ABSTRACT
There are thirteen Shintō sects now living and officially recognized as religions in Japan, on the same footing as Buddhism and Christianity. These sects are (1) the Fusōkyō, (2) the Jikkōkyō, (3) the Kurozumikyō, (4) the Misogikyō, (5) the Tenrikyō, (6) the Konkōkyō, (7) the Shinrikyō, (8) the Taiseikyō, (9) the Shinshūkyō, (10) the Ontakekyō, (11) the Shūseiha, (12) the Shintōhonkyoku, and (13) the Taishakyō. Those numbered from (1) to (6) and, to a certain extent, also number (7), existed as religious Shintō sects in the Tokugawa Regime (1600-1867), while the six numbered (8) to (13) came into existence as independent Shintō sects in the Meiji Era (1868-1912), although some of both groups may be said to have a far remoter origin in ancient times or even in the Divine Age. State Shintō, termed by certain foreign scholars patriotic Shintō, is subdivided by some Japanese scholars into two parts: one is called Jinsha (Jinja) Shintō, which is concretely represented in the Shintō rites performed by Shinkan and Shinshoku or Shintō priests who are all secular government officials in jure in Jinsha (Jinja) or Shintō shrines-buildings in the plain, simple style of old-dedicated to Kami or Shintō deities, while the other called Kokutai Shintō consists of ethical teachings or moral instructions inseparably connected with the unique national organization and history of the Japanese people, formulated in the “Edict on Education” issued by the late Emperor Meiji in the year 1890 (about the middle of the Meiji Era), and now inculcated in schools throughout the Empire.
