Japanese Religion

"In Japan, religion is more of a culture thing than something that draws followers.

It is omnipresent but not overpowering."

Religion is part of many Japanese people's daily lives; although for some it is merely part of their culture. Unlike, most Japanese people follow two religions, Shinto and Buddhism, were as the majority of Australians follow one religion. There are four most important things that Japanese people that follow the Shinto religion respect and remember these are; firstly, the tradition of family, this is very important especially with events such as births and weddings. Secondly, nature and how it brings them closer to the gods and their ancestral spirits, many natural objects are said to have gods and are worshiped as sacred spirits. Thirdly, "Matsuri": the worship of Kami, their gods and their ancestors, and last, physical cleanliness; many Shinto followers take many baths and wash their hands often.

Generally Japanese people follow two religions, Shinto and Buddhism. Many weddings are performed by Shinto priests and the funerals are performed by Buddhist priests. The two religions are even joined together by their gods so that in Shinto, Buddha is an important god and in Buddhism, Kami (God) are also important gods (although they are not as important as their own gods).

Shinto is an ancient Japanese religion that joins together the entire daily life so that it does not seem like it is being forced on anyone it is just part of life. Unlike other religions Shinto has no real founder and has no real religious law. There are four things that people who follow the Shinto belief uphold. The first is their love for nature. To many Japanese people nature is sacred; to be close to nature is to be close to the gods and their ancestral spirits. Nearly every object in nature has a god, like there is a rock god and a tree god. Many Japanese people pray to these gods for safe journeys among other things. The second is tradition and family, this is very important to Japanese people, especially in events such as births and weddings because these are the two most important family related celebrations. Many Japanese