I suppose this could go in the religious folder but since Shinto is not a religion I'm putting it here.

This recent article gives the best explanation and illustration of Shinto that I've found in English anywhere.  Enjoy:  http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-...314x1.html

Shinto is not a religion????

Not originally..turned into one later on.(according to Wiki) Here's the Wiki explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto

More info:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/shinto.htm

I guess it depends on where you get your info as to whether it is/was a religion vice a 'way of life'.

From Dictionary.com

re·li·gion   /rɪˈlɪdʒən/ Show Spelled[ri-lij-uhn] Show IPA
–noun
1.a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
2.a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.
3.the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.
4.the life or state of a monk, nun, etc.: to enter religion.
5.the practice of religious beliefs; ritual observance of faith.
6.something one believes in and follows devotedly; a point or matter of ethics or conscience: to make a religion of fighting prejudice.

Even reading over the above and other web sites it still sounds, to me, like Shinto has always met and still meets at least one of the definitions of religion that dicionary.com has listed. I just isn't a monothiestic religion. They may not worship or believe in a "God" or "gods" but it is still a religion.

I'm not trying to pick a fight but to me it's a religion. I'll have to do more research to convince myself otherwise.  If anybody has any good websites let me know.

Shinto is japanese identity . I think Japanese who doesn't believe Shinto is not Japanese lol

Shinto isn't something to "believe". That's something to "feel" or "intuitive".
The Japan Times article gbeckwith referred describe Shinto very well.

Most religions which are surviving until now are modern religions that has:

1. Originator (Christ, Buddha, Muhammed)
2. Scriptures (Bible, sutras, Koran)
3. One "GOD"
4. Ceremonies

but Shinto has:

1. No originator
2. No scriptures
3. A LOT OF GODS (Basically, everything are gods. Even you are.)
4. Ceremonies

Lack of some "key parts", Shinto is still thought as a religion, but from some (strict) perspective of view, it isn't.

Other regions (Europe, U.S., etc.) also had similar primary religions but they have been thought as animism which is "something to conquer" by modern religons (Christanity, Buddhism, etc.) and don't survive as major religions these days.

When Buddhism was imported from Korea/China about 1,500 years ago, Japanese people astoundingly merge it with Shinto, and Shinto survived as part of merged Buddhism / Shinto. Basically or officially after then Buddhism had been Japan's national religion until Edo era.

There are another idea of Shinto, that can be named "modern Shinto" and was invented about 140 years ago when Meiji era started and became Japan's national religion at the time. That is what (some) people (may include T.I san) believe.

U.S. people may think 140 years is "old", but I think it is very new idea and basically, I don't "believe" modern Shinto.

I just "feel" primary Shinto.

Okumura-san and T.I.-san. Please explain the role of TENNO-HEIKA in SHINTO. Onegai shimasu.

In all actuality, folks, Shinto has been outlawed since the end of WWII. The key to this is the word "kami" which has an English mis-translation of "god". As explained in the refered article it acutally means "superior". The English interpretation led to the mis-conception that the emporer is a "living god" (from the Meiji Restoration) and all English language references state so.  While these references make use of the workds "religion" and "gods" and "dieties", etc., these are simply English words that foreigners can understand and relate to.  For example, Shinto priests certainly don't fit the Western concept of what a priest should be.  By Shinto definition, the head of a household is a kami. Barrack Obama is a kami. The biggest dog in the kennel is a kami.
A set of beliefs does not make a religion as stated so well above.

According to your article, Shinto IS a religion--
"Rooted in the spontaneous nature- worship of deep prehistory, Shinto is probably the most archaic living religion anywhere in the developed world." Maybe you think it's not a religion because they don't see things as 'fully good' or 'fully bad'. That's balance. But I'm not going to get into a pointless argument about whether it's a religion.

Sure it was outlawed..but as you can see by all the festivals and other events it's been alive and well. Do you think the Jews would stop their religion because they were told to? NO.

Oops disregard!--And was your use of the word 'gaijin' supposed to be insulting? Don't forget..you have been and always will be one, no matter how long you're here.

Posted By Tammy on 17 Mar 2010 09:53 AM
...
And was your use of the word 'gaijin' supposed to be insulting? Don't forget..you have been and always will be one, no matter how long you're here.

He was talking to me.  My screen name is Gaijin.

OH! Didn't notice that..sorry! :p

I apologize, but I have to strongly disagree with the factual elements of gbeckwith's summary. Shinto isn't outlawed... there's thousands of operational Shinto shrines all over the country. It's the national religion. The only thing that changed after WWII was the declaration the Emperor and his heirs were the direct descendant of the sun-goddess Amaterasu, who is a principle deity of the Shinto religion. As I understood it, they were asked/forced to publicly renounce this claim. Historically, the Imperial household and the Shinto religion have had a great deal cross-influence with one another. Shinto has a great deal of similarity to animistic faiths around the globe, which is the belief that the natural world is inhabited by spirits or deities. If you want to call it a faith, a belief system or a religion, it's all the same to me. I don't want to split hairs here.

I also must disagree with gbeckwith's definition of "Kami." It's translated as god or spirit, depending on usage. In the Japanese translation of the bible God is referred to as Kami-sama, which is roughly "Lord Kami," and not far removed from the English phrase "Lord God." If they are satisfied with calling Kami gods or spirits, I will defer to the Japanese. I also am not so sure about the assertion of the U.S. President being inhabited by kami, or the biggest dog in the kennel, either. I've been studying Japanese culture and language for a wee bit over 14 years, and it was my minor during college. We studied Shinto a good deal, in addition to simple osmosis of knowledge from being immersed in Japanese culture.

I don't disagree that religion isn't the best fitting term for Shinto, but stating it without qualifying your statement makes it sound like you are also dismissing it. I understand the main point of gbeckwith's arguement was that English-speakers understanding of Shinto is poor due to the vast gap between vocabularies, but it was a much, much different summation than I have seen in any scholarly book on the subject.

Anyways, I apologize for being long-winded, but I really care about this subject.

Ashikarazu 悪しからず
I believe gbeckwith is referring to the post WW2 discontinuance of "State Shinto" coincident to the Showa Emperor's renouncing of divinity. The observance of Imperial Shinto has continued and was very apparent during the funeral rights for the Showa Emperor and accession of the Heisei Emperor in 1989.

As far as who and or what is a Kami, that becomes a matter of semantics. Above "Okumura-San" (presumed to be Japanese) states that Shinto has

A LOT OF GODS (Basically, everything are gods. Even you are.)

. In my house we have "Uchi-No-Kami-San" and I would not dare to tell her otherwise.

gbeckwith's beginning post did cite an informative and accurate article of Japan Times' newspaper. I have it on good authority that he has been experiencing his own version of immersion and osmosis in Japan for well over thirty years.

Is Shinto a religion? It would seem that that depends on how you define religion.