Shinto (神道, Shintō; Japanese pronunciation: [ɕiꜜn.toː]), also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners Shintoists, although adherents rarely use that term themselves. With no unifying doctrine or central authority in control of Shinto, there is much diversity of belief and practice evident among practitioners.
A polytheistic and animistic religion, Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the kami (神). The kami are believed to inhabit all things, including forces of nature, prominent landscape locations, and even notable historical figures. The kami are worshipped at kamidana household shrines, family shrines, and jinja public shrines. The latter are staffed by priests, known as kannushi, who oversee offerings of food and drink to the specific kami enshrined at that location. This is done to cultivate harmony between humans and kami and to solicit the latter's blessing. Other common rituals include the kagura dances, rites of passage, and kami festivals. Public shrines facilitate forms of divination and supply religious objects, such as amulets, to the religion's adherents. Shinto places a major conceptual focus on ensuring purity, largely by cleaning practices such as ritual washing and bathing, especially before worship. Little emphasis is placed on specific moral codes or particular afterlife beliefs, although the dead are deemed capable of becoming kami. With the kami of the dead, there is the common worship of ancestral kami, whose presence is only in your clan, and Arahitogami, who can have their purification rituals performed by anyone whose life has been impacted by them. The religion has no single creator or specific doctrine, and instead exists in a diverse range of local and regional forms.
