no 1
Japanese and What They Called Shintoism
As the old-looking-man stands in front of certain statue, deeply bow twice, then clap twice (with
his left hand slightly in front), then silent for a moment. And deeply bow once. The white young
man next to him, as he shows big question mark over his head, follows the old man. 2-3 meters
away, the young man finally break through the silence. “Is that supposed to be ritual? Is that
supposed to be a sign of belief or just show respect? But to whom you give that to?” The
question popped out in a single streak as the young man shut his mouth with a long breath. Old
man nodded, and slightly looked at the young man. His blue shirt really sticking out that day, the
old man hardly looked at his face since his tall figure backlighting the sunlight. “This is just a
custom, boy. Just like how you celebrate Christmas on winter out there,” as he shortly answer
and then left the young man in confusion. It really hard for western or even middle east believer
to swallow the Japanese understanding as how they define religion and what it teaches different
from those who originate from Japan. Followings are things that commonly asked by stranger
(on the bus) to Japanese.
What religion most Japanese put faith into? Strangely, that kind of questions usually comes out if
we talks about religion in Japan. And what possibly the answer? Surprisingly, based on
Statista.com 79.2% of Japan’s people is in Shintoism affliations. While in fact, Shintoism itself
really not a religion. Well, one really can’t tell whether one is religion or not. It’s based on how
people define religion. Well if you define religion as a belief that people could put faith into or
hold dear as principle then you can count in capitalism as religion then. But Shintoism is
different. Japanese people often consider it not as much as religion but more like Japanese people
ways of life. As they lived with it. Consciously or unconsciously. Like how they give respect to
Kami, give respect to nature, pay visit to shrine, New Year visit, and even Christmas. Japanese
