Shinto.
The primitive religion of Japan is known by the name of Shinto, which
signifies "the divine way," but the Japanese maintain that this term is
of comparatively modern application. The term Shinto being obviously of
Chinese origin, cannot have been used in Japan before she became
acquainted with the Chinese language. Now Buddhism did not reach Japan
until the 6th century, and a knowledge of the Chinese language had
preceded it by only a hundred years. It is therefore reasonable to
conclude that the primitive religion of Japan had no name, and that it
did not begin to be called Shinto until Buddhism had entered the field.
The two creeds remained distinct, though not implacably antagonistic,
until the beginning of the 9th century, when they were welded together
into a system of doctrine to which the name _Ryobu-Shinto_ (dual Shinto)
was given. In this new creed the Shinto deities were regarded as avatars
of Buddhist divinities, and thus it may be said that Shinto was absorbed
into Buddhism. Probably that would have been the fate of the indigenous
creed in any circumstances, for a religion without a theory as to a
future state and without any code of moral duties could scarcely hope to
survive contact with a faith so well equipped as Buddhism in these
respects. But Shinto, though absorbed, was not obliterated. Its beliefs
survived; its shrines survived; its festivals survived, and something of
its rites survived also.
Shinto, indeed, may be said to be entwined about the roots of Japan's
national existence. Its scripture--as the _Kojiki_ must be
considered--resembles the Bible in that both begin with the cosmogony.
But it represents the gods as peopling the newly created earth with
their own offspring instead of with human beings expressly made for the
purpose. The actual work of creation was done by a male deity, Izanagi,
and a female deity, Izanami. From the right eye of the former was born
Amaterasu, who became goddess of the sun; from his left eye, the god of
the moon; and from his nose, a species of Lucifer. The grandson of the
sun goddess was the first sovereign of Japan, and his descendants have
ruled the land in unbroken succession ever since, the 121st being on the
throne in 1909. Thus it is to Amaterasu (the heaven-illuminating
goddess) that the Japanese pay reverence above all other deities, and it
is to her shrine at Ise that pilgrims chiefly flock.
The story of creation, as related in the _Kojiki_, is obviously based on
a belief that force is indestructible, and that every exercise of it is
productive of some permanent result. Thus by the motions of the creative
spirit there spring into existence all the elements that go to make up
the universe, and these, being of divine origin, are worshipped and
propitiated. Their number becomes immense when we add the deified ghosts
of ancestors who were descended from the gods and whose names are
associated with great deeds. These ancestors are often regarded as the
tutelary deities of districts, where they receive special homage and
where shrines are erected to them. The method of worship consists in
making offerings and in the recital of rituals (_norito_). Twenty-seven
of these rituals were reduced to writing and embodied in a work called
_Engishiki_ (927). Couched in antique language, these liturgies are
designed for the dedication of shrines, for propitiating evil, for
entreating blessings on the harvest, for purification, for obtaining
household security, for bespeaking protection during a journey, and so
forth. Nowhere is any reference found to a future state of reward or
punishment, to deliverance from evil, to assistance in the path of
virtue. One ceremonial only is designed to avert the consequences of sin
or crime; namely, the rite of purification, which, by washing with water
and by the sacrifice of valuables, removes the pollution resulting from
all wrong-doing. Originally performed on behalf of individuals, this
_o-barai_ ultimately came to be a semi-annual ceremony for sweeping away
the sins of all the people.
Shinto is thus a mixture of ancestor-worship and of nature-worship
without any explicit code of morals. It regards human beings as virtuous
by nature; assumes that each man's conscience is his best guide; and
while believing in a continued existence beyond the grave, entertains no
theory as to its pleasures or pains. Those that pass away become
disembodied spirits, inhabiting the world of darkness (_yomi-no-yo_) and
possessing power to bring sorrow or joy into the lives of their
survivors, on which account they are worshipped and propitiated. Purity
and simplicity being essential characteristics of the cult, its shrines
are built of white wood, absolutely without decorative features of any
kind, and fashioned as were the original huts of the first Japanese
settlers. There are no graven images--a fact attributed by some critics
to ignorance of the glyptic art on the part of the original
worshippers--but there is an emblem of the deity, which generally takes
the form of a sword, a mirror or a so-called jewel, these being the
insignia handed by the sun goddess to her grandson, the first ruler of
Japan. This emblem is not exposed to public view: it is enveloped in
silk and brocade and enclosed in a box at the back of the shrine. The
mirror sometimes prominent is a Buddhist innovation and has nothing to
do with the true emblem of the creed.
