A Journal of Religious Studies             HelenHenderson

Thursday, January 03, 2013

I awoke this morning, early, thinking about the coming days and weeks of study in the Religions of the Eastern World, the comparison of them, and the meaning they have had to me thus far and as to what were to come in further classes. I started to think first about Shintoism, as it being not a religion at all, having no Gods, per se, but more of an actual way of living, being one with the nature of our world. The name Shinto, coming from two separate Chinese words, meaning “the way of the Gods”. As this is a way of living rather than an actual religion unto itself, it leaves space then for the actual practice of other religions at the same time, mainly Buddhism is practiced alongside Shinto, with the numerous Shinto shrines being used to perform “happy” or life giving ceremonies, (weddings, births etc.) and the Buddhist part being used more for the afterlife, funerals, and burials. There are approximately 80,000 shrines throughout Japan, most of them being open at all times, with a few having areas closed off to the public to conserve the original and ancient buildings.

The stylized Shinto shape of the shrines is as old as Shintoism itself, being stated to be as old as Japan itself, according to the creation theory of Japan, Izanagi-no-Mikoto (male) and Izanami-

                                                   HelenHenderson

no-Mikoto (female) were called by all the myriad gods and asked to help each other to create a new land which was to become Japan. (copied Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shintoism)