!
CJe SJniijevsitp o£ CMcasa
The Political Philosophy of Modem Shinto
A Study of the State Religion of Japan
A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE DIVINITY SCHOOL IN
CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(department op church inSTORY)
BY
DANIEL CLARENCE HOLTOM
^ II-
A Private Edition
Distributed by
The University of Chicago Libraries
1922
(From the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan)
H/,
FROM THE
TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF JAPAN
TOKYO, JAPAN
••XCMANG*
-WOnW OUT: Tn nt: r^rpuCEO
-ACCg$t>»ON NUIWGCiiS TO DC Wl^ttOHAVm
prelface:
The discussion in the following pages is not offered as a
treatment of modern Shinto in all its various aspects. The
problems discussed are particularly those which arise out. of the
relationship existing between the Shinto shrines and the modern
Japanese state. It has been thought advisable, however, to
include in the first part of Chapter I a brief outline of Shinto
development prior to the modern period. For the earlier
periods the references given in' the notes should be consulted.
The expediency of separating the third phase of Shinto (that of
the Revival of Pure Shinto) from the medieval period may
perhaps be questioned, especially in view of the fact that the
actual political influence of Shinto under the Tokugawa Sho-
gunate was comparatively slight ; yet it needs to be remembered
that the third phase of Shinto marks a movement sufficiently
distinct to have merited the special consideration of no less a
scholar than Sir Ernest Satow.
It is also recognized that the term ** philosophy" in the
main title of the discussion is used in a general sense. The ^
usage implies an official theory and practice regarding Shinto, ^
connected and adjusted by design.
The statement regarding Omoio Kyd^\v\i\Q}i\ appears on page
126 was written prior to the abolition of this sect by the govern- ' f^ .
ment. The situation which necessitated such action on the part
of the authorities, however, does not affect the appropriateness
of the citation which is made from Omoio Kyo publications.
Indeed, it has been suggested that the chauvinistic Mikadoism \ ^*)
of Oinoto Kyo was put on as protective coloring, and, if so, the
necessity still remains of interpreting a political situation which
makes such tactics possible.
n PREFACE
In the course ot the arg^unient it has bsen found necessary
to introduce comparative material from non-Japanese fields.
This is especially true of those sections which deal with the
study of the mythology of the official cult. Attention is called
to the fact that the reason for the introduction of such com-
parative material does not lie in a desire to validate the operation
of the principle of acculturation. The purposes of the argument
are sufficiently satisfied if the operation of the principle of
parallelism can be established.
References to sources and authorities are given in full in
the notes.
D. C. Holtom.
Tokyo, April, 1922.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
1 ^" Historical Introduction I
II The Shrine Problem 4Q
III Japanese Interpretations of Shinto : The
Ethical Definition ... 69
IV Japanese Interpretations of Shinto : The
Religious Definition 99
V The Meaning of A!<2;;«/ 129
VI The Mythology of the Official Cult:
The Original Parents i8r^
VII The Cult of the Sun-Goddess 224
VIII Government and National Shrines. Con-
clusions 268
Appendix A. Bibliography — ^Works of Reference in
European Languages 309
Appendix B. Bibliography — ^Works of Reference in the
Japanese Language .«. .., 317
Appendix C. Tables of Statistics for Shrines and Priests 324
ABBREVIATIONS
H Z. Hdrel Zensho, Complete Collection of Laws and
, Ordinances, Jaj^ancse Government.
N. Nlftonslioki {Kokushi Taikei Rokkokis'ii), Tokyo.
1915.
A. Aston, W. G., NiJiongi, 2 Vols., Supplement I of
Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan
Society, London, 1896.
C. Chamberlain, B. H., Kofiki, Transactions of the
Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. X, Supplement,
1882.
F. Florenz, Karl, fapanische Mythologie, Ni/iongi,
Zeitalier der Goiter, Tokyo, 1901.
T. A.S.J. Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.
T.J.S.L. Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society,
London.
H.K.R.E. Hastings Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics.
NOTE
Where two names of a Japanese person are given, the
name in italics indicates the family name. The general rule,
followed has been to print family names first, as in ordinary
Japanese usage. (D. C. H.)
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN
SHINTO.
CHAPTER I.
Historical Introduction.
^ One of the most noteworthy politico-religious situations of
history is to be found in the expansion of modern Shintd. In
this development the Japanese government has attempted to
stabilize important political institutions and at the same time
secure a form of religious adjustment by isolating Shinto from
recognized religious bodies such as Buddhism and Christianity.
Hereby government sanction has been given to the interpreta-
tion that official Shinto is not a religion.
/ The Meiji and Taisho eras have witnessed the enactment of
a series of laws and departmental regulations which may be
legitimately interpreted as an effort on the part of the Japanese
government to find a workable religious policy which, while
preserving under direct state control those Shinto institutions
which are regarded as contributory to the unification and
discipline of popular sentiments of loyalty and patriotism, would
yet make possible a fairly satisfactory disposition of the affairs
of religious organ'zations outside of the official cult, and at the
same time meet the pressure of inevitable modernizing ten-
dencies in the various departments of Japanese life induced by
contacts with occidental culture. The Japanese state has had
to deal not simply wath probl^nit; of rpnHju^iitmpnt nrining nnt v^{
the urgency of assimilating absolutely indispensgjbjf H^rn^nfo
of western civilization but also, in the meantime, has found it
necessiry to strengthen itself against the dan^rers ot tree-thoii^Tbt.
socialism and even anarchism. The interplay of the forces
tound in niodernism, in the activity of non-Shint5 religious
bodies, and in the alleged necessity of unifying the Japanese
2 TH^E t>OLlTiCAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
social mind by concentrating it on characteristic Japanese
institutions has produced the modern Shinto situation. This
has raised difficult problems for the Japanese state.
The effort to solve these problems has culminated in the
complete separation of the control of the Shinto shrines from
the oversight of ordinary religious matters. Under the direc-
tion of this policy Shinto ceremonies have taken on the character
of important affairs of state systematized under national law, in
the ritual of which even civil officials may participate. Shinto
priests have been given court rank and treated as government
officials with appointment and superintendence regulated by the
State ; the support of Shinto institutions has been made an
affair of State concern and has been secured wholly or in part
out of government revenues ; great shrines have been construct-
ed at government expense ; and the shrines themselves have
been interpreted and utilized as non-religious agencies for the
strengthening of national morality.
How does it come about that such a position has been
adopted by the Japanese government, and what is its j ustification
in actual historical fact ?,/The attempt to answer these questions
constitutes the subject matter of the following discussion.
A question immediately arises as to whc-vt constitutes the
essential nature of Shinto.^ As far as the term itself is concern-
ed, there is no documentary evidence in Japanese records to
show definitely that it was in use in Japan prior to the introduc-
tion of Buddhism in 552 A.D.^ The evidence, as far as it goes,
indicates that the word came into general use as a result of the
heightening of national consciousness during the early period of
the struggle between Buddhism, as a foreign faith, and the
!• %^-Mx Shinto, Of Shindo, Kami no Michi, "The Way of the Gods.''
For a valuable discussion of the origin and meaning of the term Shinto, consult
Kume, Kunitake, Nihcn Kodai Shi to Shintfl^to no Kanhei (X)R^[?it» H ^fC'iM'i
^ ^;1'^ii^0^t^» "The Relations of Shinto and Ancient Japanese History,"
Tokyo, 1907), pp. I -1 8: ^
2. A., Vol. II, pp. 55,65.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO 3
native religion of old Japan.^ The term was probably borrowed
from Chinese usage. In its early periods the indigenous cult ot
Japan appears to have been nameless.^
Shinto has been defined as a generic name for ideas and
institutions existing in Japan prior to the introduction of Bud-
dhism and Confucianism,^ and again as an expression of the
primitive instincts of the Japanese race.'* The modern nation-
alistic exposition tries to find the basis in ancestor worship/ an
interpretation which Lowell re-expresses as the patriarchal
principle projected remotely into the past^ ; Kato defines it as a
system of patriotism and loyalty, centering in Mikadoism, and
expressing the nationalistic religious enthusiasm of the Japan-
ese people.^ Inouye finds in it the fullest expression of the
religious spirit of the Japanese race.^ Aston and Kume agree
in describing Shinto as y^^/;^/-cult, a term in which kami indi-
1. A., op. cit. Also id. p. 106.
2. A favorite explanation follows Motoori in assigning the name Kamu
nagara to the earliest known Japanese religion. This iiogura however, is
probably to be taken in the ordinary sense of tiagara in the Japanese language,
i. e. " the same as," "just as," Kamu nagara would thus have simply the mean-
ing of kami no mama nite, " Kami as such." Cf. Genkai (g'f^), p. 224,
3. Nishiknwa, Kojiro, Shimio Kyoso Den (MJIj^^lU, ;ti^liklB.ff * "An
Account of the Founders of Shinto," Tokyo, 19 14), p. i.
4. Nitobe, Inazo, 7'he Japanese Nation, p. I2I.-
5. Cf. Kcno, Shozo, Kokumin Doloku Shitcn (fSJI^f'S^ ^l^ii^Jfe.tm>
" A History of National Morality," Tokyo, 1920), pp. 226-228. Dr. Y. Haga has
declared that original Shinto was "essentially an ancestor worship." T. J. S. L.,
Vol. XV (1916-1917), p. 122.
6. Lowell, P., OcctiU Jafan^ p. 21.
7. Kalo, Genchi, Waga Kokulai to Shinto {UM'^'^> ^ii^Wi^ ^ WM..
" Our National Organization and Shinto," Tokyo, I9I9 , p. 222. Cf. also Griffis,
W. E , " The Religions of Japan, pp. 45-48, 74-82, 88 ; Knox, G. W. The
Development cf Religion in Japan, p. 78.
8. Ijtouyey Tetsujiro, Kokumin Dotoku Gaircn (-Ij^ii^eJ^gP, ^Sit^.
^Jtife* "Outlines of National Morality," Tokyo, 191 2), pp.9899; Meiji Seitoku
Kinen Gakkai Kiyo (^?&g.#JE;t:^'t*E3^. ^-b#, "Transactions of the
Japan Society in Commemoration of II. M. The Emperor Meiji", Vol. VII,
April, 19 1 7), pp. 225-229.
4 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
cates primarily the deities of the ancient Japanese pantheon.^
Nitobe further characterizes it as hylozoism or pan-psychism, a
point of view wherein kamlxs taken to signify the ^'psyche"
which exhibits itself in all the forms and forces of nature.^
Harada declares that the earliest form of Shinto was nature
worship, to which was subsequently added the worship of
deified men and that by virtue of this latter addition arose an
inseparable connection with the national life and an intimate
association with loyalty and patriotism.^ FJorenz is likewise of
the opinion that Shinto in the oldest form, as made known to us
in the extant records, was a combinafon of polytheistic nature
worship and ancestor cult/ He further conjectures that this
was the old religion brought in to the Japanese archipelago by
the early ancestors of the race, probably from an original home
on the Asiatic mainland.
The different points of view represented in the above state-
ments of the essential nature of Shinto will reappear later in the
discussion. It is not necessary to atttempt their harmonization
here. Nor is it deemed advisable to attempt to set out with an
a priori definition of the nature of Shinto. A brief character-
ization of official Shinto must suffice at the present point. This
may be described as a ceremonial which centers in the native
1. Amney Kunilake, *• Shinto," Fi/iy Years of Ntw Japan ^ Vol. 1 1, p, 22;
Aston, W. G., Shinto, the Way of the Gods, p. 44, also preface, p. 10. Aston
says, "Shinto, the old native religion of Japan, had no cult of true ancestors."
Man, 1906, No. 23.
2. Nitobe, of. cit, p. 123.
3. Hatada, Tasuku, 7he Faith of Japan, pp. 2,4. Cf. also Asakawa, The
Eatly Institutional Life of Jafan, pp. 31-44.
4. Florenz, Karl, " Der Shintoismus," Die Orientalischen Religionen, p. 194,
{pie Kullur der Gegenwait, Teil I, Abteilung Til, I). See aL«o Revon, M., " Le
Shinntoisme," J^evtie de Vllistoite des Religicns, XIJX, pp. 12-16; Revon,
"Ancestor Worship Japanese)," li. E. R. E., I, p. 456; Chamberlain, Things
Japanese (1898 , p 358; Brinkley and Kikuchi, A History of the Japanese People^
New York and London, 19 15), p. 64.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO 5
Japanese shrines {miydf and which is alleged to have its
classical expression in the oldest Japanese literature, especial' y
in the Kojiki^ the Niho?igi ^nd the ancient Norito. Funda-
mental to this position is an ancestral theory of the ancient
Japanese deities. The justification of these statements will be
found in the ensuing discussion.
Japanese investigators ordinarily divide historical Shinto
into two m.a:n streams of development. The orthodox analysis
^{vesjcfifien suhai^ " nature worship/* on the one side and
sosen sMaij^ "ancestor worship," on the other. The basis of
^is differentiation is a conception of the nature of deity in
Shinto as being two-fold. In other words, the idea of God is
here looked upon as Xeing the result of the assimilative com-
bination of two psychological elements of diverse origin,
namely, an element arising out of experience with natural
events or objects and leading to the notions of demons and
spirits of nature and, again, an element coming from experiences
in human society, as such, and leading to the worship of
heroes and ancestral spirits. There is a marked tendency on
the part of the modern directors of thought in Japan in re-
ligious, educational and political spheres alike, to emphasize
the latter element as the more characteristic Japanese expres-
sion.
Thus, a system of thought and practice that is thoroughly
affected by feelings of reverence and loyalty toward important
personages in the tribe or state is supposed to have marked the
religion of the ancient Japanese prior to all contact with either
I. ^, a technical term for a Shinto shrine, from mi, honorific and jj'rt-,
/' house." Anciently the term was applied to the residence of a member of the
royal family. The modern Japanese government uses as a designation for
Shinto shrines the Xexm, Jinja [jhiska), flji^ait {kami no yasJdto^ "Shrine of the
Kami"). Buddhist edifices are distinguished as fera (^\ while those of
Christianity and the non-ofiicial Shinto sects are called kyokai (fj^'^),
" churches."
3- m.9tmn
6 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
Confucian or Buddhist influences. True Shinto deities, it is
declared, are ancestral, and although superstitious rites and
practices are admitted to exist in popular Shintd, due partly to
survivals out of Japanese primitivity, and partly to the effects
of syncretism with foreign cults, yet the fundamental and
cliaracteristic emphasis has always been ancestral and nation-
alistic. ' This is the center of the modern Shinto cult. Shintd.
thus becomes a most important support for Japanese national
morality in the present and as such vitally related to modern
Japanese political philosophy, so much so, that the latter can
hardly be understood apart from its interconnection with the
Shinto cult. As a means of orientating further discussion the
introduction of an outline statement of the historical development
seems advisable.
Four main periods or phases of Shinto history are to be
distinguished. It is impossible within the limits of the present
discussion to do more than to briefly characterize the first
three ; the fourth will be dealt with at greater length. The
first period is bounded on the farther side by an indefinite
mythological area in which the fixing of dates is a precarious
undertaking— in spite of the apparent exactitude with which the
early chronology is established by Japanese state authority —
and on the nearer side by the closing years of the sixth century
A.D. This is the period of Old Shinto. Although the source
material bearing on this period was not given existing literary
form until after the process of assimilation with Buddhism and
Chinese philosophy had already set in, yet the mythology and
ritual of the ancient Japanese religion stand out with such
unmistakable clearness, that the main outlines of Old Shinto
can be reconstructed with a considerable degree of exactitude.
The structural basis of the mythology is closely similar to
what is found almost universally at appropriate stap-es of
cultuxfi^ The great deities are aspects of naturc interpreted in
terms of human social experience. The rituals {norito) are
motivated primarily by the desires to safe- guard the food
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO J
supply, to ensure the success and permanence of the
governmental reghne, and to secure release from ceremonial
impurity.^
The second period of Shint5 extends for some eleven
hundred years between the time of the rise of Buddhism and
the date of the passing of the Buddhist and Chinese eclipse of
Shinto, which may conveniently be fixed at 1737 A.D., the
year in which Kama Mabuchi first began to make public in
Yedo the result of his researches into ancient Japanese liter-
ature.^ In this second phase of its history Shintd is widely
overshadowed and to a large extent absorbed by its great rival.
Yet this Buddhist ascendency was gained not without conflict
and not without the aid of priestcraft. The appearance of
Buddhism In Japan in the middle of the sixth century created
issues that brought Into being two rival parties In the state, a
proOBuddhist party centering In the Soga family and a pro-
Shinto party centering In the house of Mononobe. Under the
protection of royal influence the former faction steadily gained
In power and before the close of the century Buddhism had
deeply penetrated the government itself. Emperors and high
government officials now became Buddhist ; the sutras were
expounded under government direction ; Buddhist services
1. Consult A., F., and C. for source material. For translations of iVi?;//;;
contained in the Engl SJiiki see Satow, " Ancient Japanese Rituals," T. A. S. J.,
Vols. VII, IX, (1879-1 881) and Florenz, id. Vol. XXVII, 1899. Cf. also
Y\oxQ.xyi,G£Schichte der Japanischen Lilteratuy (Leipzig, 1906), pp. 36-46. For
source material and discussions in Japanese consult KokusJd Taikei {^'^-)>(;^^^
" Great System of National History "), Vol. I, Nihongi ; Vol. II, Shoku-Nihongi ;
Vol. VII, pp. I-170, Kojiki; Vol. XIII, pp. 85-1190, Engi-Shiki ; also Tsuda^
Noritake, Shintd Kigen Ron (?^ffl|j^^, fi'^ii 451.^1^ » "An Essay on the Origin
of Shinto"), Tokyo, 1920; Kakehi, Katsuhiko, Koshindo Taigi {%^M^ "^K^
^AXM^ " The Essentials of Old Shinto "), Tokyo, 1912; SaeJ^i, Ariyoshi, Dai
Nihon Shingi Shi (-fef^lfg, :;i^0 >|C;TifJii£^, -"An Account of the Deities of
Great Japan," Tokyo, 19I3), pp. 1-304; Tanaka, Yoshito, Shinto Hongi (P^tf
Mto". aifit*^, "The Essentials of Shinto," Tokyo 1911), pp. 1-48.
2. Cf. Tanaka, Tatsu, Shindo Kwanken (S4»^, W^^^. "A Birds
eye View of Shinto," Tokyo, 1915), pp. 53-55.
8 THE POTITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
were conducted in the palace ; Buddhist afifairs were regulated
by imperial decree and, finally, Buddhism was propagated by
imperial order and Buddhist festivals became affairs of state.
By the opening years of the ninth century the doctrinal
assimilation of Buddhism and Shinto had been accomplished,
so that now Buddhist rites were conducted at Shintd shrines
while the priests prayed to Shinto gods under Buddhist names.^
The underlying principle of this alliance of Shinto and
Buddhism is best seen in the so-called Rydbu-Shintu, " Tvm-
^i^^ Shinto/' developed to a very large extent under the
influence of the great Buddhist priest, Kobo Daishi (d. 835
A. D.). This syncretism is not to be understood as entirely
the result of a popular evolution expressing a genuine amalga-
mation, but also as a clever piece of statesmanship on the part
of Buddhist propagandists, resulting in the production of a
theology that explained the deities of the native pantheon as
the transmigration of the gods of Mahayana Buddhism. The
Sun Goddess, Arnaterasii-Omi-Kamit the central deity of the
Japanese system, was equated with the great Buddha, Vairo-
chana^ the center of the ** world of thoughts " and the " world
I. For the ancient record of this remarkable rise of Buddhism see A , II,
pp. 66-67, 77» 90» io*-5» "i> "5» "8, 122, 123, 129, 134, 149-50, 152-4, 174-5,
196, 236-7, 240, 254, 263, 297-8, 337, 344, 346, 357, 369, 379, 384, 3989, 408,
416, 421. A census of 623 A. D. reports 46 temples, 816 priests and 569 nuns.
(A., Vol. II, p. 154). The chronicle for the last day of the last monlh of 651
A. D. says that on this day 2100 priests and nuns were invited to the palace and
made to read the Buddhist scriptures, (A., Vol. II, 240). By the year 690 A. D.
the number of priests in seven of the largest templfes totaled 3363. (A., Vol. II,
P- 399)-
For discussions of this period, in ihe Japanese language written from the
point of view of Shinto history, consult Miura and Kiyohara, Shindo Enkakiishi
J^on (HjM^f. mU^m. nm'^^mk "History of Shinto Development,"
Tokyo, 1919), pp. 47-392; Miynjiy Naoichi, Shifigishi Koyo '^iifeK — ■» fi^^iil'^
5«: "Outline History of Shinto," Tokyo, 1919', pp. 37182; Saeki, 0/. r/A pp
755 ff ; Miiruyamn, Masahiko, Dai Nikon wa Shinkoku nari {%}^ lEM^ :^ 0 ^
#Jii'^®tit, "Japan the Land of the Gods," Tokyo, 191 1), pp. 109-273; //loujf,
Tetsujiro, o/>. cii., pp. 1 1 1-148.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO 9
of tilings " and thus a theological basis was established upon
which all the other deities of both religions could be identified
as emanations of this central life.^
Yet in spite of this triumph ot Buddhism, the native
religion still survived at the great shrines of Ise and Idzumo
and in many of the beliefs and practices of the common people.
Again, the seeds of the hid plant lay hidden away undisturbed
In the literature of ancient Shinto ready to germinate In proper
season into a life that was to quicken the whole nation. This
season of the quickening of the old came in the next period of
Shinto development.
Tlie third phase of Shlnt5 history falls In the period lying
between the opening years of the eighteenth century and the
Restoration of 1868.^ This Is the period of the Japanese
Renaissance. In It two outstanding characteristics are mani-
fested. In the first place one may note in the movements of
the fmes the beginning of the development of modern national
consciousness. Induced by the break-down of clan autonomy
that w^as effected through the rise to power of the central
Tokugawa regime. The second main characteristic of the
period Is traceable directly to the same cause as the former,
that is, to the long era of Internal peace resultant upon the
political stability of the Tokugawa Shogunate. A great liter-
ary revival, to which the Japanese attach the name Kogaku
Fukko, ** The Revival of Ancient Learning," now found a
shelter in which to grow and bear fruit. Under the patronage
of Daimyoy who had been forced Into pursuits of peace, a
genuine antiquarian Interest manifested Itself ; an earnest search
after old manuscripts began ; libraries were founded, and a
1. Consult Tanimoto, Toq^eri, Kobo Daishi (Kobe 1907); Lloyd, Arthur,
The Creed of Half Japan (London, 191 1), pp. 233-258; Reischauer, A. K,
Studies in Japanese Bw dhism (New York, 1917), pp. 94 ft.
2. Consult Satow, E., " The Revival of Pure Shintau," T. A. S. J., Vol. III»
Pt. I (187^1, revised 1882 , Appendix, pp. 1-8/ ; Brinkley, A History of the Japan-
ese People, ^p. 644-650 ; Miura and Kiyohara, op. cit., pp 3 2 421 ; Florenz,
" Der Shintoismus der Japaner," Kultur der Gegenwatit op. cit.t pp. 215 ft.
t
JO THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
serious study of ancient history had its birth. Under the direc-
tion of Mitsukuni, Prince of Mito, (162 2- 1700), the archives of
Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines were searched, private
collections were bought up, and a great library of old manu-
scripts was collected in the city of Mito. A group of Japan-
ese and Chinese scholars immediately set to work on the
analysis and correlation of this material with the result that
before the death of Mitsukuni, the valuable Bai NihonsJu,
(" Great History of Japan ") in two hundred and forty books
was compiled and published, a work that has exercised a form-
ative influence over Japanese historical study from the time of
its appearance right up to the present.
The above mentioned characteristics of the period fo u nd
theirjullest expression in the revival of pure Shinto. Indeed,
this movement to be properly understood must be studied as a
nationalistic-imperialistic revival which found its main support
in an appeal to the documents of ancient Shinto. The move-
ment found its pioneer in Kada Azumamaro (1669- 1736), and
was carried through to its conclusion by the three great
scholars Kaiiw Mabuchi ( 1 697-1 769 , i^/^/^^r/ Norinaga (I730-
I8oI), and Hirata Atsutane (1776- 1843). The source material
for the study of Shinto in this period is to be found mainly in
the writings of these four men.^ In this literature an attempt
is made to get below the foreign accumulations due primarily
to Indian and Chinese influences and tap the pure spring of
Japanese thought and institutions lying in the literature of the
earliest period of Shinto. It is an attempt to dissolve the syn-
cretism of the medieval period. The contents of the old litera-
ture are so interpreted as to furnish the means of a nationalistic
propaganda and, more particularly, as ^ an instrument of attack
on the Tokugawa usurption. The growing consciousness here
relies on an exege^ of history in order to develop the two-fold
thesis 0(3. jure divino sovereignty in an imperial line unbroken
I. Cf, Satow, op. cit.
THE POLITICAL PHILISOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO II
from divine ages and a divine Japanese race which, by virtue of
the intimacy of its genealogical connection with the gods, was i
braver, more intelligent and more virtuous than all the other y
races of the earth. The hold which this nationalistic interpreta- (
tion of Shinto has gained on modern Japanese political theory J
will be developed in a subsequent discussion.
Tlie modern period begins with the Restoration. The
phase of development here open for survey, presents two dis-
tinct aspects, first, a popular expression in the form of a large
number of Shinto sects which are admitted by all to be genuine
religious organizations and, in the second place, an official cult,
the religious nature of which is under debate. The former is
frequently designated Shuha Shinto^ ("Sect Shinto") as a
means of distinguishing it from the latter. Our interest lies
primarily in the direction of investigating the claims of official
Shinto.
The history of modern Japan opens with Shinto established
as a state religion. One of the first acts of the new government
in the Restoration of 1 868 was to abolish the ancient /isha
Bugyo' ("Board of Commissioners for Temples and Shrines ")
which had supervised government relations with religious bodies
since the days of Tokugawa lemitsu (i 623-1 650). Buddhism
was denied state recognition and a large part of the ecclesiasti-
cal properties was appropriated by the government.^ On the
2. ^%M^
3. The laws on which where based the efforts to extricate Shinto from its
entanglement with Buddhism are as follows :
" (i) Since the Middle Ages there have existed numerous shrines in which
arc Buddhist incarnations along with Buddhist guardian deities such as Gozu Tenno
(-'f.gg^^)^ shrines in which, also, Shinto deities are called by Buddhist names.
All such shrines must immediately send in detailed statements of their histories.
"(2) Shrines which are utilizing Buddhist statues as shintai must correct
the usage and make report." Order of Council of Slate (Dajokan), K^^xW, 20,
1X68,67. ti,i±^^. w<m'^Mm.\mim,. ±^» Tokyo,i9i2,p. i.
An order sent out to all the superintendent priests of Buddhism in Decem-
ber, 1872, attempted rectification of theological errors. The order reads:
12 THE POLIIICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
other hand the administration of Shinto was given a unique
status in the form of an Office for Shintd Religion {Jingi
Kwan)} ranking at the head of all the other departments of
the government.^ Early in its career the administrative offices
of the entire Japanese government were reorganized into eight
bureaus {Kyoku) so as to make room for a Presidential Board,
and as a result the Jingi Kwan disappeared. In the reorgani-
zation, however, a Jingi Sho^ (Department of Shinto) was still
included on a parity of ratik with all other departments of
state/ Authority in the affairs of the state religion was vested
in a minister for Shinto {Chikivanji^y appointed from the high
nobility and ** possessed of supreme control in matters relating
to the worship of the Gods and over the different orders of the
priesthood."^
On August 6, 1 870, a department known as the Mimbushd^
(" Department for the People ") was established and placed in
charge of shrines and temples, public works, communications,
mines, litigations, etc' A Shajigakari^ (" Office for Shrines
and Temples "j was included within the Mimbuslw^ and given
"Buddhist priests have hitherto insisted that the kami jjji^) are Ihe avatars of
the Buddha {hcioke, ^)^ and that the Buddha is the noumenon [hontai, %^) of
the kanii. Although they teach that the kami are to be reverenced, their vv^ay of
teaching is estranging. Their method of instructing in reverence is not only
insincere, but it also greatly dishonors the sJiintai. This is wrong. Examine
yourselves, repent, and properly lead the people." H. Z,, 1872, p. 1296.
2. Act of Feb. 10, 1868. II. Z., 1867-68, II, 15-16; T. A. S. J., Vol. XLII,
Pt. I, p 4-
3- t^W^
4. The actual change did not take place until Sept. 22, 1871. The law
under this dale says, " It is hereby announced thot the Jingikxann is changed into
the Jinghhb.^' H. Z., 1871, Council of Stale [Dajokaii) Section, p. 316, Order
No. 398.
5. T. A. S. ].yop. cit., p, 12.
7. II. Z., 1870, pp. 261, 298-9.
9. II. Z., 1870, p. c68.
THE POLIIICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO 1 3
control over religious affairs that ** lay outside of the adminis-
trat.on of the Jingisho."^ This business related primarily to
the financial and statistical affairs of religious institutions. On
September 1 1, 1871, the Mimbusho was abolished and the Office
of Shrines and Temples was transferred along with other affairs
to the Department of Finance.^ The Office for Shrines and
Temples was now administered in connection with the Bureau
of Registration of the Department of Finance.^ The explana-
tion of this situation is to be found in the fact that the govern-
ment at this time required the registration of the birth of chil-
dren with the authorities of local shrines."* In. these changes
Buddhist affairs were given a certain limited amount of official
supervision but the general situation was not one in which an
organization of the strength of Buddhism could long rest
content.
The exclusive position of Shinto was thus of but brief
duration. Buddhist aggression once more manifested itself and
as a result on April 21, iSy2, the Department of Shinto^aiJ
abolished and in its stead appeared a Department of Religion
{Kydbii 5//^)^ having oversight of all legally recognized reli-
giouslBSjes.^ The scope of business placed in charge of the
new office plainly shows th^t the government of the time was
temporarily committed to a program which was attempting to
support the institutions of the state with an amalgamation of
Buddhism and Shinto. The law stipulated that the Kydbiisho
should take charge of the following affairs.
1. Shulyo Voran (^|{(^^^ " Religious Directory," Pub, by the Bureau
of Religions, Japanese Department of Education, Tokyo, 1916), p. I.
2. H. Z , 1871, Dajokan Section, p. 294, Orders No. 375, 376.
3. Shtikyd Yorait, op. ciu
4. H. Z., 1870, pp. 248 254.
6. Tlie law states, « It is announced that the Jinoisho is hereby abolished
and the Kydbusho is established." \\. Z., 1872, p. 79 (April 21'. Also, " Since
the Kydbusho has been established recently, affairs relating lo Shinlo priests come
under the jurisdiction of this office." H. Z,, D jokan section, p, 94 (June 5).
14 THE rOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
" I. Matters relating to the establishment and abolishment
ot shrines and temples and also matters relating to the deter
mination of the rank and grade of priests of both Shinto and
Buddhism.
" 2. Matters relating to the new appointment of priests of
Shint5 and Buddhism.
"3. Matters relating to the licensing of the publication
of books on doctrine.
"4. Matters relating to licensing those who assemble
believers and explain doctrines and those who form religious
associations.
"5. Matters relating to the judgement of doctrinal
cases. "^
Buddhism was thus again accorded full government re-
cognition and given the same grade of autonomy as was
granted Shinto. Buddhist and Shinto priests without distinc-
tion were now officially designated Kyodo SJiokiP' (" Teachers
of Religion and Morals"). This office was established May 31,
1872/ and on September loth of the same year was definitely
extended to include Shinto priests. The law reads, " Let it
be understood that hereafter priests (Shinto) are to have the
office of Kyodo Skohi.*'"^ The main duties of the Kyodo Shoku
were comprehended in preaching and teaching in exposition of
I. n. Z., 1872, Dajokan Section, pp, 80-81 (April, 30). Similar legislation
of a slightly earlier date says regarding the business of the Kyobus/io, " This
department shall have control over all matters concerning relig'ous teaching.
Tlie main items of business coming under its jurisdiction are as follows :
(1) Affairs concerning doctrines and sects.
(2) Affairs concerning regulations for religions.
(3) Affairs concerning the abolishing and establishing of shrines and temples.
(4) Affairs concerning the rank of priests of Shinto and Buddhism and the
grade of shrines and temples.
(5) Appointment of Shinto priests and of priests and nuns of Buddiiism."
H. Z., 1872, Dajokan Section, p. 448 (April, 25).
3. II. Z., 1872, p. 93.
4. n. z,, 1872, p. 172,
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO 1 5
certain politico- religious propositions established by law in the
form of " Re^ulation.q for Prparhing" These regulations stated "^
three articles which were to guide religious instruction.
'* Article I. To embody the principles of reverence and
patriotism.
"Article II. To make plain the Laws of Heaven and tho.
Waxof^IIuinanU^
" Article III. To lead the people to resperi- thf^ Rnip^^o]-
and tojbe obedient to his wjlJ."
These homiletical directions closed with the statement,
"These three principles must be observed always and care
must be exercised in preaching not to go contrary to their
purport."^
Preaching places called Shokyoii^ ("Small Religious In-
stitutes ") were now established within the shrines themselves in
order to facilitate instruction according to the " three principles."
" All priests and Kyodoshoku serving in either the large or small
shrines of the country shall understand a small kyoin to mean a
preaching place in front of a shrine. The main duty of the
priests shall be the instruction of parishioners in accordance
with the three principles. They should lead the people to study
so widely that there will be no one who is ignorant. Thus
civilization will be promoted and the fundamental principle of
the unity of religion and the state^ will be realized.*"*
Further evidence showing the extent to which Shinto was
now officially regarded as a religion with functions similar to
those of Buddhism is to be found in another important religious
enactment of the same year, legalizing Shinto funeral ceremonies
conducted by Shinto priests. The law declares, " Prior to this
it has been forbidden for Shinto priests to conduct funeral
services, but hereafter on application for a Shinto funeral on the
I. H. Z., 1872, pp. 1288-1289, KydbiishoOtdAX, Extra (June, 3).
3. Saiseiitchi, ^^^^fX
4. H. Z., 1872, p. 1287, K)dl>nshd, Order No. 29 (December, 24).
1 6 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
part of parishioners, it is permitted to give assistance to the chief
mourners and conduct ceremonies.."^
Under tlie influence of this state policy a form of Rydbn
Shtutb made a temporary appearance as a state religion. Bud
dhism fraternized officially with Shinto. Buddhist priests
appea^red in public clad in Shinto robes. The Japanese govern-
ment, however, very quickly found that it was trying to plow
with a team that could noi; pull together. The powerful
Shin sect of Buddhism which throughout its history had
coiisistently disdained to sanction any rapprochment with
Slvint^^refuscd_njDw to be d into any entangling aUiances.^
Accordingly, on May ^^ 1871^, the government made formal
dissolution of partnership with Buddhism after an experi-
ment that had lasted just three year£^£dUhiriteerLdays. The
breach with Buddhism was never to be closed ; rather, it was to
widen with the passing years. The control of Buddhism and
Shinto remained for the time being as before in the charge of
the Kydous/io, but all union was prohibited. Th^ law is very
explicit on this point, — " To the superintendent priests of all
sects of Shinto and of Buddhism. As stated in. the subjoined
notice, the establishment of union religious institutes {kyoin)
between the sects of Shinto and Buddhism is now prohibited.
The three principles for preaching shall b^ observed more
carefully ; independent kyoin shall be established ; and propa-
ganda shall be carried on diligently.
** i^Subjoined notice). Propaganda carried on through union
kyoin of Shinto and Buddhism is prohibited. Propaganda shall
be conducted independently hereafter. These orders shall be
communicated to the KydddshokitJ"''^
1. H. Z., 1872, p. 134, Daj'okan Order No. 193 (August, 2).
2. On the liuddhist situation coi.sult Saeki, Ariyoihi, Dm Nihon Shhigt Shi
(^ffj^'^^ :^H*)ii^itill» "An Account of the Deities of Great Japan,"
Tokyo, 19 1 3), p 1296.
3. H. Z., 1875, p. 1666, Kybbmho Orders No. 4 and 14 (May, 3).
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO 1/
Finally, in fannary T^;77. rpW^jinim affairs passed under. the
control of a_new- oIKce, n3.mdy, the S/m/l^^}^ht,^ or Bureau
of Shrines and Temples in the Department of Home Affairs.^
This new bureau was to supervise religious affars until the
memorable legislation of iQOn whirh 5;f^par;<tf^d thf ^^^int^
shrines altogether from ordinary religious institutions. In all
these changes we have an official classification of Shinto along
with other organizations frankly recognized as religious, a
niatter that is especially noteworthy in view of actions that the
government was to take before the nineteenth century was
completed. It is difficult to see in this adjustment of the rela-
tions of Shinto and the state proof of a lack of vitality in Shinto
itself. We can discern in these changes and others that were
to follow an attempt on the part of the government to
modernize its religious policy but at the same time retain the
support of the spirit thit was bound up with at least a section
of Shinto institutions. The period 1871-72, in which the most
important of the above mentioned changes took place, marks
the beginning of a new era in Japanese political and social
affairs. It is the real beginning of mpdern^Japan. At this time
the government was rcorgan'zed,'^ the old feudal clans were
abolished^ the present day division into ^^n (provinces] vyas
adopted,"* a beginning was made in organizing the Japanese
2. " The Kyobusho is hereby abolished. The business hitherto carried on
in this office is now transferred to the Department of Home Afiairs {Naimu SAo)."
II. Z., 1877, Dajokan Section, p. 2, Order No 4. Prior to this, on Nov. 25, 1872,
a law had appeared declaring, " The Deparlment of Education {Momhusho) and
the Department of Religion {Kyobusho, are hereby amalgamated." H. Z., 1872,
p. 218. The Kyobusho retained its existence, however, and the Shinto situation
was not affected.
3. T. A. S. J., XLII, Pt. I, pp. 34 ff.; Phoenix (« A Monthly Magazine
for China, Japan, and Easte-n Asia," Dondon), Aug., 1872, p. 38; id. June.
1873. p »«5-
4. T. A. S J , ^/. cit., pp. 32-33.
iS THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
army on European niodsls/ the Western calendar was adopted
(Jan. I, 1873V outcasts were admitted to citizenship, raihoad,
newspaper, mint, dock, and modern postal system appeared for
the first time, and the Imperial Uni-C^ersity was estab'ished in
Tokyo.^ A.long with other changes the religious policy of the
goverpment was broadened so as to make room for the more
adequate control of all religious bodies, non-Shinto as well as
Shinto. An effect of this policy was seen in the removal in
1873 of public proscriptions against Christianity.'* It is note-
worthy, however, that Shinto had not ceased to occupy the
position of the cult of the Imperial Household, nor had the
position of Shinto as the cult of the state itself been relinquished
either in the temporary merging with Buddhism, or again, in
the act which invested the control of both religions in the
Bureau of Shrines and Temples. The special intimacy ex-
isting between Shinto and the Japanese state at the time
is well shown in the efforts of the government to secure
full control over the shrines and introduce order into their
ceremonial .
One of the first problems that had confronted the new
Japanese government, when once committed to a policy which
united the affairs of the state with those of Shinto, was to
introduce order into the confusion that had grown up in the
control of the Shinto shrines during the long period of Buddhist
dominance and state neglect. That the disorder in the shrine
1. Ph' enix, July, 1871, p, 15.
2. Phoenix, June, 1873, p. 187 ; T. A. S. J , Vol. XXXVII, pp. 1 26-127.
3. T. A. S. J., Vol. XXII, Pt. II, p. 117; Phoenix, May, 1872, p. 192;
Brinkley, Jopmt, Its Histoiy Arts and Litefiture, Vol. V, p. 88; Lena^a,
Toyokichi, T/ie Constitutional Development 0/ Japan (Johns Hopkins Univcr ily
Studies in Hist, and Pol. Science, Ninth Series, 1891), pp. 44 4S ; Chamberlain,
Things Japanese (1891), p. 221 ; Clement, E. W., A fJ(\^!>q)/( of Mjdein Jopan,
(Chicago, 1904), p 110. .^
4. Cf. Annual Rfpo)t of American Boar.i of Commissioneis for Foreign
Missions, 1873 (Boston, Riverside Press), p. 72.
1
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHV OF MODERN SHINTO 1 9
world was great is well attested by government legislation
itself. The most conspicuous single cause of confusion was in
^the hereditary nature of the Shinto priesthood, a condition of I
things which had developed largely during the medieval period.
Thereby the shrines had become practically the private pro-
perty of the priests w'th the shrine revenues treated as personal
income. The center of the problem from the standpoint of the
government thus lay in breaking the hereditary priesthood of
Shinto and in bringing the finances of the shrines completely
under government control. The problem was solved by a
noteworthy proclamation issued July i, 1 871, in which appears
a clear indication of the confusion that had fallen upon the
shrines and also a plain intimation of the intention of the
government to utilize the shrines as a part of the regulative
machinery of the state itself. The document says, " The affa'rs
of the shrines are religious festivals pertaining to the nation and
are not to be controlled by a single person or by a single family.
/Since the Middle Ages, owing to the degradation of right
priiiciples, the offices of the Shinto priesthood have become
Heredtary. W hile it is true that the inheriUiaC£-Q£-SQme
priestly offices has been handed do^^n from the Ago rrf- the
Gods, yet for the most part priests have been' merely appointed
temporarily. Some have simply made this temporary title
hereditary, while in other cases the affairs of the shrines have
become hereditary owing to changes in land inspectors and
district lords. Even the priestly office of small village shrines
has become hereditary. The incomes of the shrines have been
made family stipends and treated as private property. This
widespread practice has continued so long that Shinto priests
have come to form a different class from ordinary people and
warriprs. This does not agree u ith the present form of govern-
ment which is the unity of religious affairs and the state. Owing
to the greatness of the abuse a reform is now instituted : all
priests from those of the hereditary priestly office of the Great
Shrine of Ise down to the various priests of all the shrines of
20 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
the country hereafter shall be carefully selected and appointed.
By Imperial order. "^
The law abolishing the hereditary control of the priestly
office was followed by a similar enactment directed toward the
separation of public and private worship in Shinto. Thus the
control of the ceremonies of the public shrines was lodged more
firmly in the hands of the government itself. The law states :
" Up to the present people have resorted in numbers to shrines
and temples established on private premises and have worship-
ped there. This practice has a natural tendency to take on a
form of public worship. This is wrong. All such worship is
forbidden hereafter."'^
The proclamation abolishing hereditary priesthood was
acCompankd_by~-J^w. -. i^gulations- whixidi cjas^^^ all shrines
according to a fixed grade. In this readjustment may be discern-'
ed again the attempt of the government to strengthen its control
by the introduction of further order into the confusion that had
come upon the shrines during the medieval period. The grades
of shrines that now appear are : Kampei Taisha, ** Govern-
ment Shrines of Major Grade " ; Kampei Chusha, " Government
Shrines of Middle Grade " ; Kampei Shosha, " Government
Shrines of Lesser Grade " ; Bekkaku Kampeisha, *' Special
Government Shrines" ; Kokuhei Taisha y " National Shrines of
Major Grade " ; Kokuhei Chusha, " National Shrines of Middle
Grade " ; Kokuhei Shosha, " National Shrines of Lesser
Grade " ; Fusha, " Urban Prefectural Shrines " ; Hansha,
" Daimiate Shrines " ; Kensha, ** Prefectural Shrines " ; and
Gosha, " District Shrines."^ The grade ot Hansha disappeared
1. H. Z, 1871, p. 187, DaJokanOrdGT No. 234 July i).
2. II. Z., 1876, p. 1320, kyobusho Order No. 38 (Dec. 15).
3. Op. at. In the existing gradation of shrines ihe highest rank is occupied
by the Grand Shrine of Ise which is considered to be oulside of and above the
shrine sys em proper, corresponding to the position of the Emperor in the
political life of the nation. Next come the Kanipeisha ('g't^fli), divided into
TH •: POLITICAL PHILOSOPHV OF M DERN SHINTO 21
with the abolition of the //^m in 1871, otherwise the classifica-
tion has furnished the basis of shrine gradation right down to
the present.
(On. April 13, 1875, uniform rituals and ceremonials for
the Shinto shrines were established by lawy The publication
of these new forms for worship was accompan'ed by the fol-
lowing statement : " Confusion in the ceremonies of the shrines
has continued from the Middle Ages. At the opening of the
Restoration the Office for Shinto {^fmgikwati) was established
and the deterioration of the ancient ceremonies was with
difficulty remedied and the revival thereof was promoted. The
grade of the shrines of the ent're country was established A
fixed form of ceremony for use in presenting heihaku and
the four classes lis'ed above. The support and management of these shrines is
under the direction of the central government. Funds for offerings are supplied
by the Imperial Household. Kokuluisha (^^^), divided into the three
classes of major, middle, and lesser grades, are ranked on an equality with the
Kavipeisha. Like the latter they are supported by the central government.
Funds for offerings are supplied from the national treasury. The prefectural
governors participate in the great festivals. Only five Kokiiheisha have been
raised to the major grade of this class. Next below the Kokiiheisha come the
Fukensha (//^Hjjit)- Those which are in Tokyo-fu, Kyoto-fu and Osaka-fu are
called Fusha, while those in Hokkaido and the prefectures are called Kensha.
Funds for offerings are supplied from the prefectural treasuries Gosha (^^jt),
are those shrines dedicated to the tutelary deities of a locality and have shrine-
grade next below the Fuketisha. Funds for offerings are supplied from the offices
of cities 2Xi^gun ("district," "county"). Below the Gosha are the Sonsha ({^jfii:,
"Village Shrines"), supported by the village communities, and, in addition to
these, the Afukakusha, (^|^^}» shrines without shrine-grade but which, never-
theless, are granted government recognition. Shokonsha (^S^ijit\ ^^e a special
class of shrines outside of the above gradation, in which are enshrined the spirits
of those who have died in the military service of the state The Yasukuni
Shrine of Tokyo, the greatest of the Shokonsha^ is an exception in that it is
classed as a Governir.ent Shrine of Special Grade. Miyao and Inamura list
one hundred forty Shokonsha. On the whole subject of shrine classification
consult these authors in Jinja Gyoselho Kogi (g^^ ii?}^^^» fl^E^ifft
^^^' "Lectures on the Administrative Law of the Shrines," Tokyo, 1912 ,
pp 62-105.
22 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
offerings^ to the gods is now necessary. Accordingly, in
obedience to the Imperial command and after investigating
ancient usage as well as considering the needs of the present,
a fixed form of ceremony has been determined upon. In this,
that which is superfluous has been eliminated without sacrificing
the true spirit of antiquity."^ At the same time the great
Sliinto festivals were likewise fixed by law. "
\ A further step toward the identification of political interests
with the affairs of the shrines appeared in a regulation affjcting
the ceremonies of Government Shrines {^Kampcishd) issued
February 15, 1873. Prior to this date in case of the ceremonies
1. The text here reads, t^^i?)^^SCD"-f^, heihaku no ten hento no kyo,
" the offering oi heihaku (t^^) and the presentation of hen'o (^g •" Heihaku
and hemo are together translated "offerings." Heihaku, also read miteg^fa,'
nigite^ yu, nusa, and viainai, refers to the strips of colored silk cloth, brocade,
hemp, or paper hung before the kami. Jlento is a classical name for a form of
receptacle in which general offerings were presented. In modern Shinto, shinsen
(1^1^) is used to designate the ordinary offerings placed before the altars of the
kami. Such offerings consist of rice, mochi, sake, fish, birds, fruit, vegetables, salt,
water, etc. The shrine laws speak of shinsen heihaku ryo {f^^'^^^ , " funds
for offerings and heihaktiP Cf. Miyao and Tnamura, p. 535 ff.
2. 11. Z., 1875, p. 827. The Shinto festivals now settled upon for Govern-
ment and National Shrines were :
J^inen Sai (Jl^^^), Festival of Prayer for the Year's Crops, Feb. 17.
Nii-name Matsuri or Shinsho Sai (^'^^)> Harvest Festival (Festival of
tasting the new rice), from the night of Nov. 23 to the morning of the 24.
Rei Sai {^^\ Grand local festival.
Genshi Sai (7cSn|^)> Festival of Sacrifice to the Origin, Jan, 3.
Kogetsurin Tdzajttyo {Komei lenno) K^/'^^ (^^||^ll|^=^nJ35^':^ii^),
Distant worship toward the place of burial of Emperor Komei.
Kigen Setsu (IBTClfS). Feb. ir. Festival of the anniversary of the accession
of the first emperor, Jimmu Tenno, 660 B.C.
Unebiyama T'ohoku Sanryo {Jimmu Tenno) Yohn, (5iXf:^lll^4bllH^#St?C
^^^)> Distant worship toward the place of burial of Emperor Jimmu.
Ohatai (:A;j^), The Great Purification.
Kanname Sai (^$^^), Lit. « Gods-tastefestival " ; festival of presenta-
tion of first fruits to the Kamiy Oct. 17.
Kariden Senza (fgJKMi^)> Transfer of a deity to a temporary shrine.
lionden Senza (3KIS3iSS> Ttansfer of a deity to a permanent slirine
11. Z, 1875, p. 829.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO 23
of all government shrines a representative had been sent from
the Board of Ceremonies {Shikibii Ryof of the central govern-
ment; From the above date on, the highest official ot the local
prefectural government' has been sent to participate irTtEegreat
f(^>fJA^ls_jifjgovo'Jim<""t .Shrinpqrj (Thereby the affiirs of"^he
shrines have been made to contributeniore directIy"~to~thg"^
centralization of the local political life of the nation. ^ The law
covering the matter declares, "Up to the present in case of
the official festivals of Government Shrines an officer of the
Board of Ceremonies has. been sent to participate in the rites.
Hereafter, with the exception of the Grand Shrine of Ise, the
local governor shall participate in the official ceremonies of
Government Shrines."^
Again by the year 1882 developments in popular religion
had created a situation that necessitated further discriminating
action on the part of the government. Various popular
sects calling themselves Shinto and incorporating large por-
tions of orthodox tradition, but at the same time involving
departures from the official cult, were multiplying and seeking
recognition by the state. As a means of meeting this situation,
in the year just mentioned, the government divided Shinto
institutions into two classes, Jin fa (" Shinto shrines ") on the
one hand, and Shinlo Kjvkai (" Shinto churches ") on the
Qther.^ All institutions of the Shinto sects were given the
1. ^%%
2. H. Z., 1873, p. 41, Dnjokan Order, iSTo. 23 (Feb. 15),
3. A law dated May 15, 1882, reads : " It is announced that the following
associations of Shinto are permitted to take independent denominationa' names
as follows.
(Former title) (New title)
Shinlo Jingu Ha, WMWM. Jingn Kyokai, t^%Wl.^>
Shinto Ta sha Ha, %^^M.':kM.W^ Izmno Taisha Kyokai, ^%}\Jik^^^
Shinto Pmo Ha, WMk^M^. Fuso Kyokai, ^^%M.
^ Shinto jikko Ha, mm.'mTm. nkk-oKyoka, K^i!(t.
Shinto Taisei H , %^}M,'Xj^lB.^ Honkyo Taisei Kyokai, Af^W.k^^.'^y
Shinto Shins hu Ha, %^^^%i^^^^^ Shimhu Kyikai, JP^^Ht^ "•
54 TH POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
latter title and were debarred from using the former, which
became exclusive government property.'
Dr. N. Ariga, a jurist of recognized scholarship, has inter-
preted the situation that lay back of this separation of Shinto
institutions into two classes, in a manner tliat sheds considerable
light on the Shinto problem as it was taking shape in the
official mind at the time. From the point of view of the
government the problem was as indicated in the following
statement. "JjLA^f" ^-^^^ ^^ ^ civilized co^untn^there must
exist freedom of faith If Shinto is a religion, however, the
acc£ptance or ^'"f'.ig?! thf^^^^' rnngf hf> l^ft to personal choice.
Yetjor a Japanese subject to refuse to honor the ancestors of
the Emperor is disloyal^ Indeedj_j^Ja^.aiiQs^.j3Ut..QLiiis^iuty
The effect of this enactment was to change these bodies from more or less
undefined sects (J^a) related with the official cult to definite independent religious
associations Kyokai . A la'.v issued in March, 1885, says, " All cases of govern-
ment recognition of religious organizations previously granted are now made
invalid In seeking government recognition application must be made for new
enrolment in the regulations for religious organizations." H. Z, 1885, p. 177.
The /ingu Kyokai^ connected with the Grand Shrine of Ise, was dissolved in
1899. Ofificially recognized Shinto churches at present number thirteen, 'n
addition to the five remaining out of the above list, there are, Shinto Ilonkyoku
mm.i^Wi\ ^hM'^'' ^^ mm^), MUike Ky-o (tOitlft). ^i^ogi Ky-o {^^\
Shinn Kyo {%^^^), Kurozumi Kyo (^tt#), Konko Kyo (^^#), and
Tenn Ky 0 (5^3^^^), There are other Shinto churches which secure de facto
recognition by being attached as sub-sects to recognized bodies. The total
number of Shinto churches, both recognized and unrecognized, is difficult to
determine with accuracy. "1 here are numerous Shinto groups that are still in the
condition of small private cults and some that maintain a secret organization.
All of these bodies are distinct from the official shrines in internal organization,
government administration and legal properties.
I. A notice issued by the Shaji Kycku on April 17, 1888 reads "Inas-
much as a distinction is made between the religious associations of the (Shinto)
churches and the shrines the attachment of the title of ' Shrine ' to church
associations is not only inappropriate but it also affects the incomes of the shrines.
It should be known that this matter is covered in Art. 6 of Order No 11, issued
by this office in 1885, and it thus should he proper to infer that this is not
permitted. Notice is hereby given by way of precaution." Genko Jinja Horei
RutsaHy p. 34G.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 2 5
as subject must honor the ancestors ot the Emperor. This is
ngt a matter ot choice. It is a duty. Therefore th's cannot
be regarded as religion. It is ritual. It is the ceremonial of
gratitude to ancestors. In this sense the government protects
the shrines and does not expound doctrine. On the other
hand since it is possible to establish doctrines with regard to
the (Shinto) deities, it is necessary to permit freedom of belief
in Shinto considered as a religion. Hence there has arisen
the necessity of distinguishing between Shinto regarded as the
functioning of national ritual and that Shinto which proclaims
doctrines as a religion."^ J))
In the same year we discern the beginning of an attempt
to eliminate the popular religious nature of the most important
shrines. A regulation of the Home Department promulgated
on January 24th of this year reads, ** Fi^om this d^te„,i^^
right of Shint5 priests to exercise the function of teachers of
religion and morals \Kyddd Sliokii) is abolished. Priests shall
not take charge of funeral services. Exception : For the present,
priests connected with shrines of prefectural rank or lower may
do as before."^ The exception to the regulation is such as to
limit the scope of the altered status of the priesthood to the
two highest grades ot shrines, that is, to the Government Shrines
and the National Shrines. These are precisely the shrines,
however, which because of their national character are of most
value to the state in the centralization of the sentiments of the
people. The office of Kyodo Slioku was finally abolished for all
shrines two years later.^ The right of Shinto priests connected
1. Anga, Nagao, Shinto Kokkyo Ron {1^^%^^, WMX^Wilk, " Shinto as
a State Religion ") in Tetsugaku Zasshi {^^i^M) " Philosophical Magazine,"
Vol. 25, No. 280 (June, 1910), p. 702.
2. H. Z., 1882, p. 333.
3. The law says, " The office of kyodoshoku is hereafter discontinued in Shint5
and Buddhism. All affairs relating to the appointment or dismissal of the
superiors of temples and the promotion or degradation of the rank of religious
teachers are entrusted to the superintendent priest of each sect." H. Z., 1884, p.
142. The same law further provides that the number of superintendent priests
26 THE POLITICAL -PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
with shrines lower than those of government or national grades
to conduct funeral services was not abrogated, however, and the
practice exists in' the present with legal recognition.
The Japanese government itself, in explanation ot these
changes says, "In 1884 the official appointment of -religious
instructors (Kyo/dskoh/) was discontinued and the. authority
to appoint preachers was entrusted to the Head-priests (A'z£;«;^
c/id) of the various sects, Shinto or Buddhist, together with the
right of selecting the resideit priest {Jushokii) for the temples
under their jurisdiction. Further, each sect was given the
power to manage its own affairs under the supervision of the
government, which now relinquished its misslonarizing function.
I Religion was thus separated from politics, " ^
^p T899 and Tgnn the Japanese government took the final
steps in carrying out the policy of isolating the political and
social values of Shinto. The government now attempted to
provide a better legal basis for the position that officialShijQto
was not a religion, an intej-pretation. that has beeiijuaintained in
spite of all difficulties right up to the present. The atiests_ofJse
prepared the way in 1899 by taking the ground that Shinto
\ /was ;nierely a cult for the preservation ot yeneration foT
ancestors and the maintenance of historical continuity in Japanese
|society.^^ The Ise authorities made application to the govern-
ment for the right to abandon their status as a religious body
and become a secular juridical person {zaidan hbjitt) with the
shall be limited to one for each sect of either Shint5 or Buddhism. The federa-
tion of several sects under one superintendent priest is permitted.
I. A General View of the Present Religions Situation in Japan, p 2. Pub.
by the Bureau of Religions, Japanese Department of Education, 1920. (Italics in
the quotation are mine, D.C.H.) This publication is an excellent example of the
manner in which the division of all Shinto institutions into the two classes of
shrines and churches facilitates an official expositics which, while as.suiuing to be
" a general view," Jtlmost entirely omits one of the most important elements in the
entire situation. The shrines receive only sufficient mention to confuse (he whole
issue for one who is not previously acquainted wiih religious developments in
•modern Jai)an.
a. CyT' Japan Weekly Mail, Sept. 9, 1899, p. 261.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 2^
title Jingu Hosaikai^ " The Reverence Society of Jingii."
