Shinto is a general term for the activities of the Japanese people to worship all the deities of heaven and earth,and its origin is as old as the history of the Japanese. It was towards the end of the 6th century when the Japanese were conscious of these activities and called them ‘Way of Kami(the deity or deities)’. It coincides the time when the 31st Emperor Yomei prayed before an image of Buddha for the first time as an emperor for the recovery of his illness. Thus accepting Buddhism, a foreign religion the Japanese realized existence of a tradition of their own faith.
After having gone through a long history since then,this indigenous faith,Shinto,has been developed into four main forms: the Koshitsu Shinto (Shinto of the Imperial House), the Jinja Shinto (the Shrine Shinto), the Shuha Sinto (the Sect Shinto), and the Minzoku Shinto (the Folk Shinto).
Shinto is a general term for the activities of the Japanese people to worship all the deities of heaven and earth,and its origin is as old as the history of the Japanese. It was towards the end of the 6th century when the Japanese were conscious of these activities and called them ‘Way of Kami(the deity or deities)’. It coincides the time when the 31st Emperor Yomei prayed before an image of Buddha for the first time as an emperor for the recovery of his illness. Thus accepting Buddhism, a foreign religion the Japanese realized existence of a tradition of their own faith.
After having gone through a long history since then,this indigenous faith,Shinto,has been developed into four main forms: the Koshitsu Shinto (Shinto of the Imperial House), the Jinja Shinto (the Shrine Shinto), the Shuha Sinto (the Sect Shinto), and the Minzoku Shinto (the Folk Shinto).
(The Jinja Shinto includes Takehakobino jinja )
神道という言葉は、日本人には一般的で、天と地のすべての神を崇拝することを表します。そして、その源は日本民族の歴史と同じくらい古くからあります。6世紀の末から、このような崇拝を意識して、神の道と呼んでいました。このことは、仏教が知られていなかった時代に初めて、第31代の用明天皇の病気平癒のために祈りを捧げたことによって意識されるようになりました。このように外国の宗教としての仏教を受け入れたために、日本人は伝統的な自国の信仰の存在を実感しました。
この時から長い年月を経て、この日本固有の信仰・神道は4つの主要なかたちに発展してきました。
すなわち皇室神道、神社神道、宗派神道、民族神道です。