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#Offering - to thank the ''kami'', it is customary to place cash in an offering box. In earlier times, almost anything of value to the giver might be left (e.g. rice, water, paper fortunes, or ''[[ofuda]]'' talismans).
#Offering - to thank the ''kami'', it is customary to place cash in an offering box. In earlier times, almost anything of value to the giver might be left (e.g. rice, water, paper fortunes, or ''[[ofuda]]'' talismans).
Shinto shrines range in size from a breadbox to entire mountains. Many Japanese homes have small ''kami-dana'' (lit. "god shelves") within their homes to pay homage to their families' ancestral ''kami''. Most shrines include one or more ''[[torii]]'' (sometimes hundreds), a symbolic gate marking the approach, or progression, into spiritual space. Smaller shrines sometimes use a ceremonial rope (''[[shimenawa]]'') festooned with folded paper (''[[shide]]'') instead of torii.
Shinto shrines range in size from a breadbox to entire mountains. Many Japanese homes have small ''kami-dana'' (lit. "god shelves") within their homes to pay homage to their families' ancestral ''kami''. Most shrines include one or more ''[[torii]]'' (sometimes hundreds), symbolic gates marking the approach, or progression, into spiritual space. Smaller shrines sometimes use a ceremonial rope (''[[shimenawa]]'') festooned with folded paper (''[[shide]]'') instead of ''torii''.
Shrines are meant to house the ''kami''; unlike [[Buddhist temples]], Shinto shrines are not primarily residences, e.g. for monks, and do not contain extensive residence complexes. Many shrines, however, do maintain a small home for the attending ''[[kannushi]]'' (priest). A priest might also be in charge of attending to several smaller shrines. The ''kannushi'' are aided by ''[[miko]]'' (shrine maidens), recognizable by their red and white robes. ''Miko'' clean the shrines, collect offerings, put out fresh flowers, and staff the commercial venues of shrines which involve selling ''[[omamori]]'' (good luck charms) and giving tours of the grounds. At some shrines, on particular occasions, an ensemble of musicians and dancers performs ritual dances known as ''[[kagura]]''.
Shrines are meant to house the ''kami''; unlike [[Buddhist temples]], Shinto shrines are not primarily residences, e.g. for monks, and do not contain extensive residence complexes. Many shrines, however, do maintain a small home for the attending ''[[kannushi]]'' (priest). A priest might also be in charge of attending to several smaller shrines. The ''kannushi'' are aided by ''[[miko]]'' (shrine maidens), recognizable by their red and white robes. ''Miko'' clean the shrines, collect offerings, put out fresh flowers, and staff the commercial venues of shrines which involve selling ''[[omamori]]'' (good luck charms) and giving tours of the grounds. At some shrines, on particular occasions, an ensemble of musicians and dancers performs ritual dances known as ''[[kagura]]''.
The above is a summary of "Shrine Shinto" (''jinja shintô''). A variety of other practices and belief structures are sometimes categorized under terms such as ''[[kyoha]]'' (sectarian Shinto, started during the [[Meiji period]]), [[State Shinto]] (also begun during Meiji, and connected closely to the ultra-nationalism of the early 20th century), and [[folk Shinto]], which encompasses a myriad of family and regional traditions and practices.
The above is a summary of "Shrine Shinto" (''jinja shintô''). A variety of other practices and belief structures are sometimes categorized under terms such as ''[[kyoha]]'' (sectarian Shinto, started during the [[Meiji period]]), [[State Shinto]] (also begun during Meiji, and connected closely to the ultra-nationalism of the early 20th century), and [[folk Shinto]], which encompasses a myriad of family and regional traditions and practices.
The first time the term ''Shintô'' appears within the ''[[Nihon Shoki]]'' is in the chapter concerning the reign of [[Emperor Yomei|Emperor Yômei]]<ref>''Nihongi''. Aston. 2.106.</ref>. The set of beliefs and practices later to be called Shintô may have first entered Japan in the [[Yayoi period]]; indigenous folk religion in Korea shares many features with Shintô,<ref>[[Albert M. Craig]], ''The Heritage of Japanese Civilization'', Second Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 11.</ref> while differing somewhat from [[Ainu]] practices which might descend more directly from [[Jomon period|Jômon period]] beliefs.
