Dr. Kenjiro Shimano - Musashi University of Tokyo
The Spirit of Shinto
--------Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm very glad to see you here and to talk about "Shinto".
Before we go into the subject, I wish to make an important statement. "Shinto" is one of the exisiting religions. But please note that I have no intention of making a missionary work here.
The purpose of my talk is to offer you some helpful information so that you understand the Japanese people, because the Japanese spirit is mainly based on Shinto. In my opinion, Shinto is just the traditional spirit of the Japanese people rather than a religion, even though there are many religious aspects to it. The Shinto-like sense is very very familiar to Japanese people, so most of them are unconscious of "Shinto" in their mind. It is just like you are unconscious of the air around you in your daily life. Who is breathing like this: "Oooh! What I am breathing now is air! yes, it is air. The total amount of air that I have breathed since this morning reaches 50 litres! Great!" ? No. Nobody is breathing like this. In this way, however Japanese people are unconscious of Shinto, their spirit can't be separated from Shinto. I do not specialize in the study of religion at the university. So I never discuss Shinto from an accademic point of view. The material of this talk is derived from my own experience. Some western people and extreme left-wing Japaneses have a bad image of Shinto, because during World War 2 Shinto was combined with Japanese militarism and used just for propaganda to drive Japan into the war. What was done by the Japanese military was an extremely biased interpretaion of the spirit of Shinto. I feel very sorry about this historical fact which has been responsible for preventing people from understanding the essential part of Shinto.
--------Chapter 2. Shinto as a religion
Shinto was born as one of the ancient religions. Buddhism and Christianity are much newer than ancient religions. In the process of forming civilization, ancient people performed religious rites being respectful of their ancestors and of their gods. They prayed for prosperity and for protection from natural forces. Their worship was derived from their desire to maintain and develop their communities. This was an original form of ancient religions. There used to be such religions in Rome, Greece, Egypt, India, China, Japan and so on. Most of the ancient religions disappered because of conquest by other races or because of the appearance of new religions such as Christianity. In a certain localised area, there still survives an ancient religion even today. But it is limited to a small local area and doesn't have nationwide magnitude. The only survivor of nationwide magnitude is Japanese Shinto. Why does Shinto survive? As you know, Japan has never been conquered by other races. As for new religions, in the 6th century, Buddhism came to Japan via China and Korea. In 1549, Christianity was brought to Japan by the Portuguese. But Shinto was not replaced by these new religions. Then did Shinto rejected them? No. Rather than being rejected, they were accepted and have existed alongside Shinto. This flexibility and generosity is one of the most remarkable features of Shinto. I would like to explain Shinto further. Can you believe that Shinto has no bible, no doctrine and no founder? But it is true. It was natural for ancient religions. A question may arise in your mind: "what does Shinto consist in?" The answer is that Shinto consists in "respectful and grateful feeling to something divine dwelling within things". People in ancient Japan thought that functions of things were the expression of divinity. For example, water has its own functions, you can clean dishes and clothes with water, you can quench your thirst with water. To the ancient Japanese, the function of water seemed full of divinity. They believed there was something divine in water. They called it the god of water. As well as water, they found gods in other things: for example, fire, soil, trees, the earth, the sun, the moon, and so on. They also found gods in parts of the human body such as hair, arms, and legs. Their discovery of divinity was not limited to natural things. They found gods even in artificial things such as buildings, toilets, clothes, musical instruments, cups, and so on. Do you find something divine in excrements? Do you have grateful feeling toward excrements in a toilet? I don't think you do. But the ancient Japanese people did. There is the god of excrement in Shinto! Without excreeting for one month, you would be so sick that you would die. It plays an important role to keep your body healthy. The ancient Japanese understood the importance of excrement and thanked it. Anyway, ancient Japanese people found divinity in almost everything. So there are many many gods in Japanese Shinto. No one knows how many gods exist in Shinto. In this sense, Shinto is a polytheism. Each god is not almighty but the most powerful in his own field.