The request was granted on September 4, 1 899.^ Then under
the new government regulation of 1900 the Bureau of Shrines
and Temples was abolished and a Jinja Kyoki^ (*' Bureau of
Shrines ") and a Shukyo Kyoku^ (" Bureau of Religions ") were
established in the Department of Home Affairs. The former
office was put in charge of the official cult, and the latter of
Shinto sects, Buddhism and other religious bodies. A legal
basis was thus provided for the interpretation that the official
shrines were national institutions of an ethical and historical
character, and places where all Japanese subjects should offer
reverence. Expenses connected with upkeep were to be borne,
wholly or in part, by the central, provincial or local govern-
ments. The ceremonies of official Shinto were nationalized as
koku rely *' national rites. '"^
The laws of 1903 fixing the official line of demarcation that
was to be drawn between the Shinto shrines and religious
institutions as such appear in Imperial Ordinance {Ckokurei),
Number 163, April 26, 1900. This new statute embodies the
reorganization of the Department of Home Affairs of the
Japanese Government and details corrections and additions to be
made to certain legislation found in Imperial Ordinance Number
259 of October 22, 1898. After these corrections and additions
2. " On September 4 of the presen' year the establishment of the Hbsaikai
of the Grand Shrine of Ise was permitted and at the same time the Jingu Kyo
(reb'gious association of the shrine) was abolished." Announcement of the
Depar'ment of Home Affairs, No. 99, Sept. 5, 1899. Genko finja Horei Kuisan
(^ii^Tfi^Sthri^l^^j "Classified Collection of Contemporary Laws and Regula-
tions for Shrines,") p. 669.
3 Wl^Wi
4- %W.Wi
5 . Government directions covering reports from the Grand Shrine of Ise
were published on Dec 15, 19CO. These directions classify the ceremonies of Ise
under the heading Kokurei (®iB)» " National Rites." G.nko Jinm Hcrei Ruisatf,
p. 670.
28 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
to the earlier enactments have been made, the laws relating to
the divided control of Shinto shrines and of religion read as
given in the following translations.
" Article I. The Minister ol Home Affairs takes charge of
matters relating to Shinto shrines, local administration, election
of members of parliament, police, prisons, public works, sanita-
tion, geographical matters, religion, publication, copyright,
chanty and relief. He is to superintend the Governor-general
of Formosa, the Superintendent-general of Police, the Governor
of Hokkaido, and the provincial governors.
** Article IV. Sec. i. The following seven Bureaus are
established in the Department of Home Affairs :
1. Bureau of Shinto Shrines.
2. Bureau of Local Administration.
3. Bureau of Police.
4. Bureau of Public Works.
5. Bureau of Sanitation.
6. Bureau of Religions.
7. Bureau of Prisons.
Sec. 2. The Bureau of Shrines takes charge of the follow-
ing matters :
a. Grand Shrines, Government Shrines, National Shrines,
Prefectural Shrines, District Shrines, Village Shrines,
Shokonsha and all affairs pertaining to shrines.
b. All business relating to Shinto priests.^
" Article IX. The Bureau of Religions takes charge of
the following matters :
a. All sects of Buddhism and Shinto, Buddhist temples,
buildings used for religious purposes and also all
affairs pertaining to religion.
I. The law here divides Shinto priests into two classes : Shiitkan (l^'g*)
and Shinshohi (jjif ^[§1^). Both terms are translated " priest." The former refers
to Shinto officials connected with the Grand Shrine of Ise, the latter to those
connected with ordinary shrines.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ. 29
b. All business relating to priests of Buddhism and to
religious teachers."^
On June 13, 191 3, the separation of official relations with
the Shinto shrines, on the one hand, and religions, on the other,
was still further widened by the transfer of the Bureau of
Religions from the Department of Home Affairs to the Depart-
ment of Education. Imperial Ordinance Number 173 of the
above date in its pertinent sections reads :
" The following reorganization is effected within the
Department of Education.
" Article I. The Minister of Education shall take charge
of matters relating to education, science and arts, and religion.
" Article IV. The following three Bureaus are established
within the Department of Education :
1. The Bureau of Special School Affairs.
2. The Bureau of Common School Affairs.
3. The Bureau of Religions.
" Article VI. The Bureau of Religion? takes charge of the
following matters :
1. Shinto sects, Buddhist sects, Buddhist temples, buildings
used for religious purposes, and all affairs relating to religion.
2. Matters concerning the preservation and protection of
ancient shrines and temples.
3. Matters concerning Buddhist priests and religious
teachers.
" In the Bureau of Religions are established Section Num-
ber I and Section Number 2 which shall divide the business be-
tween them,
I. Section Number i takes charge of tlie following
matters :
a. Sects of Shintd and of Buddhism, churches, priests,
religious teachei's, and all matters relating to religion.
I. H. Z., 1900, Chokitrei (Imperial Ordiiianeey Section, pp. I97-I98; Kampo
(Official Gazette), April 27, 1900.
t
30 THE iPOUTICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
b. Business which does not come under the jurisdiction
of Section 2.
2. Section Number 2 takes charge of the following
matters :
a. Affairs concerning Buddhist edifices (temples and
monasteries).
b. Affairs concerning the preservation and protection of
ancient Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples."*
The religious changes ol 1899- 1900 are to be understood in
the light of the general political situation of the time. In 1898-
99 Japan was in the midst of a period of important readjustments
of both internal and foreign relati6nships. In the earlier period
of 1871-72, as already mentioned, the nation had begun the
difficult task of internal reorganization necessary to the utilization
of domestic resources in such a way as to compel recognition
on the part of foreign' pOwers^a task in which, as Murdoch
well points out Japan was confronted with the alternatives of
assimilating occidental civflizatiori or of going down before it. ^
Now in the latter period, as proof of the skill ofher^tatesmanship
and the thoroughness of her mastery of the technique of the
West, Japan, after a successful war with China, arrived at com-
pflete self-determination among- the nations of the world, an
object that had been struggled for with repeated failure from the
time of the Iwakura mission to Europe and America in 1871.^
Now with a series of agreements, lying between the date of the
Treaty of London of July 16, 1894, and the promulgation of
the revised treaties of the summer of 1899, Japan at last attained
full judicial and tariff autonomy.'' During the period several
1. H. Z., 1913 Chokurei Section, pp. 255-6.
2. Murdoch, James, History of Japan (Kobe, 19 lo), Vol. I, p. 23.
3. Japai* Weekly Mail, Oct. 8, 1887, pp. 352-3. Official instructions to
the governors issued Sept. 28, 1887 contain the words, " Since the late Iwakura
was sent abroad as ambassador in 187 1, treaty revision has always remaineci our
unmovably fixed object." T. A. S. J., Vol. XLIT, W. I, p. 329.
4. Japan Weekly Mail, July 8, 1899, pp. 27, 36-37 ; July 29, pp. 107, no;
Aug 5, p. 130; Aug 12, pp. 161-2.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ. 3 1
new ports were opened for foreign trade, and by the beginning
of the autumn of 1 899 rights of free residence outside of the
established zones were open to all foreigners in Japan.*
y The Japanese government was now in a position to deal
more adequately with the religious situation. In the Constitution
promulgated February 11, 1889, Article XXVIIl had been so'
framed as to guarantee religious liberty to every Japanese citizen,
provided that the exercise thereof was not prejudicial to the
welfare of the realiW and not antagonistic to the duty of subjects.^
The preservation of this guarantee was of course ^eminently
befitting the nation that was now just stepping out into full
internal autonomy. But exactly at this point an important
difficaity presented itsel f. [While, on the one hand, a modern-
izing tendency in the government seemed to demand that the
state should not foster an established religion, yet, on the other
hand, the government was in no pjsition to repudiate the mighty
sltpport of Shinto, for just here, in the ofHcial point of view lav
an important element in the assimilative strength of the lapanese
j^eo^e. Hence the ofificial separation of tlie Shint5 shrine^ |i'Q""i
acknowledged religious institutions and the consequent interpre-
tation th?^ iSh'"^*^ i"^ "'^^ ^ ffpli(3-inn The Separation has madejt
possible for the Japanese government to announce that the ad-
ministrative policy affecting;- the Shjr||-f> ghrjnp? " in qnit^t indrpr^n-
dent of the policy that concerns itself with religions." ^
Thus by an alleged elimination of the religious character of
. the ofificial shrines, the way was opened for them to function for
all Japanese subjects as state institutions, in the preservation ot
the continuity of Japanese history and in the stimulation of
loyalty and patriotism. The government was placing itself in a
position to repudiate the charge of fostering a state religion and at
the same time exercise complete jurisdiction over the shrines and
gain the suy^port of the great, stabilizing values which they were
1. Japan Weekly Mail, June 17, 1899, p. 592; July 22, 1899, p. 88.
2. T. A. S. J., Vol. XUI. Pt. I, p. 138.
3. A General View of the Present Religious Situation in Japan, p. 2.
32 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
regarded as introducing into Japanese society. The action of
the government was based on the recognition of an intimate con-
nection between loyalty, or national morality, and reverence
offered at the shrines. As nucleating centers of the popular
sentiments directed toward a line of emperors descended from
the gods and toward all apotheosized national heroes, they were
indispensable in the conservation and development of the Jap m-
cse spirit. Subsequent events have proved that this " act ot
disestablishment " did not mark a decline in the fortunes of
Shinto. The government was carefully preserving all that was
of real value to the state.
Not only has there been no disestablishment of Shinto, but,
on the other hand, the intimacy ot relationship pyi<;tuig between"
the Japanese governiqgent and the culf of the shrines has increased
steadily since_ igoolJEvidence in support of this statement is
given below.
In 1902 the Japanese government published detailed regu-
lations concerning the rank, appointment, duties and support of
the priests attached to all government and national shrines as
follows : ^
" Regulations Concerning the Duties of Priests of Govern-
ment Shrines and National Shrines." (Imperial Ordinance Num-
ber 27, February 10, 1902. Revised under Imperial Ordinance
Number 174, May, 1911).
'* Article I. The following grades ot priests are hereby
established in Government and in National Shrines :
Guj'i ' (Chief priest), one to each shrine.
Gonguji (Sub-chief priest), one to each shrine. This
office is to be limited to the Grand Government Shrines
of Atsutaand Idzumo.
Negi (Priest) one to each shrine.
Shuten (Lower priests). This office is limited to the Grand
Government Shdne of Atsuta.
I. §.11, Guji; ^H^iJ, Gon^uji\ Ji;£, Negi; ±|J, Shuten ; %^, Gusho.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 33
GusJw (Lower priests).
Note : The number ot Shuten and Gusho shall be
fixed by the Minister of Home Affairs.
^' Article II. The chief priest shall be under the direction
and inspection of the Minister of Home Affairs and of the local
governors. He shall officiate in national festivals, direct cere-
monies, and manage general affairs.
" Article III. The sub-chief priest shall assist the chief
priest in ceremonies and in general affairs.
*' Article IV. The Negi shall engage in ceremonies and in
general affairs under the direction and inspection of the chief
priest and the sub-chief priest.
** Article V. The Shuten and the Gusho shall engage in
ceremonies and general affairs under the direction of the higher
priests.
" Article VI. In case of failure to discharge his duties on
the part of the chief priest, the sub-chief priest shall take his
place ia such shrines as have the office of sub-chief priest ; for
other shrines the Negi shall take the place of the chief priest.
*' Article VII. The chiet priests and sub-chief priests are to
be accorded the treatment of Sorting officials and are to be
appointed by the Cabinet subject to the approval of the Emperor
made through the Minister of Home Affairs. Negi, Shuten,
and Gusho are to be accorded the treatment of Hanniy^ officials
and are to be appointed by the prefectural governors.
" Article VIII. Salaries are to be attached to the priestly
offices of Government and National Shrines. The Minister of
Home Affairs, however, may treat the offices of chief priest and
F,ub-chief priest as honorary posts, and the prefectural governors
may do the same for the offio s of Negi, Shuten, and Gusho.
" Article IX. The Minister of Home Affairs shall fix the
I- ^fl:> ^^'^1^ of officials appointed subject to the approval of the Emperor.
2, #'ij'ff:, rank of officials appointed by the chiefs of the various depart-
ments, bureaus, or offices Chokunin ^J[jft:) rank mentioned below refers to
direct Imperial appointment.
34 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
regulations regarding the service, the salaries, and the travelling
expenses of the priests of Government and of National Shrines.
'* Article X. The powers exercised by the Minister of
Home Affairs and by the local governors in these regulations,
in the case of the relations with the priests of the Yasukiini
Shrine, a government shrine of special grade, shall be exercised
by the Ministers of War and of Naval Affairs."^
In July and August of 1 891, the year following the pro-
mulgation of the Imperial Rescript on Education, laws had
appeared dealing with the duties of priests divided into two
general classes, first, those connected with shrines of prefectural
grade and below (laws of July), and, second, those attached to
Government and National Shrines (laws of August).^ These
laws in, slightly revised :form were republished in 191 3 and made
to apply to all priests of Shinto without exception. The laws
read as in the subjoined translation.
"■ Order Number 9, Department of Home Affairs, April
21, 1913-
** Article I. Priests have the functions ot conducting
national ceremonies in accordance with national ritual. There-
fore they should be masters of national classics, they should
understand the national constitution, and should at all times
discharge their duties with exemplary behavior.
" Article II. The ceremonies (of the shrines) establish a
standard for national morality. Accordingly they should center
in dignified reverence, and should give sincere expression to the
sentiment of gratitude toward ancestors {Hohon han shi)^
*' Article III. Ritual must be carried out according to
regulations. Only under extraordinary circumstances is it
permitted to change the order at will or to abbreviate the time.
On the other hand they are to follow the ancient ceremonies and
are to be appropriate to the historical usage of the local shrine.
1 . Genko Jinja Horei Rtihan, pp. 1 59- 1 60.
2, 11. Z, i89i,p. 206.
3- w^m^
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ. 35
" Article IV. In case special festivals take place notifica-
tion must be given to the Chief of the Police Bureau in whose
jurisdiction the shrine is located, and in case of Government and
National Shrines an additional notification must be sent to the
local governor.
" Article V. It is forbidden to distribute charms to others
than the parishioners of the tutelary deities and to worshippers.
On request, however, they may be granted to others."^
Miyao and Inamura in their discussion of shrine law make
the following observations on the relations of high civil officials
to the shrines ceremonies.
" I. On the occasion of either the Festival of Prayer for
the Year's Crops or the Harvest Festival at both National
Shrines and Government Shrines, an officer of the local gov-
ernment visits the shrines and makes offerings to the Kami,
and the chief priest recites norito. There is no purificaiion
ceremony.
"2. The local governor attends the great Festival of a
Government Shrine and recites norito. The Purification
Ceremony is performed.
" 3. The vice-governor attends the Great Festival of a
National Shrine and participates in the ceremonies. The High
Priest recites norito. There is no ceremony of purification.
"4. In the ordinary festivals of the Kankokn lieisha in all
cases the High Priest recites norito and there is no purification
ceremony."^
1. Genko Jinja Horei Ruisan, y^. i\2..
2. Miyao and Inamura, op. cit., p. 508,
An excellent illus' ration of I he special relation existing between the Japanese
government and the shrines is to be found in regulations regarding the ceremonies
of the Yasukiml Shrine of Tokyo. The Official Gazette {Kampo) for Apr. 26,
1921, p. 803 says, "On account of the Special Grand Ceremonies at the Yasu-
^//;« Shrine all military and naval officials, all mili ary divisions, and all students
shall have a holiday on the twenty-eighth of this month. All government
officials ol Tokyo apart from those of the army and navy shall observe either
'he twenty eigh'.h or the twenty-ninth as a holiday. By Imperial Order."
36 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
Up to May i, 1907 Shinto priests were under special dis-
ciplinary regulations. From this date on they carne under the
disciplinary regulations of ordinary civil officials of the Japanese
government. Shinto priests were hereby more closely identified
with the government and the treatment accorded them was
distinguished clearly from that of ordinary religious teachers and
preachers. The law says :
'* Concerning the discipline (of Shinto priests) in accordance
with the treatment granted civil officials, — except in case of those
who are under special regulations, those priests who receive the
treatment of higher officials shall come under the regulations
applying to higher officials in the Ordinance for the Discipline of
Civil Officials, while those priests who receive the treatment of
Hannin officials shall come under the regulations applying to
Hannin officials in the same Ordinance.
" Appendix : This ordinance shall become effective from
the date of promulgation.
" This abolishes the regulations for the discipline of Shinto
priests and also Imperial Ordinance Number 349 of 1899."^
The disciplinary regulations under which Shinto priests now
come are as given below.
*' Ordinance for the discipline of civil officials (abstract),
'' Chapter I. General Regulations.
'* Article I. With the exception of officials who are ap-
Cabinet Notification No. 2. And again, " On account of the Special Grand
Ceremonies of the Yasnkuni Shrine, officials of the Imperial Household residing
in Tokyo shall observe either the twenty-eighth or the twenty-ninth as a holiday.
By Imperial Order." Imperial Household Department Notification No. 9.
Directions for ceremonies specify attendance by representatives of the Imperial
Family, ministers of state, including the Minister of War and the Minister of
the Navy, the President of the House of Peers, the President of the House of
Representatives, princes, the Superintendent General of the Metropolitan Police
the Governor of Tokyo-fu, representatives of the various grades of nobility, of the
Department of War, of the Department of the Navy, of each government bureau,
of the Imperial Guards, of the First Division, of the members of the House of
Peers and of the House of Representatives.
I. Genko Jinja Jloisi Ruisan, p. 229.
IHE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 37
pointed directly by the Emperor and also those who are under
special regulations, no civil officials shall be disciplined except
under these regulations.
" Article II. Cases in which officials are to be disciplined
are as follows :
1. Contravention of duties of office or neglect thereof.
2. Actions, whether in public or private life, wh'ch com-
promise the dignity or trust of official position.
" Article III. Discipline may take the following forms :
1. Dismissal from* office.
2. Reduction of salary.
3. Reprimand.
** Article IV. Those who are dismissed Irom office shall
not be able to enter government service again for two years
from the date of dismissal. In case of serious offense it is requir-
ed that court rank be returned.
" Article V. The period of reduction of salary is to be for
not longer than one year and for not less than one month. The
amount of reduction is to be at the rate of not more than one
third of the monthly salary.
" Article VI. In case of officials of Clwkunin rank matters
of dismissal and reduction of salary must be according to the
decision of the Disciplinary Committee and must be submitted
to the Throne by the Prime Minister and shall become effective
subject to the sanction of the Emperor. In case of officials ot
Sonin rank dismissal must be according to the decision of the
Disciplinary Committee, must pass through the hands ot the
Prime Minister and must be submitted to the Throne by the
head of the office concerned and shall become effective subject
to the sanction of the Emperor.
** The reduction of salary of officials of 5i5;z/;z rank and matters
of both dismissal and reduction of salary of officials oi Hannin
rank shall be according to the decision ot the Disciplinary Com-
mittee and shall be put into effect by the head of the office con-
cerned. Reprimand shall be by the head of the office concerned.
3^ THE i»of.!TICAL t>HlLOSOPHY OP MODERN SHINTO.
" Article VII. The Disciplinary Committee may not take
up for consideration a case of discipline which is still in process
of litigation in the criminal courts." '
The above regulations, it is to be noted, are in no way
concerned with ordinary criminal procedure. They are designed
purely for the sake of control and efficiency inside the govern-
ment offices themselves, and the inclusion of Shinto priests herein
is an expression of the unique status which the government would
attach to these " ritualists." Ordinary religious teachers are
completely outside of this classification.
State regulations governing shrine finances are minute. A
study of the sources of income throws some light on relations
between the shrines and the government as well as on relations
with the worshipping community. The official regulations con-
cerning financial reports from Government and National Shrines
is fixed in a form issued January i6, 1908 as Order Number i
of the Department of Home Affairs. The designated sources of
income are :
" I. Appropriations from the national treasury.
*' II. Appropriations for offerings and Heihakiiryd.
" III. Income through the shrine proper.
(i). Income from offerings, etc.
a. Income from the sale of charms and amulets.
b. Voluntary cash offerings.
c. Offerings in kind {sakCy food, etc.), ofTerings of
the first fruits of rice.
d. Income from saying 01 prayers.
e. Contributions lor lighting.
f. Charges for placing pictures in front of shrines.
Etc., Etc.
(2). Income from the shrine precincts.
a. Ground rentals.
b. Sale of withered or injured trees.
Etc., Etc.
I. I'na., pp. 228-9.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 39
(3). Income from lands outside the shrine precincts.
a. Land rentals.
b. House rentals.
c. Sale of timber and bamboo.
Etc., Etc.
(4). Income from forests which are entrusted to the
supervision of the shrine.
{$). Miscellaneous receipts derived from,
a. Interest on money in deposit.
b. Sale of unneeded properties.
c. Exhibition of treasures.
Etc., Etc.
" IV. Designated contributions." ^
The relation of the Japanese state to the fiscal items of the
above outline is indicated in the laws given below.
" The expenses of Government and National Shrines shall
be defrayed from the national treasury. The amount of money
apportioned to each shrine shall be determined by the Minister
ot Home Affairs." ^
For shrines of lower grade the regulations are given in Im-
perial Ordinance Number 96, April 26, 1906, as follows :
" Article I. The expenses of offerings for shrines {s/iinsen
Jieiliakuryo) may be met by the prefectural government for pre-
fectural shrines, and by the county and city governments for
district shrines. The shrines which may receive funds to defray
the expenses of offerings shall be designated by the prefectural
governors."
" Article II. The Minister of Home Affairs shall deter-
mine the amount of money that shall be given toward offerings
stated in Article I.
" Article III. Regulations concerning offerings for prefect-
ural, district and village shrines which are located in Hokkaido,
in Okinawa, or in any other district where there are no municipal
1. J bid., pp. 431-433-
2. H. Z., 1906, Vol. 2, p. 61, Nainuisho Order No. 24 (April 6).
40 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MJDEKN SHINTO.
and village organizations are to be decided by the Minister of
Home Affairs." ^
The above evidence of legal enactments showing the re-
markable extent to which the nationalization of the shrines
has been carried out has additional corroboration in official
statements wherein the determination to utilize the ideas and
practices associated with the shrines as the nexus of national
unification is either directly stated or clearly implied. A docu-
ment found in the records of the Tokyo Prefectural Office under
the date of October 31, 1908, explicitly announces the official
point of view. The document is evidently a transcription on to
the prefectural records of a general order from the Central Im-
perial Government and may be taken as intended for all shrines
throughout the country, of the grades indicated. It was directed
to the Shinto priests themselves. In translation the order reads :
" To Government, Prefectural, Town, Village, and Ungrad-
ed Shrines. Reverence {Keis/dn) ^ is a special characteristic of
our nation. It may be taken as a hopeful sign that people
throughout the country have recently begun various public,
cooperative enterprises centering in the shrines and also that
various educational and moral agencies havj been organized in
relation to the shrines. It is likewise a matter for rejoicing that
there are numerous cases in which the cooperation and improve-
ment of the people has been encouraged and promoted with
vows before the gods and thus aid has been given both to public
morality and to the administration of the people.
As for the future, it is now desired that the essence of our
national life {kokiitai) ^ and the glory of our national history be
fexalted by developing the spirit of reverence and furthermore
'y that the shrines be utilized in promoting the unification and
te
I. H. Z., 1906, Vol. I, p. 196.
3. [^1*, " national constitution," " nationn.l life," "national organization"
— the political and social organization expressive of the characteristic traditions
and psychology of the people.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 4 1
administration of the country. These matters have a direct
relation to the Imperial Edict which was issued on the thirteenth
day of the present month and Shinto priests should give great
attention hereunto." ^ /
One of the most noteworthy orders relating to the shrines
is that affecting public schools. In 1 9 1 1 Mr» Komatsubara
Eitar5, Minister of Education under the second Katsura cabinet,
issued orders that school teachers should conduct their pupils in
a body to public shrines, and that there they should do obeisance
before the altars. The original order appears to have taken the
form of Naikun, or secret instructions, to the chiefs of the de-
partments of internal affairs of the various prefectural governments
and was handed on from these offices to the various schools. In
translation the order reads :
*' Concerning visitation at Local Shrines on the Occasion of
Festivals. The sentiment of reverence {keishin) is correlative
I. Tokyo-fu Ktinrei (Tokyo Urban Prefecture Orders), No.- 45, Oct. 31,
1908. The Imperial Rescript referred to is the " Rescript on Thrift and Dili-
gence," otherwise known as the Boshin Rescript.
Upon comparing the contents of the rescript with the above order to the
Shinto priests, it would appear that the government was now giving orders that
the shrines should be utilized as agencies for the correction of dangerous tenden-
cies in thought and practice that appeared in the wake of the Russo-Japanese war.
The main body of the rescript says, " Our country, which has but recently emerg.
ed from sanguinary war, calls for activities in various branches of administration.
We desire all classes of Our people to act in unison, to be faithful to their cal-
lings, frugal in the management of their households, submissive to the dictates of
conscience and calls of duty, frank and sincere in their manners, to abide by
simplicity and avoid ostentation, and to inure themselves to arduous toil without
yielding to any degree of indulgence.
" The teachings of Our revered Ancestors and l he record of our glorious
history are clear beyond all misapprehension. By scrupulous observance of the
precepts thus established, and by directing assiduous and unwearied exertions, the
growing prosperity of Our Empire is assured. In the face of the actual situation.
We hope that, with the co-operation of Our loyal subjects, the noble work of the
Restoration may be augmented and the benevolent virtue of Our Ancestors exalted.
Our subjects should appreciate the high aspiration with which we are uniformly
guided." . Japan Year Book^ 1911, p. 496. Cf. Kampdy Oct., 14, 1908,. p. 343.
42 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
with the feeling of respect for ancestors and is most important in
establishing the foundations of national morality. Accordingly,
on the occasion of the festivals of the local shrines of the districts
where the schools are located, th^ teachers must conduct the
children to the shrines and give expression to the true spirit of
reverence. Also, either before or after the visit to the shrines
the teachers should give instruction to the children concerning
reverence in order that they may be made to lay it deeply to
heart. This is announced by government order.*'^
A further statement containing important evidence bearing on
the official estimate of the political value of Shinto shrines is
found in an address to the Shintd priests byUDr. Midzuno Ren-
taro, who at the time of the publication of the utterance- in
May 1 91 8, was Minister of State for Home Affairs. The
address in part says : " The shrines are the unique institutions
of our nation. They are the essence of our national organiza-
tion.^ They are inseparably related to the state. Thus, the
great shrines inust become the centers of our nation, while the
small shrines must become the centers of the life of villages and
hamlets. On these grounds I have advocated the doctrine of
the central ity of the shrines. That is to say, the shrines must
become the centers of education, of industry, and of self-govern-
ment ; they must become the centers of activity in all directions.
/C T^^ . The unique feature of our national organization lies
in the system of the shrines. This system is well nigh without
parallel in foreign countries and I have always maintained that
the faith of the people in the state as well as in the Imperial
House grows deeper in proportion as the system of the shrines
is made more and more nearly complete. The sentiment of
1. From the Tbkyd-fu Naimu Bucho Tsucho {^^^^^1^%T^W3k^
"Notifications of the Chief of the Department of Internal- Affairs of the Tokyo
Urban Prefecture"), dated Sepenilier, 191 1, appearing in the Mombusho Kunreiy
FureikinoBu {S.%^M^y )^^^Z.%y "Regulations of the Department of
Education, Section on Prefeclural Ordinances "j, Ch. 3, Ordinary Education.
Primary Schools, p. 32 (2). The regulation is still in effect (I921).
2. W&p:>^%
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 43
patriotism may be found in all lands. Also, the idea of loyalty
exists in all places. The sentiment of reverence, however, is the
distinctive trait of Japan. To be sure, the idea of reverence
directed toward the deities of religion, taken in the sens-e of a
sentiment of religion, probably exists in all foreign countries alsc>
but I am of the opinion that the sentiment as directed toward
the deities of our Japanese Shinto shrines is probably unique to
our country. Reverence, patriotism and loyalty, these three,
are in reality but one. The sentiments of loyalty and patriotism
must take their rise from reverence.^^
*' Subsequent to the development of institutions relating to
the divine ancestors of the Imperial House and the shrines, which
are a unique feature of Japan, the idea of country first made its
appearance and the idea of sovereign was born. Consequently, j
in order to inculcate the sentiments of loyalty and patriotism,
first of all the idea of reverence must be propagated. The
propagation of the idea of reverence is a matter that relates to
our educational system also, but in the main it is the business of
you Shinto priests."^
Statements such as those just given are not infrequently
accompanied by an official repudiation of the religious nature of
the national cult. Mr. Tsukamoto Seiji, writing in 191 8 in his
^ capacity as Chief of the Bureau of Shrines of the Department of
Home Affairs, gives a clear-cut statement of the government
position in this matter. At the same time Mr. Tsukamoto 's
discussion furnishes us with an excellent summary of the special
relations existing between the Shinto shrines and the Japanese
state, which have been passed unclear review in the laws already
considered. Mr. Tsukamoto says :
*' In discu^ ing the matter of shrine institutions it is necessary
first of all to state that the shrines are not organs of religion. It
appears well-nigh impossible for foreigners, who do not under-
I. — Midztmo, Rentaro, ShinsJwku no Sekimn, Jinja ni Kansuru Keen
{i^Wm.'krv.m'^(^^^- m'±VM-^hW^ "The Responsibilities of Priests,"
" lectures en the Shrines," Tokyo, I918),. pp. H-I J. _
44 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
stand the organization of our nation, to comprehend this point.
This misunderstanding is not confined to foreigners. Even
among Japanese there are those who needlessly confuse the
shrines with religion. Furthermore, the number of scholars
who interpret the shrines as places where religious ceremonials
are conducted, is not small. It is highly regrettable th it on this
account the feelings of the people are stirred up from time to
time over the sentiment of reverence. It is not my intention
here to consider the sentiment of reverence from a philosophical
point of view and attempt to determine whether or not it
contains religious ideas. It may be asseverated without the
least hesitancy, however, that from the standpoint of national
law the shrines are not organs of religion. Attestation of
this fact may be found both in national management and
in law.
** In the first place, the affairs of the Shinto shrines were
formerly managed in connection with the administration of
religion by the Shajikyoku (** Bureau of Shrines and Temples ")
in the Department ot Home Affairs, In 1900 a division was
made and the Bureau of Shrines and the Bureau of Religions
were established. Subsequently, the Bureau of Religions was
transferred to the Department of Education. It does not
follow, however, that the shrines were first regarded as non-
religious institutions at the time of the consummation of this
division. They were regarded as non-religious prior to this.
Theoretically it would not be impossible to administer the affairs
of religion and also the affairs of the shrines, which are not
religious, in one and the same ofifice which might be known as
the Bureiu of Religions. Again, it is likewise wrong to argue
that if the affairs of the shrines are administered in a Bureau of
Religions, the shrines are consequently religious in nature.
Nevertheless it is only natural that there should be anxiety lest
misunderstandings should only deepen owing to the administra-
tion in the Bureau of Religions of affairs that are easily confused
with religion. The solution of this difficulty was unquestionably
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 45
the main reason why finally the Bureau of Shrines was separated
from the Bureau of Religons and made independent."
"In the second place, formerly the rules and regulations
relating to the shrines began with general principles ot manage-
ment for shrines and temples, and cases were numerous in which
notices and proclamations were issued in common for Shinto
shrines and Buddhist temples. It came to be recognized,
however, that since the essential natures of the Shintd shrines
and Buddhist temples are greatly different and since their
relations to the nation are altogether dissimilar it was not only
wrong but quite impossible to govern them with identical rules
and regulations. On this account from some decades past there
has been a gradual separation of the two, and now, with one or
two exceptions, they are altogether under independent rules and
regulations. Furthermore, the ceremonials and business relating
to Shinto shrines as well as matters of management and finance
are all fixed by national law. This is because the ceremonials
of the shrines are national rituals and the business of the shrines
is the business of the state. On the other hand, the business of
the various religious sects of Buddhist temples and of churches
is of course managed according to the independent determina-
tions of the several bodies concerned. It is not a matter in
which the state participates and is thus not the business of the
nation.
"In the third place, those who serve in the Shinto shrines
are officials of the state, although their rank differs according to
the grade of the shrine. H.I.H., the Lord Custodian of the
Great Shrine of Ise is appointed as the representative of His
Majesty, the Emperor. He receives the treatment of an
official directly appointed by the Emperor and is in a special
class. The other officers of the Great Shrine of Ise are of
Cliokunin, Sonin, or Hannin rank. Also the officials serving in
Government Shrines and National Shrines receive the treatment
of Sonin or Hannin officials. That is to say, all have a relation
to the state and all are officials who take charge of state affairs.
46 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
Consequently, procedure as to their appointment and dismissal is
exactly the same as for general government officials. In accord-
ance with their official rank some are under ministers of state
while others are under the pretectural governors, but in spite of
difference, the appointment and dismissal of all are matters of
national concern. On the other hand, the administrative heads
of the different sects of Shinto and Buddhism as well as the
teachers of other religions do not have duties that pertain to
state affairs and consequently they are not officials of the
state. ....
** Upon consideration of the above three points, not only will
it be apparent that from the standpoint of law there is a
conspicuous difference between the relationship of the state to
the Shinto shrines and to the various sects of religion, but also, I
believe, there should be no room for doubt that from the stand-
point of the organization of the state the shrines are not regarded
as institutions of religion."^
( The attempt to come to closer terms ^vith these official
claims must be postponed to a later point in the investigation.
Meanwhile, in partial summation of the discussion up to the
present point it may be said, that the real reason for the^ govern-
ment's isolation of the control of official Shinto and the
consequent " separation of religion from politics " is not to be
found in any a priori conviction of the non-religious nature of
the shrine ceremonies, as Mr. Tsukamoto would have us believe,
but rather, in the exigences of historical situations that have
made it imperative from the official point of view that the
government should not appear before the world to be fostering
a state religion but at the same time should retain absolute
control over the Shinto shrines.^
The extent of the expansion ot Shinto as a national cult
during the Meiji and Taisho eras may be deduced from a
I. — Tsukamoto, Sqi]\, Jinja Gyosel ni Kansuni Chtti Jiko (^^•^,^, %^t^
' i?riPfel-BSl" h^^%y%^^y " ^l^atters to be Heeded Regarding the Administration of
the Shrines,") Jinja ni Kansuru Koen, pp. 19-22.
THE 1-OLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODIilRN SHINTO. 47
comparative st idy of the annual governnunt reports of the
statistics for shrines, p2rhi[-s even more concretely than from an
examination of the national laws themselves. Reference to the
stati:>tical tables* will show that while the reported totals for
small shrines of village and ungraded classes have decreased
since 1900, the year in which the official control of the shrines
was separated from that of ordinary religions, (from a maximum
number of 192,332 for 1900 to 111,181 for 1 920, a decrease of
81,151), yet tor all shrines of superior grade there has been a
steady increase. Since 1899 twelve shrines have been added to
the class of government shrines ; national shrines have been
maintained at 75 ; while prefectural shrines have increased by
189, making a total increase of 201. During the forty years
lying between 1880 and 1920 government shrines have increased
by the number of 50, national shrines by 7, prefectural shrines
by 316, a total increase for all shrines of these grades of 373.
This is an average of slightly better than nine large shrines per
year. The yearly totals for district shrines have maintained
practical uniformity throughout the entire period. A movement
which, during the past four decades has increased the reported
number of large institutions of highest grade by a total of three
hundred and seventy-three is far from moribund. Also, the
decrease in the number of smaller shrines is more apparent than
real. Small way-side shrines are not included in the official
reports. Since 1888 the government has ceased including in
the statistics the small ungraded shrines established within the
precincts of larger sKrines. The total of these subordinate
ungraded shrines for 1887 was 102,463. The apparent decrease
in the number of ordinary village and ungraded shrines can be
explained by the fact that in numerous cases the control of small
groups of these shrines has been merged.
The statistics for priests tell the same story as do those for
shrines. The total number of priests connected with district,
village and ungraded shrines has decreased during the past
I. See below, pp. 324-5.
48 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
twenty years, although since 191 5 the tendency in all these
classes has been to maintain equilibrium with an average of 34 1 7
priests for district shrines, 8682 for village shrines and 926 for
ungraded shrines. As over against this the number of priests
connected with shrines of prefect ural grade and above increased
from 1345 in 1880 to 1707 in 19 19, a total gain of 362.
The figures given above support the proposition that the
primary interests of the national cult lie in the direction of the
development of those shrines above v'Uage and ungraded classes
which aid in the centralization of the sentiments and activities of
the people beyond purely local interests. On the basis of the
statistics it would seem fair to conclude that Shinto as a national
cult has been steadily and solidly growing during the past forty
years and that this growth has been distributed with a fair
degree of uniformity over the entire period.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 49
CHAPTER II.
The Shrine Problem.
The Japanese government has recently become an object of
considerable criticism because of its alleged efforts to strengthen
Japanese nationalism and political solidarity by encouraging a
form of nationalistic religious worship at the shrines. Criticism
has come not only from Buddhist and Christian sources, as
might well be expected, but also from progressive politicians,
journalists and scholars among the Japanese people themselves.
The grounds of this criticism may be summarized under three
heads.
/ I. In the first place, the Shintd shrines in their actual,
historical character are true religious institutions and have always
been treated as such by the Japanese people. ) It is impossible
to separate the shrines from their historical character by the
proclamation of new official regulations. In the opening years
of Meiji the Japanese government itself recognized and concurred
in the existing popular estimate of the shrines. The legislation
of 1872 which makes exp'icit declaration to the effect that the
main duty of Shintd priests ''shall be the instruction of parish-
ioners in accordance with the three principles " can be adequately
explained only on the ground that the government of the time
classified Shinto as pure religion.
Again, a judgement based on the actual practice of the vast
majority of the Japanese people of all classes must embody the
conclusion that the Shinto shrines are not popularly regarded
simply as patriotic cult centers where the memory of those who
have contributed meritorious service to the Japanese state is
revered and where emotions of gratitude to heroes of the past
and loyalty to existing institutions are stimulated. On the other
hand, the same shrine that serves as site for the official ceremony
is visited by the ordinary worshipper out of purely religious
50 THE POLITICAL PHILOSDPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
motives and the enshrined spirit, whether regarded as an
ancestor of the race or as one of the " gods of Heaven and
Earth " is supplicated for prosperity in business, for health and
long life, for offspring in marriage, for relief in drought, flood
and famine, for food, clothing and shelter, as well as for the
prosperity of the state and success in war. The shrines are
thus not merely inspiring monuments to the greatness of the past ;
they are the sacred places of Japanese religion where unique
access is gained to an unseen spirit-world.
The Japanese government by licensing the sale of charms
at the shrines recognizes and makes concessions to this populai
interpretation. The shrine laws declare on this point : " Shinto
priests in compliance with the requests of the people may
distribute charms and sacred images^ but this must not be done
out of cpvetousness and impure motives."^
One of the most vigorous criticisms of the ambiguous
religious situation in which the Japanese government is thus
involved has been published by the Shin__sect of Japanese
Buddhism in a propaganda pamphlet entitled KeisJiin Mondai
Chosa Hokokii C Report of an Investigation of the Problem of
Reverence"), dated December, 1920. In November, 1919, the
Mikawa Association of the Shin sect drew up a series of three
questions relating to the Shinto policy of the government and
presented it to the Department of Home Affairs. The inter-
rogations read :
"■ I. According to our interpretation the essential nature
of reverence for deities and respect for ancestors,'' which for
some years past have been propagated among the people of the
nation, is limited to the sense of gratitude. But is not this a
misconception on our part ? Is there some other meaning to be
attached thereto ?
2. II. Z., 1891, pp. 187, 206, Naimusho Knnrei No. 12, Art. 3, July 6.
4- ^m^m^
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 5 1
" 2. There are people who regard the taima^ of the shrines
as images of the deities, and who say that those who do not
receive taima are unpatriotic. In our sect we look upon the
taima as religious charms.^ We base the interpretation that
receiving them is a voluntary matter on Ordinance Number 30,
issued by the Department of Home Affairs in March 1878/' Is
this an error on our part ?
" 3. Home Department. Order Number 7, B, issued in
January, 1882, states, "From this date on the right of Shinto
priests to exercise the functions of teachers of religion and
morals {Kyodo Shoku) is abolished. Priests shall not take charge
of funeral services. Exception : For the present priests connected
with shrines of prefectural rank or lower may do as before."
Since the promulgation of this order already more than thirty
years have elapsed and yet priests of shripes of prefectural grade
and below conduct funeral services as in the earlier period.
What then is the purport of the law just cited which distinguishes
between Shinto priests and teachers of religion and morals ? "''
The government in reply is reported to have made the
significant statement : " These are matters on which instruc-
tions cannot be given in writing. If, however, you come to the
capital we will make oral reply. "^
This oral statement was not given until October 9, 1920.
On this date the Chief of the Bureau of Shrines replied to a
committee of the Shin Sect cis follows :
'' I. If reverence for the deities and respect for ancestors
have in them harm for the nation, then nothing can be' done ; if,
1. -}^^-
2. If 1^, Shimpu.
3. The law referred to says, " It is hereby announced that, with regard to
the taima of the Jingu, from now on, irrespective of the relations with local
officials, the acceptance or rejection thereof is to rest entirely with the choice of
the people." Department of Home Affairs, March 23, 1878. Cf. t^^i^^, J^ff
JP'i'illhii'piEi^n^frl^j (Sugimori, K., Genko Jinja Ilorei Chikujo Kogi, "Lectures
on Contemporary Shrine I-.aw," Tokyo, 1910), Appendix, p. 102.
4. Keishin Mondai Chosa Hokoku, p. 3.
5. Md.
52 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
however, there is advantage in them, all people high and low
must cooperate in planning for the progress of these sentiments.
When the idea of reverence for the deities ot heaven and earth
is exalted, the people naturally look up to divine virtues and
they come to desire to secure daily progress under divine
guidance. This is prayer. We wish that the idea of reverence
might advance to this point. This is not, however, to be forced.
Prayer in the sense of supplication for individual profit and
happiness we neither encourage nor repress. Yet if Shinshu
teaches merely pure gratitude toward the deities of heaven and
earth we have no objection.
"2. Taima are not images of the deities. They are
media through which the people revere the deities of the
shrines. This is their real meaning. Therefore we desire that
the people should receive them.
" 3. Concerning the order of 1882 which permits priests
of shrines of prefectural grade and below to conduct funeral
services, the law used the term tobim^ ('^ for the present "). As
a matter of fact, the necessity still exists. For example, in
certain districts some people desire Shinto funerals but they do
not wish them conducted by any of the Shinto sects. It is by
all means necessary to provide for these people with services by
Shintd officials {s /tins ho hi). '''^
The same report prints a condensed statement attributed to
the Chief of the Bureau of Religions in reply to the same
questions. The statement is dated October 12, 1920 and says,
" I am not of the opinion that the idea of prayer toward the
deities of heaven and earth must be maintained by all means. I
do desire that the people receive taima, but I do not believe that
they must be received without exception. Also unwillingness
to accept them does not necessarily imply disrespect to the
deities.'"
I- %^'
2. Keishin Mondai Chosa Hokoku, pp. 6-8
3. Op. ciL, p. 8.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 53
The report closes with resolutions embodying the attitude
of the Mikawa Association toward the issue. The statement
says :
*' We should be grateful for the great benefits of the divine
spirits of Imperial ancestors who founded the nation and establish-
ed virtue and should offer them reverence that is deep and true,
likewise, weshould be thankful to all the other deities who labored
for the nation and who gave the people peace. But it is forbid-
den in this sect to pray for one's own selfish ends and for benefits
and blessings in this world. This is the teaching of the Shin
Sect regarding the deities of heaven and earth. We repudiate
all such things as heresy, Shinto churches, and the deities ot a
multitude of shrines arbitrarily established.
** Taiina are not images of the deities ; they are religious
charms. The government, working through a Department for
Shrines is now making general distribution of these objects. But
the reception or refusal thereof are matters in which the people
have freedom of choice. This was established in a proclamation
of the Department of Home Affairs in 1878. Therefore, to say
that those who do not receive them are unpatriotic is a gross
libel."'
A further statement regarding the taima says, " From the
standpoint of name, history and past method of distribution it is
clear that taima are charms. The government and one or two
scholars persist in trying to interpret taima from the point of
view of the psychology of the recipients but their attitude cannot
be called honest in that they do not interpret either the meaning
or the method of distribution."^
Another publication of the Shin Sect, entitled Gyoku Den
Okura Toi'onki^ (** An Account of the Discussion between
Gyoku Den and Okura ") presents in detail the reasons why
adherents of the sect are forbidden to receive talma. The most
1. Op. cit., pp. 13-14.
2. op. cit., p. 13.
3- z^m^^mmt^ m%m^mix^¥i> m^mm^
$4 THE rOLlTICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
important part of the explanation says, '' Oar position that recep-
tion of taima on the part of adherents of the Shin Sect is con-
trary to the principles of the sect has its basis in the fact that
there exists the idea that \{ taima are placed on the god-shelf and
worshipped and revered morning and evening, evil and misfortune
will be averted thereby. If the actual, popular usage of taima
is investigated it will be found that beliefs concerning them are
such as these : If taima are stood up in cultivated fields they
will prevent destruction by insects ; if pasted up in cattle sheds
they will prevent diseases of cattle ; or, if put up at garden
entrances they will drive away evil spirits."* Such practices, it
is stated, are a rude form of prayer for the things of this world
and thus contradictory to a fundamental tenet of the sect.
A remarkable criticism of the existing situation is contained
in a speech in the Imperial Japanese Diet, made in December,
191 8, by Mr. Tatsuguchi Ryoshin, a member of the Diet. With
regard to the issue under consideration the speech says :
" In the matter of the relation of the Shinto shrines and
religion, it is to be said that the shrines of our country are places
where the deities of heaven and earth are worshipped. These
deities are the ancestors of our Imperial Family and of other
personages of our nation and are by no means the same as the
God of Christianity or the Buddha of Buddhism. At shrines
those who have contributed meritorious service to the state are
commemorated. Thus the shrines are places where rites are
performed in memory of our ancestors and are by no means
religious and are not to be regarded as religious chapels.
*' I wish to say, however, that the priests of prefectural grade
and below perform funeral ceremonies and preach sermons ; they
distribute amulets and charms'^ and offer prayers. They function
1. Op. cif., p. 25.
2. Omamori^ ofuda. The practice of distributing these objects is not con-
fined to shrines of lower grade as the speech would seem to indicate They can
be secured at the greatest shrines of Shinto, as for example at the Grand Shrine
of Ise and the new Meiji Jingu of Tokyo.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 55
exactly as the priests of Buddhism. Thus it is that our ancestral
ceremonies have become religious and the Shinto priests have
become religious teachers. This confusion of religion and the
shrines has in it the following great dangers :
*' I. That the dignity of the shrines be injured and the
gocd traditions of our ancestor worship be destroyed.
** 2. That the shrines finally take on the form of a national )
religion and become the cause of the persecution ot other /j
religions."^
( II. In the second place, the ceremonials conducted under
government direction at the official shrines are ol a genuinely
religious nature. ,It is true that the government attempts to
distinguish betweef'n suhai or shuhaif (" worship "), and sukei or
sJiiikei^ (" reverence "), maintaining that at the official shrines
the latter is offered, directed toward the commemoration of
those who have been conspicuous for loyalty to ancestors, em-
peror and state in the past. But when investigation is made of
the rites which are employed to express this reverence, it is found
that even officialdom makes use of religious ceremonial. These
rites are based on the ancient ceremonies of the Engi Shiki.
They include norito (prayers), shinsen (food offerings), kaihi
(ceremony of opening the screen before the shrine), and harai
(prayers for the expulsion of evil). It is impossible to maintain
that these are mere forms devoid of true religious significance.*
The objection to officially inspired *' shrine worship " on the
ground that it is a real religion has been well formulated by the
^oman Catholic Church of Japan, speaking through the Bishop
of Nagasaki. The promulgation says, "The members of the
Catholic Church, without hesitation; will join in paying due
reverence toward the nation's distinguished men as a part ot
patriotic duty. Nevertheless, however generous our frame of
I. Chugai Nippd [t^^^ ^), Dec. 26, 1915 (No. 4913), p. 2.
4. J. E. Japan Evangelist), May, 1918, p. I81.
$6 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
mind may be with regard to this view of the shrines (government
view), we cannot give our support to it. . . . Shrine wor-
ship is indeed poor in religious ideas judged from the inner
worth of religion, but is amply furnished with a wealth of cere-
monialism fixed by law. It is an organized form of reverence
paid to supernatural beings and must be regatded as a religion.
Moreover, it is a religion forced upon the people, and if it be
different from Shinto, it may not inappropriately be called shrine
religion. It is something proposed to take the place of a national
religion. . . . We regret exceedingly that as Catholics we
cannot accept the interpretation of shrine worship given by the
government, nor can we visit the shrines and engage in the
services for the dead nor can we ever pay respect to the so-called
gods."'
^ The Federated Churches of Japan (Protestant) take similar
' ground. This body, representing practically all the Christian
forces of Japan outside of Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic
constituencies, has taken the position that " to lead people into a
vague religious exercise under the pretext of reverence toward
ancestors, and thus to mix the two things, is not only irrational,
but results in harm to education and hinders in many ways
the progress of the people."^ The Nikon Kirisuto Kydkai
(Presb.), acting through the Gotemba Conference of 19 17
has likewise separately passed a resolution to the effect that
government ceremonies performed at the shrines are conducted
in a true religious spirit and with religious rites.*
The position of the Greek Catholic Church of Japan,
although not officially expressed, has been interpreted by a
representative of that body in a recent publication. In general
each individual is allowed to follow the dictates of his own
conscience. Worship at the shrines in the sense of honor or
respect paid to ancestors is encouraged, but only at those shrines
' I. Op. cit., pp, 180-182 ; Kirisuto Kyohoy March 28, 1918.
2. J. E., Nov. 1917, p. 413.
3. J. E., Sept. 1917, p. 340.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. $f
dedicated to the memory of those closely related with the
history of the country or the Imperial Family. Christians are
permitted to pray for the salvation of ancestors who were not
believers and for the spirits of those to whose memory the
shrines are dedicated. On the other hand, worship at the
shrines in the sense of prayer for personal good fortune is not
permitted.'
III. i In the third place the position of the government is
criticised Sis a violation of the Japanese Constitution itself. It is
maintained that the position of the national government on
" shrine worship " creates a situation that interferes directly with
the exercise of the constitutionally guaranteed rights of freedom
of religious faith. Different non-Shinto religious bodies, within
the last few years have adopted resolutions and otherwise made
public utterances calling attention to this situation.^
On October 31, 19 17, the Federation of Japanese Churches
(Christian), meeting to commemorate jointly the quadricentennial
of the outbreak of the German Reformation, and the birthday of
the reigning Japanese Emperor, considered the occasion oppor-
tune for the adoption of resolutions emphasizing the rights of
religious liberty under the Constitution. The document drawn
up at this time makes a " distinction between religion, on the
one hand, and respect that may properly be paid to ancestors
and to those historic personages that have rendered meritorious
services to their country on the other." The churches strongly
affirm their loyalty to the state and the Emperor, and add that
it is the duty of all loyal men to encourage a cosmopolitan spirit
and to aid in eliniinating superstition.
Clause Five of the resolutions then states the main griev-
ance : " The Imperial Constitution guarantees freedom of faith,
and we must do our best to see that this law is maintained.
We must note, however, as utterly inconsistent with the principle
of religious liberty the following matters : the recent arrange-
I. J. E., Aug., 1915, pp. 342-3 } Sii^yd Yowa, May, 1915.
58 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
ments about shrines, the connection established between shrines
and education, many things that have occurred in towns,
villages, and elsewhere, and the common custom of making
the observance of these superstitious customs almost com-
pulsory."^
The Roman Catholic Church has likewise called attention
to the freedom of religious belief granted in the Constitution
promulgated by the late Emperor Meiji and has expressed a
desire that the government create a status for the shrines under
which it may be possible for Christians to maintain their constant
purpose to be loyal to the Empire and at the same time be
" faithful to the most high God " without doing violence to
conscience.^
An additional Roman Catholic view, translated trom " Les
Nouvelles Religieuses " by the Japan Chronicle, goes even
farther and expresses no little anxiety lest the situation may
eventuate in the abrogation of even the existing constitutional
protection of religious liberty. The article says regarding the
point under consideration, **Nor is it possible to Ibresee whether,
some day, the religious liberty protected by the Constitution
may be limited. The text of the Constitution carries the
construction that this religious liberty is granted on condition
that public peace and order are not troubled. Hostile voices
are already heard in the Press demanding the restriction of this
liberty. Others, on the contrary, have expressed their apprehen-
sions lest the text of the Constitution be found to furnish a
pretext for thase abuses. Whatever happens, it can be under-
stood how those who have devoted their lives to making known
in Japan the benefits of the Gospel, experience, as one or two ot
them have written, 'serious and legitimate disquiet for the
future of our holy religion when they see the recrudescence of
Shinto (the cult of the Imperial Ancestors), the efforts, limited
I. J. E., Nov., 1917, p. 413.
», J. E., May, 19 18, p. 183.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 59
but constant, of the official world to make it the sole national
cult, and the gradual advance of Japan toward Caesarism'."'
The Nihon Kirisuto Kyokai declares — " When the Govern-
ment authorities encourage this worship at the shrines, yea, and
even almost compel school children to take part in the same, it is
clear that they are violating the Constitution of the Empire as
well as infringing upon the freedom of faith guaranteed by the
Constitution."'
Buddhist organizations have taken similar action. The
issue between Buddhism and Shinto reached a stcige of special
acuteness at the time of the coronation of the reigning emperor
in 191 5. There is evidence on hand to show that at this time
government officials in various places were attempting to
strengthen Shinto as a support for nationalism by utilizing
opportunities that arose in connection with the coronation
ceremonies at Kyoto. The translations given below from the
Japanese Buddhist press of the time will serve to show the
nature of the difficulties that appeared as well as the reaction
that manifested itself in a large section of Buddhism.
The Chugai Nippo under the date of November 30, 191 5,
prints the following : " A statement of a conference of the Shin
Sect regarding interference with religion on the part of the
governor of Kagawa Prefecture —
" Governor Wakabayashi, acting * through the Chief of the
local Department of Home Affairs, recently summoned the
heads of all cities, towns and villages and gave instructions that
at the time of the coronation the people of the entire province
without regard to religious affiliations should erect kadomatsu
(ceremonial pine trees) at the gates, place kamidana (god
shelves) in the houses, stretch shimenawa (sacred ropes) under
1. The National Cult in Japan^ «A Roman Catholic Study of Its Opposi-
tion to Evangelization, p. 8, (Japan Chronicle, Kobe, Japan, 1918). For a Japanese
answer to this criticism see Japan Weekly Chronicle, Dec. 26, 1918, p. 895, " The
National Cult in Japan."
2. J. E.," Sept. I9I7» p. 340» Resolutions of the Gotemba Conference of
1917- >- -.
6o THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
the eaves, that they should purify their houses and that all the
people should go in groups to designated shrines of cities, towns
and villages and perform distant worship [toward Kyoto].
*' In certain villages the coercion was added that failure to
obey this command was punishable with a fine and the charge
was made that any offender was unpatriotic.
" As a result the heads of respective towns and villages
enforced the order on the people and, as a matter of fact, a local
policeman visited the Rev. Tachibana Jokai at his re.sidence
within the court of the K5sei Temple and obliged him to hang
shimenawa at the temple gates, to stand kadomatsu at the
entrance, forced him to purify the temple just like a common
house, ^and commanded him to make public attendance at a
shri^iiMejf^ ordinary person and perform distant worship."^
Und^/ me date of December ii, 1915, the same publication
says, *\ In Yamagata Prefecture, just as in Kagawa Prefecture on
the occasion of the coronation, all people were forced to put up
kamidana, hang shimenawa, and erect kadomatsu. Owing to
such extraordinary interference the opposition of the people has
been aroused and there is ^ movement to secure the resignation
of the governor and heads of towns and villages. In this
province all the sects of Buddhism, including the Jodo, East
Hongwanji, West Hongwanji, Soto, and Rinzai sects have
united and are taking up with the local governor the matter of
this unlawful interference."^ Similar situations in Hiroshima,
Shimane, Ishikawa and other prefectures called forth further
criticisms from Buddhist sources.'^
Even prior to the appearance of the issue over the corona-
tion ceremonies, namely, in March, 191 5, twelve delegates,
representing fifty-six sects of Japanese Buddhism had waited on
the Minister of Education and demanded consistency in the
1. ChTigai Nippd^ Nov, 30, I915 (No. 4890), p. 3.
2. Op. cit.y Dec. II, 1915 (No. 4900), p. 3.
3. Op. cit.y Jan. 5, 1916 (No. 4916), p. 3 ; Kei Sei, Feb., 1916 j J. E., March,
I9l6,p. 117.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 6 1
government's Shinto policy. Their statement reads, " Although
Shinto is independent of and separate from religion, yet religious
services are conducted by Shinto priests at their shrines. In
order to safeguard religious freedom the prohibition of the
unwarrantable practices of conducting religious services through
Shinto priests is deemed urgent."^
Again, on December loth of the same year, sixty-four
delegates representing fifty-six sects, met in the West Hongwanji
Temple at Kyoto, adopted a set of six resolutions and appointed
a committee to carry them into effect. The first resolution is
important as expressing united loyalty to the central institution
of the Japanese state. The reading is, ** First : The various
Buddhist sects shall unite in purpose and activity for the revival
and dissemination of religion and for adding new emphasis to the
duties of propagandism, with a view to a better promotion of the
fortunes of the Imperial House."
