MORALS, LAW, AND PURITY.
In the previous chapter we dealt with the positive side of religious
conduct. We have now to examine its negative aspect, namely, those
prohibitions which fall under the general description of morality and
ceremonial purity.
=Morals=.--Before proceeding to examine the relation of morals to
religion in Shinto, let us note some general considerations. Right
conduct has three motives: first, selfish prudence; second, altruism,
in the various forms of domestic affection, sympathy with others and
respect for their rights, public spirit, patriotism and philanthropy;
and third, the love of God. Conduct which is opposed to these three
sanctions is called in the case of the first folly, of the second
crime, and of the third sin; to which are opposed prudence, morality,
and holiness. With the infant and the savage the first motive
predominates. With advancing age in the individual, and civilization in
the race, the second and third assume more and more importance. All but
the lowest grades of animals have some idea of prudential restraint.
Many are influenced by the domestic affections, while the higher, and
especially the gregarious species, have some rudiments of the feeling
of obligation towards the community, on which altruistic morality and
eventually law are based. But in the lower animals, and even in many
men, the religious sanction is wanting.
Right conduct may usually be easily referred to an origin in one or
other of these three classes of motives. The duty of refraining from
excess in eating and drinking belongs primarily to the first, the care
of children and the avoidance of theft, murder, or adultery to the
second, acts of worship and abstinence from impiety and blasphemy to
the third. There is, however, a tendency for these motives to encroach
on each other's provinces without relinquishing their own. Acts which
belong at first to one category end by receiving the sanction of
the other motives. Drunkenness, at first thought harmless, is soon
recognized as folly, though harming nobody but the drunkard himself.
It is eventually seen to be also a crime against the community, and
last of all a sin in the eyes of God. Criminal Law is a systematic
enforcement of the rights of others by adding prudential motives for
respecting them. It also punishes blasphemy and heresy, no doubt for
the protection of the interests of the community against the curse
which such offences bring down. With ourselves religion condemns
not only direct offences against the Deity as in the first three
commandments, but selfish folly, and throws its ægis over the rights
of our neighbour, by prohibiting theft, murder, adultery, lying,
disrespect to parents, &c. Can it be doubted that these were already
offences before the ten commandments were delivered from Mount Sinai?
There is no stronger proof of the rudimentary character of Shinto than
the exceedingly casual and imperfect sanction which it extends to
altruistic morality. It has scarcely anything in the nature of a code
of ethics. Zeus had not yet wedded Themis. There is no direct moral
teaching in its sacred books. A schedule of offences against the Gods,
to absolve which the ceremony of Great Purification was performed
twice a year,[193] contains no one of the sins of the Decalogue.[194]
Incest, bestiality, wounding, witchcraft, and certain interferences
with agricultural operations are the only offences against the moral
law which it enumerates. The _Kojiki_ speaks of a case of homicide
being followed by a purification of the actor in it. But the homicide
is represented as justifiable, and the offence was therefore not so
much moral as ritual.[195] Modern Japanese boldly claim this feature of
their religion as a merit. Motoöri thought that moral codes were good
for Chinese, whose inferior natures required such artificial means of
restraint. His pupil Hirata denounced systems of morality as a disgrace
to the country which produced them. In 'Japan,' a recent work published
in English by Japanese authors, we are told that "Shinto provides no
moral code, and relies solely on the promptings of conscience for
ethical guidance. If man derives the first principles of his duties
from intuition, a schedule of rules and regulations for the direction
of everyday conduct becomes not only superfluous but illogical."
But although there was little religious sanction of morality in ancient
Japan, it by no means follows that there was no morality. We have seen
that there are moral elements in the character of the Sun-Goddess as
delineated in myth.[196] Law, which is the enforcement by penalties of
a minimum altruistic morality, certainly existed. A Chinese author,
in a description of Japan as it was in the later Han period (A.D.
25-220), says that "the wives and children of those who break the
laws are confiscated, and for grave crimes the offender's family is
extirpated.... The laws and customs are strict." In 490 we hear of two
men being thrown into prison for crimes. The Mikado Muretsu (488-506)
is said to have been fond of criminal investigation. The _Nihongi_
condemns theft, robbery, rebellion, and non-payment of taxes, none
of which matters is taken formal cognizance of by Shinto. Without
some law, unwritten and ill-defined though it was, and unequal and
fluctuating in its application as it must have been, the Japanese
could not possibly have reached even the moderate degree of organized
government which we find them enjoying at the dawn of their history.
The earliest so-called legislation which we meet with is embodied in
a proclamation issued by the Regent Shōtoku Taishi in A.D. 604. On
examination these "laws" prove to be a sort of homily addressed to
Government officials, recommending harmony, good faith, a respect for
Buddhism, obedience to the Imperial command, early rising, decorum,
disinterestedness in deciding legal cases, fidelity to one's lord, and
benevolence to the people. In 645 a "beginning of regulations" was
promulgated. It relates to the status of slaves and their children.