From the 9th century, when Buddhism absorbed Shinto, the two grew
together so intimately that their differentiation seemed hopeless. But
in the middle of the 17th century a strong revival of the indigenous
faith was effected by the efforts of a group of illustrious scholars and
politicians, at whose head stood Mabuchi, Motoori and Hirata. These men
applied themselves with great diligence and acumen to reproduce the pure
Shinto of the _Kojiki_ and to restore it to its old place in the
nation's reverence, their political purpose being to educate a spirit of
revolt against the feudal system which deprived the emperor of
administrative power. The principles thus revived became the basis of
the restoration of 1867; Shinto rites and Shinto rituals were readopted,
and Buddhism fell for a season into comparative disfavour, Shinto being
regarded as the national religion. But Buddhism had twined its roots too
deeply around the heart of the people to be thus easily torn up. It
gradually recovered its old place, though not its old magnificence, for
its disestablishment at the hands of the Meiji government robbed it of a
large part of its revenues.
Buddhism.
Buddhism entered China at the beginning of the Christian era, but not
until the 4th century did it obtain any strong footing. Thence, two
centuries later (522), it reached Japan through Korea. The reception
extended to it was not encouraging at first. Its images and its
brilliant appurtenances might well deter a nation which had never seen
an idol nor ever worshipped in a decorated temple. But the ethical
teachings and the positive doctrines of the foreign faith presented an
attractive contrast to the colourless Shinto. After a struggle, not
without bloodshed, Buddhism won its way. It owed much to the active
patronage of Shotoku taishi, prince-regent during the reign of the
empress Suiko (593-621). At his command many new temples were built; the
country was divided into dioceses under Buddhist prelates; priests were
encouraged to teach the arts of road-making and bridge-building, and
students were sent to China to investigate the mysteries of the faith at
its supposed fountain-head. Between the middle of the 7th century and
that of the 8th, six sects were introduced from China, all imperfect and
all based on the teachings of the Hinayana system. Up to this time the
propagandists of the creed had been chiefly Chinese and Korean teachers.
But from the 8th century onwards, when Kioto became the permanent
capital of the empire, Japanese priests of lofty intelligence and
profound piety began to repair to China and bring thence modified forms
of the doctrines current there. It was thus that Dengyo daishi (c. 800)
became the founder of the Tendai (heavenly tranquillity) sect and Kobo
daishi (774-834) the apostle of the Shingon (true word). Other sects
followed, until the country possessed six principal sects in all with
thirty-seven sub-sects. It must be remembered that Buddhism offers an
almost limitless field for eclecticism. There is not in the world any
literary production of such magnitude as the Chinese scriptures of the
Mahayana. "The canon is seven hundred times the amount of the New
Testament. Hsüan Tsang's translation of the _Prajna paramita_ is
twenty-five times as large as the whole Christian Bible."
It is natural that out of such a mass of doctrine different systems
should be elaborated. The Buddhism that came to Japan prior to the days
of Dengyo daishi was that of the Vaipulya school, which seems to have
been accepted in its entirety. But the Tendai doctrines, introduced by
Dengyo, Iikaku and other fellow-thinkers, though founded mainly on the
_Saddharma pundarika_, were subjected to the process of eclecticism
which all foreign institutions undergo at Japanese hands. Dengyo studied
it in the monastery of Tientai which "had been founded towards the close
of the 6th century of our era on a lofty range of mountains in the
province of Chehkiang by the celebrated preacher Chikai" (Lloyd,
"Developments of Japanese Buddhism," _Transactions of the Asiatic
Society of Japan_, vol. xxii.), and carrying it to Japan he fitted its
disciplinary and meditative methods to the foundations of the sects
already existing there.
