Shinto

She was inspired by the Japanese Shinto religion, which teaches that objects have spirits and must be respected as such.

Visible through one of the windows flanking the front door, she sat so still that she might have been mistaken for a statue, like the lion-dogs that guard the entrance to a Shinto shrine.

One of its logos was said to resemble a Shinto temple, while the iconic mineral water bottle’s red cap was deemed to be a reference to the Japanese flag.

On South Seaside Avenue they saw a torii gate like one sees at a Shinto shrine, historical plaques and a bronze pair of Japanese fishermen gazing at Fish Harbor, where their village once stood.

They’re the church forests in Ethiopia’s highlands, hillside groves considered holy by Catholics in Italy, woodlands revered by Shinto practitioners in Japan and Indigenous people in Siberia, Australia, the Americas and India.