In the following year a set of rules was issued regulating the
construction of tombs forbidding human sacrifice in honour of the dead,
&c. In the same year laws were promulgated dealing with dishonesty,
retaining slaves belonging to other people, bringing plaints of
adultery before the authorities without having the evidence of three
credible witnesses, &c. "Severe penalties" are threatened in case of
their infraction. In 681 a sumptuary law in ninety-two articles was
enacted. In 682 flogging was limited to 100 blows: in 689 a book of
laws was distributed to all the local authorities; and in 701 the
code known as the Taihōriō was promulgated. The latter was borrowed
from China, and no doubt Chinese influences had much to do with the
more partial legislation which preceded. Shōtoku Taishi's advice to
officials is thoroughly Chinese. But the examples quoted show that such
enactments were not made without reference to the wants of Japan. It
may be inferred from Shōtoku Taishi's mention of "legal cases," and
from the regulation of procedure in cases of adultery, that there was
already in existence a body of unwritten common law by which a rude
sort of justice was administered. Prisons are mentioned more than once
in the seventh-century records.
Dr. Weipert says:[197] "There are in the _Kojiki_ and _Nihongi_
numerous instances of arbitrary punishment inflicted by rulers,
chieftains, &c., or of private revenge, but nothing shows the existence
of fixed punitive laws or conventions.... If we confine ourselves
to the prehistoric times of Japan, we find in them no other traces
of conceptions of a binding law than those handed down to us in the
rituals dedicated to the Gods. It was indeed the power of the ruler
which held the community together, but the idea of the society being
subject to lawful restraint was to be found only in the religious
sentiments of the people. To the extent of these sentiments alone can
it be said that a lawfully regulated community and a consciousness of
such existed in those days. Now since we take criminal law to be the
publicly regulated reaction of a community against all acts of its
members which are detrimental to the common interest, we can scarcely
hesitate to describe the Ohoharahi[198] as the first source of Japanese
criminal law." This is a special application to Shinto of the principle
laid down in general terms by Dr. Pfleiderer that "the beginnings of
all social customs and legal ordinances are directly derived from
religion." Max Müller has expressed himself nearly to the same effect.
I hardly think that the Japanese facts bear out these views. It may be
admitted that before the seventh century there were no "fixed punitive
laws or conventions in Japan." But between this and mere "arbitrary
punishment" or "private revenge" there is a middle term, and I submit
that it was precisely to this stage that the Japanese nation had
arrived at this time. A common law was in existence, unwritten and ill
defined, leaving much room for arbitrary procedure and punishments, but
yet a reality. It dealt, as there is evidence to show, with matters
so essential to the welfare of the community as treason, rebellion,
and robbery, none of which is so much as mentioned in the Ohoharahi.
Indeed we could scarcely expect to find such offences noticed in it, as
the application of the criminal law in these cases places the guilty
persons far beyond the reach of a purifying process.
In an organized community like the ancient Japanese there must have
been many torts recognized by public opinion. We know that adultery
and dishonesty were punishable. Yet Shinto takes no notice of them.
The only civil wrongs singled out for religious denunciation relate to
agriculture. The ancient authorities enumerate, among the misdeeds of
Susa no wo, "breaking down the divisions of rice fields," "filling up
irrigation ditches,"[199] "sowing seed over again," with one or two
other offences of a similar kind, and the Ohoharahi includes them in
its schedule of sins which require absolution. But surely rights of
property (we can recognize germs of them in the lower animals) are long
antecedent to religion, and offences against them are recognized as
offences against man before they became sins against God.
