Types
To distinguish between these different focuses of emphasis within Shinto, many feel it is important to separate Shinto into different types of Shinto expression.
- Shrine Shinto (神社神道, jinja-shintō?) is the most prevalent of the Shinto types. It has always been a part of Japan's history and constitutes the main current of Shinto tradition. Shrine Shinto is associated in the popular imagination with summer festivals, good luck charms, making wishes, holding groundbreaking ceremonies, and showing support for the nation of Japan. Before the Meiji Restoration, shrines were disorganized institutions usually attached to Buddhist temples, but they were claimed by the government during the imperial period for patriotic use and systematized. The successor to the imperial organization, the Association of Shinto Shrines, oversees about 80,000 shrines nationwide.
- Imperial Household Shinto (皇室神道, Kōshitsu-shintō?) are the religious rites performed exclusively by the Imperial Family at the three shrines on the Imperial grounds, including the Ancestral Spirits Sanctuary (Kōrei-den) and the Sanctuary of the Kami (Shin-den).
- Folk Shinto (民俗神道, minzoku-shintō?) includes the numerous but fragmented folk beliefs in deities and spirits. Practices include divination, spirit possession, and shamanic healing. Some of their practices come from Buddhism, or Confucianism, but most come from ancient local traditions.
- Sect Shinto (宗派神道, shūha-shintō?) is a legal designation originally created in the 1890s to separate government-owned shrines from local religious practices. They do not have shrines, but conduct religious activities in meeting halls. Shinto sects include the mountain-worship sects, who focus on worshipping mountains like Mount Fuji, faith-healing sects, purification sects, Confucian sects, and Revival Shinto sects. The remainder of Sectarian Shinto is New Sect Shinto. The current groups of Sect Shinto are Kurozumikyo, Shinto Shuseiha, Izumo Oyashirokyo, Fusokyo, Jikkokyo, Shinshukyo, Shinto Taiseikyo, Ontakekyo, Shinto Taikyo, Misogikyo, Shinrikyo and Konkokyo. An association of Sect Shintoists also exists.
- Koshintō (古神道, ko-shintō?), literally "Old Shinto", is a reconstructed "Shinto from before the time of Buddhism", today based on Ainu religion and Ryukyuan practices. It continues the Restoration movement begun by Hirata Atsutane.
All these main types of Shinto and some subtypes have given birth to many and diverse schools and sects since medieval times to the present days. A list of the most relevant can be found at the article Shinto sects and schools.
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