Shinto is the indigenous spirituality of Japan. A combination of myth, history and ritual designed to connect the present with the ancient past, Shinto is practised by the vast majority of the Japanese but is not regarded as a definable religion. Over the last two centuries Japan has repeatedly responded to the challenges of modernity, but it has struggled to define the spiritual and moral essence of Shinto. Shinto has been viewed as a national religion, a non-religious patriotic cult, a moral way, a private religion of Shinto shrines, and an ancient form of animism offering a contemporary...