History of Shinto

Shinto is a religion native to Japan with a centuries'-long history tied to various influences in origin.

Although historians debate the point at which it is suitable to begin referring to Shinto as a distinct religion, kami veneration has been traced back to Japan's Yayoi period (300 BCE to CE 300). Buddhism entered Japan at the end of the Kofun period (CE 300 to 538) and spread rapidly. Religious syncretization made kami worship and Buddhism functionally inseparable, a process called shinbutsu-shūgō. The kami came to be viewed as part of Buddhist cosmology and were increasingly depicted anthropomorphically. The earliest written tradition regarding kami worship was recorded in the 8th-century Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. In ensuing centuries, shinbutsu-shūgō was adopted by Japan's Imperial household. During the Meiji era (1868 to 1912), Japan's nationalist leadership expelled Buddhist influence from kami worship and formed State Shinto, which some historians regard as the origin of Shinto as a distinct religion. Shrines came under growing government influence and citizens were encouraged to worship the emperor as a kami. With the formation of the Japanese Empire in the early 20th century, Shinto was exported to other areas of East Asia. Following Japan's defeat in World War II, Shinto was formally separated from the state.

Even among experts, there is no definitive agreement on what Shinto is, what it encompasses, or even where the history of Shinto begins. Shinto scholar Shōji Okada argues the bedrock of Shinto was laid between the Yayoi period and the Kofun period but also lays out four possible points in history when organized Shinto came into being as a religion. These are as follows (with the primary scholar supporting that theory in parentheses):

  1. In the 7th century with the formation of Ritsuryō system (Shōji Okada)
  2. In the 8th and 9th centuries when the Imperial court developed an awareness of Shinto (Masao Takatori)
  3. In the 11th and 12th centuries when an awareness of Shinto spread throughout the various regions of Japan (Hiroshi Inoue)
  4. In the 15th century with the emergence of Yoshida Shinto (Toshio Kuroda)
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