(Japanese) The way of the kami (gods).
Shintô is the indigenous faith of the Japanese people, and it is as old as the culture itself. The kami, or gods, are the objects of worship in Shintô. It has no founder and no sacred scriptures like the sutra or the Bible. Initially, it was so unselfconscious that it also had no name. The term Shintô came into use after the 6th century, when it was necessary to distinguish it from the recently imported Buddhism.
It is not unusual for Japanese people to be followers of both Buddhism and Shintô. Today many people visit Shintô shrines for self-purification services. Purification rites are a vital part of Shintô.
A personal purification rite is the purification by water; this may involve standing under a waterfall, which is known as misogi.
In Mikao Usui’s traditional teachings there is a technique called kenyoku hô‚ which is a kind of misogi. The use of jumon or kotodama is an aspect of Shintô that is also reflected in Mikao Usui’s teachings.