GENERAL FEATURES.
=Functions of Gods=.--Nature deities seldom confine themselves to
their proper nature functions. Shinto exhibits an increasing tendency
to recognize in them a providence that influences human affairs.
Even in the older Shinto there are examples of the Gods exercising
a providential care for mankind outside of their proper spheres of
action. The Sun-Goddess not only bestows light on the world, but
preserves the seeds of grain for her beloved human beings. She watches
specially over the welfare of her descendants the Mikados. Susa no wo,
the Rain-storm personified, is the provider of all kinds of useful
trees. Practically, all the deities are prayed to for a good harvest,
or for rain. Even man-Gods, like Temmangu, may be appealed to for
this purpose. Any God may send an earthquake or a pestilence. In 853
there was a great epidemic of smallpox. An oracle from Tsukiyomi, the
Moon-God, indicated the means of obtaining relief from this plague,
and since then people of every class pray to him when it is prevalent.
The _Ujigami_ and _Chinju_, family and local protective Gods, might
be chosen from any class of deities. A modern Japanese writer[40]
says: "No one knows what spirit of heaven or earth is venerated at the
Suitengū,[41] in Tokyo. But despite the anonymity of the God, people
credit him with power to protect against all perils of sea and flood,
against burglary, and, by a strange juxtaposition of spheres of
influence, against the pains of parturition. The deity of Inari secures
efficacy for prayer and abundance of crops; the Taisha [great shrine of
Idzumo] presides over wedlock; the Kompira shares with the Suitengū the
privilege of guarding those that 'go down to the deep.' The rest confer
prosperity, avert sickness, cure sterility, bestow literary talent,
endow with warlike powers, and so on."
=Polytheistic Character of Shinto=.--A nature-worship, such as the
older Shinto was in substance, is inevitably polytheistic. The worship
of a single nature-God, as the Sun, is indeed conceivable. But in
practice, the same impulse which leads to the personification of one
nature object or phenomenon never rests there. The Living Universe is
a possible monotheistic nature-deity. But this conception requires
a greater amount of scientific knowledge than the ancient Japanese
possessed. They had necessarily only imperfect and fragmentary glimpses
of the vision splendid.
There is some evidence that Shinto took the place of a still grosser
and more indiscriminate polytheism. We are told that Take-mika-tsuchi
and Futsunushi prepared Japan for the advent of Ninigi by clearing it
of savage deities who in the daytime buzzed like summer flies and at
night shone like fire-pots, while even the rocks, trees, and foam of
water had all power of speech.
The number of Shinto deities is very great. The Yengishiki enumerates
3,132 officially recognized shrines, and although the same Gods are
reckoned more than once, as being worshipped in different places,
still their name is legion. They are popularly spoken of as eighty
myriads, eight hundred myriads, or fifteen hundred myriads. The number
of effective deities fluctuates greatly. Oblivion disposes of many.
The identification of distinct deities is another cause of depletion
in their ranks. This happens very readily in a country where, to
parody Pope's line, "most deities have no characters at all." On the
other hand their numbers are recruited from time to time by new Gods
produced by various processes. The same deity, worshipped at different
places, comes to be recognized as so many different deities. Horus
in ancient Egypt, the Virgin Mary in Italy, and many of the Greek
and Roman deities illustrate this principle. We may be sure that the
Ephesians would have resented any attempt to identify their Diana
with that of other cities. This process is facilitated in Japan by
the practice of speaking of the God, not by his name, but by that of
his place of residence--another illustration of the impersonal habit
of the Japanese mind already noticed. Indeed the Japanese care little
what God it is that is worshipped at any particular place. It is enough
for the average pilgrim to know that some powerful deity resides
there. A poem composed at the great shrine of Ise says: "What it is
that dwelleth here I know not, yet my heart is filled with gratitude
and the tears trickle down." Of one of the "Greater Shrines" of the
Yengishiki Murray's 'Handbook' informs us that "considerable divergence
exists among scholars as to the identity of the Gods to whom this
temple is dedicated." During the present reign Kompira was converted
by the Japanese Government from a Buddhist to a Shinto deity, without
detriment to the popularity of his shrine as a resort of pilgrims.
The same God may have greater credit for efficacy in one place than
another. Thus the Inari of a certain village has a high reputation for
the recovery of stolen property. Such specialties were recognized even
by the Government, which awarded different ranks to the same deity at
different places. Distinctions of this kind, of course, facilitate the
disruption of one deity into several. Another cause of multiplication
is the mistake of supposing the same deity with different epithets
to be different Gods. In modern times the Shinto Pantheon has been
recruited pretty largely from the ranks of human beings. Trees are
still deified, and we have sometimes a new deity making his appearance
from nobody knows where.
