Summary
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Japanese belief system Shinto.A religion without gods, scriptures or a founder, Shinto is perhaps better described as a system of belief. Central to it is the idea of kami, spirits or deities associated with places, people and things. Shinto shrines are some of the most prominent features of the landscape in Japan, where over 100 million people - most of the population - count themselves as adherents.Since its emergence as a distinct religion many centuries ago, Shinto has happily coexisted with Buddhism and other religions; in fact, adherents often practise both simultaneously. Although it has changed considerably in the face of political upheaval and international conflict, it remains one of the most significant influences on Japanese culture.With:Martin PalmerDirector of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and CultureRichard Bowring Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of CambridgeLucia DolceSenior Lecturer in Japanese Religion and Japanese at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.Producer: Thomas Morris.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time, for more details about in our time, and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co.uk. |
| 0:08.0 | Radio 4. I hope you enjoy the programme. |
| 0:11.0 | Hello, in a tranquil forest in the Japanese city of Ise |
| 0:14.4 | stands a group of wooden buildings which are visited by 7 million people every |
| 0:18.9 | year. |
| 0:19.9 | Together they make up the Ise Shrine, one of the holiest sites of Shinto. |
| 0:24.8 | And there's been a place of worship there, at least since the 5th century, although according |
| 0:28.9 | to custom the shrine is demolished and rebuilt every 20 years. |
| 0:32.8 | Shinto is one of Japan's major religions, |
| 0:35.4 | practiced by 110 million of the country's inhabitants. |
| 0:38.2 | Unusually, it has no founder figure, |
| 0:40.7 | no holy scripture, nor even a central deity. Many Japanese follow Shinto as well as |
| 0:45.8 | another religion, and it's practiced nowhere else. There's much debate as to how long |
| 0:49.9 | it's existed, and some people even dispute whether it is accurate to describe it as a |
| 0:54.3 | religion in the first place. With me to discuss Shinto, I'm Martin Palmer, |
| 0:58.4 | director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education and Culture, Richard Bowering, professor of Japanese |
| 1:05.1 | studies at the University of Cambridge and Nuccio Dolche, senior lecturer in |
| 1:09.4 | Japanese religion at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. |
| 1:13.6 | Martin Palmer, can you tell us what this word, what Shinto means? |
| 1:16.7 | Well, Jinto is two Chinese characters. |
| 1:20.5 | The first character means gods, deities, and dough is the same word as Tao in China |
| 1:27.7 | meaning the way. So it's the way of the gods, but it's a very formal title which |
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