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Shinto

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Shinto for life-affirming events, Buddhism for death rites ... Japanese Confucian scholars freeing them-selves of Buddhism likened their ways to Shinto ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Shinto


1
Shinto
Glen Avantaggio
2
History
  • Indigenous tradition of Japan
  • Buddhism arrives 6th century
  • Unamed local traditions called the way of the
    gods
  • Shen do, or Shinto

3
History
  • Set of traditional beliefs and practices
  • No single founder
  • No sacred literature
  • No explicit code of ethics or law
  • Essence kinship with nature, worship of kami

4
Kami
  • Spirits, powers, energies of natural world
  • Harmonize Heaven and Earth
  • Guide solar system and cosmos
  • Reside in beautiful places
  • Manifest as wind, rain, thunder, lightning
  • Since 7th century, Emperor came to be revered as
    kami, a living god

5
Shrines
  • Shrinesjinja-- built to honor kami
  • Now more than 100,000 Shinto shrines in Japan
  • Earliest shrines thought to be groves of trees
  • No images in worship ? all is in nature

6
Shrines
  • Torii mark the entrance to shrines

7
Shrines
  • Shimenawa mark the boundary of shrine, presence
    of Kami

8
Home Worship
  • High shelf or altar with a shrine, kamidana
  • Greet sun with clapping and prayer, and
    offerings
  • Rice - health
  • Water - cleansing and preservation of life
  • Salt - harmonious seasoning of life
  • By incorporating the worship of the kami into
    everyday life, one will be in harmony with nature

9
Home Worship
  • Kamidana in home

10
Purification
  • Tsumi, pollution, defilement
  • Can arise from
  • Improper behavior, unkind interaction among
    humans, defilement by corpses or menstruation,
    destruction of nature.
  • Purification by ritual washing, prayer, offering,
    and specific rituals

11
Purification
  • Oharai purification ritual
  • Haraigushi lightning wand

12
Purification
  • Misogi
  • Ritual purification by waterfall, (or water)
  • Allows kami to wash away tsumi

Japanese Shinto Water Purification Ritual1 min
37 sec - Jan 19, 2007Description Misogi Is A
Japanese Shinto Purification Ritual In Which
Participants Shower Themselves With Freezing Cold
Water. http//samuraidave.wordpress.com/2007/01/19
/warm-weather-makes-japanese-wintry-dip-seem-refre
shing/
13
Mythology
  • Kojiki completed 712
  • Creation of Japan, origins of culture
  • Nihongi, completed 720
  • Creation by Izanagi and Izanami
  • Parents of Amaterasu,
  • Deity of the sun.

14
Festivals
  • Numerous special festivals throughout year in
    addition to elaborate special festivals
  • Four months before babys birth - entrance of
    soul
  • Initiation of baby by deity month after birth
  • Other traditional family milestones
  • Seasonal festivals remind people of descent from
    kami
  • One of biggest is New Years which extends over
    many days

15
Buddhist and Confucian Influences
  • Buddhism and Shinto are still often practiced
    side by side.
  • Very different theologies
  • Shinto for life-affirming events, Buddhism for
    death rites
  • Parallel worship of kami and Buddhist deities
  • Japanese Confucian scholars freeing them-selves
    of Buddhism likened their ways to Shinto
  • Likened li and kami as a means of social cohesion
  • This alliance revived Shinto and the study of it

16
State Shinto
  • Emperor Meiji
  • Shinto became spiritual basis for government
  • Emperor was long thought to be the offspring of
    the sun goddess
  • imperial family would almost always consult the
    shrine to the sun goddess for matters of
    importance
  • Way of the kami should govern the nation
  • administered by government officials
  • priests were suppressed and/or done away with
  • tool to enlist popular nationalism
  • Emperor was a God, worthy of protection, and
    Japan should expand
  • Hirohito, Meijis grandson
  • thought to be a God, declared himself human at
    the end of WWII

17
Shinto Today
  • Non-proselytizing (does not seek to convert
    others)
  • Nature oriented
  • Basis of seasonal holidays in Japan
  • Good example of an indigenous religion
  • Renewed interest in Shinto beliefs
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