Chapter XIV Decay of Shinto — Its Modern Sects
Rise of Buddhism.—The later history of Shinto is one of neglect and decay. Such vitality as it retained was owing mainly to the Buddhist ideas which were engrafted upon it. The influence of Chinese systems of ethics and philosophy was also very perceptible, especially in more recent times. The Buddhism of Japan is not simply the doctrine of the founder, described by some as atheistic. It is a real religion, and besides the worship of other Buddhas, comprises that of an Infinite Being—the Buddha Amida—having certain attributes which we should term divine, and of his assessors, with doctrines far more abstruse and profound than those which were taught by Sakyamuni himself. In the main a form of the northern branch of Buddhism, it found its way originally to Japan viâ Tibet, Western China, and Korea.331
In a.d. 552 the King of Pèkché, in Korea, sent an embassy to Japan with a present to the Mikado of an image of Shaka (Sakyamuni) and several volumes of Sutras. They were gladly received, and were entrusted to the charge of a Minister with instructions to practise the new faith. But the jealousy of the adherents of the older religion was aroused. When a pestilence broke out soon after, they attributed it to the wrath of the native deities, and found means to have the Buddhist temple burnt and the holy image thrown into a canal. Other attempts to propagate Buddhism were little more successful, and it was not until the time of the Regent Shōtoku Taishi that it made any substantial progress. At his death in 621 there were in Japan 46 temples or monasteries and 1385 monastics, male and female. In 686 it was decreed that every household should have its domestic Buddhist shrine.
When Buddhism, after Christianity the great religion of the world, had once gained a foothold in Japan, its ultimate victory was certain. There was nothing in Shinto which could rival in attraction the sculpture, architecture, painting, costumes, and ritual of the foreign faith. Its organization was more complete and effective. It presented ideals of humanity, charity, self-abnegation, and purity, far higher than any previously known to the Japanese nation. Its doctrines of sin and repentance, of fate, of future bliss and woe, its profound metaphysics, and, perhaps more than aught else, the satisfaction which it offered to the yearnings of many a wounded spirit for a holy contemplative life, detached from the toil and worry, the sorrow and the disturbing passions of the world, were well calculated to find a welcome in their hearts.
At first the two religions held aloof from one another. But while Buddhism flourished more and more, Shinto was gradually weakened by the diversion into another channel of material resources and religious thought which might otherwise have been bestowed upon itself.
Ryôbu Shinto.—The two religions came into more direct contact in the eighth century, when there began a process of pacific penetration of the weaker by the stronger cult, which yielded some curious and important results. Buddhism is not a militant religion in the sense that Islam was. It owes little or nothing to the aid of the secular arm, and avoids rather than seeks open conflicts with other faiths. What the Japanese call hōben (pious device) and to which we should often apply the harsher terms “pious fraud” or “priestcraft,” are more congenial to it. A notable application of the hōben method occurred in the time of the Mikado Shōmu, who reigned at Nara from 724 to 756. Wishing to celebrate his reign by the erection of a great Buddhist temple and image, he took advice of Gyōgi, a priest renowned to this day for many services to civilization, and despatched him to Ise with a present for the Sun-Goddess of a relic of Buddha. Gyōgi spent seven days and seven nights in prayer under a tree close to the gate of the shrine, and was then vouchsafed an oracle in the form of some couplets of Chinese verse couched in purely Buddhistic phraseology. It spoke of the Sun of truth enlightening the long night of life and death and of the Moon of eternal reality dispersing the clouds of sin and ignorance. This was interpreted to mean that the Sun-Goddess identified herself with Vairochana, called by the Japanese Birushana or Dainichi (great Sun), a person of a Buddhist trinity and described as the personification of essential bodhi (enlightenment) and absolute purity. The Sun-Goddess subsequently appeared to the Mikado in a dream and confirmed this view of her character. The temple (Tōdaiji) founded by Shōmu—though not the original building—is still in existence. It contains the famous colossal statue of Birushana, which is at this day one of the wonders of Japan.
The principle of recognizing the Kami as avatars or incarnations of Buddhist deities, of which the case of the Sun-Goddess and Vairochana was the first in Japan—it had been already applied in China to Laotze and Confucius—was subsequently much extended, and, with a spice of Chinese philosophy added, formed the basis of a new sect called Ryōbu Shinto. Its Buddhist character is indicated by its name, which means “two parts,” the two parts being the two mystic worlds of Buddhism, namely, the Kongôkai and the Taizōkai. The principal founder of Ryōbu was the famous (and fabulous) Kōbō Daishi (died 835), to whom the invention of the Hiragana syllabary and quite a miraculous number of sculptures, writings, and paintings are ascribed. The sect of Buddhism engrafted by him on Shinto is that known as Shingon (true word). It is not one of its highest forms, and deals much in magic finger-twistings, endless repetitions of mystic formulæ unintelligible to the worshipper, and other superstitious practices.
Despite its professions of eclecticism, the soul of Ryōbu is essentially Buddhist. It borrows little more from Shinto than the names of a few deities, notably Kuni-toko-tachi, to whom it gives an importance by no means justified by anything in the older Shinto writings.332 Ryōbu owed much of its success to forgeries and other means, which were considered less objectionable in those days than they would be at present. Great indulgence has always been shown in Japan towards means of edification (hōben) that would hardly recommend themselves to our more scrupulous minds. Yet there was something more than priestcraft in the attempt to weld Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto into one consistent whole. It is surely a true instinct which leads mankind to recognize an essential unity in all religions, and to reconcile, as far as possible, the outwardly conflicting forms in which it is clothed. The religious history of Japan is full of such endeavours.333 But Shinto, Buddhism of various sects, Confucianism, and Sung philosophy constituted a very refractory mass of material, and the results obtained, while they testify to much industry and ingenuity, are more curious than valuable.
Yui-itsu.—The Yui-itsu Shinto was a branch of Ryōbu. It was invented about the end of the fifteenth century. Yui-itsu is short for Ten-jin-yui-itsu (Heaven-man-only-one), a doctrine borrowed, according to Hirata, by the Chinese philosophers from Buddhism. Of course in this connexion Ten does not mean the visible sky. It is rather a conception which fluctuates between Nature and God. It will be seen that the fundamental problem which has so much occupied the minds of Western theologians and philosophers—namely, that of the relation which exists between the human and the divine—has not escaped the attention of Far Eastern thinkers. Motoöri treats the doctrine of the identity of Ten and man with much contempt. “How can there be anything in common,” he asks, “between Ten, the country where the Gods live, and man?”
To the people, a Ryōbu shrine was one where Buddhist priests officiated, a Yui-itsu shrine one where none but Shinto functionaries were seen.
Other sects, or rather schools, of Shinto were those of Deguchi and Suwiga, both of which arose in the seventeenth century. The former explains the phenomena of the Divine Age on principles derived from the Yih-King, an ancient Chinese book of divination; the latter is a combination of Yui-itsu Shinto with Sung philosophy.
All these sects were much given to strained analogies and fanciful comparisons in support of their views. The conversion of Saruta-hiko into a great moral teacher by the Deguchi Shinto is an example. Saruta-hiko is worshipped at road sides. He therefore came to be considered the God of roads and the guide and protector of travellers. But the road or way may be used metaphorically for the path of duty or virtue. Hence we have the astonishing result by which a phallic deity figures as the chief Shinto apostle of morality.
