Religion in Japanese History
Shinto was the earliest Japanese religion, its obscure beginnings date back at least to the middle of the first millennium B.C. Until the sixth century A.D., when the Japanese began a period of rapid adoption of continental civilization, it existed as an amorphous mix of genius worship, fertility cults, divination techniques, hero worship, and shamanism. The word Shinto, or the agency of the kami (gods or spirits), came into use only after the sixth century, when the Japanese sought to distinguish their own tradition from the foreign religions of Buddhism and Confucianism that they were indeed encountering. Thus, in its origins, Shinto was the religion of a pristine people who, above all, were sensitive to the spiritual forces that pervaded the worldly concern of nature in which they lived. As one ancient chronicle reports in their world myriad spirits shone like fireflies and every tree and bush-league could speak. Worship in Shinto is undertaken to express gratitude to the gods and to secure their go along favor. Worship may take the form of one of the many a(prenominal) large communal festivals that occur at fixed quantify during the year, celebrating such(prenominal) events as spring planting, the fall harvest, or nearly special occasion in the history of a shrine.
However, it may also be carried out privately in a much-abbreviated fashion in the home or at the realm shrine. Although a festival may continue for several days, transmutation at times in mood from the solemn to the blithe or even raucous, individual worship may hold only a few moments to complete. In spite of such contrasts, both types of Shinto worship have three natural elements in common. Both begin with the all-important act of purification, which unremarkably involves the use of water; in both an offering is presented to the...
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