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• Shinto
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• Shinto

(Shintoism, Sintuism,;"the Religion of the Kami") is the term for the religion of the ancient Japanese which existed before the introduction of Confucian ethics or Buddhism into Japan, and which was practiced in a more or less pure form until the restoration of the mikado to supreme power in 1868, when a thorough purification and propagation of the ancient cult was ordered by the government. Nearly all accounts of Shinto by European writers prior to 1870 are of little value, as these treat of the impure Buddhaized form. The ancient documents and archaic literature of Shinto have been unearthed and made accessible even to native readers only during the last and present centuries. The ancient faith has always had a distinct life and literature apart from the imported creeds of India and China, and pure Shintoists insist that the native and the foreign religions are incompatible.

Shinto is a Chinese term repudiated by native scholars, who use the pure Japanese word Kami no Michi (way or doctrine of the gods). Since the introduction of Chinese letters in the 6th century A.D., every important Japanese word has a Chinese equivalent and synonyms. The term Shinto was coined to distinguish the native cult from the two other to or do then new upon the soil, viz. Ju-do (Confucianism) amid Butsu-ao (Buddhism). The literal rendering of Shinto is "theology."

I. The Scriptures, Essence, and Characteristics of Shintoism (to A.D. 60).-To decide positively the ultimate origin of Shinto, whether a purely indigenous growth or imported from the Asian mainland, is to decide the origin of the Japanese people. Believing as we do that the aborigines of Japan were Ainos in the north and Malays in the south, ultimately conquered by immigrant tribes from the Mantchurian highlands, descending through Corea, who thus became the dominant race in Japan, we must refer the origin of the germs, but the germs only, of Shinto to the Asian mainland. The pre-Confucian religion of China (see the She King: Book of Ancient Chinese Poetry [transl. by Dr. Legge], p. 46-53) and Shinto had some striking points in common, though the growth and development of Shinto have been on Japanese soil. The Asian invaders in Japan had neither letters nor writing until they were brought from China after the 3d century A.D. Rigid Shintoists, however, assert that previously. there was a native alphabet in use called Shindaiji or Shinji (god letter's, or letters of the divine age). The Buddhists and all foreign scholars maintain that this alphabet was derived from Corea. Certain it is that these "god-letters" were never in general use, nor can their influence be traced on the alphabets now written in Japan, while no literary remains have yet been found written in them.. The origin of most, of the Shinji may be discovered by comparing them with the alphabet invented in Corea in the latter part of the 7th century A.D., and still in use by the Coreans. This subject has been fruitful of literary controversy in Japan.

The oldest monuments both of Shinto and the Japanese language are the Kojiki (book of ancient traditions, or "notices of ancient things"), the Nihongi (chronicles of Japan), and some liturgical works, such as the Nakatomi no Ilirai (the Nakatomi ritual) and the Engishiki (book of the ceremonial law of Shinto). These ancient texts, with the recensions, commentaries, and controversial writings of the native scholars and Shinto revivalists-Mabuchi (1697-1769), Motoori (1730-1801), and Hlirata (1776-1843)-form the chief sources of information concerning Shinto. In the texts are imbedded a number of poetical passages forming' the Norit, or Shinto liturgies, composed most probably centuries before the introduction of writing, and preserved through the medium of the human memory. The ancient texts contain the cosmogony, philosophy, and ritual of Shinto. According to them, Japan is the centre of the earth,. and the mikado is the first of men and vicar of gods. Infallibility is his attribute, and his will is the test of right.

