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Torii

September 12, 2011 / John D. / 0 Comments

Torii, torii, torii...

There’s an article on torii in this month’s Kansai Scene…

http://www.kansaiscene.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1776:culture-136&catid=423:culture-136&Itemid=1032

The reference to the Shitennoji torii in Osaka is interesting. Unfortunately I haven’t seen it myself, but it’s worth noting that its founder, Prince Shotoku, while being a fervid Buddhist was also a syncretist. Though diligently furthering Buddhism, in 607 he issued a proclamation that respect should also be given to the kami. It’s not clear when torii first appeared in Japan, but I guess Shitennoji may be the oldest. Interestingly one theory holds that they arrived at the same time as Buddhism, sometime in the sixth century. My own feeling, having travelled through Korea, is that like much else they derive from the peninsula. Ancient Korean villages had shamanic bird perches called sotdae, and if you string a sacred rope between the two poles, you have the early form of torii. It’s surely no coincidence that the Japanese translates as bird-perch (tori–i).

A pair of sotdae from an exhibit in Seoul museum

The Kansai Scene article also discusses a three-legged torii in Kyoto, which I have visited. Personally I take the reference to the Trinity with a pinch of salt. It rests on the theory that Nestorian Christianity reached Japan through the Hata clan, though the evidence is scant and speculative. Since I’ve seen other examples of three-legged torii – there’s one in Tsushima, for example, at Watatsumi Shrine – it’s not unique in some holy trinity kind of way. Three is a magic number for all kinds of reasons (see my piece on the triple tomoe for instance), so the three-legged torii is likely to have other significance. There’s a picture of one here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andorus/1257318349/

For anyone wanting to explore more, I’d advise turning to the very informative Wikipedia page. It’s amazing how much the site has been improving in recent years, and though it’s not long since I last looked at the torii page, the updates have transformed it. Kudos to the volunteers for all their work!

Gateways to another world

Nagano and Nojiriko (Uga and Togakushi Shrines)

August 22, 2011 / John D. / 1 Comment

Photo by Nagano Prefecture Tourism Association

Over the weekend I was able to visit Lake Nojiri, 20 km north of Nagano on the border with Niigata. It’s in a beautiful setting, about 3 by 2 km in size and with a backdrop of mountains over which the summer mists hover seductively. It was developed by missionaries before WW2, and there remains a ‘kokusai mura‘ where foreigners have second homes set in woods overlooking the lake. My purpose though was altogether different, and the trip encapsulated the attractions of Shinto with shrines of different sorts – one on a small island, the other set deep in the woods.

The Island Shrine

Enter through the torii, and you enter another world

In the midst of Lake Nojiri lies the small Biwa Island. From the shore it looks like a wooded pregnant mound, the torii of which beckons invitingly at the water’s edge. Once you pass through, it is as if entering into another dimension, for an avenue of wooded charm leads up an incline to the appealing Uga Shrine. A miko was sweeping the grounds, and I learnt there was no resident priest. It was her job to take the boat over to the island each day and run the office. She had started in spring and would finish in November, as winter snows cover the shrine for long months.

Uga Jinja miko

At 26 she was relatively old by miko standards, and since she was from Tokyo I wondered what had made her take a relatively isolated and low-paid job. ‘I can’t explain,’ she said. ‘Something drew me here.’ She had a natural grace, which suggested a spiritual nature. One night she had slept alone on the island, listening to the strange sounds and looking out on the otherworldly moonlight. It was a different place from daytime, she said. She could feel the presence of the kami.

The haiku master

Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827)

Not far from the lake is the home town of Kobayashi Issa, reckoned by many to be one of Japan’s top three haiku masters along with Basho and Buson. He lived a life of poverty and humility, dedicated to his craft. A Shin Buddhist by belief, he wrote a staggering 20,000 haiku, over 1000 of them about animals. That may be one of the reasons I feel a special affinity with him.