Moreover, the Ohoharahi is wanting in the first essential of a
criminal law. It provides no fixed punitive sanction. It is true
that the culprit was in some cases obliged to supply at his own cost
the necessary offerings for the ceremony, and that practically this
amounted to a fine. The original intention, however, was not to punish
the offender, but to avert the wrath of the Gods. And it must be
remembered that individual cases of purification were exceptional. For
the offences of the nation generally, which it was the main object of
the Ohoharahi to absolve, no punishment was practicable, or indeed
dreamt of. The Ohoharahi fines of purificatory offerings may have
contributed to a system of criminal law, but they were certainly not
its main source. The case of Japan seems to prove that, in many cases
at least, altruistic morality, even in the crystallized form of law,
is in advance of religion. And may we not point to cases in our own
country where religion withholds its sanction until the law has become
well established? The following extract from the _Nihongi_ shows that
the distinction between criminal law and offences against the Gods,
with their respective punishments, was recognized at an early period:--
"_A.D. 404 Winter, 10th month, 11th day. The Imperial concubine was
buried. After this the Emperor, vexed with himself that he had not
appeased the divine curse, and had so caused the death of the Imperial
concubine, again sought to ascertain where the fault lay. Some one
said: 'The Kimi of the Cart-keepers went to the Land of Tsukushi, where
he held a review of all the Cart-keepers' Be, and he took along with
them the men allotted to the service of the Deities. This must surely
be the offence.' The Emperor straightway summoned to him the Kimi of
the Cart-keepers and questioned him. The facts having been ascertained,
the Emperor enumerated his offences, saying: 'Thou, although only Kimi
of the Cart-keepers, hast arbitrarily appropriated the subjects of the
Son of Heaven. This is one offence. Thou didst wrongfully take them,
comprising them in the Cart-keepers' Be after they had been allotted
to the service of the Gods of Heaven and Earth. This is a second
offence.' So he imposed on him the expiation of evil and the expiation
of good, and sent him away to Cape Nagasa, there to perform the rites
of expiation. After he had done so, the Emperor commanded him, saying:
'Henceforward thou mayest not have charge of the Cart-keepers' Be of
Tsukushi.' So he confiscated them all, and allotted them anew, giving
them to the three Deities._"
=Ceremonial Purity=.--Things displeasing to the Gods are called by
the Japanese _tsumi_ (guilt), and the avoidance of such things by
their worshippers is called _imi_ (avoidance). As Motoöri points
out, the _tsumi_ of Shinto comprises three distinct things, namely,
uncleanness, sin or crime, and calamity. The distinction between
ceremonial impurity and moral guilt (of certain specific kinds) was
probably obscure to the ancient Japanese. Certain calamities are
included among _tsumi_ because they were looked upon as tokens of the
displeasure of the Gods for some offence, known or unknown. All _tsumi_
involved religious disabilities or punishments.
Uncleanness holds a far more important place in Shinto than moral
guilt. As in the Mosaic law, it assumes various forms. Actual personal
dirt was considered disrespectful to the Gods, as we see by the
frequent mention of bathing and putting on fresh garments before
the performance of religious functions. The Ohoharahi includes the
committing of nuisances among the offences to be absolved by it.
=Sexual Immorality and Uncleanness=.--It was probably because the
consummation of a marriage was thought to defile the house in which
it took place that a special nuptial hut was in the most ancient
times provided for this purpose. The same idea is illustrated by the
custom which existed until quite recently of sousing with buckets of
water on New Year's Day young men who had been married during the
preceding year. According to a novel called 'Hino-deshima' it is
now the bride who is thus saluted while on her way to her husband's
house. The bridegroom is treated by the boys of the neighbourhood
to volleys of stones which break his paper windows. In later times
sexual intercourse generally caused temporary uncleanness. Virgins
were selected as priestesses and as dancers before the Gods. But there
were no vows of perpetual chastity, and they married in due time just
like other girls. The _Nihongi_ mentions a case of the appointment
of a princess as priestess having been cancelled on account of her
unchastity. A modern Japanese writer says: "At Ise to-day Laïs opens
her doors to the pilgrim almost within sight of the sacred groves. To
accept her invitation does not disqualify him in his own eyes nor in
the eyes of any one else for the subsequent achievement of his pious
purpose. A single act of lustration restores his moral as well as his
physical purity." Perhaps this puts the matter too strongly. Those
shameless wights Yajirō and Kidahachi, the heroes of the _Hizakurige_,
were troubled with scruples in this matter, which were not, however,
invincible.
With such ideas of uncleanness it is not surprising that Shinto never
had a marriage ceremony. No Shinto or other priest is present. We
must, therefore, take with some reserve Max Müller's statement that
marriage had a religious character from the very beginning of history.
It is to be noted, however, that in modern times Susa no wo and his
wife Inadahime are thought to preside over connubial happiness, and
that something of a religious flavour is contributed to the marriage
ceremony by setting out on a stand (_shimadai_) figures of the old man
and old woman of Takasago, spirits of two ancient fir-trees, who are
the Darby and Joan of Japanese legend.
Uncleanness includes bestiality, incest of parent and child, of a
man with his mother-in-law or stepdaughter,[200] but not of brothers
and half-sisters by the father's side. Unions with a sister by the
mother's side were unlawful and offensive to the Gods, but they are not
specially enumerated in the Ohoharahi schedule.
In 434 Prince Karu, then Heir to the Throne, fell in love with his
younger sister by the same mother. At first he dreaded the guilt
and was silent. But after a time he yielded to his passion. The
next year, in the height of summer, the soup for the Mikado's meal
froze and became ice. The diviner said, "There is domestic disorder
(incest)." This led to the discovery of Prince Karu's crime, but, as
he was successor to the Throne, he was not punished, and his sister
only was sent into banishment. After his father's death, however, the
ministers and people refused him their allegiance, and he ultimately
committed suicide, or, according to another version of the story,
went into exile. It is difficult to say whether the religious or the
merely moral element predominates in such a case. The portent by which
the Prince's crime was followed and the application to the diviners
indicate that the crime was thought offensive to the Gods. On the
other hand, banishment is a civil form of punishment, and the idea
that the offence might bring disaster on the community was probably at
the root of the indignation which it caused. Nor is it to be forgotten
that there is another non-religious reason for the law against incest.