The Kojiki is written almost entirely in pure Japanese style as concerns the forms both of language and thought, while the text of the Nihongi is full of Chinese modes of expression and purely Chinese philosophical conceptions.. Both are expressed by Chinese characters, which in some cases are phonetic for Japanese words, but in others are ideographic. The correct. deciphering of the texts, especially that of the Kojiki, and the interlinear given in kana letters in some editions, is a comparatively modern work, which is as yet by no means infallible. The Kojiki was composed A.D. 712 by order of the 44th mikado, Gemmio, and first. printed in the period 1624-42. The Nihongi was composed A.D. 720, and the evident intent of the writer is to clothe the matter in hand in Chinese garb and give a Chinese character to the native history. The tenor of both works. is best shown by a comparison of their opening sentences 'literally translated:

In the Kojiki we have the original Japanese theory of creation, and in the Nihongi the same account with Chinese philosophical ideas and terms added. Indeed, the first verse of the Nihongi -down to "Now, it is said," etc., is borrowed direct from Chinese books.' Both texts show that the Japanese scheme of creation starts without a Creator or any first cause; matter appears before mind, and deity has no existence before matter,' The idea of space apart from matter was also foreign to these ancient philosophers. There is no creation, properly speaking, but only evolution until the gods (kami) are evolved or get being. The work of creation properly so called begins only when after the genesis of several pairs of (hitori-gami) single, sexless beings, Izanagi and Izanami appear. Standing upon the floating bridge of heaven, Izanagi plunged his jewelled falchion (or spear) into the unstable waters beneath, and, withdrawing it, the drops which trickled from it congealed, and formed an island. Upon this they descended; and planting the falchion in the ground, made it the central pillar of a palace which they built around it, intending that it should be the pillar of a continent. zanagi means "The-male-who-invites," Izanami "The- female who-invites." In Izanagi was the first manifestation of the male principle; in Izanami that of the female principle.

They were the first beings who were conscious of a difference of sex. They separated to make a tour of the island. At their meeting the female spirit spoke first "How joyful to meet a lovely male!" Izanagi, offended that the female had spoken first, required the circuit to be repeated. Meeting a second time, the male spirit spoke first, and said, "How joyful to meet a lovely female!" Then followed the first practice of the art of love. Whence the origin of the human race, the' gods (kami), and the ten thousand things in heaven and earth. The first series of children born were the islands of Japan. The details of creation were carried out by the various kami who sprang from Izanagi and Izanami. In the conception of many of the subordinate kami and the objects which make up the world, the two creator deities had a common part, but many others were generated by the separate action of each. Thus, in bringing forth the god of fire Izanami suffered great pain, and from the matter which she vomited forth in her agony sprang the god and goddess of metal. She afterwards created the gods of clay and fresh water to pacify the fire-god when he was inclined to be turbulent. Izanagi, being incensed at the fire-god, clove him in three pieces with his sword. From the fragments sprang the gods of thunder, of mountains, and of rain.. The gods of clay and fresh water married. From the head of their offspring grew the mulberry and silkworm; from the navel, the five esculent grains-rice, wheat, millet, beans, and sorghum. Izanami had enjoined upon her consort not to look upon her during her retirement, but Izanagi disregarding her wish, she fled into the nether world (the "root-land," or "land of, darkness"). Izanagi descended to induce her to return to earth. He found the region one of awful foulness, and the body of his consort a mass of worms. Escaping to the upper -world, he purified himself by repeated washings in the sea. In these acts many gods were born, among others Susanob from his nose and Amaterasu from his left eye. The deities created out of the filth from which he washed himself are the evil deities that war against the good gods. and still trouble mankind ill many ways.

At this time heaven and earth were very: close to each other, and the goddess Amaterasu being a rare and beautiful child, whose body shone brilliantly, Izanagi sent her up. the pillar that united heaven and earth, and bade her rule over the high plain of heaven. She ever afterwards illuminated heaven and earth. Her name, Ama- terasu-:O-Mi-Kami, means "From - heaven - far - shining - Deity." The Chinese equivalent is "' Ten - Sho - Dai - Jin," and the common English term "sun- goddess." Susanoo, whose full name is "Take-Haya-Susano-O- Mikoto," was likewise commanded to rule' over the blue plain of the sea and the multitudinous salt waters. He, however, neglected to keep his kingdom in order, was very slovenly, and cried constantly. To cure him of his surly behavior, his father made him ruler over the kingdom of night. He is usually styled the god of the moon. Instead of reforming his conduct, Susanoo grew worse. He turned a wild horse loose into the rice-fields planted by his sister the sun-goddess, defiled the white rice in her storehouse, and, finally, while one day she was weaving, he flung the reeking hide of a wild horse freshly skinned over her loom, and the carcass into the room. Dreadfully frightened and hurt, the sun-goddess withdrew into, a rocky cave and shut the door. Instantly there. was darkness over heaven and earth-a calamity which the turbulent gods improved by making a confused noise like the buzzing of flies.

