How they whittle sticks, keeping on the fringe of curled shavings, and set up these, called _inao_ in places whence evil is suspected to lurk, and how the shaman conducts his exorcisms and works his healings, are told in the works of the traveller and the missionary.[13] In the wand of shavings thus reared we see the same motive as that which induced the Mikado in the eighth century to build the great monasteries on Hiyeizan, northeast of Ki[=o]to, this being the quarter in which Buddhist superstition locates the path of advancing evil, to ward off malevolence by litanies and incense.

Or, the _inao_ is a sort of lightning-rod conductor by which impending mischief may be led harmlessly away.
Yet, besides the Ainos,[14] there are millions of Japanese who are Shamanists, even though they know not the name or organized cult.

And if we make use of the term Shamanism instead of the more exact one of Animism, it is for the very purpose of illustrating our contention that the underlying paganisms of the Japanese archipelago, unwritten and unformulated, are older than the religions founded on books; and that these paganisms, still vital and persistent, constantly modify and corrupt the recognized religious.

The term Shaman, a Pali word, was originally a pure Buddhist term meaning one who has separated from his family and his passions.

One of the designations of the Buddha was Shamana-Gautama.