Other instances are the symbolic meanings ascribed to the regalia and the notion that the cross timbers of the roof of the typical Shinto shrine represent the (Chinese) virtues of benevolence, justice, courtesy, and wisdom.
These and many more of a similar character are argute scholastic speculations in which the people take little concern.
The Ryōbu, which retained its predominance until the eighteenth century, was by far the most important of these so-called Shinto sects.
It is impossible to trace here their somewhat complicated history. I may, however, note a few facts which will illustrate the character and extent of the encroachment of Buddhist and Chinese ideas on the native faith and cult.
As early as the eighth century a Mikado began the custom, subsequently continued during many centuries, of abdicating the throne after a few years’ reign and assuming the Buddhist tonsure. The mode of imperial burial was modified in accordance with Buddhist ideas of the worthlessness of these mortal frames of ours. Some Mikados were cremated. One described himself as a slave of Buddha, and another in an official ordinance spoke of the Kami as obeying the laws of Buddha. After such an example was set by the high priests of Shinto, it could not be expected that their Court should be more faithful to the older cult. In the Heian period the nobles could not be induced to trouble themselves about the Shinto ceremonies, which were either deputed to subordinates or omitted altogether. The regular embassies to the shrines were neglected, except on some great emergency, such as famine, plague, or earthquake. Even the greatest Shinto rite of all—the Ohonihe, or coronation ceremony—was in abeyance for eight reigns, viz., from 1465 to 1687. What would have seemed even more shocking to an old Shintoist was the circumstance that Buddhist priests were allowed to take part in it.
Buddhist priests had the custody of nearly all the shrines, read Sutras, and performed Buddhist ceremonies there, such as baptism and goma sprinkling. Relics of Buddha were deposited in them. Buddhist temples had Shinto shrines of a Chinjiu, or protecting Kami, built in their courtyards. Buddhist architecture and ornaments were used for the Miya and ni-wô (the two kings, guardians of the gate) or shishi (lions) set up before them. The latter are an Indian conceit. They were originally set up at cemeteries in order to frighten wild beasts and prevent them from tearing up the dead. We are told that in the reign of Horikawa (1099) nearly all the shrines were in ruin.
The Onyôshi, or official college of professors of the Yin and Yang natural philosophy of China, who were equally prepared to compute an almanac or to exorcise a demon, were for many centuries entrusted with the performance of the harahi (purification ceremonies), and other Shinto functions.
The accompanying illustration shows another form of the admixture of Buddhism with Shinto which prevailed until quite recently. Of the three shrines here represented, the central only is dedicated to a Shinto Deity, viz., Atago, or the Fire-God, who, moreover, has the Buddhist epithet Daigongen affixed to his name. The other two are dedicated to the Buddhist deities Benzaiten and Bishamon.
The myths of the Kojiki and Nihongi did not escape from admixture with Indian cosmology and Chinese philosophy, a process which yielded the strangest results. Thus a fourteenth-century writer described the Yin and Yang as evolving by their mutual interaction Izanagi and Izanami, the earlier generations of the Nihongi story being omitted. Their child, the Sun Goddess, proves to be a manifestation of Buddha, one of whose services to humanity was at some far remote period to subdue the “Evil Kings of the Six Heavens” of Indian myth, and compel them to withdraw their opposition to the spread of the true doctrine (that is, Buddhism) in Japan.
Still there were a few exceptions to the general decay. At the two great shrines of Ise and Idzumo, the old cult was maintained in tolerable purity, and doubtless many local shrines were preserved by their insignificance from Buddhist encroachment. It should not be forgotten, moreover, that, although the history of Shinto under foreign influence was one of neglect and decay, in so far as its original elements were concerned, it borrowed from Buddhism and Confucianism germs of a higher thought, which under more favourable circumstances might have borne precious fruit. I have before me a book entitled, ‘Wa Rongo; or, Japanese (Confucian) Analects,’ which shows the later Shinto in a more favourable light. It was published in 1669. The preface states that the original work belongs to the reign of Gotoba no In (1184-1198), and gives a list of successive editors or compilers from 1219 to 1628. It is a collection of oracles of Shinto gods and wise utterances of mikados, princes, and others, of a tolerably heterogeneous kind. Most of them, however, bear the stamp of the Ryōbu Shinto. They are Buddhism, Confucianism, or Sung philosophy in a Shinto dress. The first volume contains 108 (the number of beads in a Buddhist rosary) oracles attributed to the Gods of various Shinto shrines throughout Japan.
These oracles are by no means consistent with one another. Some are frankly Buddhist in character, others inculcate the doctrine of the identity of Kami and Buddhas, while others, again, denounce the practice of alien religions. In some, Heaven-and-Earth is recognized as a sort of pantheistic deity, distinct from the physical universe. Here we have Chinese inspiration. Purity of heart, charity to the poor, and the avoidance of vain repetitions are much insisted on. No moral code is anywhere set forth. When virtue is spoken of, it is the Confucian morality, or the observance of the Buddhist commandments, that must be understood.
In the following examples the reader will find himself in a wholly different and far higher moral and religious atmosphere from that of the unadulterated older Shinto described in the preceding chapters.
Shinto Oracles.—The Sun-Goddess enjoins uprightness and truth, on pain of being sent to Ne no kuni.334 Men should make their hearts like unto Heaven-and-Earth.335 Wearisome ceremonies and repetitions (of some Buddhist sects) should be abandoned, and reverence shown to the Gods of the ancestral shrines.336
The Mikado Gotoba no In received the following inspiration in a dream from the two shrines of Ise:—
In the last days the world will be disturbed and all men troubled. The sovereign house will show respect for the military house, and local governors will make friends with wearisome fellows (Buddhist monks). Buddhist priests will take to them wives, eat flesh, and propagate base doctrines. The land of Ashihara of the fair rice-ears is the rightful property of my descendants.
An oracle of Hachiman:—
I refuse the offerings of the impure of heart. Some Gods are great, some small, some good and others bad. My name is Dai jizai wō bosatsu.337
An inspired poem (a.d. 1204):—
Loving-kindness is of the Buddhas:
Uprightness of the Kami:
Error of the sons of men.
Thus of the same heart there is a triple division.
The Gods of Kamo promise their divine help and the fulfilment of their prayers to their worshippers, especially those who regularly visit the shrine.
Oracle of the Gods of Kasuga:—
Even though men prepare for us a pure abode and offer there the rare things of the land, though they hang up offerings of the seven precious things, and with anxious hearts pray to us for hundreds of days, yet will we refuse to enter the house of the depraved and miserly. But we will surely visit the dwellings even of those in deep mourning338 without an invitation, if loving-kindness is there always. The reason is that we make loving-kindness our shintai.
Hear all men! If you desire to obtain help from the Gods, put away pride. Even a hair of pride shuts you off from the Gods as it were by a great cloud.
Hear all men! The good Kami find their strength and their support in piety. Therefore they love not the offerings of those who practise tedious ceremonies.
The Deity of Matsunowo says:—
Any one who makes a single obeisance to one Kami will receive infinite help: much more so any one who makes pure his heart and enters the great way of single-minded uprightness.
Oracle of Temman tenjin, the deified Minister Sugahara no Michizane339:—
All ye who come before me hoping to attain the accomplishment of your desires, pray with hearts pure from falsehood, clean within and without, reflecting the truth like a mirror. If those who are falsely accused of crime340 come to me for help, within seven days their prayer will be granted, or else call me not a God.
