Shintō is a polytheistic religion indigenous to Japan. It is Japan’s major religion, followed by about 69% of Japanese, while about 67% follow Buddhism; most Japanese people participate to some extent in both religions. There are almost 3 million Shintō followers worldwide of whom the vast majority live in Japan. Shintō is an animist belief system, often called a ‘nature religion’ because of its belief that spiritual entities exist in the natural world. Its scriptures are the Kojiki (‘Records of Ancient Matters’), written with Chinese characters in a form of Chinese mixed with Old Japanese and the Nihon Shoki (‘Chronicles of Japan’), written in classical Chinese. These texts are not considered central to Shintōism in the way, for instance, the Christian Bible is to Christianity. The Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki were written in 712 and 72 CE respectively. According to the scriptures, there are several essentially genderless creation kami and countless other female, male and genderless kami. Shintō has no recognised founder or prophet or fixed dogma. Its practices and philosophy are embedded in Japanese culture, and Shintō is usually considered by its followers as a way of life rather than a religion, centred around rituals rather than beliefs. Scholars classify Shintō as an ‘ethnic religion’, i.e. people are almost always born into Shintōism. Shintō ‘deities’ are called kami, and take many forms in nature, such as rocks, trees, mountains, wind and rain. Humans become kami after death and are revered as ancestral kami. Though kami are revered they are not considered perfect but as mistake prone as humans. Shintōism avoids absolute moral rules. Evil actions in the world are believed to be caused by evil spirits rather than human agency, so keeping evil spirits away is a large part of Shintō practice. Shintō followers were once expected to follow a pescatarian diet, but this is no longer the case and there are no longer dietary (or alcohol) restrictions as such. Sake (a fermented rice drink) plays an important role in Shintō rituals. There are at least 80,000 Shintō shrines in Japan, which can be buildings or other structures, including natural forms that have been deemed sacred. Shintō worship is highly ritualised and can take place in the home or in shrines and can be private or communal, but generally there are no set times or days to visit shrines, though in principle twice daily rituals are meant to be performed at the shrine. Many Japanese homes have an area set aside for worship. Jichinsai are Shintō ceremonies held before the construction of a building. Matsuri are festivals, and tend to be very localised since each shrine has its own matsuri, usually held at least once annually and sometimes across several days. Matsuri also take place on much larger scales, including national. Scheduling of important local festivals often follows the lunar calendar, with the new moon, half-moon and full moon all considered sacred days.