Is it possible for a African/Black person to convert to Shintoism?
 

Is it possible for a African/Black person to convert to Shintoism? Does anyone have any advise on how I can become Shintoist?

I don't think there are any Shinto temples in the U.K, though there must be a small Japanese community here.

Shintoism doesn't require you to profess to the faith! If you just follow it's teachings, it'll probably be sufficiant!

Did you think being a black person would disregard some one from any form of socialism/belief in Japan?

Shintoism... I don't even see Shintoism here in Japan barely. Japan's beliefs have slimmed down, and while cultural customs are still around, but as far as Shintoism/Buddhism and the likes are concerned, it isn't maybe like how you think it is.

Shinto is probably the most accepting religion there is. They don't mind if you are a member of another religion or not. Do what you feel is right in your heart.

Tiny niggle but Shinto doesn't have temples, it has shrines.

Though there are census figures stating that there are those in the UK who have declared Shinto as their religion, I cannot find any shrine (Jinja) listed anywhere.

I did notice a few uncomfortable things during that search, such as a sports equipment company named “Shinto LTD” who named their company that because they feel their service reflects Shinto ideals. That has got to be near the top of my list for insulting and offensive commercial appropriation of religion.

As for the person in Japan who hadn’t seen much of it, I would say you probably don’t recognize many common customs as being based in Shinto practice. They are so common or subtle that the connection may not be as obvious to one who has not studied or practiced Shinto. As for shrines, there are over 200 major, active shinto shrines listed in Japan.

My Japanese teacher says she knows of people who practice Shinto in England, however she mentioned that they practice it in the home. (As Taln said, I don't think there are any shrines here.) I can't remember much more than that, wish I could be more help. :)

It's difficult to practice shintoism outside japan, or find shrines because the Kami tend to be connected to specific geographical locations. You can't export the kami of a sacred tree like you can Jesus.

Then again, Shintoism is about one of the most pragmatic religions I've ever come across. There's a great tale of a man who owned a pharmacy who got fed up of the drunks urinating down the alley beside his shop. He got a large rock and some rope that looked like the kind they tie around sacred objects and plonked it in the alley. Lo and behold, people stopped peeing in the ally. Gradually people started leaving coins on the rock. Then they started asking which kami it was for. Ever the entrepreneur, the pharmacist said it was the kami of ear medicine. Now there's a shrine there. Hows that for making the gods work for you?

Wow. That is quite a judgement to be making.

Under developed ~how~?. And by 'constancy' do you mean 'consistency'?

Maybe uncommercialized might be a better word. But all organized religion is commercialized to some extent.

Like some have said. in shinto there is no conversion process, you just start practicing.

kami or the divine is everywhere in shinto. It is the omnipresent divine animating force of all things. this is the heart of animistic practice. You dont need the specific kami associated with X oak tree in japan.

People have to make the distinction between Shintoism and Shinto.

Shintoism being the religion that the Meiji era government invented out of Shinto in order to "modernise". (In their attempt to modernise quickly and compete with the West Japan sought to at first emulate various Western models and took the idea of a monarchy backed up by the legitimacy of a state religion from the Europeans).

Shinto is a pre-modern set of traditions and beliefs but I wouldn't call it a religion.

If I remember correctly, for something to be called a religion by academic standards it has to have a founder, a holy book and a philosophy/ideology.

Shinto has none of that.

The majority of Japan is non-religious but many still observe Shinto traditions and some even have their own personal beliefs which stem from that.

If you ask Japanese people about the religion of Shinto in my experience (and this is backed up by my religious studies teacher that I had in Japan), the Meiji era religion that was created will probably spring to mind rather than the beliefs of their ancestors.

Bottom line.. as I understand it you can only be called Shintoist if you believe the Emperor of Japan to be a God etc.

Having a belief in spirits which the pre-modern Japanese had will not make you a Shintoist in the eyes of Japanese people. It will just make you someone with personal beliefs in spirits.