An oracle of Mume no miya promises that if an offering of sand is made help will be given to women in child-birth, and children to those who have none.
An oracle of Atago (the Fire-God) denounces his vengeance on those who pollute fire, and on the wealthy who do not assist their poorer neighbours.
Leave the things of this world and come to me daily and monthly with pure bodies and pure hearts. You will then enjoy paradise in this world and have all your desires accomplished.
Oracle of the God of Kashima341:—
I am the protector of Japan against foreign violence and break the spear-points of Heavenly demons and Earthly demons. All enjoy my divine power. I derive strength from the multiplication of devout men in the land. Then do the forces of demons melt away like snow in the sun. When devout men are few, my powers dwindle, my heart is distressed and the demon powers gain vigour while the divine power is weakened.
Oracle of the God of Atsuta:—
All ye men who dwell under Heaven. Receive the just commands of the Gods. Regard Heaven as your father, Earth as your mother, and all things as your brothers and sisters. You will then enjoy this divine country which excels all others, free from hate and sorrow. Obey the instructions of the Heaven-shining Deity and honour the Mikado. If any are rebellious, come before me and name their names. I will surely crush the foe and yield you satisfaction.
An oracle of the God of Suha342 promises to hear the prayers of all true worshippers, even though they may have eaten flesh. No outward purity avails a whit.
Oracle of Tatsuta (the Wind-God):—
All ye of high and low degree, rather than pray to Heaven-and-Earth, rather than pray to all the Kami, dutifully serve your parents. For your parents are the Gods of without and within.343 If that which is within is not bright it is useless to pray only for that which is without.
An oracle of Inari, near Kioto, speaks of this polluted world (a Buddhist phrase), and recommends the reading of Sutras and Dharani.
The following sentiments are ascribed to the God of Fujiyama:—
Ye men of mine. Shun desire. If you shun desire you will ascend to a level with the Gods. Every little yielding to anxiety is a step away from the natural heart of man. If one leaves the natural heart of man, he becomes a beast. That men should be made so, is to me intolerable pain and unending sorrow.
A son of a Mikado received the following inspiration in a dream:—
It is the upright heart of all men which is identical with the highest of the high, and therefore the God of Gods. There is no room in Heaven-and-Earth for the false and crooked person.
The following poem was revealed in a dream to the Mikado Seiwa:—
If we keep unperverted the human heart, which is like unto Heaven and received from Earth, that is God. The Gods have their abode in the heart. Amongst the various ordinances none is more excellent than that of religious meditation.
The God of a Tajima shrine says:—
When the sky is clear, and the wind hums in the fir-trees, ’tis the heart of a God who thus reveals himself.
An oracle of Hachiman (the War-God) enjoins on his worshippers to be full of pity and mercy for beggars and lepers, and even for ants and crickets. Those whose pity and charity are wide will have their precious cord (of life) extended immeasurably; their posterity will be spread abroad like the wings of a crane. They will become the upright heart of the Gods of Heaven.
Another oracle of Hachiman:—
All men’s love of children and love of self are heinous crimes. Nothing is more admirable than to sever, were it only for a time, all earthly relations.
If men will have upright hearts they must be neither foolish nor clever, they must indulge neither in grief nor in hate, but be as the flowers which unfold under the genial warmth of a vernal sun.
If there be any who, having studied the books of China or practised the teachings of India, despise the instructions of the Gods of our own Japan, I will go to their houses and either slay their infant children or visit them with sore disease, or turn away from them their followers, or by the God of Fire destroy their dwellings. This is not because I hate the doctrines of China or India, but because it is rejecting the root for the branches.
Oracle of Itsukushima in Aki:—
Of old the people of my country knew not my name. Therefore I was born into the visible world and endured a base existence. In highest Heaven I am the Deity of the Sun, in the mid-sky I show my doings. I hide in the great Earth and produce all things: in the midst of the Ocean I am the eight Dragon-kings, and my power pervades the four seas. If the poorest of mankind come here once for worship, show me their faces and declare their wishes, within seven days, fourteen days, twenty-one days, or it may be three years or seven years, according to the person and the importance of his prayer, I will surely grant their heart’s desire. But the wicked of heart must not apply to me. Those who do not abandon mercy will not be abandoned by me.
Revival of Pure Shinto.—The seventeenth century witnessed a great revival of Chinese learning in Japan. It embraced not only the renewed study of the ancient classics of Confucius and Mencius, but the philosophical writings of Chu-hi and other sceptical writers of the Sung Dynasty (960-1278). The Samurai, or governing caste of the nation, devoted themselves to these studies with amazing zeal and enthusiasm, to the great neglect of Buddhism, which from this time forward was left mainly to the common people. This movement reached a climax in the eighteenth century, when a reaction set in. Kada, Mabuchi, and other patriotic scholars, resenting the undue preponderance allowed to Chinese thought, did their utmost, by commentaries and exegetical treatises, to recall attention to the monuments of the ancient national literature, such as the Kojiki, Nihongi, and Manyōshiu, which had been so long neglected that they were in great part unintelligible even to educated men. Under their pupil and successor Motoöri (1730-1801), this movement assumed a religious character. His patriotic prejudices were offended by the foreign elements which he found in the Ryōbu and other prevailing forms of Shinto, while the Sung doctrine of a “Great Absolute” was not only odious to him on account of its alien origin, but failed to satisfy his soul-hunger for a more personal object of worship. He therefore turned back to the older form of Shinto. To its propagation by lectures and books he devoted many years of his life, and not without success. He had numerous followers among the more educated classes.
Motoöri’s principal work is the Kojiki den, a commentary on the Kojiki, in which he loses no opportunity of attacking everything Chinese and of exalting the old Japanese customs, language, and religion in a spirit of ardent and undiscriminating patriotism. He seems to have been wholly blind to the fact that the exotic faiths and philosophies, whose intrusion into Shinto he so bitterly resented, contain elements far otherwise valuable to mankind than the ritual of the Yengishiki and the old-world myths of the Kojiki.
His pupil Hirata (1776-1843) was less of a literary man and more of a theologian than his master. In a long life he wrote numbers of books, amounting to hundreds of volumes, and delivered innumerable lectures urging the claims of the old Shinto. His teaching was so successful that it at last drew upon him the attention of the Shōgun’s Government, who, finding that their own authority was being undermined by the prominence given to the de jure sovereign rights of the Sun-Goddess’s descendants, forbade his lectures and banished him to his native province of Dewa. Hirata’s anti-foreign prejudices did not prevent him from believing in the immortality of the soul—a doctrine of Buddhist origin—or from borrowing from China a worship of ancestors quite different from anything in the old Shinto. He adopts the Chinese duty of “filial piety,” and makes strenuous but unavailing efforts to find countenance for it in the Kojiki and Nihongi. Though he says that the Kami detest Buddhism because it teaches us to abandon lord and parent, wife and child, and is therefore destructive of morality, and because its adherents are filthy beggars, who boast of wearing cast-off rags and eating food given in charity, in another place he goes so far as to admit Buddha to his Shinto Pantheon, on condition that he shall be content with an inferior position. He tacitly accepts the moral code of China, while protesting that such things are unnecessary, as we are endowed by nature with an intuitive knowledge of right and wrong.
