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50 free Shinto trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Shinto is Japan's largest religion and one of its oldest traditions, a way of the kami with no founder, no scripture and no central authority, practised at around 100,000 shrines across the country. This quiz covers the whole of it: the creation myths of Izanagi and Izanami, the sun goddess Amaterasu and her stormy brother Susanoo, the imperial regalia, the 8th-century Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, the long marriage with Buddhism and the Meiji divorce that produced State Shinto, and the living practice of shrines, priests, miko, torii, purification, omikuji, ema, matsuri and New Year visits. Easy questions ask what a torii marks and which animal serves Inari; harder ones cover the Ise rebuilding cycle, the a-un guardian statues and the 1945 Shinto Directive. It suits travellers to Japan, students of religion and Japanese culture, anime and history fans, and quiz nights that want a world-religions round beyond the usual suspects. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on Shinto, its deities, shrines and practices, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Shinto, the creative principle that permeates all life is known by what name?
Musubi
It has its own associated kami; makoto, by contrast, is the virtue of sincerity.
Q 02The term Shinto is usually translated into English as what?
The way of the kami
Some scholars object to the English form "Shintoism" because the tradition has no codified doctrine.
Q 03How many kami are there said to be in Japanese, a figure that connotes an infinite number?
Eight million
Kami are believed to be everywhere but are not regarded as omnipotent, omniscient or necessarily immortal.
Q 04Roughly how many public Shinto shrines are there in Japan?
About 100,000
Around 80,000 belong to the Association of Shinto Shrines, with the other 20,000 unaffiliated.
Q 05Kami veneration has been traced back to which era of Japanese prehistory, from about 300 BCE to 250 CE?
Yayoi
During that era the kami were deemed formless and invisible; human-like depictions came later under Buddhist influence.
Q 06What is the name for the centuries-long fusion of kami worship and Buddhism in Japan?
Shinbutsu-shūgō
The syncretism made the two functionally inseparable until the Meiji government forcibly separated them.
Q 07The earliest written accounts of kami worship, the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, date from which era?
The 8th century
They are the Kojiki of 712 and the Nihon Shoki of 720, both compiled to legitimise the imperial Yamato line.
Q 08Which courtier wrote down the Kojiki, Japan's oldest surviving literary work?
Ō no Yasumaro
He recorded the traditions memorised by Hieda no Are, an attendant of exceptional memory, and presented the work in 712.
Q 09The Nihon Shoki was completed in 720 under the editorial supervision of which imperial son?
Toneri
It was presented to Empress Genshō and is sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan.
Q 10In the creation myth, brine dripping from Izanagi and Izanami's jewelled spear formed which island?
Onogoro
The couple descended to it, raised a heavenly pillar and began begetting the islands of Japan.
Q 11What is the name of the realm of the dead to which Izanagi descended to retrieve his wife?
Yomi
Horrified by her putrefying body, he fled and sealed the entrance with a boulder; the realm plays no role in modern Shinto.
Q 12According to the Kojiki, from which part of Izanagi's body was the sun kami Amaterasu born?
His left eye
The moon kami Tsukuyomi came from his right eye and the storm kami Susanoo from his nose.
Q 13Why did Amaterasu hide in a cave, plunging the earth into darkness?
To escape her brother Susanoo's destructive behaviour
Q 21The Ise Grand Shrine, dedicated to Amaterasu, purportedly houses which of the imperial regalia?
The Yata no Kagami mirror
The Inner Shrine, Naikū, is where the sun goddess is believed to dwell.
Q 22The Ise Grand Shrine is dismantled and rebuilt on an adjacent site how often?
Every 20 years
The practice of rebuilding shrines to remove pollutants was once common; at Ise it continues to this day.
Q 23Itsukushima Shrine, famous for its "floating" torii, stands on an island in which prefecture?
Hiroshima
The island is popularly known as Miyajima, and the shrine is credited to the 12th-century noble Taira no Kiyomori.
A goddess's raucous dance eventually enticed her back out.
Q 14Which goddess performed a dance to lure Amaterasu out of the cave?
Ame-no-Uzume
Her dance is regarded as the mythical origin of the kagura performed at shrines.
Q 15Which of these was among the three objects Amaterasu gave Ninigi that became Japan's imperial regalia?
A mirror
The others were curved beads and a sword, still the symbols of imperial authority.
Q 16Susanoo found the sword Kusanagi inside the tail of which creature after slaying it in Izumo?
The eight-headed serpent Orochi
He presented the "Grass-Cutting Sword" to Amaterasu as a gift of reconciliation.
Q 17What does a torii gate symbolically mark?
The transition from the mundane to the sacred
Passing under one is often viewed as a form of purification, and scholars trace its design to the Indian torana.
Q 18Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto is famous for roughly how many torii, each donated by a business?
About 10,000
Around 800 of them stand in a row to form the tunnel-like Senbon Torii.
Q 19Which animal serves as the messenger of the kami Inari?
The fox
Inari's foxes are pure white; Hachiman's messenger, by contrast, is a dove.
Q 20The name Inari can be literally translated as what?
Rice-bearer
Inari is the kami of rice, tea, sake, agriculture, industry and general prosperity, with some 40,000 shrines.
Q 24Izumo-taisha is dedicated to Ōkuninushi, the kami of what?
Marriage
The kami of all Japan are believed to gather there in October to discuss the coming year's marriages, births and deaths.
Q 25Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, dedicated in 1920, enshrines the spirits of Emperor Meiji and whom?
His wife, Empress Shōken
The site was an iris garden the couple were known to visit; the forest around it was planted with donated trees.
Q 26The inner sanctuary of a shrine, in which the kami is believed to reside, is called what?
Honden
Worshippers usually stay outside it; the hall of worship in front is the haiden.
Q 27What are Shinto priests called?
Kannushi
They oversee offerings of food, drink and sprigs of the sacred sakaki tree; women were largely pushed out of the priesthood in 1868.
Q 28The young women who assist at shrines and perform the otome-mai dance are called what?
Miko
Their most important role is in the kagura dance, and they typically wear white with red hakama.
Q 29What is the name for the ritual clapping worshippers perform after bowing at a shrine?
Kashiwade
The full sequence is to make an offering, ring the bell, bow, clap and pray silently; the prayers themselves are norito.
Q 30At a shrine's temizuya basin, worshippers wash which parts, in what order?
Left hand, right hand, then mouth
They finish by rinsing the handle of the ladle itself; many shrines removed ladles during the COVID-19 pandemic.