the great festivals and occasions of worship were observed in all the
principal temples at the same time; (2) the _Yengishiki_ mentions
3,132 shrines distinguished as great and small; there were 492 great
shrines, and 2,640 small ones. But besides these there were many
thousands of smaller, undistinguished temples scattered all over the
lands. (3) These various shrines were dedicated to a great number of
deities, and there were many gods who received worship in a number
of temples at one and the same time. (4) The offerings were made in
the name of "the Sovran Grandchild" of the sun-goddess, the divine
title of every Mikado, and Satow remarks that "it is difficult to
resist the suggestion that the sun was the earliest among the powers
of nature to be deified, and that the long series of gods who precede
her in the cosmogony of the _Ko-ji-ki_ and _Nihongi_, most of whom are
shown by their names to have been mere abstractions, were invented
to give her a genealogy, into which were inserted two or perhaps more
of her own attributes, personified as separate deities."[29] (5) The
priesthood seems to have been for the most part hereditary, and many
priests claimed descent from the chief deity to whom the temple was
dedicated. The reader of the ritual was a member of the priestly tribe
which traced its origin to _Oho-nakato-mi_, chief of the whole Nakatomi
family. Another priestly family is the Imbibi tribe.[30] (6) Virgin
priestesses also figure in the celebration of the great ceremonies
of State. Princesses of the Mikado's family have been consecrated to
officiate in the temples of Isè and in other great temples also. While
some of the priestesses are virgin princesses, some of them also are
young, not yet having reached the nubile age, and when they reach that
age they cease to be priestesses. With others the office is hereditary,
as it is with men, and the women of this class retain and exercise
their priestly office after marriage.
=16. The Harvest Service.= As an example of public worship of
exceptional interest, we take the ritual ceremony for Harvest, which
is celebrated once a year--the fourth day of the second month. The
chief service is at the capital, but the festival is observed in all
the provinces under the direction of the local rulers. Preparations go
on for a fortnight beforehand, and the service begins twenty minutes
before seven in the morning. At the capital, in the large court used
for the worship of the Shinto gods, the ministers of State assemble,
along with the priests and priestesses of many temples which are
supported from the Mikado's treasury. When all things are in readiness,
the ministers, priests, and priestesses enter in succession and occupy
the places assigned them. The various offerings are duly presented and
the ritual is read. At the conclusion of each section of the ritual as
recited by the reader, all the priests respond, "O!" (Yes, or Amen.)
The following is a portion of the ritual used on one of these
occasions: "Hear, all of you, assembled priests of higher and lower
order. I declare in the presence of the sovran gods[31] whose
praises are fulfilled as heavenly temples and country temples.[32] I
fulfill your praises by setting up the great offerings of the sovran
grandchild's augustiness, made with intention of deigning to begin the
harvest in the second month of this year, as the morning sun rises in
glory. I declare in the presence of the sovran gods of the harvest: If
the sovran gods will bestow in many-bundled ears and in luxuriant ears
the late-ripening harvest which they will bestow, the late-ripening
harvest which will be produced by the dripping of foam from the arms
and by drawing the mud together between the opposite thighs, then I
will fulfill their praises by setting up the first fruits in a thousand
ears, and many hundred ears, raising high the beer-jars, filling them,
and ranging them in rows." The ritual goes on to specify, among the
offerings, sweet and bitter herbs, "things which dwell in the blue
sea-plain;" clothes bright, and glittering, and soft, and coarse; a
white horse, a white boar, and a white cock. The names also of many
deities are declared: the "divine Producer," the "great Goddess of
Food," "wonderful-rock-Gate," "the from-heaven-shining-great Deity who
sits in Isè," "sovran gods who sit in the Farms," "sovran gods who sit
in the mouths of the mountains," and those "who dwell in the partings
of the waters."
As soon as the reader had finished the words of the ritual, he retired,
and the priests distributed the various offerings and presented them to
the gods for whom they were set apart.
=17. The Great Purification.= But the ritual of the Great or General
Purification is said to be "one of the most important and most solemn
ceremonies of the Shinto religion." Professor Karl Florenz, who has
given us a translation of this ritual,[33] informs us that it is by
means of this ceremony that "the population of the whole country, from
the princes and ministers down to the common people, is purified and
freed from sins, pollutions, and calamities." It is celebrated twice
a year, on the thirtieth day of the sixth and twelfth months. "The
chief ceremony was performed in the capital, near the south gate of the
imperial palace, and might be styled the purification of the court,
because it was to purify all the higher and lower officials of the
imperial court. In a similar way the ceremony was celebrated also at
all the more important public shrines of the whole country." Besides
the regular semiannual celebration of the "Great Purification" (called
_Oho-harahe_), it is also performed on such special occasions as at the
accession of a new emperor to the throne, or when an imperial princess
was chosen as a virgin priestess and sent to the temple of Isè.
