Excerpt: It
is extremely difficult to estimate the number of Shinto adherents throughout
the world. Some sources give numbers in the range of 2.8 to 3.2 million. Others
state that 40% of Japanese adults follow Shinto; if that was the case there would
be about 50 million adherents. Yet other sources assert that about 86% of
Japanese adults follow a combination of Shinto and Buddhism, which would put
the number of adherents to Shinto at 107 million. Shintoism is concerned with ritual rather than dogma;
thus the Japanese people do not consider it as a religion, rather it is
considered an aspect of Japanese life. It is for this reason Shintoism has
existed easily with Buddhism for centuries. There are no missionary efforts in
Shinto, it is rarely practised outside Japan and there is no book or guide. Shinto
and its rituals are handed down from generation to generation.
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