Shintō

SHINTŌ. - From Sino-Japanese shin = god and tō = way, whence our "Shintoism"; with this term the Japanese designated their indigenous religion after the introduction of Buddhism (552 A.D.). It is substantially a polytheistic cult of nature, inspired less by fear of its forces than by gratitude for and appreciation of its gifts. Later, under Chinese influence, the cult of ancestors and of national heroes was added. Lacking a moral code, without a metaphysics, without eschatology, without soteriology, Shinto would perhaps have disappeared before the doctrinal superiority of Buddhism and Confucianism, had its intimate bond with the prevailing political system not made of it a powerful element of national cohesion. In fact, Shinto is a "national" or rather a "political" religion.

Having come into contact with the other religions imported into the archipelago, Shinto underwent influences more or less profound. Its primitive or original character can only be reconstructed, at least in its broad outlines, through a critical examination of the sources, namely: the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters, 3 vols., written in 712 A.D.), the Nihongi (Annals of Japan, 30 vols., in 720 A.D.), historical works, and the norito, solemn allocutions of a magic-incantatory character pronounced on great solemnities.

I. THE MYTHS

The manifest purpose of Shinto cosmogony and theogony is to demonstrate the descent of the reigning imperial house from the gods who created Japan. The myths, in fact, begin with the creation of the islands of the archipelago by two deities, Izanagi and his spouse Izanami, who dies giving birth to the god of fire (Kagutsuchi). Grieving, Izanagi then goes to the "Land of darkness" (Yomi-tsu-kuni, a kind of Hell?) to bring back his companion, but flees in horror upon seeing her putrefied. Having come out into the light, he purifies himself in the waters of the Oto River and here generates many deities, among them Ama-terasu (v.), the sun goddess, who came forth from his left eye, and Susa-no-wo, the god of the storm. The latter, violent and overbearing, causes no little trouble for his sister, who, at a certain point, frightened, goes and shuts herself up in a cave, so that the world remains in darkness. Drawn from the cave after no little effort and with the cooperation of all the gods, the culprit is punished with expulsion from Heaven. And he then descends to earth and goes to Izumo, a region of western Japan, where he kills a serpent, saving a maiden whom he marries. His descendants, lords of Izumo, will later cede the region to the nephew of Ama-terasu. Meanwhile, the latter, one fine day, having observed that the hostilities existing among the deities who inhabited the archipelago had caused grave disturbances, sends her nephew Ninigi to set it in order and govern it, and, at the moment of departure, gives him the "three kinds of divine objects" (sanshu jingi), namely: the "curved jewels eight feet long" (yasaka no magatamo), the "mirror of eight ata" (yata no kagami) and the "sword that mows the grass" (kusanagi no tachi), which are the three insignia of legitimate, that is, divine, power, still preserved today. Ninigi, having descended to Japan, marries and has children, and among his descendants is precisely Jimmu Tenno, his great-nephew, first emperor of Japan, a fifth-generation descendant of Ama-terasu, who at Kashiwabara, in Yamato, on 11 Feb. 660 B.C. (according to the official chronology, certainly erroneous) ascends the throne, founding the Empire. In Jimmu, scholars today are inclined to see the historical figure of a great chief who, through his prestige, succeeded in coalescing the various tribes of populations that had immigrated into the archipelago, leading them in his conquest over the aboriginal Ainu. In any case, he is the first sovereign of a series unbroken to the present day.

II. DIVINITY AND MORALITY OF SHINTŌ

The divinities of Shintō are called kami (literally, that which is above, in both a spatial and a hierarchical sense), a term applied to everything that is out of the ordinary or that inspires fear or respect for being arcane or mysterious, whether it be divine beings (gods, spirits), or animate beings (men and animals), or things or objects (plants, rivers, rocks, etc.). The kami are conceived anthropomorphically; thus they are born, marry, amuse themselves, die; but they also have superhuman powers, limited to their own sphere of action. They are therefore neither omnipotent nor omniscient. Of the kami there is also known a mi-tama (august jewel), a kind of soul, which in the temples is represented by the mi-tama-shiro (substitute for the mi-tama) or shintai (divine body, which is any object whatsoever — a mirror, a sword, a stone, etc.) in which the divinity is invisibly incorporated in order to enter into contact with the faithful. This is therefore neither a symbol nor an attribute of the divinity, as is commonly believed. The number of the kami is very great. There are kami of the wind, of the rain, of fire, etc., and of the kitchen stoves, of pots, of wells, of rice and even of latrines! Then in time, the cult of the ancestors came to enlarge the Shintoist pantheon as well.

