Shintos

Shintos, or Shintoists, are practitioners and adherents of Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan. Shinto is not a centralized faith with a single founder, creed, or sacred scripture. It is a broad family of practices and beliefs centered on kami, sacred beings or forces believed to inhabit nature, objects, places, and ancestors. The emphasis is on living in harmony with the kami, maintaining ritual purity, and showing gratitude and respect to the divine and to the community.

Ritual life typically centers on shrines (jinja) where kami are enshrined. Worship includes purification rites (such as misogi or temizu), offerings, and prayers performed by priests (kanushi) and shrine attendants, including miko (shrine maidens). Common practices include visiting shrines during seasonal and local festivals (matsuri), drawing omikuji fortune slips, offering ema wooden plaques with prayers, and participating in ceremonies for life events such as weddings and blessings. Sacred spaces are often marked by torii gates signaling entrances to the sacred precinct.

Texts associated with Shinto, such as the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, record myths and imperial genealogy but there is no single canon that all followers must accept. Shinto has historically interacted with Buddhism and other beliefs; in the Meiji era it was organized under state backing, later separated from the state after World War II. Today, Shinto remains a major cultural and religious presence in Japan, practiced by many who identify with Shinto rituals without formal conversion, and by diaspora communities around the world.