SMITHSO NIA N INSTITU TI O N .

U N IT E D S TA T E S N A TI O N A L M US EU M .

S H I NTO , O R TH E MYTH O LO GY O FTH E JA P A NESE .

BY

R O MY N H I TC H C O C K .

Fromth e Report of th e U . S Nat x o nal

. Mu seu m, i 89 x .

WA SH I NG T O N
G O "ERN MENT P R INTI NG O FFI C E.
 SHINTO, OR THE MYTHOLOGY OFTHE JAPANESE

By R O M Y N H I TC H C O C K .

Old r ec or d s — i Ka i m —
H eav en —
f G en er ati on o m
K a i- T h e l
Cr eati on
eg en d of t h e w or l d —

of h ad es B i r th of th e Su n - G odd ess an d of Su s an a My th of t he Su n G odd ess The

— — - —

Su s an o m y t h T h e s a
—
cr ed s w or d of I s e H eav en l y p r i n ces s en t to s u b d u e Ter r es
—

t r i al d ei ti es —
k
Th e Mi ad o s d i v i n e an c es tor s Th e fir s t Mi ad o Shi n to as a r el i
’ —
k —

g i on
—
I nfl u en ce of Shi n to up on t he n ati on al ch ar actef —
Li t ur g i es an d f or mof w or
s hip — Ten d en cy of r el i g i ou s th ou g h t i n J ap an .

A uthentic history in Japan begins only i n the fift h century What .

ever i s earlier th a n that belongs to the age of tradition , which is

supposed to maintain an unbroken record for ten thousand years .

Intercourse with Korea is said to date from the middle of th e second

century B C The E mperor Suj in (9 7 30 B
. . is re puted to have r e —
.

c ei v e d tribute from several Korean states ; but the art of writing was

not introduced until about the fifth century , and i t is scarcely credible
“

th at a progressive and imitative people like the J apan e se wo u ld have

neglected s u ch a useful acco mplishment for five centuries after h a vi ng
seen it pr a cticed in Kore a These dates are therefore doubtful We . .

may infer that the earliest intercourse between Chin a and J ap a n w a s

about t h e time when Chi nese writing was ntroduced i .

Previous to that time the n a tional religion of the Jap anese was a
very si mple form of ancestral worship combined with n ature worship , -

f ounded upon a most remarkable and complex mythology which as

scribed to the people divine origin and descent It is this faith which .

i s now known by the name Shinto The word is of C h inese origin , but .

it is obviou s that the cult which it designates must h ave developed

many centur ies before any trace of Chinese in fl uence was felt in Japan .

Si nce then ,however ,Shinto has changed so much i n i t s ceremo n i als and
external character that it is now scarcely to be found in its ori ginal
simplicity in any part of Japan Indeed ,it is only by the stu dy of the
oldest b ook
.

s t h at we have come to know fairly well what pure Shinto

was First c ame the te a chings of Confucius ,which spread rapidly and
.

were received with the greatest favor throughout Japan At the pres .

ent day they still cons titute an essential part of a Jap anese e d u c ation .

Then came a few Buddhist i ma ges and sutr a s fromKorea ,i n the year
5 52 A .
but it w as not until the famous pri es t, Kobo D aishi , in the
A s r el a te d in the Ni h on -
gi .
490 REP O RT o r N A TI ON A L M U SEU M , 1 8 91 .

ninth century ,ingeniously identified the various Buddhist sai nts wi th

the Shinto dei ties ,t hat the new faith became popular and finally al most
sup planted the other Then arose di f ferent schools of Shinto , and now
.

we find the two reli gions borrowing from each other , until it i s some
times confusing to decide whether a certain temple i s Buddhistic or
Shinto , or both .

The popular mythology of Japan suggests to the m i nd fabulous beasts

and dragons , rishi and sennin old men of t h e mountain solitudes hav —

ing magic powers imp s ,and innumerable spirits of earth and air Bu t
—
.

mo st of these have come from China or distant In di a They have no .

place in the pri mitive worship of the people E ven so it i s with the .

ancient books , for they too were compiled at a ti me when Chinese ideas
had begun to infl uence the imagination of t h e writer s , and all of them
require the mo st critical study to eliminate foreig n elements To learn .

what the native beliefs were ,it is necessary to adhere strictly to purely
Jap anese accounts , industriously comparing diff erent texts in order to
discover what w as originall y a p art of the records This the Jap anese .

scholars have faithf ully done The di f ficulties have been very great . .

A l though writi ng was origin ally introduced from China or K ore a ,there
is a style of compo sition which from the beginning h as been distinctively
Japanese But the old l anguage is very diff erent from that now in u s e
. .

It is d i f ficult to u n derstand , the sense is often ob scure , and there are

many words handed down from very ancient ti me ,the meanin gs of which
w ere alre a dy forgotten by the old transcribers , who wrote the mdown
phonetically
The oldest Japanese book known is the K O Jl k
.

l , Record of A ncient - -

Matters , a transl ation of which ,by Prof B a sil Hall Ch a mb erlain , was .

pu b lished in the year 1 8 8 2 The original work d ates from 71 1 A D . . .

The Emperor Temmu (6 73 68 6 A desiring to preserve the ancient

—
.

traditio n s in a pu r e form ,h a d the records of the chief families examined

and compared A member of his household committed the whole to
.

memory After th e death of the emperor , the E mpress G emmi o (708

.

71 4A D )h a d the record written do w n as it was recited

. . .

The authenticity of this book as a tr u e record of the ancient lore of

Japan is too strong to be questioned It relates a mythology remark .

ably complex and fantastic , but withal consistent and connected Its .

a ge can not be estimated It m u st have grown through m an y centu

ries , for when the K o j i k
.

i w as written , it w a s a co m
- -
pleted syste mand
the origin and meaning of i t s ri ch symbolism h a d been already forgot
t en. Some of the lan guage is cert ainly older th an the sixth century
and some dates fr om before the fourth
Next to the K o j i k
.

i there is a larger but less rel iable work ,the Ni

- -

hon g i , or Chronicles of Jap an ,dated 720 A D ,which is more af f e cted by

-
. .

Chinese infl uences There are also numerous com mentaries by Japa
.

nese schol ars The N ihon g i has not been tr anslated ,b ut in the Annales
.
-

des E mpereu rs d u Japan (Ni pon o d ai i t si r an ) by K laproth 1 8 34 a

’

, , ,
portion i s translated with suggestive notes .
 M Y THO LO GY or THE JAP ANE S E . 49 1
N ext in value to t anslation of the
th e kri w e hav e the extended Ko ji - -

revie w of the w ritings of Japanese scholars , w i th quotations from their

wo r ks, by Mr E M Satow There are oth er disconnected sources of
. . . .

I nformation ,but most of our kno w ledge of the native literatu re of Shinto

i s due to the p atient and thorough work of Chamberlain and S atow .

K AMI .

The Shinto mythology is an account of the d ivine ancestry of the

Mikado and his people It is tr a ced b ack to the creation of the world
. .

These divine ancestors , the S pirits which inhabit their heaven or still
reside i n temples an d wayside shrines controlling the aff air s of mortals ,
are known as kami ” ‘2 ”
The word is u sually translated deity or god , ”
.

but our langu a ge has no proper equivalent Kami are only s uperior .

beings . They may be ei ther heaven born , celestial deities , or the -

m
departed S pirits of emperors , wise men or her oes It is doubtf ul if .

i m ortality i s one of their attributes Some of them , we are tol d , die.

or disappear They are by no means al ways good or virtuous ,but

.

they possess many human characteristics

The Mikado j oins the i nnumerable company of k
.

am I after death .

D eparted ancestor s are the kami of the family and these d w ell around
the hou sehold shrine There are k ami to be worshiped by all the peo
.

ple ,others of only local importance ; some ar e n ear an d others so dis

tant that it is not worth while to think of them .

Whatever obj ect,animate or inanimate ,is suppo s ed to possess my st e

r io n s or supernatur al powers m ay be called k ami The fox and the .

dr a gon and goblin s are eminently miraculo u s an d dre a dful creatures ”

.

