In the 8th December issue of Jinja Shinpō, the “Thoughts in the Forest” column was by Suzuë, and talked about the need to talk about Shinto. It was prompted by an article in an earlier issue that explained AI to Shinto priests, but is more broadly about communicating Shinto in the internet age. This is something I have an interest in…
She starts by observing that the Shinto community in general has been very cautious about the internet, but that young people looking for information today do not open books or go to places in person. Instead, they search on the internet. She reports that if you search for “Shinto” or “Shinto Priest” on YouTube in Japanese, you get a bunch of YouTubers, or fortune telling and “spirituality” videos, or ones about so-called “Ko Shinto” (“Old Shinto”). There is nothing from priests who are actually serving at jinja. She says it was surprising, and left her feeling a bit lonely. (When I searched for “Shinto” on YouTube in English without logging in, the second hit was a video featuring me. So I didn’t feel lonely — but I am also not a priest actually serving at a jinja.)
She goes on to say that it is great to gather information from many sources and perspectives, but if urban legends and conspiracy theories are the first thing that comes up, the voices of people actually serving at jinja will be drowned out. She says that generative AI is “not yet able to perfectly distinguish fact from fiction” (that’s Japanese understatement), and that, beyond that, if Shinto priests don’t put things on the internet, AI won’t be able to make use of it, and will be stuck with the… less accurate material.
At this point, she acknowledges that Shinto has a long tradition of not talking about what it is or what people do. I’m currently reading a collection of papers by a Shinto professor, and one of them is a paper from thirty years ago making exactly this point — and saying that actually, people have talked about it a lot more than they generally claim to.
Returning to Suzuë, she says that she thinks that people today, using AI, still want to find accurate information about Shinto, and that it is still faithful to the traditions if priests take advantage of these new tools, and that they should be more active in using them to speak out.
It will surprise none of my readers to learn that I agree with her.
Having people pick Shinto up by osmosis might have worked when Japan was dominated by small, stable communities. People started going to the jinja and the matsuri as children, continued as adults, took their own children along, and then their grandchildren. That is quite enough to pick up what is going on. (Although it might be wise for the priests not to ask too many questions about what people think the point is…) Now, however, priests need to talk about Shinto, or most people will simply not know what is expected — even within Japan. And since that needs to happen where people are listening, it needs to happen online. Jinja Honchō is offering training in this area, but there is still more to do.