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Floyd H. Ross and Tynette Hills

There are many people who think that Shinto, the native religion of the Japanese, no longer exists, or that it is rapidly dying. They think it began to decline with Japan’s surrender at the end of the Second World \Var. But traditional beliefs and customs have a way of living on. It is never possible to decree or legislate faith out of existence. Japan’s defeat in World War II and the American occupation for some years following have undoubtedly changed some religious ceremonies and practices. Still there is something that cannot be changed. It is the underlying religious spirit of the Japanese. They call it Shinto, the "way of the gods."

The Japanese share the Oriental respect for their cultural inheritance. In the last hundred years, this reverence for the past has been put to the strongest test one could imagine. Japan has survived what amounted to a revolution -- the onslaught of Western industrialization and ideas, and two world wars, one of which led to crushing defeat. No other country has had to move so rapidly from feudalism into industrialism. Yet her people still meet each day with an appreciation of its beauty, a strong respect for each other, and a deep devotion to their country.

It is true that Japanese ideas are changing. But since Japan’s history has shown more flux during the past eighty years than in the previous thousand, it is difficult to chart the changes. We must remember that the future comes from the present, as the present was derived from the past. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the values dearest to the Japanese will go with them into the future.

A Japanese would probably ask, "What is life?" The question "What is my life?" would not occur to him. He sees himself as only part of the living, inspiring wonder of everything that exists. He has a feeling of nearness to nature that the average European or American does not have. The Japanese have always felt the lure of the outdoor spaces -- the sand, the wind, the stars, the waves, the hum of the insects, and the music of a waterfall.

The Japanese believe that the same wonderful forces that move in nature move in themselves. There is no difference. There is no dividing line between divine and human. For this reason, a person’s religion and his life have entered into each other so that it is almost impossible to tell where one begins and the other ends. Those who claim that Shinto is not a religion are probably confused by this tendency. To the thoughtful Japanese, this is as it should be. Why should religion be something "added onto" a person’s life?

The Japanese find comfort and inspiration in the beauties of their surroundings. They have built their shrines in spots of breath-taking beauty. They try to keep themselves constantly attuned to the loveliness all about them:

Even in a single leaf of a tree
Or a tender blade of grass,
The awe-inspiring Deity
Manifests Itself.

The practice of beauty leads the Japanese to participate in ceremonies and festivals that may seem strange to us. The Insect-Hearing Festival is an example of this. On a quiet evening in the early weeks of autumn, the emperor and thousands of his subjects sit quietly and listen to the noises of various insects. Just as typical is the story of the Zen Buddhist teacher who stepped before his class one day to give a lecture. He paused to listen to the song of a bird outside the window, and then he dismissed the class. There are sermons in nature -- and the Japanese hear them freely.

At the time of the blossoming of the cherry trees, the Japanese often close their shops and go to the parks and to the country, to enjoy the beauty of the blossoms before they fall. Sometimes they spend evenings gazing at the moon. Or they will sit for hours, contemplating the beauty of a garden, or a flower arrangement, or even a single twig or leaf.

Admiring the beauty about them has led them to cultivate beauty in their own homes and yards and in all their arts and crafts. Painstakingly they have sought to capture the inspiration that life and nature offer them. Sometimes they use poems to express their feeling of kinship with nature.

Usually, the Japanese write poetry that is quite short, with just enough description to convey their feelings. Often, of course, their poetry does not impart the same feelings to someone else, particularly a reader from another country. But one interprets for himself. Who is to say what a poem ought to mean?

Here are several examples of Japanese nature poetry, which may mean as much or as little as the reader can find in them:

On the plum blossoms
Thick fell the snow;
I wished to gather some
To show to thee,
But it melted in my hands.

Among the hills
‘The snow still lies -- But the willows
Where the torrents rush together Are in full bud.

To what shall I compare
This life of ours?
It is like a boat
Which at daybreak rows away
And leaves no trace behind it.

The sky is a sea
Where the cloud-billows rise;
And the moon is a bark;
To the groves of the stars
It is oaring its way.

The sky, the flowers, the trees, and the beautiful land speak to the Japanese of beauty and purity. For centuries, the Japanese have looked upon such sights with reverence. They have felt awe in the presence of the pure loveliness of which they are so deeply aware. They have wished to be worthy of it. This has prompted them to strive for inner and outer purity.

A Japanese does not approach a shrine, whether in his own home or in a public place, without first going through a ceremony of cleansing. There are special water troughs near the public shrines, from which a worshiper may dip the water for washing his hands and rinsing his mouth. Only after he has purified himself in this way does he think himself worthy to worship at the shrine. Thoughtful Japanese realize that this is a symbol of inner purity, which does not really depend on outward cleansing.

