I think it is also important to point out that Shinto has no initiation. So even for us Japanese, its is ambiguous what behavior exactly identify us as Shinto follower. I practice quite a religiously connected historical martial arts and often performs in Jinja for Kami. Thus, I am allowed to enter the Honden (sanctuary) to get a special blessing from the priest. And one time I even got blessing from the priest of Izumo shrine, one of the most prestigious shrine of all, which is a privilege not every Japanese can embrace. So this might be the closest "initiation" of Shinto in the Western sense. However, we have foreign students in our Dojo and they get to embrace blessing as well, without converting from the religion they are born to. This is like someone frankly going to Hajj without becoming Muslim, but that is how Shinto works anyway. So yes, I hardly believe that Shinto is indigenous, and if any foreigner proclaims to be a Shinto follower, I really have no complaints about it... although, I might suspect that as an extension of new wave movement or something at first.
I would say it's both. Traditionalists might not accept people in other parts of the world but that won't stop people from believing, practicing, and adapting religions.
It's important to realize that culture, land, history and religion are all connected. American Christians trace their religion to the other side of the world, but they can never really experience and understand the life style of the early Christians, or even modern ones who live in different cultures. It's even more important to understand this in the context of Shinto, which doesn't emphasize faith and biblical canon the same way that Christianity does.
One of the reasons Shinto is attractive to me. It's Spiritual but not overwhelmingly so. What I mean by that is unlike Christianity, Islam and other structured religions Shinto doesn't demand your absolute obedience and faith in order to "live well" and be a good person. It's more a way of life and a path to follow than a "religion" in the sense a lot of Westerners think of a religion.
I think that America has essentially become Hindu in the sense that America has a majority religion but it’s so individualistic and diverse in interpretation by region that religion keeps being redone all the time. At this point America will have its own... Americanist religion. As this video showed, maybe our respect for the founding fathers could cross into outright worship, much like Greek mythos
@@jedimindtrix2142 I know there is no way to say this without being rude (it's really not my intention) but I feel like western people who are attracted to eastern religions because it doesn't have the same "rules" as Christianity are being a bit childish.
@@jedimindtrix2142 yea Quakerism seems to be the only western religion that is equally "loose". With them you can worship god however you choose, even if that means not worshipping. And many Quakers don't even believe.
This Hawaiian Shinto reminds me of the syncretism of Christianity and traditional African religions that happened here in Brazil and other places in the Americas.
I tend to look at Shinto as being naturally syncretic with whatever indigenous religion is present. For example I am aware of a number of people who worship at both Shinto & Christian sites, classing both as their religion.
@@meligoose9413 This gets into the sticky mess of intent vs actuality, what a faith says it is vs how it functions and exists in reality at that moment in time. More often than not these two realities are wholly divorced from each other and it becomes rather difficult to piece things together in an objective way, separate of the worldview of the faith.
@@wouldyouliketomeetkenbamba9495 Judaism isn't "strictly exclusive" by any means. Yes, it is largely indigenous and/or cultural, but they absolutely accept converts, whether or not they have a Jewish mother. They try to dissuade potential converts not because Judaism eschews conversion, but because Jews have historically faced a lot of discrimination and tribulations and the rabbis don't want people to convert on a whim.
The Hawaiian shrine reminds me of the Vietnamese Cao Dai religion which you should definitely do an episode on. They have saints like Charlie Chaplin and Herman Melville.
Imo, being a form of polytheism (see Edit below for clarification) and incorporating ancestor and nature spirit worshipping, Shinto certainly can find something in common with Neopagan traditions and maybe even New Age spirituality. This would make it possible for non-Japanese to incorporate Shinto practices into their religious lifes and, in the end, adopt Shinto practices holistically. That being said, if a foreigner adopts Shinto on account of its similarity with that foreigner's, say, Neopagan beliefs, there would be a reason to ask, whether what has been adopted is actually Shinto and not some sort of "non-specific eclectic paganism" with Japanese aesthetics. EDIT: Thanks for all the replies, certainly gives something to think about. A little clarification: by "polytheism" I did not mean the term in its strict sense of "worshipping a multitude of deities/spirits equally", but rather "the belief in multiple deities/spirits that can be worshiped in any number of ways". That would include henotheism, monolatry, etc.
I suppose there are two ends of the spectrum here; on the hyper conservative side, you can say that Shinto is a purely Japanese folk tradition, which can be used to justify ethno-nationalism. On the hyper liberal side, you can say that Shinto is a universal religion that can be adapted to any foreign nation, people or culture, which can be used to dilute the religion until it's an empty shell of it's former self, like butter spread over too much bread. Finding some kind of comfortable middle ground is a matter of endless debate, and probably comes down to personal opinion, more than anything.
Syncretism happens in all religions, is Christianity diluted by how it adapted to local religions - I would suggest in fact some of the core tenets were strengthened. Shinto can do the same thing even easier, as stated in the video individual temples have differing Kami that they venerate and as such they can adapt, and at the same time still work together. I think it comes down to this question. Does Shinto have a core set of tenets, for example veneration of nature, these tenets or ideals would be present in all temples not just those devoted to Amaterasu etc. You could for example hold the tenets true and also venerate a localised Kami, such as the British Royal Family.
As a pagan I 100% agree. I see many similarities with my own beliefs. I have 3 pillars of worship those being the gods, spirits, and ancestors. Shinto hits the spirits and ancestors on the nail, gods not so much but hey 2 out of 3 is pretty good for being half the world away. I've asked a few pagans who were in Japan about Kami and if they saw them as the local land spirits (we call them landvaettir, I'm saying spirits for ease). Both said yes after having a few experiences at local shrines. I have zero intentions of practicing Shinto myself but I recognize it and respect it as the Japanese version of my own faith. And they are probably better since Shinto has been continually practiced unlike my own which largely died for centuries.
Actually in my city Santos, Brazil, hade a Shinto Shrine that was demolished to build a park in their place that has a Shinto portal and some few rocks of the old temple, the japanese people that came her 100 years ago practiced their religion but over time they would convert do catolicism like majority of brazilians to better adapt to our culture but have some japanese that even in this day attend to shinto shrines in São Paulo to some festitivites
That's sad. If only Christianity and Islam were syncretic... Imagine what a better world it would be, the ancient European religions wouldn't have been suppressed, same later for the native American traditions. Of course there's also a political element because Shinto coexisted with Buddhism up until the new nationalist agenda came
I think the answer might be "both". I can imagine that when building a shrine outside of Japan, practitioners can conceive of Kami local to their own area. In polytheism and animisim there's the idea of "our local spirits/gods" and then also foreign ones, which are recognized but live elsewhere (and not in your local shrine). I think that allows for shrines outside Japan that utilize the same ritual practices but recognize a different mix of Kami. Imo I think shinto may be flexible enough to have shrines overseas, since ritual practice seems to just as or more important than believing in Kami.
Yeah, and polytheism historically has imported gods like Aphrodite from Ishtar, so I could easily imagine various deities from everywhere being added, from christian saints to old gods to neoopagan deities being added to the list.
I agree. I have always appreciated it and if i was to be any religion I would want to be shinto. it also seems to be less hamful than most religions since it is more of a spirituality.
@@hippybeccawell it depend on society culture and brief or god sometimes they are sometimes restrictive or peaceful like how sparta society was very due to stupid rule and brief
Maybe this American Shinto will be like how Romans accepted Jewish concepts to create a distinct Roman/Greek/Semitic religion. Forming a new form of religion.
You mean the washington and lincoln memorial? Oh wait those just venerate them as greek gods.... American mythology does exist. When ya realize this the shinto appropriation of american mythological figures is not surprising or unique. Especially since the american mythological figures are appropriated and styled upon greco-roman mythological figures. It is still a bit funny when you have been immersed in the american mythology since birth.
The painting on the Capitol Rotunda is titled the "Apotheosis of Washington" and shortly after Lincoln was assassinated, the illustration called the "Apotheosis of Lincoln" went around. Lincoln and Washington are already gods 😉
Quite a few of Japanese Kami are long dead emperors and to Americans Abraham Lincoln and George Washington are in Shinto view rulers that Americans venerate so similar to their kami.
I'm curious to know exactly how the American Shinto priests interact with the idea of Kami in America. If they are spirits connected to the natural environment, such as rivers, trees, rocks, etc. then do they have to make up new spirits connected to American natural phenomenon? Would you name and identify these spirits, or just worship the natural phenomena themselves without anthropomorphizing them? Do Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon have really big, important spirits, comparable to that of Mt Fuji? How does the Kami of Mt. Rushmore feel about having presidential faces carved into it? Also, there are many natural sites that are already sacred to Native American traditions, such as Bear Butte in SD. What if a non-native American wanted to build a Shinto Shrine at Bear Butte? Do you worship two different spirits side-by-side, or do you try to work Lakota mythology into Shinto practices? That sounds problematic, to say the least...
No, they don't have to make up new spirits. Most Shinto practiced in the US is associated with the Konko faith, and involves veneration of the personification of the Spirit of Heaven and Earth, which unlike in western monotheistic faiths, is not seen as "above" the world of particular things. Therefore, it's less important that one selects the "correct" object of veneration and more important that a person has sincerity and reverence.
@@Magnulus76 I see. Love me some good Heaven and Earth worship! So, would it be correct to say that it's a veneration of the universal spiritual/natural energy of which Kami are individual manifestations?
@@MadHatter42 Sort of. In Konkokyo, the universal spirit is thought of as a divine parent and related to in a personal manner. But in practice that belief isn't as exclusivistic as in western monotheism.
@@MadHatter42 This is a link to a short documentary about a minister in the US in the Konkokyo sect of Shinto. Though she doesn't explicitly mention her sect in the video, the Divine Reminder hanging on the wall in the back of the church is a giveaway. And yes, they are often called churches in the US, and even in Japan, since they function in a similar manner as places of social gathering and the religious leaders minister to people as part of the religion- in fact this is related to why this sect of Shinto started in the first place. ruclips.net/video/WZoVEAHHbiQ/видео.html Everyone is welcome in a Konko church, the religion does not exclude people based on creed, nationality, gender, or sexual orientation. In that sense it is a universal religion.
Yeah, this is part of what makes the whole "American Shinto" thing feel kinda yikes to me. Like... local spirits, connection with the land, understanding our place in the world by respecting and venerating it but not considering ourselves inherently above or below it... They know folks were already practicing religion/spirituality that way before this land was colonized, right? I can't help but notice that this American Shinto priest is white, and is choosing to import a foreign religion rather than try to connect with the practices that already existed where he lives... Does that feel off to anyone else?
When people say that Shinto is a Universal Religion, do they mean Traditional Japanese Shinto? More Modern Secular Shinto (were everyone says they believe in Kami but aren’t superstitious or visit shrines that often)? Or are they talking about Animism? I think they’re talking more about Animism because that’s been a universal foundation for belief for hundreds of thousands of years. I’m enamored buy the practices of Shinto, and think it’s valuable to more observant of the world around us, whether you believe in spirits or not. Yet I think the tricky thing in making Shinto universal is transmitting meaning of certain rituals (washing hands, writing to Kami, etc) to everyone. When most religions move to someplace new or are enforced, the older, more orthodox practices get mixed with new ones and look different. Two examples that come to mind was how Christianity was made the state religion in Rome in the 4th Century (thus bringing a lot of “pagan” practices into the fold) and how Catholicism in the Caribbean is practiced in places where there’s Voodoo or Native Spirit rituals brought from Africa.
Something to keep in mind regarding Shinto is that it is not necessary to actually believe in the Kami. What is held important are the rituals. As far as animism goes, the primary divine Kami are all human or in human form. Only the servants of a Kami take on the form of animals, Inari's foxes being the most famous. That said, a Kami can be a place as well. Shinto can't be restricted to an Animism based faith because within Shinto everything has a Kami within. Kami is an integral part of any given place, animal, person, object, or natural phenomenon.
