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The Meaning of Shinto

July 7, 2011 / John D. / 12 Comments

‘The Meaning of Shinto’ by J.W.T. Mason Canada: Tenchi Press, 2002 179 pages. ISBN 155369139-3 $17.00

This is a reprint of a 1935 publication by a respected writer on spiritual traditions. The foreword is by Ann Llewellyn Evans, priestess at Bright Woods Spiritual Centre & Kinomori Jinja in British Colombia, who was responsible for the reprint. One can understand the need for republication. As well as explaining the philosophical basis of Shinto, Mason makes a forceful case for its universalism. His main emphasis is on life as a divine self-creative development, a monist belief that he thinks the West would do well to learn from. Much of the book is concerned with interpreting Kojiki mythology and early history, though there are also sections on modern times and the influence of Shinto on Japanese culture in general. The writing is at times abstract and repetitive, yet for the reader who perseveres there is much rewarding material.

The book is remarkable in a number of ways. Firstly for the sensitive way in which Mason unpacks Shinto. Secondly, for the way in which he places it at the centre of Japanese culture, more or less at the exact time as Suzuki was doing the same thing for Zen (Zen and Japanese Culture was first published in 1938). Suzuki’s book went on to become hugely influential in the spread of Zen to the West; by contrast Mason’s book was little known.

Quote follows: “Shinto’s ‘narrow nationalism’ is due to the fact that it began as an explanation of the history of the Japanese race’s origin and early development, and expresses its intuitive knowledge of reality in terms of the Japanese nation. This, however, is fundamentally no more than a method of presentation. Everything that is basic in Shinto can be explained in ways applicable to the universe, not only to Japan. ‘Narrow nationalism’ is not Shinto because Shinto is universal in its concepts. Those who interpret Shinto as being limited to Japan in its comprehension of life do not understand Shinto.” (p.177)

“Those who interpret Shinto as being limited to Japan in its comprehension of life do not understand Shinto.” I wish Mason was still alive: he’d be able to put a few people straight! You can’t help wondering how the ideas would have been received by Mason’s Japanese friends. His epitaph for instance was written by Inoue Tetsujiro, an imperialist who argued that Christians were traitors to the national ideology ( though he was beaten very badly by fanatics – he lost sight in one eye – because he wrote that the imperial jewels were replicas, the genuine items having been lost at sea when the emperor Antoku drowned after his ship was sunk in the 12th century.)

In response to my enquiry on the H-Japan mailing list, John Breen posted a short piece about Mason as follows:

“Thanks to John Dougill for his posting on Mason and Shinto. I don’t know much about the man, but I did write a short piece on him. Mason, an American who worked as the New York correspondent for the Daily Mail for a while, wrote numerous books and articles on Shinto in English and in Japanese. His main argument seems to have been that Japan owed its successful modernisation to Shinto, and this because Shinto guaranteed the freedom of the individual and encouraged individual endeavour to a degree which Western philosophy could not. The key was the Shinto teaching that the spirit of the kami resided in all of human kind. As you say, John, Mason regarded Shinto as being nothing less than the key to the further development of civilisation.”

Pantheist?

July 7, 2011 / John D. / 4 Comments

If you punch the words ‘Shinto + pantheism’ into google, you get a rather amusing mix of references. Some assert that the religion is a form of pantheism and others are adamant that it is not. Official commentators, such as Jinja Honcho, maintain it is not. I think this is because Shinto worships kami rather than nature itself. One prays to the spirit in the rock, rather than to the rock, does one not?

Since Shinto is often described as a nature religion, it’s rather puzzling when you walk around the big cities in Japan that some of the shrines have nothing to do with nature whatsoever. There are shrines, for example, perched on the top of high-rise buildings. I once asked a priest about this, and he told me there was nothing strange about it because Shinto is not the worship of nature.

Priests regularly purify cars as part of their work, and since cars are considered to be destroying nature as we know it, it suggests that Shinto’s concerns are more to do with spiritual pollution than environmental pollution.

So how about panentheism? What is it exactly?

Panentheism postulates that God is present in everything but also extends beyond. In other words, God not only equates to the universe and the world around us, but is also greater. This fits in with a creator God. Pantheists on the other hand believe that the universe is a divine body in itself and do not believe in personal or creator gods

Since Shinto evolved organically and embraces contradiction, there is probably no clear answer to its relationship to nature. Why should there be? The need to define is a Western disease, stemming from the determination to pin down in words that which transcends logic. Pantheist? Panentheistic? Who cares… Simply a sense of awe is enough…

Nachi waterfall

Green Shoots

July 7, 2011 / John D. / 1 Comment

Shinto’s potential as a green philosophy could be the decisive factor in its spread to the West. The rising interest in pantheism and paganism is driven by environmental concerns and a yearning for greater reverence for nature. Even as we speak, the earth is being wrecked and ruined by human greed, and the present generation stands guilty. ‘What did you do in the war, daddy?’ is going to be overshadowed in future by the more accusatory, ‘Why didn’t you do anything to stop it?’