The agitation for the revival of Pure Shinto was a retrograde movement, which could only end in failure. It contributed substantially, however, to the success of the political revolution which in 1868 brought about the restoration of the Mikado to the sovereign position which was the logical outcome of Motoöri’s and Hirata’s teachings. The Shinto reformation of the same date, when the Buddhist priests were removed from the Ryōbu shrines, and a certain purification of ritual and ornaments was effected, was also due to their influence.344
Shingaku.—A school of preachers who called their doctrine shingaku or “heart-learning,” and professed to combine Shinto with Buddhism and Confucianism, had some vogue in the first half of the nineteenth century. These men were in reality rationalists, who took the maxims of Confucius and Mencius as the basis of their doctrines. Any Shinto element which they may contain is quite inappreciable. Their sermons, of which a good number have been printed, are in the colloquial dialect. They are very entertaining and, despite an occasional bit of indecency, not unedifying.
Tenrikyô,345 or the “teaching of the Heavenly Reason,” is a modern sect. The founder was a woman named Omiki, who was born in the province of Yamato in 1798, and died in 1887. Her religion owes much to the Shingaku and Ryōbu doctrines. While professing to worship Kunitokotachi, Izanagi, Izanami, and seven other Shinto deities, practically Izanagi and Izanami are her only Gods. The former (identified with the sun) is taken to represent the male, and the latter the female principle, corresponding in nature to Heaven and Earth, and in human society to husband and wife. These Gods are spiritual beings, chiefly revealed in the heart of man, and are endowed with personal attributes. Tenrikyô has high moral aims, and has made rapid progress. In 1894 there were claimed for it 10,000 priests and preachers, and 1,400,000 adherents.
Remmonkyô.346 —The name of this sect implies that, like the spotless lotus-flower, which has its roots in the mud, it attains to purity in the midst of a wicked world. It is stated to have originated with a certain Yanagita Ichibeimon, but its real founder was his disciple, a woman named Shimamura Mitsuko, who was still alive and preaching in 1901.
The Remmonkyô professes to be a reformed Shinto, but in reality it owes little to this source beyond the names of the Gods Ame no minaka nushi, Taka-musubi, and Kami-musubi, who are termed the three Creator Deities. They are considered, however, to be only manifestations of the Ji no Myôhô, or “Wonderful Law of Things,” and the real God of the sect is the personified Myôhô (wonderful law) a conception borrowed from the Buddhist Nichiren sect. The followers of Shimamura call her an ikigami (live God), and regard her as identical with the Myôhô. How often in Japanese religious history do we meet with this idea of the incarnation of the God in his priest or prophet!
The shintai, or material representative of the Myôhô, is a slip of paper bearing the words “Ji no Myôhô,” written by the founder herself. It is sold as a charm against disease and danger. Faith-healing is a practice of this sect, as it is of the Tenrikyô. Their moral code is of the ordinary Confucian type.
The last-named two sects are not likely to play an important part in religious history. The founders of both were ignorant women, and their doctrines are a mere jumble of conflicting ideas borrowed from various sources, and inspired by no great central thought. We may, perhaps, compare their position in Japan to that of the Salvation Army or the Plymouth Brethren in this country.
Official Shinto.—The official cult of the present day is substantially the “Pure Shinto” of Motoöri and Hirata. But it has little vitality. A rudimentary religion of this kind is quite inadequate for the spiritual sustenance of a nation which in these latter days has raised itself to so high a pitch of enlightenment and civilization. No doubt some religious enthusiasm is excited by the great festivals of Ise, Idzumo, and a few other shrines, and by the annual pilgrimages—which, however, have other raisons d’être. The reverence paid to the Mikado is not devoid of a religious quality which has its source in Shinto. But the main stream of Japanese piety has cut out for itself new channels. It has turned to Buddhism, which, at the time of the Restoration in a languishing state, is now showing signs of renewed life and activity. Another and still more formidable rival has appeared, to whose progress, daily increasing in momentum, what limit shall be prescribed?
As a national religion, Shinto is almost extinct. But it will long continue to survive in folk-lore and custom, and in that lively sensibility to the divine in its simpler and more material aspects which characterizes the people of Japan.
The End
Footnotes
1 At the festival of Nifu Miōjin in Kiī, when the procession bearing offerings arrives before the shrine, the village chief calls out in a loud voice, “According to our annual custom, let us all laugh.” To which a hearty response is given. This is because this God does not go to Idzumo for an annual visit like the others.
2 ‘Sociology,’ p. 153.
3 Compare with this the following description of the huacas of the ancient Peruvians. “All those things which from their beauty and excellence are superior to other things of a like kind; things that are ugly and monstrous or that cause horror and fright; things out of the usual course of nature.”
4 In the spirit of Wordsworth’s
“Listen, the mighty being is awake
And doth with his eternal motion make
A noise like thunder everlastingly.”
5 M. Goblet d’Alviella says: “I maintain that neither of these two forms of worship necessarily presupposes the other; but that man having been led by different roads to personify the souls of the dead on the one hand and natural objects and phenomena on the other, subsequently attributed to both alike the character of mysterious superhuman beings. Let us add that this must have taken place everywhere, for there is not a people on earth in which we do not come upon these forms of belief side by side and intermingled.” Dr. Pfleiderer’s view is substantially identical.
6 Max Müller speaks of “that ancient stratum of thought which postulated an agent in the sky, the sun, &c.” This is really a secondary conception.
7 It was not unknown in ancient Greece and Rome. Zeus, Hercules, and other deities became divided up in this way.
8 “Mr. Tyler has justly observed that the true lesson of the new science of Comparative Mythology is the barrenness in primitive times of the faculty which we most associate with mental fertility, the imagination.... Among these multitudes (the millions of men who fill what we vaguely call the East) Literature, Religion, and Art—or what correspond to them—move always within a distinctly drawn circle of unchanging notions.... This condition of thought is rather the infancy of the human mind prolonged than a different maturity from that most familiar to us.”—Maine, ‘Early History of Institutions,’ pp. 225-6. This characteristic of the mental development of the races of the Far East is discussed in ‘A Comparative Study of the Japanese and Korean Languages,’ by W. G. Aston, in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, August, 1879, and more fully by Mr. Percival Lowell, in his ‘Soul of the Far East,’ 1888. See also Mr. B. H. Chamberlain’s’ Kojiki,’ Introd., lxvi.
9 Homer implicitly denies the spirituality of his Gods when he says that the Hercules which was summoned up by Ulysses was only his eidolon, or phantom, the real man being in Olympus among the happy Gods.
10 See an instructive article on ‘Shekinah’ in Dr. Hastings’s ‘Dictionary of the Bible’.
11 “And mine eternal jewel given to the common enemy of man.”—‘Macbeth,’ Act III. scene i.
12 The Shekinah was also associated with a divine radiance, or glory.
13 Mi mi (august body) in the names of others involves a more material conception of deity.
14 Corresponding to the mo acha, uncle of peace, and ski acha, rough uncle, of the Ainus.
15 Homer’s άντός
16 Sakitake no Ben, 21.
17 See Index.
18 For deities of classes consult Dr. Tylor’s ‘Primitive Culture,’ ii. 242.
19 “Laotze finit par n’être plus que le principe vital universel existant avant le ciel et la terre et qui s’est plu à chaque époque a se montrer sous les traits d’un personnage quelconque souvent des plus obscurs.”—‘Religion de la Chine,’ De Harlez.
