Fukko Shinto

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Fukko Shintō (復古神道, Restoration Shinto) is a movement within Shinto that was advocated by Japanese scholars during the Edo period.^[1][2] It attempted to reject Buddhist and Confucian influence on Shinto and return to a native Japanese tradition based on Koshinto.

There were many different variants of Fukko Shintō, but what generally united them was a desire to return to a worldview unique to the Japanese people, and which predated the influence of foreign teachings such as Confucianism and Buddhism. It placed great emphasis on "kannagara no michi"^[3] (young. "the way of the divine handed down from time immemorial"), which embodies the will of the gods.^[4]

Like Suika Shintō, which emerged in the early Edo period, Fukko Shintō came to exert great influence over its time. However, thanks to so-called Kokugakusha (scholars of Japanese culture), it developed from a more academic standpoint. Scholars such as Kamo no Mabuchi and Motoori Norinaga first advanced the theory of Kodō, followed by Hirata Atsutane and Honda Chikaatsu [ja] who completed Fukko Shintō through rejection of Confucianism and Buddhism, and fervor for what they saw as Japan's pure and ancient beliefs.^[5] The movement became popular not only among merchants in the cities, but spread throughout the country through village leaders and landowners to peasants. It had great influence on the imperial loyalists at the end of the Edo period, and after the Meiji Restoration it was introduced as part of the Sonnō jōi (revere the emperor, expel the barbarians) movement's ideology.^[6]

In many schools of Fukko Shintō, "kotodama", and "kazutama" were used to interpret texts such as Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. Several have been adopted and reconstructed, such as togoto no kajiri,^[7] or mikusa no harai.^[8] Misogi was also considered important. Along with kotodama, futomani, tamashizume and kishinhō are considered the four pillars of Fukko Shintō. Alongside this, orifu was also developed. Many of the practices used in shintō shrines today have their origins in the Fukko Shintō movement. Currently, some religious groups claim to follow Fukko Shinto but not Hirata Atsutane, but this claim is seen as untenable.