•The indigenous Japanese word for spirit is “kami.” In this sense, Shinto is animistic, since it involves worshiping spirits that can inhabit anything at all in the world around us.
•There are probably millions of kami, since natural spots are everywhere in Japan.
•Although a kami can inhabit anything, they especially favor certain natural objects, like mountains, trees, waterfalls, etc. Anything inhabited by a kami is called a “shintai.”