WORLD RELIGIONS

Detailed explanation-1: -Shinto followers can worship in shared public shrines, however, many choose to do so in their own homes and set up their own shrines. These shrines are called “kami-dana” and are a shelf on which people place offerings to the kami.

Detailed explanation-2: -A polytheistic and animistic religion, Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the kami (). The kami are believed to inhabit all things, including forces of nature and prominent landscape locations. The kami are worshipped at kamidana household shrines, family shrines, and jinja public shrines.

Detailed explanation-3: -Shinto ("the way of the gods") is the indigenous faith of the Japanese people and as old as Japan itself. It remains Japan’s major religion alongside Buddhism.

Detailed explanation-4: -Private and public worship Although Shinto worship features public and shared rituals at local shrines, it can also be a private and individual event, in which a person at a shrine (or in their home) prays to particular kami either to obtain something, or to thank the kami for something good that has happened.

Detailed explanation-5: -Shinto is based on belief in, and worship of, kami. The best English translation of kami is ‘spirits’, but this is an over-simplification of a complex concept-kami can be elements of the landscape or forces of nature.