Shinto Beliefs
The literature of Shinto employs much mythology to describe the supposed historical origins of Japan. According to the creation story found in the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, dating from AD 712) and the Nihongi or Nihon shoki (Chronicle of Japan, from AD 720), the Japanese islands were created by the gods, two of whom--the male Izanagi and the female Izanami--descended from heaven to carry out the task. They also brought into being other kami (deities or supernatural forces), such as those influencing the sea, rivers, wind, woods, and mountains. Two of these deities, the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu Omikami, and her brother, the Storm God, Susano-o, warred against each other, with Amaterasu emerging victorious.
Subsequently Amaterasu sent her grandson, Ninigi, to rule over the sacred islands. Ninigi took with him what became the three imperial regalia -- a curved jewel (magatama), a mirror, and a "sword of gathered clouds" -- and ruled over the island of Kyushu. Ninigi's great-grandson, Jimmu, recognized as the first human emperor of Japan, set out to conquer Yamato. On the main island of Honshu, according to tradition he established the unbroken line of imperial descent from the Sun Goddess and founded the Land of the Rising Sun in 660 BC.
A system of ancestor-worship implies a conviction of the immortality of the soul, and this belief was held by the ancient Japanese. Death was called ' disappearing,' 'going away,' or 'concealing one's person.' Distinction was made between the two kinds of soul existing in each distinguished person. The one was the nigitama, gentle, peaceful, and benevolent; the other the aratama, rough, strong, and brave. A medium known as kamiko ('child of the god') was on emergency called to discover the will of a departed ancestor.
The idea of transmigration seems also to have been present. Closely connected with ancestor-worship are the rites of purification, which were of pre-eminent importance in Shinto ritual. There were two principal forms, one of which was harai, wind-purification (which often consisted in paying a penalty or fine), the other misogi, waterpurification. To the mind of the ancient Japanese, cleanliness was next to godliness. Any defilement, sanitary, moral, or ritual, received the utmost care and attention. Prayers, called norito, are more of the nature of praise than of supplication.
Although each person is expected to continue existence as a kami after death, Shinto is concerned with this world rather than with the afterlife. This world contains defiling substances, and Shinto ritual often involves mental and physical purification of a person who has come into contact with a pollutant, such as death. Water or salt commonly serve as purifying agents. Some kami are guardian deities for villages, and thus they symbolize the unity of the human community as well as mediating in its relationship with the natural and supernatural worlds.
The imperial thanksgiving festivals, such as the Daijot (Great Rite of the First Rice), the Shinjoi (Annual Rite of the First Rice), and the Kannamesai (Thanksgiving Offering to the Ancestor-God), are generally regarded as having been handed down from time immemorial. All the mythological narratives contained in the ancient annals show the fundamental importance attached to the common ancestry of all the Japanese people; and this is also evident from the fact that the religious rites in which the ancestor-gods were invoked were regarded as a function of government, both rites and government having the same name, matsurigoto.
A Shinto shrine or jinga is more than the sum of the structural elements that are present at the site. It is considered a sacred space that is conceptualized as becoming more spiritually powerful as one moves further into the jinga. Some spaces in the jinga would only have been accessible to shrine priests while others would have been spaces for worship of the Kami --- a difficult concept to define in Western terms. Kami can include spirits, natural forces as well as anything or anyone that embodies awe or excellence.
Japanese legends describe the activities and personalities of the kami. The most well-known legends describe the creation of the human world and trace the origins of the Japanese imperial family to the gods. The latter legend formed the basis of the wide acceptance of the concept of the emperor's divine descent in pre-1940s Japan.
Shinto basically is optimistic and happy. Early Shinto used strips of clothtied to trees around shrines to frighten away evil spirits. Today, paper strips representing or incorporating prayers, ward off evil forces.
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