Within this tradition, nature and the sacred are not separate realms but two aspects of a single reality. Kami are understood to inhabit or express themselves through mountains, rivers, trees, rocks, animals, weather patterns, and even unusual natural phenomena. As a result, the landscape itself becomes a living field of spiritual presence, where a mountain or an ancient tree may be revered not merely as a symbol, but as a kami or as the dwelling place of a kami. This animistic worldview does not sharply distinguish between what is animate and inanimate, seeing spiritual vitality suffused throughout the natural world.

Such a view gives rise to a religious life that orients itself toward reverence rather than domination. Natural sites of striking beauty or power often become the locations of shrines, where architecture and layout are designed to frame and honor the surrounding environment. Shrine grounds commonly preserve groves and forests as sanctuaries for kami, maintaining pockets of living nature even amid human settlement. To care for these places and to protect their purity is to honor the divine presence believed to reside there.

The rhythm of religious practice is closely tied to the rhythm of the seasons. Festivals and rituals follow natural cycles, marking agricultural milestones such as planting and harvest, as well as transitions in the year’s unfolding. These celebrations express gratitude for the generative power of nature and affirm the dependence of human communities on the favor and vitality of the kami. In this way, harmony with the natural world is not an abstract ideal but a pattern woven into communal life.

Purity and pollution are also understood in relation to the natural order. Vitality and generative power are treated as sacred, and disturbances of this balance are seen as forms of impurity that call for restoration. Purification rites, often using natural elements such as water from rivers, waterfalls, or the sea, serve to remove spiritual defilement and realign human life with the living flow of the environment. To live in right relationship with nature, then, is to live in right relationship with the kami, allowing spiritual and ecological harmony to mirror one another.