From the Religious Yearbook 2025 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
Shinto is the general name for a religion that began and grew from beliefs about kami and spirits that belong to the Japanese people.
The word can also mean more than beliefs and rituals. It can include ways of thinking and acting that are passed down in everyday life.
One view that many people hold divides Shinto into three kinds: shrine Shinto, centered on shrines; sect Shinto, groups founded from the end of the Edo period; and folk Shinto, practiced at home or by each person without forming a group.
About 80,000 shrines are religious corporations today, and many other shrines are also honored by people.
The kami honored at shrines are very varied, as the old saying “yaoyorozu no kami” (eight million kami) suggests. At many shrines, it is not known which kami is honored.
Buddhism came to Japan in the middle of the 6th century. Today both Shinto and Buddhism are active in Japan.
There is no single right answer. Talking it over with someone at home is a good way to learn.