Sacred Shinto Shrines of Japan

Founded in 711 CE, Fushimi Inari Shrine is located in Kyoto, and is one of the most revered Shinto shrines of Japan, serving as the headquarters for all the 40,000 shrines dedicated to Inari, the Japanese kami of fertility, across Japan.  Originally the god of rice, Inari now governs the modern equivalent: success and prosperity in business.  Fushimi Inari Shrine draws thousands of businessmen and tradespeople each month seeking blessings for their enterprises, especially at the annual first prayers of the New Year.  The land on which the shrine is built was called Shiba Shin’ami-cho during the Edo period, the period ruled by the Shoguns of the Tokugawa.  Read more . . .

Shintoism: Japan's Nature-Based Religion

The term Shinto is derived from two Japanese terms, shin (meaning divine being) and do (meaning way).  Thus, Shin do, is the name used to distinguish the indigenous Japanese way of addressing and interacting with divine beings.  The oldest known belief system in Japan, this “tradition” is so innately engrained in the Japanese worldview that until Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the sixth century CE, it needed no name.  Now one of several religions practiced in Japan, Shinto can best be understood as the label applied to the Japanese ways of honoring the spirits of nature.  Read more . . .