Consanguineous unions are notoriously unfavourable to the propagation
of a numerous and healthy progeny, and therefore to the welfare of
the community. The 'Chüen,' a Chinese work written several centuries
before the Christian era, says: "When the man and woman are of the same
surname, the race does not continue." But in China too, the religious
sanction of the prohibition of incest is not absent. It is one of
those primarily non-religious sexual taboos, having for their object
to place a check on masculine tyranny over the weaker sex and the
premature, promiscuous, and excessive indulgence of the sexual passion
which even savages find to be fatal to the welfare of the individual
and the community, and whose transcendent importance and the difficulty
of enforcing them by law lead to be reinforced everywhere by religious
terrors. The prohibition of unions between brothers and sisters by
the mother's side--that is, practically of the full blood--and not of
those of the half-blood by the father's side, may be partly due to the
circumstance that the former are more commonly brought up together, and
a check on immature and consanguineous intercourse was more necessary
in their case. This taboo very likely dates from a period when
parentage was reckoned chiefly by maternity.
Vulgar licentiousness is not mentioned in the more ancient books as
causing ceremonial impurity.
Interference with the virgin priestesses was not only a source of
uncleanness, but was in some cases severely punished. The _Nihongi_
states that in A.D. 465
"_Katabu and an Uneme were sent to sacrifice to the Deity of Munagata.
Katabu and the Uneme, having arrived at the altar-place, were about to
perform the rites, when Katabu debauched the Uneme. When the Emperor
heard this, he said, 'When we sacrifice to the Gods and invoke from
them blessings, should we not be watchful over our conduct?' So he sent
Naniha no Hidaka no Kishi to put him to death. But Katabu straightway
took to flight and was not to be found. The Emperor again sent Toyoho,
Yuge no Muraji, who searched the districts of that province far and
wide, and at length caught and slew him at Awi no hara in the district
of Mishima._"
Here it is primarily the offence against the Gods which is reprobated.
As in the Mosaic law, menstruation and child-birth were regarded as
sources of uncleanness.[201] The custom of providing a special hut for
parturient women has been already noted.[202] In 811 the wife of a
Kannushi was delivered of a child close to the enclosure of the Shrine
of the Goddess of Food at Ise. Both husband and wife had to perform
an Ohoharahi. After that time no pregnant woman was admitted within
the _tori-wi_ of this shrine. In 882 a Prince was sent as Envoy to Ise
because a bitch had had puppies within the precincts of the Imperial
Palace. Several days' religious abstinence had to be observed in
consequence. Until recently births and deaths were prohibited on the
sacred island of Itsukushima in the Inland Sea.
=Disease, Wounds, and Death= caused uncleanness.[203]
The death of a relation, attending a funeral, pronouncing or executing
a capital sentence, touching the dead body of a man or beast, even
eating food prepared in a house of mourning, all involved various
degrees of ritual impurity.
Before the Nara period of Japanese history it was the custom on the
death of a sovereign to remove the capital to a fresh site, no doubt
for the sake of purity. The Ainus of Yezo destroy huts in which a
death has taken place. The modern Japanese custom of turning upside
down the screen which is placed round a corpse is perhaps a much
attenuated survival of the same idea. In 801 a Great Purification
ceremony was performed, because a dead dog had been discovered under
one of the palace buildings. The same ritual was celebrated in times
of pestilence, when a death took place close to the palace and on the
Mikado's putting off mourning. If any one died within the precincts
of a shrine, no festival could be held there for thirty days. A
disability of five days was prescribed in the case of a dog or other
beast dying there. At the present day lucifer matches are advertised
as "fit for sacred purposes"; that is, they contain no phosphorus
which is made of bones, and therefore unclean. Leprosy, owing to
its reputed contagious character, is specially mentioned as a cause
of uncleanness.[204] Wounds, whether inflicted or received, were
objectionable, not so much on grounds of humanity, as because of their
offensiveness. The _Nihongi_ relates that in A.D. 404 the God Izanagi
expressed by the mouth of one of his priests his dislike for the stench
of blood caused by branding some of the Mikado's escort. The striking
of a Shinto priest while on duty was a cause of uncleanness. In grave
cases, however, the offender was handed over to the civil authorities.
According to the strict Shinto of a later period, a man must abstain
from worship at a shrine for thirty days if he has wounded somebody,
or, if he has accidentally hurt himself, so that more than three drops
of blood have flowed, for that day. If he has vomited or passed blood,
he must not worship for two days, if he has an abscess, until it is
cured, for seven days after moxa is applied, and for three days in the
case of the operator. At the present day the common word for wound is
_kega_, that is to say, defilement.
