Within Shinto thought, humans and nature are understood as participants in a single sacred continuum, rather than as opposing realms. Mountains, rivers, trees, rocks, animals, and even winds and seasons are seen as permeated by kami, the divine presences that animate the world. Because of this, nature is not merely a backdrop or a resource, but a living field of sacred encounter. To walk through a forest, to stand before a waterfall, or to witness the changing seasons is, in this view, to stand in the presence of kami and to be addressed by them.

Humans, therefore, are regarded as kin and guests within a larger community of beings, not as masters standing above nature. This kinship implies interdependence and reciprocity: people depend on the blessings of the land and its kami for harvests, health, and protection, while bearing the responsibility to honor, care for, and refrain from defiling the natural world. Local kami associated with particular places and communities receive offerings, prayers, and festivals, and in return are sought for guidance and safeguarding. The relationship is thus conceived less as control and more as ongoing dialogue and mutual care.

Central to this relationship is the concern for purity and harmony. The notion of kegare, or pollution, encompasses not only physical uncleanness but also actions and conditions that disturb the balance between humans, nature, and kami. Such disruption is understood to have spiritual consequences, unsettling both human communities and the wider natural order. Through purification rites such as misogi and harae, Shinto practice seeks to restore clarity, balance, and right relation, reaffirming that ethical and spiritual integrity are inseparable from the health of the environment.

This worldview naturally fosters an aesthetic and ritual attentiveness to the rhythms of the natural world. Seasonal festivals and agricultural observances are timed to the cycles of growth, decline, and renewal, treating these changes as expressions of kami activity. Sacred groves and shrine forests are preserved as dwelling places of kami and as tangible symbols of the bond between people and land. To contemplate cherry blossoms, to protect a shrine forest, or to offer thanks for a harvest is, in this tradition, not merely cultural custom but an act of reverence that acknowledges humans as participants in a living, sacred cosmos.