dint take this the wrong way people I'm not trying to be racist.just in case.
Shintoism is a religion where many of its followers are Ethnic Japanese.I'm curious are there people that follow Shintoism but their Ethnicity is different.are there
Shinto rituals are mostly performed for major life events such as births, weddings, entry into a new school, starting a new business, etc. Even the people who take part in these rituals do not really consider themselves to be "followers" of Shinto. Certainly their life does not revolve around Shinto the same way that a Christian's does for Christianity or a Muslim's does for Islam. Shinto is more a system of rituals, superstitions and customs than an organized religion. If anything, most Japanese people would call themselves Buddhist even though they occasionally perform Shinto customs as well. In fact, most young Japanese people don't even know the word "Shinto" in Japanese, as it has fallen out of use due to its association with the "Imperial Shinto" movement that led up to Japan's colonial period and WWII.
The only people who truly would be called "Shintoists" are those priests who work at the shrines, and even then, many of them see it more as a job than a religion. Are there any non-Japanese Shinto priests? There probably are a very small number. As for followers of Shinto, well, there are many degrees of involvement and certainly there are some non-Japanese who have participated in various Shinto rituals. But just like Japanese people, very few, if any foreigners at all, would consider themselves to be "dedicated Shintoists."
I'm sure there are some who call themselves that, but IMHO I don't think you can be Shinto without understanding the culture from whence it came - and that would be difficult for non-Japanese..
There certainly are some, just as there are some Japanese that practice Christianity or Islam.
I think that some elements of Shintoism state that Japanese are gods over other races though; that might be a bit of a problem. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all anti-Black religions though to be honest, and sadly, many Blacks are caught up int hat nonsense.
Shinto itself was established In ancient Japan naively as primitive religion like worshiping Heaven, Sun and all creation. There is no conception about ethnicity because in those days, there were only natives and barbarians.
The religion has been continued in Japan as closed circuit etc because it doesn't need any mission to outside of territory as same as many Pacific islander's own primitive religions.
Only exception was happened during WW?under its Imperialism and expansionism influenced by Western developed countries. It was failed to try to force Asian neighbors to believe Shinto those days.
Shinto won't decline any non-Japanese who want to believe it independently and/or voluntarily. I don't know if foreigners can really understand Shinto or not though.It could be possible that non-Japanese becomes Shintos.
Yes, there are. There's an entire Shinto shrine in the USA (I believe the name is Tsubaki Grand Shrine) and from the pictures I've seen on their website they have quite a few non-Japanese members. I'm sure there are more than just them too, and more in places besides the USA and Japan.
Shinto is the sophisticated animism that worships nature and ancestor. (Originally it had no relationship with militarism and imperialism, until Meiji Restoration 19Th century.)
The Tsubaki grand shrine of America, near Seattle WA, is the branch of Tsubaki Okamiyashiro in Suzuka Japan.
The priests are white men, U.S. citizens.
http://www.tsubakishrine.com/home.html
Most definitely, especially in the United States, though there are also Shinto shrines in Europe and Korea. As a religion, Shinto is an animist tradition that focuses on the sacred spirit that exists in all life and earthly features, and on mankind's place in the world. While there is no separating Shinto from Japanese culture, there are Shinto practitioners who are of other ethnic groups and races. Since the Jami (Divine spirits) may be found anywhere, most Japanese would not find it strange to find them respected elsewhere in the world.
There are a number of Shinto shrines that have been established in areas with large Japanese populations, like California, New York and Hawaii, and while they originally were meant for Japanese immigrants, but they have attracted a number of westerners, Some began to approach Shinto out of a general interest in Japanese culture, but as they learned about the religion, it's practices and beliefs, Shinto has gained a number of Western converts.
One very famous Shinto shrine in Washington State is the Tsubaki Grand Shrine near Seattle. It was the first Shinto shrine established in the US is associated with the Tsubaki Grand Shrine in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture in Japan. The Reverend Koichi Barrish of the Seattle Shrine is the first Westerner to be ordained as a Shinto priest.
are there Shintos who are Not Japanese?