The fox h as a very prominent place in the folk lore of Japan , and his -

i n fl u ence upon m en is gre a tly feared Hence there ar e many shrin es

.

to the fox kami in the land

"

Th e pheno mena of nature , such as thund er and lightning , inanimate

obj ects , r ocks , seas , mountains , rivers , plants and trees , may be d esi g
h ated k a mi . O ften there seems to b e no thought of impersonatio n .

The kami may be the thing itself,or at other times a mysterious power
th at d wells or moves therein .

In cer tain other r espects a kami is a remarka b le conception By a .

peculiar parti tive process ,not easily understood ,the po w ers or qu a lities
a ssociated with an individual kami may b e divided and exercised by
several distinct personalities , which are , at the s a me time , integral
parts of the original conception In other words ,a single deity may be
.

worshiped un der di ff erent names , which design ate specific attrib utes
or fu nctions of that deity ,and each of these names may be applied to a
separate personality A s an example , the Goddess of Food Toyo uke
.
, -

bime (Abundan t Food Lady ) -

, al so known a s U k
-
e mochi no kami , or - - -

Food Possessor, is worshiped as Kuku n ochi no kami , Producer of

‘
- - -

Trees , and as K ay ami hime ,the Parent of Gr a sses This deity is per
-
.

h aps ,a s Satow s u ggests , a person i fication of the earth A s a more "

.
 REP O RT o r NATI O NA L M U SEUM , 1 8 9 1 .

curious and strikin g illustra tion of the exerci se of diff erent fu nctio n s
under chan ged personality , w e may refe r to O kuni nushi , w h o w as - -

once the great ruler of the world He w as overcome an d depos e d , as

.

we shall learn further on , and became the chief dei t y of Hades In .

this capacity he is worshiped also in two other characters as a Gentle —

Spirit which pardons and as a R ough Spirit which punishes These .

two spirits have separate existences A t one time , while the deity w as
.

engaged in the task of civilizi n g the world , and w as in n eed of assist

ance , another d eity came to h i m from the se a and proff ered aid .

O kuni nushi did not recognize him and asked who h e w as

- -
The deity .

“
an swered , I am thy saki t ama , meani n g t h y spi r i t that con f ers
” -

blessings .

H EA "EN .

Like many other peoples , the Japa n ese bel ieve th at heaven was once
very near the e a rth ,but they have n o account of how it became sepa
rated from and raised above the world For merly it was con nected w ith .

“ “
the earth by mean s of a fl oati ng bridge or a rock boat, or a pil l ar
” ” “
.

”
of earth , wh ereby the kami could pass from one place to the other at
will . The n atu r e of this co n n ection i s very vaguely expressed in
.
“
the records Sato w co n ceives that the fl oati n g bridge of heaven ”

w as the w ind .

Heav en itself w as t h e abode of t h e celestial k ami , but it was freely

v isited by t h e ka m i w h o l ived on earth I t was not boundless space , .

for its ar ea was limited Susano made the circuit of its boundary It
. .

w as a counterpart of w h at w as kno w n on eart h a country like Japan —

in t h e blue sk y, hav i ng a great river with a stony bed , such as the

traveler in Japan knows very well , a mine from which iron was taken
for the sacred mirror an d fertile fields which furnished seed for the ter
r est r i al harvest I t was not regarded as a bourne w h ere the souls of
.

the dead would find a resti n g place It w as only the particular abode
.

of those k a mi of t h e early generations w h o are disti n g uish ed as t h e

cel e stial kami .

G EN ERA T I O N O F K A MI —
TH E C REA T I O N OF TH E W O R LD .

The preface to t h e Koj iki begins th u s : chao s had begun “Now w h en

to conden se , but form and force w e r e not yet manifest and there was
n ought na m ed ,nought done ,who could know i t s shape " N evertheless , "

h eave n and earth firs t parte d ,an d the three d eities perfo r m ed the com
m
men c e en t of creation ,
the passive and active essences 3“
then dev el
oped and the Tw o Spirits became the ancestors of all th i n gs To .

learn the origin of the first three deities w e must turn to the Koj iki
‘

Th e r p e fa ce i s n ot a p a r t of the o r i g i n a l w o r k ,
b u t a s o r t o f i n t r o d u ct i on o r g e n

er al r ev i e w by the au th o r o f the w r i tte n c o py I t emb o d i es s o me i d e a s o f h i s o w n ,

.

w ih c h ,
a s t h i s a ll s
u i on t o the p a ss i ve a nd a ct i ve esse n ces ”
,a r e fo r e i g n t o the b o ok

i tself .
 MY TH O LO GY O F THE J A PANE SE . 49 3
its elf They w ere born , as it were , spontaneo u sly , the Plain O f “i n
.

High Heaven ”
They w ere the Deity Master of the Au g u st Center O f
.
- - - - - -

He av en ,t h e High A ugust Producing Wondrous D eity ,and the Divine

- - - -

Producing Wondrous Deity These three kami w ere born alone and
- -
.
“

hi d thei r perso n s i n other w ords , they di sappeared or died i m

— med i
ately , and we hear of themno more SO with many links i n the stran ge .

story before us , they are formed and disappear before w e kno w their
purpose or d e sign , leaving gap s so blank that no ef f or t of the imagina
tion can complete the chain The reader will be surprised at the lo n g
.

and curious names of the ancient kam i These n ames also are a puz .

zle ; b u t the time may come when they will possess more sig n ificance .

In the passage above quoted there i s a reference to t h e active and

passive essences This is not a Japanese idea ,but essentially Chinese
. .

TO illustrate how great are the difficulties in the w ay O f eliminating

the in fl uences of Chinese thought from t h e O l d books , as w ell as to
"

aff ord an idea of the style O f the works th emselves , the follo w ing quo
t at i o n from the Nihongi will suffice Before the earth and heaven had
.

“
separated , chaos , having the form of an egg , tossed its waves like an
agitated s ea It contai ned , ho w ever , the germs of all things ; those
.

w hich were pure and transparent rose and formed heaven , w hile those
which were gro ss and op a que precipitated and formed the earth
A divine being or kami w as born in t h e midst A n island O f soft earth .

fl oated on the waters Then appeared a thing like the stalk of a plant
.

which transformed into a ka mi t h e fir st of seven celestial -

spirits .
“ g
The story in the Ni h on g i is far more attractive than the bare
record in the Kojiki .

The growing plant is a strange conception , more fully recorded in

the Koj iki The latter work tells u s th at two deities were born
.

“
from a thing that sprouted up like u nto a reed shoot w hen the
earth , young and like u n to fl oating O i l , drift ed about medusa like ” -
.

Thi s strange thing w as suspended i n space like a cloud W e are told .

that i t became the sun , but immediately after w e read that as it grew .

upwards it spread out infinitely as a cloud from a mountain t O p and

for med heaven A part gre w do w nward and formed the moon This
. .

i s very confusing , but it is interestin g i n connection with the myth O f

the Sun goddess , indicat i ng that the sun existed long before the birth
-

of Amaterasu , who , by some authorities , i s regarded as the su n itself,

and not as a deity perso n ifying or dwelli ng in the s u n .

A great n umber of kami wer e born in succession for various more

or less O bvious purposes ,but to enumerate them would serve no useful
pur pose Ther e w as a course of S pontaneous generation whereby five
.

“ ” “
heavenly deities and seven divine generations were produced , all ”

O f who m except the last t wo born “h i d t h e i r e r s o n s ” disappeared or

, , p ,
died , for all kami are not immortal These t w o were named respectively .

“
Izanagi , The Male w h o invites , and Izanami , The Fe In aIe who i n
” - - “ - -

Tr an sl a te d fr o m K l ap r o th , An n ales d e s E mpe r eu r s d u J a p an .
494 RE P O RT OF N A TI ONAL M U SEU M , 1 8 9 1 .

vite s . They were commanded by the he a ve n ly d eities ,w h o gave the m

”

a j eweled spear , to create the drifting land They created the world , .

which w as then only Jap an Standing on the fl oatin g bridge O f he a ve n

.

they thrust the end O f the j e weled S pe a r into the waste O f waters and
stirred the brine u n til it w ent c u rdle curdle , and the drops that fell -

from the spear piled up and bec a me the island O n og or o now n u .

known .