The second, third, and fourth resolutions bear further on a
program of Buddhist federation ; the last two are directed toward
the solution of the religious issue with the authorities. " Fifth :
To keep clear the distinction between the shrine ofific'als {Shin-
shohi) and Shintoism as a religion {S/iindo Shukyo) there shall be
put forth efforts to prevent these two from being identified.
Sixth : There being recently a very unsatisfactory attitude toward
Buddhism manifested by the authorities, these conditions shall
be made public and an effort shall be put forth to induce the
government to remove the unsatisfactory conditions."^
A frank exposition of the constitutional aspects of the
problem as well as of the difificulties confronted by the Japanese
government as it attempts to maintain simultaneously a national
cult in Shinto and a guarantee of general religious freedom in the
Constitution, is stated in the publication of the Mikawa Association
of the Shin Sect already noted. In its introduction to the dis-
1. Cf. Missioi: News (Organ of Am. Board Mission, Kobe, Japan), June,
1916, p, 184.
2. Tokyo^Asahi Shimbtin^ Dec. il, 1915 ; J. E., Jan., 1916, pp. 30-31.
62 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
cussion of the shrine problem this document remarks, " Whoever
is born in this country, even if he knows but little gratitude,
must revere the deities of heaven and eaith and respect his ances-
tors. But reverence for deities and respect for ancestors are not
things to be used for certain ulterior objects. They are, in and
of themselves, precious principles for the nation. Accordingly,
they must always be treated with care and seriousness. If,
however, the essential nature of reverence for ancestors is for-
gotten and under cover of the beautiful name thereof, it is thrust
forward arbitrarily, not only is the divine will misunderstood,
but also the certain result is that the freedom of religious faith
guaranteed under the Imperial Constitution is endangered, various
other religions are antagonized and the sprit of the people is
thrown into confusion. If one considers the plans of the govern-
ment during the fifty years since the Restoration and especially
during the past ten years he will come to know that this is not
simply groundless apprehension."^
The statement further says, " It is very much to be doubted
whither the authorities themselves possess a firm faith in the
shrines and the deities. Yet the government cannot go on being
blind to the increasing confusion in popular ideas. But as gov-
ernment officials it is not possible to consider entrusting Bud-
dhism with the sjreat responsibility of unifying the popular mind,
and likewise it is impossible for them to depend on Christianity.
Therefore, from the government standpoint, the unification of
the popular mind cannot be accomplished otherwise than by
hoisting up the shrines. Thus the official advocacy of reverence
for deities is entirely policical policy. In order to carry out this
policy the government would like to regard the shrines as places
of religious worship. Otherwise, the sentiment of reverence for
deities cannot be implanted strongly in the hearts ot the people.
But if this were done it would immediately contradict the freedom
of religious faith guaranteed in the Constitution. Therefore, the
government asserts that the shrines are not religious. Thus the
I. Keishin Mondai Chosa Ilo/ioku, p. I.
THE POLITICAL FHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 63
government is constantly standing in the presence of a self-con-
tradiction. The reason why the government authorities are
never able to give a clear and unequivocal solution to this pro-
blem is just here. In particular, the fact that the official attitude
toward Christianity is not clear has its basis altogether in this
matter.'" .„^^
A criticism of similar import from the Japanese secular press \ yf /^
says, "The worship at the shrines where great men of the
country are deified is clearly a manifestation of religious senti-
ment, and so all the rites and forms in the Shinto shrines are
unquestionably religious in character. The Japanese authorities,
however, have been averse to recognizing this axiom and con-
sequently refuse to call a spade a spade. It is a great mistake,
on the part of the government to regard as not religion what
possesses all the essential attributes of a religion. Yet it desires
to give a religious benefit to the people by the observance of )
religious forms. "^ ~^^
In this connection special notice should be made of the
Fukuin ShimpOy a Christian magazine which has consistently and
fearlessly criticized the government position on shrine worship.
One of the most refreshingly direct criticisms that has yet ap-
peared was published by this journal at the time of the dedication
of the Meiji Shrine. The writer says :
*^ Shrine worship which government authorities are now
encouraging and at times even forcing is a matter that is accom-
pained by numerous questions both from the standpoint of faith
and of ideas. At times one feels as though truth were being set at
naught and justice were being trampled under foot. . . .
" The government authorities announce that the shrines are
not religious, and then as the superlative proof thereof they
point to the government organization which separates the Bureau
of Shrines from the Bureau of Religions. To this kind of an
1. Op. cit.y pp. 5-6.
2. Yorodzu Shimbnn. Trans, in Japan Weekly Chronicle, May 25, I916,
p. 836. ■
64 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
apology I can never give my assent. The determination of
whether or not the shrines are religious is not a matter that lies
within the province of government offices. It is purely a pro-
blem of knowledge and is to be determined by application of
scientific method to the study of religion. . . . Considered
from this standpoint the definition handed down by the govern-
ment has no value whatever From the point of
view of the science of religion it is doubly clear that, in origin
and tradition, in form of ceremony and in spirit of worship, the
shrines are religious. In this there is not room for the injection
of a particle of doubt. Accordingly, if the government forces
shrine worship on us by order, it overrides the rights which
are guaranteed us in the Constitution.
" Among the Japanese of today are deists, pantheists, and
materialists. There are both those who affirm and those who
deny the existence of God, There are those who believe in the
immortality of the soul and those who do not so believe. There
are great differences according to variation in individual ideas.
Especially in Japan, pantheists who have come under the influ-
ence of Indian thought and materialists who have come under
the influence of modern science are numerous. According to
the teachings of pantheism all change is like the waves on the
sea. When the waves calm down all becomes water again. All
things finally return to the Absolute and individual existence is
annihilated. The human soul after death is immersed in the
Absolute and not a shadow or sign of it is left.
•' Again, it is impossible for a materialist to admit the
existence of the soul. Consequently, for a pantheist or a mater-
ialist to kneel before ancestors, to offer norito, and pray at the
shrines becomes altogether meaningless. To what extent there
are those who out of a desire to preserve public harmony
practice opportunism with indifference, I cannot say, but if they
value the truth and are loyal to the principles in which they
believe, it ought to be impossible for pantheists and materialists
to worship at the shrines. . , , For the state to be blind to
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 65
the existence of philosophy and science and to force a kind of
faith and a set of ideas on the people is to disregard human life
and spirit, and is folly
" I am not one who feels that shrine worship must be op-
posed by all means. Religious faith is free. Those who find
satisfaction in the ceremonies of the shrines should therewith
make sincere expression of ancestor worship. But for the state
to force this on those who cannot find satisfaction in the cere-
monies of the shrines is certainly illegal and is persecution.
Where there is no freedom hypocrisy flourishes. I feel that the
forcing of this additional falsehood upon the Japanese nation
which is already suffering from great hypocrisy is a matter that
ought to be fully considered."^
The case against the government has been well summarized
by Mr. Ojima Saneharu, the most representative of the Christian
students of Shinto. An abridgment of his exposition includes
the following points.
1. The norito issued in 19 14 by the Japanese Department
of Home Affairs for the use of Shinto priests contain prayers for
abundant harvests, health and victory. In view of the special
position of the official cult, this cannot be harmonized with the
guarantee of religious liberty contained in the Constitution.
2. The government declares that at the shrines are wor-
shipped the ancestors of the Imperial Family and those who in
past have won merit in the service of the state. If among the
ancestors of the Imperial Family are included such personages
as Ainaterasu-0-Mi-Kaini, Ama-no-Mi-Naka-Nushi-no-Kami^
Taka-Mi-Musiibi-no-Kami and Kami-Musuln-no-Kami, then offi-
cial Shintd is a religion and the shrines become religious
institutions.
3. It is illogical and inconsistent for the government to
say that the shrines are not religious and at the same time permit
I. /hif|^^5f;^, Pfil-^l" ;5)|i^. {Onot/mra, Rinzo, Jinja ni tai sum
Gigi, " Doubts Regaiding the Shrines "), Fukuin Shimpo, Nov. 25, 1920, pp.
576-577-
66 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
priests of prefectural, district and village shrines to conduct
funeral services.
4. The fact that the government does not manage the
Shintd shrines through the Bureau of Religions is explicable as a
kind of official sophistry, for the shrines are genuine religious
institutions.*
( In spite of such criticism the government has persisted in
maintaining its position that the shrines are not religious institu-
tions. A recent statement of the Home Department says,
" Whatever ideas or beliefs the people may have, the govern-
ment does not look upon the shrines as being religious in nature.
However desirable it m^y be for the people to return to the
former ideas and interpretations regarding the shrines, at the
present time the government has no thought of doing anything
to bring this about. The government simply encourages respect
for the shrines and believes that shrines may be reverenced and
supported by those who have faith in any religion without
conflict or inconvenience. Whatever opinion may be held as to
what should be done regarding the religious attitude toward the
shrines, the government will maintain a neutral position on the
ground that religious belief should be free.""
The latest phase of the development of official Shinto is in
connection with educational ^oblems that have been forced into
prominence as a rigsult of the _Great War. During the war the
Japanese government appointed a special commission on educa-
tion to consider, among other things, matters relating to the
unification of the thought of the people. It is worthy of note
that forty-two members of the Imperial Diet were on this
commission. The reports were made public in the months of
January and February, 1919.
1. Cf. (9/7//;^, Saneharu, Tettei sezaru Jinja Ron (J^J^^tfo. fiS'^tl$*5
^^iJ^I'^, " Unconvincing -Arguments regarding Shrints," 5///;/////, Vol, 17, No. 5,
May, 1916), pp. 75-80.
2. T. E., Apr. 1916, pp. 154-5 ; Fiikuin ShimJ'd, Apr. 1916. Statemeni of
the Bureau of Shrines.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 6/
The Commission alleges that unsound social conditions have
been developing mpidly in Japan of late and assigns as cause an
excessive and indiscriminate introduction into Japan of occidental
ideas and institutions subsequent to the Restoration. The
report says, ^' The situation is very giave and calls for serious
consideration ; " and, again, '^ Such systems, organizations and
social conditions as are found to be inconsistent with and contra-
dictory to the fundamental principles of our national education .
must be reformed and readjusted, and for that purpose joint
efforts of those in positions of authority and those in private are
indispensable."^ -'^^TN
Along with this harmonious cooperation of government and' |
people, the Commission urges the carrying out of a reconstruc-
tion program along the lines of traditional Japanese institutions.
The foundations must be the old characteristic culture of Japan
{Nihon no koyu no biinkd). The report thus emphasizes the
necessity of the continued worship of national deities and
advocates " the preservation of the dignity and solemnity of the
shrines, commensurate with their sacred associations, and the
universal education of the people to the true meaning of religious
ceremonies and also to elevating the status of the Shinto
priesthood.'*^
The issue, however, still remains open. Up to the present,
it has proved impossible to find consistency in the official inter-
pretation of the shrines. As an indication of the ambiguity of
the government attitude, we may quote from the report of a
"Special Committee on Shrines" of the National Christian
Educational Association of Japan as given July lo, 1920. The
report states, " Your committee made two calls on the Bureau
of Shrines of the Japanese Government and presented our point
of view and our hopes respecting both shrine worship and
pilgrimages to shrines. The only answer we received was that
1. J. E., Apr. 1919, pp. 136-7; Japan 7imes and Mail, Feb. 11, 21, 22,
I919.
2. J. E., op. cit. p. 137.
fi8 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
the government must give the matter further consideration.
We greatly regret that we have not yet been able to attain our
point. Our demand briefly stated is, that the government shall
adopt adequate measures for making public proclamation to the
effect that the meaning of shrine visitation is limited to an
expression of honest respect and is not to be understood as
religious worship."^
The legal difficulty, however, has a fundamental aspect. It
relates to the underlying philosophy upon which has been reared
the structure of Japanese communal ancestmlism. Is the state
itself, consciously or unconsciously, committed to a politico-
religious theory that makes impossible at present the genuine
secularization of the shrines? Are the great ancestral kami
nothing more than mere men who have labored and passed off
the stage of human affairs and the memory of whose greatness is
revered at the shrines ? Or are they regarded as actual spirits
of a superhuman world, able to aid suppliant human beings and
ever watching over the destinies of Japan ? In attempting to
arrive at defensible answers to these questions we may turn first
to some typical solutions that have been offered by Japanese
investigators, themselves.
i^ i#^IS:Wlimtmi^rp]|g,#ii*:^, p. 12. Tokyo, 1920. '
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 69
CHAPTER III.
Japanese Interpretations of Shint5 :
The Ethical Definition.
Solutions of the shrine problem presented by contemporary
J apanese Shintoists resolve themselves into two general classes of
interpretation, (i) the nationalistic-ethical and (2) the nation-
alistic-religious.
Both forms of interpretation are equally penetrated by a point
of view which Japanese Shintoists attempt to expound as the
mark of the fundamental social mind of their race, namely, .a
group consciousness or social and political loyalty which is
represented to be of such strength as to dominate and very
frequently to eliminate individualism.^ The solidarity of the
primitive " we-group " has made its way up through the clan spirit
of feudalism into the modern state ; the particularism of the old 1 ^-^
feudal order has been drawn together about a national emotional '
center in the Imperial House " of unbroken line throughout all
time as Heaven and Earth eternal." Under the stimulus of
modern conflicts with external forces this social mind hats become
extraordinarily self-conscious and is manifesting itself in the form
of a nationalism which, as set forth by a large group of Japanese
apologists, is supposedly supported by a patriotism which is
unique in human history.
This situation in modern Japanese social psychology has been^
indicated in the above terminology by the application of the
term " nationalistic " to both forms of the interpretation of
Shinto. The difference between the two lies largely in the %
I.' Cy. Uehara, G. E., The PoUlical Development of Japan, p. 19; Kato,
Naoshi, " Eastern Ideals and the Japanese Spirit," T. J. S. L., VoL XIII (1914-15),
Pt I, p. 142 ; Haga, Yaeichi, Kokuminsei Juvon (>^^^— , iiH14+f^> " Ten
lectures on National Traits," Tokyo, 1914, 12th ed.), p. 4 ff . ; Tanaka, Yoshito,
Shiudo Hongi (EEmJg.t^, ffiiTJs;^, ''Essentials of 5/«;i/^," Tokyo, 1911), pp.
137.140.
U^
70 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
nature of the fundamental philosophical explanation of the basis
of Shinto. The first n^imed attempts to develop a Shinto
pantheon out of the heroes of Japanese political history, while
leaving the ultimate nature of these " deities " largely unex-
plained. The second, while likewise stressing political values,
definitely ties up communal ancestralism with pantheism or with
idealistic monism. We may consider the two forms in the
\^ above mentioned order.
The formulation which Japanese exponents attempt in the
nationalistic-ethical interpretation follows along the lines laid
down in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by Kada
Azumaro, Kamo Mabuchi, Motoori Noringa and Hirata
Atsutane. .-It concurs with the official announcement that Shinto
is not a religion, at least in the ordinary sense, and builds largely
on the proposition that Shinto deities are human beings. Not
only so, it further attempts to carry this thesis right back
through the earliest Japanese mythology.
The point of view here indicated is applied in two directions :
(a) as the interpretation of existing political institutions and the
support thereof, and (b) as a means of facilitating a harmonization
of this supposedly non-religious form of Shinto with thought and
practice looked upon as truly religious. Behind the former
application lies the interest of a host of statesmen, politicians,
soldiers, educationalists and Shintd officials ; behind the latter,
the interest of many of the genuine religious leaders of the nation.
We turn first to the consideration of the political application
of the nationalistic-ethical interpretation.
There is hardly a subject in modern Japan that has received,
at the hands of both governmental and educational authorities,
the attention that has been accorded so-called Kokumin Dotoku}
'• [SKiMitii- For bibliographies of Japanese literature on this subject cf.
Inotiyt^To.K'-XiixxQ, Kokuinin DotokuGairon {^\-±M^M^ ^WA'^Mtm^ " Out-
lines of National Morality"), Appendix, pp. 103-117; Kono, Shozo, Kokumin
Z?5/<7y^« 6"/4/«>« (fDJIf^H, iai^it^^liSl> "A History of National Morality"),
pp. 256-8.
X
iHE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. y'l
— '^ national morality." It is the fundamental motive of Japanese
education.' In the form of apologetic here under discussion, /
Shinto becomes practically identical with Kokumin Dotokiu
That is to say, Shinto is now interpreted ns either the system of
national morality itself or as the unique spirit which prodnre^ thg-
system. It is a social and political ethic emerging from the
peculiarities of Japanese psychology and history. It is identified
with Japanese, development from the hppinninrr f^n^ ''"^ i-^p-at-rl^r^
as vitally necessary to the maintenance of the Tapanese state.
If k ndq^jttedlv applied as a means of stabilising existing- [apanese
institutions in the presence of distintegrating and suppressing '
tendencies supposedly threatening Japan through the incoming of !
Occidental civilization. It lays out a program of Shinto educa-
tion in which the primary motive is the development of reverence
for the past, respect for authority and loyalty to existing institu- -
tions of the state. It inculcates ideas of the unique sanctity and
moral authority of Imperial Rescripts, together with special
regard for the " peculiar dignity and superiority of the Imperial
House of Japan "^ and the assurance that " th^ i;ig^^ional idgal of_
Japan is unsurpassed and imprepnahle."^ In such a way the
protection afforded Japanese institutions by the Tokugawa
seclusion policy which was disrupted by the arrival of the " black
ships" of Perry in 1853, is now secured by a psychological
and educational program that attempts to strengthen the
inner spirit rather than to put a wall of seclusion about the
land.'
Modern Japanese exposition of the elements of " national y
morality " comes back, sooner or later, to the ethical teaching oi ^ T
the Imperial Rescript on Education, promulgated in 1890. The
Japanese government and a large number of individual writers
on the subject are agreed that the Rescript on Education
1. Cf. Inouye, op. cit.y pp. 2-3.
2. Cf. Motoori, " Shinto Education," Japan Magazine^ May, 1917, p. 4I.
3. Ibid., p. 42.
4. Cf. Inpuye, op. cit. pp. 84-100.
72 THE FOIJtlCAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
must be taken as setting forth the basis of contemporary
Japanese ethics, both public and private. The official English
translation of this Rescript is here given for purposes of re-
ference.
''Know Ye, Our Subjects :
'* Our Imperial Ancestors have founded Our Empire on a
basis broad and everlasting, and have deeply and firmly im-
planted virtue ; Our subjects ever united in loyalty and filial
piety have from generation to generation illustrated the beauty
thereof. This is the glory of the fundamental character of Our
Empire, and herein also lies the source of Our education. Ye,
Our subjects, be filial to your parents, affectionate to your
brothers and sisters ; as husbands and wives be harmonious,
as friends true ; bear yourselves in modesty and modera-
tion ; extend your benevolence to all ; pursue learning and
cultivate arts, and thereby develop intellectual faculties and
perfect moral powers ; furthermore, advance public good
and promote common interests ; always respect the Con-
stitution and observe the laws ; should emergency arise, offer
yourselves courageously to the State ; and thus guard and
maintain the prosperity of Our Imperial Throne coeval with
heaven and earth. So shall ye be not only Our good and faith-
ful subjects but render illustrious the best traditions of your
forefathers.
*' The Way here set forth is indeed the teaching bequeath-
ed by Our Imperial Ancestors, to be observed alike by Their
Descendants and the subjects, infallible for all ages and true in
all places. It is Our wish to lay it to heart in all reverence, in
common with you. Our subjects, that we may all attain to the
same virtue.
" The 30th day of the loth month of the 23rd year of Meiji.
[The 30th of October, 1890]. (Imperial Sign Manual, Imperial
Seal)."^
I. For the history of this translation consult Kikuchi^'D^\xoV.\x, Jcpatiese
Edtuation (London, 1909), pp. 1-3. An ofiicial edition of the original Japanese
tHE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 73
On the day following the promulgation of this Rescript the
Minister of Education, Mr. Yoshikawa Akimasa, issued instruc-
tions which indicated plainly the use which the government
intended to make of the document. A translation of the order
follows.
'' His Imperial Majesty, deeply anxious concerning the
education of His subjects, has graciously handed down an Im-
perial Rescript. I, Akimasa, the present incumbent of the office
of Minister of Education, am entrusted with a great responsi-
bility. Reflecting on the matter night and day, I am fearful lest
I make a mistake. I have received the Imperial Rescript with
reverence and, deeply moved, have made copies thereof and
am distributing them to the schools of the entire country.
Those who are engaged in education, always obedient to the
Imperial will, must not neglect the duties of culture and disci-
pline, and especially on the days of school ceremonies or on some
date determined according to convenience, the pupils must be
assembled and the Imperial Rescript on Education must be
read before them. Furthermore, the meaning must be carefully
explained to the pupils and they must be instructed to obey it
at all times."*
text may be found in almost any one of the numerous text-books on ethics pub-
lished by the Japanese Department of Education, as for example, Jinjo Shogaku
Shushimho (5^/>^1^ J'#, " Text-book of Ethics for Primary Schools "), Vol.
VI, Preface.
I. Mombtisho Kunrei^Ippanhono Bu{-^^%%^^, ~^^tk^J%i "Instruc-
tions of the Department of Education, Section on General Regulations "), p. I,
Oct. 31, 1890.
In 1912 Mr. Yoshikawa made public a statement on the actual origin of the
Imperial Rescript on Education which makes interesting reading, especially in
view of the fact that the above order would naturally lead the reader to infer that
the composition of the rescript is referable in toto solely to the Emperor Meiji
Mr Yoshikawa's explanation, as given below, shows that the rescript had its origin
in an effort to apply a corrective to certain dangerous tendencies appearing in
Japanese life in the eighties of the last century owing to the rapid and indiscriminate
" westernization " that had been going on, and furthermore, that, as a matter of
fact, the opinion of experts consulted in the compilation of the rescript was far
74 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
Along with this statement on the part of the Minister of
Education there appeared a covering order from the Depart-
ment of Education, indicating the same intention of utilizing the
new rescript as the basis of public instruction in ethics. The
order reads, " Concerning the Imperial Rescript on Education
and the Instruction of the Minister of Education, to the Hokkaido
Government, the Urban Prefectures, and the other Prefectures.
from being unanimous as to the expediency of this attempt to build national
character on a modified Confucian basis. The statement says, " At the time of
the Restoration the late Emperor decla.ed it would be the guiding principle of
his government to introduce western civilization into the country and to establish
New Japan upon that civilization. Consequently every institution in Japan was
westernized and the atmosphere of the " new civilization " was felt in almost every
stratum of society. Indeed the process of westernization was carried to extremes.
Thus those who advocated the virtues of righteousness, loyalty and filial duty
brought down on themselves the cynical laughter of the men who professed as
their first principle the westernization of Japan every way, and who declared that
the champions of the old fashioned virtues were ignorant of the changed social
condition of the Empire.
" But if any tendency is carried too far, inevitably there comes a reaction.
The excessive westernization of Japan very naturally aroused strong opposition
among conservative people, especially scholars of the Japanese and Chinese clas-
sics, who thought it dangerous for the moral standard of this Empire to see this
process carried even into the moral teachings of the people. Thus a hot contro-
versy followed between scholars, publicists and teachers who were divided into
many schools. The question was so keenly agitated that it was taken up at a
meeting of Governors at the Home Office in 1890. At that time Prince Yama-
gata was Minister of Home Affairs, and I was the Vice -Minister of the same depart-
ment and personally witnessed the heated debate at the Governors' conference.
It was, however, agreed in the end among the Home Office authorities that as the
question concerned the people's thought, it must be dealt with rather by the educa-
tional authorities than by the Home Office officials.
'' His Majesty at once instructed the Minister of Education, Viscount Eno-
moto, to frame some principles for education. Viscount Enomoto, however, resign-
ed for some reason before he had completed the task and I succeeded him and
had to complete the work, I consulted the late Viscount Ki Inouye, then Director
of the Legislation Bureau, on the matter, and the draft was finally drawn up.
While, however, the draft was under compilation, we frequently approached the
Emperor, and asked his gracious advice upon the moral princii)les which were to
be embodied in the new moral standard of the nation.
"As people know, the Imperial Rescript on Education was based on the four
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 75
The Minister ot Education has issued instructions relative to the
Imperial Rescript on Education, graciously promulgated recently
by His Imperial Majesty, and copies will be distributed to all
schools, whether public or private, within the jurisdiction of
the department. Thus the Imperial Will will be fully carried
out.'"
An order appearing in the regulations of Tokyo Prefecture
at practically the same time as the above, states in so many words
that the new Rescript was to constitute the foundation of Japan-
ese education. The statement says : '* Recently, the Imperial
virtues : benevolence, righteousness, loyalty and filial piety. The making of these
four virtues the foundation of the national education w^as, however, strongly criti-
cized at that time, and some scholars even declared that these virtues were imported
from China and ought never to be established as the standard of the nation's
morality. Others again said .that, should such old fashioned virtues be encouraged
among the people, it would mean the revival of the old form of virtue typified by
private revenge, etc. But I strongly upheld the teaching of those four principal
virtues, saying that the essence of man's morality is one and the same irrespective
of place or time, although it might take different forms according to different cir-
cumstances, and that therefore the aforesaid four virtues could well be made . the
moral standard of the Japanese people.
" The Imperial Rescript was issued in its original form, and, in spite of the
criticism and opposition before its promulgation, which caused much fear about
its future, the Rescript, once issued, soon came to be the light of the people in
their moral teaching and is now firmly established as the standard of the nation's
morality." Japan Advertiser, Aug. 6, 1912, Trans, from Kokumin Shimbun,
Aug. 5, 1912.
In estimating the importance to be attached to the criticism that the virtues
stated in the rescript " were imported from China " comparison should be made
with the cardinal virtues of Confucianism, namely, benevolence or humanity,
righteousness, wisdom, propriety, and faith. Compare also the well-known
virtues of Platonism, i.e. wisdom, courage, temperance, and righteousness or
justice. The relations of ruler and subject, of parent and child, of husband and
wife, of brothers and sisters, and of friends with which the rescript concerns itself
merely repeat the gorin, or five human relationships^ of Confucian ethics.
I. Mombiisho Ktmrei., Iptanho no Bii, order No. 8, Oct. 31, 1890. Note
also, " The portraits of the Emperor and Empress and the copy of the Imperial
Rescript on Education, which have been bestowed on each school within the
. jurisdiction of the department, should be placed most reverently in a designated
place within the school." J/<7W^«j>^o .A^/im, No. 4, Nov. 17, 1891.
76 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
Rescript on Education was graciously conferred and instruction
was also given out by the Minister of Education. The Rescript
constitutes the great foundation of the education of our country/
Communication is hereby made to all public and private schools
that all who engage in education must obey the Imperial com-
mand and must be assiduous not to mistake the aim of education
in the future."^
Further evidence showing the extraordinary importance
which the Japanese government attaches to the Imperial Rescript
on Education as an instrument of nationalistic moral training
may be seen in the Japanese educational program directed toward
the assimilation of Korea. An official statement on the subject
says : " As one of the vital aims of the new educational system
is to develop in the younger generations of Koreans such moral
character as will make them loyal subjects of Imperial Japan,
not only is the general idea of the fundamental principles set forth
in the Imperial Rescript on Education pretty well understood by
most of the present-day students, but the new national anthem is
quickly becoming their favorite song
** As alluded to in the last Annual Report, when the new
educational system in the Peninsula was formed, the Imperial
Rescript on Education, issued for Japan twenty-one years ago,
was graciously granted to the Governor-General, and the Im-
perial Will, desiring the extension of the fundamental principles
of the national education to the Peninsula, was thus clearly
manifested, also that Koreans and Japanese were alike regarded
as His Majesty's loyal subjects. Receiving this Imperial Re-
script with reverence, the Governor-General decided to distribute
copies of it among the Government Schools and other Public
Schools. On January 4th, 191 2, the Governor-General issued
an instruction to the Provincial Governments and Government
Schools with regard to the Imperial Rescript on Education.
>• *?|?&W ^ :^*- ^/- also Kikuchi, op. cit., pp. 3, 102-3.
2. Mombushb Kunrei, Order No. 27, Tokyo-fu Kunrei (" Inslruclions for
Tokyo Prefecture "), Nov., 1890.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. J'J
During the year under review, Government and Public Schools
receiving copies of the Imperial Rescript numbered 473."*
I The Imperial Rescript on Education has come to be re-
garded as a sort of condensed sacred Scripture of the official
cult, especially by advocates of the nationalistic-ethical school of
Shinto. The position of this school is well set forth in the
I. Annual Report on Reforms and Progress in Chosen {^Kored) 1912-I3, pp.
207-8. (Compiled by the Government-General of Chosen, Seoul, Dec. I9I4)'
Mr. Sekiya Tasaburo, formerly Director of the Education Bureau of the Korean
Government, a man who has been characterized as largely responsible for the
Japanese educational policy in Korea, has declared, " The fundamental purpose
and policy of the government in its educational work in Korea is none other than
that which it has before its mind constantly in Japan, namely, upon the basis of
the Imperial Rescript on Education, to train the pupils into a loyal and virtuous
people." J. E., Nov. 1913, p. 481.
Under the circumstances it is, perhaps, hardly to be expected that Japanese
criticism of the Imperial Rescript on Education should manifest any special
courage or originality. Ordmary Japanese attempts at evaluation hasten to make
avowal of the superlative all-sufficiency of the rescript as an instrument of moral
education. It is " perfect in spirit and in form, especially in fostering the spirit of
loyalty and patriotism." {Cf. Kato, N., "The Educational System of Japan,"
T. J. S. L., Vol. XVI, p. 142). It is a most clear statement of the essence of
Japanese national life, an authoritative expression of the virtues of the individual,
the home and the nation, an exhaustive exhibition of the good and the beautiful.
(Cf. Ebina, Danjo, in Shinjin, Dec. 27, 1910). Dr. Uesugi Shinkichi says, " The
Imperial Rescript on Education supplies the bones of Japanese morality and the
foundation of the spirit of the nation. It transcends all criticism." (®il^j4^
^1^, Kokutai Kempo oyohi Kensei, " The National Organization, the Constitution
and Constitutional Government," Tokyo, 19 16, p. 82). Prof. Tanaka Yoshito,
says, " The Imperial Rescript on Education is the august teaching of the gods
(Imperial Ancestors)." {Shinto Hongi, p. 152). The same author, writing in
I918 and commenting on the " Great Way " set forth in the rescript says, " Un-
like what Confucius says in the Analects, or what Gautama says in the Sutras, or
what Christ teaches in the Bible, the Emperor Meiji did not merely express his
own august opinion (in the Rescript), but, indeed, he set forth in epitome the
teaching bequeathed by the Imperial Ancestors, who are worshipped as gods in
the shrines which our people have established." {W^WM.W^^Wi%^ Kokumin
Dotokii y^?7^ A^/, " Lectures on the Essentials of Na ional Morality," Tokyo,
1918, p. 145). These latter statements are especially worthy of consideration in
view of what Mr. Yoshikaw^ has said concerning the actual origin of the rescript.
An occasional criticism, while maintaining the flawlessness of the rescript
\
yS THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
writings of Tanaka Yoshitd, recently appointed lecturer on
Shinto in the Tokyo Imperial University.^
From the point of view of Tanaka's discussion a full and
sufficient indication of the practical norm of Japanese social and
political obligations is to be found in the Imperial Rescript on
Education. "The Imperial Rescript on Education gives the
essential elements of Shinto. That is to say, it expresses the last
testaments of our Imperial Ancestors, which must be kept by
our people."^ The origins of the moral propositions of this
rescript are to be found in the indigenous development of the
Japanese race. In conformity with this position Tanaka expounds
Shinto as the unique historical deposit of Japanese racial psycho-
logy. In spite of the fact that various religious cults and moral
codes have existed in Japan from ancient times right down to
the present, Shinto alone expresses the true spirit of the Japanese
people. The essential meaning of Shinto is thus to be determined
by reference to the qualities of this spirit. The heart of the cult
is not religion at all in the ordinary sense ;^ it is Yamato Dama-
shii, the peculiar psychological endowment of the race. The
itself, attaclcs the ethical instruction that is based thereon as formal and fruitless.
i^Cf. Kato, op. cii. ; Ebina, oj). cit). Here and there a Japanese critic appears
with the courage of his convictions. The editors of the Japan Year Book have
declared, " The Rescript, with all respect to its august origin, primarily aims to
produce patriotic and law-abiding citizens and is equally deficient in inspiring and
leavening power," (The Japan Year Book, 1911, p. 260;. Dr. N. Ariga eluci-
dates the historical background of the rescript thus : " When the Constitution
was granted in 1889, it was feared by some that the development of the idea of
< the rights of the people ' would destroy the idea of loyalty and patriotism, and
the famous Rescript on Education was the result, which looked at humanity
entirely from the standpoint of intellect, and excluded all element of faith and
mystery." (J. E. July, 1908, p. 259, trans, hy Japan Chronicle).
I. Prof. Tanaka is the most prolific of the modern Japanese Shintoists»
For a list of his most important writings consult Appendix B
2 Shinto Hongi, p. 156. Cf. also i'jid., pp. 147, 1 5 2-8,
3. Tanaka does not attempt to deny the existence of religious elements in
Shinto. {Cf Kokninin Dotoku ydryo Kogi, pp. 162-3). ^^^ ^^^* ^^ regards
Shinto as something more fundamental than mere religion, is to be seen in his
insistence that Shinto is a Great Way that underlies morality, politics, education
and religion alike. {Shinto Hongi, pp. 28, 113, 115, 162 ff.). His emphasis
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINXS. /Q
question is immediately raised, what are the fundamental psycho-
logical characteristics of the Japanese people ? According to
Tanaka, these are three in number :
(i). An intellectual nature capacitating for orderliness and
unification {Chitsujo teki toitsu teki shiso),
(2). A vivacious and practical (lit. '' this- worldly ") emo-
tional nature {liaikatsu teki gensei teki kanjo).
(3). A disposition toward development and expansion
{Hatten teki bocho teki seikaku)}
The unique importance attached to this three-fold pyscho-
logical endowment in Japanese historical development is seen in
Tanaka's statement : "■ This spirit has afforded the foundation
from which Shintd has had its rise."^ The manifestation of
this spirit in the actual life of Japan constitutes Shinto. These
psychological characteristics in the uniqueness of their combina-
tion are explained as the particular possessions of the Japanese.
" To be sure," Tanaka adm'ts, *' we must recognize the fact that
such intellectual qualities as orderliness and the capacity for
unification have been conspicuous among the Chinese. In the
case of this people however, even early in the ancient period of
their history, this spirit collapsed well nigh to the foundations
owing to changes in the reigning dynasties. Also a sprightly
emotional nature, in which the things of the present world were
especially emphasized, is to be noted as having obtained among
the Greeks. We must likewise admit that a capacity for deve-
lopment and expansion was preeminent among the Romans.
These nations, however, possessed these virtues singly. With
throughout is fundamentally ethical and political. Shinto, even as a religion,
relates primarily to the politico-religious affairs of Japanese society. \Cf.%^'^
W^fn^. '5Az«^^ Tetstigaku Seigl, " The Essential Meaning of Shinto Philoso-
phy," Tokyo, 1918, p. 210"). He declares emphatically that if the content of
religion is limited to the special character.stics manifested by Buddhism and
Christianity then Shinto is not religion. {Op. cit , p. 205).
1. Shinto Hongi, p. 32. See also /jC^^^^^^, Motoori Norinaga no
Telsugaku, "The Philosophy of Motoori Norinaga," p. 57.
2. Shintd Hongi, p. 34.
80 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
the succeeding decline of their national destinies, they became
extinguished and disappeared. Our race alone, having ever
been superior to the misfortune of ruin, has preserved this intel-
lectual nature, this emotional quality, and this capacity (for
' expansion) in a special way and consequently has developed. In
fine, this mentality (s/iiso), this emotional nature {kanjo), this
character {scikakii), taken together as one, constitute the in-
herent spiritual quality of our race."^
V / This Yamato DamashiiyOV national spirit nf J-apgn, i? r>r>
^ recent and f-ri^n«<^"t- nrViinvnmnwf^ It 1^ marked Japanese
psychology from most ancient times, and thus, deeply embedded
itl the" spiritual depths of the race, its unchanp;infy perpft"^»?-->"
throuf^hout the future is guaranteed. The divine ancestors have
embodied the very essence of this spirit and have revealed its
virtues. Particularly is this true of the sacred empf ro^° ^^'^^
may properly be regarded as the incarnations of th<" t^"^ Japan^^^cpi'
spirit. " Furthermore " — to quote — " the deeds and examples
of all of our emperors from ancient times" down to the present,
have exerted a mighty influence on our people and have become
the norm ot national action in politico, |n ^ fpliginn nnH in n^Wxon^
thus completely regulating the activities and utterances of the
nation. Thus, doth the basis and t/^e norm for tJ^^ artiijitip^ nf
the Japanese race have their origin in the deeds of our sacred
ancestors. This is Shinto.''-
" The most revered of all the kami are those of the successive
generations of the Imperial Line, beginning with the Divine
Ancestress, Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami, The matters that have been
disclosed by these successive generations of /C'^w/, beginning with
Ama-ierasu-o-mi-kami, constitute the principal part of Shinto.""^
" This Shinto, already in the ancient period, exercised an
important influence, in harmony with the intellectual, emotional,
and practical necessities of the time. Thus, as revealed in every-
1. Motoori Norinaga no Tetsugaku, p. 57.
2. Ibid , pp. 57-58.
3. Shinto Ilongi, p. 145.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 8 1
day affairs prior to the introduction of Confucianism, which has
exercised such a great influence on the moral life of our people,
Shinto constituted our national ethical system. Also,' prior to
the introduction of Buddhism which has exerted such power in
the religious world of Japan, Shinto was the religion that gave
calmness and tranquility to our people. Furthermore, in the r^
Imperial Rescript of the third day of the first month of the third
year of Meiji, it is written, * The Heavenly Deities and Sacred
Ancestors ascended the Imperial Throne and founded the Im-
perial Line. Sacred Emperors reigned in succession, continuing
and extending the lineage. Religion and government were *^
un separated and the people were all united in a single heart.
Above, government and education were excellent, and belo^/,
manners and customs were beautiful.' / According to this,
from most ancient time on, government^ and religion have
been one, and prior to the introduction of Chinese political philo-
sophy, Shint5 was the way of political jtffairs. In addition
Shinto had its influence on every aspect of the practical life of
our people. Thus it is, that in just such manner as we Japanese
have received our bodies, even to our hair and our skin, from
our divine ancestoi^h;^nr|f"d down nnrnrrnpteH from_father to
son, so also, thefundamental things of Shinto are eternal, handed
down from generation to generation."^
^ On the basis of his analysis of the Japanese spirit Tanaka is
led to affirm a fundamental difference between the Japanese ancl
other races. ^In the matter of basic conceptinnq there i^ a.
difference between the pe^pji" ^^ '^'^*' nnHin nm-T f-ii<.-iLMn.iin.i' 2 ^
This fundamental difference manifests itself primarily in the atti-
J^ude toward the state. In the foreign point of view the state is
ultimately subordinated to individualism.^ The Japanese spirit
on the other hand, characteristically eypre<;<;ec; ifgplf in the r.om-
plete abandonment of individualism to the support of a state lifet,
1. Alotoori Norinaga no Tetsugaku, pp. 58-60.
2. Shinto Ilongi, p. 140.
3. IbuL, p. 139.
J
82 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHLNTO.
y\ organized around the principle of imperinl sovereignty. This
tact has given extraordinary stability to Japanese political iustitu-
tions./ There has been going on in the past a fierce struggle for
existence among the nations of the earth. It is to be noted that
not one of the great European nations of the remote past has
survived into the present/ Japan alone of the modern nations
of the world has an unbroken existence extending back to the
dawn of history. How does it happen that throughout a history
of three thousand years Japan has never lost territory to foreign
aggression and has preserved intact the integrity of her empire ?
The author answers, " In solution of this problem I maintain frat
this in a word is due to the fact of the existence from ancient
times of the unique Great Way of our nation/^^ The historical
result is that the Japanese Empire '^ possesses a national organiza-
. tion {kokutai) without parallel in the world. "^
The military value of this apologetic is not lost sight of by
/ Prof. Tanaka. He attempt^; fo maintain thnf Wxe- milLt:a4y suc-
cesses of Japan can only ht^ filly explained by reference to the
fundamental qualities of this uniquejapaoca^-spkit^ He admits
that in external, physical characteristics the Japanese must be
classified along with other human beings. The significant differ-
ences, however, are in the spiritual realm. '' If Japanese and
foreigners are the same, how does it happen that in the two great
wars of recent times, namely in the Sino-Japanese and the Russo-
Japanese wars, countries great in population, wide in area, rich
in wealth, superior in military equipment, and great in number
of soldiers — how does it happen that such a China and such a
Russia went down before a Japan, limited in population, small
in area, deficient in soldiers (from a numerical standpoint) and
lacking in wealth ? " The author's answer is, " The result is due
to the fact that over and above these matters of military equip-
1. Ibid., pp., Il8 ff.
2. Ibid., p. 121.
3. y^/V/., p. 112.
4. Ibid , pp. 146 ff.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHV OF MODERN SHINTO. 83
ment, numbers of soldiers, population, and area, there exists a
unique and special something with which these things cannot be
compared. That is to say, in as much as there prevails among
the people of our nation our characteristic Great Way, in a
word, because there exists a Great Way unmatched in all the
world, this result has come forth. In the face of this, the strong-
est country in the world must shrink back."^ "---
Shinto is thus in its last analysis simply the historical mani-
festation of the unique Japanese Spirit. Shinto as. the Great
Way of Yamato Damashii underlies Japanese religion, ethics
politics, and education. As already pointed out, this interpreta"
tion harmonizes easily with the official declaration that Shinto is
not a religion, although Prof. Tanaka, himself, would go much
farther than the government in admitting genuine religious efe-
I. Ibid., pp. 148-9. Written before the World- War. Dr. G. Kato, writing
subsequent to the World War, has presented Yamato Damashii as having at its heart
the unique patriotism of the Japanese. ( Waga Kokutai to Shinto, p. 221). Waller
Dening wrote in 1910, " The language used by certain Japanese writers claims for
them the possession of certain mysterious hidden merits not found in other nations.
Their regard for the Emperor, for instance, is representedas far superior to the feeling
which Knglishmen have for their King. Baron Kikuchi, Dr. Kato [Hiroyuki], even
Mr. Sawayanagi, and many other writers use language that is capable of no other
vnterprelation. Baron Kikuchi tells Englishmen and Americans they have not the
eyes to see this. It is one of those mysteries that only Japanese can understand.
On their regard for the Emperor is based all that is best in Japanese human nature,
according to Di». Kikuchi, He and many others assume that their attitude lo the
throne places Japanese high above all nations and that the patriotism displayed
by the Japanese has its sources in the respect they feel for the Emperor. It may
be so, but it would certainly be true (o say that equally ardent patriotism is to be
seen in numerous other countries whose constitution is radically different from
that of Japan." (Art. "Reason and Sentiment in this Country," y^?/^?^^ Mail.
See Japan Evangelist, 1910, p. 254). The same-writer says, "It has been a self-
imposed duty of mine to study the ethical and religious thought and to analyze
the moral character of the Japanese for three decades, and the conclusion I have
reached is, that while in fine moral qualities the best Japanese are not behind the
best Occidentals, neither are they ahead of them. Equality is all the most
thoughtful and best informed Japanese claim, not superiority. If Japan has evolved
ethical and religious thought that is quite new to the Western world, where in
the whole range of Japanese literature is it to be found ? " {Op. cit,, p. 253).
•y
L
84 THE POLITICAL THILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
ments in Shintd. The success which has met the widespread
propagation of this interpretation may be seen in the common
experience of finding it repeated constantly as the typical school-
boy interpretation of Shinto, — i.e. the essence of Shinto is in
Yainato Damashii\ its creed is in the Imperial Rescript on
Education.
It is not possible within the limits of the present discussion
to enter upon the detailed study of Japanese racial psychology
which would be involved in the proper investigation of Yamato
Damashii, the Soul of Japan.^ Present consideration must be
limited to representative statements by Japanese apologists who
are avowedly speaking from the point of view of the exposition
of Shinto.
In the exposition given by Mr. Kono Shoz5, one of the
professors of the Koku Gakuin Dai Gakii, the Shint5 College in
Tokyo, and at the same time one of the most I'ecent writers on
the subject, Shinto is likewise expounded as a n?^'^"^^<^t^^-?^^''^^^
system wherein Japanese racial psychology finds its most char-
acteristic expression. Although Prof. Kono's discussion involves
the recognition of religious elements in Shinto, it is nevertheless
predominantly ethical. Shinto is defined as *' the moral system
of the Japanese people whTch has developed "on a foundation of
the ideaof reverence from a center in the Great Deity. Ama-
terasii-o-ml-kamL^'^ Further definition says, " Shinto is that
practical, nationalistic, or better^ imppnalfc^Hr |yinro1i>y xvrTn^VV,
has for its central life the spirit of ginf«"ri<-3^ nnH w'hiVVi fmr^i
ancient times has been the constant spiritual pnwpj- and ^ynnmir
of the Vamato rare."^
The first mentioned Japanese rhararWigftV f^y^^ ,if>.Pihintn
1. See La Vieuville, G., Essai de Psychologie Jafonaise, La Race des D'letix,
Paris, 1938; Dening, Walter, "Mental Characteristics of the Japanese," T. A. S.
J., Vol. 19, Pt. I ; Gulick-, S. L., The Evolution 0/ the Japanese, Social and Psy^h'c,
New York, 1903 ; Murdoch, James, A History of JafaUy Vol. i, pp. 5-16.
2. Koknmin Dotokti Shiron, p. 220.
3. Ibid , p. 228.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 85
is reverence for the Imperial Family, regarding which the author
says, '' The sentiment of reverence for an Imperial Line unbroken
from time immemorial, vvhereby ruler and subjects are made one
and by means of which the national lite is protected, rnpt^tlrmrfc"
the life of Shinto and is the source of the happiness of the
Japanese nation."' Other characteristics are listed as. a strong
and ardent love of country, ancestor worship, hero worship, faith
in the grace of Heaven and the aid of the gods, an emphasis on the
activities of the present world, a regard for cleanliness (including
the idea of religious purification), and an emphasis on etiquette.'^
The writings and public addresses of Marquis Dkuma may
be taken as a semi-official exposition of the views of this school
of Shinto. In his treatment the special characteristics of the
Jai)anese race are regarded as always tending toward the creation
and maintenance of a certain form of political and social life,
namely, a hierarchy in which the members of the ruling classes fj-'*''^
as well as public benefactors of various grades are regarded as
" deity." These deities, however, are not to be considered as
akin to the superhuman gods of ordinary religions. On the
contrary, the kami (** deities ") of the Shinto cult are true',
Japanese ancestors, particularly those ancestors connected with ;
the governmental regime. This characterization is applied even
to the supposedly mythological sections of early Japanese tradi-
tion. Thus, -the genealogy of the most ancient kami appearing
in the Kojiki and the Nihongi must be taken as affording lists of
the names of actual ancestral rulers of old Japan.^
The extent to which Okuma is willing to go in utilizing
Japanese mythology in developing his theory of the state may be
gathered from the following quotation. " The former [the
Kojiki] in its description of the first /^^w/ opens thus : 'The
kami who, in the beginning of heaven and earth, created them-
selves in the High Heavenly Plain {Taka?jia-ga-IIara), were
1. Il>id., p. 229.
2. Ibid., pp. 228-234.
3. C/., Okuma, Fi/ly Ygars of New Japan^ Vol. i, pp. I-io, 19-20.
86 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
three, Ame-no-mi-naka-nushi-no-kami, Taka-mi-musubi-no-kamif
and Kami-miisubi-no'kami' The sentence might by some be
given a religious interpretation, namely, that the deity Ame-no-
mi-7iaka-nushi (meaning ' master of the center of heaven ') was
the ruler of the universe, and the deities Musiibi (supposed by
some to mean ^ to produce ') were the creators, but in fact these
kami were entirely different from the superhuman gods of religion.
The three laid the foundations of the Great Eight Islands, or the
Japanese Archipelago, and their children intermarried and pros-
pered. The descendants of the first named, who were charged
to govern the newly created country, were the lineal descend-
ants of the kamif or according to the strict meaning .of the
: ideographs, the ' sons of the celestial kami.^ The other two
j Musiibi are sometimes called the ini~oya-no-kami, or ancestral
1 kami and represent the maternal side of the family of the kami,
(Their descendants increased to the number of yao-yorozu-no-
kauii (literally ' eighty myriad kami,' but really ' multitudinous
kami ') who ' assembled in divine discussions, ' Thus was begun
a system of government by a council of elders before the throne.
The families of the Shin-betsu, that is, branches of the kami —
the Fujiwara for instance, which during many centuries were the
most powerful of the mobility — were for the most part descend-
ants of these kami. Hence it follows that the Japanese concep-
tion of the deities — % that term be properly applicable — does
not, as is the case with the supreme beings of religions in general,
involve the idea of obedience imposed by external authority, for
instead of rites of sacrifice and prayer, whereby the devotees of
other cults invoke blessings for themselves, the Japanese offer to
their ancestors in thanksgiving the first fruits of the harvest, the
members of each family assembling in their invisible presence
and joyfully commemorating their own callings in life."^
It is to be anticipated then that Okuma will not support a
strictly religious interpretation of the shrines. In an article
written by him for the Meiji Jinja Shiryo, " Guide to the Meiji
I. Op. cU., pp. 3, 4.
THK POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OP MODERN SHINTO. S/
Shrines/'^, be argues that the chief value of the shrines lies in the
fact that they are an institution coterminous with Japanese his-
torical development itself and as such expressive of the deepest
and most characteristic sentiments of the Japanese race. The
proper spiritual attitude of the devotee at the Shinto shrines is
not that of religious worship in the ordinary sense ; it is, on the
other hand, kelshin, namely, reverence. ^Thus Okuma is led to
oppose the traditional or religious usage of the shrines in the
following words, " To attempt by means of prayers to drive
away sickness or to pray for prosperity and happiness, is mere
superstition and is a violation of the nature ot reverence. ReV'
erence is not a kind of religious faith {Keishin to wa hitotsii no
sJiukyb'jo no shinko de nakii). Buddhists and Christians alike, in
as much as they are Japanese, ought to conform to this and,
indeed, the matter is of such a nature that they can conform."^
After passing in brief review, the manner in which this
spirit of reverence expresses itself in Japanese society, Okuma
summarizes thus: ''The Japanese idea of reverence is in this
wise an exceedingly simple matter. To advance and extend the
ideas of loyalty and pllal pietv toward Emperor and parents, to
manifest a spirit of thanksgiving toward the spirits of the great
men of the nation, both the ancestors of the CQrnm^n people iind
those of the Imperial Family, and for all time to look up to their
high virtues — keishin is nothing other than this. Such being
the case, keishin includes the ideas of loyalty and filial piety. "^
Miyao and Inamura, in their valuable study of the shrines^
likewise affirm emphatically that the shrines are not religious
institutions. A single quotation will suffice to indicate the point
of view of these authors. " There are scholars who interpret
the shrines as places of religious worship. There are also those
who argue that since the shrines are historical survivals relating
I- ^^IrSliPifilSl^j (3 Vols., Tokyo, 1915), Vol. i, Introduction.
2. Op. ciL, p. 2.
3. Il>id., p. 7.
4. Jinja Gyoseiho Kogi, Tokyo, 1911.
88 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
to ancestral ism, if ancestralism is to be classified as a form of
religion, it consequently becomes impossible to place the shrines
outside of religion. Whether or not they are religious when
regarded from a philosophical position is beside the question.
Here, in a word, let it be said, that under existing laws of the
state the shrines are by no means religious institutions."* ....
" Again, they [the shrines] are not places where religious activi-
ties are carried on. They must be classified as altogether outside
of religion.'""
Dr. Haga Yaeichi, one of the most representative of the
modern Japanese nationalists, repeats the same argument with
even greater emphasis in Kokiunin Set JuroUj '' Ten Lectures on
National Characteristics."^ The form of Shinto that expresses
itself in the shrines is declared to be '* a matter altogether distinct
from religion !' "It has no relation whatever to the problem of
the freedom of religious faith."'* The author compares the
shrines with the memorial statues found in Europe and America
and maintains that the related sentiments are the same in both
cases. In comparison with statues he remarks, " The shrines of
our country are, after all, the same thing. Foreigners erect
statues, we celebrate at the shrines, this is the only difference.
It is inconsistent to say that, while one may pay respect before
bronze statues he may not visit and pay reverence at the shrines.
No one can reasonably say that while it is fitting to pay
respect at the graves of relatives and friends, it is, on the other
hand, beneath one's dignity or a violation of one's faith to visit
and pay homage at the shrines of illustrious men. The difficulty
arises from a misunderstanding of the word kami and a confusion
with religion. In our National Constitution religious freedom is
liberally permitted. Subjects of the state, without regard to
religious connections, are permitted to do homage at the Ances-
1. C?/«V.,p. 53.
2. Ibid.^ P- 57*
3- f^KHi^fml, Tokyo, I914.
4 O^. cit., p. 40.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINt5, 89
tral Sanctuary - of the Imperial Palace, and in case of death on
behalf of the public weal are collectively commemorated at the
Yasiikuni Shrine. This is proof that the shrines are not related
to religion."^
We have next to consider the religious application of the
nationalistic- ethical interpretation, hi the eyes of certain Japan-
ese writers, especially those interested in the development of
genuine religious education, one of the great practical values of
the purely ethical interpretation of Shinto, when consistently
applied, is that it is calculated to eliminate all fundamental diffi-
culties lying between actual religion and the fostering of national
morality through the medium of Shinto ceremonials.
We may first note in this connection the exposition of Dr.
Hiroike Senkuro who writes from the standpoint of an adherent of
the Shinto sects and in particular of Tenri Kyo. This author
in his book Jinja Sukei to Shukyo, " Shrine Reverence and
Religion,"" gives the weight of his support to the interpretation
that, from the standpoint of national law the official Shinto shrines
are not religious institutions. His entire discussion is based on
the idea of a two-fold function in the shrines, themselves, namely,
that arising out of what may be called a popular character which
is admitted to be genuinely religious, and that relating to an
official character which is ethical and nationalistic. These two
functions may be discharged at one and the same shrine and
even in one and the same ceremony without conflict or inconsis-
tency. The basis of Dr. Hiroike's distinction, however, may
hardly be said to lodge in a thorough-^oing examination of
either the nature of religion or of the actual ceremonials of the
shrines. His conclusions rest on an acceptance of legal enact-
ments as final. In particular he interprets the religious laws of
1882 and of 1900 to mean that, under existing Japanese law, the
shrines are not religious institutions.^
1. Ibid., pp. 45-46.
2. P«i:^§JC>.^|5:, Tokyo, 1915.
3. Ibid.t p. 42 flf.
90 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODEI^ SHINTO.
Hiroike thus explains the official position to mean that the
shrines are cult centers where reverence and gratitude toward
ihe great leaders of Japanese history are expressed and stimulat-
ed. They are not properly places where private supplication is
offered to the spiritual world.^
He admits that there are certain ceremonials conducted at
the shrines which because of their historical origins may, from a
certain standpoint, be interpreted as having mingled in them the
meaning of prayer, and also grants that individuals may approach
the shrines impelled by the idea of supplicating spiritual powers
for various temporal benefits. " The mere matter of prayer for
the future, however, and, again, the practice of distributing
charms have no relation whatever with so-called religion from
the standpoint of national law."^ At the same time Hiroike
admits that if one regards the matter from an academic or idea-
listic position, or perhaps from a sociological point of view, there
is no objection to saying that the activities of the official shrines
are based on religious notions and that the rituals bear a religious
meaning. Yet, on the other hand, whatever be the nature of
the supplications with which the individual approaches the shrine,
there is no reason why, from the standpoint of law, the shrines
should be regarded as religious institutions. National law has
never interfered with the belief of the people in ordinary cases.
The implication which the author here makes is, that for the
state to attempt a reformation in individual beliefs and practices
connected with the shrines would be tantamount to an abridg-
ment of the religious freedom guaranteed under the Japanese
Constitution.
Furthermore, he argues, in case either individuals or groups
of individuals make entreaties at the shrines for such particular
benefits as good crops or large hauls of fish, there is nothing in
conflict with national law if priests in charge conform to the
meaning of such prayers and, by making use of proper ritual,
1. Ibid.^ pp. 47-8.
2. Ibid., p. 50.
92 THE POLITICAL 'PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
From the standpoint of national morality it would be necessary
to pronounce him a person with serious defects of character.'"
A modem Christian apologist, Tanaka Tatsu, has attempted
an exposition of Shinto from this same standpoint.^ The prin-
ciple undedying his harmonization may be formulated thus :
The conception of deity in true religion and the idea of kami as
found in pure Shinto are of such radically diverse natures as to
render any conflict between Shinto and real religion impossible.
