List of books about Shinto

Last updated March 22, 2022

This is a list of books that focus on the study of Shinto.

General

Hori, Ichiro (1994). Folk Religion in Japan: Continuity and Change. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226353340
Evans, Ann Llewellyn (2002). Shinto Norito: A Book of Prayers. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 978-1553691389
Littleton, C. Scott (2002). Understanding Shinto. Duncan Baird Publisher. ISBN 978-1844831999
Hay, Jeff (2006). Shinto. Greenhaven Press, Detroit, Michigan. ISBN 978-0737725759
Ono, Sokyo and William P. Woodard (2006). Shinto: The Kami Way. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 978-0804835572
Breen, John and Mark Teeuwen (2010). A New History of Shinto. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1405155168
Rankin, Aidan (2011). Shinto: A Celebration of Life. Mantra Books. ISBN 978-1846944383
Yamakage, Motohisa (2012). The Essence of Shinto: Japan's Spiritual Heart. Kodansha International. ISBN 978-1568364377
Imaizumi, Yoshiko. (2013). Sacred Space in the Modern City: The Fractured Pasts of Meiji Shrine, 1912-1958. Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-9004248199
Hardacre, Helen (2016). Shinto: A History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190621711
Miller, Vincent (2018). Shinto - The Way of Gods: Introduction to the Traditional Religion of Japan. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1727065060

Specialized

Nelson, John K. (1996). A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0295975009
Cali, Joseph and John Dougill (2012). Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan’s Ancient Religion. Latitude 20. ISBN 978-0824837136
Heldt, Gustav (2014). The Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231163897

Bloomsbury Shinto Studies

Rambelli, Fabio. (2018). The Sea and the Sacred in Japan: Aspects of Maritime Religion. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1350147645
Rots, Aike P. (2019). Shinto, Nature and Ideology in Contemporary Japan: Making Sacred Forests. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1350105911 ^[1]

Related Research Articles

Kami are the spirits, phenomena or "holy powers" that are venerated in the religion of Shinto. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, as well as beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the spirits of venerated dead people. Many kami are considered the ancient ancestors of entire clans. Traditionally, great or sensational leaders like the Emperor could be or became kami.

Shinto is a religion that originated 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. Shinto has no central authority in control, and much diversity exists among practitioners.

Religion in Japan manifests primarily in Shinto and in Buddhism, the two main faiths, which Japanese people often practice simultaneously. According to estimates, as many as 80% 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 religious practice before the rise of State Shinto in the 19th century.

The Ise Grand Shrine, located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as Jingū (神宮), Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, Naikū (内宮) and Gekū (外宮).

The Azumi were a warrior clan and tribe during the Jōmon period in Japan, whose cultures and beliefs are considered to be one of Japan’s earliest sea religions. Their existence dates back to the early 3rd – 7th centuries, when their extensive knowledge of navigation between waters made them the naval force of Yamato Japan in Kyushu. They lived in Northern Kyushu, especially in an area called Chikuzen, now part of modern-day Fukuoka Prefecture. Their knowledge and ability to use tidal changes, weather patterns and star constellations ensured their successful routing and voyaging on the sea during their regular exploration. In essence, the working of Azumi life was centred around their sea God, Watatsumi and their omnipotent deity ‘Isora’, who provided the Azumi people with a strong sense of spiritual guidance throughout their day to day life.

Ninigi-no-Mikoto is a deity in Japanese mythology. Grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu, Ninigi is the great-grandfather of Japan’s first emperor, Emperor Jimmu. The three sacred treasures brought with Ninigi from Heaven and divine ancestry established the Japanese Imperial Family.

Shinbutsu-shūgō, also called Shinbutsu-konkō, 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 worship, on one side, from Buddhism which had assimilated it, on the other.

The Japanese term shinbutsu bunri (神仏分離) indicates the separation of Shinto from Buddhism, introduced after the Meiji Restoration which separated Shinto kami from buddhas, and also Buddhist temples from Shinto shrines, which were originally amalgamated. It is a yojijukugo phrase.

<i>Shimenawa</i> Lengths of laid rice straw or hemp rope used for ritual purification in Shinto

Shimenawa are lengths of laid rice straw or hemp rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion.

State Shintō was Imperial Japan's ideological use of the Japanese folk traditions of Shinto. The state exercised control of shrine finances and training regimes for priests to strongly encourage Shinto practices that emphasized the Emperor as a divine being.

Azumi-no-isora (阿曇磯良) is a shinto kami of the seashore. He is considered to be the ancestor of the Azumi people. He is worshiped at a number of shrines, including Mekari Shrine (和布刈神社) of Kitakyushu, Shika no Umi shrine on Shika Island, and Shiga Shrine (志賀神社) of Tsushima.

Hinduism and Sikhism are Indian religions. Hinduism has pre-historic origins, while Sikhism was founded in the 15th century by Guru Nanak. Both religions share many philosophical concepts such as Karma, Dharma, Mukti, Maya although both religions have different interpretation of some of these concepts. In the days of the Mughal Empire, the Sikh community came to the defence of the persecuted Hindus and other non-Muslims who were being forcibly converted to Islam.

Yata no Kagami (八咫鏡) is a sacred mirror that is part of the Imperial Regalia of Japan.

Religious tourism, spiritual tourism, sacred tourism, or faith tourism, is a type of tourism with two main subtypes: pilgrimage, meaning travel for religious or spiritual purposes, and the viewing of religious monuments and artefacts, a branch of sightseeing.

Origins of Judaism Historical roots of Judaism

The origins of Judaism lie in the Bronze Age amidst polytheistic ancient Semitic religions, specifically evolving out of the polytheistic ancient Canaanite religion, then co-existing with Babylonian religion, and syncretizing elements of Babylonian belief into the worship of Yahweh as reflected in the early prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible.

Ōmiwa Shrine, also known as Miwa Shrine, is a Shinto shrine located in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan. The shrine is noted because it contains no sacred images or objects because it is believed to serve Mount Miwa, the mountain on which it stands. For the same reason, it has a worship hall, but no place for the deity to be housed. In this sense, it is a model of what the first Shinto shrines were like. Ōmiwa Shrine is one of the oldest extant Shinto shrines in Japan and the site has been sacred ground for some of the earliest religious practices in Japan. Because of this, it has sometimes been named as Japan's first shrine. Ōmiwa Shrine is a tutelary shrine of the Japanese sake brewers.

John Lawrence Breen is a British academic and Japanologist. He is a specialist in Japanese history at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto. He writes in English and Japanese on the history of Shinto and the imperial institution.

In Japanese mythology, Ame-no-hohi is the second son of Amaterasu. Kokusō is said to have originated from Ame-no-hohi.

Key

Secular Shrine TheoryJinja Hishukyoron (神社非宗教論) was a religious policy and political theory that arose in Japan during the 19th and early 20th centuries due to the Separation of church and state of the Meiji Government. It was the idea that Shinto Shrines were secular in their nature rather than religious, and that Shinto was not a religion, but rather a secular set of Japanese national traditions. This was linked to State Shinto and the idea that the state controlling and enforcing Shinto was not a violation of freedom of religion. It was subject to immense debate over this time and ultimately declined and disappeared during the Showa Period.

References

↑ "Bloomsbury Shinto Studies". Bloomsbury Publishing. Retrieved 2019-11-18.

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[1] "Bloomsbury Shinto Studies". Bloomsbury Publishing. Retrieved 2019-11-18.

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