religion of Japan

A torii gate at the Takachiho-gawara shrine near Kirishima, Kagoshima Prefecture, which is associated with the mythological tale of Ninigi-no-Mikoto's descent to earth.

Shintoism

Shintoism Shintoism or Shinto (神道; Shintō) is a native religion of Japan and was once its state religion. It involves the worship of kami, which can be translated to mean “sacred spirits which take the form of things and concepts important to life, such as wind, rain, mountains, trees, rivers, and fertility.” Some kami are local and...

A statue of Buddha meditating. Buddha Daibutsu, Kamakura

Shinbutsu-shugo

Shinbutsu-shugo Shinbutsu-shugo (神仏習合, “syncretism of kami and buddhas”), also called Shinbutsu-konkō (神仏混淆, “jumbling up” or “contamination of kami and buddhas”), is the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism that was Japan’s only organized religion up until the Meiji period. Beginning in 1868, the new Meiji government approved a series of laws that separated Japanese native kami...