My home is so poor
even the resident flies
keep their family small

Storehouse where Issa died after his house burnt down

The forest shrine

Gateway onto an avenue of giant cedars

On the way back to Nagano I called in at Togakushi Jinja, the Upper Shrine of which is famous for its avenue of cedar trees. The name – Hidden Door – makes reference to the Cave Myth of Amaterasu, and the kami enshrined here is Ame-no-Tajikarawo who pulled her out and sealed the entrance with a rope. Such was his strength (he’s now the kami of sumo) that he threw aside the stone door of the cave at Takachiho in Kyushu it landed here at Togakushi in Nagano!

Here on the long walk through the woods, dripping with summer rains, was the essence of Shinto. The vibrant crystal clear streams; the lush vegetation; the rocks covered in thick moss – nature as blessing was never so graphic. Why isn’t this place more famous, I kept wondering, as full of awe I looked up the staggeringly tall trunks that soar heavenwards with a force that leaves one gasping. For anyone ever travelling through this part of Japan, please, please, please don’t skip Togakushi. It’ll inspire you!

The Upper Shrine of Togakushi Jinja

A blessing from the gods

An avenue into Wonderland

Sacred opening

Rocks gathering moss

Kami essence

Shinto haiku (Hailstones group)

August 18, 2011 / John D. / 0 Comments

In 2007 the Kyoto-based Hailstone Haiku Circle to which I belong published a volume of Shinto poems entitled Seasons of the Gods, co-edited by the group’s leader Stephen Gill with three others. Here is a selection.

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new year…
stars on the branches
of mountain trees

– Duro Jaiye

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Bowing twice,
How white the breath:
Clapping sounds at dawn

– Misawo Nagao

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Rock or tree?
Hard and twisted…
A dragon god appears!

– Arietty

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azurite eve –
in the hoot of a hawk owl
the forest speaks

– Keiko Yurugi

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to the universe
from a sealed cocoon –
one brilliant thread!

– Michiko Suzuki

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In the stone fox’s mouth
still folded
a message from the god

– Mizuho Shibuya

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Two claps at the shrine
And the year’s first dragonfly
Takes flight

– JD

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Larches bent
by long snowstorm years –
in a garden of the gods

– Akito Mori

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the small stone summit shrine –
as the rocks nearby, covered
by the same lichen

– Hisashi Miyazaki

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Having climbed Fuji,
My shadow stretches into
The form of a giant man

– Nobuyuki Yuasa

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Moon. Shrine.
The raked white sand
glows in the dark

– Ellis Avery

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floods of people
through the shrine gate
courtly music
this sultry eve

– Mari Kawaguchi

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No autumn sunrise –
Both crow and red torii
Drip with mist

– Tito

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sweeping the shrine paths
does he see the mantis
atop his rake?

– Richard Steiner

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Some of the Hailstones group on a recent outing

The Hailstone Haiku Circle has a webpage called Icebox. See http://hailhaiku.wordpress.com/
Seasons of the Gods was co-edited by Stephen Gill, Duro Jaiye, Hisashi Miyazaki and Jane Wieman.
Orders can be made here: http://hailhaiku.wordpress.com/publications/

Day of the Dead (Obon and ancestral spirits)

August 16, 2011 / John D. / 3 Comments

It’s the last day of Obon, and the spirits of the dead are preparing to leave Kyoto on their journey back to the otherworld. What is it with Japanese and spirits? Ghostly figures haunt their imagination, and Noh is filled with restless souls. From The Tale of Genji to offerings at the family altar, the dead are ever present.

Daimonji fire seen from my bedroom

Here in Kyoto it’s the day of Daimonji when the surrounding hills are lit up with five different emblems to guide the dead spirits back from where they came. Two of the hills show the kanji for ‘big’ to signify the Great Teaching of Buddhism; one contains the characters ‘myoho’ to signify Glory to the Great Law; another is a ship to ferry the souls back home; and the last is a torii, as if a gateway to another world.

Daimonji offers a great example of how syncretic Shinto-Buddhism remains the default mindset, despite the artificial separation of Meiji times. Personally I think one could go even further and say that ancestor worship is the country’s real faith. ‘Ancestor worship has been the main current in forming Japanese religion,’ writes Doi Masatoshi in his study of ‘Religion and the Social Structure of Japan’.