Without detailing the movements, positions, and practices of the
assembled priests, officials, and common people at the service of the
General Purification, we simply cite a few extracts from the ritual
which may serve to show us the underlying concept of purification.
While the ritual is only a part of the entire ceremony of the
occasion, we are told that it is not infrequently recited without
performing the ceremony. Moreover, while in ancient times the reader
was always a member of the priestly Nakatomi tribe, at the present time
the ritual is read by the officiating priest of each particular temple.
The following excerpts are made from Florenz's translation:
"Hear, all of you, assembled princes of the blood, princes, high
dignitaries, and men of the hundred offices. Hear, all of you, that
in the Great Purification of the present last day of the sixth month
of the current year, [the Sovran] deigns to purify, and deigns to
cleanse the various offenses which may have been committed either
inadvertently, or deliberately, especially by the persons serving
in the imperial court: (viz.) the scarf-wearing attendants, the
sash-wearing attendants (of the kitchen), the attendants who carry
quivers on the back, the attendants who gird on swords, the eighty
attendants of the attendants, and, moreover, by the people serving in
all offices."
The ritual goes on to declare how the Sovran's dear progenitors, in a
divine assembly, ordained that the "Sovran Grandchild's Augustiness
should tranquilly rule the luxuriant reed-plain region of fresh
young spikes as a peaceful country;" how they expelled with a divine
expulsion the savage deities, and "silenced the rocks and trunks of
trees;" how they let him go down from his heavenly place, "and dividing
a road through the eightfold heavenly clouds," they sent him down and
gave the land into his peaceful keeping. The ritual also makes mention
of various kinds of offenses which need to be cleansed and purged away,
and distinguishes them as "heavenly offenses" and "earthly offenses."
Among the former are "breaking down the divisions of the rice fields,
filling up the irrigating channels, and opening the floodgate of
sluices," and the evacuation of one's bowels in improper places. Among
"earthly offenses" are the cutting the skin of the living or the dead
body so as to become defiled by blood, being affected with corns,
bunions, boils, or proud-flesh; sins of adultery, the offense of using
incantations, and various kinds of personal calamity.
"It is expected," the ritual adds, "that the heavenly gods will be
favorably disposed by reason of these offerings, ceremonies, and ritual
of the Great Purification, and will deign to purify and cleanse, and
make all the specified offenses disappear, even as the clouds of heaven
and the dense morning and evening mists disappear before the blowing
winds." It is expected that "the goddess who resides in the current of
the rapid stream that comes boiling down the ravines, from the tops
of the mountains," and the goddess who resides in the currents of the
briny ocean will carry them away, and "swallow them down with gurgling
sound," and they shall be utterly "blown away, banished, and got rid
of," so that "from this day onwards there will be no offense in the
four quarters of the region under heaven, especially with regard to
all people of all offices who respectfully serve in the court of the
Sovran." The offenses were thought of as somehow swept away by the
winds and the waves, and then swallowed into the depths of the sea, and
so cast down into the underworld, the realm of death and pollution,
whence all defilements were supposed to have originated. So they were
cast down into the depths whence they came forth.
The concluding words of this ritual are a command for the "diviners
of the four countries to leave and go away to the great river-way, and
carry away the offenses by purification." Thus divination was honored,
as moving in the will and way of the gods; but incantation is mentioned
among the "earthly offenses." Probably these evil incantations refer to
evil-minded witchcraft and invoking calamity on others.
This great ritual ceremony of purification, being one of the most
solemn formal expressions of the Shinto cult, calls for the following
remarks:
(1) The central idea is purification from certain forms of evil, or
certain kinds of offenses.
(2) The offenses are conceived as either willfully committed, or
committed inadvertently.
(3) They are also spoken of as heavenly and earthly. This distinction
seems to us quite arbitrary and unnatural, but it probably had a
mythical origin and the offenses called heavenly are mainly such
as involve distress for an agricultural community. They are sins
against the _land_ of the gods, while the earthly offenses are mainly
matters of personal defilement. In all cases it is conspicuous that
the Shinto concept of offenses which need purging away is that of
outward physical pollution and damage. They are all offenses committed
against the interests of the community and likely to bring some kind of
calamity upon the people.
(4) We should also remark that while, according to the ritual of the
Great Purification, it is expected that from that day forwards "no
offense which is called offense" will occur again in the four quarters
of the whole region under heaven, the same ceremony of purification is
repeated every six months--year in and year out.
(5) These facts serve to show a moral and religious basis for the
Japanese love of cleanliness and the scrupulous care with which these
people of "the luxuriant central land of the ears of fresh rice" study
to keep their bodies, their houses, their temples, and their whole
domain free from all manner of physical impurity.