Tanaka attempts, in the first place, to establish the proposi-
tion, '' The Way of the Gods {SJiindo) is equivalent to the Way
of Men " {Jindo), This statement, although resembling that
advanced by various modern students of religion, to the effect
that there is nothing in the god-world that is not first in the
man-world, is nevertheless, from the standpoint of our Japanese
author, different, since he recognizes the existence of religious
values not included in Shinto, as he understands it. Tanaka
thus develops the further proposition that in pure Shinto the
so-called deities are nothing more than human beings. In other
words tl^e essential nature of Shinto is to be found in a system
of human ethics, centered in the Japanese state.^
In support of his position, Tanaka makes no attempt to sift
the ancient Japanese literature bearing on his discussion, nor is
he willing to admit that the actual religious life of the Japanese
people, as expressed in the various Shinto sects of the present,
affords any criterion for the determination of the true nature of
Shinto. On the other hand, he settles the matter by an appeal
to the authority of certain recognized Japanese scholars, namely
Kada Azumamaro, Arai Hakuseki, Kamo Mabuchi, Motoori
Norinaga, Watarae Nobuyoshi, Tanaka Yoshito, and Inonye
Tetsujiro. By a proper selection of this scholastic evidence
Tanaka is enabled to conclude that both ancient and modern
1. Ibid., p. 54.
2. Tanaka, Tatsu, Shinto Kanken (igtHJ^, W^^fi* "A Birds-eye View
of Shinto "), Tokyo, I915.
3. Op. cit., pp. 1-7.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 93
scholars are one in maintaining that the deities of Shinto are
human beings.
" It is here, I believe," says Tanaka, *' that the point of
reconciliation between Shintd and Christianity is to be found,
and for the following reason. In the case of both Shinto and
Christianity we have come to employ the same term for deity,
namely kami. Although the sound is identical in each case, as
a matter of fact, there is a fundamental difference. Both Hirata
and he Teijo have repeatedly complained that it has been the
source of much confusion to have applied the Chinese ideogram
for deity^ to the Japansse word kami. In the same way, I
consider it regrettable that either the Chinese form or the Japan-
ese term kami has been used to express the Christian conception
of Jehovah."'
It is important to take note of the ethical qualities which
Tanaka emphasizes as fundamental in Shinto. Following in the
lead of Tanaka Yoshito and Inouye Tetsujir5 he reduces Shinto
ethics to the operation of three primary virtues, wisdom, benevo-
lence and valor.^ These are regarded as having been particu-
larly prominent in the Japanese race from most ancient times
right down to the present. Through the influence of foreign
cults, however, notably Confucianism, and Buddhism, this pure
Shinto indigenous to Japan has been modified and corrupted.
It is not dif^cult to see in this a reaffirmation of the arguments
of the Shinto revivalists of the eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries.
Tanaka concludes that if the syncretistic elements introduced
through contact with foreign religions and also the impurities
that have survived out of primitivity— both Japanese and foreign
— could be eliminated from modern Shinto, then as a conse-
quence popular Shinto with its supernaturalism and superstition
1. p.
2. Tanaka, Op. cit., p. 7.
3. ^, <::, M> Tanaka, Op. ciL, p. 80; Cf. Inouye, Tetsujiro, in Ton no
Hikarif Vol. V, No. 7 ; Vol. 10, No. 8; also Koktimin Doloktt Gabon, p. 138.
94 TEE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
would probably die. This he believes would be greatly to the
advantage of pure Shinto. What would be lett would be an
expression of the Japanese spirit which would find the objects of
ceremonial and devotion altogether within the human realm, that
is, within the field of Japanese society. " I have no objection/'
Tanaka adds, '' to defining Shinto as that spiritual activity which
expresses itself in development with Japan as center [after Inouye
Tetsujiro]. In this sense Shinto cannot be taken as a religion.
If Shinto is not a religion, then the popular perplexity with
regard to Shinto is solved and followers of other cults can be-
lieve in their religions in peace. The main motive of the govern-
ment in actually dividing Shinto into two parts and attaching
one part to the Bureau of Shrines and the other to the Bureau of
Religions is probably to be found here."^
That the interpretation which Tanaka makes is strongly
influenced by Japanese nationalism and yet, at the same time, is
religious in its fundamental interest, is apparent without further
elaboration.
Dr. Takagi Jintaro, who until his recent death was one of
the leaders of the Christian movement in Japan, found oppor-
tunity on the occasion of the dedication of the Meiji Shrine in
the autumn of 1920 to write, " The relation of the Shinto shrines
to religion is a matter in which even among scholars there is not
unanimity of opinion. The government, however, has com-
pletely separated the shrines from religion. The government, by
maKing a distinction between Shrine Shinto {Jinja Shinto) and
Religious Shinto {Sliukyo Shinto) has made it plain that the
shrines are not religious institutions." Dr. Takagi calls attention
to the shrine laws of 1900 and 1913 which put Christianity,
Buddhism, and Shinto sects under the control of the Bureau of
Religions in the Department of Education while placing the
shrines in charge of the Bureau of Shrines in the Department of
Home Affairs and on the basis of this legal distinction says.
57, Tanaka, Op, cit., pp. 81-2.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. g$
** Thus it is that the shrines are altogether outside of religion.
To be sure, it cannot be said that at present there is a complete
elimination of religious elements in the shrines. Such practices
as the distribution of charms and the making of vows to the
gods still exist. On the part of multitudes of people the shrines
are worshipped as the objects of religious faith. This gives basis
to the arguments that the shrines are religious. But In as much
as the government classifies them as not religious and is laboring
to separate them from religion, there is no necessity that we
should insist that they are religious. We also should put forth
efforts to separate the shrines as far as possible from all religious
elements." The majority of the shrines, according to Dr.
Takagi's view, are dedicated to ancestral ^ami, that is, to
emperors, national heroes, and those who have won merit in the
service of the state. '* The shrines have their origin in the idea
of reverence for ancestors and are not expressive of the religious
sgititr" This interpretation agrees with that of Tanaka Tatsu in
the view that the great kaini of Shinto are men. On the other
hand, the God of Christianity is the Great Spirit of Life who
created the worlds and who providentially directs human history.
He cannot be made the property of a single race or nation. If
the kami commemorated at the shrines were of such a nature as
to entitle them to occupy the position of the God of Christianity,
then Christians would of course be unable to worship them, but
this is not the case. Since the kami of the shrines are the
ancestors of the Imperial Family and the spirits of Japanese
heroes, their nature differs altogether from that of the God of
Christianity. Dr. Takagi concludes : " Thus it is that our feel-
ing in venerating these (the ancestral kami) and our feeling in
case of worshiping the One God are inherently different. For
this reason shrine reverence is not a thing tliat cannot be
harmonized with Christian faith."
The same writer speaks of the newly dedicated Meiji shrine
as a kinen dittsu, " a memorial institution." He compares the
shrines with the commemorative statues and buildings of Europe
g6 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHT OF MODERN SHINTO.
and America. The real meaning of the shrines is not essentially
different from that of Westminster Abbey and the Pantheon.
** To be sure," he says, " the shrines of our country differ in
form from these ;nemorial institutions, but in inner meaning they
are similarly related to commemoration and gratitude."*
Edma Danjo and Kozaki Hiromichi may be taken as further
representatives of this same Christian-Shintd school. Dr. Ebina
has long advoca*^ed that the Christian forces of Japan should
build on the official determination that the national shrines are
merely for the promotion of national morality and in no sense
religious. He significantly says, " Unless we Christians hold fast
to that distinction we are bound to have trouble."^ This same
writer finds it regrettable, however, that there still lingers about
the shrines the odor of an old religion and fears the results of
possible compromise with lingering religious ideas and practices.
Dr. Kozaki likewise finds any difficulties between Chris-
tianity and official Shinto precluded by the government declara-
tion of 1882 making the shrines of no connection with religious
Shinto. '' The shrines," he says, ^^ are institutions where those
who have won merit in the service of the state are commemorat-
ed and they are altogether without relation to religion."^ He
declares that they are '^ klnen-Jii no gotoki inono,'^ objects com-
parable with monuments."'*
It would seem fair to state that these Christian writers are
either consciously or unconsciously interpreting the situation in
such a way as to gain standing room for Christianity. In secur-
ing this form of Christian-Shinto apologetic the government
1. Takagi, Jintaro, Jwja to Shukyo ni tsuitc (^;4^ii:HK, M%, h ^DC-
5>ji;r', " Concerning Shrines and Religion " , Kyokai Jiho (" The Christian Times,"
• Methodist), Nov. 12, 1920, No. 1524,
2. Ebina, Danjo, " Stumbling Blocks in the Way of Japanese Inquirers
and How to Remove Them," Jafan Evangelist, Feb.j 1915, (entire article, pp.
78-81), p. 80.
3. Kozoki, Hiromichi, Kokka io Skukyo (/J>il|'j[Aii» W^ b ^"^^ " I^eli-
gion and the Nation "), Tokyo, 1913, p. 83.
4. Op. cit, p. 265.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. g*J
policy has attained some success, at least as far as certain indivi-
duals are concerned/ Thg^ shrines here function as the means
of ** centtal izjng the-tho ught-€>f-tbe peopled/, and at the sanie trme
religious satisfactions are secured elsewhere. It is very much to
be doubted, however, if the solution is thus easy, trusting as it
does in the finality of legal definition and resting on the assump-
tions that the great deities of official Shinto are merely historical
ancestors and that the Japanese idea of kami is fundamentally
different from ordinary supernaturalism. Private opinion in the
Christian church is far from agreeing unanimously with the solu-
tions offered by such men as Tanaka, Takagi and Kozaki. The
resolutions of Christian groups as such have already been stated.
The Christian-Shinto solution is willing to go even farther
than the government in advocating a radical reformation in
** reverence for the shrines," whereby they may be made an
even stronger support for Japanese national morality. The pro-
gram advocated involves two primary measures.
I. The interpretation that official Shinto is not a religion is, likewise, being
given wide -spread circulation outside of Japan. For example, De Forest, writing
in 1905, says " Japan now has no state religion." Government subsi'dy is given
the shrines, " not because of their religious character, but because they are historic
monuments worthy of being maintained as silent teachers of the past." (De
Forest, Religions of Mission Fields,-^. \\). Alfred Stead is of the opinion tha^
the completeness with which Japan has succeeded in separating church and state
constitutes a model for the western world. He says, " Not only is there no State
Church, but from the national standpoint there is an absolute equality where the
various religions are concerned To sum up, then, the Western
World may learn from Japan the dangers of a State Church, the elimination of
politics from religion, tolerance, and a desire to seek out and help on the best in
all creeds." (See T. J. S. L., Vol. VII, 1905-6, Ft. II, p. 194). 'Y\vt Japan
Gazette year-book says, " It is noteworthy that in Japan religion, except in general
practice, has no connection with politics." {The ^ Japan Gazette^ Japan VearBooky
19I3-14, p. 285). Mr. N. Kato, writing for the Japan Society of London, re-
marks, " As to the religious teaching in the school, I do not know how the Gov-
ernment could see the way through to its introduction, as there is no State Religion
in Japan." (T. J. S. L., Vol. XVI, I917-18, p. 142). Hamilton Wright Mabie
wrote in I914, " Shinto is no longer a religion ; it is a profound national sentiment.
It never was a religion properly speaking ; but nature worship was combined with
it to satisfy the cravings of primitive worshipers." {Japan To-day and To-morrow,
9^ THE rOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
In the first place, it urges the eradication of certain incon-
gruous institutions at present connected with " reverence for the
shrines/' e.g. prostitute quarters in the environs of the shrines, as
at Ise, Kasama, Tsukuba and elsewhere, also circuses, theatricals
and moving picture shows established on shrine grounds at the
time of important festivals.
The second part of the program is more serious. It urges
a government educational policy so completely carried out as to
separate absolutely the shrines from all religion. Children in
the public schools rather than being taken to visit the shrines,
should be frankly taught that the *^ gods " of the shrines are
mere men and not the proper objects of religious worship. Such
a vigorous educational policy would necessitate the abandonment
of all superstitions at present connected with the shrines, as for
example, the beliefs that a deity or a group of deities actually
inhabit the shrines, that deities can be moved about from shrine
to shrine, or that sacrifice and ritual are efficacious in establishing
favorable relations with the kami}
Wq may turn next to the consideration of the nationalistic-
religious interpretation of Shinto, in which modern Shintoists are
deliberately attempting to appraise the shrines as religious in-
stitutions.
p. 27). Mr. K. Watanabe, speaking before the Second International Congress of
the History of Religions said of Shinto, " Seine moralischen Vorschriften uben
noch einen tiefen Einflus auf das sittliche Leben aus. Allein er ist keine
Religion mehr, sondern nur noch ein Zeremoniell bei festlichen nationalen
Anlassen Diese Tempel sind bloss Verehrungsdenkmaler fiir die
bedeutenden Manner, die Japan grosse Dienste geleistet haben. Die Priester
sind nur Verwaltungsbeamte dieser Tempel." ( Actes du Deuxieme Congt-es Inter-
national (THistoire des Religions, Bale, 1904, pp. 103-4). See also Brinkley,
Japan, Described and Illustrated by the Japanese, Vol. II, p. 203 ; Griffis, W. E.,
7 he Mikado, Institution aiid Person, p. 33.
I." " See J. E., 1914 (Aug.), pp. 341 ff. ; Shinjin, July, 1914.
A
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 99
CHAPTER IV.
Japanese Interpretations of Shinto:
The Religious Definition.
The most elaborate attempts that have yet been made by
any modern Japanese writers to set forth Shinto as a religion are
undoubtedly those recently undertaken by Dr. Kakehi Katsu-
hiko^ of the Law Department of the Imperial University of
Tokyo and independently by Dr. Kato Genchi,^ lecturer on
religion in the same institution and professor in the Military
College of Tokyo.
In the treatment, accorded the subject by Dr. Kakehi an
effort ^,nmdeJ:cL.expand Shinto into a great, all-inctusive world-
rpligjnn^ f>mKrar}ppr \yif:Viin itself Buddhism, Confuciauism, Jbe
thirteea^Sbiato^-sectO) ChriGtianity, Taoicm, -^aad-MobatTimedaiiT.
jgm» ^« ,Sb'"<'^j'' g?yg T^T^^^hs " jg the faith at the basis of all
religions." " It is_the religion^ of religions."^
A perusal of Kakehi's discussion soon reveals the fact,
however, that deeply interested as he apparently is in religion,
he is still more interested in politics. The world-wide expansion
of Shintd which he contemplates is not the application of a
generous religious syncretism ; it involves, on the other hand,
at its very center, an extension of the Japanese political system
in which special importance is attached to the inculcation of
respect for the jure divino claims of Japanese sovereignty to-
1. Kakehi, Katsuhiko, Koshindo Taigi i%'^J^, "^WM'k^y " The Essen-
tials of Old Shinto "), Tokyo, 1912 ; Zoht Koshindd Taigi (WLtiW^%^y " The
Essentials of Old Shinto, Coutiiiuod"), 2 Vols., Tokyo, 1914, 1915.
2. Kato, Genchi, Waga Kokutai to Shintd, (ftU^lSi?, Uet3^'^i|i;Wii'
"Our National Organization and Shinto "), Tokyo, 1919.
3. Zoku Koshindd Taigi, Vol. IT, p. 836.
4. Ibid
5. Ibid
ICXD THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
gether with reverence for the imperial line as descended from
the gods. Claims so extraordinary, coming as they do from
such a source, require further definition.
In Kakehi's theology, the basis of all life is the Uchu no
Dai Seimei, " The Great Life of the Universe." " The deep
and mighty consciousness existing within us is god (kamiy^
" God is the unchanging foundation (of all things). If we accept
his existence, we can explain the universe ; if we deny it we can
explain nothing.'"^ Thus, the idea of God is found necessary to a
rational explanation of the world ; yet God is to be known and
met with not simply through the operation of intelligence but
also through human emotional and volitional experiences. This
divine force is omnipresent, dwelling in all people and things and
expressing itself in human life and activity.^
All this is ordinary enough as far as the theology is con-
cerned. Kakehi here stands on ground well worn by the feet
of other men. This is, however, but the beginning. Kakehi's
interest lies in the direction of equating this monistic theology
with the contents of a portion of the most ancient Japanese
mythology, thereby making possible the transition from the
modern situation to old Shinto. This transition is accomplished
by declaring that the first deity mentioned in the Koji/d, namely,
Ame-no-ini-7iaka-mishi-no-kami (" The Deity August Lord of the
Center of Heaven ") is identical with the Great Life of the
Universe."* Thus, at the very beginning of Japanese history, the
great spirit which Kakehi makes central in his modern world
view was known, named and worshipped by the Japanese people.
Kakehi forthwith proceeds to take up the discussion of the
system of the kami {kami-gami no keito), that is, their relation-
ships and functions, and develops more specifically the nature
1. ]bid.. Vol. I, p. 470.
2. 7/^/</., p. 471.
3. /^/,/., \>\). 469-472.
4. Jbid., pp. 474 ff.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. lOI
of Ai)ie-no-ini-naka-nushl-no-kaim} We may note the main
points.
r. Thjs deity exists both in and above the pp^piriral uni-
verse^ He is both immanent and transcendent. He surrounds
the visible world and partakes of its nature just as an outer>
enveloping circle or sphere includes but transcends a smaller
concentric one.'' Thus dwelling above the phenomenal universe
of human experience, he is yet a most intimate and inseparable
part thereof. He possesses the attributes of ddji-dosho^ " same-
time-same-place," yet, although existing in all times and in all
places, he is nevertheless superior to temporal and spatial
limitations. •
2. The designation, naka ('' center " or *' middle'") in the
title of this deity, is not to be taken as indicating localization in a
central place in heaven (Ama), thought of as part of the existing
universe. Centrality is referable to him not in a physical spatial
sense, but in the sense that all depends on him.^
3. He is both sosetsu and hisosetsu^ that is, with reference
to the phenomenal world, he is both creator and the thing
created. In the work of creation he exhibits both an active and
a passive function. '* Life," says the author, " is not simply a
force that creates, but is likewise something that is created."'
From this standpoint Kakehi criticises the traditional Christian
idea of God as incomplete, since God is therein presented merely
as creator and not as also created object.
4. He is fushd-fiiJiielsH'fiizd-fuhen,^ " without beginning,
without end, without increase, without decrease." He is the
unaltering basis and background of flux in the phenomenal
I.
Ibid.
2.
Ibid., pp. 476-8.
3-
After Hegel.
4-
1^1 B$ Ud'v Cf. Zoku Koshindb Taigi, Vol. I, p. 480.
5'
Ibid., pp. 479-80.
6.
WimMmm- c/. ^/. av., p. 483.
7-
Ibid.
8.
^&,^mK-^^'^- cf.op.cit.
?.: '■
102 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
world, transcending all change. Kakehi admits that at this
point his terminology is borrowed from Buddhism. One can
press his indebtedness even farther. He borrows from l^uddhism
not only his words but his ideas also.
This general philosophical background is thoroughly essen-
tial to Kakehi's entire politico-religious construction. In other
words, the idea of a static absolute is vital to his system in order
that he may secure an absolute guarantee for the finality of
certain institutions of state in which he is interested. It is
altogether appropriate and expected, then, that the closing
words of his entire lengthy discussion should be an appendix
th^ chief burden of which is the fixed nature of ultimate reality,
" Reality .is a static thing i^fudo) that expresses itself by means
of motion ; and, again, it is dynamic force expressing a static
reality."^
This Absolute has its unique and full revelation in the
Japanese race. The expression of the Great Life of the Universe
found in early Japanese history is ancient Shinto. That is to
say, early Shintd involved a conception of the existence of a
great, all-inclusive spirit, manifested in the life of each individual
human being. What is found in the old religion, we are told,
*' is not a philosophy, is not a theory ; it is the spirit itself ; nay,
it is the Great Life itself."^ This gives Kakehi a basis for declar-
ing that Shinto is so great, so comprehensive as to include all
religions. Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tse, and Jesus Christ were
all missionaries of Shinto.® In such a way as this, although
Christianity is regarded as imperfect, it is not opposed as antago-
nistic to the Japanese national constitution (kokutai). Christian
missionaries and " people at large " are accused of holding the
opinion that such antagonism exists, but Kakehi declares that it
is an idea that cannot persist. On the other hand, he says,
*' It is by all means necessary to appreciate the essence of the
1. Op. cit.y Vol. II, Appendix, following p. Ili8.
2. Ibid.y Vol. I, p. 463.
3. iJtrf;, pp. 464.5.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. IO3
spirit of Jesus, himself, and to save and develop this by means
of the Great Spirit of Shinto."'
Kakehi finds support for his claims concerning the com-
prehensiveness of Shinto in the fact that it constituted the
foundation of the entire cultural life of ancient times.^ In the
functioning of old Shinto, political and religious spheres were not
distinguished. The Great Spirit of Shinto embraced and con-
trolled all human activities. " This/' we are told, " constitutes
the uniqueness and nobility of the Japanese national consti-
tution."^
The fallacy in Kakehi's position at this particular point is
immediately evident to any one at all familiar with the outlines
of primitive religion. Thai which ^^^^^ selects as a unique
factor is in reality the very point at which ancient Shinto clearly
indicates the extent to which it is to be equated, in general type,
with primitive religion everywhere. That which here is the
" nobility " of earliest Japanese culture, is likewise " nobility "
in other fields. nt^^J2^Jhp^^;^t<^t,^t^(^h^Q mr^rkg of primitivitv is
undifferentiation in the^_£oliti^^l ^"d rf>1igir>n<; life of the group.
All activities, law, ethics, politics and religion were mingled in a
general mass and a religious interest penetrated all/
Criticism of Dr. Kakehi's identification of Uchu-no-Dai-
Seimei and Aine-no-jnl-naka-nushi-no-kaml can best be conducted
by an examination of the source material on which the conclu-
sions are supposed to rest. This material is to be found at the
very beginning of the mythological section of the Kojiki. The
portion of the text under consideration, as translated by Cham-
berlain, reads :
** The names of the deities that were born in the Plain of
High Heaven when the Heaven and Earth began were the
1. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 553.
2. Jbid , Vol. I, pp. 466-9.
3. Ibui., p. 467.
4. Cf. Irving King, The Development cf Religion (New York, 1910), pp.
89-91.
/
IU4 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHV OF MODERM SHINTO.
Deity Master-of-the-August-Center-of-Heaven, next the High-
August-Prod ucing-Wondrous-Deity, next the Divine-Producing-
Wondro US-Deity. These three deities were all deities born
alone, and hid their persons."^
All this is remarkable enough. Others besides Kakehi
have found in it occasion for maintaining that traces of primitive
monotheism, expressed in a trinitarian formula, can be discerned
in the most ancient Japanese records.^ At first glance the old
mythology may appear to confirm the contention of Kakehi.
But when we remember that the passage given above is all
that the Kojiki has to say about Ame-no-mi-naka-nushi-no-kamii
we perceive immediately how frail is the foundation upon which
he has constructed his theology. While it is true that both the
second and the third deities of this triad reappear later in the
mythology, the very one selected by him for his great equation,
after this bare mention, vanishes completely from the Kojiki,
The Nihongiy except for one variant, omits this deity altoge-
ther. Not only so, but the Rituals give no indication whatever
of this deity having occupied even a humble place in the cere-
monial of old Japan. While it is true that modern popular
usage has given this god a place among the deities of the
shrines,^ yet we must conclude that the exaggerated importance
eissigned him by Dr. Kakehi rests on a subjective and unhistori-
cal use ot the sources. Idealistic monism, centering in Ame-nc-
1. Cf. C, p. 15. The Japanese titles of these deities, given in the order of
the text, are Ame-no-tni-naka-niishi-no-kami, Taka-mi-ffncsu7n-no-kar?ii and Kami-
vntsubi-no- kam i.
2. Cf. Kaidy Genchi, " Ame-no-minaka-nushi-no-katni^^ T, A. S. J., Vol.
XXXVI, Ft. I, pp. 141-162. Kalo attempts to show that the study of this deity,
in the light of the modern science of religion, reveals (races of primitive mono-
theism. The extent to which he makes use of the argument from silence, as well
as the argument that the study of comparative religion favors his hypothesis,
necessitates the acceptance of his conclusions only with radical qualifications.
3. Cf. OJima, Saneharu, 7eiiei sezam Jinja Ron (M,^l^?6» fiS^l&ti^'-S
fi'l'fli: iin!) " Unconvincing Arguments Regarding Slirines "), Shinjin, Vol. 17, 1916
(May), pp. 77-78.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. IO5'
]jii-naka-iiusJii-no-kamiy is not in the original record. Kakehi gets
it from modern philosophy, not from the KojiJd.
In his scheme Kakehi thoroughly provides, however, for
tlie worship at local shrines of this " Great Life of the Universe,"
thus included in the ancient Shinto pantheon. This he accom-
plishes by arbitrarily introducing into the Original trinity the
great sun-goddess, Ama-tcrasud-mi-kami} The two " produc-
ing " deities, Taka-ini-iimsubi-no-kaini and Kanii-musubi-no-kaini
are declared to be but one in essence — a two-fold expres-
sion of but one *' producing god," musubi-no-kauii?' Then we
are told that Ama-terasu-chmi-kaim is identical with Mi-musubi-
no-kaini!' The trinity is now complete. What we may term
the first person thereof is Aine-no-mi-naka-nuslii-no-kaiiiiy which,
in Kakehi's scheme, means simply another name for the Great
Life of the Universe, Uchu-no~Dai-Sciinei. The second person
is Mi-musubi-no-kami, a title that is used *' when we consider
deity from the standpoint of competency to function in activity.'*
The third person is Aiua-terasn-o-mi-kami^ *' The Heaven-Shin-
ing-Great-August-Deity." This last named ka/;u, Kakehi de-
clares, is the visible historical incarnation of the second. Thus by
virtue of the equation inside the trinity, that exists between Ame-
no-mi-naka-nusld-no-kami and Mi-musubi-no-kamiy the cult activi-
ties that center in the sun-goddess, ** Ama-terasu-d-mi-kann, are
carried over to the invisible Great Spirit of the Universe. ^' If
one wishes to worship Amc-no-ini-nakanushi-no-kami one must
worship Aina-terasn-d-mi-kauii, and by worshipping the latter
we worship the former."^ Kakehi even inserts in this connec-
tion a parenlhetical reference to a tradition that formerly there
existed a belief that Ame-no-mi-naka-misJii-no-kaml was enshrined
in the great Gegu, or Outer Shrine at Ise. This is mere
1. 7.okti Koshindb Taigi, Vol. I, pp. 489 fF.
2. Jbid., pp. 487-8.
3 Ibid,, p. 489.
4 J bid., p 487.
5. Ibid f p. 490.
I06 THE POUTICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
supposition. The central deity of the ceremonial and belief
at Gegu is Toyo-uke-bime-no-kami, the ancient Japanese food
goddess.*
It is to be granted that Japanese mythology in places
closely relates the activities of Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami and Taka-
im-musiili-no-kamu It is impossible to do justice to the ancient
records, however, and fail to see that these two kami, although
frequently represented as acting in concert are not philosophized
and presented as though one were the incarnation of the other.
One does not dwell as an unseen deity " above " and the other
down below as the earthly embodiment thereof. Both live in
Takama-ga-Hara (" Heaven ") and, although functioning as
partners in various activities, they are no more closely related
than certain other deities in the extensive Japanese pantheon, e.g.
Izanagi and Izanami. The best corrective to be applied to
Kakehi's reasoning here, is the simple statement of the Kojikl that
Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami was born from the left eye of Izanagi^
" The-Male-Who-Invites," as he purified himself in a river on
the island of Tsukushi.^ This is undoubtedly the original
mythology.
J Dr. Kakehi's entire theological construction leads up to an
interpretation of the person of the Japanese Emperor.** The
Emperors of Japan, reaching in one long, unbroken line back to
the very beginning of life as expressed in the Japanese race*
constitute the temporal extension of Ama-terasu-b-mi-kami,
This deity was the great ancestress of the Japanese sovereigns.
She willed to send her grandson, Ninigi-no-mikoto, into the
** Central Land of Reed Plains " [Japan] to dwell therein and
rule over it."* In such a way imperial rights of dominion over
the Japanese islands rest on the unalterable command of deity.
Behind the sovereign rights of the Japanese imperial line, lies an
1. Cf. T. A. S J., Vol. II, pp 99-121.
2. C, p. 42.
3. Z.oku Koshindo Taig\ Vol. I, pp. 499-501, Vol. II, pp 1 1 12 ff.
4. C/". C, pp. 106-111.
THE I'OLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. IO7
explicit revelation of the will of the Absolute made through the
command q>{ Auia-terasu-o-jui-kajni, All the Japanese Emperors,
from Jimmu Tenno right down to the reigning sovereign main-
tain an actual flesh and blood connection with this great deity.
They continue her attributes ; they express the original intent
of god. The Emperor is thus connected in an unbroken
genealogical line not with Aina-terasud-mi-kanii, merely, but
with the Great Life of the Universe, itself.^
The Emperor of Japan thus becomes the personal continua- y
tion in time of conceptions and instituti6na that were bei^ygtt in
h^^i&a {Takaj?ia-ga-Hara).^ Kakehi says, "His person [the
Emperor's] constitutes the central point at which these things
are realized here below. Therefore, the Em[)eror is go^ r^y^al-
edjixxnaft^ JieJsJdaoik^lLDjdty {Aki-tsu-mi-kamif . . . .
Above all things else, we mubt so serve as to increase the divine
radiance of_ fhe^^&Tpergou- l^ver worsh'pping His excessive
light, we must determine to extend and exalt the divine essence
which we, ourselves, possess. This is not merely a hope,
but already in the present we are realizing it in spite of all
difficulties."'
Again he says, " The Emperors of our country are persons
pr[vnjij;ied with qnnlihVn without parallel in the world ; they^ are
both the centers of (religioug) faith and of temporal power. ' '*
The following also should be noted. "All the fine relations
existing between the Emperor, who is Manifest Deity, and the
beneficent personages of heaven, all the mutual relations of men
from morality, politics, and law, to manners and customs —
whatever they may be, great or small — all are manifestations of
the life of deity. But these things have no existence if separated
from an effort which causes the light of the Emperor to shine
Zo^u Koshindo Taigi, Vol. pp. 489 ff.
Ibid., Vol, II, p. 1 1 14.
Zoku Koshindo Taigi, Vol. II, pp. 1 1 14-1 1 15.
Ibid., Vol. I, p. 500.
I08 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
more and more and which while revering that august light,
constantly glorifies it."*
Finally — " The center of this phenomenal world is the
Mikado's Land'' [^Mi-kimi, i.e. Japan]. From this center we
raust-expaad this-GTeat-Sprrit thro ughontthe world. "^ Kakehi
declares with enthusiasm, '' There are voices which cry, * Great
Japan is the Land of the Gods.' Nor is this to be wondered at.
It is a true statement of fact. It is a matter of course. The
expansion of Great Japan throughout the world and the elevation
of the entire world into the Land of the Gods is the urgent
business of the present and, again, it is our eternal and unchang-
ing object."*
The method of this expansion Kakehi does not altogether
make plain. His emphasis on the fundamental importance of
faith and a disposition of sincerity would lead one to expect that
the extension throughout the world is to be accomplished by
the joint appeal of high ideals and consistent thinking. In this
connection Professor Kakehi has attempted to forecast the future
of Shinto by measuring 4t alongside of the characteristics that
must be possessed by the true religion of the future.'^ He says
that the religion of the future must be purged ot all superstitions
and useless forms. It must be of such a nature as to furnish the
foundation of all social life. It must possess elasticity, that is
to say, the essential matters in both ceremony and doctrine must
be presented in such forms as to be readily intelligible to all men
everywhere and yet there must be such profundity and bound-
lessness as to introduce harmony and peace into the confusion
of human thought and practice. Similarly, it must be of such
comprehensiveness as to make room for all the important faiths of
man. Kakehi's idea of Shinto as constituting an original Japanese
I. Ibid f Vol. II, Appendix, following p. 1118.
2. mm
3. Zokti Koshindo Taigi, Vol. II, p. 1 1 14.
4. Koshindo Taigi, p. 237.
5. Zoku JCoshindo Taigi, Vol. II, pp. 845-853.
THE lOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. IO9
expression of idealistic monism makes it possible for him to
declare that Shinto meets these conditions of a world religion for
the future. Kakehi admits that popular Shinto needs to get rid
of certain nonessential superstitions and useless forms, but this
process of expurgation does n**t involve essentials. He feels
that the capacity of Shinto to become the foundation of all social
life is evidenced by the directive function which it exercised in
the total life of old Japan. Its elasticity and comprehensiveness
are witnessed by the fact that the great religious teachers of the
world have simply expressed the essentials of Shinto, as also by
the fact that in actual Japanese history the fate of Confucianism
and Buddhism has been that they have been gradually transfused
by the Japanese spirit, Shintoized, as it were. The same thing
must be expected regarding the future of Christianity in Japan.
Kakehi feels that Japan furnishes the center from which the
development of the religion of the future must work itself out
under the formative influence of Shintd, for here in Japan all the
great religions of the world are meeting as nowhere else on
earth and are inevitably tending toward some sort of mutual
adjustment. Kakehi's observations present material worthy of
most serious reflection. Yet if this were all that is involved in
his teaching, the future of his system, in spite of its Japanese
complexion, would simply be that of idealistic monism. But,
like Hegel, Kakehi writes with one eye on the Absolute and
the other on the imperial institutions of the Fatherland. The
extent to which Kakehi goes in merging his religious program
with the Japanese political system, jiiakes the future of Shinto
identical, not with that of idealism, but with Japanese imperialism.
Nationalism is here built into a religious cult that seeks to find its
sanctions in the unalterable nature of the Absolute. Further, the
feeling of obligation to extend the system throughout the world
takes on the form of an intense religious fervor. The extension of
such a system among intelligent men can only be accomplished
by the establishing of external control over human thought and
action. This necessarily involves the use of the military arm of
no THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ.
government. That Kakehi's politico-religious structure rests to
no small extent on a military basis is to be seen in his theory of
the relation of soldiers and Emperor. In a word, the former is
a function of the latter. " Military men discharge their functions
through the power of the Emperor .... and in truth, are
an extension of the existence of the Emperor."^ In view of
Kakehi's theory of sovereignty this seems to be open to but one
interpretation, namely, that what the military arm of the govern-
ment does under imperial control has back of it the sanction of
an absolute divine initiative.
Throughout his discussion Kakehi's object seems to be
twofold :
( I ). To strengthen the Japanese national spirit by supplying
I a religious foundation for a confidence of superiority as a chosen
people.
(2). To utilize the popular belief in Shint5 as the basis of a
political apology for Tcnno Shiiken Setsu (" Theory of Imperial
Sovereignty ") with a world-wide application. By interpreting
the Japanese Imperial power as the temporal extension of the
Absolute, the former is invested with aspects of inviolability and
eternity that guarantee unchanging perpetuity in human history.
Dr. Kato's presentation of the philosophical or theo-
logical basis of the Japanese state, while less elaborate
than that of Dr. Kakehi, is on the other hand, much more
systematic and objective.'^ The effort is made to support the
discussion with a wealth of citations from Japanese sources
together with abundant references to contemporary literature.
On the whole the treatment may be taken sis the most authorita-
tive exposition of the religious nature of modern official Shinto
that has yet appeared. The author attempts to build up his
1. Ibhi.y Vol. I, p. 670; cf. also ibid.^ pp. 670-674.
2. A valuable study of Dr. Kato's exposition of modern Shinto will be
found in Pieters, Albertus, " Emperor Worship in Japan," International Review of
Missions, 1920 (July), pp. 340-356. Reprinted in the Japan Advertiser^ Apr. 14,
15, 16, 1921.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. Ill
thesis in a progressive, orderly fashion with the use of the
materials furnished by the study of Comparative Religion.
His important points are summarized below.
/ Jap^anese national life (kokntai) has developed mainly under
th^^^fl'^^"^^ *^^ a theory and practice which regards theEmperor
as a Divine Being, ihis conception is indeed the foundation of
Japanese national organization. /
Japanese historical documents consistently classify the
Emperor as divine. " The position occupied by Ter^ and
Jotei^ among the Chinese or by Jehovah among the Jews has
been held in Japan from ancient times by the Emperor.'" •
" From ancient times the Emperor has been called by such /
titles as Aki tsu kami* (Manifest Deity), Ara hito kami^ j/
(Incarnate Deity), and ^r<^ ;«//^^/;//^ (Incarnate Deity.)'" Thi^ j
attribution to the Emperor of a position of association on equal j
terms with deity is likewise indicated by such titles as Shison^ \
Shujo^ and Kami go ichi niri^^ as applied to the Emperor, all of
which, according to Dr. Kat5's exposition, may be taken as |
essentially the same as the titles ''Most High" and "Lord" |
applied- to Jehovah." ^
The strength of this idea is seen in its effect on the develop- j
ment of Buddhism. *' A world religion such as Buddhism,
when it has once entered Japan, under the influence of our
national life, becomes a Japanese Buddhism with its center in
the Imperial House."^^
I.
■^'
2.
±^.
3-
Kato, Waga Kokutai to Shinto,
p. 4.
Cf.
also ibid..
pp.
I3>
28
29»
66.
4.
mnm-
5-
^^Km-
6.
im%^'
7-
M-^aga Koktitni to Shinto, p. 4.
8.
31Jt-
9-
±h-
10
JLf3ip-A-
II
Waga Kokutai to Shinto, p. 6.
12.
Ididf p. 12.
^
112 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
J This unique divine position of the Japanese Emperor is
further seen, for example, in the difference that exists between
foreign coronation ceremonies and the ceremonies accompanying
the accession to the throne of a Japanese Emperor. Whereas
in the former case the king receives his crown from a priest who
is the representative of God, in the latter the Japanese Emperor
is his own representative, announcing his own succession directly
to the spirits of the Imperial Ancestors with whom he appears as
an equal.^ Again, '' Whereas in .^lliordgOjCO^ ruler
salutes the flag, in the case of Japan the flag^_salutes the
Empero.r.n^"""'"''*^ ' ""^ " "^
Added to this belief in the divinity of the Emperor, the
author points out another important factor in the elements of
/Japanese national life, i.e. the position of the Empexai; as the
V I racial head of his people. The Emperor is head not merely in
^ the sense of ruler or leader, he is buch by actual blood connec-
tion.* By virtue, then, of this institution of a single line of
Divine Emperors unchanging from time immemorial, wherein
the Japanese nation finds its racial head, there is imparted to the
Japanese national constitution a unique _^<-^bility in thp r\iHc;t of
all the changes of history and at the same time a peerless
character among the^poj'^'i^al f^nH mrmi^-gy^lPMHi r^f ih^ wnrlH,^
Kato next takes up the matter of lo^^al|x— cega«ied as
religiousJaJ.thi^ ^ The Japanese attitude of consciousness directed
toward the Divine Emperor is expressed in the term chuko^
" loyalty." Is it religious or is it not ? Dr. Kato's discussion
results in an equation of loyalty with religious faith. The latter
is defined as that altitude of consciousness which is found in
1. Ibid.y pp. 24-25.
2. Ib'ui.^ p. 25.
3 The basis of this assertion may hz seen in the claim made by Japanese
historians that out of abf)ut 6300 Japanese cognomens some 4900 can be (raced
back to connections with the Imperial Line, Cf. Yaviagata, Aritcmio, " ICmpcror
Meiji," T/ie far East, Vol. 20, No. 4, Nov. 13, I920, p. 103.
4. Waga Kokutai to Shinto^ pp. 28-64.
5. Ibid., pp. 66-90.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. II 3
absolute trust {zettai teki shinrai)} Evidence is adduced to
show that loyalty to the Emperor on the part of Japanese
subjects is of such intensity as to warrant identification with this
absolute self surrender. " The attitude of consciousness existing
in our loyalty and that found in religious faith are identical."^
In view of the nature of the object of this devotion it follows
that the central institution of the Japanese state as found in the
Divine Imperial Line is suppoited by an intense religious feeling.
This is the center of Shinto. " ^hinto is not simply ethical
consciousness as related to secular affairs ; its fundamental
principle subjectively stated, is that it maintains in loyalty an
attitude of consciousness which rivals that ot religious taith.
This is Tenno kyo^ (Mikadoism), the characteristic product o^/ .^
our national spirit, which worships the Emperor as divine. For this
reason Shinto is in truth nothing other than a national religion.'"*
It is a religion of loyalty.
The discussion now logically turns to the detailed considera-
tion of the nature of Shintd thus defined as Emperor worship.
As a preliminary to this discussion the author takes up the
study of the nature of religion itself.^ " Rdigion," he says, "is
a practical mood of a man's mind toward the divine, "'^ which
he further explains to mean that '' religion is a practical means
whereby ^^^ f^pt^rc m<-r> -^A^uX r^l^tJT'nship with some object or
objects refyarded a^ divinf^. Such objects of religious faith may be
either naturalistic {shizen tekt) or ethical {rinri teki). In either
case the religious object is regarded as higher than the man
himself. The human, mental attitude toward the religious
1. Ibid., p. 72.
2. Ibid., p. 80.
3- 5^^ISl- The term is to be found in neither the Nikon Hakkwa Dai
Jiten (Encyclopedia Japonica, Tokyo, 1908-19) nor the most extensive of the
modern Japanese dictionaries, namely tlie Dai Nihon Kokugo Jiten by Uyeda
and Matsui (Tokyo, 1915-19).
4. Waga Kokutai to Shintd, pp. 80-8 1.
5. Ibid., pp. 91-122.
6. Ibid., p. 120.
114 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
object may be termed faith or belief. This is a state of con-
sciousness signifying either unconditional trust or, in its last phase,
absolute freedom, and is not theoretically abstract but is practi-
cally concrete."^
All religions divide into two great classes, (i) theocratic
religion and (2) theanthropic religion. The former emphasizes
the divine element and the separation of the human from the
divine, the latter emphasizes the human element and the merging
of the human with the divine. The former is deo-centric, the
latter is homo-centric* Examples of the former are found in
Christianity, Buddhism and Mohammedanism. Other religions,
s including Shinto, are homo-centric, that is, gods and men possess
identical attributes.
" The Japanese conception of deity is to be completely
identified with the theanthropic system. If finds deities
among men and in nature. Men are kami ; nature is kauii
{Hito wa sunawachl kami, shizen zva siinawachi ktimi tarn
mono nari)y^ As for the meaning of kami, Dr. Kat5 declares
that the term has the primary significance of such English words
as " upper," '' above," " higher " or " superior."*
\ Modern official Shintd is thus not merely a system of ethics
divorced from religion ; its basis is religious. In this connection
the author remarks : " To be sure, in our country, acts of
loyalty toward the Emperor as the head ot our collective family
system partake of a moral nature, so that it is hardly necessary
to say that one aspect of loyalty permits of an ethical explana-
tion. But in as much as the Emperor, who constitutes the
object which imparts life to this loyalty considered as morality,
is equipped conjointly with divine and human natures, it follows
that that which from an external point of view is regarded as an
ethical element, when considered in its deeper aspects, becomes
1. Ibid., p. 119.
2. Ibid., pp. 122-124.
3. Ibid., p. 133.
4. Ibid.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. II 5
transfused with the white heat of religious faith. Indeed, the
loyalty of the Japanese has been so conspicuously transformed
into faith and religion as to lead foreign scholars to go as far as
to say that loyalty constitutes the religion of the Japanese people.
As has already been explicitly set forth, the Emperor is Incar-
nate Deity {Aki-tsu-kami) and occupies in Japanese faith the
position which Jehovah occupied in Judaism. It has also been
made clear that the spirit of loyalty which impels our goodly
subjects, is nothing other than the heart of faith which controlled
the chosen Hebrew people."^
** Therefore, from the Japanese standpoint, that attitude of
consciousness which stimulates loyalty to the Emperor, regarded
as man, when he is regarded as Deity, immediately becomes
filled with the content of an enthusiastic religious faith which
offers body and spirit as a holy sacrifice. Wherefore, if one
regards this merely from the standpoint of morality, it may be
designated the unique patriotism of the Japanese. This is the
secular aspect of Shinto. It must not be forgotten, however,
that Shinto possesses fundamental aspects as well as external,
that it is a national religion which worships the Emperor as
divine."^
The author thus advances to a position from which he can
pronounce on the essential nature of Shinto. ** The pith and
essence of Shinto is the nnic]ii<^ pafrin1;ism of the Japanese together
with national morality, transfused with religious feeling. ''^^ Or
again. ^^ the life or essence of Shinto is the unique Tapanese
patriotism touched by the nationalistic religious enthusiasm of
Japanese people From ancient times on this hai5
been called Yllmato Damashii^ the Soul of Japan. It may also
appropriately be termed Mikadoism or the nationalistic adoration
of the Emperor. The psychological attitude of the Japanese as
directed toward the Emperor is neither mere respect nor simple
1. Ibid., pp. 219-220.
2. Ibid., pp. 221-222.
3. Ibid., p. 222.
/:
Il6 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
obeisance ; it is reverence and adoration, that is to say, it is
worship (suhai). This is the ultimate truth of Shintd. Shinto
is not merely moral consciousness. It must never be forgotten
that it includes the white heat of a fervent religious devotion,
namely, Mikadoism, the nationalistic adoration of the Emperor.'"
Dr. Kato's treatment in a word amounts to an exposition
of the Japanese state as a theocracy in which a divine being
manifested in human form exercises the prerogatives of ultimate
control. Shinto is the cult of religious loyalty to the divine
imperial line and the sacred Japanese institutions which it cen-
tralizes.
The author takes up the matter of the position of the official
shrines in the thought world of Japan. Are the shrines merely
cult centers where the moral sentiments of the Japanese people
are crystalized ? Are they merely social and historical institu-
tions vvhe re the great and virtuous of the past are honored and
remembered ? Such a point of view is emphatically denied by
Dr. Kat5. For, when we consider the historical origin of the
shrines and their function in Japanese society, we find (to quote)
that, " they are sacred spots where deity is supplicated and
where prayers for the future are offered."^ The great spring
and harvest festivals, for example, cannot possibly be legiti-
mately construed as mere secular ceremonials. Those connected
with the planting of crops presuppose the existence of superna"
tural power to which appeal is made for good harvests, those in
the autumn {Niiname Matsuri) contain the primary elements of
thanksgiving to the kaini for blessings received. Hence ** we
cannot pass over the fact that these ceremonials are accompanied
by a faith in the divine aid of a great spiritual power
llie shrines cannot be limited as being merely edifices where
past heroes are commemorated in an ethical sense. The affairs
of the festivals are pure religion. To regard these as other than
1. Ibid., pp. 222-223.
2. Ibid., p. 235.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. II7
religious is indeed a biased interpretation and must be pronounced
an extreme misrepresentation of the shrines."^
Dr. Kat5 finds in Shinto, elements so thoroughly satisfactory
to religious feeling as to entitle it to favorable consideration
along with Christianity and Buddhism. In Shintd we may
discern a deep faith in a higher spiritual and ethical world, the
idea of the incarnation of the divine in the human,^ the institu-
tions of prayer,'' priests and priestesses,'' ceremonies and worship
and authority that ultimately resides in the state itself. In intel-
lectual and ethical content it takes high rank among the religions
of the world, due primarily to the great organizing principle of
Divine, Imperial Sovereignty,^ Buddhism emphasizes [mercy,
Christianity love, Confucianism humanity ; Shinto teaches
honesty and sincerity.^ On the basis, then, of close resem-
blance in fundamental aspects between the great religions that at
present occupy the field in Japan, Dr. Kato anticipates ultimate
reconciliation.'^
This recognition of the ideal of final human reconciliation
on the basis of universal brotherhood will be welcomed by all
who are interested in the permanent good of man. Again, it
must be frankly admitted that Dr. Kato's discussion raises diffi-
cult problems tor advocates of the absoluteness of any single
religion resting on the claims of an exclusive supernaturalism.
His exposition seems to recognize clearly the fact that all religions,
Christianity, Buddhism, and Shinto alike, are to be tested by
their fundamental value in the social life in which they develop,
^hinto, like other religions, is born of a human need. In this
sense we can agree with Dr. Kato in finding in Shinto not simply
nationalistic local elements, but universal elements as well. Grant-
I Ibid., pp. 235-7.
2. Ibid , pp. 257 ff.
3. Ibid., pp, 196 ff.
4. Ibid., pp. 201 ff.
5. Ibid., pp, 248-252. '--u-
6. Ibid., p. ?54.
7. Ibid., pp 262-3.
IlB THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OP MODERN SHINT5.
ing all this, however, it is necessary to add certain reservations
concerning Dr. Kato's exposition.
In the first place, on what basis is a valid distinction to be
created between certain members of Japanese society regarded
as sacred and the great majority made up of the common and
profane ? Is it to be an ethical distinction ? It so, postulations
of divinity are to be vindicated on the grounds of character and
genuine contribution to human welfare. Or, is it to be meta.
physical deity, appearing as a superhuman, miraculous inset in
human history ? In spite of pantheistic presuppositions it would
appear that Dr. Kato's theory of emperor worship would de-
mand an affirmative answer here. Yet, it is difficult to see how
this position is to be reconciled with his exposition of the con-
sanguinity existing between the Japanese people and the imperial
line which is the racial head. The connection would seem to
logically demand the extinction of the difference between the
worshippers and the worshipped, and what we would have left
would be a divine Japanese race worshipping itself.
The main difficulty does not lie here, however. It lies in
the fact that the very center of Dr. Kato's Shinto theology,
exactly as in the case of Dr. Kakehi's exposition, is nationalistic
political philosophy. Dr. Kato's words are unmistakable in
this matter. Comparing the fortunes of Christianity and Bud-
dhism with the prospects of Shintd, he says : " Neither JesUs
nor Buddha complied with the political hopes for an ideal king
existing in their respective lands, but turned away from the lower
world to the world of spiritual things. The conditions of Japan, of
India, and of Judea, however, differ with each country. Japan
is preeminent above all nations and possesses a firm national
foundation. Unlike the Jews her people are not citizens of a
ruined land nor again is she possessed like India of an unstable
royal house that is subject to rise and decline. She is the
recipient of a single Imperial Line that has existed unchanged
from time immemorial, towering aloft like mountains and stars,
and which shall not change forever. In truth the appearance
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. I tQ
of the ideal royal Messiah for whom the Jews earnestly
hoped so long but who never actually appeared, or again,
the revelation of Cakravarti Rajah, the ideal prince of India,
may be seen in the Orient in the likeness of the Japanese
Emperor of immemorial line."^ In his preface Dr. Kato says,
" Just as our country possesses in the towering peak of Mt. Fuji
a natural beauty unsurpassed in all the world, .so also this Orient
land of virtuous men, with its historical record stretching across
three thousand boundless years, with its Imperial House above
reaching in unbroken lineage back to immemorial ages, with its
subjects below looking up to this Line as it towers beyond
mountains and . stars, with its heroes and remarkable men," a
country, indeed, not unworthy the name, / The Land of the
Gods ' — this land has produced a national organization that is
peerless in the earth. "^
The book which contains these statements was published
on February 25, 19 19, almost simultaneously with the report of
the special commission on education which declared, *' the
situation is very grave and calls for serious consideration."
Whether there may be a connection or not, it is to be said
that the exposition of these doctrines of a political Messiah in a
divinely descended prince of age long dynasty, of a national
organization without a rival in all the world, of an histon"
cal record reaching back *' three thousand years," and of a
loyalty that is unique in human history, while well adapted to
foster unlimited xontentment with the status quo in Japanese
political life is, also, so formulated as to raise difficult problems
in the relations of official Shinto. In so far as Japanese political
life, as centralized in this form of Shintd, may attempt both to
strengthen itself within Japan and to propagate itself in the world*
we may anticipate the appearance of serious questions arising in
connection with the religious and political self-determination 0*
various groups of peoples. The study of comparative religious
1. Ibid., p- 251.
2. Ibid,^ Preface p. a.
120 THfe rOLlTlCAL PHILOSOPHY OP MODERN SHINTO.
and political history should warn the Shintoists here. It was
exactly its refusal to adjust its nationalism to universal human
needs that broke Judaism.
Again, it is to be pointed out that the position of the
Emperor in the Japanese state as well as in religion has varied
with the changing fortunes of Japanese political history.
Japanese history when scientifically studied, clearly teaches this
fact.^ Dr. Kato's exposition reflects the interests of the revival
of imperial institutions that began with the Restoration in 1868.
The best index of the actual hold of emperor worship on
historical Shinto is to be seen in the number of institutions which
the sentiment of emperor worship has called into existence. Mr.
Tsuda Noritake, writing in 1920, says on the point, " Emperors
who have been worshipped as deities after death are exceedingly
few. The grand total of Shintd shrines in our country today
amounts to 110,000. Out of this great number shrines where
past Emperors are worshipped total less than ten."^ Shrines
at which the living Japanese Emperor is worshipped cannot be
located in modern Shinto. In consideration of such evidence it
would appear that Dr. Kato's exposition of the centrality of
emperor worship in Shintd is more idealistic and pedagogical
than actual. On the other hand, it is not to be denied that
Japanese emperors have been regarded as living kaniL The basis
of this belief will be considered in a later discussion.
Although Kakehi and Kat5 go beyond most other Japanese
interpreters in the philosophical elaboration which they extend
to Shinto, they are far from standing alone in their religious
interpretation of the Imperial House. They represent a con-
temporary school of Shinto which must be taken into serious
consideration in any effort to understand either recent Japanese
religious history or the modern political situation.
1. Cf. Murdoch, James, A History of Japan, Vol. I, pp. 107-8, 118- 121,
184-6, 280, 296-366, 401, 442-50, 455-9, 540, 562-588; Vol. II, pp. 17,360-61,
372-7-
2. Isuda, Noritake, Shintd Kigen Ron (J^fflgij^, »*ig;Sig||&, "An
Essay ou the Origins of Shinto," Tokyo, 1920;, p. 247.
,'
THE rOLlTlCAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 121
V
ltd Hirobumi, writing in his Commentaries on the Constitu-
tion in 1889, said, '* The Sacred Throne was established at the \
time when the heavens and the earth became separated. The
Emperor is Heaven descended, divine and sacred ; He is
preeminent above all His subjects. He must be reverenced and
is inviolable. He has indeed to pay due respect to the law, but
the law has no power to hold him accountable to it. Not only
shall there be no irreverence for the Emperor's person, but also
He shall not be made a topic of derogatory comment nor one of
discussion.'"
Dr. Katb Hiroyuki, apprehensive of a divided loyalty
induced by the extension of Christian teaching in Japan, wrote
in 1907, " Christianity can never be assimilated to the national
organization {kokutai) of Japan. Assimilation to the national
organization of Japan would mean the complete destruction of
the fundamental nature of Christianity. This being the nature
of Christianity, it is impossible to say that Christianity is not a
danger to the Japanese national organization. The patriarchal
government of Japan is peerless among all the nations of the
earth and accordingly it is not proper that she should revere a
sovereign apart from the Emperor and the Imperial Ancestors.
The national organization absolutely forbids that we should have
above the sovereign * the One True God '.'"'
Kume says concerning the Emperor, " He is regarded as a
1. ltd, Hirobumi, Commentaries (Eng. trans.), Tokyo, 1889, p. 6.
2. Kato, Hiroyuki, Waga Kokutai to Kirisuto Kyo {%%^jkt., #Slt ^ %^
^, "Our National Constitution and Christianity," Tokyo, 1907), p. 56. With
Dr. Kato's statement may be compared an editorial from the Keisei of Feb. i,
191 5, which says, " Even Christian believers, granted that they are Japanese, must
understand why our national institution of loyalty to the Imperial House and the
custom of ancestor worship are not to be regarded or disregarded as convenience
may dictate Under the religious freedom, granted by our Constitu-
tion, any religious faiths are, or course, permissable, but they must not be in
opposition to our national institutions ; and on that account European Christianity
must be revised so that it can co-exist with these institutions and harmonize with
our national character. . . . Therefore if even in the least degree it is desired
that Christianity shall strike down its roots, influence the national mind, and thus
y
ry
1 22 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
living kami, loved and revered by the nation above all things
on earth, and himself loving and protecting the nation, who are
deemed sons of Kami nagara and are entrusted to his care by
the kami Thus, Shinto (doctrine of the kami) is
kundo (doctrine of the Emperor) for Shintoism is Mikadoism ;
* the kamVs will is the Emperor's will ' is a maxim inscribed on
the heart of every Japanese. Herein one may see the fountain-
head of our patriotic spirit, whose marvelous activity has served
to raise Japan in these fifty years to the level of the first-rate
Powers of the world."*
In line with this same idea of Shintd, a recent Cabinet
official has declared, *' The protection and advancement of the
country is in the care of the ancestral spirits and their power
resides in the Emperor. The use of that power is the work of
the Imperial throne The central idea of the
Japanese state is the belief that the spirits of the Imperial ancestors
continue to rule through their living representatives, and from
this belief springs the singular national spirit of the Japanese
people."'^
lyenaga has likewise interpreted the substance of the Shinto
pf the Restoration period as capable of being expressed in the
proposition that the Emperor, as the lineal descendant of the
^gods, must be revered and worshipped as deity.'*
More recently Uyehara has given expression to this theory
of the Emperor in terms that suggest Kakehi's idea of a unique
Japanese revelation of the Absolute. " He ["the Emperor] is to
the Japanese mind the Supreme Being in the Cosmos of Japan,
/las God is in the universe of the pantheistic philosopher. From
v/ ftiim everything emanates, in him everything subsists
prosper, it is necessary that plans should be made to reconcile it with our great
national principles and customs. If to do this it be necessary to throw over the
doctrine of a most high God, throw it over." J. E. 1915 (April), pp 181-2.
