The animism (belief that spirits or deities inhabit natural phenomena) that is found in Shinto, the state religion of Japan for over 1200 years, is considerably older than the development of Shinto itself. The animism of Japan stems from belief systems of all of the peoples who inhabited Japan from the Stone Age approximately 30,000 years ago and onwards. It is a syncretic religious system based on all of the people who came to Japan from many lands and with many backgrounds. All of these early inhabitants shared basic animistic beliefs.
Earliest Occurrence of Animism in Japan
The Jomon culture is presumed to have been animistic, preceding the animism of the Yayoi Period. The Ainu and Ryukyu peoples have Koshinto (way of the ancient gods) ancient religious animistic customs and beliefs. They used stone ritual structures which may have demarcated the sacred space from the profane or served to house animistic deities. There is a pole surrounded by stones in the center of the Naiku shrine in Ise that may relate back to these early structures.
Prior to anthropomorphic forms and images of gods, people believed in the individual spirit beings that inhabited natural phenomena surrounding them, such as trees, rivers, mountains, wind, rain, and so forth. It is the animation of nature by these spirits that is the early belief system of many indigenous cultures, including those of Japan. In the beginning people may have venerated the objects, which belief system would be termed animatism. When the spirits living in the objects are venerated, this becomes animism.
Shinto folk tradition includes beliefs in divination, possession and healing by shamans. These traditions are found in Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism from China, but they also existed in more ancient customs handed down from before the import of Chinese religion. Shamans would have been the earliest conduit between the gods and the humans and were certainly found among the earliest inhabitants of Japan.
Shinto Development
“Shinto” can be translated from Japanese as “the way of the gods,” a nature-centered belief system which came to include “eight million gods” (a term which expressed the endless number of gods in their pantheon). At first kami, or gods, were respected by man and thanked for their benevolence, but these deities had no appearance or shape and were spirit beings who inhabited natural phenomena, Some kami began to evolve and were given names and characters. These anthropomorphic deities could be entreated by the humans for answers to physical needs. In addition to nature kami, ancestors were added to the gods that were worshipped and supplicated. The development of rice agriculture affected the worship of field gods and religious customs associated with the rice planting and harvest.
In the early Nara period in Japan, the Kojiki (The Record of Ancient Matters, 712 C.E.) and the Nihon Shoki (The Chronicles of Japan, 720 C.E.) were compiled, composed of myths and legends about the origins of the islands of Japan, the deities and the Japanese people. They also gave explanations of harvest and other seasonal ceremonies, and descriptions of leading clans and their major gods. The Kojiki also established the mythological divinity of the ruling family in Japan. Jimmu Tenno in the 6th century B.C.E. thus became the first emperor descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu.
Shinto Shrines
Shinto shrines have been built to house and venerate kami throughout Japan. Over 80,000 such structures are in existence. In addition to these formal structures are shrines in the fields and by the wayside and the kamidana small shelf shrine in the home, usually hung on a wall, which houses a kami for the household. Prior to the advent of structures for housing the kami which probably arrived from China with Buddhism, the kami were thought to be without form, and ceremonies and prayers were held in their natural settings like sacred groves, rocks or near water. These shrines were called mori (or forest in Japanese).
One very ancient tradition is ritual purification with running water. As people enter the sacred space of a shrine through the torii or Shinto gate, they will see a water basin with which they can ritually cleanse their body and mind from impurities. In the ritual they dip a ladle in the water, first they rinse first their left hands, then their right hands, and then their mouths (spitting the water out but not back in the basin of water), and finally their feet if needed, all of this as they say prayers. Finally, they will tip back the ladle, rinsing the handle, and replace it at the basin. An even more effective ritual purification would be to stand underneath a waterfall as did Izanagi-no-Mikoto after returning from the land of Yomi following the death of Izanami-no-Mikoto and his contamination by her dead body that he tried to revive.
While Shinto shrines today have priests and priestesses (kannushi or shinshoku) who maintain and officiate from the shrine, there is no overall Shinto religious hierarchy in Japan. In the earliest times the clan leader also served as the leader of religious ceremonies, and later the religious leader evolved into a separate position in the clan. At one time the kannushi were healers and people known for special spiritual abilities. The kannushi also acted for the kami in delivering special guidance to the people. Today a man or woman wanting to be a kannushi must study at a university approved by the Association of Shinto shrines.
Sources:
Kokugakuin University Encyclopedia of Shinto
Littleton, C. Scott Shinto: Origins, Rituals, Festivals, Spirits, Sacred Places Oxford University Press (2002)
Picken, Stuart D.B. Historical Dictionary of Shinto The Scarecrow Press (2002)
Tyler, Edward B. Primitive Culture John Murray (1903)
Paula I. Nielson - Paula I. Nielson, Ph.D., holds credentials and interests in anthropology, archaeology, religion, the Middle East and Asia.
