> > One could certainly argue that shinto isn't very much like HW
> > "animism", in which the core practices seem to necessarily be
> > ecstatic. And nor is it anything much like (Heortling-style)
>
> Sure. According to my reading, Shinto emerges from an ecstatic
> animist tradition, but is steadily formalised into a full blown
> heirachical religion sanctifying the state as the earthly reflection
> of the heavenly order.
Only very latterly and relatively briefly does that become such a big deal.
When people say Shinto is "an animist religion", they're often in effect appealing to its belief system ("everything has a spirit"), rather than its practices
> It gets weirder when buddhism and confucianism get taken into
> account - apparently kami, being of the world, are just as capable of
> delusion as mortals, so frex buddhists would go to kami shrines and
> lecture them on proper behaviour and enlightenment!
Furthermore you also end up with several flavours of "Buddhistinfluenced Shinto" and indeed, "Shinto-influenced Buddhism"...
AFAIK bout the one thing you _don't_ get is anything at all like a western-style mystery cult...
> > I'd suggest that to an extent, one should throw out some of this
> > bathwater, and choose the _mechanic_ that seems to give you the
> > best description of the practice concerned. i.e., whichever one
> > "feels" best...
>
> Yes, although I'd like to keep as much in the HW ballpark as
> possible. No Kralorela books out yet.... But I'm also prepared to
> play pretty fast and loose. I want to keep the HW mechanic, but not
> necessarily every aspect of its implementation, so its worth
> exploring what the present implementation is aimed at.
I didn't so much mean "make up new mechanics" as simply take a shopping list approach: i.e. if a Talent seems the appropriate mechanic, use it, rather than agonising about whether something "really is" animism vs. veneration, or whatever.
> > I think that'd be a viable approach. Essentially you're saying
> > the laity relate to the spirits in a formalised manner, and the
> > "priesthood" in an experiential one, right?
>
> Essentially, yes, although there will be two priesthoods, the
> shugenja doing the ecstatic animist stuff and the shinto liturgists.
Mind you, the term "liturgist" has some unfortunate baggage. (I suppose ritual is the key element rather than "liturgy" in any obvious sense.)
> The peasants are venerating kami/saints at shrines and the equivalent
> of the IG in the big ceremonies.
There's a Shinto equivalent of the IG?
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