This eclecticism was even more marked in the case of the Shingon (true
word) doctrines, taught by Dengyo's illustrious contemporary, Kobo
daishi, who was regarded as the incarnation of Vairocana. He led his
countrymen, by a path almost wholly his own, from the comparatively low
platform of Hinayana Buddhism, whose sole aim is individual salvation,
to the Mahayana doctrine, which teaches its devotee to strive after
perfect enlightenment, not for his own sake alone, but also that he may
help his fellows and intercede for them. Then followed the Jodo (Pure
Land) sect, introduced in 1153 by a priest, Senku, who is remembered by
later generations as Honen shonin. He taught salvation by faith
ritualistically expressed. The virtue that saves comes, not from
imitation of and conformity to the person and character of the saviour
Amida, but from blind trust in his efforts and ceaseless repetition of
pious formulae. It is really a religion of despair rather than of hope,
and in that respect it reflects the profound sympathy awakened in the
bosom of its teacher by the sorrows and sufferings of the troublous
times in which he lived.
A favourite pupil of Honen shonin was Shinran (1173-1262). He founded
the Jodo Shinshu (true sect of jodo), commonly called simply Shinshu and
sometimes Monto, which subsequently became the most influential of
Japanese sects, with its splendid monasteries, the two Hongwana-ji in
Kioto. The differences between the doctrines of this sect and those of
its predecessors were that the former "divested itself of all
metaphysics"; knew nothing of a philosophy of religion, dispensed with a
multiplicity of acts of devotion and the keeping of many commandments;
did not impose any vows of celibacy or any renunciation of the world,
and simply made faith in Amida the all in all. In modern days the
Shinshu sect has been the most progressive of all Buddhist sects and has
freely sent forth its promising priests to study in Europe and America.
Its devotees make no use of charms or spells, which are common among the
followers of other sects.
Anterior by a few years to that introduction of the Shinshu was the Zen
sect, which has three main divisions, the Rinzai (1168), the Soto (1223)
and the Obaku (1650). This is essentially a contemplative sect. Truth is
reached by pure contemplation, and knowledge can be transmitted from
heart to heart without the use of words. In that simple form the
doctrine was accepted by the Rinzai believers. But the founders of the
Soto branch--Shoyo taishi and Butsuji zenshi--added scholarship and
research to contemplation, and taught that the "highest wisdom and the
most perfect enlightenment are attained when all the elements of
phenomenal existence are recognized as empty, vain and unreal." This
creed played an important part in the development of Bushido, and its
priests have always been distinguished for erudition and indifference to
worldly possessions.
Last but not least important among Japanese sects of Buddhism is the
Nichiren or Hokke, called after its founder, Nichiren (1222-1282). It
was based on the _Saddharma pundarika_, and it taught that there was
only one true Buddha--the moon in the heavens--the other Buddhas being
like the moon reflected in the waters, transient, shadowy reflections of
the Buddha of truth. It is this being who is the source of all
phenomenal existence, and in whom all phenomenal existence has its
being. The imperfect Buddhism teaches a chain of cause and effect; true
Buddhism teaches that the first link in this chain of cause and effect
is the Buddha of original enlightenment. When this point has been
reached true wisdom has at length been attained. Thus the monotheistic
faith of Christianity was virtually reached in one God in whom all
creatures "live, move and have their being." It will readily be
conceived that these varied doctrines caused dissension and strife among
the sects professing them. Sectarian controversies and squabbles were
nearly as prominent among Japanese Buddhists as they were among European
Christians, but to the credit of Buddhism it has to be recorded that the
stake and the rack never found a place among its instruments of
self-assertion. On the other hand, during the wars that devastated Japan
from the 12th to the end of the 16th century, many of the monasteries
became military camps, and the monks, wearing armour and wielding
glaives, fought in secular as well as religious causes.
