Following are notes of a lecture given by Lisa at the PSA meeting of 12 October 1999. The lecture was a brief overview of Shinto. Lisa emphasized that it was based on her amateur research and might not be 100% accurate. Also it must be pointed out that these notes are incomplete, in fact very fragmentary. This attendee could not write fast enough to get it all. No attempt was made to get the Japanese names in the notes at all. If anyone out there can supply anything that's missing, or correct any errors, please e-mail me at swh@mail.utexas.edu or mail Lance, the PSA Web Shaman (address at the bottom).

Material in square brackets does not represent the original lecture. It comprises comments, interpretations or other additions by the writer, or points I'm unsure of (that is, unsure of the meaning of the notes, or of what was said in the lecture).

Creation Story and Myths
The Shinto creation story is somewhat as follows. Originally there was chaos. Then a god and a goddess gave birth to all that there would be, including many deities and all of nature. The two most important offspring were the Moon goddess, who ruled the underworld, and her brother, a loud, rude god and a heavy drinker. Once he scared her away; she retreated to a cave. The people were distressed by this. They held parties to lure her out, and put up a horizontal bar on two posts and had birds sing on it. This is the origin of the construction commonly seen as a symbol of Shinto, illustrated at the right. But none of these means was effective. Finally they put a giant mirror at the mouth of the cave and that induced her to come out.

The brother was ejected from heaven. When the people were being menaced by an eight-headed virgin-eating dragon, he was the only one who could kill it. He got it drunk on sake and cut off all of its heads. He found a sword inside. The sun and moon gods still don't get along; thus we have day and night.

[... Several more stories were told or referred to here. These stories of gods and goddesses recount events after the ones described above but before historical times. ] The Japanese people themselves were descended from one of the later gods.

Beliefs and Practices in General
One aspect of Shinto is pantheism, or a belief that there is divinity in everything. Humans can become godlike too. There are three parts of the world: the plane of Heaven; that of Earth, including people and nature; and the underworld. The underworld is a land of darkness, demons, sickness, famine, war, etc..

Followers of Shinto believe that everything is intrinsically or originally good, but that everyone is tempted by bad spirits. People's activities or spititual paths can include purification and serving good spirits.

Death is not thought to be final. Rather, the dead can persist on Earth and visit humans. [...something about animism here. how does this differ from pantheism?] The ancestors can help and protect people.

Many [most? all?] Shinto people keep a shrine in the home with pictures of ancestors. The literal translation of the word[s] for it is "god-shelf". They place salt, rice and sake there as sacrifices, [these being considered sacred or pure substances, or staples of life,] then eat the offerings at the end of the day. Then they pray, then bow at the home shrine.

On special occasions people go to a public shrine where there are full-time priests. They may go on special days or to seek a blessing for a child or for an upcoming activity or life event. Also people go to the larger shrine periodically for ritual purification. This is done with water or with a wand.

There are festivals too. At [one? or some?] of the festivals, a big shrine structure is carried around and people look on as it goes by or follow. Touching it [has some significance - forbidden? or good luck?].

Comparisons with other Religions and Cultures; Foreign Influences; Ethical Values; Etc.
In the story of creation out of chaos, the practice of carrying a ritual contained on the shoulders of special participants, and in other aspects, there is some resemblance between this traditional Japanese religion and that of the ancient Hebrews. [However, there are basic differences ...]

Shinto approves of a person who has an honest, sincere and faithful heart. It conceives good and evil as relative to the times. Criteria of good and bad are based on how far a person's conduct benefits the community, and how far it benefits only himself. Shinto approves of any spiritual path that involves good conduct. Consequently it is tolerant of other faiths. There have been no religious wars in Japanese history.

Now Shinto has become much integrated with Buddhism. Many Japanese people are both Shinto and Buddhist. Buddhism introduced the idea of reincarnation; now the Buddhist-influenced version of Shinto incorporates that belief, while the "pure" or traditional version omits it.

Two doves are the Japanese symbol of war, because of a story. A general's army was defeated and he ran and hid in a hollow tree as the victors came to kill off the survivors. They arrived at the tree and were about to discover him there; but then two doves flew out and the hunters concluded that it was only birds in the tree and not a person, and the general escaped.

[Responding to audience members, Lisa returned to the subject of death.] Shinto has many explanations of death; it is vague on the subject. But basically: the spirit world parallels the physical world. Worship of ancestors may enable them to cross over; gods can cross over at will.

Shinto by Sokyo Ono is a good general book on Shinto in English.

As to the general creation story, it goes that out of chaos arose a succession of aspects or entites which gave rise to or evolved into more advanced states of being, until this primordial presence gave rise to the Mother Goddess and the Father God.  Their three most important children were the Sun goddess (the ruler of the pantheon), and the other two deities that you  mentioned.  It is the Sun goddess that is frightened by her brother's rude behavior, and in addition to the mirror, what gets the Sun goddess' attention is the other gods' reaction to a goddess who puts on a show in the form of a rather provocative dance. The Sun goddess goes to the mouth of the gave, asks what is going on, and she is told they have found a better Sun goddess.  She asks to see this goddess, and they direct her gaze to the mirror.  She steps out of the cave to have a better look at this "other goddess", and the gods seal up the cave behind her. Not much is known about why the Sun and Moon deities don't get along; I personally attribute it to sibling rivalry, but that is why there is the sun in the day and the moon at night.  They are said to sit back to back. 

Moving on to practices and beliefs, yes, most people keep a Kami-dana (God-shelf) in their homes, and the three sacred offerings are considered pure.  Other things like talismans from a shrine, representations of achievement, pictures of ancestors, etc. can also be put on the shelf.  At most all matsuri (festivals), the Ohmikoshi (portable shrine) is carried. To touch the Ohmikoshi is forbidden except to the priests (hence the poles on which it's carried) because the god is believed to reside in the shrine for the duration of the festival. 

This is really all I saw that I felt needed to be clarified.  Hope it helps. 

Sincerely, 

Lisa Tomecek