Changing my Perspective on the Effects of WWII

When I first picked the topic of Shinto before and after WWII, I had no idea about Shinto. I have only ever learned about WWII. Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan that has dominated since ancient times. The word Shinto literally means “the way of the gods/spirits”. After reading through several articles, I discovered that Shintoism evolved from tightly held communities in Japan. Until the sixth century A.D. Shintoism did not have a name. It wasn’t until Buddhism and Confucianism appeared in Japan from China that a name was needed to distinguish it. As Buddhism and Confucianism came to fruition in Japan all three religions started communicating and adopting things from each other. Buddhism especially connected with Shintoism. Buddhist Temples were built under Shinto priest and dedicated in Shinto ceremonies. Buddhist priest took over many Shinto shrines. Starting in the eighth and ninth the Shinto priests started writing down their oral traditions. Eventually as Buddhism grew, Shintoism and Buddhism became virtually the same, and more Shinto priest began to embrace their native, ancient history as opposed to the foreign Buddhist beliefs.

As I research more and more about this topic, I have decided that for my paper I really would like to learn about the religion from the Japanese perspective, rather than the American perspective. If I look from the American perspective, I think that I would be biased on how it changed after WWII. I think that reading more about Shinto, is helping me learn more about the Japanese and different cultures in general. When I have learned about WWII I have always learned about the war itself, but now I get to dive into the effects of the war on the Japanese.