1. Kume, Kunitake, " Shinto," Fifty Years of New Japan, Vol. II, p. 30.
2. Japan Advertiser, Nov. 3, I916.
3. The Constitutional Development of Japan,:^. 2/^,
/
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOF'HY OF MODERN SHINTO I25
He is supreme^ in all temporal affairs of the State as well as in all
spiritual matters."^
Dr. Hiroike Senkuro cites with approval the phrase , Aki
tsu mi kami tarn rybhelka no seitoku, ** the holy virtue of their
Majesties, the Emperor and Empress, the Manifest Deities."^
Dr. Haga in explanation of his idea of the relation between
Japanese Emperors and subjects that has continued from the
beginning of Japanese history to the present says, '* Kami,
Deity or God. used in the sense of the * above ' is with
its honorific prefix ^ O,' even now applied for the Mikado —
hence the identification of God and Emperor."^ Mr. Mochiziiki
Kotaro, writing of the Emperor Meiji Tenno in 19 13 said, *' Not
a single Japanese is there who does not regard and obey every
utterance of His late Majesty as divine revelation.""*
Thesfe examples could be extended. They reach their
climax in the representations made by Dr. Uesugi Shinkichi of
the Law Department .of the Tokyo Imperial University, who
says, *' Subjects have no mind apart from the will of the Em-
peror. Their individual selves are merged with the Emperor.
If they act according to the mind of the Emperor they can
realize their true nature and they can attain the moral ideal.
This is the fundamental relationship existing between the Japan-
ese people and their Emperor who is the descendant and exten-
sion of the Great Deity \_Ama-terasu-d-mi-kamt\. The organizing
will resides inherently in the Emperor and apart from the Imperial
mind there exists no organizing will. "^
1. The Political Development of Japan, p. 23. Cf. also ibid., pp. 19, 21.
2. Jinja Sukei to Shukyo (J^^T^AgP, %r^^%.Z%Wi^ « Shrine Rever-
ence and Religion "), p. 3.
3. Haga, Yaeichi, "The Spirit of Japan," T. J. S. L., Vol. XV (1916-17)
p. 123.
4. Mochizuki, KotarS, The Late Emperor of Japan as a World Monarchy
Tokyo, 1913, Preface, p. II.
5. \Jestigi,^\i\nV\c\\\, Kokutai Seikxva no Ifatsuyo {±Jf^\^^, ^^%^^ t
^^, " The Exaltation of the Essence of the National Constitution," Tokyo,
1919), p. 5<^' In evaluating Dr. Uesugi's claims it needs to be remembered that
124 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
All of these statements, as in the cases of the interpretations
made by Dr. G. Kato and by Dr. Kakehi, reflect dynastic
interests that have come into special prominence since the Resto-
ration. The political value of the centralizing influence, during
the period of rapid change since the beginning of the Meiji Era,
of the idea of an unchanging and sacred imperial line, is well
recognized by Japanese politicians and scholars.^ Indeed, it is
difficult to avoid the impression that such political interest is
largely the determining factor in giving form to the interpretation
which makes emperor worship the center of modern Shinto. It
is easy to pass from this to the position that the chiet object of
Shinto ceremonials should be the development of sentiments
directed toward the maintenance of the imperial throne. This is
precisely the line of argument taken by Dr. Ariga Nagao in his
discussion oi Shinto Kokkyo Ron, " Shinto as a State Religion."
Dr. Ariga attempts to show that the cult of the Shinto shrines is
nothing other than a state religion.^ He recognizes great defici-
under the existing organization of the Japanese government this Imperial mind is
always mediated to the people by the various bureaus and departments of the
government, and that motives and methods of the intervening mediation are
exactly where investigation would have to be made in order to establish the
content of the original organizing will.
1. Cf. Frt'/wfl'^^/Vrt, Yoshitaro, "The Influence of Shinto and Buddhism in
Japan," T. J. S. L., Vol. IV (1897-8), Pt. IV, p. 257.
2. In summary of this point Dr. Ariga says, " I can by no means agree
with the proposition that the festivals [of the Shinto shrines] are not religious
Failure to recognize that they are religious amounts to a disregard of reason. . .
. . Shinto is to be looked ujx)n as a religion and there is justification for saying
that up to the present the state has simply extended protection to a sect of Shinto
which lias not emphasized doctrine." [" Shinto Kokkyo I^on," Tefsngaku Zass/ti,
I910 (June), pp. 709-715] Prof. /«<7«ir Tetsujiro has likewise said, " There are two
opinions : that Shinto is a religion, and that it is not a religion If we speak from
the standpoint of religious science, of course it is a variety of religion. Furthermore,
there are points in Shinto that lie very much at the founda:ion of Japanese
national morality However, elemen ary it may apjiear as a religion,
yet from the point of view of its relaiions with the national constitution {koknlai)
and with national morality there is no occasion for taking a destructive a'li ude
toward Shinto." {Kokurnin Diitoku Gairon^ p. 322). The i,aiue au hor has made
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO 12$
encies in official Shinto as a religion, but feels that these defects
can be made good by importations of ethical pabulum from
Confucianism/ Then regarding the matter before us, he re-
marks, " The fundamental principle of Shinto ceremonials consists
in the preservation of the Japanese Imperial Throne, eternal as
Heaven and Earth. This is their most important character.
The carrying out of the will of the Imperial Ancestors is the
greatest principle of Shinto. But it goes without saying that in
order to make the Imperial Throne eternal the Japanese state
itself must be eternal. But in order to make the state eternal
the Japanese people must develop continuously."^
The extreme point of view which would seek either to effect
or to accompany this continuous development of the Japanese
people by the expansion of Shinto as a world religion is not con-
fined to Professor Kakehi. Professor Tanaka Yoshito has said
regarding the Great Way of Shinto, " To proclaim the Great
Way of our empire throughout the world-r-this is our principal
task, this is the sacred calling of the Japanese race."^ A recent
editorial in Kami Kaze, a Shinto magazine says, " Shinto is a
great religion that includes all others For
example, Shinto may be compared with a tree while all other
religions are fertilizers. Thus Shinto, by absorbing and assimi-
lating various fertilizers, as the result of a process of inclusion
and selection, must increase and expand itself. .... A
religion like Christianity, however, which neglects both the
family system and nationalism is not a fertilizer. On the other
public declaration in favor of encouraging visitation at the shrines on the part of
school children as a mean of developing patriotism. \Cf. Meiji Seitoku Kitten
Gakkai Kiyd^ Vol. VII (April, 1917), pp 225-229; also J. E. 1916, pp 156, 377;
ibid. 1918, p. 182.
1. "Confucianism," says Dr. Ariga, "is well adapted to the Japanese
national constitution [kokittai). It is also suited to present day conditions of
living and affords a satisfactory solution of the relations of individuals and the
Absolute." (Ariga, op. cit y p. 721),
2. Op. cit.
3. lanakoy Yoshito, Shinto Iloiigi, p. l6l.
126 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5
hand it is a great evil. If the usages of the existing family system .
should become extinct in Japan and we should come to pure
individualism, or if, again, we should abandon nationalism and
become altogether humanitarian, the results would be dis-
astrous."^ Another contemporary Shinto publication, Miizu, with
each issue prints the motto : '* Dai Nilion Sekai Kyo,'^ Great
Japan World-teaching.""^ Onioto Kyo, which has achieved no
small popularity in Japanese military circles, teaches, ^* The
people and Gods who are centralized in the doctrine of A'^^i?-
Omoto are only working to accomplish this greatest and loftiest
task of unifying the world under the sway of the Emperor of
Japan. . . . . . We are only aiming at making the
Emj^eror of Japan rule and govern the whole world, as he is the
only ruler in the world who retains the spiritual mission inherited
rom the remotest ancestors in the Divine World. "^ Dr. Uesugi
Shinkichi, writing after the close of the World War, with post
belLmn reconstruction issues in mind, says,!" It is now most clear
that th(^ ^snlvMtinn of the entire hnninn rn rr ir tb^ mJHr'^" ^^ our
empire. Nations are now in a condition of disorder. There are
classes within the nations, each class struggling for its own
interests and'^eacITthlnking'Tiii; utlier an irreCotielkble enemy.
/\ RaHicalism-ls ' spread Ifig^^bf^^a^t: — Thg-poisbn of the disease
penetrates flesh and bones anS threatensfto overthrow tlip c^|-nf^
llieidea of reliance upon the state isconspir.^ioimly wpnWpn«^r1.
The heart of man has lost its power to cooperate. Individuals do
as they please^acting dissolutely without restriction./ Tlie capital- ""
istic classes ot^ England and America, flushed with the victory
of the Great War, have become arrogant and domineering
throughout the world and are giving rein to unbounded greed. )
Behold the world is full of the struggle between capital and
1. Kami Kaze (ii^^), Tokyo, July, i, 1921, p. 4.
2. Pub, No. 45, Sakuragi Clio, Uyeno, Shilaya, Tokyo.
3. I'aisho Nichi-Nkhi Shii/i/uin, Osaka, Dec 21, 1920. For a statement by
a Japanese critic of certain chauvinistic aspects of Onioio Kyo and a related ten-
dency toward popularity in military circles, see M. Honda, Omoto-kyo: What
it is and Why it Spread," yrt/<7» Adxxrtiser^ Tokyo, Jan. 27, 192 1, p. 4.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO 12/
labor. They are fallen into the pit. The hell of fighting and
bloodshed has appeared on earth.
'* WJien we observe such conditions, there is not one of our
people who does not believe that, if they only had our Emperor
as theirs, they would not come to such extremity. ....
Our j[)eople, through the benevolent virtue of "the RmperorSj
have attained a national constitution that is without parajlel in
the world. Now, if all the human race should
come to look up to the virtue of our KTr'p<^<'<^^ '^^'^ chnniH rnmf>
to live under that influence, then there would be light for the
future of humanit^L— Thus the world can be saved from destruc-
tion, j^rhusjife can be lived within the realms of goodness and
beauty. Of a truth, great is the mission of our nation."^
In considering the religious definition of official Shinto we
have had before us a form of statement which, simultaneously
with an insistence on the importance of the shrine ceremonies,
makes emphatic declaration of the religious nature of the national
cult. The solutions ot the related religious problems propose
either reconciliation between Shint5 and other religions or ab-
sorption of other religions by Shinto. The centrality of political
considerations in the solutions, however, carries the .problem N'^
outside of purely religious matters and presents factors which, in
the extreme form advocated by such expositors as Kakehi and
Uesugi, constitute a contradiction of the prijriciples of J^nterna-
tionalism.
The study as thus far conducted points to the necessity
of investigating more precisely the nature of the supernaturalism
that is involved in official Shinto. The questions to be taken up
for examination in the ensuing pages include an iittempt to test
the claim that Shinto is not a religion as based on the assignment
of a strictly nationalistic and historical, human character to the
kami. Can the claims for the uniqueness of this euhemeristic
conception of deity in Shinto be maintained ? The matter may
I. Uesugi, Sliinkichi, Kokutai Selkwa no Hatsi^yo, pp. 205-6.
X28 THE POLITICAL l»HIIOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT3
be tested (i) by an examination of the primary meaning of /^^rwi
in Shinto and a comparison with the reh'gious philosophy of other
peoples, (2) by an investigation of the historicity of the great
kami that head the genealogical lists ot modern official Shinto,
and (3) by an effort to determine whether the cult life of official
Shintc is such as to identify it with real religion.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SEINTO. 1 29
CHAPTER V.
The Meaning of Kami.
An argument based on the uniqueness of the idea of kami
is advanced by certain modern Shintoists as a support for the
proposition that the official cult does not partake of the super-
naturalism of ordinary religion. Dr. Y. Haga represents a wide
group when he says that the difficulties of the shrine issue have
their origin in a misunderstanding of the word kami and a
confusion with religion/ Official Shinto frequently falls back
on the a<^<=:prfrnn i-Viaf \\\e- hnnii arp rriprely f^upcrior human bejngs
who have contributed meritoriously to the progress of the Japanese
state.^ It is necessary to investigate these claims more exactly. "
W^h rpo-ard to the word kami, it is probably safe to sayjhat
there is no other term in the original Japanese language with
such a rich and multiform content. Nor is there another term
with respect to which translators, both Japanese and foreign,
have encountered greater obstacles. The variation in concepts
covered by the form is so great — ranging as it does from hair
on the human head to emperor and deity — that at first sight one
naturally inclines toward the conclusion that we are dealing with
totally disconnected ideas, perhaps originally expressed by differ-
ent sounds, which have, in the process of time, become assimilat-
ed to one and the same phonetic form, or else that the explanation
1. See above, p. 85, also pp. 88, 93, 95.
2. Note, for example, the statement which one of the provincial governors is
reported to have givtn out to a certain representative of Christianity, " Although
the word kami continues to be used in the national cult, it has in no way the
meaning of a supetnaiural being, which you give to it. It connotes only illustrious
men, benefactors of their country. Consequently all Japanese, no matter what
their religion, can pay them honour without doing violence to their conscience."
The National Cult in Japan (A Roman Catholic Slu^y of its Opposition to Evan-
gelization), p. 7.
I30 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
is to be found in primitive undifferentiation, in accordance with
which the ancient Japanese, out of a poverty of linguistic elements
and a lack of capacity for making logical distinctions, came to
cover a variety of experiences with an identical verbal form/
Our conclusions in the matter, however, must rest on an in-
vestigation of the actual historical usage of the term kami itself.
The attempts of Japanese scholars to arrive at the under-
lying ideas connected with the term kauii, have followed very
largely along philological lines. The original content is made
to depend on an etymological analysis into supposedly primary
elements. This form of investigation, while manifestly pre-
carious in method, has served to indicate the fact that, in
spite of the assurance with which certain controversialists,
official and otherwise, have insisted on a non-religious content
for the term, nevertheless, the opinions of Japanese scholars,
themselves, have been far from unanimous regarding the
fundamental meaning.
In the ensuing discussion the attempt is trade, in the first
place, to pass in review some of the more noteworthy explana-
tions that have been attached to kami by Japanese scholars and,
in the second place, to examine the actual historical usage of the
term and, finally, to suggest a hypothesis wherewith the existing
diversity of content may be accounted for and harmonized.
We turn first, then, to matters of etymology. Neglecting a
few palpably forced and impossible explanations such as those
that derive kami from a mispronunciation of yomi or yomo,
" lower world,"^ from kamu, " to brew," from kamu, " to
chew,"' from kabiy '' mould "'* (a marvelous thing leading to the
idea of the supernatural involved in the conception of deity),
etc., we find three main types of explanation: (i) Interpreta-
1. So Buckley, " Shinto Pantheon," New World, Dec. 1906, p. i.
2. Cf. Proceedings of the 17th Session of the Comparative Religion Society
of Tokyo {Hikaku Shukyo Gakkai), Japan Weekly Mail, April 8, 1899, p, 350.
3. Cf. Miyao and Inamura, op. cit., p. 167.
4. View of lakahashi Goro, in Shinto Shinron (" New Discusssion of
Shinto "j, cited in Griffis, The Reli^ons of Japan, p. 381, note 21.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. I3I
tions that emphasize a primitive meaning of purity. (2) Those
which m ike the fundamental idea one of superiority, either in
position or degree. (3) Those which go back to forms involving
ideas of mystery, strangeness, incomprehensibility, the 'supernat-
ural, the superhuman, or the " superordinary." We may take
up the study in the order just indicated.
I. Derivations from forms meaning " pure " or *' bright."
(i) Kami is derived from kamiiganii^ by the elision ot the
two middle syllables. This form, rendered into modern Japanese
and interpreted in accordance with the sense of the ideographs
employed in writing it, gives terashite miru or shoran, '' shining-
see." The reference is to the viewing of an object or objects on
the part of deity. The term thus has something of the meaning
of the phrase, '' to behold from glory." This etymology is
advanced by Lnibe Masamichi. It is claimed by him, without
foundation, to be the most ancient Japanese explanation of the
term, kami, based upon oral traditions dating from the earliest
period of Japanese history. The etymology is taken by Imibe
to indicate an ancient attempt at expressing a conception of the
purity of the divine nature. *' The divine mind," he says, " like
a clear mirror reflects all things of nature, operating with impartial
justice and tolerating not a single spot of uncleanness. That
which in heaven is Kami, in nature is Spirit and in man is
Sincerity. If the spirit of nature and the heart of man are pure
and clear {seimei), then they are kami.^''^ As the sun in
heaven lights up the world, so divine intelligence permeates all
things in human society and in nature.
In criticism it may be briefly said that while this interpreta-
tion indicates the thoroughgoing nature of the Shinto emphasis
on ceremonial cleanness, it has no support in scientific philology.
I.
2. Imibe, ^Iz&zxtMix, Shindai Kuketsu (.gii^JEifi, JPf'f^Pfi, "Oral Tradi-
tions of the Age of the Gods "). Cited in M. Maruyama, Dai Nihon wa Shinkoku
Nari, p. 31 ; also in Inamura, op. cit, pp. 159-160. Imibe flourished in the
Muromachi period. The facts of his life have not been transmitted.
^
132 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
It is an attempt to read back a developed moral philosophy,
containing Buddhistic impressions into the ancient situation.
(2) f^jr^ii ^'ff de^'V^'^ ^rr,r^^ hn.^nmi.^ '' mjrror," by the
elision of the middle fa. The connection with deity is, in this
case, supposed to arise from a metaphorical usage, and, as In
the preceding explanation, is taken as a primitive attempt to
express a conception of the purity of the divine nature. God is
kagamiy a clear mirror, spotless and without a cloud defiling
his purity.
Yamazaki Ansai (i 619-1682) who sponsors this form of
etymology, says with reference to the origin of the term, " The
heart of Kami is pure like a clear mirror without a single trace
of dimness, therefore, as a figurative expression of this idea, the
use of the word kagami arose. Later the middle ga was drop-
ped, giving the form kami.*'^
It is probable that the etymology here given was suggested
by the prominence of the mirror as a sacred object in the Shinto
cult. The explanation of the connection of the mirror with the
shrines, which is frequently given by the Japanese literati is that
it is emblematic of purity.^ On the other hand, it seems tolera-
bly certain that the mirror became attached to religious cere-
monial in old Japan, not because it symbolized purity or
cleanness, not even ceremonial cleanness, but because it was
employed as part of the magical paraphernalia of the archaic
cult.^
1. 1^.
2. Cf, Maruyama, op. cii.', also, Miyao and Inamura, oj). cii., p. 160.
Keichu (d. 1701), Watarae Nobuyoshi (d. 1 7 14), Yoshikawa Koretaru (d. 1694)
and other scholars of the Suika school of Shinto [a combination of Shinto and
Confucianism, organized by Yamazaki Ansai] support this same view.
3. Cf, Japan Weekly Mail, op. cit.
4. When the mirror first appears in Japanese literature it is evidently as
part of a magical technique for removing an obscuration of the sun. Cf. C, pp.
54-59. Maruyama is of the opinion that ancient Japanese ceremonial treatment of
the mirror had its origin in a belief that the sun goddess lived therein as a shadow
spirit. Cf» Maruyama, op. cit.f p. 37.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 33
(3) Another view similar to that just stated, while deriving
karni from the same form, kagami, attempts to carry the
etymology back to a usage that obtained prior to the know-
ledge of the mirror in Japanese society and takes the original
meaning of kascami to be the same as kagayaite-mieru, " to
appear bright " or ** to appear brilliant/^ Thus Tanigawa
Kotosuga (d. 1776), who advocates this interpretation says,
" Before the mirror was known the sun and moon were called
Ame-no-kagami-no-mikoto (^ Bright- Appearing- August-Thing-of-
Heaven ')." This notion of brightness, together with the derived
idea of purity, was then carried over into religion, and kagaml
in the abbreviated form of kami was made to serve as the
expression of this ancient idea of the inner nature of deity.^
The etymology here again is fanciful. It has no support in
Japanese philology. It reflects the influence of highly developed
and comparatively modern ideas of purity.
(4) An additional derivation while going back to the same
form kagami assigns a primary meaning "to look at," " to
judge,'' *' to decide.'^' We have, for example, in the modern
Japanese language the word kangamiru used in the senses:
to observe carefully, to profit by experience, to take warning,
to judge, to determine, to consider. As a matter of fact, how-
ever, this kangamiru, from which kangarni or kagaml in the
sense of " to judge " or " to decide " is supposed to be derived,
has no verifiable connection with kagami, " mirror" but, on
the other hand, evidently comes from kangaeru (" to think,"
" to consider ") and mini ('* to see," '' to observe "). Note
the modern vernacular kangaete mimasho, " I will consider the
matter."
(5) Closely related to this kagami etymology is an attempt,
1. Tanigawa, Kotosuga, Wakun no Shiori {^)\\^^, ^^l^^^, " Guide to
Japanese Interpretations of Chinese "), Vol. I, p. 538. Ed. by Inotiye Yorikuni
(*-h^@) and Kosugi Ovaor^ (/>^ia$5), Tokyo, 1898.
2. Cf. Harada, Art. « God (Japanese idea of) ", H. E. R.E., Vol. 6, p.
294.
134 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
which also appears to have originated with Tanigawa, to find
the archaic form of karni in akami^ which is taken to be equi-
valent to the torm akiraka ni iniru, *' to see clearly " [akiraka
ni, " clearly," " brightly," " intelligibly " '' plainly," " manifest-
ly," and mlru, *' to see." Cf. akami, *' a reddish tinge," aka^
**red," and ;;//, "viewing," ''seeing," "beholding"].^ The
usage is supposed to reflect a primitive insight into the nature of
the divine intelligence. On the face of it, however, the ety-
mology is perhaps even more forced than those that precede.
It takes it for granted that the philosophical interpretation existed
in the primitive religion.
2. Derivations based on a reference to usage in which the
idea of ^' superiority." is primary.
(i) The thesis here becomes, Kainiwa kaminari^ '' Kami
means above." The interpretation makes use of the fact that in
the modern Japanese language kami may denote either the idea
of deity or that of ordinary superiority in spatial position or in
social rank. Since the time of the great revival of pure Shinto,
beginning with Arai, this has been the most orthodox statement
of the origin of the term under consideration, i.e., the diversified
meanings of kami can all be carried back to this same form with
the primary significance of superiority. This has the support of
such scholars as Arai Hakuseki, Kamo Mabuchi, he Teijo,
Kaid Genchi, Harada, and numerous others.
Arai, who enjoys the reputation of having been the first
noteworthy euhemerist of Japanese history, says in the Toga^
*' In ancient times what was called /^^;«/ was man. In the
Nihongiy divine ancestors and sacred personages {shinsei shinjin)
are described as kami. In the colloquial speech of our country
this word is used to designate things that are venerated {sonsho),^
For example, rulers and high government officials are all called
1. Written ^g^.
2. Cf. Maruyama, op. c'lt, p. 32.
3- ?ii*lt-li"^j:'(J-
4-
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1$$
kami. Or to take a more commonplace example, the hair of
the head is also kami. We also designate things that are high
up [in space] by the use of this same word kami. So also, do
we indicate our attitude of reverence toward those among men
who are holy by the expression kami. In this connection we
also use the forms Ok ami and Oiuikanii'^^
Although later students of the subject have been divided in
the extent to which they have participated in Arai's euhemeristic
tendencies, yet the far-reaching influence that his views have
exerted upon native and foreign scholars alike is seen in the
dominant position which his idea of /^^;w, as meaning fundamen-
tally, " superior," maintains in modern Japanese philology.
Harada, for example, says, " The generally accepted derivation,
however, is that to be traced in modified meanings of the same
word kami, signifying that which is * above ' or ' superior,' in
contrast to shimo, signifying that which is ' below ' or ' inferior/
The upper part of the body is kami, while the lower part is
shimo. A man of superior rank is kami, while an inferior is
shimo. Heaven is kami, earth is shimo. So general is the term
that it lends itself readily as an appellation of that which is looked
upon with fear or respect, as above man in power or superior in
any attribute."^ Dr. G. Kato has given his support to a similar
view.^ he Teij5 has written in his Miscellany, " The meaning
of kami is ' above.' Because a thing is venerable it is regarded
as above and called kajni.'^^ KafnoyidhucYii says, " Kami means
' above.' In a later age people came to^distinguish between kami
and ' above,' and, because they paid attention to the ideograms
only, they forgot the original meaning and came to think that,
since the ideograms differed, the meanings differed also."^
1. Aral Hakuseki, Zenshu (^^QH^^> "Complete Works of Aral
Hakuseki "), Vol. IV, p, 75. Ed. by Ichijima Kenkichi (rUElt^), Tokyo> 1906.
2. Harada, op. cit. See also The Faith of Japan, pp. 26-7.
3. See above, p. 114.
4. Zr^, Teijo, Teijo Zakki (^jt^^fE, "Miscellany of Teijo). Cf. Miyao
and InaiTiura^ p. 162.
5. For reference see Miyao and Inamura, op. cit., p. 162. For the inter-
136 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
With regard to the evidence for this interpretation it must
be admitted that it appears to have considerable support in both
ancient and contemporary usage. ThatJthejfl[Dxd..ia;^i, 4a -cer-
tain connections, carries the idea of superiority or height in social
and political spheres or in spatial position is too apparent to
admit of contradiction. It is to be noted, however, that the
formulation of this interpretation into the statement, Kami wa
kami de am ('* Kami means above "), whether understood in
the religious sense as expressive of the idea that supreme height
of character as well as a dwelling place in a world above belongs
to deity and that in consequence the god is preeminently worthy
of worship, or, as expressive of a socio-political point of view,
which, while repudiating the former religious interpretation,
accepts kami (*^ deity ") in the sense of important human beings
who by virtue of their being kami (" above ") ought to be
respected, honored and obeyed by the ordinary shimo jimo, is
in either case, in such terms as to make it possible to tie up the
alleged ancient usage very closely with modern theology on the
one hand and modern political philosophy on the other. Thus,
etymology is made to give the sanction of cintiquity to modern
institutions. This sanction is even more directly secured on the
political side by a slightly variant explanation which finds the
primitive form of kajni in the archaic expression, kivd, signifying
" lord," " ruler," or " sovereign."^
The important question that here opens up is not whether,
upon examination of the actual usages of the term, cases can be
pretations advanced by modern European and American scholars the reader
should consult in this connection, Satow, '' The Revival of Pure Shintau," T. A.
S. J., Vol, III, Appendix, p. 43, note 27 ; Chamberlain, B. H., Kojiki, Introduc-
tion, pp. XXIII-XXIV; Aston, W. G., Shinto, the Way 0/ the Gods, pp. y -8;
Florenz, Karl, " Der Shintoismus," Die Orlentalischen Religionen, Die Ktiltur
der Gegenwaj't, Teil I, Abteilung III, I, p. 195 ; Revon, M., " Le Shinntoisme,"
J^evue de nHlstoire des Religions, Vol. XLIX, p. 28; Griffis, W. E., The
Religions of Japan, p. 30; Knox, Geo. W., The Development of Religion in Jafan,
p. 30; Buckley, Edmund, "The Shinto Pantheon," New World, Dec. 1896, p. i.
I. Cf. Japan Weekly Mail, Apr. 8, 1899, p. 350.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 57
found in which kami must be interpreted in the sense of " supe-
rior " or " above." This much is granted. We need to consider,
however, the further question as to whether or not this view-
does full justice to the original and characteristic religious con-
ceptions and practices of the Japanese people. The possibility
exists that kami interpreted as meaning '^ above " indicates
merely a derived and not an original usage, and that it is to be
fully understood only in relationship with a more comprehensive
point of view. Material bearing on the solution of this problem
will be developed later in the discussion.
(2) In a closely related form of etymology this idea of
superiority Is elaborated Into the conception of an invisible, per-
fect or transcendent god. The explanation here attempts to find
the primary element of the original usage in kakiireru, '' to be
hidden," The three following derivations are to be noted.
a. The original of kami is found in kakurimi^ '' hidden
person," ' hidden body " ( kakureru, " to be hidden," and miy
" body," " self," " person "). Saiid Hikomaru (d. 1854), who
espouses this view, says, " Because Kami is unseen by the eyes of
man. He Is kakuri-mi. This is abbreviated to kami,'* In
further explanation Salto says, " In the beginning of heaven and
earth the Gods of Heaven came Into existence of themselves and
hid their persons. They were without parents and appeared
spontaneously. They were unseen even by the other gods*
When the world of man came Into being, although the gods
appeared therein, they were unseen by human eyes and thus
were called kajni {hakuri-mi, ' hidden persons ')."^
b. A variation of the above derivation, while going back
to the same form, kakuri-mi, takes mi in the sense of " spirit,"^ -
hence '' hidden spirit " rather than " hidden body."*
I. m^- •
2. For reference see Miyao and Inamura, op. cit.
3. ^, read variously, tama, tatnashii, kushi, kami, kushibi.
4. Advanced by Haiia Tomonori (d. 1873). Cf. Miyao and Inamura, op,,
cit.,^, 167.
138 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODEKxN SHINTO.
c. Similarly we have a derivation from kakiiri or kakure,
" hidden," " invisible/' or *' intangible " and mi-tsurii, " to be
full of." In their combination the terms are supposed to
express the ideas of completeness and transcendence. The
explanation is that in the ancient religious situation that gave
rise to the word kami there existed a conception of an Absolute
who was regarded as existing in the supernatural world in his
true and complete form but who, as one who was ^' full of
intangibleness," could not be seen from the phenomenal world/
3. In the third general group of derivations we have as
already stated, a reference of the origin of kajm to forms that
have a primary meaning of ^* strange," " mysterious," " fearful,"
" hidden," *' supernatural," " that which is beyond the power of
the mind to grasp," etc. It may be taken as significant that the
list of Japanese scholars who may be classified here includes
some of the greatest names in the history of the interpretation
of Shinto. We may note the following derivations and inter-
pretations.
(i) Ka?ni is derived from kashikomi^^ *' fear," ''awe,"
" reverence."
In the opinion oi Arakida Hisaoi (d. 1804), who advocates
this etymology, kami was employed by the ancient Japanese as
a means of expressing emotional reactions in the presence of
whatever was regarded as possessing conspicuous virtue or
whatever was felt to be fearful and awesome. Arakida says,
*' There are various explanations of the word kami, but none of
them correct. Kami has the primary meaning of awe-inspiring
or dreadful. Susa-no^vo-no-mikoto said to the great serpent,
* You are a fearful kami {Najtji osoru beki kami nari).'' In the
Kimmei chronicle both the tiger and the wolf are called awesome
kami {kashikoki kami). The sixteenth book of the Manyoshu
speaks of * the tiger of China who is called kamL There is also
a pillow word which mentions the wolf in the phrase, ' the field
1. Cf. Miyao and Inamura, op. cit., pp. 167-8.
2. ^.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 39
of the true kami of the great mouth.' It is by conclusions
drawn from such usage that the meaning of kami is to be
determined."^
(2) The interpretation advanced by Hirata is even more
suggestive than the above. Hirata says, ^' Regarding the mean-
ing of kami : At the beginning of the Chronicles of the Age of
the Gods {Niho?tgi) it stands written, ' In ancient times Heaven
and Earth were not yet separated and the In and the Yo^ were
as yet undivided. All was turbid and of chaotic mass like
an Qgg, and kabi was contained therein.' Kami is the same as
this kabi. The ka of kabi has the significance of ' that '^ and is
a demonstrative serving to point out an object. Bi is a word
that indicates something which is mysterious {reimyo)} The
forms kabiy kami, kabu and kamu are all the same. . . . The
kabi which was included in original matter was the cause of
matter taking on form. . . . Kabi was the source of all
things that appeared in the world and, in as much as it was
very mysterious, afterwards everything that had mystery in it
came to be designated by this word. Now kabi and kami are
the samey In as much as the idea is that of a thing that is mys-
terious .4nd strange, not only the kabi which performed the
work of creation, but also everything in the world possessing
marvelous and strange virtue was called kabi. Later this was
written kami. Then it followed that among ordinary human
beings any superior person was called kami. Also, in the natural
world anything that was preeminent was generally called kami,^^^
(3) Motoori's interpretation similarly emphasizes aspects of
1. C/. Miyao and Inamura, op^ cit.^ p. 165.
2. The male and female, or active and passive, principles of Chinese
philosophy.
3 ^, kano.
4- Wik^i wonderful, miraculous, mysterious, supernatural.
5. Hirata Atsutane, Koshiden{^^%'^,-^'^%),^\i I. Hirata Atsutaiu
Zenshu (•^g;i5l|l:^S> "The Complete Works of Hira<a Atsutane," ed. by
Muromatsu Iwao, Tokyo, 1915), Vol. VII, pp. 6-9.
Hirata further says, " In a far later time [i.e. subsequent to the golden age of
I40 TEE POLITICAL PHIL033PHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
primitive supernaturalism. His statement may be taken as the
most thorough that has yet been advanced by any Japanese
scholar. He says, "'I do not yet understand the meaning of
the term kami. Speaking in general, however, it may be said
that kaini signifies in the first place, the deities of heaven and of
earth that appear in the ancient records and also the spirits
(initauia) of the shrines where they are worshipped. It is
hardly necessary to say that it includes human beings ; also
such objects as birds, beasts, trees, plants, seas, mountains, and
pure Yamato civilization] Chinese ideograms were imported and the word kanii was
fitted on to the Chinese character {shin fi^). Although we may think that these
correspond exactly, as a matter of fact, only about seventy or eighty per cent is a
fit while twenty or thirty per cent is not." \Hirata, Atsutane, Koad Taii (" Prin-
ciples of Old Shinto "), in Hirata Atsutane Kden Shu (" Collected Lectures of
Hirata Atsutane "), ed. by Muromatsu Iwao (Tokyo, 1913), p. 33]. The same
opinion has been advanced by other Japanese scholars. Hirata's position, however,
IS as much influenced by his prejudice against Chinese civilization as it is by his
scholarship. As Hirata points out, it is hardly to be expected that the Chinese
and Japanese forms should coincide exactly in meaning. Yet, that the original
content of jfif is closely similar to the fundamental idea of >^^wz may be seen by
an analysis of fif into its primitive elements.
The two important elements to observe in the analysis of jpf are the radical^
and \h<t phonetic ox primitive ^. The latter symbol is undoubtedly the older form
since it appears independently in ancient Chinese writings with the meaning
" deity." Chalfant, who has made careful study of the primitive forms of modem
Chinese ideographs, finds the original of ^ in an ancient sign for lightning, pro-
bably / or h > a pictorial representation of a lightning flash. In the course of its
evolution the symbol manifests the following different forms, p y ^ f /h > § f ^ t
%»%y ^\b, ^K ^1^ and finally ^. [Chalfant, Frank, H. jEarly Chinese Writing,
in « Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum," Vol. IV., No. i. (Sept., 1906), Plate
XXVI, No. 352].
The other element ^ appears in modern dictionaries as the one hundred
thirteenth radical, serving as a classifier for symbols relating to religious matters.
The most common modern Japanese readings of ^ are shimeshi (n.) meaning " that
which is indicated " or " that which is pointed out," and shimesu (v.), " to in-
dicate," " to point out," or " to reveal." The original idea is evidently revelation
by divination. Shuo Wen ;n the " Etymological Dictionary of the Han Dynasty,"
published about 120 A.D., explains the sign as indicating "that which comes
from Heaven as revealing fortune or misfortune to men. From ZL and |' , sun,
moon, and stars descending. Pertains to astrological scrutiny into divine affairs."
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. I4I
SO forth. In ancient usage, anything whatsoever which was
outside of the ordinary/ which possessed superior virtue, or
which was awe-inspiring was called kami. Eminence here does
not refer merely to the superiority of nobility, goodness or meri-
torious deeds, but evil or mysterious things, if they are extraordi-
nary and dreadful, are called kami. It is needless to say that
among human beings who are kaini the successive generations
of august emperors are all included. The fact that emperors
are also called ' distant kami ' {totsu kami)y is because, from the
standpoint of common people, they are far separated, worthy
of reverence and majestic. In a lesser degree, we find human
beings, in the present as well as in ancient times, who are kami.
Although these may not be accepted throughout the whole
country, yet in each province, each village and each family
there are human beings who are kami, each one in accordance
with his proper position. The kami of the Divine Age were
for the most part human beings of that ° time and, because the
people of that age were all kami, it is called the ' Age of the
Gods' {Ka7niyo), Furthermore, among things which are not
human, the thunder is always called naru kami or kami nari
(' mounding kami'). Such things as dragons, the echo {kodamd)^
and foxes, in as much as they are conspicuous, wonderful
and awe-inspiring, are also kami. In popular usage the echo
is said to be the tengu^ which in Chinese writings is referred
(Quoted in Chalfant, op. cit., Plate XXVI, note). Chalfant says, " The horizontal
lines may be the sign for * above,' or a special sign for Heaven. The vertical
lines depict the descending influences." (C/. cit^.
Thus, the Chinese ideogram for " deity " can be carried back to two elements,
one growing out of early human experiences with the lightning flash, the other out
of ideas of an " overhead "force that was manipulated through magic and divination.
2. Written by Motoori, jg}^, " tree spirit " ; from ko [ki), " tree," and
dama {tamd), " spirit." In the modern Japanese language kodama (" tree spirit ")
is still used as colloquial for echo.
3. 5^|f^, a long-nosed, red-faced, winged goblin, supposed to inhabit moun-
tains and forests. He is thus associated with those wild spots wherein vague
sounds and echoes would stimulate feelings of awe and mystery.
142 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
to as a mountain goblin/ The tengii mentioned by the Nihongi
in the book treating of Emperor Jomei is quite different.^
The Genji Monogatari speaks of tengn and also of kodaina
and it might seem as though tengu were different from kodama.
In as much as the people of that time used tcngii and kodama
interchangeably, however, the usage of the Genji Monogatari is
not to be taken as especially significant. As a matter of fact
they are one and the same thing. That which is called kodama
(echo) in the present, in ancient times was called mountain-man
i^yama-biko)!' These matters are of no importance here but are
advanced merely as an explanation of the echo. In the Nihongi
and the Manyoshu the tiger and the wolf are also spoken of as
kami. Again there are the cases in which peaches were given
the name Okainu-dzn mino-mikoio (" August-Thing-Great-
/iL^;;///-Fruit ") and a necklace of jewels was called AIi~kiira-
tana-no-kami (*' August-Storehouse-Shelf- A'^;;// "). There are
also examples in which rocks, stumps of trees and leaves of
plants spoke audibly. These were all kami. There are also
numerous examples in which seas and mountains are called
kami. This does not have reference to the spirit of the
mountain or the sea, but kami is here used directly of
the particular mountain or sea. This is because they
are exceedingly awe-inspiring (kashikoki mono nam yue
nari).
" Thus there are various kinds of ka?ni. Some are worthy
of honor, some are vile, some are strong, some are weak, some
1. |gjg, chi-mi, a monster living in wooded mountains. In Chinese folk-
lore |g indicates a mountain hobgoblin represented as having the face of a man
and the body of a beast. J@| signifies a forest ogre, likewise having the face of a
man and the four legs of an animal.
2. The tengu in this case was evidently a shooting star which the wisdom
of the time explained as the appearance of the Fox of Heaven. Cf. A., II, p.
a68 (637 A.D., 2nd month, 23rd day) ; N. p. 483.
3- iJjigf, from ^rtwfl-, " mountain " and /«/'i>, " an extraordinary man," '«a
man," « a male."
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 43
are good, some are evil ; and their hearts and acts vary accord-
ingly."\
(4). Maruyama favours a derivation from kagemi^ " sha-
dow body *' {/cage, shadow " and ;;//, ** body " or " person "),
We may gather from his discussion the following points.^
a. Use is made of the ancient Shint5 idea that the mirror
{kagami) was the dwelling-place of a spirit, i.e., the mirror was
a kage-fniy ka and ke (ge) often being used interchangeably in
the old Japanese language. The elision of the middle syllable
gives /caml. In accordance with this theory, the most ancient
Japanese word for spirit was kagemi " shadow-body." In this
usage Maruyama thinks that we can discern the attempt of
primitive man to indicate his experiences with the vague
shadows which haunted the world about him, which appeared
to him in dreams, and which were mysteriously reflected in
mirrors.
b. Maruyama then says, " Thus the original usage oi kami
was in connection with whatever ordinary people could not easily
comprehend, whether in concrete object, in dignity, in virtue,
in ability, in learning, or in shrewdness."^ /^^/;^/-objects were
thus felt as *' above " in the sense that they transcended that
which was well known or well within control.
c. Accordingly, by a process of natural development out
of this original feeling of mysterious *' overheadness " the word
came to indicate distinction of grade or position in things and
in human society, as may be seen in the usages of kajjti with
1. Motoori, Norinaga, Kojiki Den, Vol. Ill, Motooii Norinaga Zetishu
(?|C^©E^lfe "Complete Works of Motoori Norinaga"), Vol. I, pp. 150-152.
Ed. by Motoori Hoei (?ls;/5^^;I), Tokyo, 1901. Hirata has reproduced this pas-
sage on kami, with certain modifications, in his Kodo Tail (" Principles of Old
Shinto "). Cf. Hirata Atsutane Keen Shu (Ed. by I. Muromatsu, Tokyo, 1913),
Vol. I, pp. 31 ff. Satow has given an English version of Hirata's rendering in
T. A. S. J. Vol. Ill, pp. 42-43.
2. ^^'
3. Maruyami,^ op. cit., pp. 36-38.
4. 3id.,^. 31.
144 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
the meanings of " governor *' or *' feudal lord," " hair on the
human scalp," and ^' above " or " superior."
(5) Miura Sempo, one of the most astute of recent Shinto
scholars, similarly advances the view that the term kami, in
its earliest and most characteristic usage, is associated with ideas
and feelings that arise in the presence of anything reigen teki
(" mysterious," *' ghostly ") or fukashigi teki (" marvelous,"
" strange ").^ He rejects the hypothesis that kami in its original
sense expresses simply the idea of a supreme or transcendent
being, although he is willing to accept this as a derived meaning.
He distinguishes two main steps in the process whereby the
word has come to take on its characteristic content.
a. " The first matter of importance to note concerning
kami is its content of mystery and wonder. Kami means not
simply that which is superior as compared with human beings
and with things, but it denotes that which in intelligence, virtue,
or power is marvelous and mysterious. The fact that]in ancient
times mountains, rivers, and seas were commonly worshipped
as kami is not simply because they were looked upon as superior
in height, size, depth, or breadth, but because these things were
beyond the power of the mind to grasp and thus mysterious.
We can explain in the same manner the fact that serpents, tigers,
and wolves were also kamiy'^
b. Then with true pyschological insight Miura adds, '' In
as much, however, as the mysterious and the marvelous are set
over against that which is not mysterious and not marvelous, it
goes without saying that an idea of superiority is involved. Thus,
kami means, in the first place, that which is marvelous and
mysterious and, in the second place, it seems to me to express
the idea of superior being. "^
1. Miura Sempo and Tanaka Jigohei, Shindai no Shiso (jnJ^^I^^^IP*
ffi 4» /6S^^^> ff i^;2:®,'®, " The Ideas of the Age of the Gods," Tokyo, 191 2), p.
127.
2. Op. cit.
3. Ibid.f p. 128. .
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 45
Miura further advances the hypothesis that Japanese words
beginning with syllables of the ka-series [i.e., beginning with the
elements ka, ki, ku, ke or ko\ exhibit a tendency toward bearing
a content that is colored by the ideas of strangeness and mys-
tery.^ -He makes no attempt to elaborate the theory, however,
beyond suggesting a few words that illustrate the point in ques-
tion.'^ Thus, although his theory is undeveloped, his study as
far as it goes, favors an etymology that refers the first syllable
of kami to an original usage in which ka expresses primitive
reactions in the presence of various baffling, uncontrolled, terrify-
ing, or mysterious experiences that throw the human mind into
attitudes ^f unusual awareness and caution.
With regard to the ;«2-syllable Miura advances the tenta-
tive hypothesis that this element is to be taken in the same sense
as w/ (*' body," "person") or mi ("fruit," "substance," or
" matter "). Mi thus must be understood in the sense of sub-
stantiality or form. As terms analogous to kami in construction,
he suggests omi (lit. " big body," " big person " ; in the archaic
regime the term was probably applied to subordinate chiefs who
were personally attached to the great chief or sumera-mikoto)^
tami (lit. " rice-field person," used even in the modern vernacular
to indicate the common people), he-mi or ^^-^^ (" serpent "),
nezu-mi (" rat "), shira~mi (" louse "), no-mi (" flea "), etc.^
Under this analysis, kami would mean, " possessed of mysterious
or marvelous substance." Th-- underlying idea which Miura
arrives at is thus identical with that reached by Hirata.
1. Ibid., p. 127.
2. Such terms as kakusu, " to conceal," kakureru, " to hide," " to disappear
from sight," ka^^ " a shadow," " a phantom," kagayaku, " to shine," ki, " spirit,'*
kuma, " a dark spot," kushibi^ " strange," " supernatural." Hatta Tomonori has
advanced a similar view and suggests a comparison of kami with such forms as
kasuka, " dim," *' vague," kakuri, " isolation," " hidden," kaze, " wind," kasumi,
" haze," " mist." On this basis he proposes that kavii is possibly a combination of
ka with the primary meaning of " vagueness " or " indistinctness " and mi, from
mi-isutu, " to be full of," hence " full of vagueness." Cf. Maruyama, op. cit, p. 34.
3. Miura, op. cit.y p. 129.
146 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHJNTO.
(6) Tanaka Yoshito, although attempting something of a
compromise view, finds the idea of mystery entering into kami
as one of its important elements. At the same time he charac-
teristically seeks to preserve unique aspects in favor of the super-
iority of the Japanese conception. " If we summarize briefly
the content of kami'^ he says, ** we may say that it includes
the ideas of aboveness and of mystery also those of superiority
and glorious presence {shorin or kagamiy'ii)} My opinion
is that any object that possesses these peculiarities and attributes
is kami. Today among actual living people there are those
who are kami and who may be called arabito garni (incarnate
kami). Among our ancestors of the past those who jfbssessed
one, two, or all of these attributes just named are kami. Ac-
cordingly, this is not the abstract deity found in occidental
monotheism. That is, it is not arbitrarily produced by poets,
philosophers and religionists. The Japanese kami is equipped
with human personality. The foreign idea of deity differs
greatly."^
(7) Professor Miyaji Naoichi^ declares that the fundamental
/ meaning of kami is *' possessing superhuman power." He says,
** Regarding the meaning of kami : Our Japanese race which
has possessed an extremely stable faith from the time of the
beginning of the establishment of the state, has designated the
objects of daily worship by the general term kami. Even if we
express the idea with the ideograms shin (deity) or shingi
(deities of heaven and earth) yet the various meanings of /^^w/
are not by any means unified thereby. Furthermore, the idea
of kami has undergone great changes in passing through the ages.
I intend to speak of what is lodged in the characteristic thought
of our people.
1. Ri^g^. Tanaka's meaning is not altogelher clear here. The ideograms
ean be read tenxshite nozomu^ " shining, to look upon." Cf. the view of Imibe
given above.
2. Tanaka, Y.. Shinto Hongi, p. 131.
3. I^clurer on Shinto his;ory in the Imperial University of Tokyo.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 47
" It is not easy to determine the etymology of ka?m. If,
however, we consider the actual usage of th2 term, it may be
said that the most fitting interpretation assigns a general meaning
of ' possessing superhuman power.' This was noted long ago
by earlier writers. Consequently, the scope of the term is ex-
ceedingly broad and extends into various diversifications. Thus
kanii may be superior or the opposite ; they may be righteous
or evil. Such ideas are not by any means limited to past ages."*
The foregoing inventory of Japanese opinions contains some
etymologies and interpretations that are fanciful and impossible ;
others are remarkably suggestive and expressive of genuine psy-
chological insight. Whether fanciful or sound they may at least
serve to indicate that the offhand dogmatism which denies the
existence of superhuman or supernatural elements in the meaning
of kami is not supported by the authority of Japanese scholars
who have made the actual religious life of the people an object
of careful investigation. As the next step in our study it is
necessary to attempt to gather together the different meanings of
kami, giving as far as possible examples of the actual, historical
usage.
The various meanings of kami may be listed as follows :
I. That which is strange, fearful, T-ry^tfrinuiii ■^-■ri'-'»r.]n,.„^
uncontrolled, or beyond human compreh:^nsion {Jiakaru bekara-
zaru koto) ; extraordinary exppripnrpc; fVi^f pr^dnrp nnnminl'
emotions such as the frenzy of religious dances, or outstanding
objects that throw the attention into special activity, such as tall
trees, high jngguntains, thunder and lightning ; implements of
magic such as sacred mirrors and jewels ; uncanny animals such
as foxes, tigers and wolves.
In the Nikon SJioki two moi:?ntain wolves are called kashi-
koki kami, *' fearful deities.'"^ The Manybshu speaks of Okiichi
1. Miyaji, Naoichi, SJiingi Shi Koy'o ('^j^jg;— , W^^M% "Outline
History of the Deities of Heaven and Earth," Tokyo, I9i9\ pp- 4-5'
2. N , p. 367 ; A., II, p. 36. ,
148 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
no inagami, '* Great-Mouthed-True-A'<3:;;//,"^ which, as Arakida
suggests, may be identified as a reference to the wolf, fearful
because of his big mouth. The FiidoJd says, " In Asuka there
is an okanii (wolf) who has eaten many people; the people of
the country in fear call it Great-Mouthed-A'^?;;//."^ The modern
Japanese colloquial for wolf is still okami. The Nikon Shoki
similarly speaks of the tiger as kashikoki kami, " fearful deity."'
The Manyosliu mentions the tora to iu kaini, '* the kainl called
tiger.*"* The extraordinary appearance of white animals led to their
being accorded special ceremonial treatment. The appearance of
a white deer was a supernatural portent.^ White sparrows,
white pheasants, white crows, white swallows, white falcons,
white owls, white moths, and white foxes were all good omens.®
The fox images found at the Inari shrines of modern Japan are
generally white. White snakes are still the objects of supersti-
tious regard.
The *^ Eight Great Kami of Idzushi " spoken of in the
Kojiki are two strings of beads, *' a wave-shaking scarf," '' a
wind-cutting scarf " [i.e. ** a scarf to raise the waves and a
scarf to still the waves, a scarf to raise the wind and a scarf to
still the wind "]/ '* a mirror of the effing " and " a mirror of
the shore. "^ The necklace of jewels which Izanagi bestowed
on the Sun Goddess was called Mikura-tana-no-kami, ** August-
Store-house-Shelf-A'i^:;;//.'"' The sword which subdued the
1. Manyoshu,'^ 742, No. 1 636, Ed. by Watanabe Daisaburo and Watanabe
Fumio, Tokyo, 1877.
2. Cited in G. Kato, Waga Kokiitai to Shinto^ p. 139.
3. N.,p.387.
4. ManycshUf op. cit., p. 786, No. 3885.
5. A., 1, p. 297.
6. A., pp. 124, 174, 236-7, 239, 252, 286, 322, 326, 352, 410. See also
De Wisser, M. W., 'I he Fox and the Badger in Japanese Folklore^ T. A. S. J.,
Vol XXXVI, Pt. Ill, pp. 13, 29, 30.
7. Cj. C, p. 261, note 17.
8. Ibid., p. 261.
9. Ibid., p. 43.
THE FOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. I49
savage deities of Kumanu was called Sazhi-futsii-no-kami,
" Thrust-Broad- AT^/;//."*
Izanagi's marvelous sword was called Itsu-no-^vo-ha-bari-no-
kami, " Majestic-Point-Blade-Extended-A'<^////."^ The peaches
with which he held back the eight thunder->^«w/ and the five
hundred warriors of Hell were called O-kamU'dzu-mi-no-mikoto,
" Wonderful-Thing- Great-Divine Fruit. "'"^ The rock with which
he blocked up the Pass of Hell was called Michi-gaeshi-no-d-kami,
" Grcst-Ka/fiiofthe Road-Turning-Back.'"* The staff with
which the same hero drove back the thunders ^N^sF^mado-no-^af;ii,^
Kami nariy ''' sounding kami,^^ may mean either thunder or
lightning (thunderbolt). The thunder god is Ika-dziichi-no-
kami, " Terrible Hammer- A'rt:;///,"^ or Take-mika-dzuchi-no-kaini
" Brave- Awful- Hammer- A'ifz/w.'" The Manydshu indicates the
popular beliefs that lie back of the usage when it says that it is
fearful to see the kami who flashes near the clouds and roars.^
Karnii, which appears to be an older form of kami, has a
similar usage. The frenzy exhibited by Uzume-no-mikoto in her
dance before the Sun Goddess is called kamu-gakariy ** kamu-
possession."*"* In the Manydshu the words of the Shinto
priest, which caused the safe passage of the boats in the bay of
Sumi, are called z^rt:;;/// ^(?/^, " kamu words."'" The wind that
_ 1 . ™
1. Ibid, p. 135-
2. Ibid., pp 34, 100.
3. Ibid; p. 37 ; also A., I, p. 30.
4. C,p. 38.
5. A., I, p. 30.
6. A., I, p. 29. See also T. A. S. J., Vol. VII, Pt. IV, pp. 414-15.
7. A., I, p. 115.
8. For reference see Kato, op. cit, p. 131. .
9. Cf. Shibugawa, Genji, Santai Kojiki {^)\\-^%, H||l5r-^!ll, "Tri-
partite Kojiki," Tokyo, 1916), p. 44.
10. Sui7ii no e ni
Itsuku haftiri ga
Kamti goto to ;
Yuku (0 mo hi to mo
Fune 2UO hay a ke 7nu.— Manydshu, op. cit.. No. 4243.
150 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF ^lODERN SHINTO.
blows from the sacred shrine of Watarahi is kainu kaze, '' kamu
wind."* The conclave of the deities oi heaven is kamu Iiakari,
" kamu consultation."^ A kai?iu-toko is a sacred place for
worshipping the kami, Kamu-gaki signifies the sacred fence or
inclosure about a shrine. Kamu-kai is sacred rice presented to
the kami. In the ancient records certain sacred persons are
called kamu, as Kamii-Yamato-ihare-biko, *' Sacred- Yam ato-I-
hare-Prince/' the first Emperor according to tradition. KamUy
both in form and meaning, strongly suggests the Polynesian term
tabu. The sacred chiefs of Polynesia who can trace their pedi-
grees back to the gods are arii tabu, ** chiefs sacred." A temple
is zvaki tabu, *' place sacred." Kamu here has a ceremonial
and not an ethical significance ; that is, the ka??iu object is sacred
because it is taboo.
2. Spirits and Hf^ihVg nf n^tnrf^ In this sense kami is
used of the spirits and deities of earth, sun, moon, stars, storm,
thunder, lightning, earthquake, fire, wind, rain, volcanoes,
mountains, rocks, seas, rivers, river mouths, waves, wells, trees,
grasses, herbs, growth, vegetation, harvest, etc.^
3. The spirits of ancestors, especially great ancestors, i.e.
emperors, national heroes, wise men and saints. The great kami
of the mythological period, such as Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami, ha--
nagi, Izanami, and Susa-no-ivo-notmikotOy are officially recog-
The meaning of the poem appears to be, " By the kamu words of the conse-
crated priest, the ships in the bay of Siimi, whether they go or whether they
come, they pass in safety."
1 . Watarahi no
Itsuki no Miya yu,
Kamu kaze ni
Ibuki madowashi.
: Ama gtimo wo ;
Hi no me mo m'.ezu.—Manydshuy op. cii., p. 704, No. 199. Tlie
sense fnay bt rendered : " By the kamu breeze that blows from the sacred shrine
of Watarahi [Ise] the clouds are scattered about ; the eye of heaven is unseen."
2. Manvoshu, op. ci(., p. 703, No. 167.
3. Cf. A., I, pp. 1-63; C, pp. 1-34, 39-43, 45-49; Aston, Shinto the Way
of the Gods, y^. 1 21-176.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. I5I
nized in this sense. The orthodox interpretation attempts to
make out that the pers9nages just named are Japanese culture
heroes. Japanese history abounds in records of famous human
beings who at death were apotheosized and made the objects of
general worship. Incuye Tetsujiro says, *' All famous human
beings become kami. This is true of Kwanko \Sugawa Michi-
zane], Nanko \Kiisunoki Masashige], Kitabatake Chikafusa, Nltta
Yoshisada, A^^w^ Nagatoshi, Ninomiya Sontoku, Yosliida Shoin,
and others."^
4, Superior human beings in actual human society, i.e.
high government officials such as heads oi departments and
bureaus (ancient usage), feudal lords of the old regfme, governors,
emperors.
Among the names of the Daimyo, who at the time of the
Restoration, " begged to be allowed to restore their fiefs to the
Sovereign " are abundant examples of the use of kami as~a state
title, e.g. Shiinazu Awaji no Kami, Matsudaira Deiua no Kami,
Hisamatsu Iki no Kami, Nagai Hizen no Kami, and numerous
others.^ The Shokii NiJwngi under the date of 698 A.D. (24th
day, seventh month) speaks of the governor of the province of
Ise as Kami!" , The " Chief oi the Administration of the Ise
Shrines " was called Saigii no Kaiiu.^
A poem in the Manyoshu, dated the first year of Reiki
(715 A.D.) spaaks of the ruler as Sumerogi no Kami, " Sov-
ereign Kami."'^ A passage in the Slioku Nihongi reads, " The
manifest god, descendant of the Goddess ot High Heaven, he
who now rules over the country of the eight great islands, His
1. Cited in Tanaka, T., Shindo J^ivanken,^. 6.
2. Cf. Phoenix, Nov. 1870, pp. 63-4. Kami in this sense is generally
written ^, " a lord," " a governor."
3. T. J. S. L., Vol. XV (1916-17), p. 156.
4. Ibid., p. 182. The Saigu of Ise was a virgin princess of the Blood en-
gaged in the service of Ama-ierasu-d-mi-kaini. The period ol service ended only
with the death of the Saif!ti or with the death or abdication of the emperor.
