Shinto is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners Shintoists, although adherents rarely use that term themselves. There is no central authority in control of Shinto, with much diversity of belief and practice evident among practitioners.
Religion in Japan is manifested primarily in Shinto and in Buddhism, the two main faiths, which Japanese people often practice simultaneously. According to estimates, as many as 70% of the populace follow Shinto rituals to some degree, worshiping ancestors and spirits at domestic altars and public shrines. An almost equally high number is reported as Buddhist. Syncretic combinations of both, known generally as shinbutsu-shūgō, are common; they represented Japan's dominant religion before the rise of State Shinto in the 19th century.
Shingon is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asian Buddhism. It is sometimes also called Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, or Eastern Esotericism. The word shingon is the Japanese reading of the Chinese word 真言, which is the translation of the Sanskrit word mantra.
The schools of Buddhism are the various institutional and doctrinal divisions of Buddhism which are the teachings off buddhist texts. The schools of Buddhism have existed from ancient times up to the present. The classification and nature of various doctrinal, philosophical or cultural facets of the schools of Buddhism is vague and has been interpreted in many different ways, often due to the sheer number of different sects, subsects, movements, etc. that have made up or currently make up the whole of Buddhist traditions. The sectarian and conceptual divisions of Buddhist thought are part of the modern framework of Buddhist studies, as well as comparative religion in Asia. Some factors in Buddhism appear to be consistent, such as the afterlife.
Konkōkyō, or Konkō, is a Shinto sect, with origins in Shinbutsu-shūgō beliefs. It is part of the Kyoha Shintō Rengōkai.
The Three Mountains of Dewa refer to the three sacred mountains of Mount Haguro, Mount Gassan and Mount Yudono, which are clustered together in the ancient province of Dewa. Holy to the Japanese Shinto religion and especially the mountain ascetic cult of Shugendo, Dewa Sanzan are a popular pilgrimage site visited by many, including famed haiku poet Matsuo Bashō.
Shugendō is a highly syncretic Esoteric Buddhist religion, a body of ascetic practices that originated in the Nara Period of Japan having evolved during the 7th century from an amalgamation of beliefs, philosophies, doctrines and ritual systems drawn primarily from Esoteric Buddhism, local folk-religious practices, Shinto mountain worship, and Taoism. The final purpose of Shugendō is for practitioners to find supernatural power and save themselves and the masses by conducting religious training while treading through steep mountain ranges. Practitioners are called Shugenja or Yamabushi. The mountains where shugendo is practiced are all over Japan, and can span multiple mountains within one range such as the Ōmine mountain range with Mount Hakkyō and Mount Ōmine or the Ishizuchisan mountain range with Kamegamori and Tengudake.
Japanese new religions are new religious movements established in Japan. In Japanese, they are called shinshūkyō (新宗教) or shinkō shūkyō (新興宗教). Japanese scholars classify all religious organizations founded since the middle of the 19th century as "new religions"; thus, the term refers to a great diversity and number of organizations. Most came into being in the mid-to-late twentieth century and are influenced by much older traditional religions including Buddhism and Shinto. Foreign influences include Christianity, the Bible, and the writings of Nostradamus.
An ujigami is a guardian kami of a particular place in the Shinto religion of Japan. The ujigami was prayed to for a number of reasons, including protection from sickness, success in endeavors, and good harvests.
Risshō Kōsei Kai (立正佼成会); until June 1960, 大日本立正交成会 is a Japanese Buddhist religious movement founded in 1938 by Nikkyō Niwano and Myōkō Naganuma. Risshō Kōsei Kai is organized as a lay Buddhist movement, which branched off from the older Reiyūkai, and is primarily focused around the Lotus Sutra and veneration of ancestors.
A Kumano shrine is a type of Shinto shrine which enshrines the three Kumano mountains: Hongū, Shingū, and Nachi [Kumano Gongen (熊野権現)]. There are more than 3,000 Kumano shrines in Japan, and each has received its kami from another Kumano shrine through a process of propagation called bunrei (分霊) or kanjō (勧請).
The kuji-in or jiǔzìyìn, also known as Nine Hand Seals, is a system of mudras and associated mantras that consist of nine syllables. The mantras are referred to as kuji, which literally translates as nine characters. The syllables used in kuji are numerous, especially within Japanese esoteric Mikkyō.
Kōshin (庚申) or Kōshin-shinkō (庚申信仰) is a folk belief in Japan with Taoist origins, influenced by Shinto, Buddhism and other local beliefs.
The term honji suijaku or honchi suijaku (本地垂迹) in Japanese religious terminology refers to a theory widely accepted until the Meiji period according to which Indian Buddhist deities choose to appear in Japan as native kami to more easily convert and save the Japanese. The theory states that some kami are local manifestations of Buddhist deities. The two entities form an indivisible whole called gongen and in theory should have equal standing, but this was not always the case. In the early Nara period, for example, the honji was considered more important and only later did the two come to be regarded as equals. During the late Kamakura period it was proposed that the kami were the original deities and the buddhas their manifestations.
Gedatsu Church of America is an American Buddhist church with branches in Japan, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Hawaii. A nonsectarian spiritual movement, it is based on the Japanese Gedatsu-kai, a new religious movement that was founded in 1929 by Seiken Okano. The Church preaches about Gedatsu-kai, a religious study dedicated toward promoting total inner peace and spiritual enlightenment. Gedatsu is the Japanese term for moksha or enlightenment.
Gassan Shrine is a Shinto shrine on Mount Gassan in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. It was formerly a national shrine of the first rank in the Modern system of ranked Shinto Shrines. The main kami enshrined here is Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto (月読命), the Shinto moon god. It was established in 593.
Women occupy a unique role in the indigenous Japanese traditions of Shinto, including a unique form of participation as temple stewards and shamans, or miko. Though a ban on female Shinto priests was lifted during World War II, the number of women priests in Shinto is a small fraction of contemporary clergy.
H. Byron Earhart is an American historian, Ph.D, and author who specializes in Japanese religions.
The History of Tenrikyo concerns the social and institutional development of Tenrikyo, from the day the teachings were founded by Miki Nakayama on October 26, 1838, to the present day.
Komagata Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Japan. It is the ichinomiya of Rikuchū Province.