Baldness and emaciation were regarded as disqualifications for the
position of Imperial Princess consecrated to the service of the
Gods.[205]
It was no doubt the fear of contagion and an instinctive feeling of
horror and repulsion which inspired this class of taboos. Contact with
death, disease, and wounds are displeasing to living human beings, and
therefore to the Gods. In ancient Greece it was not _themis_ for the
Gods to look on death. There is an obvious absurdity in referring such
incidents of religious ritual to the principle that we must seek for
the origin of forms of divine worship in observances towards the dead.
=Eating Flesh=.--Eating flesh is not included among the causes of
uncleanness enumerated in the _Kojiki_[206] or in the Ohoharahi. A
Chinese notice of Japan written centuries before the dawn of Japanese
history says that the "abstainers" (medicine men) of Japan were not
allowed to comb their hair, to wash, to eat flesh meat, or to approach
women. But this was perhaps asceticism rather than religion. A
prohibition of the eating of the flesh of the ox, the horse, the dog,
the monkey, and the fowl in A.D. 647 was certainly due to Buddhist
influences. The first hint that it was offensive to the Shinto Gods to
eat flesh is found in the _Kogo-jiuï_, where it is stated that when
the son of Mitoshi no Kami saw that Ohotokonushi no Kami had given
beef to his field labourers he spat upon their offering and reported
the matter to his father, who was angry and sent a blight upon the
rice. But this very passage speaks of a horse, a pig, and a cock as
acceptable offerings. In the _norito_ things coarse of hair and things
soft of hair occur frequently in the lists of offerings. Hirata points
out that in sacrifices to the Sun-Goddess no flesh was used. In the
most ancient times there was no prejudice against eating the flesh of
animals. The Food-Goddess entertained Tsuki-yomi with things soft of
hair and things coarse of hair. Hohodemi was a hunter by profession.
The ancient Mikados frequently went hunting, and had no scruple in
partaking of the products of the chase. Under Buddhist influences,
however, there came a change. In the _Jōgwan-shiki_ (859-877) we
find that persons who ate flesh were unclean for one day. In the
_Yengishiki_ three days are the limit. As time went on the prohibition
was extended, until in 1683 we find that to eat the flesh of horse,
cow, pig, goat, wild boar, deer, monkey, bear, or antelope caused
uncleanness for one hundred days. Birds and fish, it will be observed,
are not included in this schedule. Whereas in ancient times the Mikados
ate the flesh of deer and wild boar as _ha-gatame_ (hardening the
teeth) on the third day of the year, from which a person's age was
reckoned, fish, fowl, and rice-cake were substituted at a later period.
Persons who are unclean for any cause must have nothing to do with the
preparation or serving of the Mikado's food.
Intoxicating liquors are not tabooed in Shinto. There is, however,
mention of an embassy to Ise in 749, the members of which were not
allowed to take animal life, to eat flesh, or to drink _sake_.
Impure food communicated its uncleanness to the fire with which it had
been cooked. Persons who used such a fire (_kegare-bi_) for cooking
were unclean for seven days. Hirata suggests that the reason why
Izanami was unable to return to the upper world after partaking of the
food of Yomi was because of the unclean fire with which it had been
cooked.
On the first day of the sixth month, the Mikado was served with food
specially prepared with pure fire (_imu-bi no zen_).
=Buddhist Rites=.--The performance of Buddhist rites incapacitated a
man from the service of the Shinto Gods until he had been subjected to
purification. For an infringement of this rule, Shinto functionaries
might be fined or dismissed. The use of Buddhist terms was forbidden to
every one concerned in the Shinto ceremonies at Ise and Kamo. A Sutra
was called "tinted paper," Buddha the "middle child," a Buddhist temple
a "tile roof." Buddhist priests and nuns were ironically styled the
"long-haired ones." At Ise Buddhist priests were not admitted to the
sacred precincts beyond a certain cryptomeria tree. A separate place
was assigned them for their prayers.
Other words of ill omen were "death," for which "recovery" was used;
for "disease" the participant in a Shinto festival said "rest"; for
"weeping," "brine-dripping"; for "blood," "sweat"; for "strike,"
"stroke"; for "flesh," "mushroom"; for "tomb," "clod," &c. These are
later inventions.
=Calamities=.--We learn from the Ohoharahi that snakebite, being struck
by lightning, and other accidents were regarded as _tsumi_, or sources
of impurity. At a later time, a fire which destroyed a man's house made
him unclean for seven days.
Any neglect or irregularity in the divine services, any interference
with the treasures, priests, or slaves of the shrine, or with the
sacred grove around it, or failure to repair it whenever necessary,
aroused the anger of the God and involved the uncleanness of the
culprit.
