Reddit mentions: The best shintoism books

The first thing to keep in mind that is that Shinto is not similar to the Western sense of a 'religion' at all. There is not good versus evil or right and wrong. It evolved from the patchwork of historic folk rituals of the local communities concerned with bringing about a good harvest or warding off natural disasters. There isn't a Shinto 'Bible' to refer to and there isn't much in the way of 'faith' in something, and certainly no concepts of salvation or a heaven.

The longstanding classic text for Westerners is Shinto: The Kami Way by Prof. Sokyo Ono. This book has been around a long time and is somewhat dry, but it goes through lots of basic definitions and concepts.

If you want to understand the mythology of the kami behind Shinto, find a summarized version of the first few chapters of the Kojiki. This is the Japanese creation myth which also sets up the primary high kami (Izanagi, Izanami, Ookuni-nushi, Susano'o, Amaterasu). Wikipedia has a pretty decent summary, but if you really want to bore yourself, the full original Basil Hall Chamberlain translation from 100+ years ago is online.

More than anything, I personally recommend A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine by Prof. John Nelson. It is an excellent balance of academic and readable, and he explains and frames Shinto in some great phrases. My copy has many earmarks where I've saved some of his fabulous quotes.

And of course, you can ask us here in r/Shinto if you have any specific questions. :)

Well there was a discussion like this one a while ago so i'll just copy my reply due to being at workplace :)

Anyway


There is the book filled with rituals : Shinto Norito, A book of prayers. I think this book is essential for you spiritual development, it helped me a lot with my practice
https://www.amazon.com/Shinto-Norito-Ann-Llewellyn-Evans/dp/1553691385

For your general culture and more in depth talk:

The Essence of Shinto by Motohisa Yamakage
https://www.amazon.com/Essence-Shinto-Japans-Spiritual-Heart/dp/1568364377

Kami No Michi The Life And Thought Of A Shinto Priest by Guji Yukitaka Yamamoto
https://www.amazon.com/KAMI-NO-MICHI-Thought-Shinto/dp/B000HEHP5W

There is also a facebook group which I enjoy:a lot of nice people and also the Priest and Sensei Mr. Koichi Barrish at Tsubaki Grand Shrine America(he will help you with anything you have to ask/every request) Here you can also find valuable resources in the document section.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TsubakiShintoShrine/?refid=13&ref=bookmarks&__tn__=R

If you have any other request , feel free to ask me anything :)

A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine is a great start for understanding shinto. Another great one is Shinto: The Kami Way. I used both for a capstone paper on Shinto in college, and they were invaluable resources.

I highly recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/History-Shinto-Blackwell-Histories-Religion/dp/1405155167

However, it doesn't discuss the Imperial rites, which it sounds like you might be interested in. I don't know of a good book for that in English yet.

For an in-depth look at Shinto beliefs and practices, I highly recommend Shinto: The Way Home by Thomas Kasulis. You can pick up the Kindle ebook today for $5.41 (and add the Audible audiobook for $8.61), and it offers a comprehensive overview that includes the broader history and philosophy of the religion and its evolution over time.

The books by Mark Teeuwen and John Breen

A New History of Shinto

and

Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami

They're great works on the history of Shinto, from an academic perspective. They're revisionist works in the sense that they challenge the old ideas about what Shinto is and how it came to be, that might sound like they're fringe works, but it's rather that the study of Japanese religion is a very modern topic where new research is conducted right now. These books are a part of modern Shinto studies that are based in modern research.

The Ofudesaki’s on Amazon in English: https://www.amazon.com/Ofudesaki-Writing-Brush-Nakayama-Miki/dp/1530084059

The church also puts out “The Life of Oyasama” and their history and teachings, too, all available on Amazon, in English. “The Tale of Oyasama” as a manga is even on Kindle.

Some of the texts can be a little hard to get, as they’re normally through used or third-party sellers who may not ship outside the US. As for other languages than English, I don’t know.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Kojiki-Japanese-Records-Forgotten/dp/1605069388/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1394562987&sr=8-2&keywords=kojiki