SHINTOISM

FUN FACTS

• Shinto means the way of the gods It started at least at about 1000 B.C.E. but is still practiced today by about five million people. The followers of Shintoism believe that spiritual powers exist in the natural world. They believe that "spirits" called kami live in natural places such as in animals, plants, stones, mountains, rivers, people and even the dead. This archway is believed to separate the sacred world of the shrine from the world outside.

WHERE, WHEN, WHO

• During its early period, the body of religious belief and practice called Shinto was without a name and had no fixed dogma, moral precepts, or sacred writings. Worship centered on a vast pantheon of spirits or kami such as the sky, the earth, heavenly bodies, and storms. In the late 6th century AD the name Shinto was created for the native religion in Japan to distinguish it from Buddhism and Confucianism, which had been introduced from China. It is not formally known who started this religion.