-------Chapter 3. Shinto and the Japanese emperor
In the Japanese language, a god is called "kami". Its original meaning is "to hide". The purpose of religious ceremonies in Shinto is to have intercourse with the invisible gods. By the way, do you know the Japanese emperor of today? His name is Akihito. In the distant past, about 2000 years ago, his ancestors served as priest in religious ceremonies. They prayed for the prosperity of their community. As the community grew into a big nation, the family of priests gradually gained the political power. Then the head of the priests became the emperor of Japan and began to rule. But his main role was still to serve as priest. Political power was secondary for the emperor. As time went by, the emperor lost his political power. After the 8th century, political matters were managed by the Fujiwara family, one of the noble families. Then in the 12th century, the first military government by "samurai" was established. Japan had been governed by "samurai" for 700 years until 1868. The emperor had been out of the center of politics for 1000 years. But no one tried to exterminate the imperial family and no one tried to abolish the position of the emperor. It seems amazing! In Europe and China, members of the previous imperial family were often killed in revolutions. Why did the samurai never abolish the emperor? Before I answer to this question, I need to discuss the concept of Shinto.As I have mentioned, ancient Japanese people found divinity in almost everything. Please don't misunderstand. They did NOT worship the thing itself. What they worshiped were the gods dwelling in things, and they regarded functions of things as expression of divinity. Their simple worship of the gods dwelling in things gave birth to one of the greatest concepts of Shinto: that is, "the gods let persons live. We human beings don't live by our own will but by gods's will". It was natural for them to have such a concept. They thought like this: "everything we need to keep ourselves alive is given by the gods. So they intend to make us go on living!". In Shinto, "continuity of life" is thought to be very worthy. We inherit life from our ancestors and have to hand it down to our sons, grandsons and posterity. Keeping life's current running suits the fancy of the gods. Now let's go back to the question: why "samurai" did not exterminate the imperial family? Because they were afraid of doing a sinful act. In the 12th century, the imperial family had been continuous for more than 1000 years. It was against the will of the gods to cease the long unbroken imperial line. Above all, the emperor was the head of the priesthood. It was natural that the "samurai" never wanted to kill the priest with the greatest authority. Besides, the ancestors of the "samurai" themselves had come from the imperial family. It meant that the emperor was their relative. They were familiar with the emperor and the imperial family. There was no reason why "samurai" should hate the emperor. They were rather respectful toward the emperor who prayed as a priest for the prosperity of the nation and the happiness of the people. The Japanese emperor was quite different from those in Europe. The Japanese emperor was the head of the priesthood, not the governor. The English word "emperor" is not suitable for the Japanese emperor. After the Meiji revolution occured in 1868, politicians aimed at the centralization of power in order to constitute a strong nation. At that time, they combined Shinto with nationalism to control the whole country. As a result of their abuse of Shinto, they ran a nationwide campaign saying "the emperor is the son of the god!". In the 1930s, Japan started the war against China. To justify the war, the militarists made propaganda with strongly distorted concepts of Shinto: "Japan will never lose the war, because Japan is the nation of Gods!" and "Criticism against the war is treason to the emperor and treason to the gods!" It was the start of Japanese fascism. I feel very sorry that Shinto is still greatly misunderstood due to the extremely biased propaganda of those days. After World War 2 was over, the position of the emperor and the imperial family was defined in the Constitution as "the symbol of Japan". Today the emperor keeps this symbolic position. I personally believe that the emperor still prays as a priest for the happiness of the people, because at the new year greeting he always says "A happy new year. I wish happiness to all of you."
