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Title |
Text |
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| 1 |
Chūkō |
Loyalty and filiality. Chū denotes loyalty and fidelity to one's master or country, while kō denotes filiality to one's parents. Originally [in China], these two virtues were considered independent, and sometimes in contradiction one to the other, as in the saying, "If one a... |
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| 2 |
Concepts of Emperor and the State |
The origins of Japan as a nation, the imperial system ( tennō-sei ) and rice culture are inseparable and date back to the Yayoi period. The term tennō (emperor) first appears in the Chinese Tang Period classic Gaosong-ji , but was first used in Japanese texts to refer to the first empero... |
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| 3 |
Concepts of History (rekishikan) |
How Shinto views the origins of this world, which includes human beings, and the changes that occur with the passage of time, is best evidenced in the myths contained in Kojiki , and this view grounded Shinto beliefs through history. The beginning of time These myths begin with the sen... |
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| 4 |
Concepts of Humanity (Ningenkan) |
The word jinkan (人間）means the world, and in Japanese, when read as ningen it is used to indicate a person. The term ningen indicates that a human being is a physical space inhabited by a spirit. Kojiki and Nihon shoki ( kiki shinwa ) mythology is almost mute on the topic of the birth of the f... |
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| 5 |
Concepts of the Spirit (reikonkan) |
The diversity of theories concerning the concept of spirit in Shinto makes it impossible to propose any single definition. From a Shinto perspective, there is no agreement on where people's spirits go after they die. These difficulties notwithstanding, if one agrees that the kami ... |
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| 6 |
Cosmology |
The concept ( kan ) of the universe ( uchū ) originated in Daoism and the philosophy of Laozi and Zhuangzi. and is written with two graphs. The first character refers to the spatial dimension "Heaven and Earth" and the "Four Directions;" while the second charact... |
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| 7 |
Folklore Research |
The establishment of Japanese Ethnology and Shintō Research This research deals primarily with Shintō phenomena observed in the daily lives of people. There has been much scholarly output since the founding of the scholarly field of ethnology. In general, Japanese ethnology is s... |
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| 8 |
Goryō |
Spiritual entities that cause calamities and epidemics to an unspecified, wide range of people. However, kami such as those originally worshipped at shrines ( jinja ) were not viewed as goryō . Specifically, spirits of people who had lost their positions of power and the various kam... |
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| 9 |
Haibutsukishaku |
This term signifies a particular school of thought that espoused the idea of shunning and expelling Buddhism. It also refers to the historic movement that based on this type of thought eventually destroyed Buddhist temples, halls, images, and ritual implements and forcibly laici... |
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| 10 |
Hakkōichiu |
"The Entire Earth under One Roof." This phrase, coined in modern times, is based on a line from the prayer of the first (legendary) Emperor Jinmu (prior to his enthronement) at the founding of the imperial city of Kashihara: "Will it not be well to have capital develop... |
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| 11 |
Han honjisuijakusetsu (Anti-honjisuijaku thought) |
This term covers a range of theories that were created during the medieval period which argue for the superiority of indigenous kami over Buddhist deities. These theories were voiced in opposition to the Buddhist honji suijaku theory which posited that the kami were merely local ma... |
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| 12 |
Harae |
Purification. This refers to the process of purifying the mind and body of accumulated sins and defilements by means of ablutions ( misogi ) or other rites and recitations. Representative of these are ceremonies performed in the presence of the kami ( shinzen ) with silk and paper cut... |
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| 13 |
Honjisuijakusetsu |
The term honji suijaku refers to the idea that the Buddhist deities provisionally appear as Shinto kami in order to spiritually save sentient beings in Japan. The kami are thus the manifestations ( suijaku ; literally "traces;" i.e. the form appearing in the world to save ... |
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| 14 |
Ichirei shikon |
Literally, "one spirit, four souls." According to Shinto doctrine, the spirit ( reikon ) of both kami and human beings is made up of one spirit and four souls. The spirit is called naobi , and the four souls are the turbulent ( aramitama ), the tranquil ( nigimitama ), the prop... |
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| 15 |
Imi |
Imi means abstinence or taboo, or the avoidance of that which is abnormal ( magakoto ), imperfect ( tsumi ) and polluted ( kegare ), and the removal of those states. Originally 忌み and 斎み (both pronounced imi ) were synonyms, in the sense that both meant removing abnormality, imperfecti... |
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| 16 |
Imikotoba |
Taboo words. Special words used by people performing kami rituals, and by those attending them, in the Imperial Palace or in shrines. People used imikotoba for the duration of the ritual in the place where it was being performed in order to preserve the purity of the rite by avoiding ce... |
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| 17 |
Inadama |
Inadama is the spirit that dwells within the rice plant and governs its cultivation and successful harvest. From ancient times people prayed for a bountiful harvest by welcoming the descent of the Ta no kami (the deity of the rice fields) from the mountains. In autumn, when the harves... |
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| 18 |
Itsuku |
To serve, and perform rites for, the kami , having purified the body and mind and exorcised all polluting influences ( kegare ). According to Motoori Norinaga, itsu means the bright and pure, all dirt and pollution having been washed away. Though itsuku came to be used later as a term of ... |
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| 19 |
Iwau |
Written 祝う or 斎う. To maintain taboos or to physically abstain in order to seek the auspicious. It has the meaning of a period of abstinence ( kessai ), maintaining physical purity as a prerequisite for serving the kami . Later it came to be used to mean both praying for auspicious things a... |
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| 20 |
Jindaimoji |
A general term for uniquely Japanese character arrays or character systems thought to have existed in ancient Japan before Chinese characters ( kanji ) were introduced. Also called " kamiyo moji ." According to Kojiki and Nihongi , in the sixteenth year of Ōjin Tennō's re... |
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