The Association of Shrines put out a video in 2009 about human connectedhess with the environment. A woman dressed in white wanders through unspoilt nature with a voiceover that talks of the interconnectedness of life and the need for gratitude. … Read the rest
Category: Green issues (Page 15 of 16)
Let me briefly introduce myself first. My name is Aike Rots. I have BA degrees in Japanese Studies and Comparative Religion from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Afterwards, I followed the MA program in Japanese Religions at the … Read the rest
Had lunch with Pat Ormsby today, Shinto priest and environmentalist, who told me the history of the Asakawa Konpira fight to protect the mountain on which it stands at Takao on the fringe of Tokyo. The leading role the … Read the rest
In Shinto animals are seen as spirit messengers, and I take this to be derived from shamanism where they aid the shaman in taking flight to the spirit world. Particular animals are associated with certain kami. The fox with Inari, … Read the rest
There was a seminar on July 10 in Kumano organised by the International Shinto Foundation and inspired by the United Nations Year of the Forest. Unfortunately I was unable to attend, but Katherine Marshall, senior fellow at Georgetown University, wrote … Read the rest
If you punch the words ‘Shinto + pantheism’ into google, you get a rather amusing mix of references. Some assert that the religion is a form of pantheism and others are adamant that it is not. Official commentators, such as … Read the rest
Shinto’s potential as a green philosophy could be the decisive factor in its spread to the West. The rising interest in pantheism and paganism is driven by environmental concerns and a yearning for greater reverence for nature. 
Even as we … Read the rest