--------Chapter 4. Shinto and Japanese Characteristics
Japanese peole are said to work very hard. Some foreigners speak ill of the Japanese : they call them "economic animals!" They mean to say that Japanese people are greedy for money. I don't agree with them. It is true that the Japanese work hard. It is not because they are greedy, but because they simply like working. Why do they like working? The answer lies in the concepts of Shinto. As I mentioned, one of the greatest concepts in Shinto is "we human beings don't live by our own will but by gods' will". Then another great concept was derived from it: "the gods make us live because they give us a mission". In the distant past, the mission given by the gods was called "mikoto". This word also meant life. Then what kind of mission was given to human beings? It was to make a contribution to others, the community and the society. This concept of "mikoto" is easy to understand if you look at the initial purpose of Shinto; the ancient Japanese prayed for prosperity of the community. Contribution to the society can be made through working. For example, a farmer who works hard for a good crop makes a contribution to the society by supplying much food. Therefore, working was a great pleasure for the ancient Japanese. They thought "the gods will be pleased with us if we work hard with the intention of contributing to the society". In other words, they the ancient japanese is similar to that between parent and child. If a son helps his mother in the kitchen, the mother is very pleased with him. The son also feels very glad to see the mother is pleased and smiling. Then he wants to help her again the next time. In a similar way, there was intimacy between the gods and the ancient Japanese.
Today the Japanese people have already lost the sense of pleasing the gods in our modern civilization, but unconsciously they still hold the sense that contributing to the society is a great pleasure. They hope they can make a good contribution. That is why Japanese people work very hard. I am a typical Japanese.
I hope to make a good contribution to international understanding. I believe that mutual understanding will be the basis of permanent peace worldwide. So I am now very happy to make friends with you and to talk to you about Japanese culture. In Japan, "progress and improvement" have also been thought to be worthy. This idea was naturally derived from the Shinto concept of "mikoto": contributing to the society through working. The tradition of "progress and improvement" is still alive. For example, look at Japanese motorcar companies. They release new types of car almost every year. They always want to develop a new car better than the previous one. Japanese breweries operate in the same way. They release new beer every season: at least 4 times a year! They want to develop better beer which will be welcomed by consumers. Their way of thinking is based on the concept of "mikoto" even though they are unconscious of it.
The last concept of Shinto I hope to explain here is the spirit of "wa". The meaning of "Wa" is to get along with anything. In other words, "wa" means "harmony". As I said, the ancient Japanese people had respect for almost everything. They cherished harmony with nature, with other people and with everything. The Japanese people are said to be remarkable for their "generosity and flexibility". It is also based on the spirit of "wa". When Buddhism came to Japan in the 6th century, the Japanese emperor did not reject it. Far from rejecting, he became a follower of Buddhism while worshipping the gods of Shinto at the same time. It is amazing. Can you imagine that a priest of one religion becomes a follower of another religion at the same time? According to the concept of Shinto, the wish for the prosperity and the happiness of people. On the other hand, the Buddha in Buddhism save people who are suffering from poverty, sickness and so on. There is no essential contradiction between Shinto and Buddhism. Today there are many Buddhist temples and many shrines of Shinto in Japan. Most Japanese people do not mind praying at both a temple and a shrine. Buddhism is in harmony with Shinto. As for Christianity, it seems admirable to Japanese people. The spirit pervading the Holy Bible is Charity, love for human beings. It matches the spirit of Shinto. They know that the God in Christianity is one. This notion is different from that of Shinto. But such difference seems subtle to Japanese people. The essence of Christianity is charity. Christianity is really splendid on this point. Then Japanese people never hesitate to accept Christianity. Once they judge it worthy, they easily accept it without worring about something secondary. Today in Japan, more than 50% of young couples prefer a wedding ceremony at a church. On the other hand, Japanese culture based on the spirit of "wa" has a defect at the same time. Japanese people tend to refrain from speaking much, because too much speaking may break the harmony of people. To be outstanding may be against the spirit of "wa". Because of this aspect, Japanese people and culture are often misunderstood. They are often blamed for their ambiguity. Japanese people including myself have to overcome this shortcoming. But "Wa" which means harmony is very important. Peace comes from harmony among people. If we hope for worldwide peace, the spirit of "wa" is very instructive for us all.
--------Chapter 5. Concluding Remarks
I have mentioned three characteristics of the Japanese spirit. Let me summarize them.
1. Working is a great pleasure for Japanese people.
2. In Japan, "progress and improvement" is thought to be very worthy.
3. With the spirit of "wa" Japanese people accept anything they approve of. I think these three points are the reasons why Japan has achieved such great economical development after World War 2.
What do you think of them?
Thank you for attention.