Shinto Encyclopedia Tenchi Muyo! Main Characters      A part of Tenchi Muyo! is Shinto, "the way of the gods", an old religion of Japan.  Tenchi's grandfather, Katsuhito Masaki, is a Shinto priest, and caretaker of the family shrine.  He trains Tenchi to be a future priest, and while the arrival of the girls makes Tenchi's destiny more uncertain, Shinto priests can marry and have children.      Shinto is a very important part of Japanese culture, so much so that preaching is not common.  The faith teaches respect for purity, cleanliness and nature, which is considered a manifestation of the power of the gods.  There are many gods for many things, but the most important is the sun goddess Amaterasu.      Followers of Shinto go to shrines to pray for good fortune and to avoid evil spirits, especially before special events.  According to Shinto, all humans are fundamentally good, and evil comes only from evil spirits.  This might relate to Katsuhito's positive attitude toward Ryoko, whom he defeated long ago and sealed away, in the OVA.  When Ryoko attacked Jurai, she wasn't in control of her actions, and Katsuhito understood that.      Shinto shrines are homes of the kami, objects of worship.  Kami can take many forms, from things in nature to ancestors or heros.  The actual objects inside shrines that kami inhabit are often mirrors, or Heihaku, paper or cloth strips attached to a stand.  They are kept in the innermost part of the shrine, seen by no one.  The main building of the shrine will also include an offering hall, and there are other buildings, like Katsuhito's office.  Shrines often have groves and tree-lined paths leading to the main building.  To stay in good favor with the gods, shrines are kept very clean, as Tenchi knows all too well.      Since death is thought evil in Shinto, shrines almost never have cemetaries, but an exception must have been made for Tenchi's mother.  Japanese cemetaries are usually Buddhist, and funerals are also carried out according to that faith.      A very long time ago, before shrines were built, ceremonies were held outdoors.  An unpolluted square piece of land was chosen and roped off, often with a tree in the center.  The tree was the object into which Kami would be invited.  This sounds to me like it might have been the inspiration for the Jurai trees of the OVA.  When an area with a tree was selected, it was called Himoragi, and when a rock was chosen instead, it was called Iwasaka.  Buddhism introduced the idea of worshipping inside a building, and eventually this became popular within Shinto.      The english word "shrine" isn't exactly an accurate translation of the Japanese word Jinja.  A shrine is often thought a place where the ashes, belongings, body or image of a dead person is contained.  Jinja refers to a place where the spirit of kami is enshrined, and where the object in which kami resides is worshipped.  Shrine also suggests something elaborate, but the architecture of Jinja is intentionally kept simple for an impression of purity and simplicity.