=18. Other Ritual Services.= Other rituals for other occasions and
purposes furnish nothing of a different character or of exceptional
importance that we need here give further attention to their various
contents and suggestions. There are, in the voluminous _Yengishiki_,
rituals for the service of the gods of Kasuga, for the service of the
goddess of food, and of the gods of the wind, and for the service of
particular temples. Some of these services are occasions of grand
ceremonial display. The place, the day, the hour, and all the details
of the service are arranged beforehand. The procession of those who
take part is ordered with extreme precision and made in every way
magnificent. Various orders of officials move along in separate ranks.
The priestess, accompanied by many mantled attendants, is drawn in a
car, and on either side four men in scarlet coats carry a silk umbrella
and a huge, long-handled fan. The female attendants and servants of
the priestess, each a lady of rank, follow in seven carriages. Chests
filled with sacrificial utensils and food offerings, the messenger of
the Mikado and his attendants of rank, have their assigned places in
the procession. Upon arriving at the temple enclosure, the priestess
alights from her car or palanquin, passes into the courtyard behind
curtains so held by her attendants as to hide her from the gaze of the
crowd, enters her private room and changes her traveling dress for the
sacrificial robes. Meantime the Mikado's presents and all the other
offerings are duly placed on the tables and in the various chapels
prepared for them and the high officers of State take their seats
within the temple enclosure. All the prescribed forms are observed with
scrupulous care, and the ritual is read. In many services harpists,
flute-players, singers, and dancers perform their several tasks. At
the conclusion of the services the company clap their hands and then
separate. The priestess changes her robes again for her traveling
dress, and returns to her lodging in like stately procession as she
came to the shrine.
The mirror, sword, bow, and spear, which are mentioned in the rituals
as presents offered to the gods at the great festivals, doubtless have
their symbolical significance, and like the three divine insignia
of sword, precious stone, and mirror--the regalia or symbols of
Japanese power and glory--have doubtless their mythic connection with
prehistoric traditions; but these belong to the study of Japanese
antiquities rather than to the religious elements of Shinto.[34]
=19. Influence of China on Japanese Thought.= So far we have spoken
only of what may be called the original or pure Shinto cult as the
religion of the ancient Japanese. But it is important to observe that
the moral and religious ideas of other peoples and other systems have
for some two thousand years past been affecting the life and thought
of the Japanese people. One noteworthy foreign influence came in from
China, and as early as the first century of the Christian era--perhaps
somewhat earlier--Chinese scholars made their way into Japan. This was
very natural, for the proximity of China favored intercourse between
the two nations, and Confucianism was at the beginning of our era
five hundred years old. Ancestor-worship was common to the people of
both lands, and the arts and industries of the two countries might
have found affiliation in many ways we can not now determine. That
such a leavening Chinese influence was early introduced into Japan is
simply matter of fact. The Preface of Yasumaro, the compiler of the
most ancient records of the _Ko-ji-ki_, shows the effect of Chinese
philosophy in its incidental mention of "the Passive and Active
Essences" which co-operated at the beginning of the creation; and
Chamberlain, in his Introduction to his English translation of the
_Ko-ji-ki_, observes that "at the very earliest period to which the
twilight of legend stretches back, Chinese influence had already begun
to make itself felt in these islands, communicating to the inhabitants
both implements and ideas." Then it is to be further remarked that the
_Nihongi_, completed in 720 A. D., although essentially a parallel
chronicle of Japanese traditions, is in thought and style conspicuously
Chinese. It is made in every aspect and element of its composition to
resemble as far as possible a Chinese history.
