12/19/2023 0 Comments Become a kami japanese world warKami are the key to connecting with family ancestors, since every worthy deceased person ascends into kami form - so Shinto has become the religion of the home, less a formal system of worship than a series of rituals almost unthinkingly woven through your day that keep ill fortune at bay, pay homage to your ancestry, and court divine favour for long-lasting happiness in life. Part of Shinto’s enduring popularity is its role in connecting the present with the past. (It’s not a protected work - you can even buy a copy on Kindle these days - but it is regarded as inscrutable as a source of guidance, especially regarding kami, unless it’s your job to translate it so.) Ī woman bowing in prayer at Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, Japan It’s his job to interpret the Kojiki for you, an ancient text filled with myths and legends about the origins of Japan and the creation of its vast number of kami. If you want to know which kami’s favour you want to court, you need to go to your local kannushi or Shinto priest. Even the most peace-loving kami is capable of raining havoc on your life if you disrespect it. It’s important to keep on their good side. Kami exist in sacred spaces (always Japanese spaces - there is no version of Shinto practiced abroad), and they’re separate but connected to the mortal world. Instead, it’s about kami - sometimes translated as “gods” but more correctly defined as elemental spirits related to particular aspects of life, with loose parallels to the ways the Ancient Greek gods were related to specific human traits or phenomenon in the natural world. There is no equivalent of Jesus or Muhammad in Shinto. The first big difference between religions elsewhere is the lack of figureheads. It’s a religion that’s become a bridge between the past and the present, and between the natural and man-made landscapes - and it’s so completely integrated into normal life that while around 80% of the Japanese population perform Shinto rituals every day, less than 40% describe themselves as religiously inclined. Yes, it’s the country’s heritage on display in devotional form, but it’s also being used, in a way you rarely see elsewhere in the world. Despite what you might first think by drawing analogies from churches and temples elsewhere in the world, Shinto is as much a part of modern Japanese culture as those high-rise towers and flashing billboards in downtown Tokyo.
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