Shintō

"The way of the kami" — reverence for the spirits alive in nature and place.

c. 300 BCE → (codified later) · Japan · East Asian

Shintō is the indigenous tradition of Japan, centered on the kami — sacred powers present in mountains, rivers, ancestors, and remarkable things — approached through shrines, offerings, and purification. Never founded by any one figure, it long coexisted and fused with Buddhism (shinbutsu-shūgō), and its festivals and reverence for purity and place remain woven through Japanese life.

Key figures

• The kami (spirits/gods)
• Amaterasu, the sun goddess

Texts

• Kojiki
• Nihon Shoki

Beliefs

• Kami dwell in nature and ancestors
• Purity and renewal
• Reverence for the living land

Rituals

• Shrine visits and offerings
• Purification (misogi)
• Seasonal festivals (matsuri)

Grew from

• Animism & Shamanism
• Buddhism

Connections in the atlas

• Motoori Norinaga
• The Engishiki
• Izumo Taisha
• Zashiki-warashi
• Ryūgū no tsukai, messenger of the sea god's palace
• Torii gate
• Ise Jingu, Uji Bridge torii: winter solstice sunrise
• Inari
• The animal bride or groom
• Hachiōji Castle ruins
• Kumano Kodō
• Parallel texts: The descent to the underworld