{"id":2987,"date":"2022-01-27T04:22:18","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T04:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/department-of-japanese-studies.local\/?p=2987"},"modified":"2022-01-27T04:22:18","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T04:22:18","slug":"origins-of-the-universe-in-shintoism-an-ancient-religion-of-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/djs.du.ac.bd\/?p=2987","title":{"rendered":"Origins of the Universe in Shintoism: An Ancient Religion of Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=&#8221;no&#8221; hundred_percent_height=&#8221;no&#8221; hundred_percent_height_scroll=&#8221;no&#8221; hundred_percent_height_center_content=&#8221;yes&#8221; equal_height_columns=&#8221;no&#8221; menu_anchor=&#8221;&#8221; hide_on_mobile=&#8221;small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility&#8221; status=&#8221;published&#8221; publish_date=&#8221;&#8221; class=&#8221;&#8221; id=&#8221;&#8221; link_color=&#8221;&#8221; link_hover_color=&#8221;&#8221; border_size=&#8221;&#8221; 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column_min_width=&#8221;&#8221; column_spacing=&#8221;&#8221; rule_style=&#8221;default&#8221; rule_size=&#8221;&#8221; rule_color=&#8221;&#8221; hide_on_mobile=&#8221;small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility&#8221; class=&#8221;&#8221; id=&#8221;&#8221; animation_type=&#8221;&#8221; animation_direction=&#8221;left&#8221; animation_speed=&#8221;0.3&#8243; animation_offset=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">Origins of the Universe in Shintoism: <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">An Ancient Religion of Japan<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">Md. Abu Taher<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 8pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">Assistant Professor, Department of World Religions and Culture, University of Dhaka, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">Bangladesh. Email:mataher@du.ac.bd<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">Abstract<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">Almost all religions have ideas and beliefs about the origin of the universe. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">Some religious traditions, such as Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma) and Buddhism, see the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">universe as eternal, without beginning or end. The first books of the Bible contain an <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">account of the creation of the universe, which some Christian faiths hold to be allegorical, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">and others regard as an expression of literal fact. Other religious traditions have other <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">views, but each attempts to explain this ultimate question of where we came from and how <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">it occurred. In this context,the Shinto people believe that the universe was created for <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">them by their gods. The creation myth of Shintoism contains some general traits of the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">religion itself and is also influenced by some aspects of ancient Japanese culture. The <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">mythical story also played an influential role in designing the religion&#8217;s fundamental <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">beliefs. In the Shinto creation myth, we will find various components; as power politics, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">division of labour, dimensions of relation, the importance of purification. Therefore, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">having some knowledge of Shintoism&#8217;s basic features will help understand the influence of <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">the myth of the origin of the universe. Shintoism or Shinto is the indigenous religious <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">belief and practice of Japan. It is a polytheistic and animistic faith and involves the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">worship of kami or spirits. Shinto has no founder or sacred canon. It has no official <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">scripture compared to the Bible in Christianity or the Quran in Islam. However, it has few <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">highly venerated groups of texts, which are very ancient and preserve a record of the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">myths on the origin of ancient Japan&#8217;s universe and religious life. The Kojiki (Records of <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">Ancient Matters), the Nihon Shoki (Continuing