“
The expression bridge O f heaven i s variously interp
”
reted by au
thors Some take it literally as meaning an ac t u al bridge bet ween
.

heaven and ear th The word hashi signifies not only a bridge , but it
.

may apply to anything w hich fills or bridges over S pace The Sun god .
-

dess , a s wi ll be seen , t r aveled fro mearth to heaven on the A me n o mi - -

h as hi r a, which may be the wind B u t most native authorities reg ard

.

it as a more sub stantial structure , for we read O f the heavenly rock

boat, A i n e n o i h af u n e, a nd also O f stairs , reminding one of Jacob s lad
- - - ’

der, while a later conception is a pillar O f e arth which aft erwards fell
and formed a range O f high mo u nds in Harima , near Mi y ad z u , in
Tango The length O f this range i s
. feet presumably the dis —

tance from earth to heave n in the O lden time .

The two creator gods descended from their place upon the isla n d
they had made , and after a short courtship , the details of which are
too O bj ectionable for translation , they gave birth to a child without
bones , c ar t i l ag en ou s and unable to walk This child , well known to .

th e J apanese as Hi ru g o, also named E bisu ,on e O f the household gods ,

they placed in a basket of reeds a nd let him fl oat away like a J apa
n ese Mo ses He did not d i e ,but his story is too special for consideration
.

"
here They then gave birth to the eight islands of Japan , beginning
.

with A waji at the eastern entrance to the Inland Sea .

The first island born to this couple was n amed A ha, but for some
reason this ,like the child Hi r u g o , w a s not perfect The parents i n .

quired of the Heavenly D eities why this w as so The l atter resorted .

to divination and they soon discovered the reason Whe n the creator .

gods descended upon the mythical O n og or o, they walked around it in

opposite directions , and when they met the woman was the first to
speak This was apparently contrary to the etiquette O f even tho se
.

early days , a nd it was impossible to make a good world if the deities

were so careles s O f proper ceremonies They then wen t around again
as before , when the man spok
.

e first, with subsequent satisfactory r e

su l t s .

After giving birth to the eight isla n ds , they begot a long series O f
d eities to govern them, a nd for a long time , as we may infer fro msu b

"
Th e mber e i ght fr e q uently o cc u r s i n t h e S h i n t o m yth olo g y an d seems t o b e
nu
“
th e mos t perf ect an d for t un ate n u mb er J a p an w as kn o w n a s th e l an d of the
.

e i ght gr e at i sl an d s Y e z o w as the n u n kn o w n
.
”
The r e w as a ser pent w i th e i g h t
.

h e a d s an d e i ght t a i ls ; ther e w e r e e i g ht th u n d e r d e i ti e s, an d i n the myth o f Amat er

asu the r e i s d e sc r i be d a s t r i n g O f j e w el s e i g ht feet l o n g ; t h e r e w e r e e i g ht h u n d r ed
my r i a d d e i t i es , etc .
 MY THO LO GY OF THE J A P A N E SE . 49 5
se quent all usio ns in the r ecords , Japan w as inh abited by deities , good
and bad , who only gave up their authority in the land to make way for
the ancestors O f the Mikado and his people But it wo ul d be tedious .

and unprofitable to even repeat the n ames O f the immediate family O f

Izanami and Izanagi It is rather a large one and few O f its mem
.

bers are still known to fame B u t as an illustration O f the mann er O f .

naming t he ancient deities , which , altho u gh I am info r med it is not

strictly peculiar to Japanese mythology , is certainly one O f i t s extra
ordinary characteristics , several n ames w ill be given w ith Prof
Chamberlain ’s translations Such are O hO k ot o os hi w o n o k
.

am i , Deity - - - - -

great male O f t h e g r e at thing ; I h a tsu chi b i k

.

- - -
o n o ham- i ,Deity rock earth - - - - - -

prince ; K az a g e tsu w ak a n o osh i a o n o k

- - am
-
i , Deity youth O f the wind
- - - - - - - - -

breath the great m ale ; Tor i n o i ha k u sa b u n e n o k am ’

- - - i ,D eity bird s rock
- - - - - - - -

c amphor tree b oat fi

- “
(See
-
also pp 4 9 8 and .

Izanami gave birth to thirty thr ee deitie s, the last O f who mwere -

the Deity princess O f gre at food and the Fir e burni n g svvi f tj mal e deity,
- - - - - - -

whi ch , because O f his fiery nature , caused the death O f Izan ami when
She bo r e him Izanagi w as so grie v ed at the death O f his wife that he
.

forth wi th dre w his sword and cut O f f the head O f the child From the .

drops O f blood on the sword and from various parts O f the body O f the
child , arose sixteen more kami , but we must pass th em by The Fire .

deity , the last born O f Izan ami , w h o w as SO cruelly treated by his

father , became immediat ely the ruler O f the unde r world Presu m ably .

it was his spirit which descended there .

TH E L E G EN D OF H AD E S .

When Izan a mi died S he descended to the under world Hades The —

.

“ ”
Chinese characters liter ally mean the Y ell ow Stre am , the Chinese
designation O f the under world It i s the habitation O f the so u ls O f .

the dead , for the shi ntoist h as neither a paradise nor a hell It is a .

land O f gloom and darkness .

TO this region Izanagi followed , wishi n g to see h i s w ife once more .

He broke O f f a large tooth from h i s comb , and, lighting it as a torch ,

enter ed the gloomy portals His wife sent messengers to prevent his .

approach , but he persisted in his search until he found her But her .

body was a mass O f corruptio n In her head d w elt the Great Thunder , .
-

in her breas t the Fire Thunder, in other parts O f her body t h e Black
-

Thunder ,Cleav i n g Thunder , E arth Thunder , R u mbli n g Thunder , and

- - -

the Couchant Thunder , in all the eight thunder deities Izanami was
-
.

Th i s d e i ty i s ex ample O f an i n an i m ate O bj ect, a b o at , r ai se d t o the r an k o f a

an
k ami f or i mp or t an t s er v i ce Th i s b o a t i s v ar i ou sly d e s cr i be d by au th or s I t i s s ai d
. .

t o be the b o at i n w h i ch the b on ele ss ch i l d , Hi r u g o,w as set a d r i ft , a lr e a d y d es c r i b e d

as a b o a t m a d e o f r ee d s Th e r e a der m u st b e p r ep ar e d f or s ome i n c on s i sten c i es a s
.

w e ll as st a r tl i n g c on cept i on s i n th i s n ar r a t i ve Th e m o st the w r i ter c an h o pe f or i s

.

t o gi ve a r e a s on a bly i ntell i gi ble a cc o u n t o f the S h i n t o m y th ol o g y a s a w h o le , le av

i n g th e d et a i l s t o be fil l e d i n b y fu t ur e r e se ar c h es
‘

,
 RE P O RT OF N A TI ONAL MU SE U M, 1 8 9 1 .

angry and ashamed to be thus seen by her husband , and o r dered the
U gly Female O f Hades , the eigh t thunder deities an d a host O f w ar
riors to pursue him He escaped from these ,but w hen Izanami he r self
.

took u p the chase she overtook him But he blocked up the Pass o f .

Hades W i th a great stone , and they stood on oppo site sides O f it and
took leave O f eac h other , or , according to some authors , divorced each
other Izanami could not j oin h e r husband because sh e had eate n food
. ,

from the fire O f Hades How like this i s to the story O f Persephone
.

and the pomegranate We must omit the details of this story

. .

