Shintō and ecology cannot be called an established academic subject, either in Japan or in the West. However, in reply to the growing concerns for environmental politics, Shintō and many other religions have become a focus in the debate on inherent ecological thinking patterns in the established religious worldviews. In Japan, a discourse on the environmental aspects of Shintō that spans strictly academic research and Shintō theology has developed since the 1990s. One chief representative is Minoru Sonoda, who is both a Shintō priest and a Shintō historian and has published articles in English. His contributions to the subject will be discussed later. In the West probably the most remarkable effort so far has been an international conference called Shintō and Ecology that was organized by the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) of Harvard University in 1997. This...