20 See a paper on the Hi no maru (sun-circle) in the T. A. S. J., Nov. 8th, 1893.
21 Such as touching for scrofula or the assurance of fine weather.
22 The statements of Kaempfer, in his ‘History of Japan,’ regarding the sacred character of the Mikado’s person cannot be depended on. His account of Shinto generally is grossly erroneous, or rather imaginary.
23 ‘Japan,’ edited by Capt. Brinkley.
24 See Index, sub voce.
25 See Index—‘Suha.’
26 ‘Evolution of Religion,’ p. 239.
27 Fuku means good fortune.
28 See p. 27.
29 In Teutonic mythology the will-of-the-wisps are souls which have not attained heavenly peace.
30 See also Mr. Frazer’s ‘Golden Bough,’ ii. 297.
31 The Stoics held that the world was not only animated and immortal, but likewise happy and round, because Plato says that that is the most perfect form.
32 Hirata denies this.
33 For full details of the construction of the Japanese dolmen, the reader may consult two admirable papers by Mr. W. Gowland, in the Japan Society’s Transactions, 1897-8, and the Journal of the Society of Antiquaries, 1897.
34 “Blood, which is the life, is the food frequently offered to the dead.... By a substitution of similars, it is considered sufficient to colour the corpse, or some part thereof, with some red substance taking the place thereof.”—Jevons, ‘Introduction to the History of Religion,’ p. 52. But see Index—‘Red.’
35 Some of these figures are still in existence, and one may be seen in the British Museum, where it constitutes the chief treasure of the Gowland Collection. The Uyeno Museum, in Tokio, also possesses specimens, both of men and horses.
36 “Rites, performed at graves, becoming afterwards religious rites performed at altars in temples, were at first acts done for the benefit of the ghost.”—Herbert Spencer’s ‘Sociology,’ ii. 8.
37 See an article by Mr. W. H. Lay in T. A. S. J., 1891.
38 “Comte ramenait toutes les religions à l’adoration de l’homme par l’homme. Comte, il est vrai, ne faisait pas de l’homme individuel l’objet du culte normal: il proposait à nos adorations l’homme en tant qu’ espèce en tant qu’ humanité et parvenait à deployer une véritable mysticité sur cette étroite base.”—Reville, ‘Prolegomena,’ p. 26.
39 See Index—‘Incest.’
40 In ‘Japan,’ edited by Capt. Brinkley.
41 Dr. Florenz, in his ‘Japanische Mythologie,’ says that Sui-tengū is a fusion of the Sumiyoshi Sea-Gods with the Indian Sea-God Sui-ten, that is, Varuna, subsequently identified with the youthful Emperor Antoku (who lost his life by drowning in 1185).
42 “The different peoples conceived and developed this divine hierarchy pari passu with their own approximation to political unity” (Goblet d’Alviella, Hibbert Lectures). Aristotle recognized the same principle.
43 “The symbol or permanent object, at and through which the worshipper came into direct contact with the God, was not lacking in any Semitic place of worship, but had not always the same form, and was sometimes a natural object, sometimes an artificial erection.”—Robertson Smith, ‘Religion of the Semites,’ p. 160.
44 simulacra que maesta deorum
Arte carent, cæsis extant informia truncis.
Lucan, ‘Pharsalia.’
45 See Index—Sake no kami.
46 See Index—Naishidokoro.
47 In an official report by Mr. H. Risley he says that at the time of the spring equinox there is a festival (in India) called Sri Panchami, when it is incumbent on every religious-minded person to worship the implements or insignia of the vocation by which he lives.
48 P. 16.
49 See above, p. 12, and Index—‘Dreams,’
50 See Dr. Tylor’s ‘Primitive Culture,’ second edition, i. 285.
51 See ‘Rig-veda,’ x. 129, for a similar rationalistic dissertation on the origin of the universe. Here and below the italics indicate translations.
52 In Chinese, Yin and Yang. The Yin is the dark, negative, passive, feminine, and terrene principle; the Yang is light, positive, active, male, and celestial.
53 ‘Philosophy of Religion,’ i. 269.
54 “Into human shape” is another version.
55 I shall usually omit this purely honorific addition to the names of Japanese Gods and sovereigns.
56 Hirata says that “the five generations of deities which in the Kojiki precede Izanagi and Izanami are only names descriptive of the successive stages of formation of these deities. Their functions are obscure, and they have no shrines or worship. They are unnecessary, as all that are required are two Gods for the creation of Heaven, two of Yomi and two of Earth.”
57 There is a close association in Hebrew between the ideas of creation and begetting. Bara, create, and jalad, beget, are often interchanged.
58 See Index.
59 See Index.
60 It was deprived of this character soon after by order of the Mikado’s Government, the only monument of the old cult left standing being Nantai (male form), a mountain which towers above Nikko to the height of 8,500 feet.
61 ‘Sociology,’ ii. 177.
62 See Index, ‘Circumambulation.’ Also Simpson’s ‘Praying Wheel,’ p. 285, and Jevons’s ‘Introduction to Religion,’ p. 210. The corresponding Highland ceremony, called Deasil, is described in Sir Walter Scott’s ‘Fair Maid of Perth.’ See also Brand’s ‘British Antiquities.’
63 I 324.
64 A strong suspicion of Chinese origin attaches to these elemental gods.
65 The significance of the wo-bashira, or end-tooth, is explained elsewhere. See Index.
66 See Index—‘Peach.’
67 Deified as Chi-gaheshi no Oho-kami (road-send-back-great-deity).
68 Muir’s ‘Sanskrit Texts,’ v. 320.
69 See Murray’s ‘Japan,’ fifth edition, p. 408.
70 See Index.
71 See Dr. Tylor’s ‘Primitive Culture,’ ii. 435.
72 As Horus, in Egyptian myth, confronts the powers of darkness.
73 The Milky Way: a Chinese expression.
74 This is one of several miraculous births and pregnancies in Japanese myth. Mankind have a rooted propensity for imagining that it is possible to improve on the means ordained for this purpose by Divine Providence. See Mr. Hartland’s ‘Legend of Perseus’ for numerous examples.
75 The Kiujiki makes Masa-ya, &c., the son of the Sun-Goddess by Takamusubi.
76 Represented at Ise by dancers called tonako (bird-cry).
77 ‘The Golden Bough,’ second edition, i. 115.
78 See Index—‘River-deities.’
79 See above, p. 90.
80 Another authority makes Uka no mitama a daughter of Izanagi and Izanami.
81 See above, p. 93.
82 See Index—Futsunushi.
83 Like Odin, who lends his spear Gungmir to heroes to win victories with.
84 I.e., died.
85 It was an Arab custom in certain places to build a hut outside the camp, where the parturient woman had to stay for a time.—Welhausen.
86 There was no official recognition of the art of writing in Japan until a.d. 405, and no mention of calendars until a.d. 553. So much for the authenticity of the above date.
87 Usa is not on the direct route from Hiuga to Yamato. It was no doubt introduced because this place was anciently a famous centre of Shinto worship.
88 This is a specimen of the numerous derivations of the Jimmu narrative. The Idzumo Fudoki is also full of infantile etymologies, which have usually a scrap of legend attached to them.