A great congress of all the gods was now held in the dry bed of the River of Heaven (the Milky-way), and after devising and carrying out many expedients which became the foundation of the arts of life in Japan the sun-goddess came out, light shone again, and Susanoo was banished into a distant land, where his adventures took place, the accounts of which fill many pages in the national mythology. As the earth-gods and evil deities multiplied, confusion and discord reigned, which the sun-goddess seeing resolved to correct by sending her grandson, Ninigi, to earth to rule over it. She gave him a mirror the emblem of her own soul-a sword of divine temper taken by Susanoo from the tail of an eight-headed dragon which he had slain, and a seal or ball. Accompanied by a great retinue of deities, he descended by means of the floating bridge of heaven on which the divine first pair had stood to Mount Kirishima (which lies between Hiuga and Satsuma). After his descent, heaven and earth, which had already separated to a considerable distance, receded utterly, and further communication ceased. Ninigi was received with due honors by the earthly kami, and began to rule without much opposition. His grandson, whose mother was a dragon in the form of a woman,, was Jimmu Tenno (as he is usually styled), the first mikado of Japan. At this point the first volume of the Kojiki ends. Thenceforth the narratives of the Kojiki (with Nihongi) form the history of Japan to the time of Suiko (empress), who reigned A.D. 593628, and on these books - all subsequent works are based.

The Kojiki and N'ihongi form the historic and doctrinal basis of Shinto, and from them we gather its characteristics. Its cosmogony and theogony is evolution. In it is no Supreme God, Creator, or Trinity (as some foreign writers have said). Its highest gods were once creatures before being creators, and all its lower grades of deities were once men. The Shinto earth is Japan; its heaven is immediately above the mikado's realm. The literal meaning of the names of the several pairs of deities preceding the first having sex, and the comments of the native writers, show that they are merely names descriptive of the various stages through which they passed before arriving at the perfection of existence. Thus, some of the names of these rudimentary deities are "First Mud," "Sand and Mud," "Body without Hands, Feet, or Head - fetus," "Beginning of Breath," "Complete Perfection," "Awful One," etc. Thus, out of the mud, through a series of protoplastic deities, the first creative pair evolved unto perfection. So far we have given an outline of the Kojiki and Nihongi texts, refraining from any but the most necessary explanations or comment.

From the acknowledged native orthodox commentators, who add much more in works which are the richest mines for the student of Japanese archaeology and religion, we add further explanation. The description of the act of Izanagi and Izanami in creating Japan is only a euphemism for the sexual act. The jewelled spear, Hirata thinks, was in the form of a lingo. The worship of the phallus has from prehistoric times been nearly universal in Japan (The Mikado's. Empire, p. 33, note). The point of the spear became the. axis of the earth. 'That "the motion imparted to the fluid mass of earth was the origin of its daily revolutions" is a statement showing how the acquisition of European knowledge enables a Shinto commentator to accommodate an ancient text to modern notions. The island formed by the congealed drops was once at the north pole, but has since taken its present position in the Inland Sea. Japan lies on the top of the globe, which accounts for the fact that she escaped the flood which took place in China in the reign of Yao (B.C. 2356), and by which Occidental countries were drowned, China and Corea suffering less, because near Japan. The stars were formed when Izanagi's spear was drawn out of the earth; the muck which was unfit to enter into the composition of the world flew off in lumps into space and became the stars. After the birth of the Japan islands (Yezo and Saghalin not being mentioned, as these were not discovered till long after the writing of the Kojiki) by ordinary generation. the remaining small islands and foreign countries were formed by the spontaneous consolidation of the foam of the sea; hence their immeasurable inferiority. Hence Japan is the Holy Country-the Land of the Gods-and the mikado is the Tenno (heavenly king) and the Tenshi (son of heaven) whom all Japanese must reverently obey.

