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Shinto is the native religion of Japan. Most Japanese are both Shinto and Buddhist but the two religions cover different aspects so they don't conflict.
Shintoists believe that everything starts out clean and pure and becomes contaminated by negative thoughts (greed, malice, loneliness, etc.) and by unclean substances. Shinto rituals are designed to restore harmony and the original clean state. They also believe that everything has a divine spark or spirit called a Kami. Although Kami is translated as God, it's not God in the Western sense of an all powerful supreme being that detests all others.
Shintoists look upon other religion's Gods as just another Kami so there is no restriction about joining another religion.
Shinto has to do with living your life in harmony with nature and society. There is no emphasis placed on the afterlife (which is left to Buddhism, Christianity, etc.). Shinto has no commandments, no founder, and although there are Shinto texts, they're not central to the religion. Shinto only acquired a name after the introduction of Chinese religions like Buddhism, Taoism, etc. in the 7Th century, before then it was just the way you lived and the clan Kami that you worshiped.
Shinto is a rather free-form religion. Shinto shrines are loosely organized by the Jinja Honch? but not all shrines belong to it (including some large ones) and even for the ones that do, they are not controlled by it. There are a variety of rituals which may be practiced by only one shrine or may be common to many. There are also private shrines and religious specialists that may or may not belong to a particular shrine.
For some additional information here are a few sites:
1. A Shinto University:
http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/
2. An important shrine:
http://www.isejingu.or.jp/shosai/english/index.htm
3. A Shinto shrine in the US:
http://www.tsubakishrine.org/history/index.html
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Does anyone know what Shinto is?