The polytheistic character of Shinto is intimately connected with
the weakness of the Central Government of Japan during the period of
its development. Or perhaps it may be more correct to say that it is
another manifestation of the same want of national cohesion.[42] The
ancient Mikados were anything but autocrats. Their authority was almost
always overshadowed by the influence of ministers who struggled among
themselves for the direction of the power nominally vested in the
sovereign. The Central Government had little effective jurisdiction
beyond the capital and the five home provinces. No wonder that under
these circumstances local deities retained their vitality and prestige.
Monotheism was an impossibility in ancient Japan. But we may trace
certain tendencies in this direction which are not without interest. A
nation may pass from polytheism to monotheism in three ways: Firstly,
by singling out one deity and causing him to absorb the functions and
the worship of the rest; secondly, by a fresh deification of a wider
conception of the universe; and thirdly, by the dethroning of the
native deities in favour of a single God of foreign origin. It is this
last, the most usual fate of polytheisms, which threatens the old Gods
of Japan. Weakened by the encroachments of Buddhism and the paralyzing
influence of Chinese sceptical philosophy, they already begin to feel
The rays of Bethlehem blind their dusky eyne.
Our business, however, is with the past, not with the future. The
first of the three paths which lead to monotheism is illustrated by
the tendency to ascribe to several of the Shinto deities a certain
superiority over the others. The Sun-Goddess, Kuni-toko-tachi, the
first God in point of time according to the _Nihongi_, Ame no mi naka
nushi, and in Idzumo, Ohonamochi have been in turn exalted to a unique
position by their adherents. But, for reasons which will appear when
we come to examine these deities more closely, none of them really
deserves the title of Supreme Being. Max Müller's opinion that "the
belief in a Supreme Being is inevitable" is not borne out by the facts
of Shinto.
The second path, which leads to monotheism through a more comprehensive
conception of the universe, is exemplified by the Creator deities,
Izanagi and Izanami, personifications of the male and female principles
of Nature, and still more so by Musubi, the God of Growth, which might
conceivably have developed into a Pantheistic Supreme Being. But
philosophic abstractions of this kind are unfitted for human nature's
daily food. Musubi never acquired much hold on the people, though at
one time his worship held a very prominent place at the Court of the
Mikados. He eventually split up, first into two, then into a group of
deities, and finally became almost wholly neglected.
The _Nihongi_, under the date A.D. 644, gives the following account
of a blind and abortive movement towards a supreme monotheistic deity
which claims from us a measure of sympathy:--
_"A man of the neighbourhood of the River Fuji, in the East Country,
named Ohofube no Ohoshi, urged his fellow-villagers to worship an
insect, saying: 'This is the God of the Everlasting World. Those
who worship this God will have long life and riches.' At length the
wizards [kannagi] and witches [miko] pretending an inspiration of the
Gods, said: 'Those who worship the God of the Everlasting World will,
if poor, become rich, and, if old, will become young again.' So they
more and more persuaded the people to cast out the valuables of their
houses, and to set out by the roadside sake, vegetables, and the six
domestic animals. They also made them cry out: 'The new riches have
come!' Both in the country and in the metropolis people took the insect
of the Everlasting World and, placing it in a pure place, with song and
dance invoked happiness. They threw away their treasures, but to no
purpose whatever. The loss and waste was extreme. Hereupon Kahakatsu,
Kadono no Hada no Miyakko, was wroth that the people should be so much
deluded, and slew Ohofube no Ohoshi. The wizards and witches were
intimidated, and ceased to persuade people to this worship. The men of
that time made a song, saying:_
_Udzumasa
Has executed
The God of the Everlasting World
Who we were told
Was the very God of Gods._
_"This insect is usually bred on orange trees, and sometimes on
the hosoki. It is over four inches in length, and about as thick
as a thumb. It is of a grass-green colour with black spots, and in
appearance very much resembles the silkworm."_
We may note here the popular identification of the prophet with the
God whom he served, and the worship of a caterpillar, which apparently
played the part of the ear of corn in the Eleusinian mysteries.
=Shintai=.--Concurrent with the development of the spirituality of
Shinto there arose a greater necessity for some visible concrete token
of the presence of the God.[43] This is known as the _mitama-shiro_
(spirit representative, spirit-token), or more commonly as the
_shintai_ (god-body). The _shintai_ varies much in form. It is
frequently a mirror or a sword, but may also be a tablet with the
God's name, a sprig of sakaki, a gohei, a bow and arrows, a pillow,
a pot, a string of beads, a tree or river-bank, or even the shrine
itself. A stone is a very common _shintai_, doubtless because it is
inexpensive and imperishable. The _shintai_ is usually enclosed in a
box, which is opened so seldom that sometimes the priest himself does
not know what it contains. It is not always the same for the same God
worshipped in different places.
