History of Shinto

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Part of a series on
Shinto
Beliefs Kami List of deities Polytheism Animism/Animatism Mythology Sacred objects Sects and schools
Major kami Amaterasu Sarutahiko Ame-no-Uzume Inari Izanagi Izanami Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Important literature Kojiki (c. 711 CE) Nihon Shoki (720 CE) Fudoki (713–723 CE) Shoku Nihongi (797 CE) Kogo Shūi (807 CE) Kujiki (807–936 CE) Engishiki (927 CE)
Shinto shrines List of Shinto shrines Ichinomiya Twenty-Two Shrines Modern system of ranked Shinto shrines Association of Shinto Shrines Shinto architecture
Practices Festivals Ritual dance Music Ritual purification Ritual incantations Kannushi Miko
See also Religion in Japan Glossary of Shinto Syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism Edo neo-Confucianism Ko-Shintō State Shinto Kokugaku Nippon Kaigi Mythical creatures History Secular Shrine Theory
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Shinto is a religion native to Japan with a centuries'-long history tied to various influences in origin.^[1]

Although historians debate the point at which it is suitable to begin referring to Shinto as a distinct religion, kami veneration has been traced back to Japan's Yayoi period (300 BC to AD 300). Buddhism entered Japan at the end of the Kofun period (AD 300 to 538) and spread rapidly. Religious syncretization made kami worship and Buddhism functionally inseparable, a process called shinbutsu-shūgō. The kami came to be viewed as part of Buddhist cosmology and were increasingly depicted anthropomorphically. The earliest written tradition regarding kami worship was recorded in the 8th-century Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. In ensuing centuries, shinbutsu-shūgō was adopted by Japan's Imperial household. During the Meiji era (1868 to 1912), Japan's nationalist leadership expelled Buddhist influence from kami worship and formed State Shinto, which some historians regard as the origin of Shinto as a distinct religion. Shrines came under growing government influence and citizens were encouraged to worship the emperor as a kami. With the formation of the Japanese Empire in the early 20th century, Shinto was exported to other areas of East Asia. Following Japan's defeat in World War II, Shinto was formally separated from the state.

Even among experts, there are no settled theories on what Shinto is or how far it should be included, and there are no settled theories on where the history of Shinto begins. The Shinto scholar Okada Chuangji [ja] says that the "origin" of Shinto was completed from the Yayoi period to the Kofun period, but as for the timing of the establishment of a systematic Shinto, he says that it is not clear.

There are four main theories.^[2]

1. The theory that it was established in the 7th century with the Ritsuryo system (Okada Souji et al.)
2. The theory that the awareness of "Shinto" was born and established at the Imperial Court in the 8th-9th century (Masao Takatori et al.)
3. The theory that Shinto permeated the provinces during the 11th and 12th centuries (Inoue Kanji et al.)
4. The theory that Yoshida Shinto was founded in the 15th century (Toshio Kuroda et al.)