The New International Encyclopædia/Shintō

​Shintō, or Shintoism (Sinico-Jap. shintō, Jap. Kami-no-michi, the way of the Kami (in Chinese shin) or gods). The ancient religion and mythology of the Japanese. The history of the religion falls into three periods: the first terminating in the sixth century A.D., the second in the eighteenth century A.D., and the third continuing until the present time. In the first period the religion had no name and was perhaps undifferentiated from other rites. It had neither dogmas, moral precepts, nor sacred writings. The objects worshiped were called kami, ‘superior.’ A late authority declares that the superior representatives of every class are kami, as trees, stones, mountains, birds, animals, men and spirits, and denies that the kami are spirits within the natural objects. In the ancient traditions mention is made of gods of the earth, and of heaven, which was simply a plane a little above the earth. Some gods were good and some were bad, some were mortal, and some were wedded to women. From one of the latter class of gods is descended the emperor. There were deities also of the cauldron, and kettle, and saucepan, gods of the kitchen, and of the gate, as well as gods of pestilence, storms and heavenly bodies. In fact, there was no distinctive class of gods, but everything was worshiped which excited fear or admiration. Nothing was related of heaven or hell as places of awards, but there were confused and contradictory accounts of hades as the place of departed beings. The rites were purifications by water from crimes and defilement: the offerings were anything of value, swords, armor, spears, and especially cloth, which has become the peculiarly cut strips of paper called go-hei which hang before the shrines. The prayers were thanksgivings and lists of offerings. The shrines were simply huts and the shrine-keepers sometimes called ‘priests,’ had neither sacerdotal nor teaching functions. There were no images in the shrines nor ornamentation of any kind, but in a few of them, a mirror and a ‘pillow’ for the god.

The second period begins with the sixth century, when Buddhism and Chinese civilization were introduced. Shin-to soon yielded to its rival, the native gods being regarded as incarnations of Buddha. (See Kōbō Daishi.) Buddhist priests became the custodians of the shrines, and introduced their own ornaments, images and ritual. The two religions were united under the name Riobu-Shintō, the “Shinto of two kinds,” a mongrel system in which Buddhism was the active partner. The mythology was written down with the ancient prayers. Only in the palace of the emperors, who were themselves Buddhists, and at a few of the great shrines were attempts made to preserve something of the ancient usage. The distinctively Shin-to ‘priests’ became fortune tellers and magicians.

In the eighteenth century a succession of great scholars (Mabuchi, 1697–1769, Motoori, 1730–1801, and Hirata, 1776–1843), animated by a love for antiquity and a hatred of all things foreign, attacked Buddhism and Confucianism and sought the reëstablishment of ‘Pure Shinto.’ They taught that its essence was obedience to nature and to the emperor. They produced marked effects in literature and in politics, but Shinto was too shadowy and ill-defined to gain religious hold of the people. The sentiment aroused was utilized by the revolutionists of 1865–1868, when the western clans overthrew the government of the Shogun and restored the emperor to the head of the government. At the restoration Buddhism was disestablished and Shinto put in its place. But Shinto could not maintain itself, and became a code of ceremonies for court and officials. At present it represents the intense patriotism of the people, and furnishes the rites for religious ceremonial at the court, all officials being obliged to observe its forms.

The origin of Shinto is unknown. Its legends are evidently from diverse sources, and Chinese influence in the formation of some of them can be detected. It is a confused mixture of nature and ancestor-worship. Its mythology also confuses history with the stories of the gods, putting both into a continuous narrative. It contributed nothing to the civilization of the Japanese, though the scholars mentioned above established in modern times the standard of pure Japanese literature, as distinguished from the Sinico-Japanese. Its legends form the best source for the reconstruction of the primitive life of the people. It expresses the Japanese nature, in its patriotic reverence for the Imperial house, and in its admiration for all things extraordinary.

Consult: Rosny, La religion des Japonais (Paris, 1881); Chamberlain, Translation of the Kojiki (Yokohama, 1883); id., Things Japanese (4th ed., New York, 1902); Cobbold, Religion in Japan: Buddhism, Shintoism, Christianity (London, 1894); Griffis, The Religions of Japan from the Dawn of History to the Era of Meiji (New York, 1895); Florenz, Japanesische Mythologie (Tokio, 1901). See also the section on Religion under Japan.