page_title: Religion in Japan
section_title: Taoism
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Japan / Minor religions / Other religions of East Asia / Taoism
caption_attribution_description: English: Main gate of Xien Ten Gong temple in Sakado, Saitama, Japan 日本語: 聖天宮 天門（埼玉県坂戸市）
context_page_description: Buddhism and Shintoism are the two major religions in Japan. According to the annual statistical research on religion in 2018 by the Agency for Culture Affairs, Government of Japan, 69.0 percent of the population practices Shintoism, 66.7 percent Buddhism, 1.5 percent Christianity, and 6.2 percent other religions. Total adherents exceeds 100% because many Japanese people practice both Shintoism and Buddhism. However, other surveys such as the Japanese General Social Survey and the Japanese National Character Survey find that roughly 70% of the population report that they have no religious beliefs. Most of the Japanese pray and worship ancestors and gods at Shinto shrines or at private altars, while not identifying as "Shinto" or "Shintoist" in surveys. This is because these terms have little meaning for the majority of the Japanese, or because they define membership in Shinto organizations or sects. The term "religion" itself in Japanese culture defines only organized religions. People who identify as "non-religious" in surveys actually mean that they do not belong to any religious organization, even though they may take part in Shinto rituals and worship.
context_section_description: Taoism (道教 Dōkyō) was introduced from China between the 7th and 8th centuries, and influenced in varying degrees the Japanese indigenous spirituality. Taoist practices were absorbed into Shinto, and Taoism was the source of the esoteric and mystical religions of Onmyōdō, Shugendō and Kōshin.
  Taoism, being an indigenous religion in China, shares some roots with Shinto, although Taoism is more hermetic while Shinto is more shamanic. Taoism's influence in Japan has been less profound than that of Japanese Neo-Confucianism. Today, institutional Chinese Taoism is present in the country in the form of some temples; the Seitenkyū was founded in 1995.
caption: Seitenkyū (聖天宮; Chinese: Shèngtiāngōng, "Temple of the Holy Heaven"), a Taoist temple in Sakado, Saitama.
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