Shinto may seem a little bit strange to people who don’t know much about it—and perhaps even to those who do. As author Ian Reader explains, Shinto “seems to lack many of the elements that are commonly associated with other religious traditions. . . .”
So, how is Shinto different? Here are just a few ways:
- Shinto has no founder or figure to worship
Although a few major world religions—such as Hinduism, for example—can’t be traced to a single founder, it’s somewhat unusual. Most religions were developed or introduced by particular people, like Jesus Christ for Christianity or the Prophet Muhammad for Islam. But Shinto has no founder, because, as author Motohisa Yamakage writes, “teaching does not come from human beings.”
Shinto is especially unusual because it lacks not only a historical person who is viewed as its founder but also a single God or pantheon of gods for followers to worship. Sure, Shinto has its kami—its deities or spirits—but because, in theory, all human beings can become kami after death, it’s impossible to group the kami into any sort of coherent list or hierarchy.
- Shinto has no doctrines or laws
Because Shinto has no founder, there has never been a single human being to set down “laws” for believers to follow, so the faith has no concrete doctrines that people are expected to adhere to. With the exception of the emphasis on cleanliness and purification, Shinto has no real, set-in-stone rules like most other religions.
And, unlike, say, Judaism, which outlines specific, detailed prohibitions in terms of diet and other aspects of daily life, Shinto has only a general sense of taboo in one area: unclean things, including death and blood. This lack of doctrine gives Shinto believers the freedom to experience their faith and their interactions with the kami in their own way.
- Shinto has no scripture
Most religions have sacred scripture that followers can read to learn about and experience their faith—its origins, legends, and rituals. Unlike the three great “religions of the book” (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), Shinto has no core text that describes believers’ relationship with God.
Although Shinto does have some collections of myths and legends, including the Kojiki (“Records of Ancient Matters”) and the Nihon Shoki or Nihongi (“The Chronicles of Japan”), these texts are not considered canonical scripture. They may talk about the kami, but they’re just nice stories—not sacred texts handed down directly by God.
- Shinto has no idols or icons
Most religions have some form of object that serves as a focal point for worship, even if most don’t suggest that the object itself is divine. Christians have crucifixes or statues of Christ or the saints, Buddhists venerate images of the Buddha or the bodhisattvas, and Hindus have a wide and colorful array of sculptures and images of their many gods.
But there is pretty much never a sculpted image of a particular deity in a Shinto shrine. Instead, the focal point for Shinto worshippers is nature itself or perhaps the mirror, or kagami, that is housed inside a shrine to represent the pure, reflective nature of the kami.
Maybe I’m still just a little Catholic girl deep down, but this strikes me as a bad thing. I kind of love looking at statues, whether they’re religious or not. But hey, that’s just me.
- Shinto has no formal organization
There is no Shinto church, at least in the same sense that there is a Christian church or even a Baha’i faith. Unlike, for instance, the Roman Catholic Church, with its centralized hierarchical structure, where everything and everyone is organized under the authority of the Pope, Shinto seems completely un-unified.
Villages or communities may have their own Shinto shrines, but there is no Shinto leader and little, if any, unity among Shinto believers. Despite efforts by the national government, especially during the Meiji Era, to control and organize Shinto as the official Japanese faith, most shrines today are independent and controlled only by the local people who use them.
- Shinto has no concept of sin
There is a common saying in Japan: “Shinto teaches neither salvation nor sin.” Almost every other world religion has some idea of sin—even if they don’t believe that human beings are inherently evil or sinful.
But Shinto is different. It not only has no concept of sin, but it has no notion of karma, where we receive reward or punishment for our behavior, either in this life or some other. As Motohisa Yamakage writes, “Shinto is a religion without guilt, which assumes the essential goodness of humanity and each individual’s potential for good.”
- Shinto is not universal
With the possible exception of African and Native American faiths, all the religions I’ve explored so far this year have attempted to reach out to everyone in the world. Although each may have originated in a particular country or region, they all tried to appeal to universal values, such as love, justice, and equality, and to spread their ideals to anyone who might accept them.
Shinto, on the other hand, has no universalizing tendency. It was born in Japan, it focuses on Japan, and it has made no real attempt to spread beyond Japan’s borders. Though some Shinto shrines do exist outside of Japan—for example, in Hawaii (and in my living room, at least for this month)—Shinto is, and will likely remain, closely associated with Japan and its people.
At the same time, Shinto does not lack tolerance for other faiths. In fact, because it has no dogma and no central structure, it is uniquely flexible. Shinto says that all people can work to improve themselves and, one day, after death, become kami. So, in essence, Shinto believes that we are all one—we all hold the exact same potential. And that’s kind of nice.
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