Angela Varga: Shinto and Nature

Nature has power. The Japanese religion, Shinto, is firmly based upon this fact. Connection to the land and the crops is important to Shinto beliefs. Pollution, such as ill-feelings like anger and resentment, or physical pollution like menstruation and defecation is detrimental to the practice of Shinto. Because of the potential for pollution, purification rituals are essential to Shinto. In my Religions of the East class we talked briefly about Shinto in lecture. My professor posted supplementary text on the purification ritual, misogi. The supplemental reading titled "Purification by Waterfall" talks about the Misogi ritual. The ritual entails a group of Shinto practicers led by a priest standing under a waterfall in order to purify themselves. Purification rituals may also take place in the ocean. The point of the purification rituals is to “affirm the potential for realizing the infinite in one's own soul, and unify the people with the kami of earth, guidance, water, life, and the ki”. I thought this article related to our class because it expresses that wilderness and nature are important elements to many types of religions.