Dr J E dkin s i s di sposed to regard the Japanese conception o f the

. .

under world as deri v ed fr om C h ina , in which country i t can be traced

back to 721 B C The divinity Tai Shan was the Taoist r uler O f t h e
. .
-

souls O f the dead Fire worship , w hich Dr ; E dkin s r efe r s to in this

.

con nection , al thou gh not unknown i n Japan , does not appear to have
been much practiced When Izanagi descended to Ha d es sh e assumed
.

supreme authority A S S he u n dertook the pursuit O f Izanagi , sh e

.

feared to leave the fir e deit y to his own devices ,lest he should do harm
to the world SO sh e created t h e deities O f clay an d O f water to r e
.

strain him This fire deity plays but a very s mall par t in the my t h o
.

logy ; even h i s period O f rule i n Hades was very short The most w e .

can say regardin g fire w orship is ,that a peculiar form O f fir e drill is -

kno w n in Japan ,w hich w as used once a year until quite recently at on e

O f the I d z u mO temples for producing fire This apparatus h as al r eady .

“
been described by the w r i t e r fi A nother similar drill is in the museum
at Tokio The hypothesis O f Dr Ed k
. i n s ,r th at the origi n O f t h e Japa
.
’

nese co smogony i s to be found in the fire worship O f Persia and the

w orship of O rmuzd in India , China and Mongolia , about the sixth cen
tury B C ,is plausible at first sight ; but it is founded upon a pr e su mp
. .

tion O f early intercourse bet w een the countries ,which ,as we have seen ,
i s n ot borne out by research E ven should it prove true , the develop
.

ment O f the Shinto mythology has certainly been in lines pecul iarly i n
dependent and characte r istic I c an n ot bring myself to admit for it .

such a comparatively late origin as the sixth century B C . .

The under world O f the ancient Japanese may have been q uite like
the Chinese and Persian idea , b u t the Japanese O f the present d ay are
a progressive people , and w ith them there i s advancement in the under
w orld as upon earth The Ise pilgrims have many more or less u n
.

t u neful songs w hich they chant as they slowly tramp along , and here
is one w hich I heard in the evening at a native hostelry ,whe r e I stopped
one rainy n i ght , on my pilgrimage to the ancient shr ines It was .

written do w n for me by the pretty daughter O f the house , and after

w ards translated by a stu d ent , Mr K N agai . . .

Se e Ho u g h , W alte r , F i r e m ak i n g app a r at u s , R ep o r t U S Na t i o n al Mu se u m ,
”
- . .

1 8 8 8 ,p 5 5 2
. .

t P e r s i an Eleme n ts i n J ap an ese Le g e n d s . Tr a n s . A s i a t i c So c i ety of J a p an , " " I ,

 MY THO LO GY OF THE J APA N ESE . 49 7
AN I S E MA I R I .

No w th a t Ha d e s enl i ght ene d by the k n o w le d g e o f the p r ese n t ag e , the s o u ls of

is ,

th e d ead c r o s s the r i ver San d z u on ste amer s , w h i le all pl a c e s i n the r e al m ar e

"

c on n ecte d b y a n et w or k of tel e g r aph li nes Th e J i z o (i d o l o f the Bu d d h i st s )w h o

.

, d i sg u i se d as a m
r e i gn s i n Sai n o k a w a r a (w he r e the s o u ls o f ch i l d r e n g o ) an o f the
fa sh i on ab le w or ld , s t an d s am on g the ch i l d r e n i n the d r ess o f a mo d er n sch o o l
m a s ter .

The last line is a Sl y cut at the village scho olmaster in his foreign
clothes .

BI RTH O F THE SU N G O DD ESS AND OF S U S AN O .

Izanagi was d efil ed by h i s visit to H a des , and went to a ri v er to

c leanse h i m self A mong the m any kami which aro se from each article
.

O f clothin g as he disrobed , and as he bathed , three only des erve ex

tended notice These are n amed Amaterasu ,the Sun goddess ; Tsu k i -

yomi no k a ni , the Moon god ,an d Su s an O no mi k

.

- -
ot o , one of the mo st
- - -

remarkable person a ges in this strange mythology .

Amateras u w as born from the right eye of Izanagi She w a s bright , .

splendid , and was appointed to r ule the Plain O f High Heaven She .

rec e ived a necklace O f precious stones , w h i ch r emi n d s one O f the meg a

t am a a nd k
u d at am a fo u nd in ancient Jap a nese tomb s , and ascended to
h eaven by the am e no m i hashi r a, where she rules as the Su n goddess
- - - -
.

From her, as we shall see , the Mikado traces his ancestry .

A m aterasu i s worsh iped a s the deity O f the su n The sun i s itsel f .

regarded as the goddess visible , and yet ther e is some inconsistency O f

—

views in this connection Light and darkness were known before her .

birth , for Iz a na g i requi red a torch in the u nder world When we come .

to the grea t myth of the Sun goddess hidin g in a cave ,w e sh all be -

told th at d arkness prevailed i n heaven and earth until sh e again ap

pe ar e d .

The Moon god was born from Iz a nagi s right ey e ,t and f r om his
_
- ’

au gust nose w as born S u sano , who became ruler of the land He w as .

a very impetuous and troublesome deity Not being q uite s a tisfied .

“
w ith his position he began to weep , and the fa shion of h i s weepi n g
w as s u ch as by his w eeping to with er the green mo u nt ains into withered
mo untains ,and to dry up all the r ivers and se a s , and the sound O f
”

“
bad deities was like unto fl ies in the fi fth moon ”
SO Izan a g i ex .

pe l l e d him from the land , and he forthwith ascended to heaven , where

upon all the mo u ntains and al l the country quaked , and the Sun
goddess w as alarmed by the great noise But h e said to her , I h a ve “ .

no evil intent It is only that when the Great augu st deity, our
.
- -

father , Spoke , d eigning to i nquire the cause O f my weeping , I said

Th e Bu dd hi st S tyx .

t So me J ap an e se auth or s m ai n t ai n th a t Su s an o w as the Mo o n g o d , b o r n of I z a
-

n a gi ’
s ri ght ey e A cc or d i n g t o C h i n ese l or e, the su n an d m oon w e r e b o r n fr o m t h e
k
.

e ye s of P u an u .
49 8 R EP O RT OF NA TI ON A L M U SEU M , 1 8 91 .

‘I wail because I wish to go to my d eceased mother s land (Hades ); ’ ’

‘
whereupon the Great august deity said : Thou shalt not dwell in this
- -

land , and deigned to expel me with a divine expulsio n It i s , there

’
.

fore , solely with the thought of taking leave O f thee that I have as
ce n d e d hith er
”
Then they swore to each other from oppo site banks
.

of the tranquil river of heaven , and from the mist of the bre ath of
e a ch various new deities were born Tw o of these are remarkable .

for their names ,which were ,His augustness truly conqu e ror Loon q u er - -

,
- -

conqu erin g swift heavenly great great e ars and Her au g u stness prin
- - - - - - -

cess of t h e island of the of fin g

- - - - - -
.

MY TH OF THE S UN -G O DD E SS .

We now come to the great and mo st interesting myth of the Sun

goddess From it may be traced the origin and significance of many
.

c u stoms still foll owed in Japan , and the mean ing of t h e myth itself is
‘

a subj ect worthy of speculati on and research Sus a no performed ma ny .

w icked acts and caused much destruction to fields a nd waterco urses ) “

In heaven he broke a hole in the roof of the weaving roo mwhere the
Sun goddess and other goddesses were at work we aving the garments
of the deities He let fall into th eir midst a heaven ly horse which he
.

had fl ayed This caused a great commotion amo n g them and A ma

.

t er asu retired into a cave and closed the entrance w ith a sto n e The .

plain of high heaven w as obscured and dark n ess reigned over the
earth Then the eight hundred my r i ad r deities assembled in the d r y ,
.
’

stony bed of the tranquil river of heaven to dev ise a mean s to enti ce
the goddess from the cave " arious plans were propo sed , but O mok
. i
kane no kami was a gr eat thinker ,and his plan was f ollowed So they
- -
.

made a mirror of iron from the min e of heaven , in shape like the sun ,
an d a strin g of five hundred curved j ewel s eight feet in length , and
pulled up by its roots a O l ey er a J ap on i ca with five hund r ed branches ,
upon which they hung the mirror and the stri n g of beads and O f ferings
of w hite an d blue cloth They the n resorted to divi n ation by means
.

