Digital Shinto Communities also known as “Online Shinto Communities”
Creators: name: Ugoretz, Kaitlyn
Publisher: name: Database of Religious History (DRH)
Year: 2021

description: Digital Shinto communities (DSCs) are transnational networks of Shinto shrines, priests, and lay practitioners supported by various forms of digital technology, in particular social media platforms. These communities center on the ritual veneration of immanent Shinto deities known as kami (神), as "Shintō" (神 道) is often translated as "the Way of the Kami." The category of kami is quite broad, including: divine personalities such Amaterasu Omikami, sun goddess and imperial ancestress, or Inari Okami, particularly revered for agriculture, business, and prosperity broadly conceived; impersonal natural forces or features such as wind, thunder, trees, rivers, and mountains; and human figures. Generally speaking, during Shinto ritual veneration, extensions of a kami's spirit may be called to reside in certain natural and man-made materials (such as a sacred evergreen branch, a mirror, sword, paper or wooden talisman, etc.) to receive offerings and prayers. The emergence of digital Shinto communities can be traced back to the advent of Web 2.0 with the creation of the Shinto Mailing List (ShintoML) on Yahoo! Groups in 2000. ShintoML was extremely active for a decade and enjoyed a membership of over one thousand people, though activity began to taper off in 2010 as ShintoML members migrated to Facebook following the platform’s upgrading of group features. Today, as many as ten thousand people are members of an active Facebook DSC, though community engagement spans multiple social media platforms including blogs, Reddit, Discord, YouTube, and Patreon. Some DSCs are public general Shinto interest groups, while others are private organizations for shrine supporters (sūkeisha 崇敬者) and confraternity (kō 講) members. While DSC membership includes Japanese emigrants and their descendants (nikkeijin 日系人), the majority of members tend to be non-Japanese with general knowledge of Japanese history and culture gleaned from popular Japanese media, the internet, and brief trips to Japan. However, the most active members have extensive knowledge of Shinto gained through personal study, several years of membership in DSCs, and ritual practice. A 2019 survey of fifty DSC members and kamidana 神棚 (domestic altar) ownership indicates that the majority live in the United States and the UK, although membership truly spans the globe. Most were raised in nominally Christian households, though others grew up in atheist and Buddhist families. Official group leadership, on the other hand, is populated by a mix of Japanese, Nikkei, and Caucasian administrators (“admins”) or moderators (“mods”) with varying levels of institutional involvement, ranging from lay shrine caretaker to senior priest. DSC members share most beliefs and practices in common, though they may support different shrines and venerate different kami, the divinities at the center of Shinto ritual. Often without direct access to traditional Shinto spaces and materials such as shrines or sacred talismans (ofuda お札) required for ritual practice in one’s home, compounded by a distinct lack of foundational Shinto texts (particularly translated into English) to which they may refer, transnational Shinto practitioners must make creative use of the sources available to them to establish shared knowledge, aesthetics, belief, and practice and properly manage their veneration of kami. These strategies include creating in-group informational resources relating to core Shinto beliefs, texts, and practices such as guidelines and FAQs (“frequently asked questions”), reviewing academic and popular publications on Shinto, sharing photographs of ritual materials and links to trusted vendors, and participating in in-person rituals and ritual livestreams. Though often overlooked, digital Shinto communities hold significant relevance for the study of Japanese religion, online or digital religion, and globalization. Issues of authority and authenticity are raised as DSC members seek, construct, and contest the legitimization of personal approaches to Shinto within a polyvocal network of shrines from various traditions within Shinto, academic and popular literature, online forums, blogs, and popular media. Moreover, Shinto ontologies of the sacred are reconfigured as DSC members theorize and manage their relationships with kami, their local environment, and everyday experiences.