Recently I have been heartened by one or two striking examples of Shinto trying to assert green credentials. One is a publication by Jinja Honcho entitled ‘Nature is Divine’. It includes a section on Environmental Preservation.

However, it is simple-minded to think that Shinto is in itself a ‘green religion’ any more than, say, Christianity. I think religion in this respect is like a tool which can be used for good or bad. In Shinto for instance it is customary to show reverence for the kami when cutting down trees and breaking land for development. In other words you could see Shinto as sanctioning the development. Perhaps it is not coincidental then that the Japanese in recent times have been one of the most ‘development-driven’ nations on earth.

In his book Dogs and Demons (2002), Alex Kerr has detailed the environmental destruction in the ‘land of the kami’. A country the size of California uses in one year ten times as much concrete as the whole of the US!! It takes some thinking about and explains why every major river except one has been damned, why the sides and bottoms of many rivers are concreted, why 60% of Japan’s huge coastline has been shored up by concrete blocks, why whole mountains have been cut down for gravel, why public works construction mar much of the countryside, and why the construction industry in Japan is so powerful that some say it runs the country (in the 1990s over 12% were engaged in construction compared with 3 or 4% of the population in other countries).

I say all this because I think it is necessary to struggle for green values rather than think that Shinto will do it for us. The alignment of Shinto in Japan with the right-wing is well-known; however there is no reason why that should continue for ever. And there is certainly no reason why that should be the case with the emerging forms of ‘international Shinto’.

Interestingly, I noticed that Kibune Shrine just outside Kyoto states in its shrine literature: ‘It is a shame
that Japanese people seem to have lost their appreciation and respect for nature. Isn’t it time for the people of Japan to reclaim this special ‘Japanese spirit’ that was previously exhibited long ago? It is the hope of Kifune Shrine people all over the world will become aware of this ‘Japanese spirit’ and once again become involved in protecting our precious environment.’

It is the hope of Green Shinto that human beings in general, and not just Japanese, will once again become involved in protecting our precious environment.

A non-environmental nature religion

July 7, 2011 / John D. / 0 Comments

In The Kami Way (1962), Sokyo Ono writes as follows:

“The world of Shinto is not an isolated one. It is an all-inclusive one. It includes all things organic and inorganic. All nature – man, animals, mountains, rivers, herbs and trees – come into existence by virtue of the kami, and their limitless blessings should contribute to the well-being of the world. The world is not in contrast with nor in opposition to man. On the contrary, it is filled with the blessings of the kami and is developing through the power of harmony and cooperation.”

A nature religion?

The interconnectedness of living systems is a key point in green politics, and one would think that with such a worldview Shinto would naturally have a green agenda. However, this is far from the case. In A New History of Shinto (2010), John Breen and Mark Teeuwen write that, ‘the Shinto establishment has demonstrated no genuine interest in nature or the environment.’ (p.210) Yet at the same time there are often assertions that Japanese have a unique understanding of and relationship to nature. How is one to explain the apparently bizarre fact that a nature religion takes little interest in the environment?

An answer was given to this by a Japanese member of the Shinto mailing list to which I belong. An articulate and sympathetic character, he expressed what I think is the crux of the matter: the political leanings of the Shinto establishment and its concern with emperor, Japaneseness and nationalism.

Quote: “My personal impression is that in some green movements there is a pact with the left and that is the reason why Shintoism does not take part in such movements. Shintoism is perceived in Japan as “right” in contrast to “left”. It is because Shintoism by its nature is deeply connected with the imperial family which the “left” does not like.”

So is it simply a matter of politics? Is Shintoism by its nature “deeply connected with the imperial family”?

Not at a local level, it isn’t. Not on an international level where foreign practitioners have little knowledge of the emperor. Nor was there any connection with the emperor before the sixth century, when it was co-opted by the Yamato ruling clique as a useful ideological tool. Shinto has changed many times over the millennia, and there is no reason why it will not change again to meet the demands of a new age.

The fact is that the centrality of the emperor to Shinto is a Meiji invention. Before that the emperor was for long periods all but ignored or forgotten in his small enclave in Kyoto. It’s not the emperor who should be at the heart of Shinto, but nature and the wonder of life. This blog believes it is time for Shinto to return to its roots. Green roots.

We do not have ideology. We dance.