It depends really. I believe Shinto is universal. I and my husband have been practicing Shinto for years, and we go to a Shinto shrine when we can, but we also have a Kamidana in our house with Ofudas in the Kamidana. We have the Norito book which is prayers to specific Kami, as well as other books from Japan on proper techniques in regards to how to approach a Shrine and Kamidana, as well as how to do offerings, etc. I and my husband believe in Yokai, and we do venerate our ancestors too. We learned through certain Shinto priests in Japan, and here in America too.
It's so strange to learn that Granite Falls WA has a Shinto shrine. I grew up there for a while and it's a VERY small rural town just below the Cascade mountains. It's also very conservative. That seems like such a random place to put a Shinto shrine!
In Brazil because of the large japanese population, there is a shinto shirine in São Paulo, but there isn't a kami enshiraned. Some people prefer mantain a kamidama with their house.
Is it really a Shinto shrine if it doesn't venerate any kami? Serious question. What then do people gather to worship at the shrine then? Their own individual kami they are devoted to? Ancestors? Tell us more.
@@kirstencorby8465 there is festivals to summon kamis that are temporaly enshiraned. Like in Japan, this sanctuary is a space for the manifestation of kami. There are tow diferent sanctuaries in shinto: the house of kami, or a "main templo" and the place to summon temporaly a kami, like a "portal" between takamagahara and the earth
As a neopagan I certainly see Shinto as having universal appeal. When speaking with japanese exchange students at my university, it seemed clear that our ideas about religion were more similar than different. Considering how new age religious movements tend to work, and I mean this in positive and negative ways, it's amazing to me that Shinto type practices and inspirations aren't more widespread among neopagans. Shinto has all of the tools necessary to adapt to new environments, adopt elements of them (such as foreign or cultural gods), and an appealing, relavant message about both nature and mindfulness. I maintain a personal shrine which sits high on a wall. It's not a kamidana, but it might be close. Neopagan belief already incorporates nature worship, polytheism, and animism, often with purification practices and interaction with a personal, dynamic, spiritual world.
Sounds to me like you're only drawn to the aesthetic of neopaganism. Ancestor worship becomes completely shallow and meaningless when you change what has historically been an ethnic religion for thousands of years into a universalist religion.
@@carmichaelree I think that's a little offensive given you don't know me or my religious practice, but I can see what might bring you to that conclusion. Obviously, I disagree. I think religions are constantly changing over time and syncretism is a natural by product of cultural interchange. Common ground between religions is also not unusual, providing an easy point of comparison. RFB's video is raising the question of ethnic or universal religion and there's some good points there. I'm just drawing comparisons between shinto, a nature revering animistic faith, and my nature revering animistic faith, and how there are similar themes and mindsets with both.
I was thinking the same. Sounds like Shinto is moving into another pagan polytheistic tradition among other traditions. There's room for both streams, I think, as in any pagan religion -- strict traditionalists and more syncretic, universalizing practitioners. The traditionalists may not like it, but they can't stop it.
@@carmichaelreewhat do you think how Christianity was practiced outside of Europe? What do you think, how Buddhism was practiced when it arrived to Japan? Do you really think that ALL Christians or Islam followers practice ALL of the teachings correctly on a regular basis? If you could show a priest from hundreds of years ago how (im from the EU so) Christianity is practiced today, what priests say, what’s in the holy book, what people grasp from the stories, they probably wouldn’t even recognise it. Also, I think (noone has to accept this, this is my perspective, as there are many other) its not a bad idea to broaden your horizon and take the things that you find useful. Everything’s in a constant change. I can understand why Shinto is appealing to a lot of people, there’s something about the ceremony and the ‘down to earthness’, to respect your surroundings, think about your ancestors, purification. Some ppl probably don’t want to listen to completely off bs about ancient stories translated to the modern societies - sadly that’s my experience with Christian preaching… At the end of the day we can say that ALL religions are kind of made up, their holy books were corrected hundreds of times throughout the years. Also, Shinto doesn’t say that it’s the only one way to believe. One’s own sirituality is probably more valuable than chanting stories that you probably don’t understand anyway out of pure heritage. Nothing’s wrong with heritage, in fact I think it’s important to know where you’re from, you don’t have to deny your past. I don’t want to offend anyone, I’m just saying that all people are different, as the world is more and more open ppl are finding ways to import things from other cultures more easily. In the past a buddhist monk or an European missionary had to travel hundreds of miles to spread the teaching, now everything’s available with a couple of clicks. Who knows, maybe a thousand years from now Shinto’ll be the new big world religion.
I do love the way you present content that is provocative, posing questions, presenting evidence and arguments from different perspectives and, in the end, not providing any definitive answers to the questions (this goes for all your videos, not just this one). You leave much room for opening discussion and debate rather than closing it down. This is terrific "food for thought" as well as tools for classroom discussion! Keep up the good work! Looking forward to the next installment.
Thank you so much, since this episode is based on my dissertation research, your comment made my day! 😄 --Kaitlyn, RFB Shinto series researcher/co-writer
The very first non Japanese/ Western Shinto priest lives in the Netherlands and is named Paul de Leeuw. He had to proof that kami also exist outside of Japan. He send a photo of a tree in the Netherlands and he was proven right by his Shinto teachers in Japan.
08:50 It's quite interesting that a lot of Western converts to Shinto practice their faith with what seems to me as characteristically born-again-esque fervour like daily offerings of prayer which to my Tokyoite sensibilities is quite foreign to say the least, while a vanishingly small percentage of urban population in Japan own a personal Shinto-specific altar as opposed to a more syncretised, part Shinto part Buddhist part vaguely ancestor-veneration kinda altar, to which then again as far as I personally know very few people pray or light an incense in front of on a daily basis.
That daily offering/incense is more hindu than anything else; the westerners who do practice Shinto have probably had exposure to Hinduism. And daily offering is practiced by almost every household among us Hindus.
@Xiuh I mean the native European faiths were pretty related to Vedic hinduism (not the one that evolved after buddhism came to be), so some synergy was there.
@@rishabhthakur7559 yes, somewhat. It's due to most of Europe and a large part of the Balkans and India having a similar ancestor religion: the Proto Indo-European religion.
In Sri Lanka also you can find an indigenous faith going well along with Buddhism - but it does not have a name as such. The idea of Kami is very much the same. Different from village to village and sometimes historical figures, other times related to some natural feature in the area, or even from the Hindu pantheon later become popular. Many people who believe and even practice don't notice the difference - only when one learns about Buddhism (and see how people actually practice and believe) they notice two distinct religions intertwined in practice. It is that, Buddhism does not replace any pre-existing indigenous belief - able to coexist and intermingle.
Gotta keep up that whole Japan is intolerant and aggressive viewpoint, like with his ridiculous tangent on OMG wartime propaganda may be ramping up in Japan!!!
I was fortunate to experience Akihabara back in 1991.. I think Edison, Tesla and Westinghouse (and many more) would be amazed.. There were "3rd floor" electronics that wouldn't hit the US market for 3 years..
it seems like that is the case. what barrish has seems to be a change of some sort from a "members vs. gentiles" sort of religion into a "beliefs and tenets" type of system, and it seems like it could break off and become its own thing seperate from a more traditional shinto framework which places more emphasis on tradition and, dare i say, race
This video needs at least one qualifying statement that was left out. Fushimi Inari in Kyoto, which is the head shrine of many Shinto shrines in Japan dedicated to Inari, is not part of Jinja Honcho. In addition there are any number of independent shrines. So when the spokesperson at the head office of Jinja Honcho makes statements regarding the number of practitioners of Shinto, that does not mean they are in anyway connected to that organization.
I love Shinto, specially for it's relationship with and respect to Nature... Also it amazes me how Zen Buddhism and Shinto get along together and how Zen Buddhism can help explain Shinto and viceversa, I absolutely adore these two traditions ☺️⛩️❤️☸️
"Defining Religion is a very high stakes topic". That's why we leave it to RUclips comment! What could possibly go wrong? ;-) I love this series and your other content, thanks for doing this!
We incorporate Shinto values with our kids, being thankful for everything is important. They're only 3 and 1 and they say thank you to things like the house for keeping them warm and their bath water for cleaning them.
In the English speaking West Shinto is likely to become a universalist tradition but in a transformed and hybrid form. I mean, in a form transformed from what we can see now in the shrines in Hawaii and continental America. Shinto is very likely to be syncretized with modern Paganism (some Pagan bloggers and scholars are already consedering the many similarities between the two religions). The ways of syncretization, we may surmise, will include the abandonment of shrine-centeredness which now characterizes most of Shinto, and the emergence of a more individual-centered practice (perhaps with magic taking a more prominent role than now). I think it possible because the same is now happening to many Afro-Carribean traditions in America. They are taken out of their communal context, translated into the context of a globalized megapolis and marketed transnationally. The religious "grammar" of Paganism (expecially in its latest development - the fideist "devotional polytheism") suits perfectly well for accomplishing this amalgamation, which is likely to result in formation of new forms of religion worldwide. Living in St Petersburg, Russia, I encountered a Wiccan coven which practised a mixed form of Shinto-ish rituals in the framework of a generic Modern Pagan/Wiccan rituals (with an eight-fold Wheel of the Year, circle casting, power raising and, of course, the absence of shrines besides one home kamidana). The Kami invoked in the rituals I attended included Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi, Idzanagi/Idzanami and two creator-gods, whose names I just don't remember. The rites were conducted in Russian, with fragments of translated Nikhongi and Kodziki materials included for invocations and as script for sacred drama Taking into account, that this was possible in a country with virtually no Japanese presence, but only due to the wordwide influence of Japanese culture, it is highly likely that suchlike phenomena can be met in America whith its ethnic Japanese citizens and in other countries of the Pacific Japanese diaspora, where Japanese tradition, language and way of life gives way to a more globalized and Anglicized setting.
Here in São Paulo the majority of Japanese descendants converted to Catholicism in the mid twentieth century. Shrines are rare however there is still influence, for example, in these people's houses sometimes there is a kamidama with catholic saints since in Brazil religions tend to acquire a syncretic characteristic. Here in my neighborhood there is a Shinto priestess works in her home and people from different ethnic/religious backgrounds search for her, very interesting.
Omoto and Konkokyo are two examples of Shinto being practiced outside Japan. Konkokyo especially, as there are several Konko churches in the US, mostly in major cities on the east coast and Hawaii. One doesn't have to be Japanese to practice Konkokyo, nor is the Konko religion restricted to purely Japanese cultural expression.
First of all, Many Kami are Indian gods/goddesses, because when Japanese embraced Buddhism, many Hindi deities were also introduced. In the animistic worldview, Supernatural beings, people, Animals, Plants, Natural phenomena, Man-made objects, and even fictitious things, are part of the universe more or less equally, and they all communicate with each other.
You are all confused, no kami is of hindu origin..... buddhist gods of hindu origin, these are called Devas and a minor category way behind the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas, in Japanese Devas are 天 ( ten), they are just a minority inside the Buddhist pantheon, even because Budhdism isn't about gods, just 1 true Hindu god got popular in Japan and this is Benzaiten. Bishamonten on the other hand is just a disguised Chinese practice of defying past lives of military commanders with a pseudo-sanskrit root that was transmitted to Japan
Two videos in a month, I'm feeling spoiled. Interesting take on Shinto, I've always thought about it as something so intrinsically tied to Japanese history and the land itself that I never even thought of its potential as a universal religion.
Thank you! When I started my research on this subject, I was really surprised and honestly a bit skeptical! But the more I learn, transnational online Shinto communities are a pretty compelling challenge to essentialist definitions of Shinto imo --Kaitlyn, RFB Shinto series researcher/co-writer
@@EatPrayAnime Hi Kaitlyn, I presume this was your doctoral thesis, if so could you let me know which university to contact to obtain a copy. Or have you published anything based on your research. I’m uncertain of how theses are stored outside of the UK. But aside from that I just wanted to say, you did a great job of analyzing Shinto, and have helped bring interest in it to a much wider audience. I will of course be subscribing to your channel.
