Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan, emphasizes nature to a considerable degree, a distinguishing feature of the faith. Buddhism offers a far more cerebral and philosophical approach, as well as pathways for personal psychological development. Unlike Shinto, Buddhism is not indigenous to Japan and is in fact a foreign religion that simply became entrenched there. In Japan, the two religions often fuse and their temples are found in close proximity to one another. They are not considered mutually exclusive or conflicting; they are both integral to Japanese identity, social norms, and culture.



Shinto places of worship are often referred to as shrines, although that translation is weak in the sense that in English, a shrine can convey a ritualistic altar to a dead person. Although Shinto does include ancestral worship as part of its core features, a Shinto shrine is simply a specific place that is deemed...
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