Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c209IR // #c209Synthesis

It is quite true that there is a large element of ancestor worship in modern Japanese religious practices, but a very little examination shows that all the great deities of the older Shinto are not Man, but Nature gods.

— In our words · Source: Shinto: The Ancient Religion of Japan (William George Aston)

[Use when]

When a belief about a tradition comes mostly from its modern packaging, check the founding layer — the ancestors may be younger than the gods.

[Why it matters]

Corrects the most durable misunderstanding of Shinto — held even by most educated Japanese in Aston's day — by naming what the old gods actually were: Sun, Moon, Earth, Sea, Rain-storm, Fire, Thunder.

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