Magic or witchcraft (_majinahi_) is one of the sources of impurity
enumerated by the Ohoharahi.[207]
The above account of Shinto offences must be taken with some
qualifications. It is drawn from various sources and different
periods of history. Some applied to the whole people, but in most
cases it was only the priests and other persons concerned on whom the
prohibitions were binding. The _Shintō Miōmoku_ has an enumeration
of the "six prohibited things" which includes only "mourning for a
relative, visiting the sick, eating flesh of quadrupeds, condemnation
of criminals, execution of criminals, music, and contact with impure
things."
=Imi=.--The avoidance of impurity in preparation for a festival was
called _imi_ (avoidance). The intending officiator or worshipper
remained indoors (_i-gomori_), abstained from speech and noise, and ate
food cooked at a pure fire. For six days previous to the celebration
of a festival at the Great Shrine of Idzumo there was no singing or
dancing, no musical performances, the shrine was not swept out, no
building operations were carried on, and no rice pounded. Everything
was done in stillness. A special _imi_ of one month was observed by the
priests before participating in the greater festivals. This was called
_araimi_. For middle-class festivals three days' _imi_ were sufficient,
and for those of the third class one day. At the present time _imi_ is
usually confined to abstinence from meat and from vegetables of the
onion class.
By a natural transition _imi_ is also used in the sense of sacred,
holy. An _imi-dono_ is a building in which purity is observed. Sacred
(_imi_) axes and mattocks were used in some ceremonies. The Sun-Goddess
was in her sacred weaving-hall when Susa no wo outraged her by flinging
the hide of a horse into it. A modern derivative of _imi_, namely,
_imeimashī_, is the nearest Japanese equivalent for "Hang it!" Compare
the two meanings of the French _sacré_.
Mourning is also called _imi_, perhaps in the passive sense of
something to be avoided in connexion with the service of the Gods.
The following story illustrates the danger of appearing before the Gods
while in a state of impurity. In 463 the Mikado Yūriaku desired to
see the form of the deity of Mimuro, and ordered one of his Ministers
to fetch the God. The Minister brought him before the Mikado in the
form of a great serpent. But the Mikado had not practised religious
abstinence, and when the God showed his displeasure by rolling his
thunder and showing his fiery eyeballs, the Mikado covered his eyes and
fled into the interior of the palace.
=Fire-drill=.--In order to avoid the risk of using unclean fire in the
great Shinto ceremonies, it was the custom at the shrines of Idzumo,
Ise, Kasuga, Kamo, and perhaps other places, to make fire afresh on
each occasion by means of the fire-drill. Even when not produced in
this way, the sacrificial fire was called _kiri-bi_ or drill-fire. A
description of the Japanese form of the fire-drill will be found in a
paper by Sir Ernest Satow, _T. A. S. J._, vol. vi. pt. ii. p. 223, and
a good specimen from Idzumo itself may be seen in the Oxford University
Museum. Dr. Tylor, in his 'Early History of Mankind,' has shown how
universally this method of producing fire has been employed. It is a
natural development of the savage plan of rubbing two sticks together,
and no doubt originated independently in many places. It is therefore
unnecessary to assume that the Japanese fire-drill was borrowed from
India, where it is used for sacred purposes, or even from nearer
China, where it is also known. It is frequently mentioned in the old
Japanese traditions. The _Kojiki_ says that the God Kushiyadama was
appointed steward for the service of Ohonamochi (the God of Idzumo),
in which capacity he recited prayers, made a fire-drill, and drilled
out fire wherewith to cook the heavenly august banquet of fish for the
deity.[208] The priests of Idzumo have always used pure fire produced
in this way, and pure water from a special well called the Ama no
mana-wi (true well of Heaven). At the present day, when the office is
transmitted from one high priest to his successor, they proceed to the
"Shrine of the Great Precinct," where the ceremony of "divine fire" and
"divine water" is held. The original fire-drill, given by Amaterasu
to Ame no hohi and preserved as the chief treasure of the shrine, is
carried in a bag slung round the neck of the chief priest, who solemnly
delivers it over to his successor. This ceremony is called _hi-tsugi_
(fire-continuance). It is curious that the same term (_hitsugi_) is
constantly used of the succession to the Mikado's throne, and that the
delivery of the sun-mirror formed part of the ceremony used on his
accession. _Hi_ means either sun or fire.
The old fire-drill was worshipped every New Year's day at Idzumo at a
festival called _hi no matsuri_ (fire or sun-festival). A fire-drill
was among the objects carried in procession at the _Ohonihe_, or
coronation ceremony, and was used to produce the fire used for cooking
the sacred rice offered on this occasion.
A modern Japanese writer, describing a festival celebrated at Gion in
Kiôto on the last day of the year, says: "A big bonfire burns within
the precincts of the shrine. It has been kindled from a year-old flame
tended in a lamp under the eaves of the sacred building, and people
come there to light a taper, which, burning before the household altar,
shall be the beacon of domestic prosperity. At 2 A.M. the Festival
of Pine Shavings takes place. A Shinto priest reads a ritual. His
colleagues obtain a spark by the friction of two pieces of wood, and
set fire to a quantity of shavings packed into a large iron lamp. These
charred fragments of pine wood the worshippers receive and carry away
as amulets against plague and pestilence."
