Shinto permeates the religious landscape of Japan and is a major key to the understanding of Japanese culture and society. But what is it?
If ideological shortcuts are avoided there is no simple answer. Yet this book will guide students and general readers through many aspects of Shinto both today and in its history. It contains much information about sacred Shinto shrines and the divinities (the kami) which are the focus of devotion there. These numerous divinities have been viewed in different ways in the course of time, and contributions by specialists shed much light on the role played by Buddhism in this regard. Moreover, several fascinating religious movements or “sects” which share in the wider pattern of Shinto are also introduced and discussed. Oversimplified views may be challenged here, but the result is a volume in which “Shinto” is explored in a wide and illuminating perspective by an international team of scholars. It provides a refreshing and much-needed resource for all who are interested in the subject.
目次
1 Concepts and Viewpoints 1. What is Shinto? 3 2. Essentialism in Early Shinto Studies 34 3. On Writing the History of Shinto 57 2 Exploring Borderlands of Shinto 4. Medieval Tendai Buddhist Views of Kami 79 5. Conceptions of Kami in the Writings of Tendai Monk Jien 104 6. Buddhist-Shinto Syncretization at the Medieval Suwa Shrine 121 7. Underground Buddhism at the Ise Shrines 136 8. Shinto Spaces and Shinbutsu Interaction in the Noh 151 9. Buddhist-style Pilgrimage with Shinto Meanings 173 10. Why does Shin Buddhism Reject the Worship of the Kami? 186 11. Multiple Divinities in Shin Buddhist Temples 199 12. Responsive Reflections on Buddhism and Shinto 218 3 The Puzzle and Fascination of Sect Shinto 13. Sect Shinto and the Case of Ooyashirokyo 231 14. Meiji Government Policy, Sect Shinto and Fusokyo 250 15. Introducing the Faith of Shinshukyo 260 16. Tenrikyo and Omotokyo in the Context of Kyoha Shinto 268
