Essay On Shintoism

Shintoism is one of the largest religions practiced in Japan, it follows right after Buddhism, though some people may choose to mix these two religions together and follow it. It is an ancient Japanese religion that worships a mass number of god’s known as Kami, the Kami’s are not a singular being instead it is the essences of multiple things of nature, animals, places, and even people. The name Shinto comes from the name Kami no Michi, which the translation is “Way of the Kami”. In Shinto, it does not have any written teachings or a founder, instead how it is taught is by the rituals and through the passing from generation to generation. Now unlike most religions Shinto does not have a fully developed theology, Shinto uses mostly stories …show more content…
At each shrine there is a sacred object there for the Kami that it is dedicated to and even some of them have smaller shrines in them to worship other spirits that are popular with the locals. The shrines are placed in forest areas in which it is believed that the Kami resided in since Kami do not live in the actual shrines. At the entrance of each shrine there are gates called Torii, which are the gateway for the gods to pass through. The Torii marks the separation between the physical and spiritual world, the Kami will walk through the middle of the gate, while mortals should pass through to the sides so both worlds can walk together. At the top before going to the shrine a person will purify themselves by washing the hands and rinsing the mouth, then may approach the shrine to make an offer, call to the deity by clapping hands twice, then a silent prayer and a bow (ARC). Around the grounds of the shrine there are areas called sacred points that can be trees, rocks or even entrances that are blocked off by ropes of either plaited straw or streamers of plain paper to mark them. Some followers have altar known a Kami-dana or shelf of gods in their homes that resided in a central place for a person to pray