![my neighbor totoro tree my neighbor totoro tree](https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/My-Neighbor-Totoro.jpg)
Repeat, the appearance of the shrine doesn't mean Totoro has shintoist themes. It is even doubtful whether it is proper to say that shinto is a religion. Shinto is nothing like Christianity, Islam or Buddhism. To Japanese, shinto is not something you believe in or you don't blieve in. In other words, Japanese people don't regard them something like "shintoist". Believe it or not, it is true that there's no Japanese word for "shintoist" although there is the word for "Buddhist", bukkyouto. The appearance of shinto shrine or that of obake cannot be connected to shinto. The same thing can be said about the appearance of the shrine in Totoro. They go to shrine on New Year's Day not because they believe in shinto but simply beacuse it is Japanese tradition.
![my neighbor totoro tree my neighbor totoro tree](https://cdn.dribbble.com/users/1607982/screenshots/11741566/totoro-fan-art-00_still_2x.gif)
#My neighbor totoro tree movie#
Even if Totoro seems to have shintoist themes to the westerners' eyes, it just means Totoro is a movie set in the Japanese countryside and it is nothing worthy of special mention.- Michael Friedrich ( talk) 11:18, 17 April 2008 (UTC) You may believe most Japanese people are shintoist, but it is not necessarily true. Do you call Inuyasha religious just because Kagome lives in a shrine? Or do you call Yu Yu Hakusho religious because Yusuke became a ghost and there're many yokais in the show? Or do you say Shrek has Christian themes just because there's a church? Calling something shintoism just because it is traditional is nonsense. If you call Totoro religious, almost all Japanese anime and manga will be religious. No Japanese people regard obake as a part of shinto. Obake has nothing to do with shinto either. Regarding appearance of shrine as Shintoism is just a misunderstanding by foreigners who have little knowledge of the Japanese way of religion. Even though there appears shrines and a tree with a shimenawa, it doesn't mean that Totoro has shintoist themes because you can see shinto shrine everywhere in Japan. Totoro has nothing to do with anything religious. I don't believe the section "Totoro and Shinto" is necessary.