@Rai Iwa Thank you so much for your interest! I am still conducting research for my PhD dissertation, but I have a few articles/book chapters coming out in a month or so that I'll make openly available on the internet once they're published. Since you subscribed to my channel (thank you!!), I'll drop you a comment when I've posted them. 😃 In the meantime, you might enjoy checking out the limited content on my research website www.digitalshinto.com
Yes. Shinto is basically a belief in a place. Many old Shinto believe that kami dwell in the unique nature of the area, such as mountains, forests, giant trees, and rocks. This is the basic idea of Shinto, and there are no Religious Doctrine. It's about how to deal to the Land-specific kami. Shinto was used by nations twice, when the concept of Japan country was born and once during the world wars. This will distort the way it is and people's perceptions, and some people may not like Shinto. Also, some people find it hard to understand. Even in modern times, basically everything rooted the land, nature, things, and people else can be enshrined as kami. What is important is not a precept or a teaching, but how we behave, think, and deal with the place and its history.
That was good. As someone who lived in Hawaii for several years, and who has lived in Japan for much longer, I would liked to have seen a bit more about Shinto in Hawaii. But still, it was good.
@@djcudworth2355 yes, there are many levels/ranks of credentials for Shinto priests! 😃 They spend several years taking training courses and whenever they want to rank up, they have to take an exam. But not all priests get their licenses through the Shrine Shinto seminaries/universities. Large shrines also have their own licensing/training programs. Its a lot of work! 😵
I think it depends who you ask, which seems like a cop-out answer, but this reminded me of Eastern Orthodoxy where it’s organized on national lines and certain practitioners in older generations or in the national homeland would consider foreigners converting nonsensical since this is “the Bulgarian church for Bulgarians” (or whatever national church). But clearly in practice and abroad there are many Orthodox Christians in modern societies who are not ethnically aligned with the autocephalous/national church they attend and believe.
Shinto means way of the gods, technically the pagans, wicca, Kahunas and tlamacazui also venerate kami except they are native to the Americas. Shinto is just the Japanese aesthetic. Nearly every society has had shamanistic gods. Shinto is just the Japanese name for it.
Thank you for your good explanation about Shinto. I'm pleased with you explained well that traditional Shinto and imperial Shinto are different things. Actually, not a few numbers of Kami in Shinto came from abroad with Buddism and adopted. Hence, there is no reason to limit the Shinto religion only to indigenous, in my view. Shinto is just a way of Kami. You can practice it no matter who you are and where you are. And anything you respect or love or fear can be Kami for you.
As an Aussie, the idea of universalising kami and shinto have got me thinking about how Japan (seemingly) nearly conquered our northern lands during WWII, land that just so happens to include lots of traditionally living aboriginal people, whose spirituality is highly animist. I could imagine an alternative history where the japanese invaders syncretise shinto and dreaming spirituality as a form of imperialism and to also legitimise local beliefs so as to help win over a population whose practices were long subjugated and suppressed by anglo-australia, and thereby cultivate loyalty. I could even imagine aboriginal people embracing and defending these practices as they'd give a highly visible institutional legitimacy to their once maligned and dismissed beliefs.
Regrettably, the Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America closed their doors at the end of June in 2023. Rev. and Mrs. Barrish moved to Florida where I'm to understand they set up a small independent shrine.
Shinto is definitely indigenous to Japan. Something can be transported elsewhere, but that doesn't stop it from being indigenous to where it originated from. You can see this with all manner of plants and animals that have an indigenous location yet can be transported or migrate elsewhere.
The following is a rather subjective statement. For the most part I am an atheist, although I have some spiritual tendencies. I tend to see some value in the veneration of nature. At least I see the value of nature itself, and thinking about it in a sense of being inhabited or intertwined with Kami. When I was in Japan in late 2019 , I happened to come across a small Shinto Shrine on a small cliff on the shore of lake Kawaguchiko with a magnificent view on Mount Fuji, and I decided there an then to say a small prayer for the flora and fauna of my home. Since there wasn’t water or smoke for purification I used water from a bottle, that I had on me. In this regard I think Shinto very well can be in part at least universal, since there is nature all over the world. I mean I am not to much in the matter, it’s more like a very broad and shallow interpretation of Shinto, a feeling or to put it more or less contemporary a vibe rather than a belief, but I think that in part Shinto has some great aspects that resonate with me, which make it universal to me and also make it possible to practice it in a somewhat atheistic yet spiritual(-light) way. Amazing content by the way. I really enjoy this series and hope that you might find the time for some single videos on Shinto after you’ve finished the series.
I'm a convinced atheist, but i like to learn how thinking is molded, with culture and religion in simbiosis with society. You certainly make great education content with a lot of implication with it. More work like this is needed.
I'm very interested to see what would happen if Shinto got 'combined' with modern pagan movements, like Hellenism or Heathen. Honestly, from what I've heard, I feel like they would intersect very well.
As an European practitioner of Himalayan Vajrayana Buddhism, this is an interesting video to see. Also in the world of Himalayan Buddhism there are various interest groups and ways of thinking who either emphasize the universalism of Buddhism or people who want to keep the religion exclusive to Tibetan people. In principle Vajrayana is passed on from a teacher to student and is therefore not really ethnic in its core, but the religion is so tied to the Tibetan culture, that some might view it from the lens of ethnic exclusivity. (That said, even in the universalist camp, for a western born person to become a Buddhist Lama is a really challenging task. The lack of social support makes it hard practically and financially, and even if you would become a qualified Lama, it would be more difficult to be taken seriously by others.)
I was going to say that in many parts of asia, shinto shrines had left a bad taste because of being associated with the occupations during wwii, but you did bring that up too.
There's a similar universalist phenomena occurring in the modern reconstructionist Norse/Germanic polytheistic religion. The core similarities between the Shinto religion and the Forn Sedr ( old ways) of the Northern Tradition are amazing. I really look forward to seeing how this develops in our future! Thank you for this RUclips article.
Crazy how this channel's take on religion is completely different from what my university's religious studies was teaching. Modern western/protestant take on religion seems so alien(to us).
I think that, like Buddhism or Jediism, Shintoism is private and informal enough that you don't have the dogma and negativity of more established and traditional religions like Islam and Christianity while still getting that spiritual fulfillment and a way to connect with the greater universe. I would say that the answer to whether or not Shintoism is an indigenous tradition or universal is like the answer to whether or not Shintoism is a religion as Westerners view it. And that answer is: it's complicated. Shintoism has definite roots in the Japanese people and has large cultural influences which make it uniquely indigenous to Japan. However, the ideology is easily adapted into the cultures of others, which makes it very universal. I guess Obi-wan is right when he says that everything is true "from a certain point of view".
I mean, if they're practicing shinto rituals, hold shinto beliefs, have shinto shrines, and call themselves shinto, then they're obviously shinto? Maybe a new sect of shinto, but definitely shinto.
americans do the same thing all the time with christianity. dont like how the other existing groups do their thing? just form a new group then and make up your own rules. complaining about people building shinto shrines around the world is just hypocricy when christians, jews and muslims build their places of worship wherever they please without regards how others feel about it.
If you're going to have an "international" religion where you worship ancestors, land spirits, and a pantheon of gods with ritualism, the question has to be asked why you're practicing Shinto and not your own native, pre-Abrahamic religion.
@Skeptical Organism The demonstrate how life originated. Don't speculate, but show us how you can first create the basic building blocks needed by the first life to begin. You need more than a warm pool of water. If you suggest it is stagnant, then you are presuming something that stagnates the water first. Please show all of this if science has all the answers.
@@tm23822 I think you're discounting that some may not make any diction. They might amalgamate any form of animist like faith in to their own. And on top of that, there is also a question about what is your own native, pre-Abrahamic religion. If you are an American this can get very complex. You likely have a great mix of ethnic background and the location you live in often had their own religious faith before you and your ancestors settle there. So which should I pick? Even if, let's say is of Nordic stock living in say Sweden. Yeah, one might naturally think worshipping the Æsir would be the way to go. But there were religions old. And any modern Æsir is that to. A modern creation. Often build on text compiled by Christian monks. And it might not work well with you animist faith. You might be other aspects of the Æsir ether like their warlike aspects. So even for someone who might be living in an area once dominated by an old pre-Abrahamic religion it may not be a sure thing. Shintoism has a lot of teachings that are appealing to some people. And so I can see why someone would like to pick up that faith. I also see how someone might make there on spin on it. And this is normal. Have to happen with every major religion. They take aspects of other cultures and religions in to them. Now I do not follow any religion my self. But that does not mean I can not see the appeal of different religions. And well. I do not really think one should be forced to belong to a culture either. Culture for me is not in your genes. And the same goes with religion which I see as just another aspect of culture. Culture evolve and adapts.
@@chrisazure1624 You need a warm pool of water, an atmosphere containing lots of methane & ammonia, lightning & radiation & heat, some catalysts and lots of time. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenesis
@@sualtam9509 I suggest you watch Dr. James Tour on the "Origin of Life". He is an organic chemist who works with nano technology. He informs us that all the claims of how the origin of life came about are hogwash. Ammonia and radiation is not your friends when you need to built the necessary amino acids to form the basic building blocks needed. Anything you try to make is destroyed before you can complete he next step. All you are doing is repeating someone throwing up a bunch of ideas, but which have never been able to demonstrate in any successful manner in any type of environment in early earth.
I'm a follower of Shinto and have a kamidana shelf dedicated to Amaterasu omikami sama, uka mitama okami sama, ame no uzume no mikoto sama and Sarutahiko-no mikoto sama. I follow a few Shinto groups on Facebook. And actually follow the Kannagara Shinto shrine of Kissimmee Florida which is where Koichi Barrish Sensei is located at now that he turned the grand Tsubaki shrine of North America over to a Shinto Shrine of Victoria Canada to maintain. I will tell you that Shinto is a both indigenous and universal. It has been the desire for Shinto although a Japanese spiritual path to reach out to the world. Unfortunately it was done the wrong way especially in the late 19th century and 20th century especially during World War 2. The followers of Shinto in Japan that had advocated pacifism were suppressed especially in world war 2. It I believe it was always meant to reach out to the rest of the world to spread information about living in harmony with nature and with others something that religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam failed to do. Yes I support Koichi Barrish Sensei and others views that it is meant to be universal. However still rooted in Japanese mythology, folklore, and culture. Great video ❤
My grasp of Shinto is twofold: Shrine Shinto is an organized religion and there are many rules of what to do and not to do in common behavior and ritual, but according to Motohisa Yamakage the Way of Kami is maintained through stories and rituals passed down through families and communities making for an amorphous common identity of 'Shinto' but being really hard to pin down as to what it is or isn't. Yamakage also argues that blind observation of ritual without sincere Faith and Communion with Kami or Divine is an imitation of Shinto and not to the Spirit of Kami. He also believes Shinto can and should be adapted to other cultures and spiritualities as wished by an individual so long as it's done with sincerity. So to him, one can be Christian and Shinto and have no contradiction. I'm inclined to agree as I see Kami and Angels as compatible experience. Baptism and Misoji do after all have common ritual and purpose. If Shinto is viewed as a shamanic tradition that has become formalized, we can see that Shinto and virtually all indigenous spiritual traditions throughout the globe have a commonality. One could argue that the many Native American spiritual traditions are Shinto and similarly vice versa. And then we could get into esoteric healing methods such as Reiki and see that it carries Shinto practices and even spontaneously regains Shinto qualities lost through international transmission. Again thanks for the education 🙏☮️
Kami are simply powerful spirits, Hachiman and Tenjin who are some of the most popuar kami for all of Japan, were originally Emporer Ojin and scholar Sugawara-No-Michizane, all real people. Kami aren’t some small group of intangible all powerful gods like how western religions such as Christianity and Paganism view their deities. Theres nothing absurd about Japanese-Americans doing the same to people as influential as George Washington Abe Lincoln and King Kamehameha in Hawaii.
