Shinto in popular culture

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Statue of Ebisu, the god of fishermen and working men, in Tsu, Mie

Shinto is frequently a theme in Japanese popular culture, including film, manga, anime, and video games. Shinto religion is at the core of Japanese culture and history and as such greatly affects the outcome of pop culture in modern Japan.

Some works in Japanese or international popular culture borrow significantly from Shinto myths, deities, and beliefs. Aside from the many games, movies, manga and other cultural products that mention the religion or the names of its deities, some anime, film, video games, or other works feature Shinto elements as central elements.

Shinto itself features in popular culture as folk Shinto or Minkan Shinto.[1][page needed]

Anime and manga[]

Shinto motifs and themes such as kami (gods or spirits) and yokai (ghosts or demons) are particularly present in anime and manga.[2][3][page needed][4][5][6]

  • In Dream Saga, the Earth is destroyed and recreated whenever humans have polluted it. This is done when Susanoo, the Shinto god of the sea and storms, (the brother to Amaterasu) consumes Amaterasu, the sun goddess. The two main characters, Yuuki and Takaomi, are given key roles in the process.[7][non-primary source needed]

Film[]

Some Japanese films feature themes from Shinto religion or characters based on kami.[8] This is especially the case in animated films, such as Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away,[8] but can also be seen in other films.

  • The Three Treasures (1959) features several gods, including Amaterasu, Inzanagi and others as characters.[9]
  • In the Stargate series, Amaterasu is a Goa'uld System Lord who comes to Earth with Lord Yu and Camulus to form a temporary truce between Earth and the Goa'uld.[10]
  • In Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon Susanoo wishes to follow his mother, Izanami, to heaven when she dies, but his father, Izanagi, tells him he cannot.[11]

Video games[]

Main article: Religion and video games

Video games may relate to themes or characters from Shinto, as well as Buddhism, Christianity, and other religions.[12][13] Such games may present a heterodox or alternative take on religion, or even parody traditional practice or belief.[14] In addition to Shinto stories or kami, themes such as the sacredness of nature or the place of magic in everyday life are also visible in such games.[13]

Other works of popular culture[]

Shinto stories or kami also appear in other works of popular culture, including work set in Japan but produced outside of the country.

  • The Shinto deities Izanami and Izanagi (the latter incorrectly spelled as "Izaghi") appear in Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly.[17][page needed]
  • The Shinto deities Izanami and Izanagi (spelled "Izanaki") appear in Natsuo Kirino's The Goddess Chronicle.[18][non-primary source needed]
  • In the novel, Giles Goat-Boy, author John Barth makes reference to the people of Japan as the "Amaterasu," who were EATEN by WESCAC (a reference to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) during the "Second Campus Riot" (World War II).[19][non-primary source needed][page needed]
  • Izanagi and Izanami appear as minor supporting characters in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comic book series, aiding the Turtles and their allies in battle against a powerful demon whose emergence from a damaged nuclear reactor threatens the safety of all Japan.[20][21][non-primary source needed]
  • Several kami, including Susano-o-no-mikoto, Izanami, and Tsukuyomi, appear as supporting characters in the Vertigo Comics series Sandman and its spinoff Lucifer.[22][23]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Picken, Stuart D.B. (2011). Historical Dictionary of Shinto (2nd ed.). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. ISBN 0810873729. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  2. ^ Cavallaro, Dani (2010). Magic as Metaphor in Anime: A Critical Study. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 8. ISBN 0786456205. While in the Judaeo-Christian creed, the divinity is thought of as external to both time and space, in Shinto, spiritual forces (kami) are ...
  3. ^ Steiff, Josef; Tamplin, Tristan D. (2010). Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder. Chicago, Illinois: Open Court. ISBN 0812696700. For those of us not familiar with Shinto, its difficult to come to terms with a spiritual belief system that is not quite a religion and not ... Whether we comprehend the complex aspects of Shinto and its many evolutions—from its earliest origins to its ...
  4. ^ Hu, Tze-yue G. (2010). Frames of Anime: Culture and Image-Building. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. p. 48. ISBN 9622090982. Shintō scholar Muraoka Tsunetsugu identifies the creative musubi kami with "the power of growth and reproduction
  5. ^ Gymnich, Marion; Lichterfeld, Imke (2012). A Hundred Years of the Secret Garden: Frances Hodgson Burnett's Children's Classic Revisited. Göttingen: Bonn University Press. p. 111. ISBN 3847100548. Shinto basically provides thousands of stories and ancient myths which Japanese become familiar with from an early age.
  6. ^ Napier, Susan J. (2001). Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation (1st ed.). New York: Palgrave. p. 113. ISBN 0312238630. The film's haunting theme song is also clearly inspired by Shinto liturgy, 15 in its invocation to the gods to come and dance ... In fact, Oshii states that the "net" can be equated with the myriad gods of the Shinto religion,16 underlining the notion ...
  7. ^ Tachikawa, Megumi (2004). Dream Saga, Volume 3. Los Angeles, California: Tokyopop. ISBN 1591827760.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Mazur, Eric Michael (2011). Encyclopedia of Religion and Film. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 250. ISBN 9780313013980. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  9. ^ Galbraith, Stuart (2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Scarecrow Press. p. 161. ISBN 978-1-4616-7374-3.
  10. ^ Whitt, David; Perlich, John (2008). Sith, Slayers, Stargates & Cyborgs: Modern Mythology in the New Millennium. New York: P. Lang. p. 88. ISBN 9781433100956. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  11. ^ Pitts, Michael R. (2010). Columbia Pictures: Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films, 1928-1982. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 134. ISBN 9780786444472. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  12. ^ Perron, Bernard (2009). Horror Video Games: Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 95–120. ISBN 9780786441976. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Ong, Alicia. "The Religions Behind Final Fantasy" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-02-02.
  14. ^ Bainbridge, William Sims; Bainbridge, Wilma Alice (2007). "Electronic game research methodologies: Studying religious implications". Review of Religious Research. 49 (1): 35–53.
  15. ^ Walsh, Doug (2008). Ōkami: Official Strategy Guide for Nintendo Wii. Indianapolis, Indiana: Brady Games. ISBN 9780744010350.
  16. ^ Thursen, Chris (7 January 2016). "Smite season 3: Japanese gods herald huge changes". PC Gamer. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  17. ^ Fisher, Burton D. (2001). Puccini's Madam Butterfly: Opera Classics Library Series. Miami: Opera Journeys Publishing. ISBN 9780977132034. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  18. ^ Kirino, Natsuo (2012). The Goddess Chronicle. Edinburgh; New York: Canongate. ISBN 9780802121097.
  19. ^ Barth, John (1987). Giles Goat-Boy, or, The Revised New Syllabus (Anchor Books ed.). Garden City, New York: Anchor Books/Doubleday. ISBN 0385240864.
  20. ^ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #28: "Midnight Sun", Part 1 (January 1992)
  21. ^ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #30: "Midnight Sun", Part 3 (March 1992)
  22. ^ "Susano-O (Character)". Comic Vine. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
  23. ^ "Izanami (Character)". Comic Vine. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
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