July 6, 2011 / John D. / 4 Comments

Joseph Campbell is one of my gods. Or should that be kami….

He wrote perceptively about Shinto, describing it as a religion of awe and pointing out that it enables us to reach back to mankind’s earliest religious impulses in the face of a vast and unknowable universe. One of his favourite anecdotes according to Bill Moyers was about an incident during a meeting of the Ninth International Congress for the History of Religions, which was held in Tokyo in 1958. It concerned a dialogue between a Western sociologist and a Shinto priest, which he relates in his book on Japanese Mythology.

Western Sociologist:
“You know, I have now been to a number of these Shinto shrines and I have
seen quite a few rites, and I have read about it, thought about it; but you
know, I don’t get the ideology. I don’t get your theology.”

Shinto priest:
(polite, as though respecting the foreign scholar’s profound question;
pausing a while as though in thought; looking at his friend)

“We do not have ideology. We do not have theology. We dance.”

Two short reviews: Paula Hartz and C. Scott Littleton

July 6, 2011 / John D. / 1 Comment

Shinto by Paula Hartz NY: Facts on Files, 1997
128 pages, large format, illustrated. ISBN: 0816035776 $30

This is a general overview which covers the origins, beliefs, rituals, festivals, and place of Shinto in Japanese society. It is intended as a school or library reference book. There is a good mythological
section which illumines the Shinto view of the universe and a substantial list of important kami. There is also a clear overview of the early development and Chinese influences. You could say there is an overemphasis on history for it fails to address current concerns or take account of modern secularism. Consequently it overplays the role of Shinto in the lives of modern Japanese. Perhaps this is because the author is a teacher/textbook writer, unfamiliar with modern Japan. In the same series on World History, she has also written on Taoism, Zaroastrianism, Bahai and Native American Religions.

Summary: Admirably clear and informative overview for those wishing to understand the different facets of Shinto.

Shinto by C. Scott Littleton US: OUP, 2002
108 pages, small size, illustrated. ISBN: 0195218868 Used from $9.00

This brief overview is by a professor of anthropology at Occidental College, Los Angeles, who has also written on Eastern religions and mythology. It is easy to follow and easy to reference, though
repetitious in places and sketchy in others. Personally I found too much about Buddhism (presumably one of Littleton’s specialities) and the coverage is often idiosyncratic. In such a short work one wonders why so much space is warranted on the Seven Lucky Gods and Miki Nakayama, the founder of Tenri-kyo, and what on earth are Soka Gakkai and Aum Shinrikyo doing in there? The organisation could certainly be better, and there are lapses that make one wonder if the author really has any expertise in the subject. All emperors since the ninth century
have not been male, nor is the sakaki ‘a pine’ (it is cleyera japonica, an evergreen bushy shrub).

Summary: Not recommended for anyone but the most casual of readers.
That may explain why the book is out of print after only three years.

Omiwa Outing

July 6, 2011 / John D. / 0 Comments

Omiwa (also Miwa Shrine) is one of Japan’s oldest and most respected. It is unusual in having no honden, for its goshintai (spirit body) is the mountain itself.

Omiwa Shrine entrance

There is a special atmosphere as one enters into the woods where the shrine is situated, and this has been a place of spirituality for some two thousand years. It is said that hereabouts was the earliest Yamato capital, and it may have been close to where the legendary founder Jimmu himself lived (if indeed he lived at all). (in this respect Jimmu bears similarities with Arthur, I think. Both legendary figures and both associated with spiritual places and sacred objects – the Holy Grail on the one hand, and the sacred regalia on the other).

My friend and I were fortunate to strike up conversation with one of the priests, who took us round the back of the offertory and showed us the unusual feature of three torii lined up in front of the holy mount. He told us that the shrine was special for a maker of saké and other alcohol, namely Santory…. san torii! (for non-Japanese speakers san torii is three torii).

Omiwa haiden (behind which is the three-legged torii)

We also made friends with a young couple who had come all the way from Tokyo to the Yamato area because they are keen on Shinto. They read out a norito prayer in front of the shrine, performed purification on each other
with the haraigushi wands that were left out for people to use, and invited us to join their Shinto study circle in Tokyo. They were a young intellectual couple, so this may be a sign of a rising interest in the religion as Japanese rediscover their roots.

Amongst the items of special interest is the legend attaching to the kami turning into a snake, in token of which eggs are placed as offerings at various places, including in front of a sacred tree. Rumour has it a white snake actually lived on the mountain. There is a pilgrimage up the holy hill behind the shrine apparently, with some special sacred rocks, and on a future outing I hope to investigate. For the time being I enjoyed watching the miko while keeping an eye open for snakes!

Miko caught in action

Handing out gohei

Snake temizuya