Since Shinto is about performing rituals, I think anyone who performed a ritual at a shrine of his/her volition may be a Shinto "believer". I'm hoping to be able to go to Japan and visit a shrine.
This was very informative, I used to be heavily involved in Shinto religion as a child but I do not identify with the kamis and shrines as much anymore, but I still go to shrines regularly, but do not see it as a part of my Japanese identity.
What I primarily understood about Shinto is that you can worship kami characterized by a particular local landmark and those certainly are universal. It sounds like it's in an in between state between indigenous Japanese and universal, but could easily make the jump to something more universal.
The Irish/Roma St Bridget/Brigid/Kali is not the only Christian adoption. The Virgin Mary owes a lot to Diana/Artemis, the "Mother of Gods." Flying under the radar, or over the roof, is Ma'at, the Egyptian goddess of justice, who was placed in the Roman pantheon as Justicia by Augustus and still presides over Western courts as the blindfolded Lady Justice.
My daughter inlaw practices this,she has a morning ritual. I dont know if my japanese canadian grandchildren will be shinto. They are learning japanese language. I find your channel very interesting, thanks
I'd argue that Shinto isn't a religion at all. Shinto is about respect for, well, basically almost everything but with the focus on what you do, not what you believe. Also the fact that its priests can practice other religions suggest that Shinto is not a religion but rather a cultural system of beliefs (which is not the same as a religion imo)
I mean there rly isn't a definition of religion. Like for example having this whole system of constitution, government, police ect can be called a secular religion
I'm honestly not surprised. With how much japanese culture has been introduced to the western world, I could easily see shinto spreading across the seas and taking root. Whether or not it will be widespread is another thing, however.
Rather than trying to syncretize shinto traditions with global spirits, would there be a way to include a group of indigenous religious and spirituality that come together as a polytheistic beleifs including spirits and deities from different localities included in one 'religion'?
As you said, the majority of the Japanese population do not identify with religion even if they do visit shrines or temples on a regular basis. Shintoism is a set of beliefs rather than practices. Can these beliefs exist beyond Japan's borders? There are no boundaries to the mind. People believe what they choose to believe wherever they are in the world and no man or institution can demand what others believe (though they sure try). Why do people have spiritual beliefs? There are countless reasons but perhaps the most important is that we find comfort in our spiritual beliefs no matter what these are our where we are in the world.
Many faiths share beliefs with Shintoism, whether they realize it or not. Shintoism is extremely adaptable, hence why it meshed with Buddhism. It also highly resembles the animism and shamanism of world cultures.
The progression and evolution of the social dynamics and worldview of Shinto is fascinating. I wonder if it will give us insights into the psychological, social, and political evolution of polytheism and various cults (in the academic sense, not the NRM sense) in human history.
While watching this video, I did some googling and found out that there is only one Shinto shrine in Europe, in the tiny republic of San Marino. It is also a largely symbolic site established mostly for diplomatic purposes. Why would that be the case? May it be because of the role of old-world Christian confessions in shaping European societies? Or possibly because of the appeal of pagan revivalism for those groups looking for a "local" polytheistic alternative?
There is also a Yamakage Shinto Shrine run by Rev. Paul de Leeuw in Amsterdam! And I've heard there is one in France but I do not think it is operative at the moment. There is a sizable community of Shinto practitioners in the UK, but no shrines yet. But yes, the San Marino case is very interesting and you're absolutely correct, diplomatic relations is a major force behind its creation. My colleague spoke with the San Marino ambassador to Japan and he is a big fan of Shinto. I have some literature about the shrine from the ambassador, but I haven't read through it yet. Thanks for reminding me to make it a priority! --Kaitlyn, RFB Shinto series researcher/co-writer
@@EatPrayAnime thank you very much! The website there mentions that it's the only European shrine approved by the Shinto association. I'm not sure how true is that claim, in light of your comment, but if so it would certainly make the situation evenmore layered!
@@niccolofattori4393 Ahhh yes I see, that's technically true, San Marino is the only shrine in Europe that is officially approved by the Jinja Honcho, an umbrella association for many, but definitely not all, shrine Shinto (Jinja Shinto) shrines in Japan. The Yamakage school is not a member of Jinja Honcho, so according to Jinja Honcho, the branch in Amsterdam is not "official" by their standards.
The Japanese have always taken foreign things and made them their own. Recently, they reversed the process to some extent with anime, etc. Now perhaps it's happening with their religion.
I can see it spreading though I don't think it'll be a major religion. All religions begin as a some sort of folk religion associated with a specific area before spreading out. Even religions with a much closer guarded identity like Judaism can become very diverse. It's similar to how Hinduism is beginning to find a flock with westerners and that has caused some people with their hearts in the right place to get a little anxious due to Hinduism being so closely associated with South Asia. But of course, who's to say someone's not allowed to practice if their faith is true? The Japanese are increasingly less and less religious so Shinto's adoption by a wider ethnic pool might inevitably be the only way for Shinto practices and traditions to survive in the future.
Interesting. To my thought, non-Abrahamic religions are things smoothly-flowing to each other, like, we may found a god in Japan than might originally be Heracles went from India, and we see further connections of Greek religions to the west, we may say Shinto has indirect ties to Celtic and Germanic myths... So we may speak of some "common pagan field" rather than separate religions. But, of course, each culture has own specific traditions, specific gods and rituals, specific organizations, specific texts, specific rules and taboos, specific everything, and moreover, Shinto has a developed theology, philosophy, and it has already seen a world that has a concept of "specific religion", with most of people living in these specific religions, and therefore perhaps Shinto may treat itself according to these concepts, so of course at the same time we may see Shinto as that "specific religion", that may be taught to others and seen as something different than, e.g., Siberian shamanism. On the third thought, if there will be some pagan Renessaince (and I think it's actually likely, there are already tendencies), we may get that "common pagan field" again. But it will take a long time. For now, it will be seen as some "new religions with no traditional roots" even if they use names of old gods and copy some rituals from books, unlike Shinto which has deep continuous ancient traditions with even holy scripture dating back to 8th century. But, time flows, 300, 500 years will pass, at some point that new paganism may be seen as if it "always was there", slowly gaining respect from Shinto. 1000 years, and perhaps it will be felt that there was just a brief interruption into Christianity and Islam (I don't mean they will gone, I mean they will coexist with paganism).
I wish I had more time in the world. There'd be so much I'd like to research, religion being one of them. Although I sometimes disagree with your takes, especially on neopagan faiths, I appreciate your work. Also, for the question: I think that Shinto is now, since the 19th century both an indigenous and a universal religion.
I like it. It seems like a tradition that fits anyone's ancestors or persons from the past. Idk how G Washington would feel about it but but i bet he could be convinced if phrased to him right.
While I certainly have not invested the amount of research into Shinto and religion in general as have you, I am under the impression that Shinto is for Japanese people; in Kyoto, for example, it seemed that, while we could look at the shrines they were not for us, even if we did approach them with respect. I realize that even this attitude varies among native Shinto practitioners, however.
i think the only truly valid answer to this is that reality is wayyyyyyyy more nuanced than we give credit for, and our simple linguistic terms cannot accurately describe an amorphous concept such as an idea spreading or being shared
I didn’t see this in the comments, the king of Hawaii is pronounced Ka-MAY-ha-MAY-ha. Good episode! Surprised there aren’t more Shinto shrines on the US west coast.
It's not. He pronounced it correctly. I can't find a single source that says it's that way, not even the people on the Hawaii subreddit, the only source that pronounces it like that is the english dub of Dragon Ball.
When I was in Japan, I observed people bowing when they were going through Shinto gates. At some point I started doing the same because I wasn't sure if it would be wrong to not. It grew in me, later friend showed me how to pray and all and I really liked it. I don't believe in gods, spirits or even luck but the whole idea have very distressful atmosphere and that would explain why Japanese, even so don't believe in it either, like to take part in all practices. It definitely could be a global religion. The casual, distressful and non-committal atmosphere it provides really fits the modern world. Heck, I probably would take a part sometimes if I had one close to me 😅
Yes, much respect to Rev. Barrish, but he's the first non-Japanese Shinto priest. First non-Japanese mainland American, perhaps. There may even have been previous to Rev. de Leeuw, but there aren't a ton of records and the fact that shrines in the US were confiscated during WW2 makes it even harder to track down. --Kaitlyn, RFB Shinto series researcher/co-writer
Watch the full Shinto series here: ruclips.net/p/PLHsXddZFR9AO-GbFRwqoBUQnFabXy6YBr
I thought the word indigenous was meant to indicate origin, not exclusivity?
How can I contact you?
American ko north irourga tribe
Chinese ko formula japan
I think it is also important to point out that Shinto has no initiation. So even for us Japanese, its is ambiguous what behavior exactly identify us as Shinto follower. I practice quite a religiously connected historical martial arts and often performs in Jinja for Kami. Thus, I am allowed to enter the Honden (sanctuary) to get a special blessing from the priest. And one time I even got blessing from the priest of Izumo shrine, one of the most prestigious shrine of all, which is a privilege not every Japanese can embrace. So this might be the closest "initiation" of Shinto in the Western sense. However, we have foreign students in our Dojo and they get to embrace blessing as well, without converting from the religion they are born to. This is like someone frankly going to Hajj without becoming Muslim, but that is how Shinto works anyway. So yes, I hardly believe that Shinto is indigenous, and if any foreigner proclaims to be a Shinto follower, I really have no complaints about it... although, I might suspect that as an extension of new wave movement or something at first.
I would say it's both. Traditionalists might not accept people in other parts of the world but that won't stop people from believing, practicing, and adapting religions.
@Leo Law not really
@@rld8258 what's the exception?
@@jcavs9847 not an exception, lots of religious people want their beliefs to spread around the world
@@jcavs9847 For example the two religions with most number of believers in the world, Christianity and Islam.
@@javiersaneiro6412 Exactly. You have never heard from a Christian "Oh no! More people around the world are becoming Christians!"
It's important to realize that culture, land, history and religion are all connected. American Christians trace their religion to the other side of the world, but they can never really experience and understand the life style of the early Christians, or even modern ones who live in different cultures. It's even more important to understand this in the context of Shinto, which doesn't emphasize faith and biblical canon the same way that Christianity does.
One of the reasons Shinto is attractive to me. It's Spiritual but not overwhelmingly so. What I mean by that is unlike Christianity, Islam and other structured religions Shinto doesn't demand your absolute obedience and faith in order to "live well" and be a good person. It's more a way of life and a path to follow than a "religion" in the sense a lot of Westerners think of a religion.
I think that America has essentially become Hindu in the sense that America has a majority religion but it’s so individualistic and diverse in interpretation by region that religion keeps being redone all the time. At this point America will have its own... Americanist religion. As this video showed, maybe our respect for the founding fathers could cross into outright worship, much like Greek mythos
@@jedimindtrix2142 I know there is no way to say this without being rude (it's really not my intention) but I feel like western people who are attracted to eastern religions because it doesn't have the same "rules" as Christianity are being a bit childish.
@@redwoodpartisan2433 Not will have. Already does. Mormonism.
@@jedimindtrix2142 yea Quakerism seems to be the only western religion that is equally "loose". With them you can worship god however you choose, even if that means not worshipping. And many Quakers don't even believe.
This Hawaiian Shinto reminds me of the syncretism of Christianity and traditional African religions that happened here in Brazil and other places in the Americas.
Can you give an example ? I am curious
I tend to look at Shinto as being naturally syncretic with whatever indigenous religion is present. For example I am aware of a number of people who worship at both Shinto & Christian sites, classing both as their religion.
@@funckymonkey5233 Not in Brazil, but Voodoo (Vodou) and the much more interesting Rastafari certainly come to mind.
@@andrewsuryali8540 thank you brother 🙏
@@funckymonkey5233 Umbamda and Candomblé are Afro-American Religions in Brazil.
