Shintoism in Anime

Summary

The video explains how Shinto beliefs and practices appear in anime, using examples from several series. The narrator argues that Shinto offers a useful lens for recognizing recurring ideas across otherwise different stories.

Shinto in brief

• Shinto is presented as Japan’s Indigenous religion, centered on the worship of kami—spiritual presences associated with nature, human life, and other things.
• The video emphasizes that kami are numerous and varied, and that Shinto has no single central authority or scripture governing all practice. The narrator says this flexibility helped Shinto become interwoven with Japanese daily life and culture.
• Hatsumōde, the New Year’s shrine visit, is given as a familiar example of Shinto practice. The narrator also cites figures of about 70% of Japan’s population participating in Shinto-related practices and roughly 100,000 shrines nationwide.

Shinto ideas illustrated in anime

1. Impurity and purification

The video distinguishes two kinds of impurity:

• Kegare: Impurity associated with naturally occurring events such as death, illness, or disaster.
• Tsumi: Impurity associated with antisocial human behavior or unhealthy, pent-up emotions.

Impurity can affect people and places, spread, and bring misfortune. The narrator describes harai and misogi as purification practices that may involve sacred water.

• In Kamisama Kiss, impurity—called “kegare” or “shōki” in the subtitles—is shown through environmental decay. The anime depicts purification through sacred sake, a talisman, or a kagura dance that calms and purifies a spirit.
• In Noragami, Yukine’s rebellious and antisocial behavior leads to corruption, echoing the idea of tsumi. The series shows purification with sacred water and, in more severe cases, an intervention-like ritual in which the person must acknowledge wrongdoing, seek forgiveness, and promise to change.

2. Yokai and distress

The narrator explains that yokai are difficult to define and refers to cultural anthropologist Kazuhiko Komatsu’s formulation:

“Yokai are unworshipped kami, and kami are worshiped yokai.”

In Noragami, a distressed or dangerous yokai can affect its surroundings, producing a foggy, eerie atmosphere. Less severe distress may be signaled by a yokai growing larger. The anime’s response is sometimes simply to calm the yokai through communication and reassurance rather than through a formal ritual.

3. Shrine terminology

Shrines house kami and serve as places of worship, festivals, and other cultural events. The narrator explains that shrine names often combine a main name with a suffix, and stresses that the suffixes are not interchangeable.

• Jinja: A general term used for many shrines.
• Sha / yashiro: Terms for smaller shrines that receive a kami’s divine presence from a major shrine through bunrei, the sharing or “splitting” of a kami’s spirit.
• Mori: Associated with sacred natural sites, especially forests. The narrator notes that such a shrine need not have a physical building.
• Hokora: A term for small shrines, often found in remote places.
• Jingū: A suffix associated with high-status shrines closely connected to the Imperial family.
• Mi(y)a / gū: Presented as similar to jingū, but generally indicating a shrine of lower status.
• Taisha: Used for major “headquarters” shrines within a group of shrines devoted to related kami.

The narrator gives Ise Jingū, Izumo Taisha, and Sumiyoshi Taisha as examples, and says anime sometimes reflects these distinctions in shrine naming.

4. Spiritual realms

The video describes several Shinto-related realms:

• Utsushiyo: The ordinary, visible world.
• Tokoyo, also called kakuriyo: A concealed realm associated with spirits.
• Takamagahara: A heavenly place where gods gather.
• Yomi: The underworld or land of the dead.

In Noragami, the Buddhist terms shigan and higan are used for the ordinary and otherworldly realms. The narrator notes the significant overlap between Shinto and Buddhism in Japan.

Kamisama Kiss includes spirits visible in the ordinary world, places that seem to belong to a concealed realm, and depictions of Takamagahara and Yomi. Mount Kurama, mentioned in the series, is also a real place near Kyoto.

Hell’s Paradise and Ayaka are briefly cited as series with Shinto-related imagery or concepts. The narrator treats some of these connections humorously while distinguishing original story elements from apparent references.

Overall takeaway

The video presents anime as a way to notice Shinto concepts—especially kami, impurity, purification, shrine traditions, yokai, and spiritual realms—in modern Japanese media. Its examples are intended as parallels and inspirations, not as claims that every anime depiction precisely matches religious practice.

Speakers and sources featured

• Speaker: One unnamed narrator and creator.
• Anime discussed or referenced: Ayaka, Hell’s Paradise, Kamisama Kiss, and Noragami.
• Person cited: Japanese cultural anthropologist Kazuhiko Komatsu, in connection with the relationship between kami and yokai.
• Music credit in the video metadata: Nanae Yoshimura, “Midare” (乱れる).