==Historiography==
There continues to be debate, both in academia and within the community of Shinto priests, as to whether Shinto should be considered a unitary, cohesive, and distinctive religion, as opposed to seeing the term as a catch-all for a broad diversity of differing folk practices and beliefs, and indeed there is debate as to whether Shinto is a "religion" at all, as it lacks many of the defining features of the Abrahamic religions, such as sacred books, and any system of rules circumscribing lifestyle. A great many Japanese - likely a considerable majority - consider Shinto practices to be simply a part of Japanese cultural customs, and not acts of religious devotion.
Scholars also continue to discuss and debate a number of issues pertaining to the origins and development of Shinto, including the question of at what time a distinctive thing we might call "Shinto" first emerged, and what the best term for that set of beliefs and practices may be.
During the Meiji through early Shôwa periods, State ideology dictated that Shinto was definitively a distinctive and unitary thing, and that it stretched back to the most ancient origins of Japan. Since the late 20th century, however, it has become standard in scholarship to understand that much of the modern state ideology concerning Shinto were inventions of the Meiji period, and that "Shinto" did not function in such a way in the [[Edo period]] (nor was it understood in such a fashion by Edo period people). Still, many scholars have argued that "Shinto" did come to have some archipelago-wide (or "national") coherence in the Edo period, with ''[[kokugaku]]'' ("Nativism") scholars writing treatises on the divine origins of Japan; the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] and various ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]'' implementing elements of what might be seen as State or official religion (for example, with a network of [[Nikko Toshogu|Tôshôgû]] shrines dedicated to the worship of the deified spirit of [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]]); and movements such as [[Yoshida Shinto]] building stronger connections between shrines scattered across the archipelago. Thus, many scholars today do see "Shinto" as beginning to emerge as early as the 17th century as a distinctive, cohesive, unitary, and "national" phenomenon. Many scholars argue that ''kami'' worship and related beliefs and practices would have been seen as quite diverse and multiple prior to these developments, and that most especially, there would have been no impetus to see these things as belonging under a single umbrella category (i.e. as a single thing called "Shinto") in the most ancient times, until the introduction of Buddhism into the islands, which then provided for the first time something to define "Shinto" (or "the way of the gods") against (i.e. understanding "Shinto" as those things that are not Buddhism).
The first time the term ''Shintô'' appears within the ''[[Nihon Shoki]]'' is in the chapter concerning the reign of [[Emperor Yomei|Emperor Yômei]]<ref>''Nihongi''. Aston. 2.106.</ref>. Yet, the usage of the term in the ''Nihon shoki'' and other similarly ancient documents remains a matter of debate, with some scholars suggesting it ought to be seen as a more descriptive term - "the way of the gods" - and not as a proper noun, the name of a singular belief system; many scholars also, meanwhile, argue that there are reasons to believe the term should be read as Jindô, rather than Shintô.
The set of beliefs and practices later to be called Shintô may have first entered Japan in the [[Yayoi period]]; indigenous folk religion in Korea shares many features with Shintô,<ref>[[Albert M. Craig]], ''The Heritage of Japanese Civilization'', Second Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 11.</ref> while differing somewhat from [[Ainu]] practices which might descend more directly from [[Jomon period|Jômon period]] beliefs. This can be seen in burial practices, for example, with mound tombs (''[[kofun]]'') bearing great similarities between the Japanese islands and the Korean peninsula, including in their use of ''[[haniwa]]'' figures (which may have been for spiritual protection, or another similar function) and in the centrality of ''[[magatama]]'' beads or jewels in both shamanistic and burial practices. Scholars have also pointed out the significance of sun worship in ancient Korea, and the adoption by the [[Yamato clan]] of a sun goddess, Amaterasu, as their clan deity at some point prior to the early 8th century, where their clan deity had previously been a male deity, [[Takamimusubi]].<ref>Rawski, 118.</ref>
==References==
==References==
*Bocking, Brian ''A Popular Dictionary Of Shinto'' Chicago:NTC Publishing Group, 1997
*Brian Bocking, ''A Popular Dictionary Of Shinto,'' Chicago: NTC Publishing Group, 1997.
*Evelyn Rawski, ''Early Modern China and Northeast Asia: Cross-Border Perspectives'', Cambridge University Press (2015), 115-119.
==Notes==
==Notes==
