World Religions: Shinto

ProQuest Video: 24:02
This film features a Japanese seaside ritual performed in honour of a marine deity, who is considered to hold the power to determine a safe and successful year of local fishing. This two-day event involves the carrying of large lantern floats by hundreds of people. Due to the ageing Okinami population, the settlement depends on outside volunteers to support the tradition. The film explores how social memory in Okinami is maintained and how a community is redefined through the combined and strenuous efforts – locals and outsiders – in ritual performance.

Alexander Street Video: 55:00
Art of Faith complete series is a sumptuous high-definition visual experience presented and narrated by the broadcaster John McCarthy who travels the world visiting the greatest and most significant religious buildings, exploring how the passions and complexities of religious beliefs have been expressed in architecture... Religions of the Tao examines the traditions of Taoism that include Shinto, Confucianism, and Chinese folk religion, which focus on the Tao, the origin and law of all things in the universe.

(Brigham Young University) Shinto is a religion about Japan and its people, and it is practiced by four million persons in Japan. [1] Because of its geographical ties, it is rarely practiced outside Japan, although there are Shinto temples where groups of Japanese have migrated (e.g., Taiwan, Hawaii, and California).

(PennState College of Agricultural Sciences) A list of Shinto holidays (dates are from 2020)

(Yale University) As Rosemary Bernard tells us, the Shinto tradition encompasses both local community practices as well as the formal ceremonial practices of the imperial institution. But largely “Shinto beliefs are often values that are entrenched in Japanese folk culture in general, and which find expression in other areas beyond religion.”

(United Religions Initiative) What do its followers believe? Shinto means the way of the gods. Shintoism is an Ancient religion of Japan. It started at least as long ago as 1000 B.C.E. but is still practiced today by at least five million people.

(Britannica) Shintō, indigenous religious beliefs and practices of Japan. The word Shintō, which literally means “the way of kami” (generally sacred or divine power, specifically the various gods or deities), came into use in order to distinguish indigenous Japanese beliefs from Buddhism, which had been introduced into Japan in the 6th century CE. Shintō has no founder, no official sacred scriptures in the strict sense, and no fixed dogmas, but it has preserved its guiding beliefs throughout the ages.

(Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America) Located near Seattle, WA, Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America is the traditional Jinja Shinto Shrine and the direct North American branch of Tsubaki O Kami Yashiro in Mie Prefecture one of the oldest and most prestigious shrines in Japan with a history of over 2000 years.
Originating in Japan's prehistory, Shinto is the Natural Spirituality or the practice of the philosophy of proceeding in harmony with and gratitude to Divine Nature.

(International Shinto Foundation) The International Shinto Foundation (ISF) advances understanding and public appreciation of Shintoism and Japanese culture, interreligious cooperation, and the import of our work for the United Nations.