Shintoism: Religion, History, Beliefs

The Shinto religion was started in the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) of Japanese history.  The Tokugawa Enlightenment inspired a group of people who studied kokugaku, which roughly translated means nativism, Japanese Studies, or Native Studies.  Kokugakus intent was to recover Japanese character to what it was before the early influences of foreigners, especially the Chinese. Some…