Foundational Aspects of Shinto

Foundational Aspects of Shinto Name of the Student Institutional Affiliation Course Code and Course Name Professor Date of Submission Foundational Aspects of Shinto Q1. Two of the major ethical beliefs in Shintoism are happiness with the natural world, and purity and cleanliness in rites. Shinto also encourages the preservation of the natural environment and respect for the physical world. Shintoism devotees accept nature as divine and replete with Kami or divine power or presence. The aim is to be a part of nature and exist in harmony with the functioning and the rhythm established by the earth. Shinto also cherishes cleanliness both in body and spirit and motions, ceremonies and service are an important factor (Taher, n.d). It is well understood that followers have to be clean both in mind and body and have to perform many purification rites such as hand washing and foot washing etc. at frequent intervals to get rid of the ‘impure self’. This principle is built on principles that purity is key to harmonious relations with the Spirits called the kami. Q2. Shinto as a religion does not have a person who can be regarded as its founder. It is not just the tendency but the actual characteristic of Shinto, which is an animistic pre-suppressive faith of Japan that has not been formed intentionally but has grown naturally with time. The origins of Shinto are lost in the prehistoric period of Japanese history to which it is impossible to assign any date, it was a religion that existed before the advent of Buddhism and other foreign religions in Japan. Shinto as a religion emerged from the Japanese p...