History of Shinto facts for kids

Shinto is a religion native to Japan with a centuries'-long history tied to various influences in origin.

Yasukuni Shrine

Although historians debate the point at which it is suitable to begin referring to Shinto as a distinct religion, kami veneration has been traced back to Japan's Yayoi period (300 BC to AD 300). Buddhism entered Japan at the end of the Kofun period (AD 300 to 538) and spread rapidly. Religious syncretization made kami worship and Buddhism functionally inseparable, a process called shinbutsu-shūgō. The kami came to be viewed as part of Buddhist cosmology and were increasingly depicted anthropomorphically. The earliest written tradition regarding kami worship was recorded in the 8th-century Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. In ensuing centuries, shinbutsu-shūgō was adopted by Japan's Imperial household. During the Meiji era (1868 to 1912), Japan's nationalist leadership expelled Buddhist influence from kami worship and formed State Shinto, which some historians regard as the origin of Shinto as a distinct religion. Shrines came under growing government influence and citizens were encouraged to worship the emperor as a kami. With the formation of the Japanese Empire in the early 20th century, Shinto was exported to other areas of East Asia. Following Japan's defeat in World War II, Shinto was formally separated from the state.

Even among experts, there are no settled theories on what Shinto is or how far it should be included, and there are no settled theories on where the history of Shinto begins. The Shinto scholar Okada Chuangji [ja] says that the "origin" of Shinto was completed from the Yayoi period to the Kofun period, but as for the timing of the establishment of a systematic Shinto, he says that it is not clear.

There are four main theories.

The theory that it was established in the 7th century with the Ritsuryo system (Okada Souji et al.)
The theory that the awareness of "Shinto" was born and established at the Imperial Court in the 8th-9th century (Masao Takatori et al.)
The theory that Shinto permeated the provinces during the 11th and 12th centuries (Inoue Kanji et al.)
The theory that Yoshida Shinto was founded in the 15th century (Toshio Kuroda et al.)

Overview

Although there is no definitive theory on the origin of Shinto as a religion; its origins date back to the ancient history of Japan. Based on rice cultivation introduced at the end of the Jōmon period and at the start of the Yayoi period, nature worship, which views nature as one with some god, arose in the Japanese archipelago. These beliefs were spread throughout the archipelago as a national festival by the Yamato Kingship in the Kofun era. Rituals were held at the first Shinto shrines such as Munakata Taisha and Ōmiwa Shrine, and the prototype of Shinto was formed. In the Asuka period, the ritual system, shrines, and ceremonies were developed along with the establishment of the Ritsuryo, and the Ritsuryo rituals were formed with the involvement of the Diviners as the administrative body. Ritsuryo rituals were formed in which the Department of Divinities The Tang dynasty rituals were used as a reference for the regulations of the management and operation of rituals in the ritual system. In the following Nara period, the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki were compiled as Japanese mythology along with the national history, and the rituals and the Emperor's family were connected. In the Heian period, the Ritsuryo system was relaxed and the emperor and his vassals became directly involved in the rituals of local shrines without going through the Shinto priests. In addition to this, Shinbutsu-shūgō, a phenomenon of Shinbutsu-shūgō, in which Buddhism was fused with this belief in gods, also occurred in ancient Japan, while the idea of Shinbutsu segregation, in which rituals were distinct from Buddhism, was also seen. In addition, beliefs such as Shugendo and Onmyōdō were established in Japan, and these also influenced Shinto.

In the Middle Ages, there was a widespread movement to doctrinize and internalize Shinto. In the Kamakura period, the Kamakura shogunate's veneration protected shrines in various regions, and among the common people, Kumano, Hachiman, Inari, Ise, and Tenjin came to be widely worshipped across regions. In the midst of this spread of Shinto, the intellectual class began to use Buddhist theories to interpret Shinto, starting with the Esoteric Buddhist monk's dualistic Shinto, and advocated such theories as Honji Suijaku theory, which held that the Shinto gods were incarnations of Buddha. In response to this, the Shinto shrines, feeling threatened, systematized the Honji Suijaku theory, which placed their gods above Buddha, against the backdrop of the rise of Shinto after the victory over the Mongol invaders, and established Ise Shinto, which uses the Five Books of Shinto as its basic scripture. In addition, Yoshida Kanetomo, who lost many ancient books in the Ōnin War of the Muromachi period, took the opportunity to forge sutras to create the first Shinto theory that had its own doctrine, sutras, and rituals independent of Buddhism. Yoshida Kanetomo took this opportunity to create the first Shinto theory, Yoshida Shintō, which was the first Shinto theory to have a doctrine, scripture, and rituals. From the Sengoku era to the Azuchi-Momoyama period, Yoshida Shinto was involved in the construction of shrines that enshrined warring feudal lords as gods.

