2022
On the unusual culture of Shintoism which is concept not religion
Apparently it seems to be different from general religion… I want to solve that mystery🤔.
The representative faith in Japan is Shinto. "神社 Jin-ja (Shinto shrines)" that are also popular as tourist destinations are of Shinto⛩.
There is no specific founder in Shinto😮. Therefore, We do not know when it began. Indigenous faith in various parts of Japan, different faiths, and faith enshrining the royal family, became a single religion called Shinto for a long time. Shintoism does not necessarily mean the worship of the Japanese royal family. Many values of overseas culture have also been influenced, and recently it is strongly influenced by Buddhism🏯. Some researchers say there is also an influence of the Old Testament🤔.
(It is a world heritage 'Uji-kami shrine' in existing Japan's oldest shrine building)
What is the doctrine of the shrine?
The function of the shrine is faith and an education and training center for everyday life👩🏫. In the past when people were illiterate a lot, people wore general education by visiting shrines📚.
- Honor the elders, parents, ancestors
- To clean the body
- Greeting by lowering your head
- Carefully handle public things
- Replace old ones with new ones
- Just like honoring God, treasure everything
Mainly these education can be acquired by visiting behavior. Especially "Just like honoring God, treasure everything" is the root of Shinto doctrine🔍.
("Ise shrine" where the supreme Goddess of Japan "天照大御神 (Amaterasu)" lives. This shrine is rebuilt to a new construction once every 20 years.. This is a very valuable photo of the next day when goddess moved to a new shrine. Since Japan is an agricultural country, the status of women was high.)
What is God's myriad meaning?
Shinto says that the number of God is 8 million. This is called "八百万の神 (Yao-yorozu no kami)" in Japanese. In fact, "8 million" is not a quantity. This means "myriad". Surprisingly the number of gods is not enough 8 million😮😲!!
To teach Japanese natural faith, it seems that God lives in "all objects" and "all intangible". Yes, you are a God for me. On the one hand I am a God for you. Of course the family and the ancestors are God, but your child is also your God👨👩👧👦👩👩👦. The local guide is God. Googler also God. Not only Steve Jobs but also Sundar Pichai CEO is God🧓🧔!!
We have found at least 7.5 billion gods. But that is not enough. There is a God in your house, in the car you ride, in the Google Pixel you have🏡🚗📱. There is also one grain soybean you eat today. Also in the water in your cup🥗🥛. Even if you use excellent Google AI, you can not take these statistics....... Huh? What did you say? God exists in that Google AI😮? Does the Google Map program also have a God? Are there also reviews and photos posted by the Local Guide😲?? Oh my gosh...….
This is the natural faith of Japan, you can learn at the shrine without belonging to Shinto. In other words "Did you treat all of them carefully?"
Why are not we believers in Shinto?
What do you mean? After all, do not believe it…? According to the official document, Shinto believers are estimated to be 85 million in 2017. But this number is ambiguous. Because most Japanese do not declare Shinto faith. As a generalistic national character, Japanese do not like belonging to religion. Because religion was abused by politics and religious war occurred in the past history. There had been cases of unscrupulous business laws and disastrous incidents using religion. They tend not to like religion as an organization. It is said that we do not take the method of faith because we receive strong education of natural faith from the moment of birth. Because there is no concept of faith, Shinto accepts Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, other religious people, and does not manage them. It would be most tolerant to infidels👩🎅👸🧓🧔. They can say that they rationally evolved primitive animism to the present while avoiding the possibility that religion is abused🤔.
The most important day for modern Shinto is "New Year's Day". Let's talk next year. Have a happy new year!👋
[DEEP JAPAN] Worships the first sunrise in Japan's Happy New Year🌅
[DEEP JAPAN] Why is New Year the most important day for Japanese people?
Thank you for this amazing post @YasumiKikuchi and Merry Christmas!
I really love to read and watch every photos! I was studying about Shinto at the university and it was very interesting to me. As I remembered Shinto means "the way of the gods", does not have a founder nor does it have sacred scriptures like the sutras or the Bible, right?
By the way, I would like to share one photo with you from an important Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto, Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社). I hope you will like it!
My dear friend @YasumiKikuchi,
Very interesting... Excellent body of the post vibrantly colored photos well suited for the exploration...
You look to be a good orator - Congrats!! GOD almighty bless you.. If time permits can I humbly request you to TAG me in your future posts please ? Most regardfully ...
Thank you @YasumiKikuchi for the great informative, learning and amazing post.
Before I heard and read about Shintoism, but today many concepts are clear in my mind about Shintoism.
Thanks and Happy New year to you too my friend.