As has often been said, the term is a misnomer. You don’t worship ancestors in the sense you worship God. And it’s not really about ancestors, so much as one’s immediate family. You talk to them, cherish their memory and try to ensure they have a comfortable afterlife. You put out their favourite food and drink at graves and places of remembrance. You treat them in short as if they were still living, which in a sense they are. They’re alive in the heart of those who survive them.

Lanterns at graveyards welcome the dead back

Since Shinto’s concern is with this world, the afterlife is traditionally given over to Buddhism. Memory of the dead is cultivated at a Buddhist altar, with food set out for the deceased and announcements made to them of important family events. The dead become hotokesama (buddhas), though in the Shinto view of things they also become kami after their death, first as an individual and then merging into an ocean of kamihood. In some regions it was customary to move the ihai (mortuary tablet) from the Buddhist altar to the kami shelf to signify the transition. The dead thus become kamisama and hotokesama. Even after death Japanese cling to their syncretism!

Bon odori: dancing with the dead

Psychologists have suggested there are benefits to ancestor worship, and researchers at the University of Graz in Austria found that thinking of the hardships overcome by previous generations helped boost performance in exams and interviews. It provides too consolation for the heart-rending sense of finality that death brings. Filmmaker Koreeda Hirokazu (director of Afterlife) claimed that ‘even after my father’s death I was able to continue to develop my relationship with him.‘

There’s a moral dimension too, for the notion that one’s dead parents are watching provides a very real stimulus for moral rectitude because of a reluctance to face them with a guilty conscience. At the same time the practice cultivates a sense of gratitude, which is said to lie at the heart of Shinto and Japanese culture at large. No matter how bleak the circumstances, no matter how dark the future, one’s in possession of the miracle of life and one owes it to one’s ancestors. Arigatou gozaimasu!

Though Obon is associated with Buddhism, Shinto is involved too as can be seen here by this dancer with his triple tomoe drum at a shrine in Kyoto

Yasukuni Jinja

August 15, 2011 / John D. / 3 Comments

Today is August 15, which is the day of Japan’s surrender in WW2. It is also the day that in recent years government ministers have visited Yasukuni to pay respects to the war dead (including 14 Class A war criminals enshrined in secret in 1978). However, I’m happy to announce that no government ministers are visiting the shrine this year as the DPJ wishes to distance itself from the confrontational politics of the previous LDP. It’s a great victory for common sense. And, I believe, for Shinto.

The issues surrounding Yasukuni are complicated, but the central issue is that it acts as a symbolic space for extreme nationalism in Japan. The religious aspect is subsumed in the political, as indeed it has been since the shrine’s predecessor was founded in 1869. The well-known scholar John Nelson (‘A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine’ / ‘Enduring Identities’) gave a talk in 2006 at Otani University here in Kyoto, where he showed an educational documentary he has made about Yasukuni Shrine. It covered the following points:

A symbolic gathering spot for nationalists

* Yasukuni was an ‘invented tradition’, set up at the start of the Meiji era. It was a deliberate ploy by the new government to further the interests of state, and as such it was never a regular Shinto shrine. (Still today it is not part of Jinja Honcho.) Shinto ritual was merged with Buddhist concern for the dead and wedded to a newly constructed notion of imperial symbolism, so that only those who died for the emperor were glorified as kami. For the first time in Japanese history, the emperor went to give thanks to the souls of commoners. It was an entirely new form which differed from traditional kami worship and from Shinto-Buddhist syncretism. [In the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki it is the souls of enemies which are enshrined.]

* The shrine is based on the notion of restless spirits, prevalent throughout East Asia and fundamental to shamanism. The Meiji idea was that those who died for the emperor, often young and in terrible circumstances, would come back to plague the living unless constantly pacified. At the same time the families of those who died would gain consolation from their divinity. According to the shrine, the war criminals enshrined secretly in 1979 also gave ‘meritorious service’ to the emperor. Since that year however there have been no imperial visits and information disclosed in 2006 indicates the emperor clearly disapproved (as it seems does the present emperor).

