ShintoResources

This page serves to handle many questions English speakers have. Some questions get their own page due to discussions taking far too long.

• How would you sum up Shinto?

  "Shinto is the native religious family of Japan consisting of closely related religious traditions, both national and local, that worship divine beings called Kami, and primarily consisting of traditional, polytheistic, and ritualistic practices of the Japanese people, the House of Yamato, and sometimes the Ainu and Ryukyu people (but this is disputed and I'd argue their faiths are too unlike Shinto." Other definitions are a bit too reductionist.

• Is Shinto Emperor worship or nationalistic?

  The term nationalism is maligned in the west. Strictly, it is an amoral concept of pride in a nation, language and culture. By that token, yes. Hating Japan or the Japanese is not compatible with the values of Shinto. Regarding worship of the Emperor, the Emperor is not any more divine than anyone else. Rather, he serves as an emissary of Amaterasu-Omikami, as she is his ancestor and thus an ujigami (clan/household/family kami). He is in essence a high level priest of the House of Yamato, no more, no less.

• What is an ofuda/talisman?

  An ofuda is a blessed object that a kami can possess and thus act as an extension of themselves. They are used in home wayshrines, called kamidana, and remain there to act as a conduit. Traditionally, an ofuda is replaced yearly, the old ones returned ti the shrine for respectful disposal. These are traditionally bought from shrines, not resold.

• How to convert to Shinto?

  Shinto is not traditionally an initiatory or committal religion. There is no formal process. Rather, ad-hoc one could follow laity practices regularly. This isn't the case for priests, called Kannushi (male) or Shinshoku (neuter, but mostly used by females).
  
  Notes: Traditionally, Japanese people in a locality register their family to a local shrine, and regularly give donations to it. To that end, some Westerners have elected to adopt names that can be represented in kana accurately. Japanese cannot, for instance, represent /θ/ as /s/, /v/ as /b/, /dʒ/ plus a vowel other than /i/ is spelled and sometimes said as /tɕi/ + vowel, and such. It thus makes sense for these people to change the name, on top of other issues (Most Western names are biblical).

• How does Shinto treat "LGBT" people?

  This question is intrinsically tied to Japanese cultural attitudes and moral views of both sexuality and gender identity. For brevity's sake, this will be kept short: Japanese culture and by extension Shinto is tolerant of homosexuality and bisexuality. Tradition and social reasons aside, there is no universal policy towards same sex marriage. Japanese culture heavily is traditionalist regarding sex and/or gender, yet male-to-female transsexual women are well-tolerated, and ostensibly this would extend in the other direction to some degree. By adopting Shinto you are adhering to its values and traditions. Why join a faith you would try to change? (Future pages to come discussing the cultural side, as well as my own commentary/opinions.)

• What are some terms we should know?

  • Kami - The divine beings we worship and related phenomena we may not necessarily
  • Jinja - Shrines. All Shinto places of worship are shrines, not temples or churches.
  • Shinsen - Offerings, usually including rice, water, salt.
  • Osaisenbako - Money box, used to deposit shrine donations.
  • Goshintai - Holy object such as a mirror, stone, gem used to house a kami. Only created and used by shrines and priests.
  • Miko - Female priest assistants/trainees. Popular part time job for high school girls.

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