Shinto is a native Japanese religion and was once regarded as the state religion. The religion rotates around Kami that believes in sacred things that take things and principles important in life, such as mountains, rain, rivers, winds, among others. Most of the people in Japan believe in Shinto shrines. The tradition recognizes many blessings from nature and the spiritual power that brings prosperity, life, and fertility. People who believe in religion feel the divine in nature that holds the ideal from life. The worship shrine has been built on woods forming the hearts of the local communities and villages. Most importantly, greeneries and forests in Japan flourish around the shrines. The Shinto people are guarded by religion. Forests mark the communities’ true shrines and not the buildings. The communities carry out ceremonies such as Oharae meant to purify someone and remove sins (Japanagos, 2014) . The ceremony is usually performed at the end of every year.
The Shinto religion believed in the purity rights in which it believes that purity can be brought back through certain individual practices and rituals to cleanse both the mind and the body. Additionally, the religion uses salt and water as the purifying agents, and the rituals are carried out at the beginning of its religious ceremonies. Shinto's purification rituals were inherited from the god Izanagi no Mikoto (BBC, 2009) . The legend washed from contaminations he had acquired when he had visited his wife in the land of the dead.
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The Shinto shrines are designed with natural materials such as the cypress woods, which provide a home for certain kami to which they are dedicated. Additionally, the shrines are not dedicated to a single kami but also focus on their devotees. The shrines have animal statutes like fox and horses, which serve the kami in multiple ways. Also, the shrines’ entrances have been marked with torii gates built using black or orange woods (Life Where I'm From, 2019) . Additionally, the gates contain crossbars that symbolize the boundary between the kami's infinite world and the secular everyday world. The shrines also have twisted ropes hanged in the torii marking the place as sacred and ritual. Moreover, there are statute dogs at the entrance meant to scare the evil people away. Also, the communities have built the worship centers with three walls; the main hall, the offering hall, and the worship hall. While entering the shrines, people pass through the left side other than in the middle as they believe that it's god's path (Japanagos, 2014) . The ways objects in the shrines are created to develop connections between the natural world and shrines. The shrine gardens are designed to create a deep sense of harmony and spiritual between the natural world and humanity.
References
BBC. (2009, September 16). Religions: Harae - purification rites . https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/shinto/ritesrituals/harae.shtml
Japanagos. (2014, January 29). Visiting a Shinto shrine (how to pray, what to do) . Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjHhFgvq_co
Life Where I'm From. (2019, October 11). Japan: Where Gods Aren't Gods and Worshipers Aren't Religious (Shinto Explained) . Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htxVoNBd5do
