Shinto Shows the Debt-to Animism of Organised Religions Today

Shinto Shows the Debt-to Animism of Organized Religions Today

Brian Victoria

Shinto is uniquely Japanese, yet embodies a once-universal animistic religion of wind and fire, gods and animal spirits

Remnants of this Shinto practice can be seen in the use of ‘holy water’ upon entering a Roman Catholic church, or the partial and whole-body immersion during baptism, which is practised by nearly all Christian denominations. Muslims meanwhile engage in the ritual cleansing of exposed body parts – hands, face and feet – prior to entering a mosque. And in Judaism, a mikveh is a bath used for ritual immersion in order to achieve spiritual purity.

Once ritually cleansed, the Shinto practitioner approaches one or more kami, typically to offer a petitionary prayer. However, prior to seeking the kami’s blessings, practitioners are expected to make an offering, traditionally such things as food, sake or even a fine horse, but today more typically money. In other words, to ensure the kami’s blessings, the practitioner must first engage in a transactional relationship with the deity being worshipped.

Of all the ways that animistic practices might have been incorporated into organised religions, this transactional relationship is potentially the most far-reaching. Simply stated, there is no organised religion existing today that does not, directly or indirectly, require the believer to make an offering of some kind as a necessary condition for receiving the deity’s blessings, as well as in order to be accepted among the faithful.