Deeply ingrained in Japanese culture, Shinto is a religion that has revered the natural order -- sun, sea, trees, waterfalls -- throughout its history. A religion primarily of ritual observance and festival celebration, it provides the Japanese people with many opportunities for colorful and exuberant expression. Although Shinto is the `native religion' of Japan, the name itself, Shin-to, is an old Chinese word, meaning "The Way of the Gods" -- the final syllable of the word, -to, is the same word as `Tao' in the language of Chinese Taoism. The Japanese themselves chose to use a Chinese name for their native religion because at that time, more than a millennium ago, Chinese was the unique language of writing in Japan, which had not yet developed a tradition of writing in its own language. The Japanese phrase meaning the same thing as the Chinese word Shinto is Kami no michi, "The Way of the Supernals." Thus the two expressions, one Chinese in origin and the other pure Japanese, are interchangeable; but for historical reasons the old Chinese name for the Japanese religion continues to be more commonly used.
Like Chinese Taoism, Japanese Shinto too has been highly eclectic, with older roots in myth and liturgy than in theological speculation or philosophy. An understanding of specific Shinto shrines and old Shinto myths is very important to a complete understanding.