ShintoResources

Especially in the west there exist many lies surrounding the Shinto faiths and beliefs. This page tackles the big ones, as a bulleted list.

• Shinto is not a religion

  Such attitudes are formed from a view of the modern, secularized Japan compared to countries such as the United States. Unlike religions such as Christianity or Islam, Shinto is very orthopraxy-oriented. Practice, not belief, is far more important. One's faith and interpretations or understandings are not to be the focus, whether or not one is a priest or laity. A religion is a hard thing to define, but the religiosity of people cannot be quantified using the US as a baseline, or indeed western conceptions of such.

• Shinto is pantheism

  This idea comes from an incorrect understanding of the ideas proposed by Izumo Taishakyo and Konkokyo faiths, which have Kamisama who act as the embodiment of en-musubi, the interconnection of all life and material in the world. If one is familiar with the "red string" this is a popular interpretation (grossly simplified) to fit this viewpoint. In speaking with a Konkokyo priestess, and actually taking time to learn their faith, it's not exactly supposed to be interpreted that way, and even if it was, the conceptions of one subcategory/division of the faith simply cannot act as a manner to view the other members of a religion. By and large, Shinto does fit a definition of polytheism, especially traditional polytheism.

• Shinto is incomplete without Buddhism

  While Shinbutsu traditions were popular for a significant portion of Shinto's Medieval and early-Modern eras this does not translate into a reliance on Buddhism to fill in anything. Indeed, this argument is as fallacious as claiming Hellenistic Judaism, which existed as an idea for over a millennium from the fourth century BC all the way to the rise of Islam in 610AD. Judaism and Shinto both are very old religions, older than Christianity, older than Buddhism, and most likely having a similar time scale to the likes of Sanatana Dharma and the Jain faith, and arguing that an extended period makes this fit does not actually work. Most forms of Shinbutsu were the Shinto Kami ripped from their context and put into a Buddhist one, more as decorations or aspects of Buddhas or Bodhisattva than actual independent deities.

• Shinto is inherently nationalistic/socialistic/[insert an ideology here]

  Arguments have been made especially in the west for both of these, certainly by the American occupiers of Japan. This cannot however be further from the truth. While Shinto does have a formal history of political aspirations and usage, both by itself and as a tool of people, the only inclination towards any politics is that of the Emperor, and the implication of monarchism. While monarchism in the West is frowned upon, it's important to remmeber that monarchism can take many different forms and by itself neither advocates an economic system, nor a system of governance. The idea, however, of hating Japan, the language, the people, or the Emperor and practicing Shinto is antithetical to the belief on all levels.

• Westerners practicing Shinto is "cultural appropriation[sic]"

  Firstly, the term is better identified as cultural misappropriation, as appropriation is an amoral concept, whereas misappropriation means theft, misuse or otherwise taking something that doesn't belong. The idea that Shinto cannot be practiced by anyone other than a Japanese person is both untrue, and hypocrisy. The majority of people who will say this are western-educated, "white-brained" folk. White-brained means someone who has the mindset of a Western person, not like their parents or those who actually live in Japan or other surrounding countries. These people can also themselves not be full-blooded, e.g. mixed-white or mixed-black or mixed-pacific islander. Among some Japanese people they themselves would not be identified as Japanese. So the idea that one drop or whatever is what it takes is equally stupid. Most people in East Asian nations are happy and willing to share their culture with anyone who genuinely is interested, granted that proper respect is shown at all times.

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