Shinto

Shinto
   A Sino-Japanese term meaning simply 'gods' or 'spirits' (shin/kami) or the way, conduct, power or deeds of the kami. In China the term shen-tao written with the same characters as Shinto referred to spirits and spirit-worship, especially non-Buddhist rites; for example it could mean Taoism. In medieval times in Japan Shinto was understood as part of the Buddhist world and seems to have meant 'matters pertaining to kami'; localised spirits, as found in most Buddhist cultures. 'Shinto' is not a term used or understood much in ordinary speech in Japan and the meaning of the term has varied in different periods of Japanese history. There is little consensus on the meaning of Shinto in books by Western or Japanese scholars and in fact the term 'Shinto' has taken on a rather misleading aura of solidity and concreteness in Western writings that it has not enjoyed in Japan. This dictionary is a good example of the reification of Shinto, forming as it does part of a series on 'religions' such as Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Islam etc.! The typical English translation of Shinto as 'The Way of the Kami' reads too much significance into the '-to' (tao, way) element, which is almost redundant in Japanese. Some scholars suggest we talk about types of Shinto such as popular Shinto, folk Shinto, domestic Shinto, sectarian Shinto, imperial household Shinto, shrine Shinto, state Shinto, new Shinto religions, etc. rather than regard Shinto as a single entity. This approach can be helpful but begs the question of what is meant by 'Shinto' in each case, particularly since each category incorporates or has incorporated Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, folk religious and other elements. The same issues arise in understanding 'schools' or lineages of Shinto such as fukko shinto, watarai shinto, ryobu shinto, suiga shinto, yui-itsu shinto, yoshikawa shinto etc.. In each case the term 'Shinto' has to be understood differently. Since the eighteenth century the word 'Shinto' has increasingly been used by its proponents (such as representatives of kokugaku and modern Shinto theologians) to mean an ancient, pure and enduring Japanese national tradition or expression of the national 'spirit' which predated the introduction of Buddhism, was temporarily subsumed under Buddhism (for 1300 years...) and was revived in the Meiji period when it was 'separated' from Buddhism (shinbutsu bunri). The idea of such a tradition however originated in the activities of the kokugaku scholars of the late Tokugawa period and was first propagated widely as part of the system of emperor-worship which underpinned Japanese nationalism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, hence its wide currency today. It assumes that ancient pre-Buddhist Japanese religion was 'Shinto' to which we can somehow 'return' (see Fukko-Shinto). Many elements of modern Shinto certainly have archaic or archaic-seeming roots whose resonances can be appreciated and consciously celebrated, but the view that Shinto as we know it now somehow predates Chinese and other continental influences can be maintained only by ignoring the facts of Japanese religious life before shinbutsu bunri in 1868, and indeed the overwhelmingly syncretic or combinatory approach of ordinary Japanese people in religious matters manifested again since the advent of religious freedom in 1945. The term 'Shinto' should therefore be approached with caution. (In this it resembles most other abstract terms such as 'Buddhism', 'democracy', 'Christianity' etc.!)
   See also the Introduction to this dictionary.

A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. .

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Shinto kaiga —    Shinto paintings. Shinto seems originally to have been aniconic, the kami having no fixed forms around which iconography could develop. Iconic representations including paintings and statues (see Shinzo) appeared as a result of Buddhist… …   A Popular Dictionary of Shinto

  • Shinto Shuseiha —     Shinto Cultivation Group . An association founded in 1873 by Nitta, Kuniteru (1829 1902) for the purpose of worshipping Amaterasu, the kami of heaven, and the kami of earth, the triad who figure in the Kojiki account of creation. The… …   A Popular Dictionary of Shinto

  • Shinto scholarship —    For early scholarship on Shinto see Kokugaku. The academic study of Shinto in the 20th century has been carried out mainly by Shinto theologians, often priests, affiliated to Shinto training institutions such as Kokugakuin or Kogakkan… …   A Popular Dictionary of Shinto

  • Shinto Taikyo —     Great Teaching of Shinto . One of the thirteen groups of sect Shinto (kyoha shinto). An organisation with no single founder, it was established in 1873 by pro Shinto Meiji administrators as the Temple of the Great Teaching (Taikyo in) to… …   A Popular Dictionary of Shinto

  • Shinto Directive —    The Shinto Directive (in Japanese translation shinto shirei) was a short document produced, under the direction of the American William K.Bunce, by the Religions Division of the Civil Information and Education Section, Supreme Commander of… …   A Popular Dictionary of Shinto

  • Shinto Gobusho —     The Five Shinto Scriptures . The name given in the late seventeenth century by Deguchi, Nobuyoshi to a collection of thirteenth century texts of Watarai (or Ise) shinto. Five scriptures purporting to be ancient secret works restricted to… …   A Popular Dictionary of Shinto

  • Shinto taisei-kyo —     Accomplishment of the Way of the Kami . A religious group founded by Hirayama, Seisai or Shosai (1815 1890), a high ranking member of the last Tokugawa government. He arrived in Edo at the age of twenty and studied Chinese and kokugaku. After …   A Popular Dictionary of Shinto

  • Shinto shirei —    Japanese term for the Shinto Directive …   A Popular Dictionary of Shinto

  • SHINTO — Le shint 拏 est généralement défini comme la religion nationale du Japon, religion autochtone, par opposition au bouddhisme, religion étrangère importée du continent. C’est là une vision bien sommaire des choses, sinon totalement erronée, mais qui …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Shintō —   [ʃ , sinojapanisch] der, , Shintoịsmus, Schintoịsmus, Kami no michi [ mitʃi; japanisch »Weg der Kami (Gottheiten)«], die Gesamtheit der ursprünglichen, wesentlich aus dem bewussten Erleben der Natur hervorgegangen religiösen Vorstellungen der …   Universal-Lexikon

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”