Shinto (or kami no michi, "way of the kami," or gods) is a prehistoric "religious" tradition indigenous to Japan. Amaterasu Omikami is the chief deity of Shinto the faith indiginous to Japan since c500 BCE. Kami are creation deities, ancestral spirits, or the animistic spirits of elements and objects. There are no absolutes in Shinto. There is no absolute right and wrong, and nobody is perfect.

Shinto recognizes no all-powerful deity and is a diverse set of traditional rituals and ceremonies, rather than a system of dogmatic beliefs or ethics. It has no code of conduct, except concepts such as loyalty, family, reverence for nature, and cleanliness, are very important.

This Tomoe means circular, and refers to the motion of earth. It is similar in meaning to yin yang, representing the play of forces in the cosmos. It has three flames, but others have one, two or four; this Mitsu Tomoe represents the threefold division of shinto cosmology, earth, heavens, and humankind.