The Encyclopedia of Shinto is the first publication of its kind in Russia. In this regard, the compilers of the Encyclopedia faced many scientific, organizational and didactic difficulties. Although Japan itself has many reference publications on Shinto, they could serve as a model only to a limited extent, since they are designed for the Japanese reader, whose ideas about Shinto and basic knowledge of Japanese culture are very different from the intellectual background of the domestic reader. Thus, in this “Encyclopedia” the authors had to combine the solution of scientific, popularization and reference problems. In connection with this, the compilers abandoned the purely dictionary structure of the “Encyclopedia”. The authors have identified several sections (sources and written monuments, myths and deities, ritual in the Shinto tradition, main shrines and their structure, schools and interpreters, reflection of Shinto in art and literature), which seem to be the minimum necessary to outline such a diverse and often not entirely defined phenomenon, which is Shinto. In these thematic sections of the dictionary entries, the authors prefaced their vision of a particular object of study in its historical development, which should give the reader a more complete idea of what Shinto is and what its boundaries are. It should be borne in mind that the conceptual positions of the authors of the Encyclopedia do not always coincide. This is reflected in the interpretation of certain phenomena and institutions, which reflects the complexity and versatility of the subject under study.

CONTENTS: Preface (A.N. Meshcheryakov) 5 Sources and written monuments 12 Myths and deities 45 Ritual in the Shinto tradition 101 Basic shrines and their structure 156Schools and interpreters 209Reflection of Shinto in art and literature 280Index of articles 311