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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).
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]
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.
Table illustrating the kami that appeared during the creation of Heaven and Earth according to Japanese mythology.. In Japanese mythology, the Japanese Creation Myth (天地開闢, Tenchi-kaibyaku, Literally "Creation of Heaven & Earth") is the story that describes the legendary birth of the celestial and creative world, the birth of the first gods, and the birth of the Japanese archipelago.
Yamato Katsuragi Hozan-ki, the Shinto book of Shugendo, explains that Amenonuboko is a mystical object generated at the time of the creation of heaven and earth, which is an incarnation of Bonten, and that it is regarded as a vajra which has a power to smash the evil and has another name Amanomagaeshi no hoko.
Ame-no-Uzume (天宇受売命 or 天鈿女命) Commonly called Uzume, she is the goddess of dawn and revelry in Shinto. [ 3 ] Fūjin ( 風神 ) Also known as Kaze-no-kami , he is the Japanese god of the wind and one of the eldest Shinto gods, said to have been present at the creation of the world.
Yoshida Shinto held that Shintō was the primal religion of the world, which in turn gave rise to Buddhism and Confucianism. However, Shintō was seen not only as the source of creation, but also as the source of all principle in the world. In this sense, Shinto was seen as a divine essence or energy rather than a teaching. [1]
A Shinto myth explains that at the time of creation, light, pure elements branched off to become heaven . Heavy, turbid elements branched off to become earth ( tsuchi ). Ame became the home of the amatsukami or gods of heaven, while tsuchi became the home of kunitsukami or gods of the land.