All religions start out as indigenous. Some of them spread beyond the founding group, and others don't.
Some religions do seem to be intentionally global from their inception, though. Like Manichaeism and the Baháʼí Faith.
@@meligoose9413 This gets into the sticky mess of intent vs actuality, what a faith says it is vs how it functions and exists in reality at that moment in time. More often than not these two realities are wholly divorced from each other and it becomes rather difficult to piece things together in an objective way, separate of the worldview of the faith.
Not true
Except some religion purposefully made themselves to be strictly exclusive and indigenous by nature. Judaism and Yazidism are but to name a few.
@@wouldyouliketomeetkenbamba9495 Judaism isn't "strictly exclusive" by any means. Yes, it is largely indigenous and/or cultural, but they absolutely accept converts, whether or not they have a Jewish mother. They try to dissuade potential converts not because Judaism eschews conversion, but because Jews have historically faced a lot of discrimination and tribulations and the rabbis don't want people to convert on a whim.
The Hawaiian shrine reminds me of the Vietnamese Cao Dai religion which you should definitely do an episode on. They have saints like Charlie Chaplin and Herman Melville.
Imo, being a form of polytheism (see Edit below for clarification) and incorporating ancestor and nature spirit worshipping, Shinto certainly can find something in common with Neopagan traditions and maybe even New Age spirituality. This would make it possible for non-Japanese to incorporate Shinto practices into their religious lifes and, in the end, adopt Shinto practices holistically.
That being said, if a foreigner adopts Shinto on account of its similarity with that foreigner's, say, Neopagan beliefs, there would be a reason to ask, whether what has been adopted is actually Shinto and not some sort of "non-specific eclectic paganism" with Japanese aesthetics.
EDIT: Thanks for all the replies, certainly gives something to think about. A little clarification: by "polytheism" I did not mean the term in its strict sense of "worshipping a multitude of deities/spirits equally", but rather "the belief in multiple deities/spirits that can be worshiped in any number of ways". That would include henotheism, monolatry, etc.
I share your thoughts on that
Their are some excellent qualities to the Shinto belief system, which as you say make it easier to incorporate them into existing belief qualities.
I suppose there are two ends of the spectrum here; on the hyper conservative side, you can say that Shinto is a purely Japanese folk tradition, which can be used to justify ethno-nationalism. On the hyper liberal side, you can say that Shinto is a universal religion that can be adapted to any foreign nation, people or culture, which can be used to dilute the religion until it's an empty shell of it's former self, like butter spread over too much bread. Finding some kind of comfortable middle ground is a matter of endless debate, and probably comes down to personal opinion, more than anything.
Syncretism happens in all religions, is Christianity diluted by how it adapted to local religions - I would suggest in fact some of the core tenets were strengthened.
Shinto can do the same thing even easier, as stated in the video individual temples have differing Kami that they venerate and as such they can adapt, and at the same time still work together. I think it comes down to this question.
Does Shinto have a core set of tenets, for example veneration of nature, these tenets or ideals would be present in all temples not just those devoted to Amaterasu etc. You could for example hold the tenets true and also venerate a localised Kami, such as the British Royal Family.
As a pagan I 100% agree. I see many similarities with my own beliefs. I have 3 pillars of worship those being the gods, spirits, and ancestors. Shinto hits the spirits and ancestors on the nail, gods not so much but hey 2 out of 3 is pretty good for being half the world away. I've asked a few pagans who were in Japan about Kami and if they saw them as the local land spirits (we call them landvaettir, I'm saying spirits for ease). Both said yes after having a few experiences at local shrines.
I have zero intentions of practicing Shinto myself but I recognize it and respect it as the Japanese version of my own faith. And they are probably better since Shinto has been continually practiced unlike my own which largely died for centuries.
Actually in my city Santos, Brazil, hade a Shinto Shrine that was demolished to build a park in their place that has a Shinto portal and some few rocks of the old temple, the japanese people that came her 100 years ago practiced their religion but over time they would convert do catolicism like majority of brazilians to better adapt to our culture but have some japanese that even in this day attend to shinto shrines in São Paulo to some festitivites
don't forget Seisho no Ie, which a large number of nipo-brazilians are members, and it seems to be the result of the blend of such beliefs
Christianity is a religion of intolerance and hate and you can’t change my mind
@Sanctus Paulus Most christians seem to lol
@@ZeroGravityFuneral YOU seem to be a person of intolerance and hate :)
That's sad. If only Christianity and Islam were syncretic... Imagine what a better world it would be, the ancient European religions wouldn't have been suppressed, same later for the native American traditions. Of course there's also a political element because Shinto coexisted with Buddhism up until the new nationalist agenda came
I think the answer might be "both". I can imagine that when building a shrine outside of Japan, practitioners can conceive of Kami local to their own area. In polytheism and animisim there's the idea of "our local spirits/gods" and then also foreign ones, which are recognized but live elsewhere (and not in your local shrine).
I think that allows for shrines outside Japan that utilize the same ritual practices but recognize a different mix of Kami.
Imo I think shinto may be flexible enough to have shrines overseas, since ritual practice seems to just as or more important than believing in Kami.
Yeah, and polytheism historically has imported gods like Aphrodite from Ishtar, so I could easily imagine various deities from everywhere being added, from christian saints to old gods to neoopagan deities being added to the list.
I agree. I have always appreciated it and if i was to be any religion I would want to be shinto. it also seems to be less hamful than most religions since it is more of a spirituality.
@@hippybeccawell it depend on society culture and brief or god sometimes they are sometimes restrictive or peaceful like how sparta society was very due to stupid rule and brief
Religions are very interesting when dissecting the culture behind them.
Exactly.
Maybe this American Shinto will be like how Romans accepted Jewish concepts to create a distinct Roman/Greek/Semitic religion.
Forming a new form of religion.
I find it absolutely hilarious that a shrine exists venerating George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as kami.
A cross over between the Shinto series and the American civil religion series
Ancestors can be kami right? So I guess it makes sense
You mean the washington and lincoln memorial? Oh wait those just venerate them as greek gods....
American mythology does exist. When ya realize this the shinto appropriation of american mythological figures is not surprising or unique. Especially since the american mythological figures are appropriated and styled upon greco-roman mythological figures.
It is still a bit funny when you have been immersed in the american mythology since birth.
The painting on the Capitol Rotunda is titled the "Apotheosis of Washington" and shortly after Lincoln was assassinated, the illustration called the "Apotheosis of Lincoln" went around. Lincoln and Washington are already gods 😉
Quite a few of Japanese Kami are long dead emperors and to Americans Abraham Lincoln and George Washington are in Shinto view rulers that Americans venerate so similar to their kami.
I'm curious to know exactly how the American Shinto priests interact with the idea of Kami in America. If they are spirits connected to the natural environment, such as rivers, trees, rocks, etc. then do they have to make up new spirits connected to American natural phenomenon? Would you name and identify these spirits, or just worship the natural phenomena themselves without anthropomorphizing them? Do Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon have really big, important spirits, comparable to that of Mt Fuji? How does the Kami of Mt. Rushmore feel about having presidential faces carved into it? Also, there are many natural sites that are already sacred to Native American traditions, such as Bear Butte in SD. What if a non-native American wanted to build a Shinto Shrine at Bear Butte? Do you worship two different spirits side-by-side, or do you try to work Lakota mythology into Shinto practices? That sounds problematic, to say the least...
No, they don't have to make up new spirits.
Most Shinto practiced in the US is associated with the Konko faith, and involves veneration of the personification of the Spirit of Heaven and Earth, which unlike in western monotheistic faiths, is not seen as "above" the world of particular things. Therefore, it's less important that one selects the "correct" object of veneration and more important that a person has sincerity and reverence.
@@Magnulus76 I see. Love me some good Heaven and Earth worship! So, would it be correct to say that it's a veneration of the universal spiritual/natural energy of which Kami are individual manifestations?
@@MadHatter42 Sort of. In Konkokyo, the universal spirit is thought of as a divine parent and related to in a personal manner. But in practice that belief isn't as exclusivistic as in western monotheism.
@@MadHatter42 This is a link to a short documentary about a minister in the US in the Konkokyo sect of Shinto. Though she doesn't explicitly mention her sect in the video, the Divine Reminder hanging on the wall in the back of the church is a giveaway. And yes, they are often called churches in the US, and even in Japan, since they function in a similar manner as places of social gathering and the religious leaders minister to people as part of the religion- in fact this is related to why this sect of Shinto started in the first place.
ruclips.net/video/WZoVEAHHbiQ/видео.html
Everyone is welcome in a Konko church, the religion does not exclude people based on creed, nationality, gender, or sexual orientation. In that sense it is a universal religion.
Yeah, this is part of what makes the whole "American Shinto" thing feel kinda yikes to me. Like... local spirits, connection with the land, understanding our place in the world by respecting and venerating it but not considering ourselves inherently above or below it... They know folks were already practicing religion/spirituality that way before this land was colonized, right? I can't help but notice that this American Shinto priest is white, and is choosing to import a foreign religion rather than try to connect with the practices that already existed where he lives... Does that feel off to anyone else?
When people say that Shinto is a Universal Religion, do they mean Traditional Japanese Shinto? More Modern Secular Shinto (were everyone says they believe in Kami but aren’t superstitious or visit shrines that often)?
Or are they talking about Animism? I think they’re talking more about Animism because that’s been a universal foundation for belief for hundreds of thousands of years.
I’m enamored buy the practices of Shinto, and think it’s valuable to more observant of the world around us, whether you believe in spirits or not. Yet I think the tricky thing in making Shinto universal is transmitting meaning of certain rituals (washing hands, writing to Kami, etc) to everyone. When most religions move to someplace new or are enforced, the older, more orthodox practices get mixed with new ones and look different. Two examples that come to mind was how Christianity was made the state religion in Rome in the 4th Century (thus bringing a lot of “pagan” practices into the fold) and how Catholicism in the Caribbean is practiced in places where there’s Voodoo or Native Spirit rituals brought from Africa.
Good analysis, I would add Santeria as an example of Catholicism melding with the native religion of the Yoruba people.
@@ForgeMasterXXL Yes, I was thinking of Santeria when thinking of the fusion of Voodoo and Catholicism, but just couldn’t think of the name!
Something to keep in mind regarding Shinto is that it is not necessary to actually believe in the Kami. What is held important are the rituals. As far as animism goes, the primary divine Kami are all human or in human form. Only the servants of a Kami take on the form of animals, Inari's foxes being the most famous. That said, a Kami can be a place as well. Shinto can't be restricted to an Animism based faith because within Shinto everything has a Kami within. Kami is an integral part of any given place, animal, person, object, or natural phenomenon.
It depends really. I believe Shinto is universal. I and my husband have been practicing Shinto for years, and we go to a Shinto shrine when we can, but we also have a Kamidana in our house with Ofudas in the Kamidana. We have the Norito book which is prayers to specific Kami, as well as other books from Japan on proper techniques in regards to how to approach a Shrine and Kamidana, as well as how to do offerings, etc. I and my husband believe in Yokai, and we do venerate our ancestors too. We learned through certain Shinto priests in Japan, and here in America too.
It's so strange to learn that Granite Falls WA has a Shinto shrine. I grew up there for a while and it's a VERY small rural town just below the Cascade mountains. It's also very conservative. That seems like such a random place to put a Shinto shrine!
Mountains have huge significance in Shinto. That could be why they chose that specific location.
Shinto is VERY conservative…
That is exactly the culture that would respect and grow Shinto.
Im not too suprised. Seattle has a lot of connections with Japan. And the spread of Japanese ideas around there makes sense
Not anymore 😞
In Brazil because of the large japanese population, there is a shinto shirine in São Paulo, but there isn't a kami enshiraned. Some people prefer mantain a kamidama with their house.
Is it really a Shinto shrine if it doesn't venerate any kami? Serious question. What then do people gather to worship at the shrine then? Their own individual kami they are devoted to? Ancestors? Tell us more.