89 Blade-holder.
90 Yata-garasu means eight-hand-crow. The guidance of conquerors or colonists to their destination by a supernatural bird or beast is a familiar feature of old-world story.
91 Ame is the name of a sweet substance made from millet, of the same nature as our malt extract.
92 The Mikado deputed most of his priestly functions to the Nakatomi.
93 Idzu-hime means dread or sacred princess. Michi no Omi (minister of the way) seems therefore to have been given a feminine title for the occasion, no doubt because the office was usually held by women.
94 It was at this season of the year that the harvest festival, or rather the festival of tasting the new rice, was celebrated. See Index—Nihiname.
95 Japanese history is said to begin from this date. In reality nothing deserving the name existed for nearly one thousand years more.
96 Deuteronomy iv. 19; xvii. 3.
97 The Vice-Royalty of Kiushiu.
98 In Korea.
99 See above, p. 70; also Index—‘Mirror.’
100 “The mirror is kept in a box of chamaecyparis wood, which rests on a low stand covered with a piece of white silk. It is wrapped in a bag of brocade, which is never opened or renewed, but when it begins to fall to pieces from age another bag is put on, so that the actual covering consists of many layers. Over the whole is placed a sort of wooden cage, with ornaments said to be of pure gold, over which again is thrown a cloth of coarse silk falling to the floor on all sides.”—Murray’s ‘Japan,’ fifth edition, p. 308.
101 See Index—Naishidokoro.
102 A kind of hawk. ‘Odyssey,’ xv. 525.
103 Vide ‘The Hinomaru’ in the T. A. S. J., vol. xxii. p. 27.
104 See above, p. 65.
105 ‘In the Shinto Pantheon,’ in the New World, December, 1896.
106 Japan is annually visited by destructive typhoons, accompanied by great darkness and a terrific downpour of rain.
107 See above, p. 106.
108 Egyptian is one.
109 See Index—‘Sasura-hime.’
110 ‘Religions of Primitive Peoples,’ p. 80.
111 I offer, for consideration only, two conjectures: first, that Tsuki-yomi was the Ise Moon-God, and Susa no wo the Idzumo lunar deity; and second, that Susa may possibly be an allotropic form of sasura, banish.
112 “The large, deep love of living sea and land.”—Swinburne, ‘Kynance Cove.’
113 Graphically described in Lafcadio Hearn’s ‘Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan.’
114 See above, p. 108.
115 See above, p. 106.
116 Nihongi, ii. 366.
117 I. 198.
118 See ‘Ch. K.,’ p. 33.
119 See above, p. 95.
120 See Index—‘Sumiyoshi.’
121 See p. 114.
122 See above, p. 92.
123 Nihongi, i. 22.
124 See Index—‘Wind-Gods.’
125 In Yucatan there were four Wind-Gods, who upheld the four corners of Heaven.
126 See above, p. 109.
127 Nihongi, i. 115.
128 Nihongi, i. 44.
129 Is it possible that Fuji no yama is really for Futsu no yama, the mountain of fire?
130 The sword was deified in Teutonic myth.
131 “So called,” says Hirata, “because heat makes things grow.”
132 See Index—Ho-shidzume, Fire-drill.
133 As a source of food?
134 See Index—Toshi-gohi.
135 See Index.
136 Murray’s ‘Japan,’ fifth edit., p. 383.
137 See Index—‘Red.’
138 See Index—Yabune.
139 Compare our “nave,” from the Latin navis.
140 See below, p. 186.
141 See Index, s.v.
142 See above, p. 86.
143 In Japanese In and Yō.
144 See above, p. 129.
145 Rhys, ‘Celtic Heathendom,’ p. 115.
146 ‘In Japan,’ edited by Capt. Brinkley.
147 See Ch. K., p. 102.
148 Probably a sepulchral dolmen. There are many in this district, said to be the tombs of Minakata’s descendants.
149 The east is in Japan the soft wind—our zephyr.
150 See Index, Nakatomi.
151 See Index, Ujigami.
152 See Index, Imibe.
153 “There lies in dwarfs a special acquaintance with the healing virtues hidden in herbs.”—Grimm, ‘Teutonic Mythology.’
154 See above, p. 107.
155 See above, p. 93.
156 See Index, Michiahe.
157 “Before strangers are allowed to enter a district certain ceremonies are often performed by the natives of the country for the purpose of disarming them of their magical powers, of counteracting the baleful influence which is believed to emanate from them, or of disinfecting, so to speak, the tainted atmosphere with which they are supposed to be surrounded.”—Frazer’s ‘Golden Bough,’ i. 150.
158 See Index, Tsuina.
159 Eustathius, the commentator on Homer, points out that the barley-corn denoted the vulva with the writers upon the Bacchic Komuses.
160 I have before me a picture of a Dōsōjin. It stands at cross-roads, and is a phalloid natural boulder over which depends a shimenaha supported by two bamboos. In front of it are little piles of stones, of which the similar offerings to the Buddhist children’s God Jizōsama are doubtless a survival. The modern practice of bringing the Jizō of the neighbourhood and dumping them down before the lodging of a newly-married couple is no doubt a similar case of survival. A custom which began with the Dōsōjin is continued with the Jizō, which now occupy their place at crossways.
161 We may compare with this an old English custom mentioned by Brand of the priests blessing candles at Candlemas and distributing them to the people, “so that the Divil may fly out of the habitation.”
162 See above, p. 93.
163 Phaseolus radiatus.
164 The modern spelling sai implies an altered conception of the function of these objects. It means good luck, a vaguer and more general idea than sahe, which means prevention (of disease).
165 See Index.
166 The names of plants.
167 The names of plants.
168 Crossways had a special sanctity in many countries. The Hermæ of ancient Greece stood at crossways.
169 See Index, Tsuji-ura.
170 Measures were taken in ancient Greece to check the excesses of the Bacchanalian rites.
171 For further evidence on this subject, Dr. Buckley’s ‘Phallicism in Japan’ (Chicago, 1895), the Nihongi, i. 11, and Dr. Griffis’s ‘Religions of Japan’ may be consulted.
172 Nihongi, i. 30.
173 According to St. Augustine, the devils of Scripture are our passions and unbridled appetites.
174 For an account of similar priests or medicine men in many other countries, see ‘The Golden Bough.’ The Nazirite (Numbers vi.) is their Jewish counterpart.
175 See Hirata’s Koshiden, xviii. 23.
176 II. 395.
177 The old Hebrew idea (Genesis viii. 21) was that the food actually reached God in the form of the fragrant fire-distilled essence, and thus gratified him as an agreeable gift. Hastings, ‘Dict. of the Bible.’
178 Robertson Smith, ‘Religion of the Semites,’ p. 345.
179 See Index, Toshigohi.
180 See above, p. 119.
181 Reminding us of Homer’s στἐμμαα θεοἶο, which consisted of tufted wool attached to a wand (σκῆπτρον). The ancient Jews made offerings of wool.
182 See Index, ‘Inspiration.’
183 Nihongi, i. 193, 251.
184 See above, p. 70.
185 Agamemnon’s sword was worshipped in Greece in the time of Pausanias.
186 Nihongi, ii. 293.
187 See illustration in Chapter XIV.
188 Murray’s ‘Japan,’ fifth edition, p. 50.
189 See a contribution by Mr. S. Tuke to the Japan Society’s Transactions, vol. iv., 1896-7, and a paper by the present writer in the T.A.S.J. for December, 1899. Mr. B. H. Chamberlain holds a different view, which is stated in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 1895, and in ‘Things Japanese,’ fourth edition.