5. Manyoshu, op. cit., p, 706, No. 230.
15.2 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
Majesty Yamato Neko no Mikoto^^ The Nihongi similarly
speaks of ** The God Incarnate, the Emperor Yamato Neko, who
rules the world. "^ Important personages in the social and poli-
tical life here become living kami and the usage in this sense
implies attitudes of respect, reverence and caution on the part
of the shimo — all below the kami. On the other hand,
there is no evidence that such kami ever during actual life-
time became the centers of organized cult and received worship
at the shrines.
e;. The f^overnment itself, colloquial usage. Kami no on
sata Is *' a government order.""^
6. Above in q^n^fi ; nnprrini in liii ili^>n ^ Hito no kami
ni tatsu is '* to stand above others." Hashigami {hashi-kami)
is " above the bridge." Kawakami is used to indicate the upper
waters of a stream in contradistinction with kawa-shimOy the
lower. The blind masseur as he walks the streets in the evening
still calls out, '* Amma, kami shimo sambyaku ;;/^;2, massage,
from head {kami) to foot {shimo) three hundred mon.^* Further
usages in this same sense are : one superior in age, a master,
the first part of a thing, the upper part of a town, of the body,
or of clothing, the first section of a Japanese poem, the direction
ot the imperial palace or the capital, the first fifteen days of a
month or the first ten days of a month. Okami-san is a term of
respect for the wife of another in lower class usage.
7. In a temporal sense, " t||e upper times.'* i.e. antiquity
(rare).
8. The hair on the human scalp.^
9. Paper.*
1. Trans, by J. Carey Hall, T. J. S. L., Vol. XV (1916-17), p. 152.
2. A., II, p. 210.
3. Cf. Inouye, Juklchi, Comprehensive Jafanese-En^ish Dictionary
(Tokyo, 1921), p. 1063. Kami in this sense is written Y..
4. Written _t.. So also for meaning number 7 given above.
5. Written §|.
6. Written ii^.
THE POLITICAL PHILCSDPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 53
lo. neity ]* God.; "The God of Heaven," {Ama tsu
Kaini)\ the Christian God; "The Lord of High Heaven "
{Tenjo no Shusai, Jotei, Tentei, Ten). These usages represent
to a considerable extent the results of syncretism with Indian,
Chinese, and Occidental thought.
In considering the above diversity of usage the question
naturally arises as to whether there is not some possibility of
arriving at a point of view which gives a unified perspective to
ideas connected with the word kami. Revon who has made
a most persistent attempt to unify the usage, after mention-
ing the difficulty that Japanese scholars have had in coming
together on any plausible etymology, finally concludes that the
only possible explanation is that which rests on the general sense
of kami in the Japanese language which should be translated
simply by the word superieiir. Working from this point of
view he finds a unity of such scope as to include even the mean-
ing " paper " which is superior because of its special importance
in the life of the Japanese people, particularly as the ** precious
preserver of tradition."^
Is this all that can be said, however, of an expression that is
1. Written |^. Under kami thus written the Dai Nikon Kokugo Jiten
(Vol. I, A-ki, pp. 938-9) classifies the following meanings :
( I ) Those personages who lived in Japan prior to Jimmu Tenno.
- (2) A sacred influence which is regarded as dwelling in the unknown,
which knows that which is unknown to man, which works in all things and
which brings happiness and misfortune on mankind.
(3 A term of respect for the Emperor.
(4) Spirits of human beings enshrined in ih& Jinja after death.
(5) The God of Christianity, the creator and governor of the universe.
(6) A term used to designate all fearful things {Subeie osoroshiki mono
no sho).
(7) Things that are beyond human comprehension.
(8) Thunder.
[(9) A jester, a buffoon, a drum beater who entertained at public houses
in former times (rare)].
2. Revon. M., " Le Shintoisme," Hevue de IJHistoire des Religions, Vol.
XLIX, p. 28.
154 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ.
used to cover man's experiences with deities, ghosts, spirits of
ancestors, and extraordinary members of human society — all those,
who in the words of Maruyama, "excel indignity, in ability,
in virtue, in learning, or in shrewdness " — a word that is applied
not only to that which is above but als ^ to magical charms, to
foxes, wolves and tigers, to trees, stumps, echoes, rocks, moun-
tains and seas, to dragons and goblins, to thunder and lightning
— to '' all things whatsoever in the world which possess marvel-
ous and strange virtue " ?^
In attempting to answer this question, one is immediately
reminded of that considerable list of similar religious terms in
other languages which the researches of modern investigators of
primitive culture have brought to light — such terms as Mana of
the Melanesians, Tabu of the Polynesians, Kaniui of the Ainu,
Kramat of th.^ Malays, Tondi of the Bataks of Sumatra, Andria-
manitra of the natives of Madagascar, Orenda of the Iroquois,
Wakanda of the Sioux, Manitou of the Algonquins, Ngai or
Engai of the Masai, Mulungu of the Yao tribe of thcr Bantu
peoples, Oiidali of the Pigmies, Inkosi of the Zulus, TiLo of the
Baronga, Hasina of Malagasy, Attia of the Maori, Kalou of
the Fijians, AningquiltJia of the Australian Arunta, the old
Norse hamingja and the makt of Swedish folklore.
Modern students of the elementary forms of the religious
life have made use of the term Mana as a convenient name for
expressing the uniformity of emotional reaction and resultant
classification and interpretation of experience which these various
words connote in the philosophy of primitive man.^ The hypo-
thesis is here advanced that the Japanese term Kami belongs to
the Mana type of religious classification. Kami is essentially the
same in meaning as Mana. In supporting this statement it is
necessary to indicate more fully the most important elements in
the meanings of the terms just listed.
1. Hirata. See above p. 139.
2. Cf. Marelt, R. R., " The •Conception of Mana," Transactions of the
Ihini International Congress for the History of Religions, Vol. I, pp. 46-57.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 55
Maria, in the religious philosophy of the Melanesians,^ may
be defined as a marvellous wonder-working force manifested in
any object or being that exhibits unusual power or superiority.
Codririgton says, '' There is a belief in a force altogether distinct
from physical and in a way supernatural .... This inana
is not fixed in anything, and can be conveyed in almost anything."
Also, while '' it essentially belongs to personal beings to origi-
nate it/' it may nevertheless appear in such humble objects as
water, stones, or bones. In more specific illustration of ideas
related with the term he says, " If a man has been successful in
fighting, it has not been his natural strength of arm, quickness of
eye, or readiness of resource that has won success ; he has cer-
tainly got the mana of a spirit or of some deceased warrior to
empower him, conveyed in an amulet of a stone round his neck,
or a tuft of leaves in his belt, in a tooth hung upon a finger of
his bow hand, or in the form of words with which he brings
supernatural assistance to his side. If a man's pigs multi-
ply, and his gardens are productive, it is not because he is in-
dustrious and looks after his property, but because of the stones
full of mana for pigs and yams that he possesses. Of course a
yam naturally grows when planted, that is well known, but it
will not grow very large unless mana comes into play ; a canoe
will not be swift unless mana be brought to bear upon it, a
net will not catch many fish, nor an arrow inflict a mortal
wound. "^
Marett summarizing from Tregear indicates the usage of
mana in the wider Polynesian field. Mana is applied, in Maori,
"to a wooden sword that has done deeds so wonderful as to
possess a sanctity and power of its own ; in Samoan, to a parent
who brings a curse on a disobedient child ; in Hawaiian, to the
gods, or to a man who by his death gives efficacy to an idol ; in
Tongan, to whoever performs miracles, or bewitches ; in Man-
1. Cf, Codriuglon, R. H., Melanesians (Oxford 189I), p. 118, note
2. Id:d., p. 120..
I $6 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
garevan, to a magic staff given to a man by his grandfather, or,
again, to divination in general."^ The term is also applied to a
tribal chief, a healer of sickness, a successful pleader, or the
winner of a race. The psychological basis of the j/mna idea
may be said to lie in a naive interpretation of emotional reactions
originating in experiences lying outside the regions of ordinary
control.^
Tadii in its original, local usage among the Polynesians
is to be understood as a form of the //mua-ide^. Behind the
ideas of separation from ordinary usage and appropriation to
special persons and things, is the more fundamental notion of
sacredness. The psychological origin of this feeling of sacred-
ness expressed in ta/?u is undoubtedly to be found in an emotional
expansion or " thrill " in the presence of anything that thrusts
itself on the attention in a sudden or extraordinary manner.^
The exceedingly diversified content of the Ainu term kainui
1. Tregear, E., Maori- Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, (Wellington,
N.Z., 1891), s.v. mana. C/. Marett, op. cit^ p. 49.
2. For literature on mana, in addition to Codrington, Marett, and Tregear
as given above, see also Durkheim, Emile, The Elementary Forms of the Reli-
giaus Life (Eng. trans, by Joseph Ward Swain from Les formes elementaires de la
vie religieuse, Paris, I9I2\ pp. 61, 62, 188-239; Marett, R. R., art. "Mana,"
H.E.R.E., Vol. VIII, 375 ff. ; Ames, Edward Scribner, The Psychology of Reli-
gious Experience, pp. 95-115; Soderblom, N., " Holiness " (General and Primi-
tive) in H.E.R.E., Vol. VI, pp. 731-32 ; Hubert and Mauss, " Theorie Generale de
la Magie " in DAnnee Sociologique, VII (1904); Marett, R.R., " Pre- Animistic
Religions," in Folklore, XI (1900), pp. 162-182; Lovejoy, Arthur O., "The
Fundamental Concept of the Primitive Philosophy," Mottist {^igo6), XVI, pp.
357-382 ; Kmg, Irving, The Development of Religion, pp. 132-164 ; Leuba, J., A
Psychological Study of Religion, pp. 70-84, 122 ff., 163; Goldenweiser, A.A.,
" Spirit, Mana, and the Religious Thrill," fottrnal of Philosophy, Psychology and
Scientific Methods, (19 15), XII, pp. 632-640 ; Dewey, John, '< The Interpretation
of the Savage Mind," Psychological Review, 1902.
3. Cf. Tregear, E., Maori -Polynesian Comparative Dictionaiy, s.v. " Tabu,"
especially remarks under Hawaiian usage ; Ames, Psychology of Religious Ex-
perience, p, 108 J Thomas, N. W., Art. « Taboo," En. B., Vol. XXVI, pp. 337 ff. ;
Frazer, J. H., Golden Bough, I, 297-464; III, 1-134, 201-236, 463-467;
Churchill, Wm., Polynesian Wanderings, (Washington, 1911), pp. 263,
264.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHV OF MODERN SHINTQ. 15/
is to be seen in the following list of usages, *' the maker of worlds
and places/' i.e. the chief of all the kaimii, the progenitor of the
Ainu race, the sun, the moon, fire, ordina-y spirits such as those
of storm, sea, springs, rivers, etc. bears, foxes, moles and wolves
(when exhibiting extraordinary characteristics), autumn salmon,
birds of good or bad omen, a locality remarkable for beauty
or a place where fish and game abound, high or rugged
mountains or mountains where bears abound, government offi-
cials and persons in high positions, e.g. the Emperor of Japan,
beautiful flowers, pleasant dells, large trees, a cool breeze on a
hot day, large waves of the sea, a " man-of-war " ship, a dog
which has saved life, elephants, lions, evil spirits, reptiles, violent
contagious disea<;es such as small-pox or cholera/
The Malay word, Kramat is similarly applied to men,
animals, plants, stones, etc. Blogden says, *' When the word
stands alone it almost invariably means a holy place y the word
tempat being presumably understood. When applied to a per-
son it implies special sanctity and miraculous power. "^ Kramat
animals are generally marked by some extraordinary or uncanny
characteristic, e.g. a shrunken foot, a stunted tusk, or albinism.*
Tondi, as in use among the Bataks signifies a mysterious
f^rce, power, or substance constituting the soul of man but
appearing also in such objects as houses, boats, iron, animals, and
plants (especially in rice).*
Ellis remarks concerning the natives of Madagascar,
** Whatever is great, whatever exceeds the capacity of their
understandings, they designate by the one convenient and com-
prehensive appellation, Andriamanitra. Whatever is new and
useful and extraordinary is called god. Silk is considered as
1. Cf. T.AS.J., Vol. XVI, pp. 20-28 Concerning the possibility of the
word kamui having been borrowed from Japanese usage as expressed in kami or
ince versa, cf. discussions by Batchelor and Chamberlain in T.AS.A., op. cit., pp.
17 ff., pp, 33 flF.
2. Cited in Skeat, \< . W., Malay Magic (London, 1900), p. 673.
3. Cf. Skeat, op. cit., pp. 71, 153, 163.
4. Warneck, Joh., Die Religion der Batak (Leipzig, 1909), pp. 8 fF., 46 fF.
I5B THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
god in the highest degree, the superlative adjective being added
to the noun — Andriamanitra-indrinda. Rice, money, thunder
and lightning, and earthquake are all called god. Their ancestors
and a deceased sovereign they designate in the same manner.
Tarantasy or book they call god, from its wonderful capacity of
speaking by merely looking at it. Velvet is called by the singu-
lar epithet, * son of god.' "^
Among the Iroquois of North America, Qrenda indicates
the mystic potency found in any extraordinary object of
experience.^ It is found in ** the speech and utterance of birds
and beasts, the soughing of the winds, the voices of the night, the
moaning of the tempest, the rumble and crash of the thunder,
the startling roar of the tornado, the wild creaking and cracking
oi wind- rocked and frost-riven trees, lakes and livers, and the
multiple other sounds and noises in nature."^ Orenda may
manifest itself in the shaman, in the skillful hunter, in prophets
and soothsayers, in any man or animal who exhibits extra-
ordinary prowess or cunning, in storms, charms, amulets,
fetishes, or mascots, and in plants, trees, rocks, mountains,
water, clouds, or sky.
Wakanda is a term used by the Sioux in connection with
objects or persons regarded as possessing an unusual creative
power, marvellous in operation. Wakanda was applied to a
wide range of objects, such as mythological beings, sun, moon,
earth, thunder, lightning, stars, storms, winds, certain [)lants,
animals (such as bear, bison, and beaver), places of a striking
character, blood, menstrual discharges, fetishes, ceremonial
objects, the shaman, etc' Irving King says of this term,
" Whatever attracts attention in any way, or seems associated
1. Ellis, History of Madagascar^ I, 39I-2, cited by Marelt, " rre-aniniistic
Religion,". FolklorCy op. at., p. 169.
2. Hewitt, J. N. B., " Orenda and a Definition of Religion," American
Anthropologisty New Series, 1902, pp. 33, 45.
3 Hewitt, op. cit. p. 36.
4. Cf. jSIcGee, Fifteenth Anntial Report of the Bureau of Ethnology^
« Washington (1897) pp. I57, 1S2 ff.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 59
with any striking occurrence, is thought to possess in some mea-
sure this mechanical, impersonal power. The wild animals,
especially those characterized by cunning, fleetness, and great
strength, were thought to owe it to some peculiarly intimate
contact with this power. All human achievement, beyond the
most commonplace, was not thought to be due to any special
merit in the individual, but solely to his shrewdness or to his
luck in making proper connections with Wakonda,^^\
\\\ the philosophy of the Algonquins, Manitou is primarily
a " mysterious quasi-mechanical essence, the active element in all
that is strange, excellent, or powerful.'"^ In explanation of the
psychological origin of the idea, William Jones has written, *' To
experience a thrill is authority enough for the existence of the
substance."' The following citation, from Roger Williams
indicates the wide application of the term. '* There is general
custom amongst them [American Indians] at the apprehension of
any excellency in men, women, birds, beasts, fisbes, etc., to cry
qmX. Manittoo if they see one man excel others in
valor, strength, activity, etc., they cry out MzwzV/^f?
and therefore when they talk among themselves of the English
ships and great buildings, and especially of books and letters,
they will end thus : Alanittozvock.^'*
Thomson says of the Masai, " Whatever struck them as
strange and incomprehensible, that they at once assumed has
some connection with ngai I was Ngai. My lamp
1. King, Irving, op. cit, p. 139. See alse Riggs and Dorsey, " Dakota-
English Dictionary," Contrib, N. Anter. Ethnol.y VII, p. 508 ; Dorsey, J. O.,
" Omaha Sociology," Third Annual Report of the Buteon of Ethnology (Wash-
ington, 1884), pp. 211 ff,, 267; Durkheim, op. cit., pp. 192, 193, 195 ff., 199;
Lovejoy, op. cit. pp. 363-68 ; Fletcher, Alice, " On the Import of the Totem among
the Omahas," Proceedings of the American Association for the Advatuement of
Science, 1897, p. 326.
2. King, op. cit., p. 137.
3. Jones, Wm., "The Algonquin Manitou," Jcu.nal of American Folk-
Lore, Vol. XVIII, 1905, 183; cf. entire article, pp. 183-190.
4. " Key to t he Languages of America" (1643), Collections of the Rhode
Island Historical Society^ I, quoted in Lovejoy, op. cit.., p, 368. /
l6o THE POIJTICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
was Ngai^'^ The term is applied to i"ain, sky, volcanoes, sun,
moon, morning and evening stars, clouds on the mountains
steaming holes, deities, and spirits.^
Muliingu of the Yao tribe of the Bantu, is regarded as the
active agent in anything mysterious or beyond the range of
human comprehension. It is employed, for example, in speaking
of the rainbow, good luck, spirits, or deity. Heatherwick con-
nects the etymology with kuliingwa, signifying " great " or
*' old," saying, *' It is the same root which appears in the Kaffir
word for God, Unkidiinkulu, which may therefore be rendered
as ' The old, old One,' or * The great, great One.' "^
Among the Pigmy people of Centml Africa, the expression
Oudah serves to indicate a mysterious force or spirit manifested
in any -object that ** catches the attention in the moment of sur-
prise.'"* Marett says of Pigmy philosophy at this point, '* His
knife acts normally as long as it serves him to trim his own
arrow-shaft. As soon, however, as it slips and cuts his hand,
there is ^ oudah ^ in, or at the back of, the ' cussed ' thing. "^
Inkosi of the Zulus and the term Tilo among the Baronga may be
taken as setting forth essentially the same elementary philo-
sophy.^
Hasina of Malagasy has been defined as an " indwelling or
supernatural power, which renders a thing good and effective ;
the power of a medicine ; the truth of a word ; the efficacy of
amulets and incantations ; the holiness of a thing,"'
The Maori applied the term atiia to all the incomprehensible
1. Thomson, Joseph, Through Masai Land (London, 1885), p. 445.
2. Hollis, W. C, The Masai (Oxford, 1905), p. XIX.
3. Heatherwick, A., " Some Animistic Beliefs among the Yaas of British
Central Africa," Journal of Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland,
Vol. XXXII, p. 94 ; cf. entire article pp 89-95.
4. Ames, The Psychology of Religious Experience^ p. 108.
5. Marett, R. R., "Is Taboo a Negative Magic ? ", Anthropological Essays,
p. 230 ; cited in Ames, op. cit.
6. Cf ^ Haddon, Alfred C, Syllabus of Lectuns on Magic and Primitive
Religion. (I^ndon, 1905), p. 6.
7. SSderblom, «7/. cit. 732.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. lOI
activities of nature and to all supernatural beings and mysterious
objects of any sort. " The strangers that first came among them
sending thunder and lightning by the discharge of their fire-arms
were real atiias. A watch, whose wonderful movements they
did not understand, was an atiia»^\
Arungquiltha among the Australian Arunta is applied either
to a supernatural, evil influence or to the object in which the
influence is supposed to reside, such as bones, pieces of wood,
poisonous animals or plants, the pointing stick of the medicine
man, or the Churinga carried by the Illapuringa woman (lit.
'' the changed," i.e.y the avenging woman).^
The ancient Norse associated hamingja with the mysterious
protecting genius of individuals and of clans. It was the super-
natural element in luck and fate.^ Makt is the mysterious
' might ' or ' power * of Swedish folk lore. Soderblom says,
'' Men and animals can be ' might-stolen ' {makt-stiihia), through
evil influence."* In other words, we meet here again a belief
in a mysterious force or supernatural power that came and went
in man and beast, under conditions that lay outside of ordinary
control.
The above list does not assume to be exhaustive, yet it is
deemed sufificiently extended for the purposes of the present dis-
cussion. The data just presented represent material gathered
from the folk beliefs of all the grand divisions of the human race.
An investigation of the usages connected with the various terms
that have been brought under examination plainly indicates that,
as far as diversity of content is concerned, the idea oikami presents
no difficulties that students of religion have not already encoun-
tered in other fields and explained with a considerable degree of
scientific consistency. Prior to attempting to draw conclusions
1. Featherman, Social History of the Races of Mankind, II, p. 207.
2. Cf. Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 548.
Durkheim defines. Arungquiltha as harmful mana. Elementary Forms of the
Religious Life, p. 197.
3. Soderblom, op. cit.
4. Ibid.
1 62 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
in the matter, however, it is necessary to consider Japanese
usage relating to kami in the sense of hair on the human head.
As has been suggested previously, the standard explanation
of kamif taken in the sense of hair on the human head, finds in it
support for assigning a primary meaning of '^ above " or '' super-
ior." In as much as kami is employed variously to indicate
*' deity," " above," and " hair on the human head," it requires
but little analysis to isolate a common element of superiority in
degree or position and assign priority to this sense. There are
important considerations, however, that bear against this inter-
pretation. These considerations have to do with the fact that
the hair on the human scalp is one of the principal objects of
ceremonial treatment in Japan and, in both ancient and modern
usage, presents aspects that would appear to justify an association
with primitive supernaturalism or at least with the idea of mys-
terious superhuman force.
In considering the matter of the ceremonial treatment ac-
corded human hair in Japan, it is important to bear in mind the
s[jecial virtue which commonly attaches to hair as well as to the
nails of toes and fingers, in lower culture generally. The hair
on the human head is sacred. It is the seal of an oath, a charm
against harm, and because of its intimate, sympathetic connection
with the living body, itself, it is a powerful means of working
magic ; it is an offering to the deities or to the dead ; it is an
object of ceremonial treatment and an important means of com-
munion with superhuman powers.^ From the point of view of
primitive man hair is a strange supercorporeal material that
grows and changes form mysteriously on the body. It is thus
filled with inana. Hence among the ancient Greeks, as well as
I Cf Durkheim, Elementaiy Forms of the Religious Life, pp, 64, 173 ff.;
Warr.eck, Die Religion der Batak, pp. 9, ff. ; Frazer, Golden Bough, I, pp. 44, 45,
I93» 244, 341-2, 344-5, 353-5, 524, 570; Skeat, Malay Magic, p. 45; E. E.
Sikes and Louis H. Gray, Art. " Hair and Nails," H.E.R.E., Vol. 6, pp. 474 ff.
This last mentioned article should be consulted for further references and
li erature.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 63
certain other races, it was regarded as the seat of life, itself.^
Frazer says, with Polynesian usage especially in mind, " The
head and hair, especially of a chief were particularly taboo or
sacred — to touch a man's head was a gross insult. If a chief
touched his own head with his fingers he had immediately to
apply them to his nose and snuff up the sanctity which they had
abstracted from his head. The cutting of a chief's hair was a
solemn ceremony — the several locks were collected and buried
in a sacred place or hung upon a tree."^ Likewise among the
IBurmese the cutting of the hair of a king was a solemn and
sacred act.^ Similar usage obtained among the ancient Romans.
Aulus Gellius, quoted by Fabius Pictor, says, '' None but a
freeman may cut a flamen's hair. He never touches or names a
she-goat, raw-flesh, hair, or beans The parings of
his nails and the cuttings of his hair are covered with earth at the
foot of a fruit tree."* This usage would seem to be fairly open
to the interpretation that under the old Roman idea hair and
nails contained a mysterious power that imparted additional life
to the fruit tree. The early Hebrews were acquainted with the
idea that the hair on the human head was a source of marvelous
strength which could be brought under control by cutting off
the hair.^ The scalp-lock of the American Indian was regard-
ed as associating the owner with the mysterious and supernatural
power that controlled his life and death. Alice Fletcher says,
" For anyone to touch lightly this lock was regarded as a grave
insult."^
Sikes is of the opinion that the ancient widespread practice of
leaving the hair uncut during a journey probably had its origin
1. lI.E.R.E., op. cii.
2. Art. " Taboo," En. Brit., 9th ed.
3. H.E.R.E., op. cii.
4. Aulus Gellius, X, 15, Rome, 22, 28; Botsford, Source of Book of
Ancient History, p. 339.
5- Judges, 16: 17-31.
6. Fletcher, Alice, Handbook of American Indians^ cited in H.E.R.E.,
op. cit.
164 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO,
in a fear lest a stranger might come into possession thereof and
work magic by means of the locks/
Ideas of lucky and unlucky days for cutting nails and hair
are common in early culture as well as are practices of caution in
disposing of the cuttings.^ Again, the idea is frequently met
with that the mysterious potency in hair and nails can be brought
to bear in the healing of sickness^ This notion is further ex-
tended to that of a wider rapprochement with nature. The
Maori believed that the cutting of the hair on the human head
might cause a thunderstorm. The Romans seem to have held
a similar idea."* Against this briefly sketched background we
may make comparison of Japanese ideas concerning the peculiar
sanctity and mysterious nature of the hair on the human head.
Human hair is frequently met with throughout Japan, pre-
sented at temples and shrines, supposedly as an offering to the
gods or as the binding symbol of a vow. Some shrines and
temples possess great ropes of human hair, braided from the
offerings of successive generations ot suppliants. The evidence
is good that in ancient Japanese culture hair received ceremonial
treatment and was regarded as sacred or taboo. Hair on the
head was worn long by both males and females,^ although each
sex appears to have had a characteristic coiffure even in very
ancient times^ Men wore their beards long.'' It is recorded
in the Kojiki that when Haya-siisa-no-wo-no-mikoto was expelled
from the High Plain of Heaven for violent misdemeanor, his
hair was cut off and his toe and finger nails were pulled out.®
Chamberlain properly calls attention to the cruelty in this latter
I
H.ER.E., (7/.^?V.
2.
Ibid.
3-
Ibid.
4-
Ibid
5-
6.
7-
Cf' C, pp. 73-4, 45-
C/.F.,p, 76; C, Intro, pp
q. C, p. 44.
:. XLI-XIJI.
8. Ibid.^ p. 59 (Sect. XVII). One of the Nihongi variants says the hair
on the head of Susa-nO-wo was pulled out. Cf. A., I., 45 ,
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 1 65
act but it is very questionable if, as he intimates, this form of
treatment had its origin merely in a desire to inflict severe pain/
The removal of the nails is to be taken along with the cutting of
the hair.*^ The object aimed at is identical in both cases, not to
inflict suffering, primarily, nor, again, to brand with disgrace,
but to remove in an effectual way a mysterious source of power,
that is to get control over the offending deity. The account
plainly seems to say that in this way an attempt was made to
limit Susa-no-wo in strength and sacredness. It is recorded
again that Amaterasu-o-mi-kami as part of her preparation for a
dangerous meeting with the same Susa-no-wOy unbound her
" august hair " and twisted it again into *' august bunches."^
The idea that the hair on the human head is a medium of com^
munication with supernatural powers still exists in modern Japan.
Dr. M. Honda, writing of 'Dmoto-kyoy has said, "The Dmoto
believers claim as a proof of the Japanese race being the gods'
chosen people for the moral unification of entire humanity, that
our hair has pith right up to the end while the white-skinned
people's hair is dead three or four inches from its end. This is
why, they say, we Japanese are more susceptible to spiritual
influences than any other race, the hair being the receiver of
spiritual messages. They therefore keep their hair at least three
inches long, bound together as close to the head as possible and
let down the back when it is long enough.'"* The Japanese
wrestler, to whom superior physical prowess is a prime necessity,
still wears his hair long. When the successful wrestler retires
from the ring, his hair is cut in a dignified religious ceremony.^
The cuttings of the hair are offered to the kami on the family
1. C, Intro., p. LV.
2. Cf. Art. " Hair and Nails," H.E.R.E., op. cit.
3. g:c, p.45. _
4. M. Honda, "Omoto-kyo: What it is and Why it Spread," Japan
Advei-tiser, Jan. 27, 192 1, p. 14.
5. The order of service in this ceremony, as furnished by the priest of the
Nomi no Sukune Shrine at Midori Cho, Honjo, Tokyo is as follows.
1 66 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
god-shelf or, more often, presented at the shrine o{ Nomi-no-sukune ,
the patron god of wrestlers.
The sacredness of the hair attaches to those objects that
come closely in contact therewith. Especially is this true of
combs. Hence, in Polynesian usage, for example, combs, par-
ticularly those of sacred persons, are taboo, and are the objects
of special ceremonial treatment.^ That Japanese beliefs and
customs exhibit an attitude of caution toward combs and a
special regard for them is readily apparent upon examination of
the'evidence. When Izanagi prepared to enter the lower world
in search of his lamented mate he is recorded to have broken
off a large end tooth from the comb that was " stuck in the
august left bunch " of his hair and after lighting this to have
" Order of Service for the Hair-cutting Ceremony.
On an elevated place in the room a sacred enclosure is made ready, sacred
rope is hung and a rough straw mat is spread.
The Purification Ceremony is performed.
All make obeisance.
The divine spirit is summoned.
Warning at the coming of the kami\.
All make obeisance.
Offerings are presented. ■
A Shinto priest recites norito.
• The principal offers tamagushi [a branch of sakaki with gohei attached]-
The priest offers tamagushi.
Visitors make congratulatory addresses.
The principal expresses his thanks.
Hair-cutting.
The principal takes his place. The person who cuts the hair stands behind
him with scissors in hand. He inserts the scissors. An attendant receives
the hair and lays it in a convenient place.
The principal retires at his convenience and adjusts his hair.
Offerings are withdrawn.
The divine spirit is sent away.
Warning. All make obeisance.
All retire."
I. Cf. Frazer, Art. " Taboo," Er\. Brit., 9th ed. For an account of the
use of combs in magic see Skeat and Blagden, Pagan Races of the Malay Penin-
sula, Vol. I, pp. 148, 156, 492, 420 fT.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 16/
gone in/ Apparently slight details are important here. It is
not by chance, for example, that the story says left bunch. In
the light of Japanese custom, this was the side of peculiar
potency and the use of the comb is to be interpreted as exhibit-
ing an old idea that it constituted a powerful, protective device
for Izanagi as he entered the dangerous confines of Yomi,
Again when pursued out of the lower world by Yomo-tsu'shiko-
mCf the Ugly Female of Hades, his defense against her was to
make use of hair ornaments. His head-dress, cast down in the
path of the oncoming Fury, turned instantly to grapes which
stayed her while she devoured them. In like manner the pieces
of the comb in the hair on the right side of his head, when cast
down upon the ground, changed to bamboo sprouts and " while
she pulled them up and ate them, he fled on."^
The Nihongi introduces the observations of the ancient
chronicler to the effect that the story oi Izanagi and his marvelous
combs furnished the occasion for the rise of the cautious attitude
toward combs prevailing " at the present da-y " which made the
people fearful of casting such objects away in the night-time.^
In the light of modern interpretations of the priority of ciistoms
as related to myths that embody or explain them, this comment
in the Nihongi is to be taken as additional evidence for the
existence in old Yamato culture of a special regard for the
sanctity of hair ornaments. We read, again, that Susa-no-wo as
a means of protecting the " Wondrous-Inada-Princess '* from the
eight-headed serpent of Koshi, transformed her into a comb
which he stuck into his hair.'' According to primitive ideas,
no finer place of protection need be sought for ; not because the
girl was concealed, but because she was made inviolable by the
mighty taboo of comb and hair combined. Again, it was a
Kghted comb that constituted the protective device of Hoho-
1. C.,p. 35.
2. Ibid., pp. 36-37.
3. F., pp. 50-51.
4. C, p. 62; F., p. 122.
1 68 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
demi-7io-}?iikoto vA\&ci he broke the taboo of the parturition house
and looked in on his wife in childbirth/ The black comb of
the old man, Shiho-tsuchi-no-oji, when cast upon the ground
changed instantly into *' a multitudinous clump of bamboos."^
When the Saigu, or royal vestal virgin of Ise, was about to be
sent away on her prolonged period of service at the Great Shrine,
' she was called to the palace and the emperor thrust a comb into
her hair with his own hands. This was the zvakare no kushi, or
" comb of separation." Thus the sojourn of the virgin princess
at Ise was brought under the taboo of comb and hair.^ Moto-
ori, writing near the close of the eighteenth century, shows that
a precautionary attitude toward combs existed in his own day.^
Messrs. Fujioka and Takagi, writing in the Nikon Hakkiva Dai
Jit en have advanced the idea that the ancient practice connected
with " the comb of separation " constitutes a possible explanation
of why caution is exercised in presenting others with combs in
modern Japan.^ The Adzuma Kagami records the belief that
the picking up of a cast off comb will result in the estrangement
of blood relations.^ Modern Japanese folk-lore still preserves
the old notion.' The belief is probably to be carried back to an
origin in a practice in which the violation of the taboo of cast off
hair ornaments induced such ceremonial defilement as to actually
result in the alienation of even those nearest of kin. A related
superstition of modern Japan requires that if a cast off comb is
picked up some object of possession must be thrown away in
its stead.®
In summary, then, it may be said that Japanese usage pre-
1. A., I. p. 98.
2. Ibid., p. 96.
3. Nikon Hakkwa Dai Jiten, Vol. Ill, p. 465.
4. Cf. C, p. 42, note 9.
5. Nikon Hakkwa Dai Jiten, op. cit.
6. Adzuma Kagami t under the second year of Kencho (1250), 6th mo.,
a4th day.
7. Nikon Hakkwa Dai Jitent op, cit,
8. Ibid.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 69
sents unmistakable evidence of a precautionary attitude toward
hair and hair ornaments. The Japanese ceremonial regard for
hair Is to be interpreted in the light of the supernatural associa-
tions which we find in the treatment of hair in other ethnic areas.
In the light of the evidence it does not seem incorrect to con-
clude that the hair on the human head received its Japanese
designation kami, not because of its superior position with refer-
ence to the other parts of the body, but because it was associated
with the idea of a mysterious and superhuman power. If it be
objected that it is only the hair on the human scalp, that is, on
the topmost part of the body, that is kami, it may be answered
that a study of the ideas of primitive man will show that it is
exactly the hair on the human scalp which is generally associated
most directly with the mysterious workings of uiana. The
sacred hair of the American Indian was the scalpAo^}
The interpretation that kami belongs essentially to the mana
type of religious classification is further elucidated by certain
other considerations of an etymological character. From the
very nature of the case this can not be advanced beyond
the stage of probability, yet as far as it goes it gives support to
the hypothesis herein set forth. Soderblom has already called
attention to the fact that psychological analysis leads easily to
the inference that early human reactions toward the extraordinary
and startling objects of experience probably first expressed
themselves in an exclamation or cry.^ In view of this psycho-
logical inference the possibility arises that in the first syllabic
element of the word kami we actually have the Japanese form of
this primitive human cry. An extension of Miura's undeveloped
hypothesis that certain Japanese words in the /^<^-series exhibit
1. With regard to /^<i!Wi in the sense of "paper" it is possible that the
only connection with kami as interpreted above is that of mere phonetic coinci-
dence, or, again, it is possible, as Revon says, that paper is kami because it is
" superior," that is of unusual importance in the social life of the Japanese people.
It is to be noted, however, that the most widely used magical devices of Shint5,
namely the gohei, are made of paper.
2. Cf. ILE.R.E., Vol. 6., p 732.
I/O THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT(5.
a remarkable tendency toward bearing a content of mystery and
strangeness, yields very suggestive results at this point. We
may note a fairly inclusive group of apparently related ka forms
in the Japanese language.
Ka, an exclamation of surprise. Note nipa, nipa-ka, sud-
denly ; ka-ba to, suddenly.
Ka, the sign of interrogation or indefiniteness in Japanese
syntax. This particle added to a clause or sentence indicates
that the idea in the preceding words is indefinite, vague or un-
grasped. The exclamatory form is probably the original of this
interrogatory form.
Ka, ka-ori, ka-za, odor, smell ; ka-gu, to smell.
Ka, kajni, hair. Cf, ka-pa, ka-ha, ka-wa, fur, skin, hide.
The old form ka-pa, fur, seems to be made up from the elements,
ka, hair, and pada, an ancient term for surface, especially the
naked surface of the body. In modern Japanese the archaic
form ka passes into ke,
Ka~bu, ka-mu, ka-bi, ka-mi} deity, sacred, etc. Cf. ogamu,
to worship.
Ka-bu, the stump of a tree, Motoori's statement that in
ancient Japanese religion tree stumps were regarded as kami may
be compared with the practices of the early Canaanites which
made divinities of tree stumps, along with stone pillars, Asheras
and Massebas. The original religious associations of the tree
stump among the Canaanites were evidently phallic.^
Ka-bu, ka-buri, the head. The association here is possibly
the widespread idea of primitive cultui e that the head is partic-
ularly sacred or tabu.^
Ka-buru, to receive on the head [hence, kabuseru, to cover],
to come under some influence and as a result to be impelled in a
1. The form tabu of Polynesia assumes various similar phonetic variations,
among them being, tambu, kabu kabu and kaj>u, Cf. Churchill, Wm., Polynesian
Wartderings, p, 264.
2. Cf. Hopkins, E., W., The History of ReHgions (New York, 191 8), p.
421.
3. Cf. Art. « Head," H.E.R.E., Vol. 6, pp. 532-40.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ. I/I
certain direction, to have a severe pain in the intestines or else-
where, to break out with a skin eruption. Behind all these
meanings there seems to be the idea of the operation of a hidden,
mysterious influence. Given the idea of touching to the head as
making sacred or taboo, it is easy to see how this may well be
the case. In one meaning the operation of hidden influence is
directly stated, while in the meanings, "to have a severe pain " and
** to break out with a skin eruption," .it is possible to discern,
from the point of view of an ancient diagnosis, the idea of the
activity of some mysterious agency. Note also in this connec-
tion ka-bure, a skin-eruption, poisonsing, good or evil influence,
leaven.
Ka-karuy to depend on, to hang, to afflict with, to be pos-
sessed by, etc.
Ka-ki, fence, boundary, enclosure. Cf, ki, tree.
Ka~giru, to limit, to restrict. Cf. kirUy to sever, to divide, to
limit.
Ka~bi, mould, mildew, buds of plants.
Ka-mosii, to brew.
Ka-i, rice in the ear, a head of grain. The term appears in
the ancient norito,
Ka-Z2u number ; kazu kasu, in great numbers.
Ka-ji, rudder.
Ka-gamarii, to be crooked, bent. .
Ka-ga-yaku, to shine, to glitter, Cf, yaku, to burn.
Ka-kureru {v. i.), to hide, to disappear, to die, to perish.
Ka-kusu {v. t.), to hide, to conceal.
Ka-kuy to wane (of the moon), to be defective, to be broken,
to be flawed, to lack. Cf, ku, kuru, to come. Also, kaku^ to
scratch, to write, to draw a picture.
Ka-me^ turtle, tortoise — used in ancient Japanese divination.
The method of divination, which was perhaps borrowed from
continental usage, was to heat the shell of the tortoise in fire and
to read the marks left by the scorching. It is possible that me
is here the same as w^," eye," a word which has a large number of
1/2 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
derivative meanings, among them *' markings," as on measuring-
sticks, dice, checkerboards, etc.
Ka-ge, ha-ga, reflection, shadow ; divine influence, power,
or help. Cf. kagami, mirror. The ge or ga of kage {kaga),
shadow, is perhaps the same as ke {ge)y spirit, appearance, aspect.
Cf, ke-muriy smoke ; ke-sif strange.
Ka-zey wind. Ze is possibly the same as the archaic term for
wind, si or shi. For an example of the s-z mutation cf, si, sisiy
sizi, thick.
Ka-pa, ka-ha, ka-wa, river. In the application of ka to
wind and river we may find, on the hypothesis here assumed, an
indication ot early human reactions toward the mystery of moving
air and water.
Ka-suka, ka-soka, dim, faint, vague, distant and indistinct.
Ka-sumiy haze.
Ka-nasi, ka-nashi, sad, melancholy.
Ka-sikoy ka-shikoshi, awful, dreadful, venerable (derived
meaning).*
All this may be nothing more than coincidence. Yet if
coincidence is everything that can be said in the matter, surely it
is most remarkable. The fact that we actually have, in the
archaic Japanese language, a form in which ka appears as an
exclamation of surprise lends considerable support to the conjec-
ture that this original cry has entered into the composition of
numerous other words that arose out of emotional reactions in the
presence of whatever was mysterious, startling, unassimilated \x\
the social life, or regarded as connected with some uncontrolled
influence. Ka is undoubtedly one of the primary elements of
original Japanese speech. It has the phonetic form of a most
primitiv^e cry.^ It is not impossible that it came over into
human speech out of pre-human articulation.
The element mi in kami need not detain us. If the above
1. On the above meanings consult Dai Nikon Kokngo Jiten^ s.v.
2. Cf. Aston, W.G., "Japanese Onomatopes and the Origin of Language,"
Jotir. Anth. Inst.y Vol. 23, pp. 332-62.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 73
analysis has in it anything more than mere coincidence, then the
mi syllable may be accounted for in the same sense as numerous
other analogous forms in the Japanese language. It is possible,
as Miura suggests, that it signifies substantiality or form. It
may likewise be taken in the sense of the common suffix mi,
similar in meaning to the English " ness," denoting quality or
state, as in aka?ni, ** redness," {aka, *' red "), omomi, " weight "
{omoi, " heavy "), etc. In this sense ka?m would mean simply
ka-nQss. If either kamu or kabu is found to be original then the
u-i mutation must be accounted for. This form of discussion,
however, cannot be carried at present beyond the stage of con-
jecture. Whatever the correct etymology of ka?ni may be, the
actual historical usage is as has been given in the preceding
discussion.
We may turn to the general summary of the argument of
this chapter. In this connection it is to be said that unity is to
be found in the different meanings oi kami ]u^ as it Js found, for
example, in the various applications of inana or orenda, I»
other words, kami is fundamentally a term that distinguishes "^
between a world of ceremonially sacred thhigs, thought of as
filled with mysterious power, and a world of common things
{s/iimo) that lie within the control of ordinary technique.
Although upon examination of the meanings of the various ^ ^
terms from the ethnic fields that have been just considered, hH'^^
minor differences can be distinguished, dependent primarily \^
upon variation in geographical and social factors, yet in their 'ftyt^
general applications all the forms are identical. From a psycho-
logical standpoint they are markers for the *' super-ordinary,"
spirit world of primitive man. Even in their detailed meanings
there is remarkable similarity. The ceremonial regard for white
snakes, white foxes, white birds, etc., in Shintd is to be matched
with the Malayan belief in which animals that exhibit albinism
are kramat, that is connected with a mysterious, superhuman
power. Izanagi's staff which was kami is repeated in the magic
staff of the Mangarevan which was mana. The same is true of
1/4 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
Izanagi's sword. The wonderful sword of the Maori is mana.
Among the natives of Madagascar the book of the European
which could speak when merely looked at was " god," To
the Masai a lamp was a mysterious being. The Ainu called the
European warships kamuL Among the Algonquins, English
ships and great buildings were inanitoo. The Japanese peasants
propitiated the first foreign-style houses that they saw. All these
usages originate in the same fundamental emotional reactions.
That elementary Japanese world view which finds kami in sun,
moon, sky, fire, storm, thunder, lightning, earthquake, sea,
rivers, springs, water, plants, trees, rocks, mountains, foxes,
wolves, badgers and men is seen, on actual investigation, to be
based on a primitive human experience which reaches back in
time to an unknown antiquity and which in geographical exten-
sion fairly covers the earth. The Shintd practice which makes
kami of emperors, of ancestors and of individuals of *' superior
merit," is to be analyzed and accounted for with exactly the
same psychological apparatus as is used, for example, in explain-
ing the fact that the living shaman and the great chiefs of the
Sioux are regarded as having made mysterious connections with
wakanda, or that in Madagascar ancestors and deceased sov-
ereigns are andriamanitra.
All the terms that have been^examined reflect attitudes and
emotions of caution, awe, fear, wonder, reverence or expansion
in the presence of a great mass of experiences with various sorts
of objects in the environment in which man has found himself.
These diverse objects are, nevertheless, united in this, that all, in
one way or another, are extraordinary, new, terrifying, or of
unusual significance, that is unassimilated or not fully controlled
in the ordinary life of the individual and the group, and thus to
be guarded against with precautionary ceremony. The unique
object of experience, whether sun, moon, storm, wind, thunder,
lightning, strange tree, aged stump, stone of odd shape, uncanny
animal, skillful hunter, great chief or mighty sovereign — whatever
it may be — induces an unusual emotional response. This is the
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1/5
" religious thrill." For the sake of exactness we may, perhaps
better, adopt the old Japanese exclamation or cry and call it a
i'^-emotion or a /^^-reaction. This ka-&n\oMon lies at the very
basis of primitive supernaturalism ; or, if '^ supernaturalism "
seems to imply a distinction that early man never knew, it may
be said that this emotional reaction lies at the basis of all primi-
tive philosophy of the supf rordinary. In arriving at this philo-
sophy primitive man simply makes a generalization of his separate
experiences. The i^-emotion throws the attention into special
activity, a " watch out " attitude is induced, the emotion is found
to repeat itself in contact with a multitude of diversified objects
which externally appear to have no connection whatsoever.
Nevertheless the uniformity of the emotion becomes the ground
on which the intelligence posits the existence of a corresponding
agency operating as a uniform cause in all the various objects
that have stimulated the emotion itself. This is kami ; it is mana
or orenda. In other words since there is no place for the unique
object in the ordinary, well-known, everyday world, it is put
into a mysterious, '^ over- head " world and treated with a special
technique ; it is either in and of itself kainiy or kami appears in
it as a marvel- working force. Precautionary ceremonial handling
of such objects becomes all important and these precautionary
activities themselves become sacred customs and sacred rituals.
With such conclusions in mind it hardly needs to be pointed
out that the kaini-y^Q.2, of Shinto does not have its basis in an
original pantheistic world view. Old Shint5 is not pan-psychism
or hylozoism.' Nor, again, is the original idea of kami an ancient
recognition of the revelation of the " Great Life of the Universe."^
The psychological analysis of the Japanese idea and a comparison
with the usages of other fields leaves absolutely no remainder to
be accounted for under such terms as pantheism or pan-psychism.
Modern Shintd still preserves the ancient philosophy of
kami, Mr. T. Kanamori, writing from the standpoint of the
1. See above p. 4.
2. Sec above p. 102.
1^6 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
rank and file of the Japanese people, has given a statement of
present day ideas regarding kaini that might almost serve as a
definition of mana. " The Japanese term kami, in a word,
indicates anything that possesses power that is superior to the
human. It is not limited- to men. Birds, beasts and insects, in
case they are regarded as possessing mysterious force are imme-
diately looked upon as ka?ni. Old foxes, old badgers, big
snakes, centipedes, all are worshipped as kajiti. If a great tree
is found standing out conspicuously in the forest, it is said, ' m
that tree dwells a tree-spirit,' and immediately a sacred rope {shime
nawa) is hung about it. A great rock is worshipped as O-iwa-dai-
inyo-jin (' Big-Rock-Great- Wonderful-God '). Also there are
people who worship the sun, moon and stars as kami^^
A recently published study, entitled Ujigami to Ujiko,
'* Tutelary Deities and their Proteges," takes up the account of
the existing religious life of the Japanese people as it centers in
the Shinto shrines. Although the investigation is far from
systematic, yet it does present first-class evidence going to show
the extent to which the old ka?ni-ide2i is still central in modern
Shinto. According to this book the kami worshipped at the
shrines include the following : '* the three kami of creation "
who appear at the very beginning of the Kojiki, namely Ame-no-
mi-naka-nushi-no-kami, Taka-mi-jnusubi-no-kami, and Kami-mu-
subi-no-kami ; the two great parents of the race, Izanagi and
Izanami ; the two great ancestors of the Imperial Line, namely
Ama-terasn-d~mi-kami and Susa-no-wo-no-mikoto ; other ancestral
kami, both of the Imperial Family and of the common people ;
O'kimi-nnshi-no-kamiy " who governs the Hidden World " ; the
moon god {Tsuki-yomi-no-mikoto) ; the great food-goddess
{Uke-mochi-nO'kami) ; the harvest god (^Mi-toshi-no-kami) ; the
kami of the five elements, i.e. of wind, fire, metal, water and
earth ; kami of the sea, of grasses, of trees, of mountains, of
rivers, of river-mouths, of the distribution of water, of wells, of
I. Kanamoiiy Tsurin, Shinko no Summe (^^jS^ ^%%^^^t *' A"
Exhorlaliou to Faith," Tokyo, 1916), pp, lo-ii.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. I//
kitchens (Kamado-no-kami), of gateways and of privies {Kawa-
ya-no-kami) ; patron kami of tradesmen such- as the kami of
carpenters or the kami of smiths ; patron kami of one's birth-
place ; kami who protect the coming and going of ships ; phallic
kami {Saruta-hiko-no-kami, Sahe~no-kami, Dosojin, etc.); kami
who bring happiness and intelligence ; kami who bring misfortune
and evil {inaga-kami) ; and also spirits of enemies living and
dead, of foxes and of badgers who cast malign influences and
curses on men.^
This outline of the modern Shinto pantheon to which the
discussion in Ujigami to Ujiko introduces us, incomplete though
it is, yet serves to make plain the fact that modern Shintd still
breeds true to original type. Another contemporary publication
includes in the pantheon " the eight myriad kami of heaven and
the eight myriad kami of earth who have divided control over
mountains, rivers, grains, grasses and trees, — that is over all things
of the universe."^
A first hand study of the shrines will confirm the above
statements of the idea of kami in modern Shinto. The most
popular rural shrines are those of Inari, a kami whose exact
origins are obscure but who, nevertheless, is assigned the primary
function of presiding over food especially over rice. A census
of Inari shrines, if it could be secured, would furnish valuable
evidence regarding one of the preponderant religious interests of
modern Japan. A conservative estimate of the number of Inari
shrines must place the total well up in the thousands. Inari, if
rightly propitiated and appealed to grants the " hundred cereals,"
wealth, general prosperity, and happiness to man.^ His mes-
senger is the mysterious fox. In numerous cases, however, the
1. 6«2«y^?, Takeichi, Ujigami to Ujiko {^^f."^—, J3£l'?ij3t^> "Tutelary
Deities and their Proteges," Tokyo, 1920), Appendix, pp. 1-9.
2. Kanzaki, Kazusaku, Shinto Honkyoku Kiyo (|f iIJ§— f^, jfif iE?jii.^$E^»
"A Memoir on Shinto Honkyoku," Tokyo, 1914), p. 8.
3. Cf, Ishikura, Shigetsugu, Kasama Inari Jinja Engi (H:5^M^> .^^^
^fli^^^^, "The History of the Kasama Inari Shrine," Kasama, Ibaraki
Province, 1 904), pp. 5-7.
1 78 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
fox itself is worshipped as Inari. Inari shrines are a part of the
official cult. An example of this relationship is to be seen in the
fact that the chief priest of the great Inari Shrine at Kasama in
Ibaraki Province receives the treatment of a state official appoint-
ed under the approval of the Emperor {sonin rank).
The official definition that Shinto is not a religion and that
the idea of kami in the state cult does not partake of the super-
naturalism of ordinary religion must likewise be made to cover
various phallic shrines, as, for example, the Ebishima Shrine
near Ishikoshi, north of Sendai, the Shrine of the " Road-
Ancestor-God " {Dosojin) of Wakayanagi, also near Ishikoshi,
shrines to Dosojin at Ichinoseki, at Kashima, and at Aikomura
in Rikuzen, the Iwato Shrine of Shikoku, also shrines of phallic
kajni at Miyanoura and elsewhere in the Inland Sea.^ Japanese
kami under more than eighty different names have been identifi-
ed as associated with phallicism.^ In the village of Kiryu, of the
district of Yamada, in Kozuke, is a forked tree which is worship-
ped as the kami of male and female union {danjo engiimi no
kami).^ Small way-side shrines are frequently found near
forked trees. A plain forked stick may sometimes be found
thrown in at phallic shrines along with emblems of the
phallus and kteis. A phallic deity is sometimes called inata-no-
kami or chimata-no-kami^ " crotch-/'^;/// " or '' ioxV-kami'^ All
this is a part of the cult of the shrines.
At certain shrines tooth-ache is cured ; some specialize in eye
diseases, others in ear trouble ; there are numerous shrines where
the kami protect against conscription into the Japanese army.
1. Cf. Chub Bukkyo, " Dosojin to Seishokki Suhai" Sept., 1921, pp. 62-72
(4»:^{^tit, ilMf? :^ ^5tI^^#» ^^'<? Central Buddhism, " Road Ancestor Gods
andPhallicism").
2. Cf. Shin Fukyo, ** Shukyo to Seiyoku^'' March and April, 1921 (Double
Number, pp. 120-121 [^/flg^, ^^i^fel^' ^'"^ Propagandism (Buddhist),
*' Religion and Sex Hunger "J.
3. Ito, Entei, Sekai ftidai Shukyo Hayawakari (^j^®^, ^^•\'-h'^WL
^^)0'^*^^ » " '^'^ Introduction to the Ten Great Religions of the World," Tokyo,
1920), p. 787.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1/9
The icho or gingko tree is a sacred object at many modern
shrines. In the eastern suburbs of the city of Sendai a magni-
ficent specimen of this tree, with large mammilliform pro-
tuberances, is regarded as the shrine ot a kanii who supplies
milk to nursing mothers. The tree has before it the regulation
torii which marks all shrines in the official cult. The same
thing may be found widespread throughout Japan. The ex-
ceedingly diversified nature of the content of the kaini-\6iQ.'du of
modern Shinto may be further seen in the fact that between the
years 1869 and 19 16 the spirits of 120,070 persons who lost
their lives in the active military service of the Japanese state
were enshrined in the Yasiikiini Shrine of Tokyo.^ These also
are kami of the modern official cult.
This complex religious idea gives us modern Shinto, which
is thus neither exclusively ancestor worship nor exclusively nature
worship ; nor, again, can it be fully defined merely as an amalga-
mation of the two. Shinto is /'rt:/;//-cult, with hand understood
in the sense of niana.
In the foregoing investigation we have had under survey
the fundamental idea of Shinto. The conception which the
examination lays bare is simply that of naive philosophy the
world over. The idea of kainl is certainly not unique, in spite
of what Japanese apologists for the official cult like Okuma and
Haga may say to the contrary. On the other hand, Jthe idea of
an *' over-head " world, permeated by a mysterious and magical
force, is exactly that of primitive religion and philosophy every-
where.
The investigation cannot stop here, however. It needs to
be remembered that Japanese officialdom has declared that
whatever ideas or beliefs the people themselves may have, the '
government does not look upon the shrines as being religious in
nature. It is neces<^ary to carry the discussion more directly
<;ver onto that ground which the government itself has marked
I. Kamo, Momoki, Yasukimi Jinja Ichiran C^'^l^iJ' W\WMt~''^*
*« A Guide to ihe Yasukimi Shrine," Tokyo, 1919', p- 4.
l8o THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
out as the area of the- true cult of the shrines. It is incumbent upon
us, then, to investigate specifically the claims made regarding the
great kami that head the imperial genealogies of modern Japan.
In the ensuing discussion we must take up the problem of the
historicity of some of the most important characters involved in
the ancestral theory of modern official Shinto.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. l8l
CHAPTER VI.
The Mythology of the Official Cult :
The Original Parents.
Article I of the present Constitution of Japan in the official
Engh'sh translation reads, " The Empire of Japan shall be reigned
over and governed by a line of Emperors unbroken for ages
eternal."^ Article III, following declares, " The Emperor is
sacred and inviolable." We have here stated two propositions
that have become fundamental dogmas in modern p3litical
Shinto. In Article 1 is expressed the dogma of a single dynasty
unchanging from time immemorial and closely involved there-
with the idea that this indestructible line must continue on into an
unlimited future. In Article III is stated the dogma of the
sacred person of the Emperor. Prince Ito, who more than any
other individual Japanese subject was responsible for the contents.
of the Constitution, defines the close connection existing between
Articles I and III when he says "The Emperor is Heaven
descended, divine and sacred."'' In other words a convincing
manifestation of imperial divinity is to be found in the unbroken
genealogical connections with the Divine Ancestors of the Age
of the Gods.
Ito in exposition of Article III has further written, " Since
the time when the first Imperial Ancestor opened it, the country
has not been free from occasional checks in its prosperity nor
from frequent disturbances of its tranquillity ; but the splendor
1. For editions of the official English translation of the Japanese Constitu-
tion consult Ito, H., Commentaries ojt the Constitution of the Empire of Japan
(Tokyo 1889) ; T. A. S. J., Vol XLII, Pt. I, pp. 136 ff. ; Uehara, The Political
Development of Japan^ Appendix, pp. 277 fF. For the Japanese text of the Con-
stitution together with the original of Ito's Commentaries see 0J-]^tSX» ^WW(k
^^^^#^> fij'st ed., 1889; seventh ed., 1914.
