Shinto is a Japanese ethnic religion. The word "Shinto" means "the way of the spirits", the underlying principle being ancestor worship. It must have evolved gradually, accumulating fresh material as ages passed without any religious reformer directing it or altering it. It has no sacred books or moral code.

Shinto is the religion of the followers of Mikado, the Japanese Emperor. The Mikado is in fact, the focal point of the religion, the only God that it knows. There are, however, innumerable deities. Except for certain rituals developed through the ages, Shinto has no religious content or appeal.

Shinto has declined rapidly after the Japanese emperor surrounded his claim to divinity in 1947. The central shrine of Shintoism is at lse, in Central Japan, to which all devout Japanese make pilgrimages. Shintos are found almost exclusively in Japan.