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[[Buddhism]], [[Shinto]], [[Confucianism]], and Chinese folk religion (e.g. [[Tenpi]] worship) were all introduced into the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]] in the premodern period, and had considerable impacts upon local religious beliefs and practices, particularly among the [[scholar-aristocracy of Ryukyu|elites]], and particularly in the central region of [[Okinawa Island]]. However, Ryûkyû is also home to its own native/indigenous religion, a set of animist beliefs and practices which many suggest likely grew out of similar or shared origins with Japanese Shinto, though others argue strongly that such ideas have colonialist and Orientalist origins and work to deny or erase Ryukyuan distinctiveness.<ref>Aike Rots, "Strangers in the Sacred Grove: The Changing Meanings of Okinawan Utaki," ''Religions'' 10:298 (2019), 8.</ref>
[[Buddhism]], [[Shinto]], [[Confucianism]], and Chinese folk religion (e.g. [[Tenpi]] worship) were all introduced into the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]] in the premodern period, and had considerable impacts upon local religious beliefs and practices, particularly among the [[scholar-aristocracy of Ryukyu|elites]], and particularly in the central region of [[Okinawa Island]]. However, Ryûkyû is also home to its own native/indigenous religion, a set of animist beliefs and practices which many suggest likely grew out of similar or shared origins with Japanese Shinto, though others argue strongly that such ideas have colonialist and Orientalist origins and work to deny or erase Ryukyuan distinctiveness.<ref>Aike Rots, "Strangers in the Sacred Grove: The Changing Meanings of Okinawan Utaki," ''Religions'' 10:298 (2019), 8.</ref>
The native religion does not have a set name. Though some use terms such as "''nirai kanai'' worship," this really only refers to one aspect of the complex of spiritual/religious traditions and beliefs. Some use the term "Ryûkyû Shintô," either seeing it as an innocent term referring to the "Ryukyuan way of the gods," or, as native Japanese-language speakers and Japanese citizens raised in a heavily Japanese-influenced environment, simply thinking of it as the Ryukyuan version of (or equivalent of) Shinto, though many scholars and indigenous activists rail against this notion, calling the application of Japanese terms and categories to Ryukyuan culture a colonialist imposition - a rewriting of Ryukyuan history and culture to subordinate it to Japanese categories and understandings.<ref>Rots, 8-9.</ref>
The ''[[Ryukyu Shinto ki|Ryûkyû Shintô ki]]'' ("Record of the Ways of the Gods in Ryûkyû") written by the Buddhist monk [[Taichu|Taichû]] in [[1605]] indicates that Ryûkyû's native religion takes two deities, ''[[Shinerikyo]]'' and ''[[Amamikyo]]'' as the creator deities. They created the lords, ''[[noro]]'' (priestesses), and common people, as well as the new storm gods ''Kisomamon''. [[Writing]], specifically the "[[sexagenary cycle|ten stems and twelve branches]]," was given to the people by Heaven.<ref>The term used for "Heaven" or "Heavenly Beings" here is 天人, which in certain contexts could also refer to the Chinese people, or the Chinese emperor. See, for example, the [[Tenshikan]], a hall for hosting envoys from the Chinese emperor, or, literally "Heavenly envoys." Such an interpretation would also align with the [[Sinocentric]] notion of the Chinese emperor as the source from whom civilized culture emanates.</ref><ref>Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, ''Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû'' 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 52-53.</ref>
The ''[[Ryukyu Shinto ki|Ryûkyû Shintô ki]]'' ("Record of the Ways of the Gods in Ryûkyû") written by the Buddhist monk [[Taichu|Taichû]] in [[1605]] indicates that Ryûkyû's native religion takes two deities, ''[[Shinerikyo]]'' and ''[[Amamikyo]]'' as the creator deities. They created the lords, ''[[noro]]'' (priestesses), and common people, as well as the new storm gods ''Kisomamon''. [[Writing]], specifically the "[[sexagenary cycle|ten stems and twelve branches]]," was given to the people by Heaven.<ref>The term used for "Heaven" or "Heavenly Beings" here is 天人, which in certain contexts could also refer to the Chinese people, or the Chinese emperor. See, for example, the [[Tenshikan]], a hall for hosting envoys from the Chinese emperor, or, literally "Heavenly envoys." Such an interpretation would also align with the [[Sinocentric]] notion of the Chinese emperor as the source from whom civilized culture emanates.</ref><ref>Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, ''Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû'' 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 52-53.</ref>