of a foreleg of a buck placed i n a fire of cherry bark , and examined

the crack produced Then the deity A ma no fu to dama no mi k
. ot o took - - - - -

the tree with its o f feri n g in his hands and recited liturgies , whi le
anoth er played on a bamboo flute and another on a kind of harp made
by placi n g S ix bows with their strings u pw ar d ,i and others kept time
by striking t w o pieces of w ood together B on fir e s w ere lighted , and a .

d eity kno w n as U su me ,the Heavenly al arming female ,placed a circu l ar - -

box or sounding board before the cave an d d anced upon i t as though

F r o m the n ar r at i ve on e w ou l d s u pp o se th at J ap an w as i n h ab i te d a t th i s my th
i c al per i o d by pe ople w h o c u lti v a te d the s o i l m a r ke d o u t fi el d s , etc
,
Th e st or y o f .

the e i ght he a d e d ser pe n t an d t h e ol d c o u ple w i th e i g h t ch i l d r en (pa g e 5 00 )an d m an y

-

o the r a ll u s i on s le a d t o t h e s ame c o n cl u s i o n .

t Th e n u mber me an s a g r e a t m a n y
I D ou btless th e or i gi n o f the k
.

ot o .
 MY THO LO GY OF THE J A P AN E SE . 49 9
possessed , and allowed her clothing to fal l , whereat all the assembled
deities lau ghed until the plain of heaven shook .

Hearing the noise and l aughter the godde ss w ithin the cave was
astonished and fai n w ould know the cause of mirth so unseemly during
“
her seclusion She cautiously peeped out and said : Methought that
.

owing to my retirement the plai n of heave n w ould be dark ; how is it ,

then , that the He a venly alarming female makes merry and that the
- -

deities all laugh é U su m “

e replied , We rej oice and are glad bec au se
” ”

”
there i s a deity more illustrious than thine Augustness By this was .

meant the iron mirror , which we therefore infer was a new inventi on ,
never before seen by the goddess A t the same moment the mirror
.

w a s thrust before the face of Amaterasu ,w hereat sh e w as so astonished

that Sh e stepped forth to gaze in it Then a deity w h o stood beside
.

the door seized her hand and pul l ed h e r forward ,when another dre w a
“
straw rope behind her and said , Thou must not go back farther than
this.
”
Thus heaven and the Central Land of R eed Pl a i n s (Japan )
became light once more .

The retirement of A materasu may signify an eclip se of the s u n ,which

the Jap anese still regard with terror They light candles , recite pray
.

er s ,and make a fearful din by beating gongs and kettles to dispel the

darkness Perhaps it symbolizes the change of season s , A materasu

.

representing summer and Su sano winter The meaning i s still obscure

. .

The myth h as given ori g i n to many practices which are familiar to

persons w h o have traveled observantly in the country The cut paper .

g oh ei , which ha n g o n every t emple and every ho u sehold shrine , often

att a ched to s h ort wands of w ood , represent the off erings of cloth on
the bush with five hundred branches The dance of U s u me before the
c ave is undoubtedly represent ed by the pantomimic k
.

ag u r a, danced by
young girls at the temples of I se and elsew here The mask of U su me .

is frequently see n in Japanese homes The music to be heard at Shinto

.

sh r ines on any matsu r i or festival day is of very ancient character ,

while the bamboo fl ute and the two pieces of wood are but too con
Spi c u ou s on all occ a sions .

The straw rope is to b e seen every w here : on temple gate ways , i n

festoons around shrin es , alo n g the fronts of houses , over door w ays ,
usually having g ohei entw ined w ith it This is particula r ly true a t t h e
.

New Y ear time The g oh ei are commonly regarded as emblems of purity ,

.

w hile the stra w rope protects agains t the entr ance of evil When on .

The custom of suspending a str aw rope over doorways may be attrib

u t e d to Susano It is related that he w as once overtaken by a storm
.

and found shelter w ith a poor villager In retur n f or his kindness .

Susano told the villager h ow to protect himself and his family from a
plague w hich was comin g , by w earing a belt of t w isted grass He also
taught h i mto guard against fu rther visits o f the pl a gue god b y stret ch
.

i n g a str aw rope a cros s th e ent ranc e to h i s hou se

”

.
5 00 REP O R T OF NA TI ONAL M U SEUM , 1 8 9 1 .

The original sacred mirror made in heaven now rests in a box ,wrap
ped in many folds of silk ,in the principal shrine at Ise ,a most precious
_

emblem of the deity The silk wrappings are never removed , but as
.

they become worn new ones are added outside This mirror h as a fl aw .

which w as caused by striking it agains t a rock when it was held before

the god d ess How i t came to its present place we shall learn fu rther on
. .

Cou n terparts of this mirror are to be found in n early ever y Shinto

shrine ; but , contrary to the usual belief of travelers , the mirror i s not
al w ays visible in Shinto temples The sacred emblem , whether it be a
.

mirror or some thing else ,i s al w ays hidden from SI g h t in the p urest

Shinto S hrines .

THE S U S AN O M Y TH —
TH E S A C RE D S W O R D OF I SE .

We must n ow follow the adventures of Susano He was su b s e .

quently sent by Amaterasu to visit the goddess of Food fi She s e t ‘ =

before h i msome food ,b u t he deemed it unclean , and , with his usual

inconsiderate impetuosity ,he for thwith cut O f f her head and reported
the occurrence to A materasu From the body of the deity gr ew v a
.

rions g rains and seeds of every kind , mulberry trees , and silkworms , -

and all these things were after w ards grown in the field of heaven , and
fro mthence ,in due time ,transmitted to Japan .

Finally S u sano was banished from heaven and took up his abode in
Id z u mo n i n the w est of Japan His adventure there w ith the great
L
.

eight headed serpent is kno w n to every Japanese child There w as an

-
.

old couple who had eight daughters ,seven of whom had been devou r ed
in succession by a serpent w hich had eight heads and eight tails ,and
w hose body covered seven hills They besought Susano to kill the
.

monster lest it should take the last daughter , and he agreed to do so if

he might afterwar ds make the daughter his wife The parents con .

sented , and he immediately transformed the daughter into a fin e tooth -

comb ,which he stuck in his hai r He then directed the m to prepare.

ei g ht vats of li q uor When the serpent came it plunged a head into

.

each vat and dr ank then all the heads laid do w n and slept Then .

Susano killed it ,but when he tried to cut the middle tail his sword
broke ,and he found w ithin the tail a great s w o r d , w hich he carried to
the Sun goddess This is the sacred sword of the I se shrines It w as
-
.
.

Sh e i s k n o w n a s O g e t s u h i me , Uke m o ch i n o k a m i , an d To y o u k
- - - - - e b i me Her - - .

sh r i n e i s at I se .

t T h e r e ar e fa m i l i es i n J a p a n w h o t r a ce the i r a n cest r y t o Su s a n o i n I d z u mo T h i s .

p r ov i nce i s the p ar t O f J ap an w h i ch seems t o h ave been the e a r l i est h o me o f the

J ap an ese I t i s the sce n e O f the i r an c i en t t r a d i t i on s an d w as per h a ps t hei r h ome
.

u n t i l t h e fa m o u s J i mm u Te n n o , i n the seve n th cen t u r y B C , be g a n h i s mar ch t o

. .

Y a m at o, s u b d u i n g s a v a g e d e i t i es an d pe o ple o n h i s w ay Th e an t i q u ar i a n w o u l d
.

d ou bt l es s fi n d ma n y i n te r est i n g r el i cs i n the a n c i e n t p r o v i n ce , w h i ch O f fer s an

a lm o st u n o pen e d fi el d f o r e x pl or a t i on My fr i en d Mr Go w l an d fo u n d t h er e s o me o f
. .

the fin est an d mo s t r em ar k able t o mbs , q u i te d i f f er e n t fr om an y els e w h er e k n o w n i n

J apan,b u t h i s ti me w as t oo li m i t e d f or ex t end e d ob serv a t i on s .
 M Y THO LO GY O F THE JA PA N E SE . 5 01

con ferred upon Ninigi when he came fro mheaven to govern the coun
try ,as w e shall see further on .