=20. Influence of Buddhism.= But a deeper and more widespread influence
than that of anything of Chinese origin was the introduction into Japan
of Buddhism, which was first brought in about A. D. 552, but did not
succeed in leavening the whole country until the middle of the ninth
century. It was quietly propagated by leaders of various Buddhist sects
which differ in minor practices, and slowly it gained ascendency,
but its first more notable triumph followed the teaching of Kukai,
founder of the Shingon sect, who so adapted Buddhist doctrines to the
traditional ideas of ancestor worship as to maintain that all the
Shinto deities were _avatars_ or incarnations of Buddha. With great
ingenuity and cunning, a new interpretation was given to ancient
myths, and new constructions were put upon old beliefs. The Shinto
gods, rites, customs, and traditions took on a Buddhist significance,
and many of the mysteries of birth and of death were explained in a
manner so simple and popular as to commend them to all who listened
to the new teaching. For Buddhism had already learned in India and
in China the clever art of appropriating old beliefs and customs and
of clothing them with a new and higher meaning. Confucianism itself
had already in part prepared the way for Buddhism in Japan, and the
successful Buddhist propagandists were wise enough to suppress or
keep out of sight all that might be offensive in their system, and
to teach only such forms of doctrine as could be made attractive to
the masses of the people. Kukai thus succeeded in converting the
Mikado to his new interpretations of the Shinto beliefs, and the new
system thus put forward received the name "Riyobu Shinto," which means
"two parts," or the "double way of the gods," or the twofold divine
teaching. So complete and general did this Riyobu Shinto become in its
spread throughout Japan that for a thousand years it dominated the
civilization of the Empire. It had its priests, its gorgeous temples
and ritual services, its philosophy, and its divers sects, and it is
said that there are at least twelve distinct Buddhist sects in Japan
to-day. According to Lafcadio Hearn, "the religion of the Buddha
brought to Japan another and a wider humanizing influence--a new gospel
of tenderness--together with a multitude of new beliefs that were
able to accommodate themselves to the old, in spite of fundamental
dissimilarity. In the highest meaning of the term, it was a civilizing
power. Besides teaching new respect for life, the duty of kindness to
animals as well as to all human beings, the consequences of all present
acts upon the conditions of a future existence, the duty of resignation
to pain as the inevitable result of forgotten error, it actually gave
to Japan the arts and the industries of China. Architecture, painting,
sculpture, engraving, printing, gardening--in short, every art and
industry that helped to make life beautiful--developed first in Japan
under Buddhist teaching."[35] To which may well be added the following
statement of Aston: "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."[36]
But after a thousand years of mixture, who can now tell for certain
just what is original Shinto and what is the Buddhist supplement
or modification? The Buddhism of Japan is as far from the original
teachings of Gautama as the Roman Catholic religion of Spain is from
the simple precepts and practices of Christ and His first apostles.
The same is true of the Buddhism of China and Thibet. The Shingon
sect of Buddhists in Japan, of which Kukai was the founder, has taken
up into itself many ideas which are neither purely Buddhist nor purely
Shintoist. Superstitions alien to both cults are likely to have found
their way among the people and to have exerted influences on the
popular cult, and no man is now able to point out their origin or their
history.[37]
=21. Revival of Pure Shinto.= We are not here concerned, however, with
Japanese Buddhism. Our inquiry is after the facts and the significance
of the essential Shinto cult. A great and remarkable revival of the
older Shinto began near the beginning of the eighteenth century and
persisted with great success for more than one hundred years. The most
distinguished scholars of Japan were the chief leaders in this reform.
We have already had occasion to mention the names of the three most
famous men among them--Mabuchi, Motowori, and Hirata. These by their
expositions of the ancient scriptures and traditions turned the tide
of popular thought against Buddhism and Chinese philosophy. It is
quite interesting to note in some of their writings the antipathy and
hostility to Chinese teachings. Motowori had a remarkable answer to
those critics who say that Shintoism knows no moral code. He declared
that all a loyal Japanese subject was concerned to do was simply
to obey the Mikado, whether his commands were right or wrong. He
maintained that morals were invented by the Chinese because they were
an immoral people; but in Japan there was no necessity for any system
of morals, as every Japanese acted aright if he only consulted his
own heart.[38] Whatever we may think or say of such self-complacency,
it accords well with Japanese religion, mythology, and history,
and it is a simple fact to be noted that in 1871 Buddhism in Japan
was disestablished and disendowed, and the old Shinto was declared
to be the national religion. Percival Lowell observes that this
reinstatement of the Mikado and the old national faith is "a curious
instance of a religious revival due to archæological, not to religious
zeal."[39] But while the old Shinto is at present the official cult of
Japan, it appears to have little life or force. Japanese Buddhism is
said to be showing signs of renewed activity, and is likely to prove
a powerful antagonist of Christianity. It is certainly a question of
vital importance to the future civilization of Japan which of these
mighty rivals shall gain ascendency over the popular mind.
=22. Esoteric Shinto.= Shinto did not continue very long to hold its
newly proclaimed status as the State religion. Its own most devoted
adherents and leaders felt that its highest interests would be best
served without official and governmental prestige. A wise and prudent
State policy determined that its permanence and success should be
left to care for themselves and to depend upon the merits of its
teachings and its historic and popular hold upon the national, the
communal, and the family life. As a cult it is deeply rooted in the
civilization of the empire, and its pilgrims swarm along the highways
of travel and at the historic shrines. They are found journeying to
the summits of sacred mountains, and there performing esoteric rites
which induce mystic divine possession. The performance of such mystic
rites and incantations seems to be no modern innovation. It may have
its connections with Buddhist counting of rosaries, and possibly other
foreign influences have helped to cultivate its somewhat mantic forms,
but its origin is from a remote antiquity. This "esoteric Shinto" is
essentially akin to that self-induced religious fervor which exhibits
itself in many lands and in connection with various cults, and is often
seen among the Mohammedan dancing and howling dervishes. Its existence
and its practices in Japan refute the notion of those who would deny
to Shinto the character of a real religion.[40] The excrescences and
extravagancies of religious fervor must have some sort of a religion to
inspire them.