Although primitive Shintō has no moral code, a rudimentary ethical principle may be found in purity, that is, in the horror of contamination, which is the central idea of the religion of the kami. Purity, be it noted, ritual and physical, not moral. Contamination, whether visible (e.g., filth) or invisible (such as that contracted by touching things held to be impure, like blood, corpses, etc.), rendered one displeasing to the kami, whence the necessity of ridding oneself of it by purifying oneself, if one wished to avoid the tatari (heavenly punishment) which could strike in various forms (illness, accidents, failure, death).

Impurity was therefore "sin" (tsumi), which was always such, even if involuntary. There was lacking, therefore, an ethic of conscience, which the Japanese would learn only when, through Buddhism, they acquired the notion of sin founded on ethical presuppositions. A list of the 21 most important tsumi has been preserved in a norito and is of great value for the knowledge of the ethico-religious conceptions of the ancient islanders. In this list there appear neither adultery, nor pederasty, nor incest between brothers and sisters, nor lying, nor theft. To avoid the tatari and remain within the community, the contaminated person had to purify himself by resorting to three types of rites: exorcism (harae or harai), lustration (misogi), especially with water, and abstinence (imi).

The harae (harau, to sweep away), the most ancient rite, is always performed by priests: it comprises the reading of a norito and the offering of the so-called harae-tsu-mono (things of purification), which are not gifts made to the kami, but vehicles upon which, during the reading, pass the sins (the impurities) of the person or persons being purified, after the manner of the scapegoat of the Mosaic law. After the ceremony, the harae-tsu-mono are thrown into the sea or into rivers. Originally, these harae-tsu-mono consisted of objects belonging to the penitent. Then, as the sense of economy became ever more established, they took on a symbolic character, and from this tendency is derived the present use of the katashiro (substitute for the form), which have replaced them. These are little pieces of paper cut in the shape of a garment, on which the person being purified writes his or her sex and the year and month of birth, and which he or she then rubs on his or her own body, breathing upon it, whereby his or her impurities pass onto the katashiro. During the rite, if the harae is collective, the various katashiro, gathered into a bundle, are thrown into the sea or into rivers. Among collective harae, great importance has always been had by the Ō-harae or "Great purification" of the whole people, which was practiced twice a year, on the last day of the VI and of the XII lunation (today June 30 and December 31). During the Ō-harae a special norito is read. The misogi (from mizu = water and sosogi = washing) is a lustral ablution made with water or with water and salt in order to free oneself from occasional contaminations (resulting from illnesses, sexual relations, wounds, childbirth, contacts with corpses, etc.). It is practiced without the intervention of priests. The imi (imu = to shun) is properly a prophylaxis against impurity. It consists in avoiding every contact or action that could render one impure (personal cleanliness, eating certain foods cooked on a pure fire, wearing only certain purifying garments, etc.). It is for the most part reserved to the priests who by their ministry must act as intermediaries between the people and the kami.

III. PLACES OF WORSHIP

Originally venerated in sacred enclosures (himorogi), made with a straw rope stretched between four poles around a branch of sakaki (Cleyera japonica, the sacred tree of Shintō), the kami had, it seems under the emperor Sujin (97-30 B.C., according to the official chronology), their first temples (yashiro or miya). These, bare and primitive in architecture and in the materials used (rough wood of hinoki, the Japanese cypress), reproduce the ancient indigenous hut and consist of at least two buildings: the honden (sanctuary), where the shintai is kept, forbidden to laypeople, and the haiden (oratory), for visitors, both often joined by a gallery (ai no ma). The major temples have various other accessory buildings. The whole is surrounded by one or more hedges. Characteristic are the tori-i, a kind of wooden portal, of unknown origin and meaning, placed at the entrance.