The na mes Grass cutter and Her b q u elling s w ord , w hich are
“ ” “ ” -

O ften applied to this weapon , come from a later time when , in the reig n

of Keiko (A D. . Y amato take took t h e blade from I se to use in

-

subduing the s avage tribes i n the ea st and north He w as dra wn into .

an amb u sh and his enemies se t fire to the herbage on all sides of him .

He mowed away the grass or , it is said , the blade leaped from the
—

scabbard and itself ou t the grass around and started a counter fire —

which saved hi s life .

HEA "EN L Y P R I N C E S S EN T TO SU B D U E T ERRE S T R I A L D E I T I E S .

The record now tells of a gre at number of deities who w ere necessary
to care for the w orld and make it fruitful ,but most O f them can be
passed without men tion .

After a time there began to b e trouble in Japan because of the nu

mer ou s s avage terrestrial deities ,and a cons u ltation was held in heaven
to d etermine who should be sent down to govern the w orld O kuni .
-

nushi was t hen the D eity master O f the great land , and a very po wer
- - - - -

f u l rul er he was A prince was sent down to control him ,but h e m ade
.

friends i n stead and failed t o make any report A second was sent, .

but he married one of the princesses and strove to gain possession of

the land hi mself A thi rd c ame do w n in the form of a pheasant and
.

perched in a cassi a tree ,where he began to tal k The princess hear ing .

the words ,besought her husband to kill the bird , w hich he did w ith
h i s heavenly arrow But the arrow ascended to he aven where it was
.

recognized as belonging to the faithless prince Then one of the dei ties .

thrust it b a ck through the hole by w hich it entered heaven , saying

If this arro w be shot by the prince in obedience to our co mm a nds ,let
it not hit him If he has a foul heart l e t h i m perish by this arrow ”

SO the arro w s t r u c k
. .

t h e prince a nd killed him .

Finally the powerful O kuni nushi was subd u ed , but as a condition

- -

of h i s submission he required a temple to be built for h i m in I d z u mo,

where he might receive proper services of worship , the pill ars of which
should reach from the nethermost rock bottom to the cross be ams in -

the plain of high heaven O kuni nushi became the ruler of H a des ,
.
- -

and as such is w orshiped and propiti ated The temple built for h i m .

i n Id z um o i s the famous O yashiro , w ell known to pilgrims in that land

-
.

THE MI K A D O S ’
D I "I NE ANO E STO R S .

The g randson of t h e Su n goddess then des cen ded to rule in Jap an

-

Hi s name w a s N inigi no mi k
.

ot o With him descended a numero u s

- -
.

company ,and from him and h i s train the imperial family a nd the Japan
ese people trace their ancestry an d base their claim to a di v ine origin .

Ninigi bor e,as the insignia of he a venly au t h or i t y ,t h e mirror which had _

5 02 REP O RT or N A TI O NA L MUS EUM, 1 8 9 1 .

allured the Sun goddess from her cave ,the string of sacred j ewels , an d
-

the s w ord foun d by Susano in t h e serpent s tail The Sun goddess

’
.
-

“
charged him thus : R egard this mirror exactly as i f it w ere our august
spirit , and revere n ce it as if reverencing u s ”
Transubsta n tiation i s an .

O lder idea among J apanese than am ong our own priests .

TH E FI R S T MI K A D O .

A pl e as mg
story follows about the beautiful Princess blo ssoming bril - -

l i an t l y like t h e fl ow er s O f the trees , who bore three sons n amed Fire

- - - - -

shine , Fire climax and Fire subside The first lost h i s brother s fish
- -’ .

hook in the s e a and though he made five hund r ed others to replace i t ,

his brother would not be satisfied So Fire subside sailed i n a boat to .
-

a palace built of fish scales , the abode of an ocean deity , and there fell
’
in love with t h e Sea god s daughter A fter three years he told the
-

story of t he fis h h ook The Sea god cal l ed together al l the fishes of the
.

-
.

se a and the hook was found in the t h roat of a t ai The Prince was .

sent home on the back of a crocodile , and gave the hook to his brother .

The Princess ,his w ife ,bore him a son n amed H i S A u g u s t n e ss Heaven’s ~ -

sure height prince w ave limit brave cormorant thatch meeting i n com
- - - - -

p l e t el y This .son with a n unusual na me married his maternal au n t and

begot children ,one of whom was Hi s Augustness Divine Y amato Pr i nce, - - - -

w h o i s the recognized first Mikado , better kno w n by his po sthumous

title J i mmu Tenno , who se reign is reputed to have been fro mB C 6 60 . .

to B O 5 8 5 , w hen he d i ed at the age of 1 2 7 years

. . .

From this point on the Koj iki is a recor d of the emperors down to
t h e time of Suiko ( A D 5 93 to For a thousand years , to the time
. .

of Richi n (A D the chronology is quite as uncertain as the events

. .

recorded In the earli est times numerous terrestrial deities ruled the
.

country ,who either freely submitted to the e m perors or were compelled

to do so We read that as J i mmu Tenno advanced to subdue the bar i
.

barian tribes in the nor th and east , the E a rth spiders , with tails , a nd -

the sa v ages called supposed to be the A i n os , he was g u ided

0
across the w aters of the Inland Sea (2)by a friendl y deity riding on a
tortoise , and ,as the bad deities w ere still numerous o n the land ,a great
crow w as sent from heaven to lead him .

S H IN T O AS A RE L I G I O N .

I have thus endeavored to present in an intelligible and connected

form th e sali ent fe atures of the mythology of Shin t o It has been no .

light ta sk to worry through the details of it as found in the Kojiki and

other books and make a readable story Fantastic as it all is , there .

is still a thread of connec t ion from the beginning w h ich en forces the

For a r es u me o f k n o w le d g e o f the s e pe o ple , see the au th or s mem o i r s o n Th e

o ur
’

Ai n os of Y e z o an d on Th e P i t D w elle r s o f Y e z o
-
R ep o r t o f U S Na t i o n a l Mu se u m,
. . .

1 8 90 .
5 04 REP O RT or N A TI ONAL MU SE U M, 1 8 9 1 .

and theaters and dancing stages entertain them well and ,moreover ,the
good deities are pleased when the people are happy .

In the early days of foreign i n tercourse , when the Dutch were con
fined at Na gas a ki , and every me ans was taken to prevent them from
learning about the peop l e and the country , the indefatigable K aempfer
w as able to gain so m e insight into their religious beliefs His ac .

count is as follo w s : The more im mediate end wh ich the followers of

“

this religion propose to themselves is a st a te of happiness in this world .

They have indeed some , though but ob scure an d imperfect , notions

of the immortality of our souls, and a futu re state of bliss or misery ;
an d yet as little mindful they are o f wh a t will be c ome of them in that
future state , so great is their c are and attention to worship those god s ,
whom they believe to have a pec uliar share in the government and
man a gement of this world , with a more immediate in fl uence , each ac
cording to his functions , over the occ ur ren ces an d necessitie s of human
life and altho u gh they acknowledge a Supreme Being , which , as they
—

believe , dwells in the hi ghest of Heaven , and though they likewise

a dmit of some inferior gods who m they place among the stars , yet
they do not worship and adore them , nor have they any festival d ays
sacred to them,thinking that beings which a re s o much above us will
little concern themselves about our ad airs .

This i s a rem arkably correct summary by a man who coul d not have
“
known a nything about the mythology itself The Supreme B eing ”
.

i s the Sun goddess ,but it is stran ge th at i n a system dealin g so largely

w ith the sun a nd moon the stars should not be conspicuously mentioned .

The dep artment of religion thus summed up the requirements of the

Shinto faith in 1 8 72
1 Th o u
. sh alt h o n or the g o d s an d l o ve thy c o u n tr y .

