As told in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki: primordial deities (kami) emerged from cosmic chaos. Izanagi and Izanami (male and female kami) stirred the cosmic ocean and created the Japanese islands and many kami. Amaterasu (sun goddess) is the supreme kami, ancestor of the imperial line.

No formal ethical code or scripture. Ethics embedded in ritual purity, communal harmony, and sensitivity to the sacred in nature.

To live in harmony with the kami and nature, maintain ritual purity, honor ancestors, and contribute to communal well-being. Life is fundamentally good and sacred. This-worldly focus on fertility, health, and prosperity.

Suffering is not a central theological problem. Impurity (kegare) from death, disease, and blood is a ritual concern, not a moral failing. Natural disasters may be attributed to the actions of kami but not to systematic divine punishment. The world is fundamentally good.

No eschatology in the traditional sense. No end times, no cosmic judgment. The dead go to Yomi (underworld) or become ancestral kami. Focus is entirely on this-worldly life. Buddhist eschatological concepts (mappo — end of the dharma) have been more influential in Japanese culture than any native Shinto eschatology.