Wikipedia
, also called , is the syncretism of Buddhism and Shinto, which was Japan's religion up until the Meiji period. When Buddhism was introduced through China in the late Asuka period (6th century), rather than discarding the old belief system, the Japanese tried to reconcile it, assuming both were true. As a consequence, Buddhist temples (寺, tera) were attached to local Shinto shrines (神社, jinja) and vice versa and devoted to both kami and Buddhas. The local religion and foreign Buddhism never quite fused, but remained however inextricably linked all the way to the present day, always interacting. The depth of the resulting influence of Buddhism on local religious beliefs can be seen for example in the fact that much of Shinto's conceptual vocabulary and even the types of Shinto shrines today, with a large worship hall and religious images, are themselves of Buddhist origin. The formal separation of Buddhism from Shinto took place only as recently as the end of the 19th century, and in many ways the blending of the two still continues.
The term shinbutsu shūgō itself was coined during the early modern era (17th century) to refer to the amalgamation of kami and buddhas in general, as opposed to specific currents within Buddhism which did the same, e.g. Ryōbu Shintō and Sannō Shintō. The term may have a negative connotation of bastardization and randomness.