2. See above p. 121.
^J
1 82 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
of the Sacred Throne transmitted through an unbroken line of
one and the same dynasty has always remained as immutable as
that of the heavens and of the earth. At the outset, this Article
states the great principle of the Constitution of the country, and
declares that the Empire of Japan shall, to the end of time,
identify itself with the Imperial dynasty unbroken in lineage, and
that the(i principle has never changed in the past, and will never
change in the future, even to all eternity. It is intended thus to
make clear forever the relations that shall exist between the
Emperor and His subjects."^ The Preamble to the Imperial
House Law contains the statement, " The Imperial Throne of
Japan, enjoying the Grace of Heaven and evedasting from ages
eternal in an unbroken line of succession, has been transmitted to
us through successive reigns."^ The Preamble to the Constitu-
tution likewise opens with the words, " Having, by virtue of the
glories of Our Ancestors ascended the Throne of a lineal succes-
sion unbroken for ages eternal ""^
1. Il5, Commentaries f pp. 2-3.
2. Ibid., p. 153.
3. Ibid ^ Intro, p. XI.
The sacred character of the Emperor i.s officially supported by surrounding his
contacts with his subjects with numerous safeguards and restrictions that are written
into the national laws themselves. In these various regulations it is possible to dis-
cern the influence and continuation of ancient taboos such as are aUached to sacred
persons in early culture. Regulations regarding the use of the imperial name on the
part of the people may be noted first. In old Japanese civilization the name of a royal
person was an imi-na, that is a tabu-name, and usage thereof was limited to emperors
and princes of the blood [Cf. Harada, T., « Names (Japanese)," H. E. R. E., Vol.
9, p. 167). Modern Japanese law perpetuates this old safeguard Subjects may
make use of the separate ideograms of the imperial names in writing' personal or
family names, but the private name of the Emperor in its entirety 13 still taboo.
The law of March 28, 1873 ^^7^ relative to this inatter, " The usage of the ideo-
grams of the names of past Emperors or of the name of the reigning Emperor is
not forbidden I0 the people from now on. However, it is not permitted to use
the imperial name as such." (H. Z., 1873, p. 155, Order of the Council of State,
No. 118). This situation in modern Japan is to be studied as a primitive survival
utilized in the interests of political control. To be understood it mu.st be com-
pared with the elaborate protections and prohibitions with which the secret names
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 83
These ideas thus written prominency into the most import-
ant documents of the Japanese state are constantly echoed and
reechoed throughout the length and breadth of modern Japan
from teacher's desk, from press and from speaker's platform
of sacred persons such as sorcerers, chiefs, priests and kings are surrounded in
lower culture. The Japanese usage is to be examined in the light of what modem
anthropology has to say concerning widespread practices relating to name-souls
and the magical use of names in casting spells even to the extent of bringing
death to others by manipulating their real names. The modern Japanese law
which withholds the private name of the Emperor from the danger and defilement
of popular usage is only one instance of a similar practice in other fields. Mate-
rial for comparative study here is very extensive. In certain primitive societies
punishment with death was visited upon those subjects who took the royal name
as their own. [For literature and discussion see Foucart, G., " Names (Primitive),"
H. E.l^. E., Vol. 9, pp. 130-6. For a case in modern Japan of suicide arising
out of social chagrin at an illegal use of the sacred imperial name see W. M. Mc-
Govern, Modern Japan (London, 1920), p. 129].
In royal jourrieyings contacts with the people are likewise closely guarded. A
law issued on March 9, 1873 covers the matter of imperial processions with
the following regulation, " On the occasion of an imperial procession, people
passing along the imperial route, at sight of the royal ensign, must dis-
mount from horses and vehicles, must remove coverings such as umbrellas
and hats and, standing by the wayside, must make obeisance." (H. Z., 1873,
p. 76. Order of Council of State, No. 96). The application of the law is
extended so as to prevent looking down on the Emperor from any superior posi-
tion as from upper windows or tramcars. With this Japanese practice is to be
compared the widespread idea of the sacredness of the head and the notion that
the head must not come below any inferior or contaminating person or thing.
{Cf. " Head," H. E. R. E., Vol. 6, pp. 532-40, esp. p. 532).
The great detail with which the Japanese government controls the contacts
between the common people and the Sovereign may be seen in regulations setting
forth the " Form of Obeisance for Students on the Occasion of an Imperial Pro-
cession " [Emperor, Empress and Crown Prince] . The directions cover both
military and non-military occasions. The former incidentally reflects the extent
to which military training is a part ol the normal Japanese educational system,
especially in Middle Schools. The regulations read : " The form of obeisance
for students on the occasion ol an imperial procession is fixed as follows.
" I. Military form. The school principal and staff shall take their places at
the extreme right of the entire corps. Group leaders shall take their places to
the right of each group. Students shall have previously fixed bayonets. On the
appearance of the vanguard of the imperial procession the leaders shall give the
command, ' Attention ! ' Students shall assume an erect and unmoving attitude.
1 84 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
alike. The establishing of genealogical connections that are
" everlasting from ages eternal " necessitates identification with
various personages appearing in the ancient Shinto pantheon, a
fact which, in turn, supplies a basis on which a modern Shinto
writer like Tanaka Yoshito can claim the Japanese Constitution
itself as a Shinto document/
When the imperial carriage has approached to approximately ten paces from the
company the leaders shall command, < Present Arms.' All shall simultaneously
present arms. When the imperial procession has passed to approximately ten
paces to the left they shall take their former positions.
" After the imperial carriage has passed to the extreme left of the corps,
principal, teachers and group leaders shall take up their positions to the left.
*< 2. Non-military form (includes girl students). The school principal and
staff shall lake their places at the extreme right of the entire body. Group leaders
shall take their places to the right of each group. On the appearance of the
vanguard'of the imperial procession the command, ' Attention ! ', shall be given and
all shall remove hats simultaneously and shall assume an erect dnd unmoving atti-
tude. When the imperial carriage comes in front of the group leader the com-
mand, ' Salute,' shall be given and all shall make obeisance (that is, with eyes
fixed on the imperial carriage the upper part oi the body shall be bent forward
about thirty degrees). At the command, ' As you were ! ', they shall take their
former positions.
" After the imperial carriage has passed to the extreme left of the body,
principal ttachers and group leaders shall take up their positions to the left."
(Department of Education. Order No. i8, August 26, I910. Genko Tokyofu
Gakurei Ruisan, p. 346;.
Regulations regarding the public use of imperial portraits are as follows :
" I. The portraits of the Emperor and ot the members of the imperial
family whether or not they bear the imperial titles or names must not be repro-'
duced except as imperial portraits.
" 2. Imperial portraits must never be so made as to show carelessness or
disrespect.
" 3. The imperial portrait must not be hung or exhibited in a place of
disrespect.
" 4. The imperial portrait must not be put on sale or distributed at street-
stalls." {Genko Tokyofu Gakurei Ruisan, pp. 1-2). The sale of the imperial
portrait in regular shops is fully permitted. In such cases the royal features are
frequently screened by attaching a piece of white paper. The government regula-
tion covering the care of the imperial portraits in public schools has already been
given. (See above, p. 75, n. i).
I. Tanaka, Y., Shinto TetsugqMu Seigi, p. 208.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 85
The question is thus raised for us as to how we shall interpret
the oldest Japanese ancestral traditions. The Japanese govern-
ment by declaring that Shinto is not a religion, while at the same
time attempting to retain the support of the ancient genealogical
connections assigned to important personages of state, would
appear to be logically under the necessity of declaring that the
gods were men. That the government has not made its position
altogether clear in this matter will be shown later. Whatever
theological presuppositions may be involved in the official stand-
point, it is to be here noted that the government does attempt to
build on the proposition that the great kami of the ancient
records are to be accounted for completely under the ancestral
hypothesis. The implications of such a position are fully carried
out in the instruction administered under official direction in the
public schools of Japan.
In presenting an example of the manner in which the details
of this state pedagogy are worked out in the modern Japanese
educational system we may cite the recently published Chu
Gaku Nihon Rekishi, '^ Japanese History for Middle Schools," a
text-book which, on the word of the publishers, has a wider
usage in the Middle Schools of Tokyo thcUi any other similar
work. It is also extensively used in the provinces. According
to this text-book, the relevant portion of the royal pedigree is as
follows :
" Summarized Genealogy of the Imperial Family.
Izanagi-no-mikoto and Izanami-no-mikoto
!
1 I I
Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami. Tsuki-yomi-nomikoto. Susa-no-wo-no-mikoto.
I _ I
Ame-no-oshi-ho-mimi no-mikofo. 0-kuni-niishino-mikoto.
I
Ama-tsu hiko-hiko-ho-no ninlgi no-mikoto.
HikohO'ho-demi nomikoto.
1
Hiko-nagisa take u gaya-fuki-ahezu-no-mikoto.
I
Jimmu Tenno (First Emperor. Original Japanese name is Kamu-yamato-
ihare-hiko-nomikoto). Ascended the throne 660 B.C'i
I. Shiba, Kuzumori, Chu Gaku Nihon Rekishi {^%^y ^W^VH^'^^V^y
1 86 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
From this point on the genealogy continues down through
the officially established lineage to the reigning Emperor who ac-
cordingly came to the throne as the one hundred twenty-second
Emperor in the 2572nd Year of the Empire after the accession
of Jimmu Tenno. The reigning Emperor is thus the direct
descendant of Izanagi and Izanami, and of course of the Great
A ncest ress, ^ ;;/<3;- teras u- o-mi-ka mi.
Chapter I of the discussion after a characteristic introduc-
tion takes up the explanation of the genealogy. The text reads :
" Part I. Ancient History.
" Chapter I. The Divine Age.
'* Our National Constitution, Our Empire of Great Japan,
with an Imperial Line above unbroken from time immemorial
and with its subjects below matchless in loyalty and patriotism,
from ancient times down to the present has never once received
a foreign insult.
'' Such a national character is without parallel throughout
the world and is, indeed, a cause for great pride on the part of
our people.
** The Begiftning of the Country, Tradition says that in
the very ancient history of our country there were two kamiy
male and female, called Izanagi-no-mikoto and Izanami-no-miko-
to. These two created the Eight-Great-Island-Country [Japan]
and gave birth to Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami and to Susa-no-wo-no-
"Japanese History for Middle Schools," 2 Vol., Tokyo, 1917), Vol. I, Intro., p. i.
The meanings of the elaborate titles of the descendants oiAma-terasud-mt-kaniidiXQ
very difficult to determine. Following Chamberlain's suggestions, however they
may be given the tentative renderings : (i) His Augustness Heavenly-Great -Great-
Ears, (2) His Augustness Heavenly-Sun-child-Sun-child-Rice-ear-Ruddy-Plenty,
(3) His Augustness Great-Rice -ears-Lord-ears, (4) His Augustness Sun-child-
Wave-linvit-Brave-Cormorant-Thatch-Meeling-Incompletely, (5) His Augustness
Divine-Yamato-Ihare-Sun-child. The repetition of the elements hi (" sun," " fire,"
" light," " day "; and ho (" fire ") in the titles would seem to favor the conjecture
that the idea of light is prominent in the genealogy.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 87
mikoto, Aiiia terasu-d-mi~kaini, as the one possessing ths highest
virtue, ruled over Takama-ga-hara. Her younger brother,
Susa-no-wo-no-tnikoto , performed many acts of violence and, on ac-
count of causing suffering to the Great Deity \Ama-terasii-d-ml-
kaini\, he was finally driven out and went down to Idzumo. There
he subdued the rebels and secured the Sacred Sword {Mura-kumo-
no-tsurugi, " Clustering-clouds-Sword ") which he presented to
the Great Deity.
'* The Presentation of the Country by 0-kuni-nushi-no-mikoto.
The kami known as 0-kiini-nushi-no-mikoto was the son of Susa-
no-wo-no- mikoto. He succeeded his father as ruler of Idzumo
and, together with Sukuna-hiko-na-no-kami, brought the country
under cultivation, subdued those who were rebelious and taught
the knowledge of medicine. Thus the influence of his virtue
spread to the four quarters of the land. When Ania-terasii-o-
mi-kami was about to make her grandson ruler of this land
[Japan] she sent as messengers, Futsu-nushi-m)-kaini and Take-
mika-dzuchi-no-kaini and caused them to announce that the
land should be given up. 0-knni-nusJii-no- mikoto reverently
obeyed the Imperial Edict and retired to the palace of Kidzuki,
This kami is now enshrined in the Great Shrine ol Idzumo.
" The Descent of the Imperial Gi-andson. Aina-terasu-d-iiii-
kami thereupon gave an Imperial command to her grandson,
Ninigi-no- mikoto, saying, ' The Luxuriant Reed-Plain Land-of-
Fresh-Rice-ears [Japan] is the land over which my descendants
shall reign. Do thou, Imperial Offspring, go and rule over it
and the prosperity of the Imperial Succession of Heaven shall be
as everlasting as Heaven and Earth.' The foundations of our
Imperial rule, which shall not be moved forever, were in truth
laid at this time.
" The Great .Deity also conferred upon the prince {Ninigi-
no-mikoto) the Eight-sided-Mirror, the Clustering-clouds-Sword
and the Curved Jewels of Yasaka Gem. These are called the
Three Sacred Treasures. At this time the Great Deity said,
* When you look into this mirror, regard it as looking on me,
1 88 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
myself.' From that time on the sacred treasures have been
handed down by the successive generations of Emperors. They
are the symbols of the Imperial Throne.
" Thereupon Ninigl-no-mikoto , leading the kami, descended
upon Hyuga and dwelt in the palace of Takachiho. Ninigi-no-
mikoto and his son, Hiko- ho ho-de mi-no- mikotOy and his grand-
son, Ugaya-fukl-ahezii-no-mikoto — three generations — made their
capitals in Hyuga. The above is called the Divine Age."^
Chapter two is devoted^to the exploits of the first traditional
emperor. It opens with the statement, '' Jimmu Tenno was the
son of Ugaya-fuki-ahezu-no-mikotoy^
Numerous similar cases [might be cited going to show the
great importance attached to the inculcation of correct ideas
regarding the royal succession, in the modern Japanese
educational system. For example, the Japanese History for
Higher Primary Schools," published by the Department of
Education, gives the same genealogy as above with the except
tion that connections beyond Ama-terasu-o-ini-kami are not
emphasized.^
The section of the imperial genealogy as just presented in
the quotation from the " Japanese History for Middle Schools,"
apart from the formidable character of the titles themselves, does
not appear, on the face oi it, to possess any features essentially
different from what may be met with in any well authenticated
royal genealogy, say, of European history. A Japanese student
thus introduced to the matter, and unequipped with a know-
ledge of the method and materials of critical historical study,
must naturally come to feel himself in the presence of an lii-tori-
cal absolute — a principle of Japanese political life that ** has
never changed in the past, and will never change in the future,
even to all eternity." It is not easy, under the circumstances,
1. Chu Gaku Nihon Rekishi, pp. I -4.
2. Jbia., p. 4.
3. Koto Shogaku Nikon Rekishi i^'%f\<^ B^IC^ifc.^—," Japanese His-
tory for Higher Primary Schools "), Vol. i, Appendix, p. 14.
THE FOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 89
to avoid the impression that the upbuilding in the minds of
Japanese students of such confidence and conviction is the primary
motive in the state pedagogy which insists on the genealogy
as thus shaped up under the official imprimature.
Certain extraordinary features of the Japanese genealogy
need to be considered. These matters relate both to the nature
of the great *' ancestors " that head the list and to the actual
historical basis on which the earliest chronology is calculated.
The former subject must be considered at length, the latter may
be noted in passing.
The chronology which fixes the date of the accession oi
Jimmu Tenno at 660 B.C. is officialized in modern Japanese law
and in imperial edict alike. History text-books for public schools
reckon time according to this ** Japanese Era." An example of
this may be found in a statement published by the Department
of Education in the ''Japanese History for Higher Primary
'Schools," which, after describing the earlier portion of the achieve-
^ments of Jimmu Tenno, says, *' Subsequently the Emperor made
his palace at Kashiwara in Yamato and carried out the first cere-
mony of accession to the throne. This took place 2573 ' years
before 191 3 [i.e. 660 B.C.]. This is the first year of the era of
our country. The eleventh day of the second month of each
year, in which is celebrated the accession of Jimmu Tenno,
corresponds with the day on which this auspicious accession
ceremony was carried out."^ The imperial decree promising
the establishment of a parliament, promulgated on Oct. 12, 1881,
opens with the clause, " We, sitting on the Throne which has
been occupied by Our dynasty for over 2500 years. . . ."*
This chronology thus represents official, historical orthodoxy in
.modern Japan. Occasional Japanese historians who have
dared to criticize it in accordance with even the elementary /
principles of scientific historiography and in the Japanese lan-
1. Jinj'o Shogaku Nihon Rekishi (^'^/Jn^H ;it;M&'^-'> " J^P^'^^s^ ^^s-
tory for Ordinary Primary Schools "), Vol. i, p. 5.
2. Cf. T. A. S. J., Vol. XLII, Pt. I, p. 86.
I90 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
guage, have been subjected to severe official discipline.^ The gov-
ernment itself has not attempted to date the royal genealogies
beyond Jimmu Tenno although the assurance with which the
descent is traced from Aina-terasu-d-ini-kaini would seem to
imply that more remote dates can be supplied if necessary.
There are certain individual Shintoists of the present, however,
who do not hesitate to enter in even where the government
apparently fears to tread. Dr. G. Kato, Dr. T. Inouyeand Prof.
Y. Tanaka have all recently made written statements that refer
to three thousand years of Japanese history.^
These claims, both official and private, are to be adjusted in
the light of certain obvious historical facts. An official recogni-
tion of the knowledge of writing in Japan does not appear in
written documents until 405 A.D.;"^ although individual Japan-
ese were probably acquainted with Chinese ideograms fairly early
in the Christian era. The existence of a knowledge of how to
make calendars is first mentioned in 553 A.D."* The first known
Japanese attempt at historical writing, the Kujiki (now lost),
dates from 620 A.D.^ The oldest extant historical writing, the
Kojiki, dates from 712 A.D.^ The Nihongi was completed in
720 A.D.'^ The modern Japanese government in insisting on
a chronology that dates back to 660 B.C. makes use ot at leeist
one thousand years of un verifiable tradition. Shintoists who
speak of an historical record "stretching across three thousand
boundless years " have thereby introduced a period of oral
tradition that is of greater length than the genuine historical
period that can be definitely authenticated on the evidence of actual
1. Cf. T. A. S. J., Vol. XXXVII, (i9io\ p. 257; Chamberlain, B. H.,
Things Japanese (London, 1905, Fifth Revised Edition), p. 230, note.
2. See Kato, Waga Kokutai to Shinto, Preface, p. 2 ; Inouye, in Yamato
Shinibun, Nov. 29, 1920, p. i ; Tanaka, Shinto Hongi, p. I2i.
3. Cf. A., I, pp XI, XVII.
4. Md., p. XVII.
5. Ibid., p. XII .
6. Cf. C, Intro., p. I.
7. C/. A., I, p. X ill.
. THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. I9I
written documents. The " Japanese Era " was not officially estab-
lished in the modern situation until December 15, 1872. A law of
this date says in part, ''The accession to the throne of Jimmu Tenno
has been settled upon as the beginning of the (Japanese) era."^ The
.great yearly festival commemorating this accession was fixed by law*
at the same time.^ It was not until March 7, 1 873 that the govern-
ment settled upon a regular name for this festival. A law was then
issued saying, " The day of the accession to the throne of Jimmu
Tenno shall be called Kigensetsu (" Year-Origin-Festival ").•'*
Such simple historical facts as have just been stated, in accord-
ance with which the validity of the official chronology is to be esti-
mated, are not unknown to individual Japanese writers.'' Yet,
however loyal private opinion maybe to the principles of a scientific
methodology, up to the present it heis exerted no perceptible in-
fluence on the official situation. .Governmental expediency and
not historical science is in control. A better idea of what is involved
here may be secured from a study of the nature of the early my-
thology which is thus utilized as history. We must turn there-
fore to the mythology and take up the investigation of the nature
of the two original ancestors with which the " Japanese History
for Middle Schools " begins the royal genealogies.
The " National Reader {Kokumin TokuJion\ " for Japanese
schools, compiled under the direction of Marquis Okuma dis-
1. H. Z., 1872, pp. 283-4; Order of the Council of State, No 342 (Dec. 15).
2. Order of the Council of State, No. 344 (Dec, 15, 1872). The law
reads, " The twenty-ninth day of the first month corresponds with the day of the
accession to the throne of Jimmu Tenno, and shall be observed yearly as a festival
day." A marginal annotation to this regulation in the Horei Zensho reads, " This
was corrected in 1874 to February 11 of the present calendar."
3. H. Z., 1873, P- 75 > Order of the Council of State, No. 91 (March 7).
4. Cf. Saito, H., Geschichte Japans (QtrWn, 1912), pp. 4-5; Nitobe, 7 he
Japanese Nation^ pp. 53-5 ; Asakawa, K., The Early Institutional Life of Japan, p»
23-25 ; Kikuchi, Japanese Education, p. 7. Mr. Nakayama Taro, speaking before '
the Meiji Japan Society in 1921 assigned as one of the principal causes of the |
existing unsatisfactory state of the study of the most ancient Japanese records,
a failure to distinguish between mythology and history. {MeiJi Seitokn Kinen
Gakkai KiyOy 192 1, p. iii).
/
192 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
cusses Izanagi and Izanagi under a section entitled " The Deve-
lopment of the Empire " and under a chapter heading designated
" The Beginning of the Foundation of the State." The text
speaks of these two deities as " The ancestral kami who in very
'ancient times produced the Eight Great Islands."^ Dr. G.
Kato in a recent attempt at the interpretation of these deities has
emphasized culture hero elements and thereby legitimatized the
effort to associate them with an ancestral line appearing in actual
human society.^ An explanation by Prof. S. K5no similarly
gives prominence to a mythology centering in hero worship
(eiyu shinwa)^ Popular beliefs in modern Japan make Izanagi
and Izanami universal parents. The Shinri sect of Shinto teaches,
'" The origin of man was at the time of creation. The form of
man was patterned after the body of God. The two kami,
Izanagi and Izanami, are the parents of the human race.'"* The
"iTaisha Sect teaches that these two deities '^ First trod the path
of spouses and produced god-men, deigning to lay the founda-
- tion for all enterprise. Hence it was that all mankind breath
and have their being They are the first parents
of the human race."^ ^he canon of Shinto Hon-Kyoku teaches,
** The two kamiy Izanagi and Izanami, are the source of the
construction of the land and of the propagation of living things."®
In other sects of modern Shinto they ^re similarly regarded as
original parents.' Even such a scholar as Dr. N. Ariga appar-
I Okuma,'&\!i\^tx\(^\3i,KokuminTokuhon{-)^^'^^, ^J]^^7Js;, "National
Reader," Tokyo, 1915), p. 21.
2. Meiji Seitoku Kinen Gakkai Kiyo, Vol. 16 (Sept. 1921), p. 103.
3. Ibici.,Y>- 104.
4. J^ujiia Koyo, Shinto Kaku Kyoha no Hyori (^H^KI, fifit^^^iSO^
Jg^, "The Shinto Sects considered from Within and Without," Tokyo, 1919 , p. 105.
5. T. A. S. J., Vol. XLI, Pt. IV (1913), p. 639.
6. Kanzaki, Kazusaku, Shinto Honkyoku Kiyo (jji^iJf— f'^, 'WM.'^W(^%y
** A Memoir on Shint5 Honkyoku," Tokyo, 1914), p. 8.
7. Cf. Maki, Makijiro, Kurozumi Munetada Den (Jfi^^BP, ^ffe^,^.^.
*' Life of Kurozumi Munetada," Osaka, 1907), pp. 37 ff . ; Mastino, Shobei (Ed.),
Tenrikvo Kyoten Shakugi (l^$fiE:J^f|f. ':^^W^%^^y " Exposition of the
Scripture of Tenri Kyo," Osaka, 19 12), p. 29.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5, 1 93
ently endorses the view that the world was created by Izanagi
and Izanami}
The deep hold which ideas regarding the primitive creative
activity of Izanagi and Izanami have on official genealogies and
on folk-lore alike can only be adequately explained by reference
to social experiences correspondingly deep and comprehensive
passed through by the ancient ancestors of the Japanese race.
The internal criticism of the literary records in the light of
the findings of comparative mythology furnishes material that
leaves little doubt as to what these ancient, formative experiences
were. The evidence given below attempts to show that jn
Izanagi there is preserved the memory of an ancient Japanese
Sky-Father and in Izanami, his mate, the idea of_an_old_Earth-
Mother, and that the Japanese account of the activities of this
original creative pair has affinities with similar mythologies the
world over. Especially striking parallels to the Japanese my-
thology relating to this pair are to be found in^the Polynesian
form of the cosmogonic myth.
As a means of orientating the discussion it is necessary to
in^'roduce in the first place comparative material of a general
nature showing the universality of ideas relating to the Sky-
Father and the Earth-Mother in primitive mythologies.
Modern ethnology — the " new ethnology " — supported by
the sciences of psychology, sociology, history, comparative
mythology and comparative religion, is giving us new insight
into the interpretation of the experiences of primitive man. We
are learning among other things that great mythologies emerge
from great life experiences, and that a great deity stands for
something correspondingly vital in the social life of man. As
the material from the various, human, cultural groups past and
present is made available for comparative study it becomes
increasingly apparent how strikingly parallel are human reactions
under similar circumstances of external environment. The great
31, Cf. T. A S. J., Vol. XXXVII (1910), Intro , p IX, note.
J
t,94 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
myths of mankind are almost monotonously similar in their
fundamental aspects. The truth of this general observation is
shown specifically in the well-nigh universal myth of the mar-
riage of Earth and Sky.
J. A. MacCulloch has said, ** The expanse of Heaven and
the broad earth were early regarded as personal beings, and also
as husband and wife. Earth, from which so many living things
sprang, being thought of as female. Their union was the source
of all things in Nature, and, when the gods of departments of
nature were evolved, these were regarded as their children.
Generally also they are the parents of gods and men. In most
cosmogonies Earth is the fruitful mother impregnated by Heaven,
though in some cases the Sun or *' Great Spirit " is her husband
and they are universal parents."^
H. B. Alexander in connection with his exposition of North
American mythology has written, '' The personification of the
Earth, as the mother of life and the giver of food, is a feature of
the universal mythology of mankind. It prevails everywhere in
North America, except among the Eskimo, where the concep-
tion is replaced by that of the under-sea-woman, Food Dish,
and on the North- West Coast, where sea deities again are the
important food givers, and the underworld woman is no more
than a subterranean Titaness. In many localities the marriage
of the Sky or Sun with the Earth is clearly expressed."^
Foucart, reasoning ;from the universality of the sky-god
concept at the base of practically all of the cosmogonic mytho-
logy of the world, concludes that the origin of the idea of the
sky-god is to be assigned to the most ancient period of tiie
history of religious thought. The same author indicates the
following fields and peoples among which the sky-god idea is
found. In America : among the Toltecs, Mayas, Incas, the
Indians of Brazil, the Indians of the Andes, the Caribs, in sliort,
1. MacCulloch, J. A., Art. « Earlli," 11. E. R. E., Vol. 5, p. 130.
2. P^&YJSxAtx,Yiz.x\\tyV>^xXy North American My ihology {The Mythology of
All Rac£s), p. 289. Cf. also ilfui.j pp. 81, 273, 295,
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 1 95
from the natives of Tierra del Fuego on the south to the Eskimo
in the north. In Asia : among the Shamanist Groups of North
Asia, among the Ainu, the Chinese, and in " primitive Japanese
Shinto " [evidently Ama-terasii-d-mi-kami\ The Sky-Father
"is related to the ancient Pulugu of the Andamans, to the
Varuna of primitive India, and, toward the west, to the pantheons
of the ancient classical'.East."^ He is found also in old Chaldea,
in the Semitic and the proto-Ssmitic mythologies. In Oceania he
appears in the cosmologies of Australia, of Melanesia and Poly-
nesia. " Bat nowhere does his physiognomy appear more dis-
tinctly than in Africa — whether in the pantheons of ancient
Egypt or in the many savage religions of the black continent.
From the great Kilima of the Bantu groups to the Negritian
Mahu we recognize him as always the same under a hundred
different names. "^
The cult of the Sky-Father and Earth-Mother appears in
the Rig Veda.^ It was likewise primary in the mythology of
ancient Babylon.'' Vegetation rituals to which mythologies of
the Earth-Mother were intimately related, lay back of the cere-
monies of the mystery religions of the Eastern Mediterranean
area.*^ Zeus, the father ot gods, demi-gods and men, was
originally a personification of the sky.^ The priestess of
Dodona in Epirus chanted, " Earth sends up fruits, so praise we
Earth the Mother.'" Personifications of the earth and the sky
had important places in the mythologies of the ancient Romans
and Teutons, and also probably of the ancient Celts.^ The
1. Foucart, George, Art. "Sky and Sky-gods," H. E. R. E., Vol. ii,
p. 581.
2. Ibid.
3. Hopkins, E. W., " The History of Religions y- p. 172.
4. Jeremias, Alfred, AUgemeine Religions-GescJiichte (1918), pp. 26-30.
5. For literature and discussion consult H. E R. E., Vol. 9, pp. 70-83;
Farnell, L. R., Ctdts of Greek States, Vol. III., pp. 289-306.
6. Cf. Fox, Wm. Sherwood, Greek and Roman Mythology {^Mythology of All
Races), p. 152 ; L. R. Farnell, « Greek Religion," H. E. R. E., Vd. 6, p. 395.
7. Harrison, Jane Ellen, « Mountain Mother," H. E. R E., Vol. 8, p. 86S.
8. Cf. MacCulloch, 0^. cit., p. 129.
196 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
primitive Chinese myth of Panku is to be understood as a person-
ification of heaven and earth/ Among the Polynesians the
original parents from whom came gods, men, and the islands, were
the two great deities Rangi, the Sky-Father, and his wife, Papa^
the Earth-Mother.'
To this list we may add Japan. The stories of the labors
of a Sky-Father and of an Earth-Mother under the names of
Izaiiagi and Izanami He at the center of the ancient Japanese
form of the cosmogonic myth. In elucidation of this statement-
we may first make comparison with the Polynesian mythology
to which reference has just been made. The old Maori account
says, " Men had but one pair of primitive ancestors : they
sprang from the vast heaven that exists above us and from the
earth which lies beneath us. According to the traditions of our
race, Rangi and Papa, or Heaven and Earth, were the source
from which, in the beginning, all things originated. Darkness
then rested upon the heaven and upon the earth, and they still
both clave together, for they had not yet been rent apart. "^
Rangi the Sky, and Papa, the Earth-Mother, however,
were not regarded as the oldest of the gods. The cosmogonic
myth of the Maori, which Dixon says is very old, presents a
conception of existence as beginning with Kore . " Negation "
and Poy '' Darkness." Following these appears a series of
similar abstractions presented in genealogical order and finally,
twenty generations after the manifestation of the initial void, the
great creative parents come into existence. Rangi takes to wife
Papa and between them they beget the gods, and according to
some accounts, men and the islands on which they lived."*
1. Mo-ytr, Chinese Mamial, ■^. 174. Cited in Aston, ^Vi'/^^'w^v, Vol. I, p. 28.
2. Grey, Sir George, Polynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional His-
toiy of the New Zealand Race, as furnished by their Priests and Chiefs (London,
1855), pp. 1-2.
3. Grey, op. cit.
4. Cf. Tregear, Maori- Polynesian Compaj'ative Dictionary^ pp. 391-2;
Dixon, Roland Burrage, C^^««?V i1/v^/^^/i3^' (Boston, 1916^ p. 14; Anderson, J.
C, Alaori Life in Aotea, p. 127.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ. 1 9/
The form of the Japanese cosmogonic myth is closely
similar. Izanagi and Izanaini, although they occupy the
primary position as creative deities, are not regarded as the old-
est of the gods. The Japanese account as set forth in the Kojikl
repeats the form of the Polynesian record in that it attempts to
carry speculation back to the very beginning of the universe.
The first god mentioned is Ame-no-mlnaka-nushl-no-kamiy
" The Lord of the Center of Heaven." Following this kaini
appears a list of sixteen other divine beings, arranged for the most
part in genealogical sequence, ending with the great creative pair,
Izanagi and Izanamu These two give birth to the islands of
the Japanese archipelago and likewise become the ancestors
of gods and men.^
In the Nihongi account the creation myth opens with a
picture of chaos in which darkness and light have not yet been
separated and in which Heaven and Earth are not yet formed.
Out of this chaos Heaven eventually emerges and afterwards
Earth. The first definite kami to appear is Kuni-toko-tachi-no-
mikoto, given in a slightly variant account as Atna-no-toko-
tachi-no-mikoto. Seven generations after this deity, Izanagi and
Izanami appear and exercise the same creative functions as in
the Kojiki record.^
The introductory sentences of the Nihongi which have just
been briefly summarized have been criticised by Japanese and
foreign scholars alike as an attempt to rationalize Japanese
mythology under the influence of Chinese philosophy.^ While
the fact of Chinese influence on early Japanese literature must
not be lost sight of, yet it must be admitted that the problem of
possible relationships is much more complicated than an exclu-
sive reference to Chinese analogies would seem to indicate.
After this general comparison we are in a position to note
1. Cf. C, pp. 15-18.
2. Cf. A., I, pp. 1-13.
3. C/*. Aston, Shinto, the Way of the Gods^ pp. 169- 1 70; Meiji Setioku
Kinen Gakkai Kiyo, Vol. 16 (Sept., 192 1), pp. 1 16, I20.
198 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5
some of the more particularized data concerning Izanagi and
Izanami. As evidence that they are to be taken as Sky- Father
and Earth-Mother, respectively, we may further note :
The Japanese records agree in representing Izanagi as
having originally come down from out of Heaven. One of the
Nihongi accounts informs us that after his creative tasks were
finally accomplished he went back to Heaven and lived there
*^ in the smaller palace of the Sun."^ The fact that Izanami is
also represented as having come down from Heaven may be said
to be in all probability the result of an early effort to assign an
adequate origin to the Earth Mother. As will be indicated below,
in the later role which the mythology assigns her, she is com-
pletely identified with the earth.
In the Kojiki account the sun and moon deities sprang from
the purified eyes of Izanagi as he washed in a river of Tsukushi,
the sun-goddess. from his left eye, the moon-god from his right
eye.^
Polynesian mythology presents analogous details here, again.
The mythology of the Cook Group relates that the father of
gods and men was Vaiea who took to wife Papa, the Earth-
Mother. An account which Gill considers very ancient repre-
sents Vatea as possessed of two wonderful eyes, *' rarely visible
at the same time." " In general, whilst one, called by mortals
the sun, is seen here in the upper world, the other eye, called by
men the moon, shines in Aviki (the spirit world). "^ A Maori
poem speaks of the moon and sun as having been thrown up
into the sky '' as the chief eyes of Heaven.*'*
1. A., I, p. 34. For " smaller palace of the Sun " the text reads 0 ^ ^g-,
hi no waka miya (N. p. 23). Anesaki has translated this " Solar Young Palace "
{Cf. H. E. R. E., Vol. 8, p. 38). The meaning of this apparent subordination of
Izanagi to the Sun-goddess will be taken up later in the discussion.
2. Cf. C, p. 42.
3. Gill, Wm. Wyatt, Myths and Songs from the South Pacific (London,
1876), pp. 3.4.
4. Taylor, R., Te Ika a Maui or New Zealand and its InkaHtants (Lon-
don, 1870 2nd ed.), p. 109.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MOT)ERN SHINTQ. 199-
Dixon says, '' The sun and moon in the Maori myth seem
generally to be regarded as Rangi's offspring who were later
placed for eyes in the sky, and similar beliefs prevailed in the
Society GrQup and in Samoa."^
A myth that connects the origin of the sun and moon with
the eyes of Izanagi can mean little other than that this kami is
to be understood as a deification of the sky, thought of as pos-
sessing two wonderful eyes.
Again, Susa-no-wo, the Japanese god of storm and violence,
represented as having been born from the nostrils of Izanagi,^
The mythology at this point can be consistently interpreted a&
presenting the idea that the stormy, violent wind was the snort-
ing breath ot the Sky- Father. The Nihongi says that the wind~
god, Shina-tsn-Jiiko-no-kami {" Prince-of-Long-Wind-AT^/m ")^
who drives away the morning mists is the breath of Izanagi.^
Again, the connection with the lower world which the
mythology assigns to Izanami is such as to identify her with
earth-deities of other fields. The myth relates that Izanami
while in the midst of her creative activities, through giving birth
to a deity of fire, at length went away. Izanagi in order to
meet with her after their separation had to pass into the Land of
Night beneath the earth.** Here Izanami became the Great
Goddess of the Underworld. The Kojiki says, " So Izanami-
no-mikoto is called the Great-Deity -of-Hades {Yomo-tsu-o-kami)"^
In the Polynesian myth Papa, after her separation from Rangi,
was so closely related to the earth and the lower world as to
constitute in her own person the various divisions of hell.^ This
identification of the Earth-goddess with the underworld is a wide-
spread characteristic of primitive mythology. This double nature
1. Dixon, op. cit, p. 37. Cf. also Tregear, op, cit., p. 392 ; White J.,.
Ancient History of the Maori, I, p. 7.
2. g^. C, p. 43.
3. A., I, p. 22.
4. C, p. 34.
5. /^^^.,p. 38.
6. Tregear, op. cit., p. 315.
^porti
200 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
was common to most Earth-divinities among the Greeks. Mac-
CuUoch points out that the Roman Tellus was likewise associated
with the underworld.^ The same is probably true of the Baby-
lonian Earth-goddess AUatu, " The Lady of Hell."^ .The Earth-
mother of the Iroquois was the goddess of both night and earth.^
The meaning of this two-fold character in the case of Izanami
will be dealt with later in the discussion.
An additional piece of evidence pointing toward the ancient
Sky-Father character of Izanagi is to be derived from that
ion of the account wherein are introduced the tears which
Izanagi shed at separation from his wife. The Maori myth here
again presents valuable material for comparison. The mythology
of this people after recounting the story of the great separation
already mentioned, continues, " Up to this time the vast Heaven
has still ever remained separated from his spouse the Earth. Yet
their mutual love still continues — the warm sighs of her loving
bosom still ever rise up to him, ascending from the woody
mountains and valleys, and men call these mists ; and the vast
Heaven, as he mourns, through the long nights his separation
from his beloved, drops frequent tears upon her bosom, and
men seeing these term them dew-drops ""^
Although the meaning of the separation of the Japanese
lovers appears to differ in certain important respects from that of
the above, yet the Polynesian myth sheds valuable light on the inci-
dent of the weeping oi Izanagi, After Izanami had retired upon
giving birth to the fire-god, Izanagi is made to cry out, " Oh, my •
beloved wife ! Oh, that I should have exchanged you for a
single child ! " The Kojiki then continues : *' And as he crept
toward her pillow and as he crept toward her feet, there was
/ born from his tears the deity who lives at Unewo no Konomoto
I on Mount Kagu. Her name is * Weeping-Rain-Deity ' {Naki-
1. MacCulloch, pp. cii., p. 131.
2. Ibid.
3. Alexander, op. cii.y p. 295.
4. Dixon, op. cit.f p. 33, quoted from Grey, Polynesian Mythology.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ. 20I
same-no-kamiox Naki-sawame 720 ^-anif )."lnthe Japanese accounts
the tears oi Izanagi are ram-drops, in the Maori myth the tears L
of Rangi are dew-drops ; in both cases moisture from the sky is
interpreted as tears of grief and longing at the separation of the
ancient lovers. The conclusion, that Izanagi is to be interpreted
as the great Sky-Father, similar to Rangi, appears to be support-
ed by this evidence. The Sky-god nature of Izanagi is further
suggested in the apparently meaningless statement ** as he crept
toward her pillow and as he crept toward her feet." What at
first glance appears altogether fanciful if not ridiculous, becomes
on further thought an inevitable part of the story. The myth
has preserved here a fragment that is of considerable value in
determining jubt what and who Izanagi and Izanami anciently
were. We only have to imagine ourselves standing with primi-
tive man on the^prostrate form of Mother- Earth, with the weep-
ing, rainy sky creeping down toward her *' pillow " on the one
horizon and down to her feet on the other — we have but to
understand this to surmise that Izanagi and Izanami emerg-
ed out of fundamental and universal human experiences with the
phenomena earth and sky.
Further data pointing toward the original sky-god character
of Izanagi may be found in the nature of the sword which was
girded about him and which flashes forth here and there in the
mythology. The conclusion is that this sword was the lightning
flash. Like Jupiter Fulminator and other sky-fathers, Izanagi
was equipped with a striking weapon which had its origin in
ancient experiences with the thunderstorm. The evidence which
I. Cf. Santai Kojiki, p. 18; C, p. 31. The title of this deity is written
in the Kojiki \^-{%-ii::W and in the Nihongi H^i^icfif- The rendering of sawame
jn the sense of same, aim, " rain " follows a suggested reading advanced by
Motoori in Kojiki Den. \Cf. Dai Nihon Shimmei Jisho (:^ 07!^i|fife|$^,
" Dictionary of Japanese Gods," Tokyo, 191 2), p. 231]. Yor ame, "rain," read
same in compounds see harusame, " spring rain " and murasame, " sudden show-
ers." Suggestive material for comparison with IzanagVs tears of separation will
be found in Harrison, J. E., Themis, A Study of the Social Origins of Greek
Religion (Cambridge, 1912), p. 176.
202 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF M0D2RN SHINTO
the old Japanese records furnish in this matter is fairly conclu-
sive. According to the Kojiki, the name of IzanagVs sword was
Ame-no-wo-ha-hari^ '* Heavenly-Podnt-Blade-Extended."^ This
sword appears as one of the kami with the title Itsit-no-wo-ha-bari-
no-kami, ^' Majestic-Point-Blade-Extended-Deity. "^ Itsu or idzu
in the title of this deity is a term used to express the awe-inspiring
character or the effulgence of a kami. In the mere matter of
the names of IzanagVs sword there seems to be a slight amount
of evidence indicating an original formative experience in some
phenomenon that was associated with the heavens {ama) and
which, at the same, time was majestic or terrible. More direct
evidence is to be found in the fact that the Kojiki makes this
sword the father of the ancient Japanese thunder-god, Take-inika-
dzuchi-no-zvo-no-kami ('' Terrible-Thunder-Male-Deity ").'^ The
myth relates that when the matter of the pacifying of the tur-
bulent land that later was to become the territory of Japan, was
under discussion in the council of Taka-ma-ga-haray it was pro-
posed that " Majestic-Point-Blade-Extended-Deity " be sent
down to accomplish this task. When consulted in the matter
this deity replied, " I will obey and will respectfully serve you.
Nevertheless on this errand ye should send my child, the Terri-
ble-Thunder-Male-Deity."* The offspring of IzanagVs sword
then is thunder. The inference is plain as to what the sword
itself must have been in the original experience of the makers of
the myth.
Further evidence pointing to a connection between thunder
and IzanagVs sword is to be found in the Nihongi, In one
I. Cf. C, p. 34. Votive swords with blades broad toward the point in imita-
tion of the shape of the ancient Japanese weapon are frequently found at Shint5
shrines in the present. The shape of these swords suggests a. remote origin in the
itone age first-hatchet.
2. Qf.CyJt. 100.
3. (y. A., I, p. 68, note 3. Mikadzuchi is evidently the same as ikadziuhi^
« thunder." See also Satow, « Ancient Japanese Rituals," T. A. S. J., Vol. VH,
4. Cf. C, p. 100.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ 2O3
passage of this record we read of certain deities who dwelt in
the Rock Cave of Heaven. They were the three genera-
tions of kami : Mika-nchhaya-hi-no-kami (*' Terrible-Swift-Fire^
Deity "), who was the son of Itsu-no-wo-bashirl-no-kami (Majes-
tic-Male-Running-Deity/*), Hi-no-hay a-hi-no-kami ('' Swift-Fire-
of-Fire-Deity ''), and Take-mikadzuchi-no-kami (" Terrible-Thun-
der-Deity ") who was the child of Swift-Fire-of-Fire-Deity.^
These deities lived in the Rock Cave of Heaven ; that is to say,
they were generally invisible/ but they flashed forth as swift
fire accompanied by a thunder-child. We may have . little hesi-
tation in saying that they had their origin in ancient human
experiences with the thunder storm. The parentage of the
thunder god, found once in IzanagVs sword and again in a swift
fire of heaven, plainly favors the interpretation that these two are
one and the same and that the Majestic-Point-Blade-Extended,
worn by Izanagi is nothing other than the lightning flash.
Evidence for the conclusion that the sword of Izanagi is
the lightning flash can be made yet more particular. We have
only to consider the exegesis of the various deities that spring
from the blood that attaches to the different parts of IzanagPs
sword when he slays Kagu-tsiicki, to find unexpected confirma-
tion of our interpretation. The pertinent section of the KojiJd
following the account of how Izanami died in giving birth to
KagiHsuchi reads, " Hereupon Izanagi-no-mlkoto drew the ten-
grasp sword with which he was girded and cut off the head of
his child, Kagu-tsuchi-no-kami, The names of the deities that
were then born from the blood that stuck to the point of his
sword and bespattered the multitudinous rock masses were Iwa-
saku-no-kami ('' Rock-Splitting- Deity "), next Ne-saku-no~karrd
1. Cf. N., p. 50 ; A., I, p. 68.
2. The conclusion that invisibility of celestial phenomena or obscuration
thereof was described by the early Japanese myth-makers as an entering into the
Rock Cave of Heaven is supported by the account of how when Ama-ierasu-o-mi-
kami, the Sun-goddess, entered the " Rock Cave of Heaven " all the earth became
dark. The original experience in this case was evidently the obscuration of the
sun either in an eclipse or by rain clouds;
204 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
(" Root-Splitting-Deity "), and next Iwa-tsutsn-no-wo-no-kami
(*^ Rock-Possessing-Male-Deity ")/ The names of the deities
that were next born from the blood that stuck to the upper part
of his sword and again bespattered the multitudinous rock-
masses were, Mika-no-haya-hi-nc-kami (" Terrible-Swift- Fire-
Deity ") next Hi-no-hay a-hi~no-kami (" Swift- Fire-of-Fire Deity")
and Take-mikadzuchi-no-wo-no-kami (** Brave-Thunder-Male-
Deity " or " Brave-Terrible-Hammer-Male-Deity ").^ ....
The names of the deities that were next born from the blood
that came together on the hilt of his sword and leaked out
between his fingers were Kura-okami-no-kami ('* Dark-Rain-
Deity "/ and Kiira-midzn-ha-no-kami (" Dark- Water-Swift-
Deity '").'* " The parallel account in the Nihongi rounds out the
number of deities born from IzanagVs sword to three sets of
triplets by adding to the list the name of Kura-yama-tsu-mi-no-
kami C' Dark-Mountain-Body-Deity ").^
How then shall we interpret a sword that, at its point breaks
the rocks, splits the trees to the roots, and impregnates the rocks
with fire,^ that appears in its upper part as swift fire, giving birth
1. For these three kami see C, p. 32.
2. These three kami, appearing on the upper part of IzanagHs sword, have
already been noted as those who dwelt in the Rock Cave of Heaven.
3. The title of this deity is written ^J5^ )^W^^ in the Kojiki and[^f|jiif in the
Nihongi. Kura (jg is taken in the sense of " dark " or " black." This meaning
is favoured in the Dai Nikon Shimmei Jisho {Cf. p. 137 under Kura-okami-no-
kami). Okami is taken in the ordinary sense of the reading ^, as given in the
jVi'/^wz^/, namely "the god of rain or water" (C/". N., p. 14). The elements of
the ideogram give the idea of a dragon god of rain ( jjg, " rain " and f |, " dragon ").
4- H^?t^P {Kojiki), Hl^Hlf {Nihongi). The Dai Nikon Shimmei
Jisho, following Motoori, advances the interpretation that midzu (^^) here
carries the idea of "water" and ha (^) the sense of sumiyaka, " swift." {Cf. Dai
Nikon Skimmei Jisho, p. 137). The Nihongi definitely states that a certain
Midzu-hano-me, born from Izanami, was a " water deity " (;M^). {Cf. N., p. 12).
Thus, on good authority, Kura-midzu-ka-tw- kami may be rendered " Dark-Water-
Swift-Deity."
5. Cf A, I, p. 23, note 13.
6. The Japanese myth of the deities that appear at the point of Izanagi's
sword reflects a widespread belief that flints, which contain the element of fire, are
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 20$
to thunder — a sword that brings forth at the hilt dark, mountain-
like masses that drip water? Plainly, it is the picture of a
thunder storm. Kagu-tsuchi was killed by a mighty thunder-
storm in which, when the sword of Izanagi flashed in the sky,
swift fire broke on the rocks and trees, Mika-dzuchi pounded
with his hammer, Kiira-okami and Kiira-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami
were seen gathering together like the masses of great black
mountains up above, and .then, as the climax of the entire scene,
trickling out between the fingers of Izanagi came Midzii-ha —
water raining down out of the black clouds upon the earth
below. We stand here in the presence of what is probably the
oldest picture in Japanese literature. It is indeed a picture-poem,
certainly one of the first ever produced by the remote ancestors
of the Japanese race. The picture placed before us here in the
Kojiki contains all of the elements of a terrific thunder-storm
and, be it noted, nothing more. We conclude then that the
sword of Izanagi is the lightning flash.
One of the Nihongi accounts still further connects the death
of Kagii-tsuchi with a thunder-storm by introducing the variant :
" Izanagi-no-mikoto drew his sword and cut Kagii-tsuchi into
three pieces. One of these became the Thunder-god {Ikadziichi-no-
kami)} one became the Great-Mountain-Body-Deity {U-yama-tsw
mi-no-kami) and one became the Fierce-Rain-god {Taka-okami)^^
thrown down by the thunderbolt or that sacred fire, i.e. the lightning flash, falls
from heaven and enters into " rocks, trees and herbage " (Cf. A., I, p. 29) from
whence it may be extracted by striking or rubbing. For a clear statement of the
meaning of the death of Kagu tsuchi in relation to early ideas of the origin of fire
see Revon, " Cosmogony and Cosmology (Japanese)," H. E. R. E., Vol. 4, p. 165^
Revon does not connect the death of Kagu tsuchi with the lightning flash and the
action of a Japanese sky-father, yet such a connection is strongly supported by the
internal evidence of the literary records. For a statement of the early cult of
rocks and stones in relation to sacred fire and the sky-god see Foucart, G., " Sky
and Sky-Gods," H. E. R. E., Vol. 11, p. 583.
; I. The text here leaves no room for doubt. It says plainly |||f, thunder-
god. Cf. N., p. 18.
2- ^M ^f' ■^■» ^/' '^^^- '^^^ Nihon Shimmei Jisho (p. 189) suggests that
taka should be taken in the sense of takekL *< fierce."
206 THE. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ.
It is difficult to see how anything other than experiences with
seasonal storm could have produced this mythology.
Again, when Izanagi flees from out of the lower world
after his vain effort to possess his dead wife once more his sword
is again unsheathed. This time it flashes " behind him " as he
hurries on pursued by the eight deities of thunder} The evi-
dence here also suggests the memory of seasonal storm.
It was then a thunder-storm that killed Kagu-tsuchiy
" Glittering-Earth."^ He was a true child of Izanami — Fruitful
Mother Earth — and at the same time, he was a Fire God. He
was a specialized form of fire. He was that form of fire which
manifested itself to the makers of the myth in their experiences
with an intense summer heat. When it became time for him to
be born his mother '* became feverish," she ^' was burnt," she
" suffered change and went away." The old mythology in
forms that are about as plain as human words can well be
made thus sets forth experiences in a climate in which vege-
tation withered and died away owing to the coming of a season
of intense heat. It was a heat so great that it " glittered " and
" shone ;" a very god of fire was brought forth from the womb
of Mother Earth. And then Kagu-tsiicki died in a mighty
storm. He was killed by ths sword of the Sky-Father. Yet
hs did not altogether die. His death was the breaking of the
drought.
1. Cf. C, pp. 36-37.
2. The full title of this deity is tj^^^^^.^^ {Hi-no-ka^n-tsuchi-no-kamif
^ Giittering-Earth-Deity-of-Fire "). Tstichi ( Ji) is here interpreted in the sense of
the primary meaning of the ideograph, i.e. " earth." For similar renderings in
the cases of other deities whose titles contain the element tsuchi or tsutm cf. Dai
Nihon Shimmei Jisko, pp. 65, 230. Kagu is taken in the sense of kagayakii, " to
glitter." Alternate names of this deity indicate an original experience with objects
which contain heat or fire and which also reflect heat or glitter therewith — Hi-no-
yagi-haya-wo-no-kami, " Glittering-Swift-Male-Deity-of-Fire " or " Fire-burning-
Swift-Male-Deity-of-Fire," Hi-no-kagabiko-no-kamiy " Glittering-Sun-child-Deity-
of-Fire " or " Shining-Prince-Deity -of- Fire " and Hqviusubi-tto-kami^ " Fire.
Producing-Deity." Experitnces with the dry and healed objects of summer earth
would naturally produce such epithets.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 205r
That Kagu-tsuchi did not altogether die is seen immedi-
ately in the character of the deities that came from his divided
body. Kagu-tsuchi, who, it must be remembered, is, in the
original formative experience, only an aspect of the earth, namely,
earth in a fiery mood, when slain by Izanagi, gives birth to
mountains. In this connection the Kojiki says> ** The name
of the deity that was born from the head of Kagu tsucJii no
kami who had been slain was the Deity Possessor-of-the-True-
Pass-Mountains. The name of the deity that was next born from
his chest was the Deity Possessor-of-Descent-Mountains. The
name of the deity that was next born from his belly was the
Deity Possessor-of-the-Innermost-Mountains. The name of the
deity that was next born from his private parts was the Deity
Possessor-of-the-Dark-Mountains. The name of the deity that
was next born from his left hand was the Deity Possessor-of-the-
Densely- Wooded- Mountains. The name of the deity that
was next born from his right hand was the Deity- Possessor-
of-the-Outlying-Mountains. The name of the deity that was next
born from his left toot was the Deity Possessor-of-the-Moorland-
Mountains. The name of the deity that was next bom from his
right foot was the Deity Possessor-of-the-Outer-Mountains."^
The Kojiki herein sets forth a racial memory that is true to
the experiences of the makers of the myth. One who has lived
through the dry season of southern Asia wherein the heated
earth cracks and the air becomes so thick and heavy with
dust that in certain districts the sun seems to go down in
the middle of the afternoon, knows that after the great
storms of the south-west monsoon have killed Kagu-tsuchi, the
air is washed clear and the mountains appear as if new-born
from the bcdy of the earth. There is no intention of
attempting to maintain that the storm that killed Kagu-
tsuchi was the south-west monsoon, yet it seems fair to
conclude that somewhere in their wide journeyings the
ancestors of the Japanese race passed through agricultural
I. C.,p. 33.
208 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5
experiences in a mountainous country that had a terrific summer
heat which made it inevitable that from the slain body of Kagu-
tsuchi should emerge mountain deities.
We may conclude, then that the episode of the withdrawal
of Izanami to the lower world is based on the same human
social experiences as are similar episodes relating the withdrawal
of similar Earth-Mother deities in other fields. These ancient
and fundamental human experiences are agricultural, emerging
out of the effect of seasonal changes on vegetation. In a cold
climate when winter comes on, earth's vegetation withers and
Mother-Earth retires. In a hot climate when the heat of sum-
mer comes on, vegetation likewise languishes and withers, and
the Earth-Mother grows feverish, is burnt and goes away. This
interpretation is already widely accepted in fields outside of
Japan. We may have little hesitation in accepting it in explana-
tion of early Japanese mythology. The search which Izanagi
makes for Izanami re-echoes the search of the Egyptian his for
the body of Osiris^ The original meaning of the death of
Attis in the Phrygian myth of Attis and Cybele was the death
of vegetation in winter.^ In the Homeric Hymn to De meter,
the Earth-Mother goddess, written probably in the seventh cen-
tury B.C. the story is told of how Persephone, when gathering
flowers in a field, was stolen and carried away to the under
world. The mother saddened and languished and refused to
produce grain that men might live. The earth was unfruitful.
It was finally arranged that the daughter should spend eight
months of each year with her mother, during which time the
earth was fruitful.^ The languishing of the Greek Earth-Mother,
Demeter, corresponds exactly with the sickness and departure
of the Japanese Earth-Mother, Izanami. The Babylonian Ishtar,
the mother of gods and men, was an ancient Earth-Goddess.
1. Cf. Miiller, Egyptian Myikology {Mythology of All Naces, Vol. XII), pp.
113 ff.
2. Cf. IL E. R. E., Vol. 2, p. 21S.
3. Cf. II. E. R. E., Vol. 9, p. 78. *
I
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 209
Her journey to the lower world in search of Tammuz was the
ancient Babylonian interpretation of the death of vegetation.
Vegetation died and earth's fertility ceased when Ishtdr was in
. the lower world. ^
The idea that the Japanese myth of Izanagi and Izanami
was in some way connected with seasonal changes in vegetation
is suggested by the fact that in the struggle between Izanagi
and the forces of the lower world various food items — grapes,
bamboo-sprouts, and peaches — ^appear as important factors in
assisting his escape to the upper world.^ Further connectioii
with seasonal change arises from the evidence of the Nihongi
that Izanami was anciently worshipped with a spring festival
'* by offerings of flowers."^ Flower festivals to the Earth-
Mother are widely distributed as, for example, " Among the
aborigines of India, the Earth-Mother is worshipped mainly in
connection with agricultural seasons. Sacrifices are offered, and
she is begged to be propitious, while she has often a special
festival, or, as among the Oraons, a spring festival celebrates her
marriage with Heaven."^ The Dravidians of South India wor-
ship a Great Mother. The customary offering is flowers.^ E.
