6 The Shinto religion and suicide in Japan
Yoshihiro Kaneko,
Akiko Yamasaki,
Kiminori Arai
https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780198834441.003.0006
Page 41–46
Published:
January 2021
Abstract
The Shinto religion profoundly influences many Japanese people. It is their emotional mainstay, although it has neither common commandments nor scriptures. According to Shinto, human beings are part of nature and can live only because nature is the parent. Mankind should live in the ‘way of the gods’. The worship of ancestors is an important value in Shinto. The Shinto attitude towards suicide is somewhat ambivalent. Shinto believes that humans return to nature after death, suicide does not constitute an exception, and suicide as a sacrificial act is condoned. On the other hand, believing that life is given by nature and ancestors implies that suicide is wrong. The increasing number of suicides during recent years, mainly for socioeconomic reasons, has deeply affected the Japanese society and its attitudes towards suicide. This has resulted in many suicide prevention activities in which religion can play an important role.
January 2021
Abstract
The Shinto religion profoundly influences many Japanese people. It is their emotional mainstay, although it has neither common commandments nor scriptures. According to Shinto, human beings are part of nature and can live only because nature is the parent. Mankind should live in the ‘way of the gods’. The worship of ancestors is an important value in Shinto. The Shinto attitude towards suicide is somewhat ambivalent. Shinto believes that humans return to nature after death, suicide does not constitute an exception, and suicide as a sacrificial act is condoned. On the other hand, believing that life is given by nature and ancestors implies that suicide is wrong. The increasing number of suicides during recent years, mainly for socioeconomic reasons, has deeply affected the Japanese society and its attitudes towards suicide. This has resulted in many suicide prevention activities in which religion can play an important role.
Keywords: suicide, Shinto, religion, Japan, shrine, attitudes, worship, nature
Subject Psychiatry
Series Oxford Textbooks in Psychiatry
6 The Shinto religion and suicide in Japan - Oxford Academichttps://academic.oup.com › book › chapter
AbstractThe Shinto religion profoundly influences many Japanese people. ... Kamata T (. 2000. ). Shinto Towa Nanika: Shizen no Reisei wo Kanjite Ikiru.
