She unified the country and all the gods. For this reason, Amaterasu is given the highest respect and is treated as the chief deity. Susano-no-mikoto is the brother of Amaterasu; his journey included the slaying of an evil dragon. The sword and mirror he used in battle are preserved in shrines. .
The family is seen as the main mechanism by which traditions are preserved. A family or clan is known as an uji. During the early stages of Shinto, individual uji were simultaneously political, military, and religious units. Clans worshipped a single kami in particular which was regarded as the founder or ancestor of the clan. The head of each uji was in charge of worshipping the principal kami. Should a clan conquer another clan, the defeated clan would be forced to worship the kami of the victorious clan. Individual clans held onto their Shinto beliefs even after they were organized into centralized states.
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Shinto can be separated into four groups: Shrine Shinto, State Shinto, Sect Shinto, and Folk Shinto. Shrine Shinto constitutes a main current of Japanese tradition; it was the original form of the religion. Jinja Honcho, the Association of Shinto Shrines, includes 80,000 shrines as members. State Shinto built upon the religion by having rituals performed by the emperor. The most important ritual is Niinamesai, which makes an offering to the deities of the first fruits of each year's grain harvest. The same social confusion and unrest of the people that bred Sect Shinto, would go on to lessen State Shinto's grip on Japan. Sect Shinto consists of 13 sects that emphasize worship of their own central deity. Some Sect Shinto believers follow a near monotheistic religion. Folk Shinto exists as the substructure of the Shinto faith. It is seen in local practices and rituals, but has no formal central organization.
Shinto is a tolerant religion that openly accepts other religions. The Kojiki (The Records of Ancient Matters) and the Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan) were written two hundred years after Buddhism had been declared the state religion of Japan.