In the Edo period, which constitutes a large part of the Early modern period in Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate reorganized the administration of shrines, and improvements in security and transportation allowed the common people to visit Ise Grand Shrine Tokugawa shogunate reorganized the administration of shrines, and improvements in security and transportation led to an increase in pilgrimages to Ise Grand Shrine On the other hand, Buddhism, which had attained the status of a state religion, was in a period of stagnation as an ideology. In this context, in the early Edo period, mainstream Shinto, from the standpoint of criticism of Buddhism, became increasingly associated with the Confucianism of the Cheng-Zhu school, and shifted to Confucian Shinto such as Taruka Shinto. In the mid-Edo period, Kokugaku, which integrated Shinto with the empirical study of Japanese classics such as poetry and languages, developed and flourished, replacing Confucian Shinto. The Kokugaku scholar Motoori Norinaga strongly criticized the interpretation of Shinto in terms of Chinese-derived Buddhist and Confucian doctrines, and insisted on conducting empirical studies of Shinto scriptures. In the late Edo period, Nobunaga's theology was critically inherited by Fukko Shinto. Fukko Shinto, influenced by Christianity, emphasized the afterlife, as well as Chinese mythology, Hindu mythology, Christian mythology, and other myths from around the world were claimed to be accents of Japanese mythology, and were involved in the subsequent restoration of the monarchy. On the other hand, in the Mito Domain, the Late Mito Studies, which integrated Confucian ethics such as loyalty, filial piety, and humanity with national studies, was developed in response to the criticism of Nobunaga, who rejected Confucianism. Late Mito studies, which advocated the rule of Japan by the emperor by combining Confucianism and Shinto, became the nursery ground for the ideas of the Shishi at the end of the Edo period.

When the Shogunate was overthrown and Japan began to move toward the Late modern period, the new government set the goal of unity of Shinto and politics through the Great Decree of Restoration of the Monarchy. In addition to the propagation of Shinto based on the Daikyo Declaration, the Shinbutsu bunri led to the separation of Shinto and Buddhism, and in some cases, the Haibutsu Kishaku, the destruction of temples and Buddhist statues. The Meiji government then formed the State Shinto system in which the state controlled shrines as state religious services. Later, when the Separation of church and state led to the expulsion of the ritualists, the theory of non-religious shrines was adopted, which gave shrines a public character by defining them as not being religions, and local shrines were separated from public spending. In response to this, Priests organized the National Association of Priests and launched a movement to restore the power of the Shinto priests, demanding that the government make public expenditures. The Kannushi organized the National Association of Shinto Priests and launched a movement to restore the Shinto officialdom, demanding that the government make public expenditures. After the end of World War II, the Shinto Directive by the GHQ dismantled the state Shinto system, which was considered the root of Nationalism ideology. The Shinto Directive by the State Shinto of the Shinto Directive dismantled the state Shinto system, and shrines were transformed into religious corporations with the Association of Shinto Shrines as the umbrella organization. Although shrines thus lost their official position in modern times, some shrines have since achieved economic prosperity through free religious activities, and Shinto plays a certain role in Japan's annual events and life rituals.

Images for kids

High Hall at the Ikegami-Sone Site, a Yayoi period site that shares architectural features with shrines.
A mirror with a straight arc pattern with a plain border excavated from the Shinyama burial mound, Nara Prefecture (Collection of the Imperial Household Agency).
Emperor Tenmu
The Aoi Matsuri Festival is a typical festival of the Heian period. It has been preserved in its original form.
A scene from the medieval Gion Festival depicted in National Treasure (Japan), Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum, by [[Kanō Eitoku
Mandala of Hiyoshi Sanno-gu (Muromachi period). The upper part of the mandala shows the deities, main deities, and seeds of the 21 shrines. The lower part is a bird's-eye view of the 21 Sanno shrines, depicting the two shrines at the top of Hachioji Mountain and the group of shrines at the foot of the mountain.
One of the sutras of Ise Shinto, "Wahime-no-Mikoto Seiki" (transcribed in 1769 by Togetsu Maro, a priest at the shrine)
Kitabatake no Chikabo
Yoshida Kanetomo
Yoshida Shrine in Sakyo-ku Kyoto City
Hiroshige Utagawa, "Ise Sangu, Miyagawa no Ferry
Katsukawa Shun'ei painting "Shin-ita Uki-e Kanda Myojin Matsuri no Zu
Lin Luoshan, a pioneer of Confucian Shinto
Yaksai Yamazaki, the culmination of Confucian Shinto
From left to right: Nobunaga Motoi, Qi Oki, and Kamo Shin'en
Hirata Atsutane
Aizawa Seishisai
Fukuha Mishizuka. He played a leading role in Shinto administration in the early Meiji period.
Mizuno Rentarō, the fourth Director General of the Shrine. Mizuno Rentarō
Nao Deguchi
Hatsumode (Meiji Shrine)

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History of Shinto Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.