Shinto, Death, and the Afterlife

Shinto has much less to say about death and the afterlife than many people might expect of a religion, but that does not mean that it says nothing. Similarly, most people in Japan have Buddhist funerals and honour their ancestors with Buddhist rituals, but there are Shinto rituals for all these things. Finally, some jinja do enshrine dead people, although it makes much less difference to the practices there than you might think. This essay provides a general introduction to the topic of death in Shinto.

Torii image © Dean Spencer, used with permission. All rights reserved.