Tsumi - Transgression
Actions that violate natural order and create impurity requiring purification.
Tsumi refers to actions that violate the natural order and create kegare (impurity). Unlike sin in Western traditions, tsumi is less about moral guilt and more about disrupting harmony. It requires purification rather than forgiveness to restore balance.
Tsumi disturbs the natural order; purification restores what transgression has disrupted.
The concept of tsumi differs significantly from Western notions of sin.
Engishiki
Written about in
- What Shinto says about conflict with people close to you
Tsumi is the disturbance the fight caused, and Shinto asks for purification rather than forgiveness. That is an uncomfortable answer: order gets restored, but no one is ever pardoned, and nothing in the machinery obliges the other person to say sorry.
- What Shinto says about starting again after a fall
Tsumi is what you did wrong, but Shinto classes it as a disruption of the natural order rather than a stain on your character. The remedy named in the Engishiki is purification, not pardon — which means nobody has to decide whether you deserve one.