WORSHIP
With a few exceptions, of no great importance in Shinto, the outward
forms of the worship of the gods have been previously made use of as
tokens of respect to living men. Whether I take off my hat to a lady or
on entering a church, the act is the same, it is the ideas associated
with it that make the difference. The word worship must therefore
be used with caution. We ought not, for example, to assume that
ancestor-worship is necessarily divine worship. It may only mean acts
indicating affection and reverence for the dead, common to ourselves
with non-Christian peoples, and need not involve any superstitious
belief in a supernatural power exercised by dead forefathers or heroes.
In modern Japan, ancestor-worship is a comparatively rational cult, and
it is surely undesirable that missionaries should create for themselves
great and needless difficulties by condemning it indiscriminately.
=Gestures of Worship.=—In Shinto, as in other religions, bowing is
a common form of respect to the gods. It is the custom to bow twice
before and after making an offering. Kneeling is also known, but is
less usual. I have not met with any case of prostration as an act
of adoration. Clapping hands was in ancient Japan a general token
of respect, now confined to religious worship. Sometimes a silent
hand-clapping is prescribed in the rituals. Offerings and other objects
used in worship were raised to the forehead as a mark of reverence.
=Offerings= were in the older Shinto regarded as tokens of respect, and
were not supposed to be eaten, worn, or otherwise enjoyed by the deity.
There is, however, a more vulgar current of opinion according to which
the god actually benefits in some obscure physical way by the offerings
made to him.
The general object of making offerings is to propitiate the god or to
expiate offences against him. Sometimes it is very plainly intimated
that a _quid pro quo_ is expected.
The original and most important form of offering was food and drink of
various kinds. The cardinal feature of the great ceremony by which the
Mikado inaugurated his reign was an offering of rice and sake to the
Sun-goddess. Other food-offerings were cakes, fruit, vegetables, edible
seaweed, salt, water, and the flesh of deer, pigs, hare, wild boar,
and birds. There were no burnt-offerings or incense. Next to food,
clothing took the most important place. Hemp and mulberry-bark fibre,
with the stuffs woven from them, are frequently mentioned. They are now
represented by the Gohei. These are wands to which scollops of paper
are attached, and are to be seen in every shrine and at every Shinto
ceremony. Sometimes the god is supposed to come down and take up his
temporary abode in the Gohei.
Skins, mirrors, jewels, weapons, and many other articles are mentioned
in the Yengishiki enumerations of offerings.
=Human Sacrifice.=—We nowhere hear of human sacrifices in connection
with official Shinto. But there are several indications of the
existence of this practice in ancient times. River-gods especially
were propitiated by human victims. Human figures of wood or metal are
frequently mentioned, but it is doubtful whether these were by way of
substitutes for living persons.
Slaves were dedicated to some of the more important shrines. Presents
of horses are often mentioned. Albinos are usually selected for this
purpose. They may be seen at the present day stabled near the entrance
to all the important shrines. Pictures of horses are often substituted
for the animals themselves. Galleries are sometimes provided for the
reception of these and other _ex voto_ works of art. The carriage
(mikoshi) in which the deity, or rather his _shintai_, is promenaded
on the occasion of his annual festival is a very elaborate and costly
vehicle. The miya or shrine may be regarded as a kind of offering. Miya
means august house, and applies equally to the palace of a sovereign or
prince. Originally there was no building but only a consecrated plot
of ground which was deemed to be the dwelling of the deity. The miya
is not a tomb. The shrines are purposely small and simple edifices. In
771 a ‘greater shrine’ had only eighteen feet frontage. The majority of
the existing 150,000 to 200,000 shrines of Japan are tiny structures
easily transportable in a cart or even a wheelbarrow. To the larger
shrines are usually attached an ema-do (horse-picture hall), a small
oratory for the use of the Mikado’s envoy, and a stage for the Kagura,
or pantomimic dance. A number of smaller shrines to other gods who are
in some way associated with the chief deity may usually be seen within
the precincts. The approach to a Shinto shrine is marked by one or
more honorary gateways of the special form known as tori-i, literally
bird-rest, from its resemblance to a henroost. It has its analogues in
the Indian turan and the Chinese pailoo, and is doubtless of exotic
origin. It is not mentioned in the older books.
=Prayer.=—The _Kojiki_ and _Nihongi_ contain scarcely any notices
of private individual prayer. But there are abundant examples in the
_Yengishiki_, and other authorities, of the official liturgies known as
_norito_, addressed by the Mikado, or his vicars, to various Gods or
categories of Gods, on ceremonial occasions. They contain petitions for
rain in time of drought, good harvests, preservation from fire, flood,
and earthquake, for children, health and long life to the sovereign.
Sometimes the wrath is deprecated of deities whose services had been
vitiated by ritual impurity, or whose shrines had been neglected.
Important national events were announced to them. There were no
_norito_ addressed to deceased Mikados before 850, when Jimmu Tenno was
supplicated to spare the life of the reigning sovereign, who was then
dangerously ill. Shinto prayers are for material blessings only.
=Rank of Deities.=—In the seventh century a system of official
ranks was introduced into Japan from China. It was extended from the
Court functionaries to the Gods, and was very prevalent in the eighth
century. A curious feature of this practice was the low rank given to
the deities. It was seldom that they received so high a rank as that of
a Minister of State.
=Kagura.=—The Kagura, or pantomimic dances with masks and music,
representing some incident of the mythical narrative, has been at all
times a prominent part of Shinto religious festivals, and, as in other
countries, has become the parent of the secular drama.
=Pilgrimages= are an ancient institution in Japan. Even the Mikado
paid occasional visits to the shrines in or near Kioto. At the present
day most Japanese think it a duty to make a pilgrimage at least once
in their lifetime to one or more of the most famous Shinto fanes, and
believe that their success in life depends on their doing so. Clubs are
formed for the purpose, the subscriptions going to pay the expenses of
these fortunate members who are selected to represent their fellows.
Pilgrim trains take the place of our excursion trains. Boys and girls
frequently run away from home in order to make a pilgrimage to Ise.