Looking for some background on Shintō or want to know what the state of the field looks like? The following articles are good places to start. With the exception of Okuyama Michiaki’s crucial review article, all of the links below are open-access.

John BREEN and Mark TEEUWEN, “An Alternative Approach to the History of Shintō,” from A New History of Shintō, 2010

Mark TEEUWEN and Bernhard SCHEID, “Tracing Shintō in the History of Kami Worship”

Mark TEEUWEN, “From Jindō to Shintō: A Concept Takes Shape”

Sarah THAL, “Redefining the Gods: Politics and Survival in the Creation of Modern Kami”

Aike P. ROTS, “Sacred Forests, Sacred Nation: The Shintō Environmentalist Paradigm and the Rediscovery of Chinju no Mori“

OKUYAMA Michiaki, “‘State Shintō’ in Recent Japanese Scholarship” (Project Muse/paywall)