Japanese homes are models of cleanliness and order. The god shelf -- center of Shinto worship in the home -- is kept spotless. The shelters of the shrines are rebuilt frequently so that no decay will mar the place of beauty.

In old Japan, there was a semi-annual observance called the Great Purification. All the people took part in the ceremony by rubbing slips of paper over their bodies and then burning them or throwing them into a river, lake, or ocean. Then the emperor, speaking for the Sun Goddess, would pronounce all the people to be pure again. Long, long ago, the ancient Japanese had probably believed that cleanliness of body was important to the gods. Later Japanese came to think that the gods desired moral purity as well. The Great Purification ceremonies are a symbol of both.

Such ceremonies serve to make people feel right again with themselves and with the world. Shintoists have considered it to be very important to hold the ceremonies regularly, so that all may feel free of impurity. They do not worry about personal sins or errors. They are so interested in all their people that they feel a shared guilt for everyone’s accumulated shortcomings and impurities. This group guilt makes them seek purification for the whole society of Japanese.

The Japanese read the classical myths of the beginnings of their land in the old "Chronicles of Japan," the Nihojigi, and "The Records of Ancient Matters,’ the Kojiki. They read of how the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, sent her grandson to he the first ruler of the islands. This is what she told him: "I think that this land will undoubtedly be suitable for the extension of the heavenly task, so that its glory should fill the universe. It is, doubtless, the center of the world."

This same high estimate of their country has been a first consideration of the Japanese people. They are passionately devoted to their beautiful islands. They work the soil with unlimited patience. They tend their gardens and parks and farms with loving skill.

Other peoples have long since become acquainted with the intense loyalty the Japanese have for their country, their countrymen, and their emperor. It stems from their feeling that they are the descendants of the gods, that their country is the land chosen by the gods, and that their emperor is the direct descendant of Amaterasu. This tradition, in addition to the fact that for centuries the Japanese lived almost isolated on their islands, has been largely responsible for the "spirit of Japan."

Each Japanese is interested in all Japanese. What is good for the whole of Japan is what each Japanese wishes for himself. The total welfare of the nation is involved. Their emperor reminds them of their divine descent and their responsibility to their nation. It is because of this that the Japanese were so devoted to the royal household, prior to the end of World War II.

To the Japanese loyalty is such a virtue that their soldiers have often sacrificed their lives without the slightest hesitation. In fact, they have sometimes been eager to do so, believing that their spirits would then help to protect their country. Partly, the emphasis upon courage and loyalty stems from the very recent feudal past of Japan, when knights were taught to be steadfast soldiers. Although feudalism has been replaced, this much has carried over into the present. Loyalty and honor still suggest divine attitudes to the Japanese.

Their fervent interest in their own culture has not kept the Japanese from learning from other people. They have borrowed philosophy and ethics from Confucianists, religion and art from Buddhists, and industrial techniques from Westerners. But when trade in goods and ideas did come, Japan received them in her own way. On Japanese soil, these became Japanese.

In religion, the Japanese have learned much from what the Chinese Confucianists and Buddhists could teach them. But Shinto remains the religious-patriotic personality of the Japanese people. For a time, State Shinto -- or Shrine Shinto -- was taught in the schools in the form of certain ceremonials, and was administered by a special branch of the government. Recently this has been changed, and some of the seasonal festivals are no longer widely observed. Today, when a Japanese calls himself Shintoist, he may mean that he is a member of one of a number of Shinto sects. Or he may mean that he respects and reveres the traditions of the past as the "way of the gods" underlying even Buddhism or other religions.

The Japanese find life very good, and they are glad to accept it as it is. They are not inclined to question it. They take life in a more joyous way than the followers of some religions. Even Buddhists in Japan do not dwell at much length on life’s sorrow. Shintoists feel "at home" in the world. They believe that the gods desire their happiness and well being. Life is good, and men are good. How could it be otherwise, when the gods have created them.?

The Shinto religion has no list of commandments, no set of moral rules to be followed. More than 150 years ago, one Japanese scholar wrote: "It is because the Japanese were truly moral in their practice that they required no theory of morals, and the fuss made by the Chinese about theoretical morals is owing to their laxity in practice."

Another Japanese of the same period pointed out that human beings have been produced "by the spirit of the two Creative Deities" (Izanagi and Izanami). Therefore, they are naturally endowed with the knowledge of what they ought to do and what they ought to refrain from. "It is unnecessary for them to trouble their heads with systems of morality," he added.

Since the Japanese feel that human beings are really good, they have never worried about being sinful. Men may make mistakes, which might be called "sins," but they are not full of sin. A Japanese worships more through giving thanks than through reciting his shortcomings and seeking forgiveness for them. No Shintoist is taught to think of himself as "a worm in the dust."

