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What are the world's major religious philosophies? Shintoism
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Shinto Shrine on Mt. Fuji
Shinto or kami-no-michi is the natural spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. The word Shinto ("Way of the Gods") was adopted from the written Chinese, “shin", meaning gods or spirits; and “to" meaning a philosophical path or study (originally from the Chinese word tao). Shinto incorporates spiritual practices derived from many local and regional traditions, but did not emerge as a formal centralized religious institution until the arrival of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Buddhism was gradually adapted in Japan to the native spirituality.
Shinto on one hand is a loosely structured set of practices, creeds and attitudes rooted in local communities, and on the other it is a strictly defined and organized religion at the level of the imperial line and the state. These two basic aspects, which are not entirely separate, reflect fundamental natures of the Japanese national character as it is expressed in sociological structures and psychological attitudes.
Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written historical records of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki in the 7th and 8th century. Still, these earliest Japanese writings do not allude to a unified "Shinto religion". Instead they refer to practices associated with harvests and other seasonal clan events, along with a uniquely Japanese mythology, combining spiritual traditions of the ascendant clans of early Japan, mainly the Yamato and Izumo cultures.
Shinto is a religion where practice (actions) and ritual, rather than words, are of the utmost importance. Shinto is characterized by the worship of nature, ancestors, polytheism (the belief in multiple deities), and animism (a philosophical, religious or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans but also in other animals, plants, rocks, natural phenomena such as mountains or rivers). There is a strong focus on ritual purity, involving honoring and celebrating the existence of Kami.
Kami is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith, in some cases being human like, some animistic, others associated with more abstract "natural" forces in the world like mountains, rivers, lightning, wind, waves, trees, rocks. It may be best thought of as "sacred" elements and energies. In Shinto belief Kami and people are not separate; they exist within the same world and share its interrelated complexity.
Modern Shinto does have a central theological authority but no singular Theocracy. Unlike most other religions Shinto has no real founder, no written scriptures, no body of religious law, and only a very loosely organized priesthood. Shintoists generally follow the code of Confucianism.
According to some sources, there are approximately 119 million Shinto followers in the world and about 84% of Japan follows both Shinto and Buddhism. Within Shinto the Buddha was regarded as another Kami. It is generally accepted that the vast majority of Japanese people take part in Shinto rituals, while most would also practice Buddhist ancestor worship. However, unlike many monotheistic religious practices, Shinto and Buddhism typically do not require professing faith to be a believer or a practitioner, and as such it is difficult to query for exact figures based on self-identification of belief within Japan. As a result of the merging of the beliefs of Buddhism into the Shinto philosophy, most "life" events are handled by Shinto and "death" or "afterlife" events are handled by Buddhism. This is generally true but not exclusive.
"Be charitable to all beings, love is the representative of God."
-- Ko-ji-ki, Hachiman Kasuga of the Shinto tradition,
circa 500 AD
For more information on the Shinto beliefs visit: http://www.shinto.org/isf/index.htm
The information in this article has been adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto and http://www.religioustolerance.org/shinto.htm
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