Shinto (神道, Shintō?) 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 (神道), combining two kanji: “shin” (神?), meaning gods or spirits (originally from the Chinese word shen); and “tō” (道?), or “do” meaning a philosophical path or study (originally from the Chinese word tao).
Shinto incorporates spiritual practices derived from many local and regional prehistoric traditions, but did not emerge as a formal centralized religious institution until the arrival of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, beginning in the 6th century. Buddhism gradually adapted in Japan to the native spirituality. (See article on “syncretism”.)
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 refer to a unified “Shinto religion”, but practices associated with harvests and other seasonal clan events, along with a uniquely Japanese cosmogony and mythology, combining spiritual traditions of the ascendant clans of early Japan, mainly the Yamato and Izumo cultures.
Shinto is a religion in where practice (actions) and ritual, rather than words, are of the utmost importance. Shinto is characterized by the worship of nature, ancestors, polytheism, and animism, with a strong focus on ritual purity, involving honoring and celebrating the existence of Kami (神?). Kami are defined in English as “spirit”, “essence” or “deities”, that are associated with many understood formats; in some cases being human like, some animistic, others associated with more abstract “natural” forces in the world (mountains, rivers, lightning, wind, waves, trees, rocks). It may be best thought of as “sacred” elements and energies. 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. Shinto today is an inclusive association of local, regional, and national shrines of various rank and historical significance. Practitioners express their various beliefs through similar language and practice, adopting a similar style in dress and ritual, dating from around the time of the Nara and Heian Periods.
Shinto currently has about 119 million known adherents in Japan, although a person who practices any manner of Shinto rituals may be so counted. 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. Due to the syncretic nature of Shinto and Buddhism, most “life” events are handled by Shinto and “death” or “afterlife” events are handled by Buddhism — for example, it is typical in Japan to register or celebrate a birth at a Shinto shrine, while funeral arrangements are generally dictated by Buddhist tradition — although the division is not exclusive.
Shinto has shrines in many other countries, including the United States, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the Netherlands among others and is considered to be expanding to a global religion especially with the advent of international branches of Shinto shrines.