13/02/2026
Many Japanese people wouldn’t describe themselves as religious. It’s not from rejection — it’s simply that we don’t grow up with structured religious teaching in the way some cultures do.
There’s a Japanese expression, “yaoyorozu no kami”. It literally translates to “eight million gods,” but the number isn’t meant to be exact. It symbolises countless or infinite. It reflects the worldview of Shinto — that the sacred exists everywhere. In nature, in ancestors, in daily life. Not one single exclusive god, but divinity woven through everything.
It’s less about belief systems, more about quiet reverence and connection.
This year I didn’t get to go back to Japan, so I asked a friend who was visiting to bring me an ofuda — a shrine talisman carrying the blessing of a kami (gods). As I grow older, these traditions feel closer to my heart. Not because I follow one specific religion, but because they connect me to something gentle, ancestral, and grounding.
