Shintoism

Shinto is the native religion of Japan. Involves the worship of the Kami, a term which can be translated as gods, nature spirits or just spiritual presences. Some kami are local and can be regarded as the guardian spirits of a particular place, but others may represent a specific object or a natural event. Even famous people, heroes and ancestors become an object of veneration after death and are then counted among the kami. The word Shinto was created by combining two kanji: 神 shin which means "god", "spirit" (the character can also be read as kami in Japanese and is in turn formed by the union of two other characters 示 "altar" and 申 "talk, report"; literally what he speaks, he manifests the altar. 申 also determines their reading) and $947; t!3; in Chinese Tao ("way", "path" and by extension, in the philosophical sense makes the meaning practice or discipline like Judo or Karate or Aikido yet). So, Shinto literally means "practice of the Gods", "way of the gods."