Shintoists have never been concerned with an idea of an afterlife. There are no teachings about a life beyond the grave, and Shintoists do not pray for a future bliss. They pray for much more specific things such as food, happiness, the welfare of the nation, and to express thanks. Whatever Shinto lacks in not emphasizing a life beyond death, Buddhism has supplied to the Japanese people. The people in Japan, like the people in China, are inclined to combine teachings from various religions.

Most Shintoists speak of "the gods." For the majority of Shintoists, there are many gods and goddesses, who present all human interests and all phases of nature. Thoughtful Shintoists may speak of ‘the divine." To them, there is a divinity in all-natural things -- for there is nothing supernatural. This quality of the divine is in man as well, although he does not understand how it can be so. The reverence paid to many gods and to the spirits of heroes and famous men is simply recognition of the divinity that is present in all life.

The more thoughtful persons in modern Japan have come to believe in one God. Or, they might explain it as a belief in one source for the divine quality of all life.

But Shinto has largely thrived on the belief in many gods. Records from 901 A.D. tell of three thousand shrines in Japan, where over three thousand deities were worshiped. By 1914, there were over 190,000 shrines in Japan. Some of these were major shrines, visited by hundreds of thousands of people during a year. Others were simple wayside shrines in the outlying districts.

The Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, is the center of Shinto worship. Her brother, the Storm God, is widely honored, and so is the Food Goddess. All the gods are descendants of the original divine pair. who gave birth to the islands of Japan, as well as to the hosts of other deities. They are called Izanagi, the Sky Father, and Izanami, the Earth Mother. Japanese mythology fills in the details of the story of creation, including the account of how Izanagi ordered Amaterasu to rule over the Plain of High heaven. For many years, Amaterasu has been the symbol of everything most precious in the development of the Japanese people.

At the time when Amaterasu dispatched her grandson to rule over Japan, she gave him the three most sacred objects in the Shinto religion. The imperial jewels, which are kept in the Tokyo palace, are symbols of obedience and gentleness. The sword, kept in the shrine at Owari, represents wisdom and justice. And the mirror, housed in the Ise shrine, symbolizes righteousness and purity. Shintoists have believed that the myths and objects serve to remind them of the divine mandate by which their emperors rule.

Since the recent war there have been dramatic changes in Japanese life and manners. It is impossible to predict how the ancient ceremonies of Shinto will be continued in the years ahead. The peace treaty signed between Japan and the United States and the withdrawal of occupation forces may lead to a re-emphasis on native Japanese culture. Or it may not. The emperor, by his own decree, has stated that he is no longer to be regarded as divinely descended from the Sun Goddess. Yet the habits and feelings of loyal Japanese subjects may have been barely affected by his statement.

The Japanese continue to go to the shrines of their different gods and goddesses, to pray for good crops or food or national prosperity. They cleanse themselves in the customary way and clap their hands to show respect, as Oriental people often do. Then they give an offering of money or rice, take off their shoes, and enter the prayer hall.

Shintoists use, not images of their gods, but symbols of them. On their god shelves are tablets or slips of paper on which are written the names of the gods they wish to honor. A light burns there, and the family places flowers and a bit of wine or rice cake there daily, if possible. Loyal Shintoists try to hold brief prayer ceremonies before the god shelf each day.

Shinto priests, who may live just as other men do, lead official services on important religious days. They do not preach at regular services each week. They are responsible for protecting the sacred objects in the shrines. Frequently they have another occupation besides the priesthood.

Shinto shrines have a special gateway, called a torri. No one knows exactly how this attractive structure came to be a part of the shrines; its real origin is lost in antiquity. Probably it was used years ago for hanging the birds that were offered as a sacrifice to the Sun Goddess. Although it no longer serves that purpose, yet a torri stands at the entrance to every Shinto shrine. Sometimes there is a row of them. The torri is a distinctive symbol of the Shinto religion.

The Shinto shrines or "churches" found in other countries are not part of State Shinto but sectarian forms of Shinto. We might call them denominations. They are not state-supported and do not depend upon the favor of the Japanese emperor. American-Japanese followers usually prefer not to refer to these movements by the name Shinto.

Most of the sects, however, incorporate into their teachings and rites many elements of State Shinto and of Buddhism as well. In Japan, thirteen such sects are officially recognized; but there are many others not officially listed. Many of them have adopted the educational and missionary methods of Christian denominations. Some of them center about the worship of an all-powerful, universal God. Some stress faith healing.

The religious answers of the old "spirit of Japan" remain a force to consider in the religious life of the world today. The Japanese have found deep satisfaction for themselves. They have suggested that others might find similar satisfaction through simply accepting life as it is and appreciating it for the beauties and wonders it offers the person who takes time to see and hear.

-ooOoo-

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