ABSTRACT
With regard to the history of kami worship, two trends characterised the medieval period (which is here taken to have begun with the decline of the ritsuryo¯ system in the tenth and eleventh centuries). First, the court policy to establish a centralised system of kami worship collapsed, and the kami cults of different political and social groups (the court, local elites, warrior groups, occupational groups) developed into different directions. Second, kami cults and Buddhism amalgamated, and combinatory cults became prevalent. Parallel with this second development, theological ‘Shinto doctrines’ of increasing sophistication were formulated. These two trends, and the interplay between them, shaped medieval Shinto.
