SHINTŌ

SHINTŌ. – From the Sino-Japanese shin = god and tō = way), whence our term Shintoism; by this word the Japanese designated their indigenous religion after Buddhism had been introduced (A.D. 552). It is essentially 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 national heroes was added. Lacking a moral code, metaphysics, eschatology, and soteriology, Shintō would perhaps have disappeared in the face of the doctrinal superiority of Buddhism and Confucianism, had its intimate connection with the prevailing political system not made it a powerful element of national cohesion. Indeed, Shintō is a “national” religion, or rather a “political” one.

Having come into contact with the other religions imported into the archipelago, Shintō underwent influences of varying depth. Its primitive or original character can be reconstructed, at least in broad outline, only through a critical examination of the sources, namely: the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters, 3 vols., written in A.D. 712), the Nikongi (Annals of Japan, 30 vols., from A.D. 720), historical works, and the norito, solemn addresses of a magical-incantatory character pronounced on great solemn occasions.

I. THE MYTHS

The manifest purpose of Shintō 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 divinities, Izanagi and his wife Izanami, who dies giving birth to the god of fire (Kagutsuchi). Grief-stricken, Izanagi then goes to the “Land of Darkness” (Yomi-tsu-kuni, a kind of Hell?) to retrieve his companion, but flees in horror upon seeing her putrefied. Having emerged into the light, he purifies himself in the waters of the Oto River and here generates many divinities, AMATERASU (v.), the goddess of the sun, who emerges from his left eye, and Susa-no-wo, the god of the hurricane. The latter, violent and overbearing, causes no little trouble for his sister, who, at a certain point, frightened, goes to shut herself inside a cave, whereupon the world is left in darkness. Drawn out of the cave after considerable effort and with the cooperation of all the gods, the culprit is punished by expulsion from Heaven. 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 grandson of Ama-terasu. Meanwhile, one day, having observed that the hostilities among the divinities inhabiting the archipelago had caused serious disturbances, she sends her grandson Ninigi to set things in order and govern it; and, at the time of his departure, she gives him the “three kinds of divine objects” (sanshu jingi), namely: the “long, eight-foot curved jewels” (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 into Japan, marries and has children, and among his descendants is Jimmu Tenno, his great-grandson, the first emperor of Japan, descended in the fifth generation from Ama-terasu, who at Kashiwabara, in Yamato, on 11 February 660 B.C. (according to the certainly erroneous official chronology) ascends the throne, founding the Empire. In Jimmu, scholars today tend to see the historical figure of a great chief who, through his prestige, succeeded in forming a coalition of the various tribes of peoples who had immigrated to the archipelago, leading them to its conquest from the aboriginal Ainu. In any case, he is the first ruler in a line uninterrupted to the present day.

II. DIVINITIES AND MORALITY OF S

The divinities of S. are called kami (literally, that which is above, both in a spatial and in a hierarchical sense), a term applied to everything that departs from the ordinary or inspires fear or respect because it is arcane or mysterious, whether it concerns divine beings (gods, spirits), living beings (human beings and animals), or things and objects (plants, rivers, rocks, etc.). The kami are conceived anthropomorphically; thus they are born, marry, enjoy themselves, and die; but they also possess superhuman powers, limited to their own sphere of action. They are therefore neither omnipotent nor omniscient. A mi-tama (august jewel), a kind of soul, is also ascribed to the kami; in temples it is represented by the mi-tama-shiro (substitute for the mi-tama) or shintai (divine body, which is any object—a mirror, a sabre, a stone, etc.) in which the divinity is invisibly incorporated in order to enter into contact with the faithful. It is therefore neither a symbol nor an attribute of the divinity, as is commonly believed. The number of kami is enormous. There are kami of the wind, rain, fire, etc., and of stoves, pots, wells, rice, and even latrines! Then, over time, the cult of the ancestors also came to enlarge the Shintō pantheon.

Although primitive S. had 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, it should be noted, is ritual and physical, not moral. Contamination, whether visible (e.g., filth) or invisible (such as that contracted by touching things considered impure, like blood, corpses, etc.), made one displeasing to the kami; hence the need to free oneself from it by purification, if one wished to avoid the tatari (heavenly punishment), which could strike in various forms (illness, accidents, failure, death).

Impurity was thus « sin » (tsumi), which was always such, even if involuntary. There was therefore no ethic of conscience, which the Japanese would learn only when, through Buddhism, they acquired the notion of sin founded upon ethical premises. A list of the 21 most important tsumi has been preserved in a norito and is of great value for the knowledge of the ethical and religious conceptions of the ancient islanders. Adultery, pederasty, incest between brothers and sisters, lying, and theft do not appear in this list. To avoid 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 abstention (imi).

