In front of the giant torii, the entrance to Japanese Shinto shrines, most visitors are overwhelmed with awe. These enigmatic places of worship seem to conceal the utmost secrets in their interiors.

Under the double-barred gateposts, by the entrance to the bow-backed bridge, a solitary figure was waiting. He was white-robed and bare-headed. He was about to make history. The Shinto priest bowed ...

In this Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019, photo, participants clad in traditional happi coats put lanterns on floats before it goes to the town central square during the Chichibu Night Festival in Chichibu, ...

One of the first things many people learn about Japan is that there are two religions, Shinto and Buddhism. Shinto is the native animistic belief, while Buddhism was imported from China via Korea in ...

ISE, Japan (AP) — Deep in the forests of the Japanese Alps, Shinto priests keep watch as woodsmen dressed in ceremonial white chop their axes into two ancient cypress trees, timing their swings so ...

American Kit Cox, 35, works as an electrical engineer and enjoys biking and playing piano. But what some might consider surprising about Cox, who was raised as Methodist, is that she practices the ...

To millions of Japanese, the Shinto faith is not so much a spiritual practice as a cultural one. Every January, crowds gather at shrines to pray for good fortune for the new year. Families take their ...

CHICHIBU, Japan (AP) — As fireworks light up the winter night, scores of men, women and teenagers crying “washoi, washoi” haul the last of six towering, lantern-covered floats up a small hill and into ...

CHICHIBU, Japan — As fireworks light up the winter night, scores of men, women and teenagers crying "washoi, washoi" haul the last of six towering, lantern-covered floats up a small hill and into the ...