50 Fun Facts About Shinto

In Shinto, the creative principle that permeates all life is known by what name?

It has its own associated kami; makoto, by contrast, is the virtue of sincerity.

The term Shinto is usually translated into English as what?

Some scholars object to the English form "Shintoism" because the tradition has no codified doctrine.

How many kami are there said to be in Japanese, a figure that connotes an infinite number?

Kami are believed to be everywhere but are not regarded as omnipotent, omniscient or necessarily immortal.

Roughly how many public Shinto shrines are there in Japan?

Around 80,000 belong to the Association of Shinto Shrines, with the other 20,000 unaffiliated.

Kami veneration has been traced back to which era of Japanese prehistory, from about 300 BCE to 250 CE?

During that era the kami were deemed formless and invisible; human-like depictions came later under Buddhist influence.

What is the name for the centuries-long fusion of kami worship and Buddhism in Japan?

The syncretism made the two functionally inseparable until the Meiji government forcibly separated them.

The earliest written accounts of kami worship, the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, date from which era?

They are the Kojiki of 712 and the Nihon Shoki of 720, both compiled to legitimise the imperial Yamato line.

Which courtier wrote down the Kojiki, Japan's oldest surviving literary work?

He recorded the traditions memorised by Hieda no Are, an attendant of exceptional memory, and presented the work in 712.

The Nihon Shoki was completed in 720 under the editorial supervision of which imperial son?

It was presented to Empress Genshō and is sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan.

In the creation myth, brine dripping from Izanagi and Izanami's jewelled spear formed which island?

The couple descended to it, raised a heavenly pillar and began begetting the islands of Japan.

What is the name of the realm of the dead to which Izanagi descended to retrieve his wife?

Horrified by her putrefying body, he fled and sealed the entrance with a boulder; the realm plays no role in modern Shinto.

According to the Kojiki, from which part of Izanagi's body was the sun kami Amaterasu born?

The moon kami Tsukuyomi came from his right eye and the storm kami Susanoo from his nose.

Why did Amaterasu hide in a cave, plunging the earth into darkness?

A goddess's raucous dance eventually enticed her back out.

Which goddess performed a dance to lure Amaterasu out of the cave?

Her dance is regarded as the mythical origin of the kagura performed at shrines.

Which of these was among the three objects Amaterasu gave Ninigi that became Japan's imperial regalia?

The others were curved beads and a sword, still the symbols of imperial authority.

Susanoo found the sword Kusanagi inside the tail of which creature after slaying it in Izumo?

He presented the "Grass-Cutting Sword" to Amaterasu as a gift of reconciliation.

What does a torii gate symbolically mark?

Passing under one is often viewed as a form of purification, and scholars trace its design to the Indian torana.

Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto is famous for roughly how many torii, each donated by a business?

Around 800 of them stand in a row to form the tunnel-like Senbon Torii.

Which animal serves as the messenger of the kami Inari?

Inari's foxes are pure white; Hachiman's messenger, by contrast, is a dove.

The name Inari can be literally translated as what?

Inari is the kami of rice, tea, sake, agriculture, industry and general prosperity, with some 40,000 shrines.

The Ise Grand Shrine, dedicated to Amaterasu, purportedly houses which of the imperial regalia?

The Inner Shrine, Naikū, is where the sun goddess is believed to dwell.

The Ise Grand Shrine is dismantled and rebuilt on an adjacent site how often?

The practice of rebuilding shrines to remove pollutants was once common; at Ise it continues to this day.

Itsukushima Shrine, famous for its "floating" torii, stands on an island in which prefecture?

The island is popularly known as Miyajima, and the shrine is credited to the 12th-century noble Taira no Kiyomori.

Izumo-taisha is dedicated to Ōkuninushi, the kami of what?

The kami of all Japan are believed to gather there in October to discuss the coming year's marriages, births and deaths.

Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, dedicated in 1920, enshrines the spirits of Emperor Meiji and whom?

The site was an iris garden the couple were known to visit; the forest around it was planted with donated trees.

