K Yee wrote:

What's the procedure for paying your respects in front of a shrine?  Say,
for example, when Soun goes to visit his wife's shrine, what would be the
proper ... procedure of honoring his wife?  I know in the Chinese
culture, you light incense, bow three times, and sometimes even pour
wine.  What about for the Japanese culture?

For the Buddhist part of it (which would definitely be the part
involving dead relatives) it would have a lot of similar actions.  The
incense is common, as is the bowing.  There is also usually some form of
noisemaking (clapping hands 3 times, hitting a brass bowl three times to
make it gong, etc.) to get the attention of whomever it is you're paying
your respects to.  Food is also given.

Was Ranma's religion ever established?  Is it safe to assume he is a
Shinto (err, believes in Shinto?)?  If so, what are the Shinto beliefs in
relation to the afterlife?  Do the deceased go to heaven or are they
reincarnated?

Well, if he's like most Japanes people, he's a combination of
religions.  Shinto and Buddhism coexist quite nicely because they deal
with different aspects of life -- Shinto is generally life-affirming,
fertility, etc. while Buddhism deals more with the afterlife (and future
lives).  Shinto really doesn't touch on the 
afterlife if it can help it :)  So Ranma, if he ever thinks about the
afterlife (which I doubt) would be Buddhist; there are a couple of
instance where he makes reference to the Pure Land (for example, in the
Hiryuu Shoten Ha Cycle, he tells poor battered Ryouga not to get lost on
the way to salvation :)) so he may be a Pure Land Buddhist, but he
probably never thinks about it, except maybe when he's about to die :)

Bridget soon-to-be-Wilde
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