Japanese folk religion draws on ideas from Shinto, Buddhism and Chinese Taoism, which added shamanism, spirit possession and magico-religious practices to the pot. The "holy men" (or women) of folk religion may be specialists in, among other things, geomancy, divination, healing, exorcism and communicating with the gods. They offer various rites and advice, for example explaining why misfortunes have occurred or recommending auspicious times for weddings, long journeys and other important events.

One manifestation of such beliefs is the six-day calendar (sometimes incorporated into normal calendars) in which one day is considered good for all endeavours, another day is considered bad, and the other days are either good or bad at certain times for certain things. Similar notions govern the naming of children . Not only the time and place of birth affects the character and destiny of a person, but also their name. Before deciding on a given name, therefore, parents may consult a hiriji (holy man, or priest) about the number of pen strokes required to write the chosen characters. A bad combination of name, time and place of birth may result in a life of persistent misfortune.

There is also a more mythological side to Japanese folk religion involving a whole host of gods , guardians and demons . The ones to have on your side are the Seven Lucky Gods , Shichi Fuku-jin , often seen sailing in a boat on New Year greetings cards to wish good fortune for the coming year. Of these, the best-loved are Ebisu , the god of prosperity, identified by his fishing rod and sea-bream; Daikoku , the god of wealth, carries a treasure-sack over one shoulder and a lucky hammer; the squat Fukurokuju , god of longevity, is marked by a bald, egg-shaped head; while the jovial god of happiness, Hotei , sports a generous belly and a beaming smile.

Characters to avoid, on the other hand, are the oni , a general term for demons and ogres, though oni aren't always bad. At Setsubun (Feb 3 or 4) children can be seen running round throwing soya beans all over the place, shouting " oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi ", meaning "out with the demons, in with good luck". Tengu are mischievous mountain goblins with red faces and very long noses, while kappa are a bit like a small troll and live under bridges. If anything goes missing while you're hiking, you can probably blame one of these as they both like to steal things, including animals and children. If it's your liver that's missing, however, it will definitely be a kappa ; he likes to extract them from people's bodies through the anus, so watch out.