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Shinto is a religion native to Japan with a centuries'-long history tied to various influences in origin. [1]Although historians debate [citation needed] the point at which it is suitable to begin referring to Shinto as a distinct religion, kami veneration has been traced back to Japan's Yayoi period (300 BC to AD 300).
Shinto is a blend of indigenous Japanese folk practices, beliefs, court manners, and spirit-worship which dates back to at least 600 CE. [7]: 99 These beliefs were unified as "Shinto" during the Meiji era (1868–1912), [6]: 4 [12] though the Chronicles of Japan (日本書紀, Nihon Shoki) first referenced the term in the eighth century.
The Shinto Directive was an order issued in 1945 [1] to the Japanese government by Occupation authorities to abolish state support for the Shinto religion. This unofficial "State Shinto" was thought by Allies to have been a major contributor to Japan's nationalistic and militant culture that led to World War II.
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]
Buddhist doctrines were gradually applied to indigenous Shinto rituals and gave a more sophisticated understanding of native concepts, such as the kami, through a Buddhist lens. Although Buddhism and Shinto were gradually intermixed, there remained some Shinto shrines such as Izumo-taisha which had kept the two separate since early times. [19]
Japan took seriously the letter brought by the second diplomatic mission to Japan in 1268 as an omen of invasion; Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples were instructed to pray for the repulsion of foreign troops and the central government suspended most of its normal duties to concentrate on fortifying its existing defenses in Kyushu. [10]
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.
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]