This accessible guide to the development of Japans indigenous religion from ancient times to the present day offers an illuminating introduction to the myths, sites and rituals of kami worship, and their role in Shintos enduring religious identity.
- Offers a unique new approach to Shinto history that combines critical analysis with original research
- Examines key evolutionary moments in the long history of Shinto, including the Meiji Revolution of 1868, and provides the first critical history? in English or Japanese of the Hie shrine, one of the most important in all Japan
- Traces the development of various shrines, myths, and rituals through history as uniquely diverse phenomena, exploring how and when they merged into the modern notion of Shinto that exists in Japan today
- Challenges the historic stereotype of Shinto as the unchanging, all-defining core of Japanese culture
List of Illustrations vi
Conventions and Abbreviations Used in the Text vii
Prologue ix
1 An Alternative Approach to the History of Shinto 1
2 Kami Shrines, Myths, and Rituals in Premodern Times 24
3 The History of a Shrine: Hie 66
4 The History of a Myth: The Sun-Goddess and the Rock-Cave 129
5 The Daijo-sai: A Shinto Rite of Imperial Accession 168
6 Issues in Contemporary Shinto 199
Conclusion 221
Notes 229
References 242
Index 253
It is a measure of the books achievement that it has managed to introduce such scholarly notions in a way that is at once accessible and instructive. Even ?those skeptical about its claims would have to admit the solidity of the research, and the book renders valuable service by opening up debatel³*
![A New History of Shinto [Hardcover]](/itemImage/2/8/0/5/2_5168405.jpg "A New History of Shinto [Hardcover]")