Shinto temples are arranged in a hierarchy, at the apex of which are the jingū, temples to which a particular character of holiness is attached, such as those of Ise, of Atsuta, etc. All the others are called jinja and are divided into: 1) kwampeisha (State temples), in which the ceremonies take place under the control of the State; 2) kokuheisha, provincial temples; 3) fuhensha, temples of fu (urban district) and of ken (prefecture); 4) gōsha and sonsha, temples of rural districts and of villages. Each of these receives a subsidy from the State, in relation to the category. The greatest sanctuary is that of Ise, situated in the suburbs of the city of Uji-Yamada (prefecture of Mie). It consists of two temples: the Naiku (inner), dedicated to Ama-terasu, and the Geku (outer), to Ukemochi, the goddess of food. Founded in a very remote era, they are every 20 years demolished and rebuilt identically, while from the old wood amulets are made and sold as sacred. A pilgrimage to Ise is the greatest aspiration of the Shinto faithful, who make their success in life depend on it. Other major temples are that of Kizuki (prefecture of Shimane), dedicated to Ō-kuni-nuschi; of Kasuga (Nara), to Ame-no-koyane; of Ikuta (Kōbe) to Waka-hirume; of Atsuta (Nagoya), to Ama-terasu and other kami; the Meiji-jingū (Tokyo), to the emperor Mutsuhito (1868-1912), etc.

IV. THE CLERGY

The intimate connection, since antiquity, of worship (matsuri) with the affairs of government (matsurigoto, affairs of worship), which made Shinto ceremonies administrative acts, prevented the clergy from becoming constituted as a caste. The priests (kannushi, for kami-nushi, ministers of the kami) or jinkwan (officials of the kami) have purely external duties and are nothing but public officials. Their task is to take care of the temples, in which many have hereditary interests, and to perform the functions, during which they wear a garment that is that of the ancient Imperial Court. They are arranged in a hierarchy of 8 grades: 1) saishu (master of worship), the highest, represented only in the temple of Ise by a prince of the blood; 2) daigōji (grand master of the temple), given to the superiors of kwampeisha and kokuheisha; 3) negi (prayer-maker); 4) go-negi (under prayer-maker); 5) shiken (executor of canons). The priests of the fuhensha are called 7) shikwan (executors), those of the gōsha and the sonsha are called 8) shishō. There are no convents, nor religious orders. Women have a part limited to the mike (august daughters), girls of 10-12 years, mostly daughters of the priests themselves, who perform the sacred dances and are dismissed as soon as they are of marriageable age. Until the 14th century, moreover, every sovereign who ascended the throne assigned to Ise a princess with the task of watching over the sacred mirror deposited there.

Individual worship consists of offerings of various kinds, in bows, hand-clappings (kashiwade) and in prayers, whose present formulas are strongly inspired by Buddhism. They are directed at obtaining benefits from the kami, not the forgiveness of sins. Prayer, as a mystical elevation of the soul to God, is unknown. In the old cult, in any case, it played an irrelevant part.

The festivals (matsuri) vary in number and meaning, depending on the places. The functions performed there consist of offerings (foodstuffs, silk, etc.) to the kami, and follow a rigid ceremonial, in the reading of norito and in dances with music. Since the 8th century, they have been divided into great, medium and small. The only great one is the ānie or daijōe (festival of the great tasting) which is performed at the accession to the throne of each sovereign. The others are many: the medium ones have an agricultural character, such as the toshigoi (purification of the ancient calendar) at the time of the rice sowing, the kanname-matsuri (9th function) in which the new rice was made to be tasted by the kami and the imperial ancestors, etc.; the small ones include various rituals to obtain abundant rains, ward off fires, epidemics and the like. Also connected with the Shinto cult are many national festivals and those held at Court, such as the shihō-hai (Jan. 1), in which the sovereign prays to the Sun Goddess for the happiness of the people at the beginning of the year, the higenetsu

(11 Feb.) anniversary of the founding of the Empire by Jimmu Tennō, etc.

Marcello Muccioli