Shintoism is the indigenous and national religion of Japan. The literal translation of the word Shinto means the way of the gods. It is a nature worship based religion with its own concepts on deities, ethics and life. Shintoism is based on the beginning of the human race when the trees and plants had speech. Shinto followers also believed that the animals acted and spoke like men. However, the religion does not directly deal with common religious themes of evil, sin and redemption. Shinto followers believe that spirits exist everywhere whether good or evil, thus the religion is unorganized worship of those spirits. Objects of worship include: the sky, heavenly bodies, mountains, rivers, seas, trees, beasts, great fish, reptiles and the process of reproduction in nature. Shintoism stresses the importance for respect of nature and oneself.
There are essentially four historical written sources, which provide scholars with information on the beginnings of Shintoism. The first of these......
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