190 See Index, Rokkon Shōjō.
191 Nihongi, i. 113.
192 Chamberlain’s Kojiki, p. 312.
193 See Index, Ohoharahi.
194 I quote here, not from any religious document, but from a poem of the Manyōshiu, a solitary instance of a religious stigma being attached to lying:
“If, while not loving,
I said that I loved thee,
The God who dwells
In the grove of Uneda in Matori
Will take note of it.”
195 Ch. K. 291.
196 See above, p. 129.
197 Quoted by Dr. Florenz in T.A.S.J., xxvii. p. 56.
198 See Index, s.v.
199 In ancient Egypt, which presents numerous analogies with Japan, interference with the irrigation channels was deemed an offence against the deity.
200 Compare Leviticus xviii. 17.
201 Leviticus xii. 1; xv. 19.
202 See above, p. 113. The couvade was unknown.
203 Compare Leviticus xiii. 2; Numbers xix. 11. See also above, p. 93.
204 Numbers v. 2.
205 Compare Leviticus xxi. 17 et seqq.
206 Ch. K. 230.
207 Deuteronomy xvii. 11. See Index, ‘Magic.’
208 Ch. K., p. 104. See also Ch. K., p. 211, and Nihongi, i. 205.
209 See a paper on the Japanese gohei in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xxxi., 1901. Also a note in Man, October, 1892.
210 See Grimm’s ‘Teutonic Mythology,’ ii. 603, Stallybrass’s translation.
211 See Dr. Tylor’s ‘Primitive Culture,’ ii. 434.
212 “Sprinkle the water of expiation on them... and let them wash their clothes.”—Numbers vii. 7.
213 The “earth-fast” stones of our own folk-lore.
214 Griffis, ‘Mikado’s Empire,’ p. 470.
215 We have a good illustration of the transition from the physical to the metaphorical use of spitting in Revelation iii. 16: “Because thou art lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth.”
216 II. 96.
217 Hirata says that in books on magic ibukite harafu (clearing away by puffing) is a means adopted by men naturally, without teaching, for cleansing away evil influences. See also Darwin’s ‘Expression of the Emotions’, pp. 258, 261.
218 Dr. Florenz, in T. A. S. J., December, 1899.
219 “Un rite est un assemblage de symboles groupés autour d’une idée religieuse ou d’un acte religieux, destiné à en rehausser le caractère solennel ou bien à en développer le sens.”—Reville, ‘Prolegomènes.’
220 See Index, Yufu.
221 Have we here one of those human representatives of the grain so familiar to us in European folk-lore? See Mr. Frazer’s ‘Golden Bough.’
222 See Index for these deities.
223 No. 14 of the Yengishiki.
224 The Mikado.
225 See above, p. 255.
226 Sir Ernest Satow says that sleeping in a house being regarded as the sign of ownership, a pillow (makura) is often placed in the shrine as a symbol of the God’s presence.
227 That is, wearing the garb of a priest who makes offerings.
228 Probably the same as Ame no hohi, from whom the Miyakko claimed descent.
229 The same as the Miyakko.
230 Ohonamochi.
231 That is, to surrender the civil jurisdiction.
232 It is to be understood that after he had enshrined his nigi-tama, or gentle spirit, in Yamato, Ohonamochi himself, or perhaps his ara-tama, or rough spirit, retired to Idzumo.
233 Explained to mean “in the discharge of my mediatory function.”
234 For a more detailed discussion of this ritual, see Sir E. Satow in T. A. S. J., vol. ix. pt. ii. p. 183.
235 See above, p. 270.
236 The Nakatomi.
237 See Index for these two deities.
238 See Index.
239 These are names of places. The Gods seem to have had no others.
240 These are names of mountains.
241 Ninigi. Below the same term means the Mikado.
242 The ancient Japanese houses had their timbers lashed together with ropes.
243 The translation is doubtful.
244 See above, p. 167.
245 Male and female attendants.
246 These terms are often used as synonymous with the regalia, of which the Sun-mirror was the chief.
247 The incense is Buddhist.
248 I am much indebted to Dr. Florenz’s exhaustive monograph on this rite in vol. xxvii. of the T. A. S. J.
249 Ch. K., p. 230.
250 See Index, sub voce.
251 See Mr. Batchelor in T. A. S. J., xxiv. 46.
252 It will be remembered that it was on an occasion of this kind that Agamemnon ordered an Oho-harahi to be performed:—
... λαὸνς άπολνμαἰνεσθαι άνωγεν,
Οιδ άπελνμάινοντοο καί εἰς άλα λνματ έβαλλον
‘Iliad,’ I. 313.
253 See Index.
254 “He” is the officiating Nakatomi, speaking on behalf of the Mikado.
255 Usually said to be Taka-musubi, Kamu-musubi, and the Sun-Goddess.
256 Ninigi.
257 Poetical expressions for Japan.
258 That is, rain.
259 Sowing wild oats was one of the misdeeds of Loki, the Scandinavian mischief-God. Compare also Matthew xiii. 24: “The kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat.” See above, p. 97.
260 Motoöri says that this is with the malicious intention of injuring the feet of the owner of the ground. I prefer the explanation suggested by the Shiki, an ancient commentary on the Nihongi. It says: “Planting rods (or skewers) in the rice-fields with words of incantation is called ‘skewer-planting.’ The object is the destruction of any one who should wrongly claim that field. The present custom of planting skewers in a field whose ownership is disputed is probably a survival of this.” Kushi, or skewer, is the word used for the wand to which offerings are attached. See Florenz’s ‘Ancient Japanese Rituals’ in T. A. S. J., p. 32.
261 The native commentators point out that the “Heavenly Offences” are so called because they were first committed by Susa no wo in Heaven. This passage of the norito was therefore suggested by the myth. (See above, p. 83.) The object of the myth-maker, however, was simply to enhance the dramatic quality of his story by attributing to the boisterous Rain-storm God misdeeds whose odious character would forcibly strike his audience, a nation of agriculturists. In the norito the further step is taken of recognizing the same acts, committed on earth, as offences not only against men, but as sins before the Gods. He may have argued that the Sun-Goddess has a tender care for the rice-fields of her beloved race of men as well as for her own, and that any interference with them is therefore hateful to her. The “skewer-planting” above mentioned points to a still earlier attempt to bring agriculture under religious protection. There is no substantial basis for the distinction between Heavenly and Earthly offences. The author’s real object in making it was no doubt rhetorical. He wished to break up the long list of offences into two balanced sentences, after a fashion common in Japanese poetry and poetical prose composition. I suspect that the “flaying alive” and “flaying backwards” were magical practices of the same class as the “witchcraft” condemned just below. The flaying was objected to, not for its cruelty, but on account of the malicious use to which the skins so procured were put. See Index, Inugami.
262 A disease which has not been clearly identified. Dr. Florenz renders “afflicted with excrescences.”
263 Especially being struck by lightning.
264 Another rendering is “killing animals by bewitchments.” The Chinese character used implies that it is for an evil purpose.