2 Th o u sh alt c l e ar l v u n d e r st a n d the p r i n c i ples o f he ave n an d the d u ty of man

sh alt r eve r e the Mi k
. .

3 Th o u
. ad o t a s thy s o ve r e i g n an d o bey the w i ll o f h i s c ou r t .

I N FL UEN C E OF S HI N T O U P O N THE NA T I O NA L C HARA C T ER .

The religion of a people dominates the i r thoughts This fact too f r e .

quently leads to a totally erroneous interpretation It i s the thoughts , .

fears , beliefs and dream s of a people whi ch have made their reli gion .

This , when formed into a system , either by natural gro w th or by the

labor of an organized priesthood ,becomes an expression of the religio u s
thoughts and feel ings at the time otherw ise a system so formed would
—

be rej ected by the people O nce accepted it becomes the domi nating
.

Gr i f fi s : Th e Mi k a d o s
’
E mp i r e .

t Im pli c i t o be d i e n ce t o the Mi k a d o i s r e q u i r e d I t i s a d m i tte d th a t he m a y n ot

.

al w ays be g oo d , b u t a s h i s r e a l ch ar a cte r i s th a t o f a g o d , h i s a u th or i ty i s never t o

be d i sp u te d I t i s a r em ar k a b l e fa ct th a t n ever d u r i n g the h i sto r y o f J ap a n h ave
.

th e pe o ple k n o w i n gly r ebell e d a g ai n st or O pp o s e d th e w i ll o f the Mi k a d o They

‘
.

h a ve b ee n m i sle d at t i mes by d es i g n i n g le a d er s,b u t i n i n ten t they h ave eve r bee n

fa i thfu l Th e p o ss es si on o f the Mi k a d o s pe r s o n ha s al w a ys been a s o u r ce o f st r e n g th
.
’

t o e i t h e r o f th e c o n ten d i ng fo r ces .
 M YTHO LO G Y OF THE JAPANES E . 5 05

influ ence and because religious thought is al w ays narro w and c on ser v
ative , it is usually much beh ind the intellige n ce of its adherents ,
although retai n ing i t s in fl uence and authority .

With this understanding clearly before us it may be asked if the

Japanese people believe this w onderful record of the origin of them
selves and their country and how much it has infl uenced their char
acter as a nation D o our own people belie v e the book of Genesis , or
.

the text of their own scrip tures " Ho w long d oe s it take for a faith that
h as grown during centuries to d i e aw ay " The idea that the Japanese
are a people who have so assimilated an d digested foreig n k n o w ledge
as to be able to think as we do i s most erroneous There are many
.

educated Japanese who believe ,or stil l prete n d to believe ,in the divine
descent of the Mikado , and who accept the national chronology from
Ji m mu Te nno down But after all ,this is n o more ab surd than many
.

beliefs of our ow n good people , and we must not forget that we too
have houses of glass It is scarcely a quart er of a century since the
.

following words w ere published by the Mik ado ; “I amconcerned

standing as I do , bet w een Ten sh o D aij i n (A materasu )and my peo
-

ple.
” “ My house , that fro m Ji mmu Tenno on to the present day has
”
ruled over D ai Nippon (Great Japan ) ,accordi n g to the will of the gods .

His is thus the oldest dyn a sty on earth , hi s family having ruled Japan
for,
years , tracing its ancestry for still years back , to the
creation of the world .

It i s an old notion of the Japanese that they are s uperior to all other
nations and a strange chapter might be written upon the consequenc es
past and present of that belief It is so e ss entially a part of Japanese
.

character th at it cannot be im mediately outgrown A t t h e basis of it lies

.

t h e S h into faith
. How tru e this is ,and how firmly grounded the conceit
is may be learned fro mt h e native w ritings in defence of Shi n to The .

subj ect is of interest as sho w ing to what an extent the Japanese char
acter conforms to the spirit of the ancient teachings , and it becomes
of t h e greatest importance that we sho u ld understand it well in our
pol itical and social intercourse with the Japanese They have a w ell
.

kno w n story of W as au b i au w e w hich points a moral they would do

v
.

w ell to heed .

The utmost efforts O f the Shinto writers have been put forth to
’
belittle Japan s indebtedness to China for letters and philosophy The .

following quotations ar e given w i thout regard to authority or chrono

l ogical order , but the latest date from e arly in this century A doubt .

ing criti c a sserts th at there must have been total darkness before
the sun was b Or n , a fact inconsistent w ith the statement that plants
already existed at the time The ans wer i s worthy of certain logicians
.

“
of our own time and country : A lthough sh e (the sun )will continue
t o shine as long as he aven and earth endure , sh e was born in Japan ,
and her descendants rule over the empire to this day The dif ficulty .

of reconciling the statements that the world was plunge d into d arkness
5 06 RE P O R T or NA T IONAL MUS E UM, 1 891 .

when she retired into a caver n an d that darkne ss did not exist bef ore
s h e was b orn ,is o n e that w ould strike a child s intelligence The critic
’
.

need not make so much fuss about this point , as if it w ere an entirely
new discovery of his own The very inconsistency is the proof of the
.

authenticity of the record , for who would have gone out o f h i s way to
invent a story ap parently so rid i culous an d incredible The acts of .

the god s are not expl ained by ordinary principles ”

(Translatio n.O f
E S ato w )
. .

China su f f ers rather severely at the h ands of the Japanese critic s .

O n e of them thus disposes of a very a ncient tradition : “ There is a

tr a dition in China that the left and right eyes of P u an k u bec ame the

s u n and the m oon , whic h is , however , usually discredited , bec ause

the natives of that country , being a d m irers of false knowledge ,assign
the origin of these t wo luminaries to the positive and negative
e ssences The real truth is , that the sun a nd the moon were pro d uced
.

when Izan a gi washed his eyes after ret u rning from his search aft er
Izan ami in the nether world The tradition has evidently tr a veled to
.

”
China and assumed the perverted form i n w hich w e find it there .

( Satow .
) What infi n ite assurance " The story w a s current i n China
before the J apanese began to exist as a nation But this is onl y an .

introd u ction We add more quotations wi th ou t fu rther remark s

. .

People who have been misled by their foreign studies a re wont to

s ay that Japan is a little country , as if extent of territory were any
”
criterion of the importance or rank of a st ate .

“ From the fact of the divine descent of the Jap a nese people proceeds

thei r immeasurable s u periority to the natives of other countries in

co ur a ge and intelligence ”
.

“It was not out of vainglory that the inhabitants of this country

c all ed it the l and of the gods The gods wh o created all countries
.

belonged to the Di v ine A ge and were all born in J apan ,so that Jap a n
is their native country and al l the world a cknowledges the appropri
at en e ss of the title The Koreans were the first to beco me a cq uainted
.

”
w ith this truth , etc .

“ A s it was Jap a n which lay directly opposite the su n when it

sep ar ated from the earth ,it is q uite cle a r that Jap an lies on the sum m it
”
of the globe .

“ Foreign co u ntries were of co urse prod u ced by the o wer of the cre
p
ator gods , but they were not begotten by Iz anagi and Iz anami ,nor did
they give birth to the goddess of the sun , which is the cause of their
inferiority The tr a ditions about t h e origin of the world which are
.

presented in foreign countries ar e na t u r ally i n correct , j ust as the

accounts of a n event which h as happen ed at the capital become dis
t or t e d when they travel to a province and i t co m es to be believed th at
(S atow )
”
t h e p ro v ince was the scene of the event . .
 M YTHO LO GY or THE JA PA N ES E . 5 07

L I T UR G I E S AND FO R M OF W O R SHIP .

The services at the temples consist in the repetition of prayers and

rituals of prescribed form , with prostrations and presentation of off er
ings The p ure Shinto ceremo n ial is now but rarely seen , and only at
.

t w o or th ree famous shri n es In the old time there w as no p riesthoo d ,

.

but the pri ncipal duty of the Mikado w as the celebration of the rites .