@@kirstencorby8465 there is festivals to summon kamis that are temporaly enshiraned. Like in Japan, this sanctuary is a space for the manifestation of kami. There are tow diferent sanctuaries in shinto: the house of kami, or a "main templo" and the place to summon temporaly a kami, like a "portal" between takamagahara and the earth
@@Gui_biscoito Okay, thank you.
As a neopagan I certainly see Shinto as having universal appeal. When speaking with japanese exchange students at my university, it seemed clear that our ideas about religion were more similar than different. Considering how new age religious movements tend to work, and I mean this in positive and negative ways, it's amazing to me that Shinto type practices and inspirations aren't more widespread among neopagans.
Shinto has all of the tools necessary to adapt to new environments, adopt elements of them (such as foreign or cultural gods), and an appealing, relavant message about both nature and mindfulness.
I maintain a personal shrine which sits high on a wall. It's not a kamidana, but it might be close. Neopagan belief already incorporates nature worship, polytheism, and animism, often with purification practices and interaction with a personal, dynamic, spiritual world.
Sounds to me like you're only drawn to the aesthetic of neopaganism. Ancestor worship becomes completely shallow and meaningless when you change what has historically been an ethnic religion for thousands of years into a universalist religion.
@@carmichaelree I think that's a little offensive given you don't know me or my religious practice, but I can see what might bring you to that conclusion.
Obviously, I disagree. I think religions are constantly changing over time and syncretism is a natural by product of cultural interchange. Common ground between religions is also not unusual, providing an easy point of comparison.
RFB's video is raising the question of ethnic or universal religion and there's some good points there. I'm just drawing comparisons between shinto, a nature revering animistic faith, and my nature revering animistic faith, and how there are similar themes and mindsets with both.
I was thinking the same. Sounds like Shinto is moving into another pagan polytheistic tradition among other traditions.
There's room for both streams, I think, as in any pagan religion -- strict traditionalists and more syncretic, universalizing practitioners. The traditionalists may not like it, but they can't stop it.
@@carmichaelreewhat do you think how Christianity was practiced outside of Europe? What do you think, how Buddhism was practiced when it arrived to Japan? Do you really think that ALL Christians or Islam followers practice ALL of the teachings correctly on a regular basis? If you could show a priest from hundreds of years ago how (im from the EU so) Christianity is practiced today, what priests say, what’s in the holy book, what people grasp from the stories, they probably wouldn’t even recognise it. Also, I think (noone has to accept this, this is my perspective, as there are many other) its not a bad idea to broaden your horizon and take the things that you find useful.
Everything’s in a constant change.
I can understand why Shinto is appealing to a lot of people, there’s something about the ceremony and the ‘down to earthness’, to respect your surroundings, think about your ancestors, purification.
Some ppl probably don’t want to listen to completely off bs about ancient stories translated to the modern societies - sadly that’s my experience with Christian preaching…
At the end of the day we can say that ALL religions are kind of made up, their holy books were corrected hundreds of times throughout the years. Also, Shinto doesn’t say that it’s the only one way to believe. One’s own sirituality is probably more valuable than chanting stories that you probably don’t understand anyway out of pure heritage. Nothing’s wrong with heritage, in fact I think it’s important to know where you’re from, you don’t have to deny your past.
I don’t want to offend anyone, I’m just saying that all people are different, as the world is more and more open ppl are finding ways to import things from other cultures more easily. In the past a buddhist monk or an European missionary had to travel hundreds of miles to spread the teaching, now everything’s available with a couple of clicks. Who knows, maybe a thousand years from now Shinto’ll be the new big world religion.
I live in germany and in my hometown there is a shinto shrine. Very beautiful place
Germany has their own ancestral religion. The Germanic religon.
@@carmichaelree yet shinto looks closer to the ancient germanic spirituality than atheism, catholicism or lutheranism
I do love the way you present content that is provocative, posing questions, presenting evidence and arguments from different perspectives and, in the end, not providing any definitive answers to the questions (this goes for all your videos, not just this one). You leave much room for opening discussion and debate rather than closing it down. This is terrific "food for thought" as well as tools for classroom discussion!
Keep up the good work! Looking forward to the next installment.
Thank you so much, since this episode is based on my dissertation research, your comment made my day! 😄 --Kaitlyn, RFB Shinto series researcher/co-writer
The very first non Japanese/ Western Shinto priest lives in the Netherlands and is named Paul de Leeuw. He had to proof that kami also exist outside of Japan. He send a photo of a tree in the Netherlands and he was proven right by his Shinto teachers in Japan.
Kami are nature spirits.they are everywhere. Just called differant things in differant cultures.
I googled him and he’s a TV host. It does not sound sincere.
Hi Emily,
Yes, we also have a famous Dutch tv host with the same name, but that’s not the same person. Google some more. 🙃
08:50 It's quite interesting that a lot of Western converts to Shinto practice their faith with what seems to me as characteristically born-again-esque fervour like daily offerings of prayer which to my Tokyoite sensibilities is quite foreign to say the least, while a vanishingly small percentage of urban population in Japan own a personal Shinto-specific altar as opposed to a more syncretised, part Shinto part Buddhist part vaguely ancestor-veneration kinda altar, to which then again as far as I personally know very few people pray or light an incense in front of on a daily basis.
That daily offering/incense is more hindu than anything else; the westerners who do practice Shinto have probably had exposure to Hinduism. And daily offering is practiced by almost every household among us Hindus.
@Xiuh I mean the native European faiths were pretty related to Vedic hinduism (not the one that evolved after buddhism came to be), so some synergy was there.
@@rishabhthakur7559 yes, somewhat. It's due to most of Europe and a large part of the Balkans and India having a similar ancestor religion: the Proto Indo-European religion.
In Sri Lanka also you can find an indigenous faith going well along with Buddhism - but it does not have a name as such. The idea of Kami is very much the same. Different from village to village and sometimes historical figures, other times related to some natural feature in the area, or even from the Hindu pantheon later become popular.
Many people who believe and even practice don't notice the difference - only when one learns about Buddhism (and see how people actually practice and believe) they notice two distinct religions intertwined in practice.
It is that, Buddhism does not replace any pre-existing indigenous belief - able to coexist and intermingle.
Sadly the shrine mentioned at the start of the video is now closed down. It closed on 30, June, 2023.
Rip 🪦
So preist is dead it sad
You mentioned Japanese kami being worshipped abroad, but I’m surprised you didn’t mention foreign figures being enshrined in Japan like Thomas Edison.
Gotta keep up that whole Japan is intolerant and aggressive viewpoint, like with his ridiculous tangent on OMG wartime propaganda may be ramping up in Japan!!!
That's disgraceful because Edison wasn't Japanese
I was fortunate to experience Akihabara back in 1991..
I think Edison, Tesla and Westinghouse (and many more) would be amazed..
There were "3rd floor" electronics that wouldn't hit the US market for 3 years..
@@asianbeowulf4276 Chill bro, relax.
Could the tension between Ethnic Japanese-Only Shinto and Gaijin-Inclusive Shinto lead to a split of religions, like between Judaism and Christianity?
Or that between conservative and liberal Judaism?
There will be no split because they were never one to begin with.
You could have simply said ‘foreigner’ instead of ‘gaijin’ screams weeaboo
@@CutieZalbu Funny, the only Anime/Manga I'm into is JJBA.
it seems like that is the case. what barrish has seems to be a change of some sort from a "members vs. gentiles" sort of religion into a "beliefs and tenets" type of system, and it seems like it could break off and become its own thing seperate from a more traditional shinto framework which places more emphasis on tradition and, dare i say, race
This video needs at least one qualifying statement that was left out. Fushimi Inari in Kyoto, which is the head shrine of many Shinto shrines in Japan dedicated to Inari, is not part of Jinja Honcho. In addition there are any number of independent shrines. So when the spokesperson at the head office of Jinja Honcho makes statements regarding the number of practitioners of Shinto, that does not mean they are in anyway connected to that organization.
I love Shinto, specially for it's relationship with and respect to Nature... Also it amazes me how Zen Buddhism and Shinto get along together and how Zen Buddhism can help explain Shinto and viceversa, I absolutely adore these two traditions ☺️⛩️❤️☸️
"Defining Religion is a very high stakes topic". That's why we leave it to RUclips comment! What could possibly go wrong? ;-)
I love this series and your other content, thanks for doing this!
We incorporate Shinto values with our kids, being thankful for everything is important. They're only 3 and 1 and they say thank you to things like the house for keeping them warm and their bath water for cleaning them.
In the English speaking West Shinto is likely to become a universalist tradition but in a transformed and hybrid form. I mean, in a form transformed from what we can see now in the shrines in Hawaii and continental America. Shinto is very likely to be syncretized with modern Paganism (some Pagan bloggers and scholars are already consedering the many similarities between the two religions). The ways of syncretization, we may surmise, will include the abandonment of shrine-centeredness which now characterizes most of Shinto, and the emergence of a more individual-centered practice (perhaps with magic taking a more prominent role than now).
I think it possible because the same is now happening to many Afro-Carribean traditions in America. They are taken out of their communal context, translated into the context of a globalized megapolis and marketed transnationally. The religious "grammar" of Paganism (expecially in its latest development - the fideist "devotional polytheism") suits perfectly well for accomplishing this amalgamation, which is likely to result in formation of new forms of religion worldwide.
Living in St Petersburg, Russia, I encountered a Wiccan coven which practised a mixed form of Shinto-ish rituals in the framework of a generic Modern Pagan/Wiccan rituals (with an eight-fold Wheel of the Year, circle casting, power raising and, of course, the absence of shrines besides one home kamidana). The Kami invoked in the rituals I attended included Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi, Idzanagi/Idzanami and two creator-gods, whose names I just don't remember. The rites were conducted in Russian, with fragments of translated Nikhongi and Kodziki materials included for invocations and as script for sacred drama Taking into account, that this was possible in a country with virtually no Japanese presence, but only due to the wordwide influence of Japanese culture, it is highly likely that suchlike phenomena can be met in America whith its ethnic Japanese citizens and in other countries of the Pacific Japanese diaspora, where Japanese tradition, language and way of life gives way to a more globalized and Anglicized setting.
Missed opportunity to call the video AMERI-KAMI. Lol
Here in São Paulo the majority of Japanese descendants converted to Catholicism in the mid twentieth century. Shrines are rare however there is still influence, for example, in these people's houses sometimes there is a kamidama with catholic saints since in Brazil religions tend to acquire a syncretic characteristic.
Here in my neighborhood there is a Shinto priestess works in her home and people from different ethnic/religious backgrounds search for her, very interesting.
Gotta get here early for the future world religion
This kind of thing is why I wish I could live forever. How cool would it be to witness the growth of a new world religion over centuries?
If you like the idea of possible future religions, are you familiar with Dune by Frank Herbert ?
Omoto and Konkokyo are two examples of Shinto being practiced outside Japan. Konkokyo especially, as there are several Konko churches in the US, mostly in major cities on the east coast and Hawaii. One doesn't have to be Japanese to practice Konkokyo, nor is the Konko religion restricted to purely Japanese cultural expression.
First of all, Many Kami are Indian gods/goddesses, because when Japanese embraced Buddhism, many Hindi deities were also introduced. In the animistic worldview, Supernatural beings, people, Animals, Plants, Natural phenomena, Man-made objects, and even fictitious things, are part of the universe more or less equally, and they all communicate with each other.
You are all confused, no kami is of hindu origin..... buddhist gods of hindu origin, these are called Devas and a minor category way behind the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas, in Japanese Devas are 天
( ten), they are just a minority inside the Buddhist pantheon, even because Budhdism isn't about gods, just 1 true Hindu god got popular in Japan and this is Benzaiten. Bishamonten on the other hand is just a disguised Chinese practice of defying past lives of military commanders with a pseudo-sanskrit root that was transmitted to Japan
Two videos in a month, I'm feeling spoiled.
