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Food offered up could range from their staple of rice to seafood, food foraged from the mountains, seasonal foods, local specialties, or food connected to the enshrined kami. At the end of the ritual, the offered food is eaten together to gain a sense of unity with the kami, and to gain their blessing and protection. The rite is known as naorai.
Misogi (禊) is a Japanese Shinto practice of ritual purification by washing the entire body. Misogi is related to another Shinto purification ritual, harae. Thus, both are collectively referred to as misogiharae (禊祓). [1]
Shinto (神道, Shintō), also kami-no-michi, [a] is the indigenous religion of Japan and of most of the people of Japan. [14] George Williams classifies Shinto as an action-centered religion; [15] it focuses on ritual practices to be carried out diligently in order to establish a connection between present-day Japan and its ancient roots. [16]
A torii gateway to the Yobito Shrine (Yobito-jinja) in Abashiri City, HokkaidoThere is no universally agreed definition of Shinto. [2] According to Joseph Cali and John Dougill, if there was "one single, broad definition of Shinto" that could be put forward, it would be that "Shinto is a belief in kami", the supernatural entities at the centre of the religion. [3]
In all Shinto religious ceremonies, harae is performed in the beginning of the ritual to cleanse any evil, pollution or sins away before anyone gives offerings to the kami. Often, water and salt are used for the ceremonies to rinse hands and the face, as well as the shrine before it is prepared with offerings of goods and food. [ 6 ]
Shinto is a blend of indigenous Japanese folk practices, beliefs, court manners, and spirit-worship which dates back to at least 600 CE. [7]: 99 These beliefs were unified as "Shinto" during the Meiji era (1868–1912), [6]: 4 [12] though the Chronicles of Japan (日本書紀, Nihon Shoki) first referenced the term in the eighth century.
A Shinto wedding ceremony. A Shinto wedding ceremony is typically a small affair, limited to family, while a reception is open to a larger group of friends. [1]Shinzen kekkon, literally "wedding before the kami," is a Shinto purification ritual [2] that incorporates the exchange of sake between the couple before they are married. [1]
The Wajinden describes the people of the Yayoi period as clapping in worship. [14] Some people considered it as Buddhist, with the right hand meaning Buddha and the left hand meaning all beings so unification of Buddha and all beings. [15] As Buddhism and shinto have been together for so long it is unclear which one it originated from. [16]