In the seventh century the E mperor Kotok u said to h s minister , First

i “

serve the gods , afterwards consider m atters of government ”

The Mi .

kado was the chief priest , and the person who at a lat er date read th e
litur gies at the capital w a s a descendant of one of the d eities w h o came
from heaven with N inigi The priestly o f fice is still hereditary in the
s ame family or tri b e named Nak
.

at om
“
ifi
The officer s i n ch arge of Shinto shrines wear ordinary clothing , over
which when they of fici at e they throw a priestly robe of white .

Shi nto seems to have been a wel l organized religious syst em at a n

-

early d a y The book of ceremo ni al l aw , published in the year 9 2 7,

.

contains much relating to the Shinto worship ,includi ng the ceremonie s

for S pecial occ a sions , organiz ation of the priesthood , services at the
I s e temples , a l is t of temples entitled to govern ment s u pport , and the
chief n or i to or rit u als This book w as sever a l times reprinted t h e
.
—

last ti me in l 723 b y order of the Government Among the lit urgi e s

— -
.

it contains Mr S atow enumerates the following

.

Service of the pr aying for harvest .

Service of the goddess of food .

Service of the goddess of wind .

Service of the temple of Inaki .

General purification on the last d ay of the sixth month .

H a rvest festival .

Service of the temples of I se .

The of f erings to be m a de at the shrines a re also prescribed In the .

O l d ti m e the prayin g for harvest w a s celebrated on the fo urth day of the

second month The ministers of st a te , ofli c er s of the Shinto religion ,
the priests and priestesses of the temples maint ain ed by the Mik
.

a do ,
assembled at the o ff i ce for the worsh ip of the Shinto gods ,while through
o u t t h ecountry the chiefs of the local administr ations and governors of

provinces led the worship at other shrines The artic l es off ered included .

s il k an d h emp cloth ,models of swords ,a spear head ,a sh i eld ,bow and -

qui ver , edible sea weed , salt , s ake, and to each of the temples at Ise a
horse for the god to ride , a cock to tell the time and a domestic a ted
boar for food In a ncient times c u rved j ewels or be a ds (mag at ama)
.

were of f ered .

Up t o the y ear 1 8 68 the n o mi n al p r i me m i n i ste r o f the Mi k a d o bel o n ge d t o th i s

fami ly, w hi ch i n the seventh c e q t u r y ch a n ged i t s n a me t o F u j i w ar a , fam o u s i n
J a p an e s e h i st or y .
5 08 RE P O RT O P NA TI O NA L MUS EUM, 1 8 91 .

A n a b stract from one of the rituals , taken from Mr . Sat ow ’

s t r an sl a
tions , w ill sufficiently indicate their style and character :
“ I declare in the presence of the sovr an gods of the h a rvest If the .

sovran gods will bestow in many bundled ears and in l u x u rI an t e ars

the late ripening harvest w hich they wil l besto w , the late ripening
harvest w h ich will be produced by the dripping of foam from the
"
arm s , then I will fulfill th eir praises by setting up the first
fruits in a thousand ears , raising high the beer j ars , fillin g -

an d ranging in rows the bellies of the beer j ars , I will pr esent them i -

”
in j uice and in ear .

Following this come further declarati o n s an d promises of ofier i n g s to

n umerous K ami , w hose names are recited as Divin e Producer F u l fil l
,
ing P r oducer , Lofty Producer , " iv i fying Producer , Great Goddess of
“
Food and others , because these grant a l u xuriant age ”
The ritual .

i s of universal applic a tion an d is used when the Mik a do m akes his

o f f erin gs to t h e great shrines of the national Kami .

Beside s the liturgies we find prayers ,as this : I say with awe ,deign
to bless me by correcting the unwitti n g faults which ,seen and heard by
yo u ,I have committed ,by blowing of f and cleari n g away the cal amiti es
which evil gods might in fl ict , by causi n g me to li v e long like the hard
and lasting rock , a nd by repeating to the gods of heavenly origin and
the gods of earthly origin the petitions which I presen t every day ,
alo n g with your breath , that th ey m ay hear w i t h the sh arp ear ed n e s s -

”
of the forth galloping colt
-
(Sato w .
) .

This prayer is addressed to the gods of wind at Tatsut a, in Y amato .

There is in it a confession of sinfulness and the idea of divine i n t er c es

sion , the petition being at least borne on the winds , the breath of the
deities to more d istant Kami
, .

Home wors h ip is co n ducted before a simp l e hous ehold shrine known

a s the ham i d an a
-
The deities are too numero u s to be all mentioned
. .

It is o n ly necessary to n ame the principal ones and to address the

o thers i n a gener a l prayer ; or one may simply adore the residence of
the Mikado , the kami dana , the spirits of ancestors , the local patron
-

god and the deity presi d ing over one s calling i n life
’
.

The ancient su n w orsh i p can be witn essed at the hour of sunris e

throughout Japan in the streets , in the doorways , on bridges and in ”

the fields O nce I w as at Ise and I walked , with a thousand pilgrims ,

.

to witness a glorious sunrise over t h e s e a and the famous rocks at Futa

g a-
ura. There they gather every morning and greet the nation ’
s god ,
at a S pot famed i n native art and story and there they find an i nspira
tion in the scene , whi ch appe als to the Japanese innate sense of the
beautiful in nature ,if not to a deep religious sentiment ,w hich perh aps
they do not possess .

R efe r r i n g t o the d r i pp i n g fr o m the ar ms of t

hel a b or er s in sett i n g ou t the ri ce
pl a n t s i n fl o o d e d fi el d s .

t Th e fir st fr u i ts .
 MY THO LO GY OF THE J A P ANE SE . 5 09

T EN D EN C Y OF RE L I G I O U S TH O U G HT IN J A P AN .

If the forms and ceremonies of w orship a mo n g heathen peoples , and

among t h e illiterate i n our ow n land ,are not an exaggerated indic a
tion of the reverence and religious sentiment of the worshipers , we
can w ell understand how religions have ever exercised a controlling i n
fl u en c e upon mankind . But i n Japan the r e ligious sentiment has not
been strong The people may believe in the efficacy of prayer and
.

they are quite as devout in the formal O b servances of their religion as

need be to insure prosperity and l ong life They make long pilgri m
.

ages to famous shrines and O d er daily prayers before ancestral t ab

lets But there i s not much feeling or senti ment abou t such worship
. .

Christian ity is s upposed to be m aki n g its way , but it ca n never gain

a strong footing in either Japan or China The statistic s of converts

.

given by the missionaries are entirely misleading Christi anity is not .

adapted to the Japanese character Its gruesome teachings of a

.

j ealous God ruling supreme over the destinies of man , whose j u stice
i s w ithout mercy , involving a hell and etern al torment ,will never be
r eceived by them . The n e w teaching i s having some infl uence ,
although not w hat i s intended by its minister s It is destroy ing th e
.

last vestiges of fai t h in the religion of the country and of f ering

nothing acceptable in return The consequence is , that the Japa
.

nese are becoming , through the misdirected zeal of Christian mission

aries , sustained by the widow s mites and ch i ldren s pennies fromho me
’ ’

Sunday schools , a nation of independent , liberal thinkers on religio u s

subj ects It i s the nature of man , however ,to have some form of r e
.

l i g i on ; therefore ,it is not i mprobable that eventually th e Jap a nese

will evolve , out of the elements of their ow n mythology ,the teachings
of Confucius , B u ddha and Christ, a new faith which will prove accept
able to the people They may go even further than this and by
.

adopting the teachings of Christ ,shorn of the theological tr avesties of

modern Christianity , give to the world a new religion worthy of the age .

I believe the mcapable of accomplishing such a work

‘

NO account of the religion of Japan can be complete without a de

scription of the temples which are scat tered in great numbers over the
land , b ut owin g to the length of thi s article already and a lso to the
fact that the author is too far from home to select and arrange the ill u s
t r at i on s necessary to a proper understanding of temple architecture
it is deemed best to defer this part of the subj ect u ntil h i s retu rn h ome .

TI EN T S I N , C H I NA , 1 8 9 1.