The inner sanctuary of a shrine, in which the kami is believed to reside, is called what?

Worshippers usually stay outside it; the hall of worship in front is the haiden.

What are Shinto priests called?

They oversee offerings of food, drink and sprigs of the sacred sakaki tree; women were largely pushed out of the priesthood in 1868.

The young women who assist at shrines and perform the otome-mai dance are called what?

Their most important role is in the kagura dance, and they typically wear white with red hakama.

What is the name for the ritual clapping worshippers perform after bowing at a shrine?

The full sequence is to make an offering, ring the bell, bow, clap and pray silently; the prayers themselves are norito.

At a shrine's temizuya basin, worshippers wash which parts, in what order?

They finish by rinsing the handle of the ladle itself; many shrines removed ladles during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A key theme in Shinto is avoiding kegare. What does that word mean?

It is a temporary state, corrected by achieving harae, or purity, often through rites using water or salt.

What is the purification ceremony called that uses fresh water, salt water or salt to remove impurity?

Sumo wrestlers throwing salt into the ring perform a related act of purification.

Small wooden plaques on which visitors write a wish and leave it at the shrine are called what?

Unlike amulets, they stay behind as messages to the kami, and shrines often burn the year's collection at New Year.

What do people who draw a bad fortune on an omikuji paper slip often do with it?

The idea is to leave the bad luck behind rather than carry it home.

Omamori, the amulets sold at shrines and temples, traditionally take what form?

They carry the shrine's name and are sometimes carried by children in a charm bag called a kinchaku.

What is the name for the first shrine visit of the New Year?

Meiji Jingū in Tokyo and Fushimi Inari in Kyoto are among the most crowded destinations for it.

The rite of passage Shichi-Go-San is held for children of which ages?

The name literally means "seven-five-three"; the earliest ceremony marked the end of keeping a small child's head shaved.

The household shrine at which kami are worshipped in Japanese homes is called what?

Many homes also have a butsudan, a Buddhist altar for the family's ancestors.

The paired lion-dog statues guarding a shrine entrance differ in one detail. What is it?

The open-mouthed a-gyō and closed-mouthed un-gyō together form "a-un", the beginning and end of all things.

Where do funerals overwhelmingly take place in Japan, since Shinto funerals are rare?

Even a priest's ashes may be interred near a shrine but never inside its precincts.

In which era did Japan's leaders purge Buddhist influence from kami worship and create State Shinto?

Some historians regard this as the moment Shinto became a distinct religion at all.

The term "State Shinto" was introduced by which document of December 1945?

US military leaders used it to distinguish the state ideology from traditional shrine practice, and Shinto was formally separated from the state.

Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which honours Japan's war dead, was founded in June of which year?

It was established after the Boshin War, and no emperor has visited since 14 Class-A war criminals were secretly enshrined in 1978.

Which head priest secretly enshrined 14 Class-A war criminals at Yasukuni in 1978?

His predecessor had delayed the enshrinement until his own death in March 1978.

Which four virtues, the akaki kiyoki kokoro, does Shinto cite instead of a codified moral code?

Sincerity, honesty, hard work and thanksgiving toward the kami are the ethical values that arise from practice.

The Hata clan, who founded Fushimi Inari-taisha in 711 CE, were immigrants from where?

The shrine is now said to have as many as 32,000 sub-shrines across Japan.

Which Hayao Miyazaki film is cited as an example of Shinto's influence on popular culture?

The film's bathhouse for kami and its river spirit draw directly on Shinto ideas of gods inhabiting the natural world.

What is the name of the white paper wand a priest waves left-right-left to purify people or objects?

Sometimes an o-nusa, an evergreen branch hung with paper strips, is used instead, followed by a sprinkling of water or salt.

Tradition says a baby boy should make his first shrine visit on which day after birth?

Girls go a day later, on the thirty-third; historically another female relative carried the child because the mother was considered impure after birth.

Which Mie Prefecture jinja was the first to open a branch abroad, now in Granite Falls, Washington?

The Tsubaki Grand Shrine's American branch was initially located in California before moving to Washington state.