Chronicles of Japan), the Rokkkushi (Six <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">nationals Histories) and the Jinno Shotoki (a study of Shinto and Japanese politics and <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">history) may be considered the sacred books of Shinto. According to the Agency for <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">Cultural Affairs statistics, in 1982, there were 79,700 shrines (places of worship), and the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">number of Shinto believers stands at 74,660,000. In this paper, an attempt has been madeto describe the Shinto&#8217;s general description and mainly focus on its mythology or stories of <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">origins of the universe and the sources are mainly based on relevant secondary books and <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">articles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Keywords<\/strong> Shintoism . Hinduism . Buddhism . Japan&#8217;s ancient religion .<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.55156\/jjsem.dec2123<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/fusion_text][fusion_button link=&#8221;https:\/\/department-of-japanese-studies.local\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/23.-abu-taher.pdf&#8221; text_transform=&#8221;&#8221; title=&#8221;&#8221; target=&#8221;_self&#8221; link_attributes=&#8221;&#8221; alignment=&#8221;&#8221; modal=&#8221;&#8221; hide_on_mobile=&#8221;small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility&#8221; class=&#8221;&#8221; id=&#8221;&#8221; color=&#8221;custom&#8221; button_gradient_top_color=&#8221;&#8221; button_gradient_bottom_color=&#8221;&#8221; button_gradient_top_color_hover=&#8221;&#8221; button_gradient_bottom_color_hover=&#8221;&#8221; accent_color=&#8221;&#8221; accent_hover_color=&#8221;&#8221; type=&#8221;&#8221; bevel_color=&#8221;&#8221; border_width=&#8221;&#8221; border_radius=&#8221;&#8221; border_color=&#8221;&#8221; border_hover_color=&#8221;&#8221; size=&#8221;medium&#8221; stretch=&#8221;yes&#8221; icon=&#8221;&#8221; icon_position=&#8221;left&#8221; icon_divider=&#8221;no&#8221; animation_type=&#8221;&#8221; animation_direction=&#8221;left&#8221; animation_speed=&#8221;0.3&#8243; animation_offset=&#8221;&#8221;]Download[\/fusion_button][\/fusion_builder_column][\/fusion_builder_row][\/fusion_builder_container]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=&#8221;no&#8221; hundred_percent_height=&#8221;no&#8221; hundred_percent_height_scroll=&#8221;no&#8221; hundred_percent_height_center_content=&#8221;yes&#8221; equal_height_columns=&#8221;no&#8221; menu_anchor=&#8221;&#8221; hide_on_mobile=&#8221;small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility&#8221; status=&#8221;published&#8221; publish_date=&#8221;&#8221; class=&#8221;&#8221; id=&#8221;&#8221; link_color=&#8221;&#8221; link_hover_color=&#8221;&#8221; border_size=&#8221;&#8221; border_color=&#8221;&#8221; border_style=&#8221;solid&#8221; margin_top=&#8221;&#8221; margin_bottom=&#8221;&#8221; padding_top=&#8221;&#8221; padding_right=&#8221;&#8221; padding_bottom=&#8221;&#8221; padding_left=&#8221;&#8221; gradient_start_color=&#8221;&#8221; gradient_end_color=&#8221;&#8221; gradient_start_position=&#8221;0&#8243; gradient_end_position=&#8221;100&#8243; gradient_type=&#8221;linear&#8221; radial_direction=&#8221;center center&#8221; linear_angle=&#8221;180&#8243; background_color=&#8221;&#8221; background_image=&#8221;&#8221; background_position=&#8221;center center&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;no-repeat&#8221; fade=&#8221;no&#8221; background_parallax=&#8221;none&#8221; enable_mobile=&#8221;no&#8221; parallax_speed=&#8221;0.3&#8243; background_blend_mode=&#8221;none&#8221; video_mp4=&#8221;&#8221; video_webm=&#8221;&#8221; video_ogv=&#8221;&#8221; video_url=&#8221;&#8221; video_aspect_ratio=&#8221;16:9&#8243; video_loop=&#8221;yes&#8221; video_mute=&#8221;yes&#8221; video_preview_image=&#8221;&#8221; filter_hue=&#8221;0&#8243; filter_saturation=&#8221;100&#8243; filter_brightness=&#8221;100&#8243; filter_contrast=&#8221;100&#8243; filter_invert=&#8221;0&#8243; filter_sepia=&#8221;0&#8243;&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journals-of-djs","category-number-1-december-2021","category-17","category-18","description-off"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/djs.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/djs.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/djs.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djs.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djs.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/djs.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/djs.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djs.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djs.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}