WORLD RELIGIONS

Detailed explanation-1: -Other terms are sometimes used synonymously with “Shinto"; these include kami no michi (, “the way of the kami"), kannagara no michi (, also written or , “the way of the kami from time immemorial"), Kodō (, “the ancient way"), Daidō (, “the great way"), and Teidō (, “the imperial way").

Detailed explanation-2: -"Shinto gods” are called kami. They are sacred spirits which take the form of things and concepts important to life, such as wind, rain, mountains, trees, rivers and fertility. Humans become kami after they die and are revered by their families as ancestral kami.

Detailed explanation-3: -Shinto is an animistic belief system. The word Shinto was created by combining two kanji: “” (shin), meaning gods or spirits (when read alone, it is pronounced “kami"), and “” (tō), meaning a philosophical way or path (the same character is used for the Chinese word Tao).

Detailed explanation-4: -The word Shinto comes from the written Chinese kanji of “Shen", meaning “divine spirit", and “Tao", meaning “way”, to form the meaning of “Way of the Spirits”.