Within Shinto, death is regarded less as a moral failure and more as a state of ritual impurity, known as kegare, that disrupts the harmonious relationship between humans and the kami. Contact with corpses, blood associated with death, and even close proximity to the bereaved is seen as spiritually polluting, though not inherently evil. This impurity is understood as a kind of spiritual disturbance rather than a sin, and it calls for deliberate acts of purification to restore balance. The emphasis, therefore, falls on maintaining purity, vitality, and harmony in this world rather than on doctrines of judgment or salvation in another realm.

Because of this association with impurity, Shinto shrines and priests have traditionally kept a certain distance from death-related activities. Funerals and burials have generally been conducted under Buddhist rites, while Shinto has been more closely connected with birth, coming-of-age, marriage, and seasonal festivals that celebrate life and renewal. This division of religious roles reflects an underlying orientation: Shinto ritual life gravitates toward what is fresh, life-giving, and auspicious, and tends to hold death at the margins of sacred space. Yet death is still acknowledged as a natural part of existence, a transition that requires careful ritual management rather than denial.

Purification practices, such as various forms of harae and misogi, serve to cleanse those who have come into contact with death and to reestablish right relations with the kami. These rites are not about moral absolution but about removing the shadow of kegare so that everyday life can proceed in spiritual clarity. Through such practices, the community symbolically moves from the disruption of loss back into the flow of ordinary life, while still carrying forward a respectful memory of the deceased. The focus remains on restoring equilibrium rather than speculating in detail about an afterlife.

Over time, the dead are not simply cast aside; they may be revered as ancestral spirits who continue to participate in the life of the family and community. Ancestors, once the period of impurity has passed and proper rites have been observed, can be honored as protective presences and may even be regarded as kami. The boundary between human spirit and kami is thus somewhat fluid, allowing distinguished ancestors and cultural figures to be enshrined and venerated. In this way, death becomes a passage into another mode of presence, where the deceased, now purified and remembered, can support the living from a subtle, spiritual vantage.