A Japanese book written two centuries ago informs us that sticks
resembling the wands used for offerings at the purification ceremony
were part shaven and set up in bundles at the four corners of the Gion
shrine on the last day of the year. The priests, after prayers were
recited, broke up the bundles and set fire to the sticks, which the
people then carried home to light their household fires with for the
New Year.[209] The object of this ceremony was to avert pestilence.
There is here a striking resemblance to the Christian practice
mentioned by M. D'Alviella: "The fire which the clergy, on the dawn
of Easter, had struck from the flint and steel, served to rekindle
the fires of individuals which had all been previously extinguished."
The use of such fire to prevent pestilence may also be illustrated
from European customs. The need-fire, made by striking flints or by
the fire-drill, and used to rekindle all household fires, is one of
numerous examples.[210]
=Removal of Impurity. Lustration=.--With every precaution, it is not
always possible to avoid the pollution of dirt, disease, and sin. In
order, therefore, to do away with the offence to the Gods arising from
such impure conditions, various expedients are resorted to. The most
natural and universal of these is washing or lustration.[211] The
Chinese notices of ancient Japan already quoted from inform us that the
Japanese, after the ten days' mourning was concluded, all went into
the river and washed. Hirata says that even at the present day, when
mourning is over, people go to the bank of a stream or to the sea-beach
and cleanse themselves. The mythical account of Izanagi's washing
in the sea in order to remove the pollutions of Yomi has been given
above. In a fourteenth-century work entitled _Kemmu nenchiu giōgi_, the
ablutions of the Mikado previous to the ceremony of Shingonjiki are
described with great minuteness; and if this preliminary is usually
passed over in descriptions of Shinto ceremonies, the reason no doubt
is that it was too well known to require special mention.
Clean garments were put on at the same time. Both the Japanese words
for the purification ceremony show by their derivation that washing was
originally its cardinal feature. _Misogi_ means "body-sprinkling," and
_harahi_ is probably the same word as _arahi_, "wash."[212] Penitence
is not one of the old Shinto means of purification.
=Salt=.--In Japan, as in other countries, the antiseptic quality of
salt has led to its religious use as a symbol for, and means of,
purification. In a modern _harahi_ ceremony the priest purifies the
_himorogi_ with salt water. At the entrances to theatres at the present
day a saucer of salt is placed on a table in order to keep out evil
influences. The _kaname-ishi_, or pivot stones of the earth,[213] are
covered with salt, which is then rubbed on a diseased part in order to
obtain relief. "A housewife will not buy salt at night. When obtained
in the daytime, a portion of it must first be thrown into the fire
to ward off all danger, and especially to prevent quarrelling in the
family. It is also used to scatter round the threshold and in the house
after a funeral for purificatory purposes."[214]
=Spitting=.--Spitting, or the ejection from the mouth of any
disagreeable substance, is naturally used by analogy as a symbol of
dislike and disgust when other senses or feelings than that of taste
are offended. The modern writer Fukuzawa tells us that when he left
his home for the first time he spat in order to show his disgust
with the narrowness and poverty of his life there.[215] Spitting as
a means of symbolical purification is a further corollary from the
natural function of this act. In the Izanagi myth a God of the Spittle
(Haya-tama no wo) is the result of that deity's spitting during the
ceremony of divorce. The "spittle" deity is here associated with
another God, who is styled a God of Purification. A commentator on
this passage says that "at the present day spitting is essential in
the purification ceremony." The ritual, however, does not mention it.
Another writer adds that "this is the reason why at the present day
people spit when they see anything impure." In the myth of Susa no wo
spittle is mentioned along with the nails of the fingers and toes and
nose-mucus among the materials for expiatory offerings. When Hohodemi
is recommended to "spit thrice" before giving back the lost fish-hook
to his brother, a magical effect is probably intended, such as to
convey to him any impurity which may have become attached to his own
person. Rinsing the mouth as a purifying ceremony before pronouncing an
oath is mentioned in the _Nihongi_.[216]
=Breathing on=.--Ritual impurity may also be conveyed away by the
breath. The origin of this practice is the sudden expulsion of air from
the mouth when some offensive odour or vapour has found an entrance.
This instinctive action[217] is represented onomatopoetically in
English by Pooh! Faugh! Pshaw! and in other languages by similar words,
which have come to express not only physical repulsion, but dislike and
contempt generally.
As a religious practice, breathing away impurity is exemplified by the
custom of the Mikado breathing on certain _aga mono_ (ransom-objects)
of the _harahi_ ceremony, thus communicating to them the pollutions
of his own person. It is in order to avoid polluting the offerings
by their breath that in some ceremonies the assistant priests cover
their mouths with a white fillet and hold their arms outstretched.
