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Shinto (神道, Shintō), also kami-no-michi, [a] is the indigenous religion of Japan and of most of the people of Japan. [14] George Williams classifies Shinto as an action-centered religion; [15] it focuses on ritual practices to be carried out diligently in order to establish a connection between present-day Japan and its ancient roots. [16]
Foxes sacred to Shinto kami Inari, a torii, a Buddhist stone pagoda, and Buddhist figures together at Jōgyō-ji, Kamakura.. Shinbutsu-shūgō (神仏習合, "syncretism of kami and buddhas"), also called Shinbutsu-konkō (神仏混淆, "jumbling up" or "contamination of kami and buddhas"), is the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism that was Japan's main organized religion up until the Meiji period.
The earliest period of Japanese historiography is the hunter-gatherer Jōmon period, which is thought to have been primarily animistic.In the later centuries (14,000–400 BC) of this period, there was an emergence of distinctive material artifacts such as clay figurines (known to scholars as dogū), intricate ceramics, and masks.
A torii gateway to the Yobito Shrine (Yobito-jinja) in Abashiri City, HokkaidoThere is no universally agreed definition of Shinto. [2] According to Joseph Cali and John Dougill, if there was "one single, broad definition of Shinto" that could be put forward, it would be that "Shinto is a belief in kami", the supernatural entities at the centre of the religion. [3]
Izanagi: (伊邪那岐神) was a creation deity; he makes up the seventh generation of the Kamiyonanayo, along with his wife and sister, Izanami. [8]Izanami: (伊邪那美神) was a creation deity; she makes up the seventh generation of the Kamiyonanayo, along with her husband and brother, Izanagi.
According to estimates by the Japanese Government's Agency for Cultural Affairs, as of 2018, Buddhism was the predominant religion in Japan with about 84 million adherents or about 69% of the Japanese population, while Shinto had the second most, though a large number of people practice elements of both. [1]
According to the annual statistical research on religion in 2018 by the Government of Japan's Agency for Culture Affairs, about two million or around 1.5% of Japan's population are Christians. [28] Other religions include Islam (70,000) and Judaism (2,000), which are largely immigrant communities with some ethnic Japanese practitioners.
Japanese law states that government schools cannot give religious instructions; private schools are permitted to teach specific religions. [ 1 ] In the wake of the 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway system by Aum Shinrikyo , the Religious Juridical Persons Law was amended in 1996 to provide the government with the authority to supervise ...