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Literally meaning "the way of the gods", Shinto is the native religion of Japan. It is a form of animism which stresses the importance of harmony between humans and nature. It involves the worship of Jami, which could be translated to mean gods, nature spirits, or just spiritual presences. Unlike many religions, one does not need to publicly profess belief in Shinto to be a Shintoist. Unlike most Western religions there are no ?good? Jami and bad ?Jami?. There are rough, fierce, and violent Jami but they are not intrinsically bad. Just as there are gentle, kind, sweet Jami; that does not make them intrinsically good. Every Jami has a ?rough? side (Ara-mi-tama) and a ?gentle; side (Niki-mi-tama), but you will not find a foil to God and Satan in them. Because of this there is no concept of the wrath of God or the separation of God from humanity by sin. The Kami are worshiped in various shrines but no statues are found in the shrines for it is believed that the Kami resides in the shrine itself so there is no need to have a representative of the deity. The general concepts concerning the afterlife are the belief that a person becomes a spirit-deity, and eventually becomes a part of a collective ancestral spirit. Even though an afterlife isn't heavily emphasized, a Hades-like realm, called Yomi, is briefly mentioned in the Nihongi and Kojiki within the creation story involving Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto.
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Do shinto people believe in heaven?