Prime minister Koizumi making a strongly political point

* In the run-up to WW2 Yasukuni acted as a symbolic space for ultra-nationalism. Now it still continues to act as a symbolic space for nationalists and the far right. Amongst those attached to the shrine are such groups as the All Japan Association which portray Japan as an innocent victim in WW2. The shrine acts as a rallying point for those seeking state sponsorship of Shinto, which is why the prime ministerial visits of Koizumi were so alarming – the initial step on a slippery slope towards reinstituting prewar ideology. Japanese opponents to the visits included left-wing groups, Christian organisations, liberals and internationalists.

* The Bereaved Families Association wants the prime minister to visit Yasukuni in the same way that the American president visits Arlington. However, whereas all religious groups are free to commemorate the dead at Arlington, only Shinto priests can do so at Yasukuni. A more proper equivalent to Arlington would be the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery. Several leading politicians have spoken out in favour of making it the national focus, rather than Yasukuni, but the LDP vetoed funds for a secular cemetery.

* Yasukuni’s status as a religious institution has been disputed legally. In 1988 a case of interest concerned a woman in Hiroshima whose Self-Defence Force husband died in an accident. He was inducted into the kami. The wife, a Christian, strongly objected and took the shrine to court. The Supreme Court verdict in 1988 was that the woman did not have a case since it was a matter of religious toleration. Some think the judgement hangs uneasily with the Japanese constitution that stipulates separation of state and religion.

* Objections by other Asians, such as Chinese and Koreans, to the war glorifying, one-sided view of history presented in the Yashukan museum have been ignored. (There is no mention of Japanese atrocities, and the focus throughout is on the splendid sacrifice of Japan’s youth for the emperor.) However, when the museum’s exhibit about Japan being unjustly pressured into war by the US was taken up by influential Americans such as Henry Hyde, concessions were made and the exhibit amended.

* In all, over there are over 2,466,000 enshrined kami (including 27,863 Taiwanese and 21,181 Koreans).
Chinrei-sha, a small boxed area within the precincts, is dedicated to other war victims, including opponents of the emperor. Untll 2006 it was boarded off and could not be visited.

Yasukuni functions too as an ordinary shrine with prayers for the dead

(the above photo courtesy of keito at http://thetalkingtwenties.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/college-field-trip-understanding-yasukuni-jinja-tokyo-japan/)

Is Shinto a religion?

August 14, 2011 / John D. / 1 Comment

Is Shinto a religion? it’s an intriguing question that cuts across the arbitrary categorisatiions of East and West.

A sign of belief, or just showing respect?

It is often claimed that Shinto is not so much a religion as a part of Japanese life. For example, you will see Japanese visiting shrines, praying, and buying amulets or having their fortune told. But if you ask them whether they ‘believe’ in Shinto, they would probably answer no. Similarly people may have their car purified, or they may ask the kami for good luck before taking examinations. But again if asked whether they are religious, they will say, ‘Who me? No. This is just a custom, just, well, the normal thing to do’. It’s like celebrating Christmas in the West. It doesn’t mean you are a Christian necessarily.

The reason Japanese are unlikely to see their behaviour as religious is because they have been taught the Western view of religion as an organisation which one joins and which has beliefs to which one ascribes. Shinto is not like that. It is not something to which one converts, for it makes no requirements. Nor is there regular worship which one should attend. Like yoga, it is open to all people and can even be practised without faith. ‘Although the typical Japanese boasts of not being religious and even of being atheist, as I do myself, Shinto is ever present in the Japanese mind,’ says Kubo Kenichi, head priest of Mizuya Shrine.

For much of its history Shinto did not develop its own theology or morality, because it borrowed them from Buddhism. Because Shinto was this-worldly and Buddhism other-worldly, the two seemed to go well together. Still today the great majority of Japanese are Buddhist yet follow Shinto practices: ‘Born Shinto, die Buddhist’ remains the norm. ‘Shinto accepts this world, it does not want to change it. The contention that Shinto is not a religion is related to this fact,’ wrote Joseph J. Spae in Shinto Man (1972).

Others however point to the transcendent aspect of Shinto as being essentially religious. One prays to, and worships, divine beings. Moreover, Shinto structures Japanese society in much the same way that Christianity structures the societies of the West. Since 1868 it has functioned as a separate and independent tradition, and there is growing interest in it as a world religion. Significantly, it has been estimated that around 5% of those visiting shrines ‘believe’ in Shinto in a Western sense of making a commitment of faith. Here surely is proof that it can be more than just a custom or practice.

