Ryōbu Shintō today lives less as a clearly named institution and more as a subtle pattern woven through Japanese religious life. Its classic structures were largely dismantled when Shintō and Buddhism were formally separated, yet traces remain wherever shrines and temples still share space or history. In such places, Shintō forms like purification, offerings, and festivals may unfold within a field shaped by Buddhist cosmology, mantras, and iconography. Some Buddhist temples maintain small shrine structures or dual altars, honoring local kami as protectors alongside buddhas and bodhisattvas. The result is a quiet coexistence in which the older syncretic vision continues without always being explicitly acknowledged as such.

Within esoteric Buddhist traditions, especially those shaped by Shingon, the interpretive heart of Ryōbu Shintō persists. Kami are still read as manifestations of buddhas and bodhisattvas, and certain deities are explicitly linked to great cosmic buddhas such as Dainichi Nyorai. This perspective allows shrine deities to be contemplated through mandala-like frameworks and esoteric cosmology, even when the term “Ryōbu Shintō” is not used. Some priests and independent practitioners consciously revisit these ideas, organizing practices such as coordinated shrine–temple pilgrimages or reinterpreting kami through esoteric symbolism. These efforts remain limited in scope, yet they show that the syncretic imagination has not entirely faded.

Everyday religious practice also reflects the lingering spirit of Ryōbu Shintō, even when people do not think of themselves as following a particular doctrine. Many turn to shrines for New Year visits, local festivals, safe childbirth, or success, while relying on temples for funerals, memorials, and ancestor rites. Household altars for kami and for ancestors may stand side by side, and life-cycle rituals can draw from both traditions. Votive plaques, amulets, and other devotional objects often carry imagery shaped by the long history of Shintō–Buddhist blending. In such patterns of devotion, the two traditions are experienced as complementary rather than opposed.

The legacy of Ryōbu Shintō is also visible in art, architecture, and festival culture. Some shrine–temple complexes preserve Buddhist-style statuary of kami, shrine buildings within temple precincts, or festival layouts that echo mandala structures. Seasonal celebrations and local observances may blend Buddhist chants or ceremonial elements with Shintō matsuri forms, creating a ritual language that speaks in two registers at once. Scholarly study of these continuities, along with modest revival efforts, keeps awareness of the tradition alive. Thus, Ryōbu Shintō endures less as a separate path and more as a way of seeing: a habit of understanding kami and buddhas as sharing a single sacred landscape, approached through different yet interwoven doors.