Shinto is a minor religion

Meaning of name: the way of the gods

Date founded: around 300BC

Place founded: Japan

Founder: None, not known (key group Yamato Clan 500BC)

Adherents: About 88 million in Japan

Main locations: Japan

Major divisions: 3 major, independent religious groups

Sacred texts: Kojiki (712 CE) and Nihon Shoki (720 CE)

Original language: Japanese

Spiritual leader: shinshoku or more commonly as kannushi, which translates to "divine master

Place of ritual: Temples, altars, and shrines (home and public)

Theism: Varies: Polytheistic (many gods)

Ultimate reality: Sacred natural world, spirit with god-nature

Human nature: Man is good. Man is like a child.

Purpose of life: Ritual Purity

Afterlife: Rebirth always comes back to earth in a new body

How to live: Ritual duty, to reduce karma. Karma is not cause and effect; it is always your fault. If someone ran a red light and hit you, it is because you did something to deserve it.

Holidays: New Year, spring, harvest time, Childern day.

Creation: (gods act like Greek gods), a god stirs water on earth to make dry land (Japan)

Jesus: Just a foreigner.

Salvation: Prayer, worship, and connect with the gods. Ansector honoring.

Some also take part in Buddhism

Shinto is the native national religious tradition of Japan. Shinto is polytheistic. Unlike some religions, Shinto has no historical founder; its roots lie deep in the ancient religious practices of the Japanese people. Nor does Shinto have any canon of sacred scriptures, although important elements of its mythology and cosmology may be found in ancient Japanese chronicles (the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki), and ritual prayers called norito were compiled into written collections at an early date.

The name Shinto is actually the Sino-Japanese reading for the more purely Japanese kami no michi, which means the "way of the kami." The kami are many Japanese deities (such as the sun-goddess Amaterasu, from whom the imperial family is said to descend); the divinized souls of great persons (warriors, leaders, poets, scholars); the ancestral divinities of clans (uji); the spirits of specific places, often of natural beauty (woods, trees, mountains); or, more abstractly, the forces of nature (fertility, growth, production).

Japan and its people are thought to be the first of creation, made by several gods. Nippon-Japan means “Sun Origin”.

The gods-spirits are generally worshipped at shrines (jinja), in which the gods are said to reside. Worshipers washing their hands and mouths, make an offering, and utter a silent prayer.

With the establishment of Buddhism in Japan, Shinto quickly came under its influence as well as that of Confucianism. With this came ancestor spirit worship and filial piety.

Nippon-Japan means “Sun Origin”. Ritual Focus: The goal of many followers is to express gratitude to kami, connect with ancestors, and refresh their spirits through established rituals. Shinto is more about a way of life, traditional practices, and a connection to Japanese heritage. Non-Exclusive Nature: Many followers participate in Buddhist practices as well. Shinto has approximately 88 million followers, primarily in Japan.

Confucianism

The philosophical system founded on the teaching of Confucius (551-479 BC), dominated Chinese sociopolitical life for most of Chinese history. The Confucian school functioned as a recruiting ground for government positions (little is written about god). Out of wartime, it became the peasants' way of peace, “let's get along”. It trained its adherents in benevolence, traditional rituals, filial piety, loyalty, respect for superiors, and for the aged. Confucianism combines a political theory and a theory of human nature. Through the Golden rule, wisdom, virtue, the world can be at peace, and the harmony between the natural and the social sphere results in material well-being for everyone. This is Confucius' utopian vision. Confucianism emerged as a more coherent philosophy in 400-c.200 BC. Confucianism rose to the position of an official orthodoxy for a time in China during 206 BC-AD 220. It absorbed the metaphysical doctrines later with it ancestor spirit worship (and fear). Confucius was later deified by his followers across generations.