Paying A Visit To Shrine

Paying A Visit To Shrine
2007.01.02 2:27

Japanese people usually pay a visit to local shrine at the beginning of the year. There are hundreds of small shrines in a city. Majority of Japanese practice this custom. Buddhism came to Japan in 538. Christianity was brought to Japan in 1549 by Francisco Xavier. Since then both religions met a strong opposition and severe persecution until 1945. Probably Christians and Buddhists went to church, temples respectively. Every shrine, indefferent to small or big, has an emblem of chrysanthemum at the front of the shrine. Zipangu(ancient name of Japan) had been called the land of gold from Europeans. This might not be unrelated to the name of this flower.
Japan started as a country in around 50. It's natural for us to think the history of Shintoism is as old as the origin of this country.