Shintoism is essentially Japanese Paganism. Of course it is more complicated than just that as there are other influences in modern shintoism. I agree with you though that shintoism can be many different things, we could be talking about state shinto, folk shinto, sect shinto etc.

No one believes the Emperor is a god anymore, so no one can be a Shintoist?

That is correct as far as I understand

In Japan such opinions of religion are not considered to be so judgemental.
I know you know that. :)

I hear much "stronger" (from a western point of view) things said quite often when the topic arises and it's not said with an air of confrontation or negativity even.

That said, I take the "undeveloped" to mean that most people who consider themselves to believe in Shintoism often don't have a solid set of beliefs in common.

Note: As an example, there are heaps of people who consider themselves Shintoist but don't think anything of the Emperor.

Calling a belief system that has been around for well over 1000 years, "undeveloped" is a judgement and a negative one.

Are you telling me that many Japanese also consider Shinto to be "underdeveloped"? I would be surprised if you could find 5 Japanese that thought Shinto needed some serious work to mature.

Saying a belief system has "room for development" clearly states that the belief system needs to improve and mature. It is implies that the belief system is incomplete.

Come back and look at Shinto in 200 years and it will look essentially the same as it does today.

Like I said, no one believes the Emperor is a god. I do not believe you must believe that to be a practicing Shintoist, just as there are practicing Christians that don't believe Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead and flew into the sky.

You're entirely right. But what I was getting at was that a statement such as Shinagawa's would hardly be considered "so judgmental" by most listeners in Japan.

And like I said about the way I take "underdeveloped" to mean, not as unfinished but as non-concrete. Most religions have a pretty set-in-stone this-is-what-you-must-do-and-think, whereas in contrast Shintoism seems to have not developed such an attitude.
I personally think most religions are overdeveloped and that Shintoism is just right, but who am I to argue against some one with a differing opinion, like most Japanese I wouldn't get so upset or even care enough to form more than a few minutes of thought on the matter.:vsign:

RealJames, I usually think you are pretty on-the-money, and at least you roll with punches, but I think you are off here.

You are telling me that what has been the national belief system of Japan for over 1000 years, the only domestic belief system followed in the country, would be generally accepted as "underdeveloped"?

Non-concrete does not mean the same thing as "underdeveloped". They are two completely different ideas in terms of meaning as well as level of negativity.

Would a teacher use the word "underdeveloped" to describe a student to her parent?

state shinto is now just Jinja Shinto. No shintoist really believes that the emperor is divine (since he admitted he was not after ww2). Neither do most shinto believe that lack of emperor worship compromises the lable of "shintoist". Shinto just refers to any belief set that has japanese paganism as its foundation.

I see. OK I can accept that.

I still have a problem with the term Shintoist to describe a person though. It implies adherence to a philosophy or ideology which Shinto doesn't have.

But I can accept Shinto to describe particular beliefs in a subjective manner.

As usual, I think we are in agreement with each other. :vsign:
Like I said "I personally think most religions are overdeveloped and that Shintoism is just right". So no, I wouldn't call Shintoism underdeveloped, but I wouldn't be surprised if anyone here perceived it that way.
I mean to say that I can understand how some people might see Shintoism to be underdeveloped relative to other mainstream religions.

On a slight side note:
I often have conversations about religion with people here and love how blunt and honest they are about their feelings of different religions because the taboo of talking about them isn't there. It's actually quite fun. :)

Tell me about it. I'm fan of the works of rationalists like Dawkins and Hitchens.

Can't discuss things like that in here though.. against the rules.

Yeah I often raise points made by both of them and they are very well received by even the most religious people here.
I honestly think both Dawkins and Hitchens are a little extreme with their words and what they accept but I understand that it's as a reflection to the equally strong words coming from the religious side of the debate.

I find both atheists and deists in Japan to be a lot more level-headed and also accepting of each other. Which honestly is so refreshing, if for no other reason than for good discussions that don't turn emotional and defensive.