Interesting take on Shinto, I've always thought about it as something so intrinsically tied to Japanese history and the land itself that I never even thought of its potential as a universal religion.
Thank you! When I started my research on this subject, I was really surprised and honestly a bit skeptical! But the more I learn, transnational online Shinto communities are a pretty compelling challenge to essentialist definitions of Shinto imo --Kaitlyn, RFB Shinto series researcher/co-writer
@@EatPrayAnime Hi Kaitlyn, I presume this was your doctoral thesis, if so could you let me know which university to contact to obtain a copy. Or have you published anything based on your research. I’m uncertain of how theses are stored outside of the UK.
But aside from that I just wanted to say, you did a great job of analyzing Shinto, and have helped bring interest in it to a much wider audience. I will of course be subscribing to your channel.
@Rai Iwa Thank you so much for your interest!
I am still conducting research for my PhD dissertation, but I have a few articles/book chapters coming out in a month or so that I'll make openly available on the internet once they're published. Since you subscribed to my channel (thank you!!), I'll drop you a comment when I've posted them. 😃 In the meantime, you might enjoy checking out the limited content on my research website www.digitalshinto.com
@@EatPrayAnime Thank you Kaitlyn, I really appreciate it.
Yes. Shinto is basically a belief in a place.
Many old Shinto believe that kami dwell in the unique nature of the area, such as mountains, forests, giant trees, and rocks. This is the basic idea of Shinto, and there are no Religious Doctrine. It's about how to deal to the Land-specific kami.
Shinto was used by nations twice, when the concept of Japan country was born and once during the world wars. This will distort the way it is and people's perceptions, and some people may not like Shinto. Also, some people find it hard to understand.
Even in modern times, basically everything rooted the land, nature, things, and people else can be enshrined as kami.
What is important is not a precept or a teaching, but how we behave, think, and deal with the place and its history.
That was good. As someone who lived in Hawaii for several years, and who has lived in Japan for much longer, I would liked to have seen a bit more about Shinto in Hawaii. But still, it was good.
You can't imagine how delighted I was to click on this video :)
I'm so glad, I was delighted to write it! 😊--Kaitlyn, RFB Shinto series researcher/co-writer
Cuz Shinto and anime come from Japan idk?
What? You have to have a licence to be a Shinto priest?
@@djcudworth2355 yes, there are many levels/ranks of credentials for Shinto priests! 😃 They spend several years taking training courses and whenever they want to rank up, they have to take an exam. But not all priests get their licenses through the Shrine Shinto seminaries/universities. Large shrines also have their own licensing/training programs. Its a lot of work! 😵
I go to Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America every year for Hatsumōde on New Years. ⛩ 😊 It’s a beautiful place on a river.
I think it depends who you ask, which seems like a cop-out answer, but this reminded me of Eastern Orthodoxy where it’s organized on national lines and certain practitioners in older generations or in the national homeland would consider foreigners converting nonsensical since this is “the Bulgarian church for Bulgarians” (or whatever national church). But clearly in practice and abroad there are many Orthodox Christians in modern societies who are not ethnically aligned with the autocephalous/national church they attend and believe.
Shinto means way of the gods, technically the pagans, wicca, Kahunas and tlamacazui also venerate kami except they are native to the Americas. Shinto is just the Japanese aesthetic. Nearly every society has had shamanistic gods. Shinto is just the Japanese name for it.
How are pagans native to America if they can be found around the world and venerate non American gods?
Thank you for your good explanation about Shinto. I'm pleased with you explained well that traditional Shinto and imperial Shinto are different things. Actually, not a few numbers of Kami in Shinto came from abroad with Buddism and adopted. Hence, there is no reason to limit the Shinto religion only to indigenous, in my view. Shinto is just a way of Kami. You can practice it no matter who you are and where you are. And anything you respect or love or fear can be Kami for you.
As an Aussie, the idea of universalising kami and shinto have got me thinking about how Japan (seemingly) nearly conquered our northern lands during WWII, land that just so happens to include lots of traditionally living aboriginal people, whose spirituality is highly animist. I could imagine an alternative history where the japanese invaders syncretise shinto and dreaming spirituality as a form of imperialism and to also legitimise local beliefs so as to help win over a population whose practices were long subjugated and suppressed by anglo-australia, and thereby cultivate loyalty. I could even imagine aboriginal people embracing and defending these practices as they'd give a highly visible institutional legitimacy to their once maligned and dismissed beliefs.
Regrettably, the Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America closed their doors at the end of June in 2023. Rev. and Mrs. Barrish moved to Florida where I'm to understand they set up a small independent shrine.
Shinto is definitely indigenous to Japan. Something can be transported elsewhere, but that doesn't stop it from being indigenous to where it originated from. You can see this with all manner of plants and animals that have an indigenous location yet can be transported or migrate elsewhere.
The following is a rather subjective statement. For the most part I am an atheist, although I have some spiritual tendencies. I tend to see some value in the veneration of nature. At least I see the value of nature itself, and thinking about it in a sense of being inhabited or intertwined with Kami. When I was in Japan in late 2019 , I happened to come across a small Shinto Shrine on a small cliff on the shore of lake Kawaguchiko with a magnificent view on Mount Fuji, and I decided there an then to say a small prayer for the flora and fauna of my home. Since there wasn’t water or smoke for purification I used water from a bottle, that I had on me. In this regard I think Shinto very well can be in part at least universal, since there is nature all over the world. I mean I am not to much in the matter, it’s more like a very broad and shallow interpretation of Shinto, a feeling or to put it more or less contemporary a vibe rather than a belief, but I think that in part Shinto has some great aspects that resonate with me, which make it universal to me and also make it possible to practice it in a somewhat atheistic yet spiritual(-light) way.
Amazing content by the way. I really enjoy this series and hope that you might find the time for some single videos on Shinto after you’ve finished the series.
I'm a convinced atheist, but i like to learn how thinking is molded, with culture and religion in simbiosis with society. You certainly make great education content with a lot of implication with it. More work like this is needed.
I'm very interested to see what would happen if Shinto got 'combined' with modern pagan movements, like Hellenism or Heathen. Honestly, from what I've heard, I feel like they would intersect very well.
As an European practitioner of Himalayan Vajrayana Buddhism, this is an interesting video to see. Also in the world of Himalayan Buddhism there are various interest groups and ways of thinking who either emphasize the universalism of Buddhism or people who want to keep the religion exclusive to Tibetan people. In principle Vajrayana is passed on from a teacher to student and is therefore not really ethnic in its core, but the religion is so tied to the Tibetan culture, that some might view it from the lens of ethnic exclusivity. (That said, even in the universalist camp, for a western born person to become a Buddhist Lama is a really challenging task. The lack of social support makes it hard practically and financially, and even if you would become a qualified Lama, it would be more difficult to be taken seriously by others.)
Now I want to build a Shinto Shrine...
This was beautiful and illuminating. Thank you.
I can definitely get behind the idea of Washington and Lincoln as kami, that's just awesome.
I was going to say that in many parts of asia, shinto shrines had left a bad taste because of being associated with the occupations during wwii, but you did bring that up too.
Great video! Could you make one on Mexicayotl (modern Aztec paganism)?
There's a similar universalist phenomena occurring in the modern reconstructionist Norse/Germanic polytheistic religion. The core similarities between the Shinto religion and the Forn Sedr ( old ways) of the Northern Tradition are amazing. I really look forward to seeing how this develops in our future! Thank you for this RUclips article.
Crazy how this channel's take on religion is completely different from what my university's religious studies was teaching. Modern western/protestant take on religion seems so alien(to us).
It will be a blessing. I hate organized religion. Promotion of any other religion is good for the world.
I think that, like Buddhism or Jediism, Shintoism is private and informal enough that you don't have the dogma and negativity of more established and traditional religions like Islam and Christianity while still getting that spiritual fulfillment and a way to connect with the greater universe. I would say that the answer to whether or not Shintoism is an indigenous tradition or universal is like the answer to whether or not Shintoism is a religion as Westerners view it. And that answer is: it's complicated.
Shintoism has definite roots in the Japanese people and has large cultural influences which make it uniquely indigenous to Japan. However, the ideology is easily adapted into the cultures of others, which makes it very universal.
I guess Obi-wan is right when he says that everything is true "from a certain point of view".
Liking and commenting to improve your luck in the RUclips algorithm. Thank you for your awesome and educational content. Much love
I mean, if they're practicing shinto rituals, hold shinto beliefs, have shinto shrines, and call themselves shinto, then they're obviously shinto? Maybe a new sect of shinto, but definitely shinto.
This made me laugh. I have had the exact same conversation about Wicca. What is or isn't Wicca? Who gets to say?
americans do the same thing all the time with christianity.
dont like how the other existing groups do their thing?
just form a new group then and make up your own rules.
complaining about people building shinto shrines around the world is just hypocricy when christians, jews and muslims build their places of worship wherever they please without regards how others feel about it.
By making a local religion into a universal religion, it becomes a different religion. Just like Judaism is a different religion from Christianity
If you're going to have an "international" religion where you worship ancestors, land spirits, and a pantheon of gods with ritualism, the question has to be asked why you're practicing Shinto and not your own native, pre-Abrahamic religion.
@Skeptical Organism The demonstrate how life originated. Don't speculate, but show us how you can first create the basic building blocks needed by the first life to begin. You need more than a warm pool of water. If you suggest it is stagnant, then you are presuming something that stagnates the water first. Please show all of this if science has all the answers.
@@tm23822 I think you're discounting that some may not make any diction. They might amalgamate any form of animist like faith in to their own.
And on top of that, there is also a question about what is your own native, pre-Abrahamic religion. If you are an American this can get very complex. You likely have a great mix of ethnic background and the location you live in often had their own religious faith before you and your ancestors settle there. So which should I pick? Even if, let's say is of Nordic stock living in say Sweden. Yeah, one might naturally think worshipping the Æsir would be the way to go. But there were religions old. And any modern Æsir is that to. A modern creation. Often build on text compiled by Christian monks. And it might not work well with you animist faith. You might be other aspects of the Æsir ether like their warlike aspects. So even for someone who might be living in an area once dominated by an old pre-Abrahamic religion it may not be a sure thing.
Shintoism has a lot of teachings that are appealing to some people. And so I can see why someone would like to pick up that faith. I also see how someone might make there on spin on it. And this is normal. Have to happen with every major religion. They take aspects of other cultures and religions in to them.
Now I do not follow any religion my self. But that does not mean I can not see the appeal of different religions. And well. I do not really think one should be forced to belong to a culture either. Culture for me is not in your genes. And the same goes with religion which I see as just another aspect of culture. Culture evolve and adapts.
@@chrisazure1624 You need a warm pool of water, an atmosphere containing lots of methane & ammonia, lightning & radiation & heat, some catalysts and lots of time.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenesis
@@sualtam9509 I suggest you watch Dr. James Tour on the "Origin of Life". He is an organic chemist who works with nano technology. He informs us that all the claims of how the origin of life came about are hogwash.
Ammonia and radiation is not your friends when you need to built the necessary amino acids to form the basic building blocks needed. Anything you try to make is destroyed before you can complete he next step.
All you are doing is repeating someone throwing up a bunch of ideas, but which have never been able to demonstrate in any successful manner in any type of environment in early earth.
Interesting! This series is so interesting.
So glad to hear you think so! I definitely love it ☺--Kaitlyn, RFB Shinto series researcher/co-writer
I'm amazed to see ReligionForBreakfast do a five-part series on Shinto! And also the video on Wicca. Would love to see one for modern Druidry as well.
