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Shintō (神道, “way of the Kami”) is the indigenous religious tradition of Japan. The term is made up of shin/kami (神, “deity, sacred power”) and dō (道, “way”). For the Japanese martial arts, Shintō is relevant above all as cultural background; for Okinawan karate this applies only to a limited extent.
Kami and shrines
Kami are unlimited in number and can be venerated as natural phenomena, places, ancestors, people or things; Shintō is therefore often described as polytheistic and animistic. Worship takes place at shrines (jinja, 神社). The Ise Shrine, where the sun goddess Amaterasu is venerated, stands at the top of the shrine hierarchy. Central are purity and ritual purification (including harai, 祓, and misogi, 禊).
Texts and myths
Classical Shintō has no sacred canon and was largely handed down orally. The two oldest writings, the Kojiki (古事記, 712) and the Nihon Shoki (日本書紀, 720), contain myths and chronicles of rulers. The stories they preserve – such as those of the divine couple Izanagi and Izanami or of Amaterasu – are myths and not historical accounts.
History and the term
The word “Shintō” already appears in the Nihon Shoki, but there it means beliefs or the power of a Kami rather than a separate religion. It became the name of an indigenous tradition mainly through the scholars of Kokugaku (Edo period). For centuries Shintō was closely intertwined with Buddhism and Confucianism. Only with the Meiji Restoration (from 1868) was it officially interpreted as an independent “original religion”; in State Shintō the Tennō rose to become the central, at times divinely venerated figure, until the end of the Second World War. The exact definition of Shintō remains disputed among researchers.
Shintō and Budō
Since the 1920s it has been customary in many Japanese Budō Dōjō to set up a Kamidana (household altar) at the front wall (Shomen); the place of honour is called Kamiza (“seat of honour”). The rituals of cleaning the Dōjō and paying respect to the Dōjō belong to this cultural neighbourhood, but often cannot be clearly assigned to a single tradition (Shintō, Buddhism, Confucianism).
Okinawa has its own religion, the Ryūkyū faith (琉球神道, Ryūkyū Shintō), shaped by ancestor worship, natural sanctuaries (utaki) and the role of priestesses, and influenced over time by Japanese Shintō, Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism. Okinawan karate emerged in the Kingdom of Ryūkyū, not in the environment of Japanese State Shintō; the later spread of karate to the mainland, by contrast, coincided with the era of Japanese nationalism (see History of karate).
Connection to training
- Taking off shoes, cleaning the Dōjō (sōji, 掃除) and the bow (Rei) express respect for the place and for fellow practitioners (see Opening and closing of class).
- Whether a Dōjō has a Kamiza or Kamidana depends on the Dōjō and its tradition. At Ōkami Dō, the Kamiza faces east.
- Shintō is not a requirement for karate; taking part in etiquette and rituals is to be understood as an expression of respect, not as a confession of faith.
Sources
- Helen Hardacre: Shinto. A History. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2017, ISBN 978-0-19-062171-1.
- Kuroda Toshio: Shinto in the History of Japanese Religion. Journal of Japanese Studies 7 (1), 1981.
- Kokugakuin University: Perspectives toward Understanding the Concept of Kami
- Jinichi Tokeshi: Kendo. Elements, Rules, and Philosophy. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 2003, S. 73–74.
- Dave Lowry: In the Dojo. A Guide to the Rituals and Etiquette of the Japanese Martial Arts. Weatherhill, Boston/London 2006, S. 26.
- further reading: Wikipedia, article “Dojo” (cleaning, Shomen)
- George H. Kerr: Okinawa. The History of an Island People. Tuttle, Boston 2000, S. 31–32, 110, ISBN 978-0-8048-2087-5.
- Edward E. Bollinger: The Unity of Government and Religion in the Ryukyu Islands to 1500 A.D. Contemporary Religions in Japan 10, 1969.
- Masaharu Matayoshi, Joyce Trafton: Ancestors Worship. Okinawa’s Indigenous Belief System. Toronto 2000, ISBN 978-0-9701798-0-7.
- Inoue Nobutaka (Hg.): Shinto – A Short History. RoutledgeCurzon, London 2003.