Christianity in Modern Japan.
The story of the first Christian missionaries to Japan is told
elsewhere (see § VIII. FOREIGN INTERCOURSE). Their work suffered an
interruption for more than 200 years until, in 1858, almost
simultaneously with the conclusion of the treaties, a small band of
Catholic fathers entered Japan from the Riukiu islands, where they had
carried on their ministrations since 1846. They found that, in the
neighbourhood of Nagasaki, there were some small communities where
Christian worship was still carried on. It would seem that these
communities had not been subjected to any severe official scrutiny.
But the arrival of the fathers revived the old question, and the
native Christians, or such of them as refused to apostatize, were
removed from their homes and sent into banishment. This was the last
example of religious intolerance in Japan. At the instance of the
foreign representatives in Tokyo the exiles were set at liberty in
1873, and from that time complete freedom of conscience existed in
fact, though it was not declared by law until the promulgation of the
constitution in 1889. In 1905 there were 60,000 Roman Catholic
converts in Japan forming 360 congregations, with 130 missionaries and
215 teachers, including 145 nuns. These were all European. They were
assisted by 32 Japanese priests, 52 Japanese nuns, 280 male catechists
and 265 female catechists and nurses. Three seminaries for native
priests existed, together with 58 schools and orphanages and two
lepers' homes. The whole was presided over by an archbishop and three
bishops.
The Anglican Church was established in Japan in 1859 by two American
clergymen who settled in Nagasaki, and now, in conjunction with the
Episcopal Churches of America and Canada, it has missions collectively
designated Nihon Sei-Kokai. There are 6 bishops--2 American and 4
English--with about 60 foreign and 50 Japanese priests and deacons,
besides many foreign lay workers of both sexes and Japanese catechists
and school teachers. The converts number 11,000. The Protestant
missions include Presbyterian (Nihon Kirisuto Kyokai), Congregational
(Kumi-ai), Methodist, Baptist and the Salvation Army (Kyusei-gun). The
pioneer Protestant mission was founded in 1859 by representatives of
the American Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed Churches. To this mission
belongs the credit of having published, in 1880, the first complete
Japanese version of the New Testament, followed by the Old Testament
in 1887. The Presbyterians, representing 7 religious societies, have
over a hundred missionaries; 12,400 converts; a number of boarding
schools for boys and girls and day schools. The Congregational
churches are associated exclusively with the mission of the American
board of commissioners for foreign missions. They have about 11,400
converts, and the largest Christian educational institution in Japan,
namely, the Doshisha in Kioto. The Methodists represent 6 American
societies and 1 Canadian. They have 130 missionaries and 10,000
converts; boarding schools, day schools, and the most important
Christian college in Tokyo, namely, the Awoyama Gaku-in. The Baptists
represent 4 American societies; have 60 missionaries, a theological
seminary, an academy for boys, boarding schools for girls, day schools
and 3500 converts. The Salvation Army, which did not enter Japan until
1895, has organized 15 corps, and publishes ten thousand copies of a
fortnightly magazine, the _War Cry_ (_Toki no Koe_). Finally, the
Society of Friends, the American and London Religious Tract Societies
and the Young Men's Christian Association have a number of missions.
It will be seen from the above that the missionaries in Japan, in the
space of half a century (1858 to 1908), had won 110,000 converts, in
round numbers. To these must be added the Orthodox Russian Church,
which has a fine cathedral in Tokyo, a staff of about 40 Japanese
priests and deacons and 27,000 converts, the whole presided over by a
bishop. Thus the total number of converts becomes 137,000. In spite
of the numerous sects represented in Japan there has been virtually no
sectarian strife, and it may be said of the Japanese converts that
they concern themselves scarcely at all about the subtleties of dogma
which divide European Christianity. Their tendency is to consider only
the practical aspects of the faith as a moral and ethical guide. They
are disposed, also, to adapt the creed to their own requirements just
as they adapted Buddhism, and this is a disposition which promises to
grow.