The _shintai_ in some respects resembles the Greek άγαλμά. Both were
originally offerings which became tokens of the God's presence, and by
virtue of immemorial association with the deities to whom they were
presented came at length to be regarded as sharing their divinity.
The άγαλμα, however, developed into the statue, while the _shintai_,
with a very few exceptions of later origin, did not take this form.
Broadly speaking, Shinto has no idols. There is usually no attempt to
give the _shintai_ any resemblance to the supposed form of the God
whom it represents. A few exceptions may be noted. The mirror of the
Sun-Goddess, which was in reality originally an offering, is stated in
one of the myths to have been made in imitation of the form of the sun.
The phallic Gods, Yachimata-hiko and Yachimata-hime, were represented
by human figures. The scarecrow God, Kuhe-biko, may be regarded as a
rude idol. In the province of Noto there are stone idols said to be the
images of the Gods Sukuna-bikona and Ohonamochi. The pictures of the
Gods sold at Shinto shrines in the present day are owing to Chinese or
Buddhist influence.
In the old language the word _hashira_, pillar, is added to the
numerals for deities and Mikados. For instance, "three Gods" is
_Kami mi-hashira_, that is to say, "three pillars of Gods." Now in
Korea, a country inhabited by a race closely allied to the Japanese,
there are seen by the roadsides posts carved at the top into a rude
semblance of the human form.[44] Some serve as milestones, and some
are erected at the outskirts of villages to keep away the demon
small-pox. These figures are called the Opang Chang-gun, or Generals
of the Five Quarters. The name is Chinese, but the deities themselves
may nevertheless be of Korean origin. If the ancient Japanese had rude
figures of this kind it would explain the use of _hashira_, pillar,
as a numeral for Gods. I am rather disposed, however, to surmise that
the use of this term was really owing to the fact that the symbols of
divinity most familiar to the ancient Japanese were the phallic emblems
set up everywhere by the roadsides. The term _wo-bashira_, applied to
the phallic end-post of the parapet of a bridge, contains the same
element.[45]
There is a tendency in Japan, as in other countries, for the token of
the God to become regarded, firstly, as the seat of his real presence,
and, secondly, as the God himself. Many persons do not distinguish
between the mitama and the shintai, and some go so far as to confound
the latter with the God's _utsushi-mi_, or real body. This is a form of
idolatry. The shintai may even be erected into an independent deity.
The mirror, which is the shintai of the Sun-Goddess, is the object
of a separate worship, under the name of Ame kakasu no kami. Even
at the present day religious honours are paid to this mirror or its
representative.[46] The sword Futsu no mitama has shrines dedicated to
it. Another sword, called Kusanagi, has been worshipped for centuries
at Atsuta, near Nagoya. It was this sword which Susa no wo found in
the tail of the great serpent slain by him to rescue the Japanese
Andromeda, and sent as an offering to his sister the Sun-Goddess.
Fetish worship of this kind is a later and degenerate form of religion;
and must not be confounded with the worship of the great nature-deities.
Some artificial inanimate objects of worship are not shintai, but are
worshipped for their own sakes as helpers of humanity. The fire-place
is honoured as a deity. Potters at the present day pay respect to their
bellows, which are allowed one day of rest annually, and have offerings
made them. The superstitious Japanese housewife still, on the 12th day
of the 2nd month, gives her needles a holiday, laying them down on
their side and making them little offerings of cakes, &c.[47]
The absence of idols from Shinto is not owing, as in Judaism and Islam,
to a reaction against the evils caused by the use of anthropomorphic
pictures and images, but to the low artistic development of the
Japanese nation before the awakening impulse was received from China.
It indicated weakness rather than strength. Much of the vagueness
which characterizes the Japanese conceptions of their Gods would
have been avoided by a freer use of images. In principle the image
and the metaphor are the same. There is no more harm in representing
a God, pictorially or in sculpture, as an old man than there is in
addressing him as Father, though practically a wide experience shows
that the common people do not stop here in either case. There is a
strong tendency to debase religion by attributing special virtue to the
particular physical object of devotion, or even to forget that there is
a God of which it is only a very imperfect symbol.
=The Infinite=.--Max Müller says that without the faculty of
apprehending the Infinite there can be no religion. In that case
Shinto is not a religion. The Gods are not conceived of as infinite.
They are superior, swift, brave, bright, rich, &c., but not immortal,
omnipresent, omniscient, or possessed of infinite power. Where the
word infinite is used it is said of infinite time. We hear of the
infinite succession of the Mikados, and of infinite or perpetual night
(_tokoyami_). Perhaps what Max Müller really meant was "transcendent,"
that is, beyond man's power to rival, or even fully to comprehend.
FOOTNOTES:
[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.