Shinto contains no moral codes. The duty of the Shintoist is to live in fear and reverence of the memories of the dead, to imitate the example of the gods and illustrious ancestors. Shinto prescribes no ritual, formulates no dogmas, contains no argument, teaches no immortality, commands no polemic propagation. These two latter doctrines may be easily developed from its Scriptures, as in practice they have been, since all men are derived from gods who are immortal, and the heavenly kami made war upon the earthly, and the mikados by divine right slew the disobedient rebels. The prescribed ecclesiastical machinery and personnel are extremely, simple. Its temples (miya, "house worthy of honor") are thatched or shingled edifices of hinokiwood, about which there should be no paint, gilding, or gaudy decoration. The type of Shinto architecture, easily recognised, is the primitive hut with ridge-pole and cross-beams.

Within are no idols or emblems. Nothing is visible save the strips'' of notched white paper called the gollei, which depend from a wand of hinoki wood, or are fixed in a pair of vases. A mirror-emblem of the purity of the sun-goddess a closet of inoki containing a paper on which a prayer is written, and, on occasions, the offerings of fruit, fish, and various foods, which become the property of the shrine-keepers, are the appurtenances of a Shinto temple. Outside, at the entrance of the path leading to the shrine, is the to-ii (bird-rest), or portal now serving to the common milmi as a gateway, but anciently used as a perch for the sacred fowls who proclaimed the break of day. Among the most approved of the ancient sacrifices, besides rice, rice-beer, fine cloth and coarse cloth, silk and brocade (now partly symbolized by the gohei), were white horses, boars, and cocks-the first for the personal use of the gods, the second for food, and the third for time-keepers.

A peculiarity concerning the living sacrifices was that they were not slaughtered, but after being hung up by the legs before the shrine were again set free. Sin was recognised, and the need of confession and cleansing recognised. All sin was conceived as pollution. The chief Shinto rite is that of purification, and its rituals consist almost wholly, besides offerings, of prayers for cleansing and actual lustrations. Anciently the mikados commanded public ablutions in the river. Later on, the symbolical cleansing from sin was made by the people casting paper figures of men into the river; then the mikado deputed the high-priest at Kioto to perform the symbolical act for the whole nation, and an iron mannikin was made of the size of the mikado and thrown into the river. The ancient elaborate systems of purification by salt or water in the, cases of birth, death, etc., binding the mouth of the officiating priest with paper, lest breath pollute the offerings, are only observed at present by Shinto purists, and their modern expression is that of rinsing the mouth or dipping the hands in water before prayer at the shrine." The' following is a characteristic Shinto prayer. The worshipper at the shrine pulls a white rope attached to a bell hung in the roof above the shrine, claps his hands thrice, folds them palm to palm, bows his head on his thumbs, and prays, "I say with awe, deign, to bless me by correcting the unwitting faults which, seen and heard by you, I have committed; by blowing off and clearing away the calamities which evil gods might inflict; by causing me to live long and hard, like the lasting rock; and by repeating to the gods of heavenly origin and to the gods of earthly origin the petitions which I present every day, along with your breath, that they may hear with the sharp-earedness of the forth-galloping colt." In the Eingishiki, or Book of Ceremonial Law, there are numerous specimens of prayers and joyful chants for harvest, remarkable alike for their solemn simplicity and poetic beauty. The deified forces of nature - thunder, lightning, earthquakes and the kami of the sea, rivers, hot springs, mountains, trees, roads, yards, and wells, are all worshipped and. addressed in prayer.

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