refers to the animistic religion of

Jōmon period The is the time in Japanese history, traditionally dated between 6,000–300 BCE, during which Japan was inhabited by a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a c ...

Japan, which is the alleged basis of modern

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

. The search for traces of Koshintō began with the "Restoration Shinto" in the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, which goal was to remove any foreign ideas and worldviews from Shinto (specifically referring to Buddhism). Some movements which claim to have discovered this primeval way of thought are

Oomoto ''Chōseiden'' in Ayabe , also known as , is a religion founded in 1892 by Deguchi Nao (1836–1918), often categorised as a new Japanese religion originated from Shinto. The spiritual leaders of the movement have always been women within t ...

Izumo-taishakyo is a Japanese Shinto grouping. It was established by Takatomi Senge (1845–1918), the 80th head priest of Izumo-taisha in 1882, as one of the original thirteen sects of ''Kyoha Shintō Rengokai'' (Association of Sectarian Shinto), during the Me ...

Worldview

The following is deduced from studying the language of the ''

Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...

'' and '' Nihon Shoki'' which does not appear in any Chinese philosophy: In Koshintō, the present world or ''utsushiyo'' is put in contrast to the eternal world or ''tokoyo''. All individuals possess a ''tamashii'', meaning a mind, heart, or soul. A ''tamashii'' without a body is called a ''

mitama The Japanese word refers to the spirit of a ''kami'' or the soul of a dead person. It is composed of two characters, the first of which, , is simply an honorific. The second, means "spirit". The character pair 神霊, also read ''mitama'', is ...

''. Those whose ''tamashii'' has the nature of ''kami'' are called ''mikoto''. In the Age of the Kami, or ''Kamiyo'', the Earth was ruled by ''kami'', whose forms were akin to humans, but had pure hearts and spoke in the language of

kotodama refers to the Japanese belief that mystical powers dwell in words and names. English translations include "soul of language", "spirit of language", "power of language", "power word", "magic word", and "sacred sound". The notion of ''kotodama'' ...

History of Koshintō research

There are no records of "pure" Koshintō in early Japanese literature. By the time Japan was producing literature, its native religion had already intermixed with

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmo ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. Medieval development meant that Shinto was integrated into Buddhist symbology. Koshintō research began at the same time as examinations into

Early Buddhism The term Early Buddhism can refer to at least two distinct periods in the History of Buddhism, mostly in the History of Buddhism in India: * Pre-sectarian Buddhism, which refers to the teachings and monastic organization and structure, founded by Ga ...

. In this era, Japan's shrine rituals were being "purified" of their religious nature and turned into national forms, a process called

State Shinto was Imperial Japan's ideological use of the Japanese folk religion and traditions of Shinto. The state exercised control of shrine finances and training regimes for priests to strongly encourage Shinto practices that emphasized the Emperor as ...

today. Religionists began looking for the origin of these forms in a primitive "

nature religion A nature religion is a religious movement that believes nature and the natural world is an embodiment of divinity, sacredness or spiritual power. Beyer 1998. p. 11. Nature religions include indigenous religions practiced in various parts of th ...

". Early folklorists such as

Kunio Yanagita Kunio Yanagita (柳田國男, Yanagita Kunio, July 31, 1875 – August 8, 1962) was a Japanese author, scholar, and folklorist. He began his career as a bureaucrat, but developed an interest in rural Japan and its folk traditions. This led to a ...

were also seeking a purely Japanese tradition. Onisaburo Deguchi, the founder of

, was an extremely influential Koshinto researcher in the Imperial period. He influenced nearly all modern Koshinto lines except for that of

Takuma Hisa Takuma Hisa (久琢磨 ''Hisa Takuma'', c.1895 – October 31, 1980) was a prominent Japanese martial artist, early student in Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu of both Sokaku Takeda and aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba. Born in Kōchi Prefecture, Jap ...

. Such research continues today and is often connected with

aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in around 1 ...

and other martial arts.大宮司朗・平上信行『古神道と古流武術―その奥秘を語る』1996年、八幡書店

References

External links

Koshinto – Shinto organisation for South Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koshinto Animism in Asia Japanese mythology Jōmon period Shinto Shinto new religious movements Shamanism in Japan

Worldview

History of Koshintō research

See also

References

Further reading

External links