1. SHINTO
The search for human meaning

2. How does Shinto provide a distinctive
response to the search for human
meaning?

3. Introduction
• Shinto pervades Japanese
life at every level
• Shinto is a way of life, of
daily living
• Shinto is one of the few
examples of a simple folk
religion still flourishing in
a modern industrial
society, seen as a living
museum of religion

4. What about ‘god’?
• There is no concept of the transcendent because everything,
including the spiritual, is part of this world, one single unified
creation, with no founder.
• Shintoists understand they live in a world full of powerful forces
that they must appease and remember.
• In order to please the kami adherents strive to makoto (sincerity of
heart), revering the kami’s mushi (powers of creation and harmony)

5. • Shamanism, a disputed
branch of Shinto,
communicates with the
kami – spirits who enter the
bodies of mediums and
send messages, advice and
oracles
• crossing the bridge to the
other world which Izanagi
and Izanami stood on when
they made islands of Japan

6. What makes the good life?
• Shinto is expressed through simplicity of life
• Shinto is not a way of explaining the world, not a religion in the western
sense of the word. However, it is a vital part of society
• It is accepting of other religions and many embrace more than one of
these, especially Buddhism
• Morally speaking, people must do no harm and their actions should
benefit others. Emphasis is placed on right practice, sensibility and
attitude

7. • They appeal to who sense
through music, dance,
architecture and
landscaping rather than
through intellectual
doctrines
• In people’s homes, they are
encouraged to follow the
examples of the ancestors
(kami?)
• At the local level, Shinto is
very good at using festivals
to reaffirm society

8. How to know what is the right
way to live?
• Shinto sees people as basically good and has no concept of original sin
• Shintoism has no fomalised ethical code as this would only be needed for
unethical people!
• The priority is the felt needs of people rather than following a code of
verbal laws and philosphys of life
• The rituals affirm the spiritual origin and nature of reality
• The mind must be kept open and free to enjoy the spirit of life directly.

9. What is the relationship to nature?
• Shintoists have a strong sense of
their role in the environment
• They embrace the natural world
as a spiritualised and meaningful
whole
• They see in nature answers to
life’s big questions. When nature
is truly known and followed,
then life becomes truly fulfilling
• Shinto associate the spiritual
with the aesthetic – religious
feelings aroused by beauty
around: poetry and music, as
much as sacred texts or rituals
eg Mt Fiji is seen as a religious
pilgrimages

10. • The focus is on being
moved by a sense of
gratitude and awe in the
mystery of life
• Shinto poem by
worshippers at Shrine of
Ise:
“Unknown to me what
resides here,
Tears flow from a sense of
unworthiness
And gratitude”

11. What about life beyond death?
• The primary goal of Shintoism is to
achieve immortality among the
ancestral beings, the Kami.
• All people are capable of deep
affinity with the Divine.
• Salvation is achieved in Shinto
through observance of all tapas
(penance) and by avoiding people
and objects that might cause
impurity or pollution.
• A person's Kami nature survives
death; therefore, fulfillment of
duty is paramount to a Shinto
being remembered with dignity
after his death.
• Whenever a child is born
according to a local Shinto shrine
adds the child's name to a list kept
at the shrine and declares him or
her a "family child", called ujiko.

12. • After death an ujiko becomes a
"family spirit", or "family kami"
called ujigami.
• One may choose to have one's
name added to another list when
moving and then be listed at both
places.
• Names can be added to the list
without consent and regardless of
the beliefs of the person added to
the list.
• However, this is not considered an
imposition of belief, but a sign of
being welcomed by the local kami,
with the promise of addition to the
pantheon of kami after death.
• Those children who die before
addition to the list are called
"water children",mizuko, and are
believed to cause troubles and
plagues.
• Mizuko are often worshipped in a
Shinto shrine dedicated to stilling
their anger and sadness, called
mizuko kuyo.