Shintoism prescribed shrine rituals as a way of showing respect and devotion The term was not in use until the 19th century Shinto is the religious structure that provides definition and a framework in which the practitioner can navigate the worship of specific kami Shintoism is also believed to encompass the indigenous animistic beliefs of the Japanese and was an attempt to formalize different types of beliefs into a cohesive structure The word kami is the collective term used to describe the representation of what can be referred to as beings (or deities) found within such things as mountains and rivers Deceased persons are sometimes able to become kami; however, this is a rare occurrence The written characters that make the word Shinto consist of two kanji, the first being shin (meaning “god” but also translated as “kami”) and the second being tao (meaning “path”) The literal translation means “way of the gods.” It is believed that the Yamato imperial court systematically deployed kami worship as a religious system during the third century c.e Shinto is widely recognized as an essentially Japanese religious system, having come into existence during the animistic Jomon Period (12,000 to 400 b.c.e.) and practiced by rural rice-cultivating peoples from the Yayoi Period (400 b.c.e to 300 c.e.) Before the Meiji Restoration in 1868, which saw Shinto becoming the sanctioned religion, there were three distinct forms of Shinto, or more appropriately, kami worship: These were Rural, Shrine, and Imperial Shinto Before the intervention of the imperial state kami worship was, at best, disorganized and highly individualistic From the fifth century c.e Shinto practices amalgamated with Mahayana Buddhist and Confucian theology Shinto’s amalgamation with Buddhism and the ritualistic nature of Buddhist practices contributed to its remarkable integration into all levels of society, from the imperial family to the rural population It is believed that the naming of the religion occurred as a way of distinguishing it from Buddhism and Confucianism Rural kami worship was often referred to as folk Shinto In order to ensure prosperous crops and a harmonious village life kami would be worshipped through rituals designed to appeal to or appease the deities Each region in Japan was thought to have different rituals concerning the kami in their area, and each ritual was defined by the type of kami worshipped (such as rice cultivation and fish farming), hence different regions in Japan would have had entirely different and diverse systems of worship As agricultural developments increased and society underwent social and political change, ritual was increasingly employed to ensure a balance between the deities (kami) and the people As 427 Shinto is a Japanese religious system that began before the historic era in Japan society modernized so did the need for a codified structure of religion and religious practices Shrine Shinto and imperial Shinto are similar in that they were dependent upon kami worship as ritual During the beginnings of the imperial state an official network of shrines was established, and through imperial decrees and ritualized (and state-controlled) prayers (norito) the kami system was formalized Chinese influences and concepts of deities during the Yamato court, such as ama-tsu-kami (heavenly deities), also contributed to the continual construction of Shintoism The majority of information obtained from primary sources concerning Shinto comes from those written during the Yamato court era The construction of ritsuryo law (Japanese imperial law) focused particularly on shrine rituals that meant that many indigenous rituals or practices had not been written down Imperial Shinto practices are more likely to have survived in historical record, as imperial households commissioned such records One such practice is the continual use of clerical titles denoting Shinto priests and practitioners in relation to their duties at various shrines The highestranking priest or priestess in Japan is referred to as Saishu and is affiliated with the Grand Shrine of Ise A member of the imperial family most often holds this position The lowest-ranking Shinto priest is the Toya, a part-time layperson chosen from village members to enter the shine for a specific amount of time Women were originally allowed to hold ceremonial positions within Shinto; however, as the religion underwent a