265 Dr. Florenz, following Motoöri, renders “and deposit [upon them] in abundance [the purification offerings].” The character of these offerings is indicated by a passage in the Nihongi (a.d. 676): “The Mikado commanded, saying: ‘Let a Great Purification (Oho-harahi) be held in all quarters. The articles needed for this purpose are to be forwarded to the shrines of purification by the governors of each province, to wit, one horse and one piece of cloth. The other things are to be supplied by the governors of districts, namely, each one sword, one deerskin, one mattock, one smaller sword, one sickle, one set of arrows, and one sheaf of rice in the ear. Further, let each house provide a bundle of hemp.’” This Oho-harahi was doubtless celebrated in consequence of the appearance of a comet at this time. On another occasion (681) each local governor supplied a slave as a purification offering. In later times the Harahi-tsu-mono, or purification offerings, were furnished by the central Government.
266 The meaning of this clause is doubtful. The object seems to be to provide a brush for brushing away (harahi) offences. Sir E. Satow says, with regard to a different ceremony: “The high priest waves before the company a sort of broom made of grass, to symbolize the sweeping away of their offences.”
267 In later times it was thought, without sufficient reason, that the “ritual words” here spoken of were a special form of incantation distinct from the norito itself.
268 See above, p. 261.
269 Yomi or Hades.
270 Swift-banishment-lady.
271 A horse was one of the expiatory offerings. It seems here to typify the attentive attitude of the audience, or perhaps of the deities concerned.
272 Harahi-zare. There is some confusion here between the offences and the expiatory offerings. The harahi-tsu-mono were then taken away and thrown into some convenient river. I suspect, however, that most of them were not thrown away, but went to provide a fund for the expenses of the ceremony. It is not clear what became of the horse or of the slaves. The harahi-tsu-mono were not gifts to any particular Gods, but rather, like the scape-goat of the Mosaic law, vehicles by which the transgressions of the people were conveyed away. But it is better not to put this too sweepingly. There is reason to think that by some they were thought to be offerings to Se-ori-tsu-hime and the other deities mentioned. At the present day they consist of a few pieces of cloth.
273 See ‘Notes of some Minor Japanese Religious Practices,’ by Mr. B. H. Chamberlain, in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, May, 1893, and Sir E. Satow’s ‘Visit to the Shrines of Ise,’ T. A. S. J., 1874.
274 See above, p. 187.
275 That is, “did honour to.”
276 These deities were worshipped at cross-roads, and were called the eight-cross-road deities.
277 The date of one Sahe no Kami festival.
278 Written on paper and thrown into the flames.
279 See above, p. 168.
280 See above, pp. 189-190.
281 See above, p. 313.
282 That is, died.
283 What was the God of Fire in the previous sentence is here simply “Fire.”
284 A branch of the Nakatomi, who claimed descent from Koyane, one of the four Gods worshipped.
285 From a modern collection entitled Norito Bunrei.
286 In the north of Japan.
287 A Buddhist title.
288 See above, p. 197.
289 ‘Yenzeki Zasshi,’ v. 1.
290 When demons and evil influences are expelled. See above, p. 308.
291 After the manner of the Oho-harahi offerings.
292 ‘The Golden Bough,’ second edition, p. 9.
293 I cannot offer any explanation of the magic used by women and children in order to bring fine weather. They hang upside down to the eaves or on the branch of a tree human figures cut in paper, and called Teri-teri-bōzu (shine-shine-priest).
294 See above, p. 115.
295 I. 157.
296 ‘The Mikado’s Empire,’ p. 474.
297 See also Ch. K. 263.
298 According to Van Helmont, the reason why bull’s fat is so powerful in a vulnerary ointment is that the bull at the time of slaughter is full of secret reluctancy and vindictive murmurs, and therefore dies with a higher flame of revenge about him than any other animal.
299 See ‘Primitive Culture,’ i. 116, where numerous examples of symbolic magic are given.
300 See above, p. 187.
301 The Tsuchigumo (earth-hiders) were men of a low class, who lived in dwellings sunk in the earth, and gave much trouble to the Japanese Government in ancient times. Dr. Tylor, in his ‘Primitive Culture,’ i. 113, has noted the tendency to attribute magical powers to pariahs and foreigners. Sukunabikona, the teacher of magic to Japan, came from abroad.
302 See above, p. 115.
303 See above, p. 106.
304 See p. 292.
305 Nihongi, ii. 82.
306 See above, p. 294.
307 Koyane. Hirata speaks with scorn of the Chinese methods of divining current in Japan in later times, in which no invocation of the Gods was used. Sometimes other Gods, and even Buddhas, were invoked.
308 “The King of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to perform divination.”—Ezekiel xxi. 21.
309 Pausanias says that in ancient Greece the inquirer, after asking his question of the God and making his offering, took as the divine answer the first words he might hear on quitting the sanctuary.
310 The date of the festival of the Sahe no Kami.
311 See above, p. 193.
312 The Kami-yori-ita (God-resort-board), struck in later times to bring down the Gods, is believed to be a substitute for this harp.
313 It is not known who these Gods were.
314 Smaller gohei used in the harahi ceremony.
315 Weston, ‘Mountaineering in the Japanese Alps,’ p. 307. See also Index, Inugami; and Mr. Chamberlain’s ‘Things Japanese,’ third edition, p. 110.
316 Compare the story of Gideon’s fleece in Judges vi. 37. See also Nihongi, I. 237, and Ch. K. 194.
317 ‘Sociology,’ i. 154.
318 See Mr. P. Lowell’s ‘Occult Japan,’ p. 36.
319 Kannushi.
320 Saniha (pure court) is explained as the official who examines the utterances prompted by the Deity.
321 At the battle of Dannoüra, in 1184.
322 In-musubi, a Chinese practice.
323 A Buddhist religious implement.
324 A Buddhist deity. The incense is also Buddhist.
325 See above, p. 332.
326 An excellent account of a Japanese hypnotic séance is given in Mr. Weston’s ‘Mountaineering in the Japanese Alps,’ p. 282.
327 See above, p. 350.
328 “Antiquity regarded the soul of woman as more accessible to every sort of inspiration, which also, according to ancient opinion, is a πάσχεον.”—Müller, ‘Sc. Myth.,’ p. 217.
329 See above, p. 206.
330 See above, p. 344.
331 For an account of Japanese Buddhism, consult Murray’s ‘Japan,’ or the more comprehensive description in Griffis’s ‘Religions of Japan.’
332 See above, p. 175.
333 The novelist Bakin, who cannot be charged with priestcraft, says: “Shinto reverences the way of the Sun; the Chinese philosophers honour Heaven; the teaching of Shaka fails not to make the Sun a deity. Among differences of doctrine the fundamental principle is the same.”
334 In the old Shinto, Ne no kuni, or Hades, is not a place of punishment for the wicked. Here it stands for the Jigoku, or Hell, of the Buddhists.
335 That is, Nature—a Chinese idea.
336 This is Chinese.
337 A Buddhist designation.
338 And therefore unclean.
339 See above, p. 179.
340 As Sugahara himself was.
341 See above, p. 155.
342 See above, p. 177.
343 Alluding to the inner and outer shrines of Ise.
344 For a full account of the Revival of Pure Shinto, see Sir E. Satow’s papers contributed to the T. A. S. J. in 1875. Our knowledge of Shinto dates from this time.
345 An interesting account of this sect is given in a paper by Dr. Greene in the T. A. S. J., December, 1895.
346 See papers by Dr. Greene and Rev. A. Lloyd in the T. A. S. J., 1901.
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