anyone’s
home and to take a daily bath is both a way of purification and a way of keeping the harmony
of the world in balance.27
5. Conclusion
Since I had never heard of Shinto before I started working with this report it felt very natural
to begin the report with some basic information about the religion. I also felt that the facts
about early Shinto and its development gave a picture of how the religion has influenced the
life of the population throughout time and finally in present time. I built the report upon the
question “how does the Shinto religion affect the every day life of the people in Japan today?”
and I think my sources gave me a quite good answer to that. My intention was to find out in
which way the religion has influenced the customs and rituals performed in the Japanese daily
life, how the religion permeates the social life so to say.
According to what I have, working with this report, learned, the old traditions of worshipping
the Shintoist holy deities, kami, nowadays lack the importance they once had. People of Japan
today prioritize other things in life before espousing their religion and only the traditional
families have an altar in their home where they pray and offer to kami. The change of the
society has made the people forget or just neglect a bit of their cultural heritage. It is a bit sad
to see, I think, that people today are not performing the rites they once did because of the
change of the society. It is a big part of their ancestor’s lives being pushed aside simply for
the cause of new priorities.
26
27
Littleton 2002, p. 57-59
Littleton, p. 61
8
Even though, not all traditions are suppressed and the population still turns to the religion at
special occasions. They still celebrate the old festivals and holidays which tend to be big
feasts that attract many people. They also turn to the religion when it comes to certain rites of
passage such as marriage and funerals. The religion has always been there as a part of the
country and I guess the people could not or did not want to totally let it go, so even though
they have neglected some old habits of worshipping kami daily, they still at holidays perform
the old rites and ceremonies.
It can be said that the religion remains an important part of the life with the special occasions
and formal ceremonies that are celebrated, but I think that the Shinto religion is a big part of
the Japanese life in many other ways that the Japanese maybe do not even notice themselves.
As discussed in the paragraph 4.4 above, Shinto has affected the population so, that in many
common rites and customs it is a part of the Japanese life today. The whole Japanese way of
thinking and acting and the way to look at right and wrong are influenced by old Shinto ideas.
Everyone in the Japanese society must be affected by the Shinto-based ethics no matter if they
are active Shintoists or not. Many people consider themselves to be both Shintoists and
Buddhists. They see themselves as if they belong to these two religions even if they do not
practice them daily. I think the religion must be a part of the Japanese life in a way they take
for granted and therefore do not notice.
In brief, the active espouse of the Shinto religion maybe not is that big part of the ordinary
Japanese life today, but the religion truly has affected Japan so, that the ethics of the religion
influences the ethics of the whole country and can be seen in so simple customs such as taking
the shoes off before entering a home.
6. Sources
Earhart, H. Byron, Religious Traditions of the World, HarperCollins Publishers, 1993
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Shinto, volume 27, U.S.A., 1990
Littleton, C. Scott, Understanding Shinto, Duncan Baird Publishers, 2002
Littleton, C. Scott, The Sacred East, Duncan Baird Publishers, 2003
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