Even at the present day the stewards who prepare the Mikado's food
cover their mouths with a white paper mask. The _Nihongi_ states that
when Izanagi washed in the sea in order to remove the pollutions of
Yomi, he "blew out" and produced a number of deities, among which were
the Great God of Remedy and the Great God of Offences. But the action
of the Sun-Goddess and Susa no wo in producing children by crunching
various objects and then "blowing away" the fragments, and of Izanagi's
creation of the Wind-God by puffing away the mists, requires further
explanation. These myths were probably the work of a person who had
only a vague idea of the precise nature of the efficacy of this act,
and regarded it simply as attended with some magical power. Spitting,
primarily a mark of disgust, then practised with the object of
purification, is finally done simply "for luck."
=Ransom=.--The notion of expiating ritual guilt by giving ransom
(_aga-mono_) is familiar to the Japanese. The more intimately the
objects offered are connected with the person of the offender, the more
effectual is the sacrifice. Susa no wo is said to have expiated his
offences by the loss of his hair and of his finger and toe nails. Among
objects of ransom presented by the Mikado at purification ceremonies
clothing is the most important. The Mikado was measured with great
ceremony for suits of garments. Bamboo sticks were used for this
purpose, which were broken to the required lengths. Hence the ceremony
was called _yo-ori_ (joint-break). The clothing when made was placed
in a vase, and set before the Mikado by a Nakatomi woman. He breathed
on it thrice, and then returned it to be taken away by the Urahe
(diviners) and thrown into a stream. Other ransom offerings were human
figures of iron, wood, or leather, and swords, which were similarly
treated.
A special _mi-aganahi no matsuri_ (august-ransom-celebration) was
inaugurated in 814 for the sake of the Mikado, who was then ill.
It was continued annually every sixth and twelfth month, the _miko_
officiating.
In the thirteenth century the Onyōshi (diviners of the Chinese school)
presented to the Mikado human figures in a box, inscribed with the
place and name. The Mikado breathed on them, rubbed them on his person,
and then returned them to the box.
The principle of ransom is illustrated in the present day by the custom
of _kata-shiro_ (form-token) or _nade-mono_ (rub-thing). At a shrine
of the Sea-Gods in Tokio a purification ceremony is performed twice
a year. A few days before, the parishioners and other believers who
wish to be purified go to the shrine and obtain from its official a
_katashiro_, that is, a white paper cut into the shape of a garment. On
this the person to be purified writes the year and month of his birth
and his or her sex, and rubs it over his whole body. When he has thus
transferred his impurities to the paper he returns it to the shrine.
All the _katashiro_ which are brought back are packed into two sheaths
of reed and placed on a table of unbarked wood. They are then called
_harahi tsu mono_, or things of purification. Finally they are put
into a boat which is rowed out into the sea, and they are thrown away
there.[218] The bundles of reeds or rushes which are thrown into the
sea at the shrine of Gion at Tsushima in Owari, to avert pestilence,
probably represent human figures. It is said that wherever they float
to, pestilence breaks out.
A more expeditious form of the same custom is when the _katashiro_ or
_nademono_ are simply bought from the _Kashima-fure_, strolling vendors
belonging to the shrine of Kashima, rubbed over the body, and cast into
a stream. The object, however, is not so much the removal of ritual
pollution as protection against disease. At the present day paper
figures, called Ama-gatsu, are made to avert calamity from children.
They are prepared before the birth of the child, and are worn up to
the age of three. It is thought that evil spirits are diverted into
these images from the infant. It is an obvious degradation of these
practices when they are used merely to procure good luck instead of to
remove impurities offensive to the Gods.
=Chi no wa (Reed-ring)=.--In a modern form of the _harahi_ ceremony
there is a kind of purification which consists in passing three times
through a large ring made of reeds (pp. 266, 267), holding in the hands
hemp leaves and reeds, and repeating the verse:--
The sixth month's
Summer--passing-away--
Purification
Who ever doeth
Is said to extend his life
To one thousand years.
Or, according to another version:--
To the end that
My impure thoughts
May be annihilated,
These hemp leaves,
Cutting with many a cut,
I have performed purification.
The _Shinto Miōmoku_ (1699) says that this ring represents the round
of the universe. The same work adds that the object of the ceremony is
to avert the dangers connected with the change of summer influences
to those of autumn. But these explanations have a tincture of Chinese
philosophy. The purification of the heart from evil thoughts is also a
conception foreign to the older Shinto. The injunction to cleanse the
inside of the cup and the platter belongs to a later stage of religious
development.
The _chi no wa_ is subsequently flung into the water.
Another means of purification was to shake a _gohei_ over the person or
thing to be purified.
The virtue of set forms of speech in absolving from uncleanness is
fully recognized in Shinto, as will be seen in the next chapter.
There were various forms of purification at various places
for consecrating a new shrine, or new utensils for it, or for
reconsecrating a place which had become unclean.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[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.