The harae (harau, to sweep away), the most ancient rite, is always performed by priests: it includes the recitation 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 recitation, the sins (impurities) of the person or persons being purified pass, like the scapegoat of 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 increasingly asserted itself, they assumed a symbolic character, and from this tendency arose the present use of katashiro (substitute for the form), which replaced them. These are pieces of paper cut in the shape of a garment, on which the person being purified writes his or her sex and year and month of birth, and which he or she then rubs over the body while breathing upon them, thereby transferring the impurities to 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 the collective harae, the Ō-harae or « Great purification » of the entire people has always been of great importance; it was performed twice a year, on the last day of the VI and XII lunar months (today, 30 June and 31 December). During the Ō-harae, a special norito is recited. The misogi (from mizu = water and sosogi = washing) is a lustral ablution performed with water or with water and salt to free oneself from occasional contaminations (resulting from illness, sexual relations, wounds, childbirth, contact with corpses, etc.). It is practised 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 might render one impure (personal cleanliness, eating certain foods cooked over pure fire, wearing only certain purifying garments, etc.). It is for the most part reserved for priests, who in their ministry must serve 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 Sh.), the kami had, apparently under Emperor Sujin (97–30 B.C., according to the official chronology), their first temples (yashiro or miya). These, bare and primitive in their architecture and the materials used (unworked hinoki wood, the Japanese cypress), reproduce the ancient indigenous hut and consist of at least two buildings: the honden (sanctuary), where the shintai is preserved and which is forbidden to laypeople, and the haiden (oratory), for visitors, both often joined by a gallery (ai no ma). The larger temples have various other accessory buildings. The whole is surrounded by one or more hedges. Characteristic are the tori-i, a kind of wooden gateway, of unknown origin and meaning, placed at the entrance.

Shinto temples are organized in a hierarchy, at the apex of which are the jingū, temples endowed with a particular character of sanctity, such as those of Ise, Atsuta, etc. All the others are called jinja and are divided into: 1) kwampeisha (State temples), in which ceremonies take place under State control; 2) kokuheisha, provincial temples; 3) fuhensha, temples of fu (urban district) and ken (prefecture); 4) gōsha and sonsha, temples of rural districts and villages. Each of these receives a subsidy from the State, according to its category. The principal sanctuary is that of Ise, situated in the suburbs of the city of Uji-Yamada (Mie prefecture). It consists of two temples: the Naiku (inner), dedicated to Ama-terasu, and the Geku (outer), to Ukemochi, the goddess of food. Founded in the remotest antiquity, they are demolished and rebuilt in identical form every 20 years, while the old wood is used to make amulets sold as sacred. A pilgrimage to Ise is the highest aspiration of the Shinto believer, who makes his success in life depend upon II. Other major temples are that of Kizuki (Shimane prefecture), dedicated to Ō-kuni-nuschi; that of Kasuga (Nara), to Ame-no-koyane; that of Ikuta (Kōbe), to Waka-hirume; that of Atsuta (Nagoya), to Ama-terasu and other kami; the Meiji-jingū (Tokio), to Emperor Mutsuhito (1868–1912), etc.

IV. THE CLERGY

The intimate connection, from antiquity onward, between the cult (matsuri) and affairs of government (matsurigoto, matters of worship), which made Shinto ceremonies administrative acts, prevented the clergy from being constituted as a caste. The priests (kannushi, from kami-nushi, ministers of the kami) or jinkwan (officials of the kami) have purely external duties and are nothing more than public officials. Their task is to care for the temples, in many of which they have hereditary interests, and to perform the rites, during which they wear an outfit that of the ancient Imperial Court. They are arranged in a hierarchy of 8 grades: 1) saishu (master of worship), the highest, represented only at the temple of Ise by a prince of the blood; 2) daigōji (grand master of a temple), conferred upon the superiors of kwampeisha and kokuheisha; 3) negi (one who prays); 4) go-negi (assistant one who prays); 5) shiken (performer of canons). The priests of the fuhensha are called 7) shikwan (performers), while those of the gōsha and sonsha mentioned below are called 8) shishō. There are no convents or religious orders. Women have a role limited to the mike (august daughters), girls of 10–12 years, for the most part daughters of the priests themselves, who perform the sacred dances and are dismissed as soon as they reach marriageable age. Until the 14th century, moreover, every sovereign who ascended the throne assigned a princess to Ise, charged with watching over the sacred mirror deposited there.

Individual worship consists of offerings of various kinds, bows, handclaps (kashiwade), and prayers, whose present formulas are strongly inspired by Buddhism. They are addressed to the kami in order to obtain benefits, not forgiveness of sins. Prayer, as the mystical elevation of the soul to God, is unknown. In the old cult, in any case, it played an insignificant part.

The festivals (matsuri) vary in number and significance according to the locality. The rites performed during them consist of offerings (foodstuffs, silk, etc.) to the kami and follow a strict ceremonial, together with the reading of norito and dances accompanied by music. Since the 8th century, they have been divided into great, middle, and small festivals. The only great one is the ānie or daijōe (festival of the great tasting), performed upon the accession of each sovereign to the throne. There are many others: the middle festivals have an agricultural character, such as the toshigoi (ceremony of the ancient calendar) at the time of sowing the rice, the kanname-matsuri (IX ceremony), at which the new rice was offered for tasting to the kami and the imperial ancestors, etc.; the small festivals include various rituals for obtaining abundant rains, averting fires, epidemics, and the like. Also connected with Shinto worship are many national festivals and those held at Court, such as the shihō-hai (1 January), at which the sovereign prays to the Sun Goddess for the happiness of the people at the beginning of the year, the higenetsu