I'm a follower of Shinto and have a kamidana shelf dedicated to Amaterasu omikami sama, uka mitama okami sama, ame no uzume no mikoto sama and Sarutahiko-no mikoto sama. I follow a few Shinto groups on Facebook. And actually follow the Kannagara Shinto shrine of Kissimmee Florida which is where Koichi Barrish Sensei is located at now that he turned the grand Tsubaki shrine of North America over to a Shinto Shrine of Victoria Canada to maintain. I will tell you that Shinto is a both indigenous and universal. It has been the desire for Shinto although a Japanese spiritual path to reach out to the world. Unfortunately it was done the wrong way especially in the late 19th century and 20th century especially during World War 2. The followers of Shinto in Japan that had advocated pacifism were suppressed especially in world war 2. It I believe it was always meant to reach out to the rest of the world to spread information about living in harmony with nature and with others something that religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam failed to do. Yes I support Koichi Barrish Sensei and others views that it is meant to be universal. However still rooted in Japanese mythology, folklore, and culture. Great video ❤
My grasp of Shinto is twofold: Shrine Shinto is an organized religion and there are many rules of what to do and not to do in common behavior and ritual, but according to Motohisa Yamakage the Way of Kami is maintained through stories and rituals passed down through families and communities making for an amorphous common identity of 'Shinto' but being really hard to pin down as to what it is or isn't. Yamakage also argues that blind observation of ritual without sincere Faith and Communion with Kami or Divine is an imitation of Shinto and not to the Spirit of Kami. He also believes Shinto can and should be adapted to other cultures and spiritualities as wished by an individual so long as it's done with sincerity. So to him, one can be Christian and Shinto and have no contradiction. I'm inclined to agree as I see Kami and Angels as compatible experience. Baptism and Misoji do after all have common ritual and purpose. If Shinto is viewed as a shamanic tradition that has become formalized, we can see that Shinto and virtually all indigenous spiritual traditions throughout the globe have a commonality. One could argue that the many Native American spiritual traditions are Shinto and similarly vice versa. And then we could get into esoteric healing methods such as Reiki and see that it carries Shinto practices and even spontaneously regains Shinto qualities lost through international transmission. Again thanks for the education 🙏☮️
Kami are simply powerful spirits, Hachiman and Tenjin who are some of the most popuar kami for all of Japan, were originally Emporer Ojin and scholar Sugawara-No-Michizane, all real people. Kami aren’t some small group of intangible all powerful gods like how western religions such as Christianity and Paganism view their deities.
Theres nothing absurd about Japanese-Americans doing the same to people as influential as George Washington Abe Lincoln and King Kamehameha in Hawaii.
Since Shinto is about performing rituals, I think anyone who performed a ritual at a shrine of his/her volition may be a Shinto "believer". I'm hoping to be able to go to Japan and visit a shrine.
This was very informative, I used to be heavily involved in Shinto religion as a child but I do not identify with the kamis and shrines as much anymore, but I still go to shrines regularly, but do not see it as a part of my Japanese identity.
This is incredibly interesting and relevant to me. I've been wanting to create my own terrible light novel and part of it would need shinto in the us.
What I primarily understood about Shinto is that you can worship kami characterized by a particular local landmark and those certainly are universal. It sounds like it's in an in between state between indigenous Japanese and universal, but could easily make the jump to something more universal.
I love shinto and ninpo so much!!! Changed my life
This reminds me of saint Bridgette being an adaptation of an old goddess or how the Romans imported and equated gods.
The Irish/Roma St Bridget/Brigid/Kali is not the only Christian adoption. The Virgin Mary owes a lot to Diana/Artemis, the "Mother of Gods." Flying under the radar, or over the roof, is Ma'at, the Egyptian goddess of justice, who was placed in the Roman pantheon as Justicia by Augustus and still presides over Western courts as the blindfolded Lady Justice.
Defining Shinto within the context of an indigenous tradition with universal appeal seems to be both most accurate and most favourable.
My daughter inlaw practices this,she has a morning ritual. I dont know if my japanese canadian grandchildren will be shinto. They are learning japanese language. I find your channel very interesting, thanks
I'd argue that Shinto isn't a religion at all. Shinto is about respect for, well, basically almost everything but with the focus on what you do, not what you believe. Also the fact that its priests can practice other religions suggest that Shinto is not a religion but rather a cultural system of beliefs (which is not the same as a religion imo)
I mean there rly isn't a definition of religion.
Like for example having this whole system of constitution, government, police ect can be called a secular religion
I'm honestly not surprised. With how much japanese culture has been introduced to the western world, I could easily see shinto spreading across the seas and taking root. Whether or not it will be widespread is another thing, however.
Rather than trying to syncretize shinto traditions with global spirits, would there be a way to include a group of indigenous religious and spirituality that come together as a polytheistic beleifs including spirits and deities from different localities included in one 'religion'?
Imagine In Shin Megami Tensei:
I summon **ABRAHAM LINCOLN** and **GEORGE WASHINGTON**
As you said, the majority of the Japanese population do not identify with religion even if they do visit shrines or temples on a regular basis.
Shintoism is a set of beliefs rather than practices. Can these beliefs exist beyond Japan's borders? There are no boundaries to the mind. People believe what they choose to believe wherever they are in the world and no man or institution can demand what others believe (though they sure try).
Why do people have spiritual beliefs? There are countless reasons but perhaps the most important is that we find comfort in our spiritual beliefs no matter what these are our where we are in the world.
Question: this means that a Winchester riffle with 100 years in a museum could become a tsukumogami?
Many faiths share beliefs with Shintoism, whether they realize it or not. Shintoism is extremely adaptable, hence why it meshed with Buddhism. It also highly resembles the animism and shamanism of world cultures.
And I thought Jinja Honcho had David Chart (an Englishman who practices Shinto) writing their stuff for them. Am I right or not?
Now I'm wondering if there's a comparison that could be made between Shinto and Judaism in this respect?
The progression and evolution of the social dynamics and worldview of Shinto is fascinating. I wonder if it will give us insights into the psychological, social, and political evolution of polytheism and various cults (in the academic sense, not the NRM sense) in human history.
While watching this video, I did some googling and found out that there is only one Shinto shrine in Europe, in the tiny republic of San Marino. It is also a largely symbolic site established mostly for diplomatic purposes. Why would that be the case? May it be because of the role of old-world Christian confessions in shaping European societies? Or possibly because of the appeal of pagan revivalism for those groups looking for a "local" polytheistic alternative?
There is also a Yamakage Shinto Shrine run by Rev. Paul de Leeuw in Amsterdam! And I've heard there is one in France but I do not think it is operative at the moment. There is a sizable community of Shinto practitioners in the UK, but no shrines yet. But yes, the San Marino case is very interesting and you're absolutely correct, diplomatic relations is a major force behind its creation. My colleague spoke with the San Marino ambassador to Japan and he is a big fan of Shinto. I have some literature about the shrine from the ambassador, but I haven't read through it yet. Thanks for reminding me to make it a priority! --Kaitlyn, RFB Shinto series researcher/co-writer
@@EatPrayAnime thank you very much! The website there mentions that it's the only European shrine approved by the Shinto association. I'm not sure how true is that claim, in light of your comment, but if so it would certainly make the situation evenmore layered!
@@niccolofattori4393 Ahhh yes I see, that's technically true, San Marino is the only shrine in Europe that is officially approved by the Jinja Honcho, an umbrella association for many, but definitely not all, shrine Shinto (Jinja Shinto) shrines in Japan. The Yamakage school is not a member of Jinja Honcho, so according to Jinja Honcho, the branch in Amsterdam is not "official" by their standards.
I think it can....since it was manufactured in Japan.....at a time (circa 1868) when Japan needed to show the West it had a comparable religion.
The Japanese have always taken foreign things and made them their own. Recently, they reversed the process to some extent with anime, etc. Now perhaps it's happening with their religion.
in east asia abrahamic religion is look down because too violent.
I can see it spreading though I don't think it'll be a major religion. All religions begin as a some sort of folk religion associated with a specific area before spreading out. Even religions with a much closer guarded identity like Judaism can become very diverse. It's similar to how Hinduism is beginning to find a flock with westerners and that has caused some people with their hearts in the right place to get a little anxious due to Hinduism being so closely associated with South Asia. But of course, who's to say someone's not allowed to practice if their faith is true? The Japanese are increasingly less and less religious so Shinto's adoption by a wider ethnic pool might inevitably be the only way for Shinto practices and traditions to survive in the future.
It’s a good day when religion for breakfast posts a video
Interesting.
To my thought, non-Abrahamic religions are things smoothly-flowing to each other, like, we may found a god in Japan than might originally be Heracles went from India, and we see further connections of Greek religions to the west, we may say Shinto has indirect ties to Celtic and Germanic myths... So we may speak of some "common pagan field" rather than separate religions.
But, of course, each culture has own specific traditions, specific gods and rituals, specific organizations, specific texts, specific rules and taboos, specific everything, and moreover, Shinto has a developed theology, philosophy, and it has already seen a world that has a concept of "specific religion", with most of people living in these specific religions, and therefore perhaps Shinto may treat itself according to these concepts, so of course at the same time we may see Shinto as that "specific religion", that may be taught to others and seen as something different than, e.g., Siberian shamanism.
On the third thought, if there will be some pagan Renessaince (and I think it's actually likely, there are already tendencies), we may get that "common pagan field" again. But it will take a long time. For now, it will be seen as some "new religions with no traditional roots" even if they use names of old gods and copy some rituals from books, unlike Shinto which has deep continuous ancient traditions with even holy scripture dating back to 8th century. But, time flows, 300, 500 years will pass, at some point that new paganism may be seen as if it "always was there", slowly gaining respect from Shinto. 1000 years, and perhaps it will be felt that there was just a brief interruption into Christianity and Islam (I don't mean they will gone, I mean they will coexist with paganism).
This was fascinating!
ogasawara shozo seems like a cool dude.
I wish I had more time in the world. There'd be so much I'd like to research, religion being one of them. Although I sometimes disagree with your takes, especially on neopagan faiths, I appreciate your work. Also, for the question: I think that Shinto is now, since the 19th century both an indigenous and a universal religion.
I love that you pronounced Kamehameha like Goku... I also am flabbergasted that the shrine here venerates washington and lincoln,lol..
I like it. It seems like a tradition that fits anyone's ancestors or persons from the past. Idk how G Washington would feel about it but but i bet he could be convinced if phrased to him right.
While I certainly have not invested the amount of research into Shinto and religion in general as have you, I am under the impression that Shinto is for Japanese people; in Kyoto, for example, it seemed that, while we could look at the shrines they were not for us, even if we did approach them with respect. I realize that even this attitude varies among native Shinto practitioners, however.
i think the only truly valid answer to this is that reality is wayyyyyyyy more nuanced than we give credit for, and our simple linguistic terms cannot accurately describe an amorphous concept such as an idea spreading or being shared
Bold of you to use the Greenough statue of Washington at 8:17.
I didn’t see this in the comments, the king of Hawaii is pronounced Ka-MAY-ha-MAY-ha. Good episode! Surprised there aren’t more Shinto shrines on the US west coast.
It's not. He pronounced it correctly. I can't find a single source that says it's that way, not even the people on the Hawaii subreddit, the only source that pronounces it like that is the english dub of Dragon Ball.
When I was in Japan, I observed people bowing when they were going through Shinto gates. At some point I started doing the same because I wasn't sure if it would be wrong to not. It grew in me, later friend showed me how to pray and all and I really liked it. I don't believe in gods, spirits or even luck but the whole idea have very distressful atmosphere and that would explain why Japanese, even so don't believe in it either, like to take part in all practices. It definitely could be a global religion. The casual, distressful and non-committal atmosphere it provides really fits the modern world. Heck, I probably would take a part sometimes if I had one close to me 😅
I believe Paul de Leeuw from Amsterdam was the first non-Japanese Shinto priest (1981).
Yes, much respect to Rev. Barrish, but he's the first non-Japanese Shinto priest. First non-Japanese mainland American, perhaps. There may even have been previous to Rev. de Leeuw, but there aren't a ton of records and the fact that shrines in the US were confiscated during WW2 makes it even harder to track down. --Kaitlyn, RFB Shinto series researcher/co-writer