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Shinto (Kanji: A Shint?) (sometimes called Shintoism) is a native religion of Japan and was once its state religion. It is a form of animism. It involves the worship of Jami, which can be translated to mean "sacred spirits which take the form of things and concepts important to life, such as wind, rain, mountains, trees, rivers and fertility". Some Jami are local and can be regarded as the spirit or genius of a particular place, but others represent major natural objects and processes, for example, Amaterasu, the Sun goddess. The word Shinto was created by combining two ganja: "?" shin, meaning gods or spirits (the character can also be read as "Jami" in Japanese), and "?" t? meaning "way" or "path" in a philosophical sense (the same character is used for the Chinese word Tao). As such, Shinto is commonly translated as "the Way of the Gods".
After World War II, Shinto lost its status of state religion; some Shinto practices and teachings, once given a great deal of prominence during the war, are no longer taught nor practiced today, and others remain largely as everyday activities, like OmskFJoi form of drawing lots) and Japanese New Year, that few identify with religious connotations.
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what exactly is Shinto?
