I'm writing a fanfiction about an anime character, yes I know, but he's a Buddhist monk known as a Yamabushi (his profession but also the name he goes by) and I want to be as accurate as possible! I thought about asking this question in the Buddhist subreddits, but there doesn't seem to be much of a Japanese style buddhism following on reddit and Buddhism in Japan has changed drastically over the years so i thought asking here might be the best. Googling hasn't really answered my questions either.
Shinto has a lot of Buddist influences, that much is obvious from what I've read, but I'm not sure how true that is in reverse.
Did Buddhists, and specifically Buddhist Monks, believe/practice worship of the Shinto gods in 1500's Japan?
Until 1868, Buddhism and Shintoism were not distinguished in the fact. Shintoism and Buddhism were not conflict and they were mutual complement. Shinto's gods and Buddhism deity were thought as two side of the same coin.
In the middle era, every Shinto gods had also title as Buddhism deity like as bodhisattva and Buddhist Monks worshipped Shinto's god as Buddhism deity. For example, God of Hachiman had been called 八幡大菩薩 Hachiman Dai-bosatsu, the Hachiman bodhisattva.
Major Shinto shrines built Buddhism temple inside it, and major Buddhism temple had Shinto shrine.
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