Kunio Yanagita
Koshintō research began at the same time as examinations into Early Buddhism. In this era, Japan's shrine rituals were being "purified" of their religious nature and turned into national forms, a process called State Shinto today. Religionists began looking for the origin of these forms in a primitive "nature religion". Early folklorists such as Kunio Yanagita were also seeking a purely Japanese tradition.