(The above was written in conjunction with Timothy Takemoto of the Shinto Online Association. See http://nihonbunka.com/. The question of whether Shinto is a religion is also addressed here.)

Participation's the thing; belief is unnecessary

The Mystery of Himiko

August 12, 2011 / John D. / 16 Comments

Yoshinaga Sayuri as Himiko in the film 'Moboroshi no Yamataikoku'

In the third century a Chinese envoy wrote of a visit to the land of Wa (as Japan was known). At the time the country was divided into many small states, and he described how one of them called Yamatai was ruled by a shaman-queen called Himiko (or more probably Pimiko). Amongst the customs of the country were polygamy, divination, the wearing of headbands, the clapping of hands during worship, tattooing of fishermen to avoid sea monsters, and the burial of the dead in a small mound with a mourning period of up to ten days. There was little crime, and punishments were severe. But most fascinating of all is the description of the ruler. The state had been ruled by a man previously, but civil unrest over many years prompted the people to turn to a woman. Here is a quotation from the Chinese account:

“She occupied herself with magic and sorcery, bewitching the people. Though mature in age, she remained unmarried. She had a younger brother who assisted her in ruling the country. After she became the ruler, there were few who saw her. She had one thousand women as attendants, but only one man. He served her food and drink and acted as a medium of communication. She resided in a palace surrounded by towers and stockades, with armed guards in a state of constant vigilance.” (taken from Sources of Japanese Tradition)

The account clearly suggests a type of shaman who kept herself pure by remaining unmarried and whose oracular messages were interpreted by her ‘brother‘. Historians see in this a female-male collaboration that was common in ancient times. While the female is possessed by the kami, the male acts as interpreter of the oracle to the wider world. The primacy of the female in Himiko’s time was to give way over time to the authority of the male priest, sanctioned by Confucianism. In this way the female miko (originally a shaman) who spoke with the voice of the kami became relegated to the humble shrine attendant that she is today.

The mystery of Yamatai

The location of Yamatai has long been the subject of controversy: was it in Kyushu, or in Kansai? It’s rather like the quest to locate Arthur’s Camelot in England. In recent years it’s been claimed that Himiko’s grave has been identified. The burial place is known as Hashihaka, just fifteen minutes walk from Hibara Jinja near Omiwa (https://www.greenshinto.com/2011/08/11/hibara-jinja-and-amaterasu/). It has been dated from between 240 and 260 which would fit in perfectly with Himiko’s dates.

Hashihaka burial mound seen from below Hibara Jinja

Hashihaka has a keyhole shape and is the eleventh longest burial mound in Japan. According to the Nihonshoki, it’s the grave of a daughter of Sujin who committed suicide by stabbing herself in the genitals with a pair of chopsticks – hence the name (hashi means chopsticks, haka is grave). It’s a lurid story that has to do with her uncovering a snake-kami in her boudoir: the mythological equivalent of a tabloid sensation. The imperial household supports the identification and hence the mound cannot be excavated because it would disturb an imperial ancestor. Himiko on the other hand is not an imperial ancestor – which may explain the mystery as to why she doesn’t rate a single mention in the Kojiki or Nihon shoki. How very intriguing!

The front of Hashihaka (Himiko's grave?)

When I visited the mound, a group of Japanese were being given a talk. I was only able to catch the end of it, namely that Himiko could have been head of a clan that came into Japan from Korea searching for metals and trade opportunities. It makes me think she could have brought Korean shamanism in with her (fear of unearthing Korean connections is supposedly a strong motivation of the imperial ban on excavating).

Not far from the tumulus is an archaeological site with claims to have been Himiko’s palace. I went in search of it, full of anticipation at seeing where the legendary shamaness may have once lived. But all I could find was a bare patch of land next to a single line rail track, looking like an empty rice field. A local assured me it was indeed the right place. Which just goes to show the virtue of leaving things to the imagination, for reality by contrast can be soooooo disappointing….

Tall white heron
Squawking with surprise –
Spring warmth