Shinto Film Worksheet

Where and how did Shinto originate?

Natural landscape of Japan

Which religions can be found in modern Japan?

Buddhism

Confucianism

Taoism

Christianity

When did Shinto begin?

Pre-historic times

What does the term “Shinto” mean?

The way of the kami

What is a Founded Religion?

Has a founder, teacher, prophet that has a teaching

When did Christianity first enter Japan? Who brought it there?

1549 when Jesuit priests brought Christianity to Japan

Why did many Japanese people not find Christianity appealing?

They have to leave their Japanese culture. If they joined Christianity, they can’t practice Shinto.

What percentage of the Japanese population is Christianity today?

Less than 1%

What are folk traditions?

Beliefs on nature and spirituality. Closely connected with other types of Shinto

Kami

That which is sacred. Anything that’s Japanese (inanimate and animate objects, people, ancestors, nature)

Where, in particular, is Kami found within Japan?

Throughout Japan. Ancestors, nature, objects

What role do shrines play within Shinto?

Worship/rituals. Public contact with Kami

What is a protective shrine?

Shrine closest to the family

When do Japanese visit shrines?

Personal needs, when they need to, festivals

What’s the name given to the sacred gateways of Shinto?

Torii

The most important festival in Shinto celebrates what?

The celebration of New Year

For Shinto, is it more important to properly believe or properly practice?

Properly practice

Name the two oldest mythological accounts of Shinto

Kojiki

Nihongi

Name the divine couple and child of Shinto mythology

Izanagi- male (sky father)

Izanami- female (earth mother)

Amaterasu- sun goddess

What has been the history between Shinto and Buddhism in Japan?

When Buddhism first came to Japan there was tension between them because Buddhism wasn’t Japanese