“To be fully alive is to have an aesthetic perception of life because a major
part of the world's goodness lies in its often unspeakable beauty.”
― Yukitaka Yamamoto
How did the Shinto religion effect the people's impression of Christianity?
Throughout medieval Japan religion was a major part of every person throughout Japan and it greatly influenced people’s way of life.
When the Portuguese merchants arrived in Japan with Christian missionaries and Jesuits the people were intrigued as they were always curious about learning things about life outside of Japan. The local Japanese people initially assumed that the foreigners were from India and that Christianity was a new "Indian Faith". Over the years more missionaries arrived in Japan and thousands of people were converted.
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However loyal Japanese were to their Shinto and ruler, Shinto did not offer an afterlife. It simply stated that you must please the Kami and worship your ruler. The Japanese were taken in by the idea that there was a second life that would be rewarded as a result of a pure life.
Additionally they though it amazing that in this religion that everyone man and woman is born equal; there is no hierarchy. Willingly many Japanese were converted due to this aspect of the religion and Christianity quickly spread through the county.
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Influences
Japan is located in such a isolated place and is very mountainous, the people are constantly surrounded by nature. The major part of the Shinto religion is belief in kami (sacred or divine beings) although also understood as spiritual essences.
Kami belief is on the foundations of Shinto. Shinto understands that kami not
only exist as spiritual being, but also in nature; in the flora. Within mountains, trees, rivers and even geographical regions. "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift; that is why |
Shinto had a major impact on every Japanese person’s life under the Shogunate.
Followers of Shinto worship kami by living in harmony with their environment. Shinto teachings emphasize simple rituals, which cleanse people and their belongings of any impurities. There is no concept of sin in the Shinto religion. Impurities, instead, come from things such as mourning or being ill. Many of the rituals that are a part of the religion came about as a way of asking for help or protection, or to offer thanks. |
The Main Deities