S. Hartland says, " Every year when the 5(^/-tree is in blossoni
the Oraons of Bengal celebrate the marriage of the earth-goddess
with Dharme, the sun-god."^ Every year when the flowers on
Mount Tsukuba in Japan begin to blossom the peasants of the
vicinity celebrate the Ozagawari (" Great-Seat-Change ") of Iza-
namiy that is, her journey to her shrine on the mountain top. And
1. Regarding the point of Ishtar's relation to seasonal changes in vegeta-
tion Jeremias remarks, " Since nature dies and comes to life again (in cosmical
language sinks into the Underworld and then rises again), she is the goddess who
goes with dying nature into the Underworld and who brings up the new life."
" Die Religion in Babylonien," Allgemeine Religions-Geschichte, p. 29,
2. Cf. C, pp. 36-7.
3. Cf A., I, p. 21.
4. H E. R. E., Vol. 5, p. 129, Ref, is to Crooke, Popular Religion and
Folklore of N. India, Vol. I, p. 30 ff.
5. Cf. Hopkins, E. W. T/ie History of Rtligions, p. 170.
6. H E R. E., Vol. 9, p. 823.
2IO THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
every year when vegetation begins to wither on the mountain
she is brought down again to the shrine at the base. While it
is true that Izanagi likewise shares in this modern Ozagarwaru
yet the present-day, popular explanation is that it is especially
designed to protect Izanami, The peasants of the district say
in explanation, " It is not good that a woman should remain out
on the mountain in the wintei"." It is of special interest that the
movements of Izanami at the Tsukuba shrine should still be
connected with seasonal changes. The old mythology of
the south seems to have been adapted to fit a northern
climate.
The Earth-Mother character of Izanami is likewise to be
found in the nature of the deities which spring from different
parts of her body after her relations as the wife of Izanagi have
been severed. These deities appear as the independent creation
oi Izanami and thus, on the hypothesis put forward in the pre-
sent discussion, ought to be closely related to the earth itself.
From the vomit of Izanami came two deities of metal, from her
excrement two other deities who preside over clay, from her
urine a water deity and also a god of growth called Waka-mii-
subi-no-kami ('* Young Growth Deity ").^ These first named
deities may be understood as originating in an early mythological
scheme which regards metal, clay, and water as discharges from
the body of the Earth-Mother. In the Nihongi account the
** Young Growth Deity " just mentioned appears as the producer
of the silk-worm, the mulberry tree, and the five grains.^
*' Growth " thus transforms '* Earth " into these objects useful
t3 man. The Kojiki relates that in the .body oi Izanami as she
lay in the lower world resided eight deities of thunder.* We
here have a mythological fragment which may be consistently
interpreted as originating in primitive experiences with subter-
ranean noises. In Teutonic mythology the thunder god Thor
1. Cf. C, p. 29.
2. Cf. A., I, p. .21.
3 C/. C.,p.36.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 211
has for his mother the great giantess Jordh who is identified as
the Earth/
One of tlie noyito has preserved the account of IzanamVs
return to the upper world out of the Land of Night and her
creation anew of certain deities that break the drought brought
on by the birth of Kagu-t$uchi. The evidence seenis practically
conclusive in identifying the movements of Izanami with the
complete cycle of seasonal changes passed through by the
Earth-Mother deities of other mythologie=:. The norito which
was formerly used in the *' Fire-calming-ceremony " (Jio-shizume
no matsuri) presents this episode thus : " The two deities
Izanagi and Izanami became husband and wife and begot the
eighty countries and the eighty islands and, also, they begot the
eight hundred myriads of deities. Finally, when Izanami gave
birth to Ho-miisubi-no-kami (Fire-Producing-Deity) her private
parts were burned and she became hidden in the rocks. ' My
beloved husband, look not on me for the space of seven nights
and seven days', she said. Before the end of the seven days, he
wondered at her concealment and looked on her, and her private
parts had been burned in giving birth to Fire. Then Izanami
said, ' Oh, my beloved husband, thou hast put me to shame by
looking on me at such a time when I had said, '^ Look not on
me." So my beloved husband, thou must rule the upper world
and I will rule the lower world.' And she became hidden in
the rocks. When she reached the Even Hill of Yomi she
thought and said, ' In the upper world, ruled over by my be-
loved husband, I have given birth to and left behind a child qf
evil heart. So returning, she yet again gave birth to children —
the Deity of Water, Gourd, River-leaves, and Clay-Mountain-
Lady {Hani-yama-hime) — ^to these four kinds of things she gave
birth. Then she taught Izanagi saying, ' Whenever the heart
of this evil-hearted child becomes violent subdue it with the
I. Cf. H. E. K. E., Vol. 5, p. 129.
212 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MOERDN SHINTO.
Deity of Water, with Gourd, with Clay-Mountain- Lady and
with River-leaves."^
The introduction of the Deity of Water here as one of the
agents in the subjection of Kagu-tsuchi reapeats the idea of the
coming of water in the form of the two rain-deities, Kura~d-kami-
no-kami (*' Dark-Rain-Deity ") and Kiira-midzu-ha-no-kami
(" Dark- Water-Swift-Deity ") who appeared on the sword of
the Sky-Father when he killed his child.^ The gourd is simply
an ancient receptacle for storing and carrying water. " River-
leaves," which the noriio makes Izanami produce on her re-
appearance in the upper world, strongly suggests seasonal change
wherein the new vegetation first appears along the courses of
streams and rivers. According to the Nihongi, Hani-yama-
hime is an earth-goddess.^ She is made to marry Kagu-tsuchi,
who is also an earth deity, and the two beget between them,
Waka-musubi-no-kami^ already mentioned as the producer of
the five grains, the mulberry tree and the silk-worm. The
Kojiki states that the child of this same Waka-musubi-no-kami
was the great Food-Goddess, Toyo-uke-bime-no-kami^ The
basis of this mythology is evidently seasonal change, regarded
as induced by the return of the Earth-Mother. This change
brings new life to the parched earth and food to the ancient
husbandman. That the underlying experience is recurrent with
the coming and going of seasons is also suggested by the state-
ment of the norito that IzanamVs new children are to be made
use of ** Whenever the heart of this evil-l\earted child becomes
violent."
An item of evidence of a different character is to be found
in the fact that the term papa has survived in Polynesian langu-
1. Okubo, JIaisuo, Norito Shiki Kogi iMMi^^^y^y " Lectures on the
Norito Ceremonies," Osaka, 1908, 4th ed.). Vol. TI, pp. 3-4. See also Aston,
Shinto, pp. 315-316.
2. See above, p. 204.
3. C/: A., I, p. 21.
4. Ibid.
5. C/. C, pp. 29-30.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 213
ages with the meaning of " Earth-Mother "^ while in archaic
Japanese the same form, papa^ means " mother "^ (modem
Japanese Jiaha),
A most important argument for the Sky-Father and
Earth-Mother characters of Izanagl and Izanami is to be found
in their primary creative function with reference to the total
mythological scheme of old Shinto. They are universal parents.
They gave birth to the land, the living things of the vegetable
world, and were the ancestors of gods and men. The Nihongi
preserves the record of their proper position in the original my-
thology when it says, '* They produced all manner of things
whatsoever. """^ The Kogoshui opens the account of the Japanese
cosmogonic myth with the creative activities of this pair. They
are the first kami introduced. The text says, ** I have heard
that at the creation of heaven and earth the two deities Izanagi
and Izanami became man and wife. They begot the Eight
Great Islands and also mountains, rivers, grasses and trees.
Again, they begot the sun-goddess and the moon-god.""* Thus
it is that they occupy in the ancient Shintd pantheon exactly
the positions of the Sky-F'ather and the Earth-Mother of other
mythologies.
The interpretation of Izanagi and Izanami here adopted
assigns them an importance consistent with the place which
they occupy in the Shinto pantheon. For although in that
portion of the mythology which clearly reflects the influence of
the political organization of ancient Yamato culture the Sun-
Goddess, Ama-terasu-o-mi-kaim, takes precedence over all other
deities, yet in the original cosmogonic myth, itself, the activities
of Izanagi and Izanami are central. The probable reasons for
1. Cf. Tregear, op, cit, p. 314.
2. Cf. T. A. S. J., Vol. 16, p. 262.
3- ^^^^^,^^^, N., p. 13.
4. Saeki, A., Kogoshui Kogi (^ffi^^, '^B^^W^> " Lectures on the
Kogoshui " Pub. by the Kogaku Shoin^ loth ed., Tokyo, I921), p, 4.
214 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
this rise of the cult of the Sun-Goddess and the subordination of
the Sky-Father and Earth-Mother will be considered later. Aston
classifies Izanagi and Izanami under the heading of gods of
abstraction and regards them as '^evidently creations of sub-
sequent date to the Sun-Goddess and other concrete deities, for
whose existence they were intended to account."^ Izanagi and
his mate are assigned by this scholar " to that stage of religious
progress in which the conception has been reached of powerful
sentient beings separate from external nature."^ The interpre-
tation of origin which Aston is thus led to accept is that they
were suggested to the ancient Japanese writers by the Yin and
the Yang, or the male and the female principles, of Chinese
philosophy.
Against Aston's view can be advanced the thoroughly
concrete character of Izanagi and Izanami as indicated by the
evidence given above. They are not abstractions formulated to
give a theoretical account of older deities. The central position
which these original parents occupy in the Japanese mythology
makes it hardly possible that they could have been borrowed
from Chinese philosophy without the entire cosmogonic scheme
having been likewise taken over. With all the obvious Chinese
influence in the Nihongi there is no evidence of such extensive
and early borrowing from China as is made necessary by Aston's
theory. Izanagi and Izanami must be taken as original Japan-
ese deities. They are the concrete expression of primitive ex-
periences with the phenomena of earth and sky, interpreted in
terms of a social life that is still so undeveloped as to be confined
almost entirely to the events of the parent-child group. This
alone is proof of a great antiquity.
Similar objections are to be advanced against the interpre-
tation which overemphasizes a phallic character for these deities.'
The theory here builds to a large extent on etymological con-
1. Shinto, p. 169.
2. tbid., p. 170.
. 3. So Buckley, Pkallicism in Ja^an^ pp. 22-26.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 21 5
siderations. It follows Motoori in assigning to the words Iza-
nagi and Izanami an origin in izanau, " to invite," while gi and
mi are taken as equivalents of " male '' and " female " respec-
tively ; hence the meanings, " Male-Who-Invites " and " Female-
Who-Invites," i.e., invites to sexual relations.^ The naive detail
with which the Kojiki enters into a description of the first creative
activity of this pair lends some plausibility to the interpretation.
That phallic practices have been a" 'part of the worship of
Izanagi and Izanami is beyond question. Yet phallicism is not
the key to their interpretation. On the other hand, an isolated
phallic theory does not do justice to their position in the cosmo-
gonic scheme. Phallicism, with an underlying relation to fertility
rites, has a world-wide association with Earth-Mother cults.^ For
example, Priapus, the Greek phallic deity, was the son of Aphro-
dite, an original earth-goddess.^ The Isis and Osiris cult of
Egypt appears to have been associated with phallicism.'* Male
and female emblems with the meaning of fertility charms, appear-
ed in the ceremonies of both the Arrephoria and the Thesmo-
phbria.* Among the Yoruba on the west coast of Africa the
Earth-Mother is also a phallic deity.^ It is altogether to be
expected that phallic rites should be associated especially with
Izanami in her character as universal mother.
1. Cf. C, p. 1 8, note 8. At the present stage of investigation, the attempt
to argue from the meaning of these names to the functions of the deities is pre-
carious. Aston prefers to take isa (Jza) as a place-name ; hence, " the Male of
Iza" and "the Female of Iza" (5/^/«/5, p. 172). A recent Japanese explanation
attempts to interpret iza in the sense of " beginning " or " first " ; hence, " the
First Male " and " the First Female " {C/. Meiji Seitohi Kinen Gakkai KiyOy
Vol. 16, p. 125). '
2. For references consult art. " Phallism," H.E.R.E., Vol. 9.
3. Ibia.
4. Ibid.
5. Cf. Harrison, Themis p. 266, also pp. 396 fF., 451 fF. "At Syracuse^
on the day of the Thesmophoria cakes of sesame and honey representing the
female sex were carried about and offered to the goddesses — pro-
bably Demeter and Kore " (H E.R.E., Vol. 9, p. 818).
6. H.E.R.E., op. cit.
2l6 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
The foregoing discussion is offered as evidence that in
Izanagi is preserved the memory of an ancient Japanese Sky-
Father and in his mate, Izanami, the idea of a great Earth-
Mother. Izanagi is a being who produces the deities of sun
and moon from his eyes, the storm-god from his nostrils, whose
breath is the wind, whose tears are probably rain-drops and who
carries a sword which is the lightning flash. Izanamiy his mate,
is a being who has the double function of an earth-goddess
of the upper world and of the lower world, whose body is as-
sociated with the things that come from out the earth such as
metal, clay, water and growing crops. Her death and depar-
ture into the underworld are to be interpreted as an ancient
statement of the effects of seasonal change on vegetation.
The early mythology, in spite of its existing fragmentary char-
acter, still preserves the account of her return from the
lower world with reviving life. Izanagi^ also, seems to have
brought new vegetation with him out of the land of Yomi and
modern local ceremonial still retains the influence of the idea
that Izanami properly goes up to the mountain top with the
returning life of spring. Finally the two are universal parents.
In all these points the correspondence with Sky-Fathers and
Earth-Mothers of other peoples is close.
Such are the kami in whom modern Shinto still finds
original parents for the Imperial Family and for the general popu-
lace alike. The sense in which they are to be taken as ancestors
is plain. In tracing the royal line back to Izanagi and Izanami
the modern genealogists have been true to pure Japanese tradi-
tion, but at the same time they have evidently builded better than
they know. The line as thus established does reach back to
" immemorial ages." We have, indeed, the extraordinary
spectacle of a modern state supporting its political fabric with a
genealogical scheme that has come straight down out of a primi-
tivity so remote as to bear the impress of a mythology that was
probably formulated as man's first attempt at a systematic world-
\ view. The historicity of the two great ancestors who head the
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 21/
royal genealogies as given in the modern *^ History for Middle
Schools " is to be estimated exactly as we estimate the historical
validity of Sky-Father and Earth-Mother myths elsewhere. The
study here carries us into the field of pure rriythology and not
into that of history, as such.
In assigning the above value to Izanagi and Izanami we
need not be led astray by the fact that the mythology so fully
anthropomorphizes and domesticates them. Izanagi is pictured
in the myth as a patriarch who marries and begets children, who
wears clothes and carries a weapon with which he takes the life
of a child. The legend of his final place of '' concealment " on
the Island of Ahaji is carefully preserved.^ Izanami is a woman
who dies in childbirth and who is buried at Arima of Kumano.^
Folk lore does the same thing for similar deities elsewhere, how-
ever. Greek tradition, for example, has likewise preserved the
knowledge of the places of birth and burial of the Sky-god,
Zeus.^ E. W. Hopkins has fittingly called attention to the fact
that the German thunder-god, Thor, was not regarded merely
as a noise in the sky but as *^ a heavenly man with a decent
family of his own and with intimate relations with his clan on
earth."'' Such socialization of experience with nature is indeed
an inevitable part of the evolution of human thought.
In connection with the early ideas of the relations of Heaven
and Earth a further matter is to be noted. Japanese my-
thology bears clear traces of the influence of a conception
that, at one time, Heaven hung close down over Earth and
possibly, also, of the idea that the two were subsequently
separated through the efforts of the divine beings who lived
in between them. A similar idea is widespread in the Oceanic
area. The extent of the geographical distribution of a notion
1. CA A., L, p. 34.
2. 3id.y p. 21.
^. Cf. Fox, W. S., Greek and Roman Mythology^ pp. 154 fif. ; Harrison,
<^. cit., pp. I -1 5.
4. Hopkins, E. W., The History of Religions^ p. 8.
21 8 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MCDSRN SHINTO.
of the original close proximity of Heaven and Earth and
their final separation, constitutes one of the remarkable features
of Oceanic mythology, passing, as it does, throughout almost
the entire Polynesian and Indonesian areas. The myth occurs in
India, Borneo, in the Philippines, in the Celebes, in the Marshall
Islands, in New Zealand and the Chatham Islands, in Samoa and
the Union Group. In the account from the New Hebrides the
sky originally hung so low as to be struck by a woman as she
worked with mortar and pestle. In the mythology of both the
Cook Group and the Society Islands the sky at first rested as far
down over the earth as the leaves of plants growing on her
surface.^
The New Zealand myth of the separation of Heaven and
Earth presents noteworthy features, that, in certain respects,
s^em to shed light on fragments in old Japanese mythology. As
summarized by Tregear from the graphic accounts of Maori
chiefs and priests compiled by Sir George Grey, the outlines of
the story are as follows. " Rangi (Heaven) and Papa (the
Earth) lay clinging in a close embrace, so intertwined that the
children they had begotten dwelt in darkness in their narrow
realm. These children who afterwards became the great gods
of men, resolved to rend their parents apart, and, after taking
long counsel together essayed the task. One only, Tawhiri-
matea, the Lord of Winds and Storm, was grieved at the deci-
sion, and refused to join in the forcible divorce of Rangi and
Papa. Rongo-ma-Tane, Tangaroa, Huamia-tiketike, and Tu^
mata-uenga all attempted the ' rending apart ' in vain ; but the
mighty Tane-ma-huta, the Lord of Forests, at length forced
Rangi upwards from the breast of his wife, and let in the light
ofday."^
In a further Maori account, presenting new details, Tane is
assisted by Paia, his younger brother. The story relates how,
after Raki (Rangi) and Papa had spoken words of affectionate
1. Dixon, Oceanic Mythology, pp. 30-36, p. 322 note 93.
2. Tregear, Maori- Polynesian Compamtive Dictionaiy, p. 39 1 flf.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. * 219
farewell, *' Pafa uplifted Raki, and Tane placed his toko (pole)
«... between Papa and Ragi. Paia did likewise with his
toko. . . . Then Raki floated upward, and a shout of
approval was uttered by those up above, who said, ' O Tu of
the long face, lift up the mountain.' Such were the words
shouted by the inumerable men (beings) from above in approval
of the acts of Tane and Paia ; but that burst of applause was
mostly in recognition of Tane's having disconnected the heaven,
and propped up its sides, and made them stable."^
On the Japanese side according to the Nihongi account, at
the time in which the creative activity of Izanagi and Izanami
was in operation, Heaven lay close down over Earth. They
were so near together that it was possible to send both the Sun-
Goddess and Moon-God up into the sky by erecting a ladder
between Earth and Heaven — '' At this time Heaven and Earth
were still not far separated, and therefore they sent her [the
Sun- Goddess] up to Heaven by the ladder of Heaven.'^ Again
an arrow shot from Earth punctured Heaven and passed through
into the midst of the deities dwelling therein."
The Nihongi opens with the statement, *' In ancient times,
Heaven and Earth were not yet separated." Thereupon follows
the passage already considered which relates how Heaven and
Earth evolved out of primitive chaos, ending with the statement,
" Thus Heaven was formed first and Earth was established after-
wards." In immediate sequence appears a passage which liter-
ally reads, " And Divine Beings existed in between " or " And
Divine Beings lived in this interior (space)",* a form of statement
which makes at this point a close similarity between the Oceanic
and the Japanese mythologies.
The question naturally arises, is the similarity any closer ?
Is there anything in the old Japanese records indicating an idea
1. White, Ancient History of the Maori, Vol. I, p. 46.
2. A , I, p. 18.
3. C, I, p. 96.
4. mmm^%^%' c/.N.,p. i.
220 . THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
that these deities dwelling between Heaven and Earth constituted
the agency whereby the separation was accomplished ? While
it is true that in the Japanese records this theme of separation is
not expressly elaborated, yet Japanese mythology does state
explicitly that there was a time when Heaven and Earth were
still close together, and in one passage of the Kojiki there appears
a statement bearing on the subject of separation which looks like
the outcropping of an old mythological bed-rock which was
assumed as well-known popular belief at the time of the
compilation of the Kojiki. The passage in question appears
in the form of a note or commentary in the original text.
It comes immediately after the account of the beginning of
Heaven and Earth wherein the names of the first five Heavenly
Deities of the Kojiki are recorded. The note then says, ^' The
five deities in the above list are the deities who disconnected
Heaven."^ Such a translation, although involving a departure
from the interpretation of the Japanese commentators, is not forced ;
on the other hand, it follows the plain meaning of the ideograms.^
It will be noted that in the Maori account given above we
likewise have five deities involved in the attempt to raise up
Heaven. It is not impossible that the Japanese annotator is
emphasizing a numerical factor, as if it were a well-known idea
that the number of deities should here total exactly five.
In this same connection the similarity between the Japanese
and Polynesian myths extends to a further interesting detail. It
will be recalled that in the variant Maori account given above,
Taney the great god who labored with the most effect in the
separation of Heaven and Earth, ^^w^s assisted by his younger
brother, Paia, and that the disconnection was facilitated by the
erection of poles {toko) between the bodies of Rangi and Papa,
7<?>^^ throughout Polynesia has the meaning of " pole," " prop '*
1. }L\%^W^mjm' ^'ojiki, p. I (Ed. ^±MtC. Tokyo, 1899). Note
I, wakant, " to separate," " to divide " ; wakare, " a separation," " a parting."
2. Cf. C, p. 16, n. II.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 221
Although Tane^ himself, does not appear to have
been called a toko-^o^j that is, a * prop '-god in Maori mytho-
logy, yet a whole series of such deities is associated with him.
Their names are variously given as Toko-jnua, Toko-roto, Joko-
pa, Tokd-7naunga, Toko-hurunukuy Tako-htirurangi, loko-ruati-
pua, Toko-kapuka, and Toko-tupua? On the Japanese side we
have two toko gods listed in the ancient mythologies, namely,
Ame-7io-toko-tachi-no-kami and Kiini-no-toko-tachi-no-kami, or
*' Heavenly-/<?/&6-standing-deity '' and " Earthly-/d7/^^standing-
deity. It is to be noted that the former of these two kami is
deity number five in the list of Japanese gods who *' disconnect-
ed Heaven " — to adopt the rendering already suggested. The
evidence would appear to be almost complete if toko could be
interpreted as an ancient Japanese word for " pole " or *'prop."
The archaic Japanese word for " pole," however, is poko or
hoko^ The latter form has survived in the modern language
with the meaning of " spear." Further study may yet show
that in the ancient Japanese language the word which we now
call " hoko " was pronounced toko. At the present stage of
information on the point, however, it is necessary to take
toko in the sense of ''eternal" or "eternally." Thus we
have " Heavenly-eternally-standing deity " and " Earthly-eternal-
ly-standing-deity " as the titles of these two Japanese toko
gods. Even thus the idea of " eternally standing " as applied
1. Toko, " pole " (Maori) ; " canoe-pole " (Tonga, Futuna) ; " prop " (Niue) ;
« raft-pole " (Mangareva) ; ^^/^(?-^i^, " pole " (Mukuoro) ; " staff" (Futuna, Niue,
Uvea) ; " stick " (Marquesas), Cf. Churchill, Polynesian Wanderings, p. 420.
2. Tregear, op. cit., p. 528, 529.
3. The sacred pole or pillar under the name of Ama-no-saka-hoko, " Heaven-
ly-Hill-Pillar '' or " Heavenly-Hill- Pole," is found among the ceremonial objects
of ancient Shinto. The Harima Fudoki relates that when Jingo Kogo set out for
the conquest of Korea, the ship on v^hich she traveled was equipped with sacred
pillars called Ama-no-saka-hoko, set up forward and aft. As a result the ex.
pedition went in safety across the sea and Shiragi was punished. On return to
Japan the Jioko were set up and worshipped as pole-gods. Harima Fudoki, ed. by
Konakamura Kiyomori, 1863. One of these pillar-gods still stands at Takachiho
in Hyuga.
2.Z2 THE POLITICAL PHILOSCPHY OF MODERN SHINTO,
to a prop-god who must ever remain in place lest Heaven
fall back upon Earth is rot altogether inappropriate. If it
is legitimate to assume here a background of primitive mytho-
logy common to both the Japanese and the Polynesian areas,
then certainly the interpretation of Ame-no-toko-tachi-tio-kami as
one of the important agents in the separation of Heaven and
Earth introduces intelligible content into the title of this particu-
lar Japanese deity. Is Ame-no-toko-tacJil-no-karni to be equated
with the great Polynesian deity Tane or ' with deities directly
associated with him ? The evidence may not be strong enough
to bear the weight of such a conclusion, yet some of the simi-
larities appear close. Jane-ma-huta was the Lord of Forests, the
father of all things that inhabit them or that are made from trees.^
He also appears as the male principle of generation. The Japanese
word for male is otoko (archaic form, wo-toko). One naturally asks,
is not the part which the mythology assigns Tane in the separation
of Heaven and Earth an expression of the ancient idea that the
sky once rested on the trees and that they thus constituted the
props that separated Heaven and Plarth ? On the Japanese side
the mythology is too fragmentary at this point to make an exact
determination. Yet the title Toko-tachi-no-kami, interpreted as
in the preceding discussion, is not unfitting when applied to trees
The Nihongi states that Ame-no-toko-tachi-no-mikoto was created
by the transformation of a thing that appeared between Heaven
and Earth, in form like a reed shoot.^ The origin of this deity
is here explicitly connected with vegetation. Likewise, Kimi-
no-toko-tcLchi-mo-kami is an ancient Japanese god of growth.
Whatever the correct explanation of these deities may he,
it is especially important to note their positions in the genealogi-
cal tables. On the Japanese side a Tokotachi-no-kami heads
the Nihongi genealogies (Kuni-rio-iokc-tachi in Sect. I and Ajna-
no-toko-tachi in Sect. III). On the Polynesian side lane under
1. Grey, cp. tit.f p. 2.
2. Cr.A.,I,p.3.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 223
the name of Kane is the greatest of the deities of Hawaii. The
same god occupies seventh place in the royal genealogies of the
Maori (Ngati-Maniapoto tribe)^ and third place in the genealo-
gies of the Moriori.^
We turn next to the consideration of certain other person-
ages of the ancient Shinto pantheon who figure prominently in the
modern ofificial cult.
1. Tregear, op. cii., p. 667.
2. 3id., p. 669.
224 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
CHAPTER VII.
The Cult of the Sun-Goddess.
The reestablishment in the modern period of a form of
government which supersedes the particularism of the feudal
regime with a state organization that, goes back for many of
its ideals and methods to the Great Reform of 645 A.D.^ and
which, thereby, attempts to find its political and emotional foci
in the institution of imperial sovereignty, has been accompanied
by a corresponding revival of the ancient cult of the Sun-
Goddess, Ama-terasu-d-mi-karni. She is officially interpreted
as the Great Ancestor of the Imperial Line and as the original
organizing mind that gave rise to the foundation of the Japa-
nese state. Thus she is accorded a central position not only
in the ceremonial life of the Shinto shrines, but also in
the moral instruction of the government schools of modern
Japan.
While it is true that Izanagi and Izanami are recognized
as original parents of the race, yet it is in the Sun-Goddess and
her Imperial Descendants that modern political Shinto seeks to
find the clearest definition of its interests and the explanation
of its origins. Professor Konb's definition of Shintd as a system
that has developed on the foundation of the idea of reverence
from a center in the Great Deity, Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami^ is
merely a reflection of the contemporary teaching of the Japa-
nese government. This fact is well seen in the insistence with
1. Cf. Murdoch, James, A History of JapaUy Vol. I, pp. 142-180; Asakawa,
K., The Early Instiiutional Life of Japan, pp. 136-333.
2. See above, p. 84. Note also the following, " This Sun Goddess, now
worshipped at the shrine of Ise, is the center of the Shinto system and the chief
object of worship, both as the life-giving principle of the world, the source of
light and happiness, and as the Divine Ancestor of the Imperial Family, which is
the Grand Patriarchal Family of the whole nation." Kato, N., " Eastern Ideals
and the Japanese Spirit," T. J. S. L., Vol. XIII (1914-15), Pt. I, p. 123.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 225
which the government itself propagates the idea that Ama- \
terasu-o-mi-kanii is an actual historical ancestor of the royal /
line. The acceptance of such teaching regarding this deity
is hereby made a fundamental part of the development of the
sentiments of loyalty and patriotism. The connection thus
established betu^een the doctrines of divine imperial sovereignty
and of patriotism on the one hand and the cult of Ama-terasu-
b-mi'kami on the other is far too intimate to permit us to believe
that the government intends that its promulgations regarding
the Sun-Goddess are to be taken as founded on anything
other than authentic history.
We may turn first then to the consideration of the position
which Ama'terasiL-o-mi-kami is assigned in the nationalistic
moral training of the modern Japanese educational system.
Although attention has already been called to the great impor-
tance that is officially attached to the inculcation of correct
ideas regarding the place of this deity in the Imperial genea-
logies, yet the vital relationship which the matter has to Japan-
ese political philosophy, especially as it functions in the public
schools, necessitates that this be given detailed consideration.
The statement translated immediately below is taken from
Book I of a series of ** Teacher's Manuals " that accompany
the text-books on Japanese histoiy published by the Depart-
ment of Education. In these helps for teachers the lessons of
the text-books used by the children are taken up in order and
detailed official direction is given the teachers regarding the
object and meaning of each lesson, as well as methods of
instruction to be utilized in fixing the important ideas in the
memories of the pupils. No better material exists for the study
of the inner working of the Japanese official mind as it attempts
to carry out " the unification of the thinking of the people."
In exposition of the meaning of a text-book lesson on
Amct-terasu-o-mi-kauiiy the Teacher's Guide in national history
says, ** Amarterasu-d-mi'kami is the distant August Ancestor of/
our Emperor. The exceeding loftiness and universality of her
226 TEE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN bHIMTO.
majesty and virtue are like the shining of the sun in heaven,
which illuminates the world so that thereby all things accom-
plish their growth. All people alike are bathed in her favors.
I The successive generations of Emperors are all her offspring,
i The august lineage of the Great Deity, in an unbroken line, is
j as everlasting as heaven and earth. The Grand Imperial
' Shrine {Kodai Jingu) of the city of Uji Yamada in the country
of Ise is the shrine where this Great Deity is worshipped. The
shrine sanctuary is simple, yet no other can be compared with
it in dignity.
\ " Our Empire of Great Japan is the country over which,
/ in the beginning, Ama-terasu-o-ml-kami caused her grandson,
I Ninigi-no-mikotOj to rule. The Great Deity determined that
this country should be ruled over eternally by her descendants,
I saying, * The prosperity of the Imperial Throne shall be as
everlasting as heaven and earth.' The Imperial Dynasty, as
eternal as heaven and eaith, was herein determined and the
foundations of our Empire of Great Japan which is peerless
throughout the world, were as a matter of fact established
herewith. Accordingly the successive generations of Emperors
have all ruled over the empire in conformity with the purport
of the Divine Edict. They have spread abroad benevolent gov-
ernment and have not ceased to plan for the happiness of the
people. For this reason the Imperial Rescript on Education
makes the declaration, * Our Imperial Ancestors have founded
Our Empire on a basis broad and everlasting and have deeply
and firmly implanted virtue.'
** When Ninigi-no-mlkoto was about to leave the presence
of Ama-terasu-d-ml-katnl and come down into this country, she
purposely bestowed on him a sword, a mirror and (certain)
jewels. These are called the Three Sacred .Treasures. When
Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami presented the mirror to the Prince she
said, * When you look into this mirror, regard it as looking on
me, myself From that time on the successive generations of
Emperors have handed on the Sacred Treasures and have made
THE POLITICAL PHILGS0FH7 OF MODERN SHINT5. 22/
them the symbols of the Imperial Throne. Afterwards, out of
a fear lest the divine influence of the Sacred Treasures should
be defiled, a shrine was especially built for them and they were
reverently worshipped by the Emperors. Then reproductions
were made of the mirror and the sword and these (reproduc-
tions) together with the jewels were enshrined in the Imperial
Palace and the Emperors have served them just as if they were
in the presence of the Great Deity.
" Ninigi-no-mikotOy in conformity with the Divine Edict of
the Great Deity, descended upon Hyuga in order that he might
rule ovei this country, bringing with him the Three Sacred
Treasures. This is called the descent of the Heavenly Grand-
son {Tenson no kdrhi). Thereupon three generations resided in
Hyuga, 'and then we come to the age of Emperor Jimmu. The
Imperial influence has spread widely since the age of Emperor
Jimmu, and the condition of the country has greatly improved.
From this time on we have what is called the Age of Human
Emperors, which is thus distinguished from the previous
age."*
Directions to teachers following immediately upon the
above exposition of the meaning of the text, present the point
of view of the Department of Education regarding the objects
which the instruction should here endeavour to attain. The
official statement says, ** It is required that by means of this
lesson the august, divine influence oi Ama-terasii~d-iiii-kami be
exfoUed, the descent of our Imperial Family made clear and
the source of our national organization {kokittai), which is with-
out peer in all the world, made known. "^
The instructions to teachers further stipulate : " The
teacher should carefully explain this national constitution which
is peerless in all the world and should deepen in the children
1. Jinjo Shogaku Nihon Rekishi, Kyoshi Yd {M%/i^^^%^^, Wi^^'^y
■*' Japanese History for Ordinary Primary Schools, Teacher's Guide," Tokyo,
1912), No. I, pp. 1-3.
2. Ibid., p. 4.
228 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOI'HY OF MODERN SHINT5.
the id>^as of reverence for the Imperial Family and of love of
country."^
Similar evidence is abundantly furnished in the publica-
tions of the Department of Education. In this, the matter
before us for special attention is the extent to which the modern
Japanese government makes use of a mythology centering in
the Sun-Goddess of Shinto as a means of furnishing support
for the existing organization of the state.
Book V of " Text-books of Ethics for Ordinary Primary
Schools," also published by the Department of Education says,
" In ancient times AmoL-terasii-d'mi-kami sent down Ninigi-no-
inikoto and caused him to rule over this country. The great-
grandchild of this Prince was the Emperor Jimmu. More than
2570 years have elapsed since the accession to the throne of
this Emperor.^ His descendants throughout successive genera-
tions have ascended the throne. There are many countries in
the world, but there is no other which, like our Empire of
Great Japan, has over it a line of Emperors of one and the
same dynasty throughout the ages. Moreover, the successive
generations of Emperors have loved Their subjects as children,
and our ancestors all revered the Imperial Family and fulfilled
the principles {michi) of loyalty and patriotism.''^ We, who are
born in such a precious country, who have over us such
an august Imperial Family, who, again, are the descendants
of subjects who have bequeathed such beautiful customs,
must become splendid Japanese and do our utmost for oui
Empire."*
The official explanation of the above, as given in the
corresponding Teacher's Manual, adds nothing to the meaning
but seeks to drive home the obvious moral by saying in con-
1. Ibid.^ p. 5.
2. Published in I913.
3. As a means of checking this statement consult references given above
p. 120, n. I.
4. Jinjo Shogaku ShTishin Sho (^^/hf^<|f:g',<J, "Text-book of Ethics for
Ordinary Primary School^," Tokyo, 1913), No V, pp. 1-2.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 229
elusion, " There are many countries in the world, but there is
not a single other which like ours has over it a line of Emperors
unbroken for ages eternal. Is it not a great blessing that we
are born in such an exalted country?"^ In connection with
Jhis same lesson, directions for teachers further say, '* The
object of this lesson is to make known the national constitution
{kokiiiai) of the Empire of Great Japan and (thus) stimulate
the spirit of loyalty and j3atriotism."^
The government goes still farther in supervising the details
of instruction by providing for the teacher's use practice ques-
tions based on the text. The first three questions relating to
the lesson just examined may be translated :
" I. What did Aina-terasu-d-mi-kami say when she sent
down Ninigi-no-mikoto ?
"2. What deeds did the Emperor Jimmu perform?
"3. In what does the Empire of Griat Japan differ from
other countries ? "^ .
The expected answers to these questions do not need to
be pointed out.
Such fostering of national morality in the public schools is
even more directly identified with the ceremonial of official
Shinto by means of instruction that carefully focuses attention
and interest in the Grand Imperial Shrine of Ise, where the Sun-
Goddess, " the Ancestor of the reigning Emperor," is worship-
ped. Book VI of the ** Text-books of Ethics for Ordinary Primary
Schools " contains a lesson which says, *' The Grand Imperial
Shrine {liodai Jingu) is the shrine where the Imperial Ancestor,
Aina-terasu-d-ini-karni, is reverently worshipped. It is located
in the city of Uji Yamada. The shrine grounds are situated
at the foot of Mount Kamiji on land which follows along the
Isuzu River in a spot that is quiet and far-separated from (city)
dust. Among the people who enter here there is not one
1. Jinjo Shogakic Shushin Sho, Kyoshi Yd, No. V, p. 2.
2. Ibid.y p. I. '
3. Ibid., p. 4.
230 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SH.NTO.
i
who, unmindful of the majesty of the divine influence, fails to
assume an attitude of reverence.
" The adoration given the Grand Imperial Shrine by the
Imperial Court is of an extraordinary nature. Whenever there
is an affair of great importance either in the Imperial House-
hold or in the nation the Emperor makes personal announce-
ment thereof at the Grand Imperial Shrine. Each year at the
Ceremony of Commencing Governmental Transactions, the first
thing done is to receive a report of the affairs of the Shrine.
At the Festival of Prayer for the Year's Crops {Kinen Sal), at
the Festival of Presentation of First Fruits {^Kannaute Sa'i) and
at the Harvest Festival {Niinatne Sai), the Emperor sends an
Imperial messenger (to the Grand Shrine) and presents offerings
{heihaku). At the time of dispatching the Imperial messenger
the Emperor personally views the offerings and hands a ritua-
listic report {saidun) to the messenger. Also, the Emperor
does not withdraw to the inner palace prior to the retirement
of the Imperial messenger.^ Again, on the day of the Festival
of Presentation of First Fruits a solemn ceremony of distant
worship (toward the Grand Shrine of Ise) is carried out by the
Emperor.
** In accordance with a regulation that the sanctuaiy of
the shrine shall be reconstructed eveiy twenty years, the
Emperor performs a solemn ceremony of * Shrine-Removal-and-
Renov^ation.' The Emperor Meiji took a deep interest in the
affairs of the removal of the shrine, wrote minutely regarding
matters of construction and i)crsonally inspected tlie details.
The unparalleled majesty of the Grand Imperial Shrine may be
known from the fact that it is tlius regarded \^'ith deep reverence
at the Royal Court. We subjects must always venerate the
Grand Imperial Shrine and take care to maintain the Imperial
Destiny which is as everlasting as heaven and earth."'"*
1. Thus reversing ordinary court procedure and thereby showing special
respect to the Sun-Goddess.
2. Jinjo Shogaku Shushin Sho (Tokyo, 19 13), No. VI, pp. 1-3.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 23 1
The instructions to teachers inform us that the object of
the above lesson is to deepen the sentiment of reverence for
Imperial Ancestors by imparting information regarding the
greatness of the veneration with which the Grand Imperial
Shrine is regarded at the royal court.^
The educational authorities recognize the fact that this
veneration on the part of the Imperial Family amounts to
worship which includes prayer to the Sun Goddess for aid and
protection. In an effort to prove the proposition of an extra-
ordinary position in the ceremonies of the royal court the
Teacher's Manual cites the following poem written by the late
Emperor Meiji :
** Tokoshie ni tami yasukare to inoru 7iaru,
Waga yo wo mamore, he no Okami. ^
The meaning may be rendered :
'* I pray that Thou wilt keep the people in peace forever
And guard my reign, Oh, Thou Great Deity of Ise."
The text here furnishes the teacher with a statement ad-
dressed to the children which says, " You have already learned
that the Emperor thus prayed for the aid of the divine spirits
of the Imperial Ancestors."^
Book III in the same series of text-books on ethics pub-
lishes a picture representing the approach to the Grand Shrine
of Ise and in explanation says, " Here in the midst of luxuriant
and aged cryptomeria trees is seen a venerable shrine. This
picture shows the appearance of the Grand Imperial Shrine of
Ise. This is the shrine where Ama-terasu-o-ml-kami, the
Ancestor of the Emperor is worshipped {mat sum). Even the
Emperor habitually regards it with care. We Japanese must
revere this shrine {kono omiya wo uyamawanakereba naritna-
seny
1. Jmj'd Shogaku SJmshin Sho^ Kyoshi Yd (Tokyo, 1913), p. i.
2. Ibid., p. 3.
3. Ibid. Cf. also Jinjo Shogaku Tokuhon, No. VIII (Tokyo, 1915), p. 7.
4. Jinjo Shogaku Shushin Sho, No. Ill (Tokyo, 19 19), pp. 28-9.
232 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ.
The Teacher's Manual again emphasizes the moral by
saying, " The object of this lesson is to nourish the spirit
of loyalty and patriotism by imparting information regard-
ing the Grand Imperial Shrine."^ The teacher is further
furnished with an official exhortation addressed to the children
thus : " In as much as Ama-terasu-d-mi-karni is the Ancestor
of the Emperor she is the most venerated deity in our land of
Japan. And since the Grand Imperial Shrine is the sanctuary
where this Great Deity is worshipped, those who are Japanese
must both respect the Emperor and must always revere and
honor this shrine. You cliildren should also await a suitable
opportunity for going to worship {sanpai) at the Grand Imperial
Shrine and in addition to gaining an understanding of the
nobility of the national constitution should pray for the pros-
perity of the Imperial Family {^koshltsu no onsakae wo inori
tateuiatsuru beki nari)!'^
Further directions to teachers say, " In connection with
this lesson instruction should be given in the matter of rever-
ence for shrines."^
The ideal of a pilgrimage to Ise is again held before the
children in a passage to be found in one of the ordinary school
readers, which says, ** The veneration which successive gene-
rations of Emperors have manifested toward the Grand Im-
perial Shrine is exceedingly great. The people have also
deeply venerated the shrine and there \s no one who does not
purpose, without fail, to go and worship at Ise at least once m
a life time."*
In one of the school readers for Korean children, pre-
pared under the direction of the Japanese Government for
Korea, there is likewise an account of the Grand Shrine of
the Sun-Goddess which makes explanation of a picture of the
I. Jinjo Shngaku Shushin S/iOf Kydshi Yo^ No. Ill (Tokyo, I918), p. 54.
3. 3u/., p. 56.
4. /in/d Shogaku Tokuhon, No. VIII (Tokyo, 1915), p. I.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 233
shrine with the words, ** Here is a great torii. To the rear of
the torii is a shrine. Around about it great trees grow luxuri-
antly so as even to shut off the view of the sky. This is the
Grand Imperial Shrine of Ise, the venerable shrine where
Ama-terasu-d-mi-kami is worshipped.
** Ama-terasu-d-mi-kami is the distant Ancestor of the
Emperor and in very ancient times conferred deep blessings
on the people. She taught the people how to plant rice and
how to rear silkworms.
** On the seventeenth of each October, at the Festival of
Presentation of First Fruits, the Emperor offers the first ears of
rice of the year at the Grand Imperial Shrine. Also, on the
twenty-third of each November at the Harvest Festival the
Emperor worships* the Grand Imperial Shrine and other deities
and partakes of the first ears of rice of the year [late crop]."^
In the directions for study that follow this lesson, question
number two says, ** What kind of a person was Ama-terasu-o-
lui-kami? Tell about this."^
'* Text-book of Ethics for Ordinary Primaiy Schools,"
Book III, says in its conclusion, " To be a good Japanese one
must constantly look up to the viitues of the Emperor and the
Empress and, also, must constantly revere the Grand Imperial
Shrine and (thus) stimulate a heart of loyalty and patriotism."^
Book IV in this same series says, " We must be ever mindful
of the depth of favor which we receive from the Emperor, we
must nourish hearts of patriotism and loyalty, must revere the
Imperial Family, must respect the law, must cherish the national
flag, and must understand the reason for the (observation 'of
the) festival days."'*
The extent to which these festival days are associated
1. Ftitsu Gakko Kokugo Tokuhon {^W^^%W^WC>^i «* Japanese Reader
for Ordinary Schools," Pub. by the Government of Korea, 1913), pp. 26-29.
2. Ihid., p. 29.
3. Jinjo Shogaku Shushin Sho, No. Ill, p. 52.
4. /injo Shogaku Shushin Sho, No. IV, p. 66.
234 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
with ceremonies conducted at the Grand Shrine of Ama-terasu-
o-mi-kaml and elsewhere may be seen in the official explanation
as given in the text-book just quoted. The statement says,
" The fete days of our country are : New Year's Season
{Shinneti), the Anniversary of the Accession of the Emperor
Jimmu {Kigen Setsti), the Emperor's Birthday {Tencho Setsu),
and the Imperial Birthday Celebration Day {Tencho Setstc
Shikujitsii). The New Year is celebrated on January i, 2
and 5, the Anniversary of the Accession of the Emperor Jimmu
on February 1 1 , the Emperor's Birthday on August 31 and
the Imperial Birthday Celebration Day on October 31. All
are auspicious days.
'* The great festival days are : the Festival of Sacrifice to
the Origin {Genshi Sai), the Festival of the Vernal Equinox
(Shunki Korei Sai, lit. *' Spring-season-Imperial-Spirit-Festi-
val "), the Anniversary of (the death of) the Emperor Jimmu
(Jimmu Tenno Sai), the Anniversary of (the death of) the
Emperor Meiji {Meiji Tenno Sai), the Festival of the Autumnal
Equinox {Shuki Korei Sai, lit. " Autumn-season-Imperial-
Spirit-Festival "), the Festival of Presentation of First Fruits
{Kanname Sai) and the Harvest Festival {Niiname Sai).
" The Festival of Sacrifice to the Origin is on January 3
and (at this time) services are held at the Imperial Court in the
Kashiko-dokoro} in the Koreiden^ and in the Slunden? The
Anniversary of (the death of) the Emperor Jimmu is on April
3, while the Anniversary of (the death of) the Emperor Meiji is
on July 30. The Festival of Presentation of First Fruits is
celebrated on October 1 7. On this day the first ears of rice
are offered at the Ise Shiine. The Harvest Festival is cele-
brated on November 23. On this day the first ears of rice
1. The shrine in the Imperial Palace where the sacred mirror is kept and
where Ama-teirtsn-o-mi-kami is worshipped.
2. The shrine in the Imperial Palace where the spirits of past Emperors,
Empresses and Princes are worshipped.
3. The shrine in the Imperial Palace where the Deities of Heaven and
Earth are worshipped.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 235
.(of the late crop) are offered to the gods at the Shinkaden}
Also at the vernal equinox and at the autumnal equinox the
spirits of successive generations of Imperial Ancestors are
worshipped. These two festivals are the Shunki Korei Sai and
the Shuki Korei Sai.
" The fete days ar.d the festival days are important occa-
sions. In the Imperial Court the Emperor, himself, officiates
in solemn ceremonies. We must thoroughly comprehend the
reason for these days and (thus) nourish the spirit of loyalty
and patriotism."*
In summation of the evidence as given thus far in the
[)resent chapter it may be noted that the Japanese government
ill carrying out a nationalistic program for fostering the senti-
ments of loyalty and patriotism in the puolic schools of the .
empire gives central importance to the following teachings, s aA
that Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami is the distant ancestor of the reign- ' /\
ing Emperor ; that in a remote period of Japanese history she ,v
appeared in human society as a person of unusually lofty char-
acter who conferred great blessings on the people ; that the begin-
ning of the Japanese state, founded eternally on the principle
Q^ imperial sovereignty, is to be carried back to her express
command ; that her shrine at Ise should be an object of special
reverence ; that pilgrimage to the Ise shrine should be en-
couraged ; that reverence for the shrine should include the
elements ot worship and prayer, especially prayer for the
prosperity of the Imperial Family ; that this worship should find
its great example in that which is offered to the Sun-Goddess
by the Royal Court, itself; that the spirit of loyalty and
patriotism sliould be nourished by the observation of the festival
days of Shinto; and, finally, that in the form of its national life
Japan is the greatest country in the world.
1. The sanctuary in the Imperial Palace where the Niiname Sai is carried
out. A plan showing the location of these shrines will be found in Jinjo Shogaku
Shushin Sho, Kyoski Yd, No. HI, p. 60.
2. Jinjo Shogaku S/iTishiii Sho, No. IV, pp. 55-58.
236 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
We have before us the evidence of officially inspired
Shinto propaganda in the public schools of Japan. In its
scope it is as extensive as the school system of the entire
empire. In its content it makes use of the elements of the
ceremonials of the shrines and of prayer to the ** spirits of
ancestors " regarded as supernatural beings. The officially
acknowledged motive in all this is the inculcation of such
sentiments in the minds of the young as will effect the stabili-
zation of the status quo in Japanese political life. In this
process of strengthening the existing order, the material of the
old Shinto mythology, especially that part relating to Ama-
terasu-o-tni-kami, is utilized in such a way as to give support
to the affirmation that the present organization of the Japanese
state is the manifestation of a fundamental and unchanging
historical principle. In other words, the official position may
be taken to mean that historical investigation of the Japanese
state cannot be carried back beyond a time when this funda-
mental principle was not in operation. Not only so, but an
attempt is made to support this program of establishing an
historical absolute, by building on the foundation of the strongest
religious beliefs to which the Japanese children are officially
introduced. The greatest power in the spiritual world which
the government text-books on ethics open before the minds of
the Japanese children is Ama-terasu-d-ini-kauii, " the August
Ancestor of the Emperor." The foundations of the existing
order in the state were laid by no other agency than that of
this central spiritual power. The Japanese government is very
plainly seeking to surround a doctrine of political absolutism
with the final sanctions of religious belief It hardly needs to
be pointed out that a form of instruction which thus identifies
certain of the most vital interests of the modern bureaucratic
state with an ancient Shintd mythology, reveals more concern-
ing the methods and motives of contemporary official peda-
gogy in Japan than it does regarding the verifiable historical
basis of the teaching, itself.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 2},^
Private interpretations which reecho or amplify the official
statements just examined are numerous. Okuma's ** National
Reader " {Kokiimin Toknhon), which, though not a publication
of the Department of Education of the government, itself, is
nevertheless intended as an instrument of public instruction,
says : " The various countries of the world have repeatedly
passed through revolutions wherein the royal dynasties have
been changed. The Empire of Great Japan alone is an excep-
tion. The national foundation established by the Heavenly
Ancestors is strong for ages and the Sovereign continues the
line of the Sun-Goddess. The nation preserves the system of
the Divine Ages. The relations of ruler and subject were
established by nature and have never changed."'
The extent to which the official interpretation here ex-
tends a directive influence over the public utterances of individ-
uals may be inferred from the caution with which a scholar of
the rank of Dr. N. Hozumi handles the subject even when not
writing primarily for Japanese readers. In discussing Japanese
ancestralism in the three-fold form of the worship of Imperial
Ancestors, of clan ancestors and of family ancestors, Dr. Hozumi
says, " The first of the three kinds of Ancestor-worship, namely,
homage to the Imperial Ancestor, Ama-terasu O-Mikami, or
' The Great Goddess of the Celestial Light,' may be styled
the national worship."^ In the preface to the third and revised
edition of Ancestor Worship and Japanese Lazv from which this
quotation is taken, Dr. Hozumi calls attention to the fact that
he has been ciiticized for the above statement, making Ama-
terasu- o-mi-kami the " First Imperial Ancestor." He does
not hazard any attempt to meet this specific criticism but
turns his defence into an effort toward the vindication of
ancestor- worship in general.^ No revision is made of the text
1. Okuma^ S., Kokumm Tokuhott, p. 3.
2. Hozumi, N., Ancestor-Worship and Japanese Law (Tokyo, 1913^
P-34.
3. Cf. ibid., Preface, pp. VI-XIV.
238 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO,
relating to the position of the Sun-Goddess in the royal
genealogy.
One of the latest books of Dr. S. Uesugi is especially
noteworthy for the manner in which it attempts to support a
theory of Imperial Absolutism by a similar use of the materials
of the mythology centering in Ama-terasu~d-mi~kami. Regard-
ing the matter under discussion this author says : —
" Our national organization consists in Imperial Absolu-
tism. The Empire of Japan is ruled over by an Emperor of a
line unbroken from ages eternal. Our national organization is
pure, absolute monarchy. The Divine Ancestor, Ama-terasu-
o-mi-kami, sent her Imperial Grandson, Ninigi-no-mikotOy down
into this country, and her descendants have acceded in succes-
sion to the Imperial Throne, as eternal as Heaven and Earth.
She established the rule of the mighty Emperors over Ashi-
hara-no-chii-ho-aki-no-inidzu-ho-no-kiiniy and herein was deter-
mined their authority over the Empire. The Eight Great
Islands were made the territory of Japan, ruler and subject
were united in one body and thus the Empire of Great Japan
was built up. The absolute authority of the Emperor con-
stitutes the basis of our national system. It is the foundation
on which the nation stands. If there were no Emperor there
would be no nation. Without him there would be no subjects
and our territory would cease to exist.
" The Emperor continues the Imperial Succession of Heaven
and rules over the four seas as the incarnation of the spirit of
the Divine Ancestor. In him the Divine Ancestor, as though
now living, reigns over the Eight Great Islands. The Emperor
is Heavenly Deity {Ajnatsu Kami). He is God of Light
{Hi no Kami) ; he is Manifest God {Ara-hito-gauu). His
heart is the heart of the Divine Ancestor and he continues
her work. He is the Mighty Ruler of Great Japan. All
tilings subsist altogether in the Emperor. Authority is vested
in a single person. It is not to be tolerated that the Emperor
should be divided from his authority or that any one should
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 239
place a limit thereunto. His authority is unique. He is the
absolute ruler determined by the Divine Ancestor."*
A recent publication of the Shinto College in Tokyo
{Koku Gakuin Dai Gakii) furnishes some indication of the im-
portant position which doctrines relating to Ama-terasn-o-mi-
kami occupy in the instruction imparted to candidates for the
modern Shinto priesthood. This book which was issued from
tlie press in April, 192 1, bears the title, Kokutai Kowa (" Lec_
tures on the National Constitution ") and is devoted to an
exposition of the nature of Japanese national life as centered in
Imperial Absolutism. It especially emphasizes the greatness,
uniqueness and superiority of the Japanese state organization
over against all the other governments of the world. At the
center of the argument lies the following statement : —
" National constitution {kokutai) is the essential nature of
the state. All variation in essential nature signifies variation
in the value of the thing itself It may be said, therefore, that
variation in the national constitution means differences in the
value of the state. The number of countries on earth is, of
course, great, and among them so-called monarchies are by
no means limited to a i^vj, yet is it possible to find among them
any in which the existing oiganization of the state is genuinely
monarchical ? In our opinion none can be found apart from
our Empire. Whether regarded from the standpoint of the
principle of the establishment of the state or from that of its
expression in history, the one country possessing a true monar-
chical organization, which has reality as well as name, is, in j
truth, our Empire of Great Japan. Indeed, there is none apart .
from our country. Our national constitution — unique, peerless, j
matchless in all the world — in truth possesses a value that is
beyond comparison. What shall we say then regarding this •
national constitution ?
*' It goes without saying that the reason why our national
constitution, in comparison with those of other countries of the I
I. Uesugi, S., Kokutai Seikiva no Haisnyo, pp. 9-10. , j
240 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO,
world, is special and unique and^ further, preeminent above all
other countries in a commanding way, is because the rights
of sovereignty in the state are wholly vested in the Emperor.
Not only is the Emperor absolute and complete sovereign, but
also the Imperial Throne, from the very foundation of the state,
has been occupied throughout successive generations by the
offspring of the Heavenly Ancestor [Ama-ierasu-d-jni-kajni].
The Imperial Throne, which is rhe substance of sovereignty,
descends in a single line as unchanging and everlasting as
heaven and earth. The majesty of the Imperial Throne and
the Imperial descent in a single line, in other words, the fact
that the relations of the Imperial House and the state have been
consistent from the beginning — this is the fundamental system
on which our state is established, and compared with the facts
of world history and judged in the light of the actual conditions
in the world to-day, it is, most emphatically, without peer on
earth.
" ' The Empire of Japan shall be reigned over and govern"
ed by a line of Emperors unbroken for ages eternal.' In 1889,
on the Anniversary of the Accession of the Emperor Jimmu,
the late Emperor Meiji announced] these words to the spirits of
the Imperial Ancestors above, and to us, the subjects of the
empire, below. This is the express determination of the First
Article of the Imperial Constitution of Japan. The article is
authoritative and as clear as the light of sun and stars. We
may compare it with the words which, long ago in the Divine
Age, the Heavenly Ancestor, Ama-terasu-d-uii-kami, spoke to
the Heavenly Grandson, when in establisliing in the beginning
the principle of sovereignty in the state, she personally confer-
red on him the Three Sacred Treasures and sent him do\vn
and appointed him as the sovereign who should rule over this
country. In promulgating the Sacred Rescript of the founding
of the state she instructed the Heavenly. Grandson thus : * This
Reed-plain-Fifteen-thousand-Autumn-Fresh-Rice-ear-Land is the
region over wliich my descendants shall reign. Do thor,
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 24I
Imperial Offspring, go and rule over it. Go ! and the prosperity
of the Imperial Succession of Heaven shall be as everlasting as
Heaven and Earth.' If we compare this great and sacred Im-
perial Rescript of the foundation of the state with the First
Article of the Imperial Constitution we can see that although they
differ in matters of form of composition and choice of words yet
in meaning and content they agree. "^
Similar effusions are abundant in contemporary Japanese
literature. With all their tendency toward extravagance and
bombast, they present little that is not logically involved
in the position occupied by the government itself Common to
official progapanda and to private exposition alike are the funda-
mental tenets that Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami is the first ancestor of
the Imperial Line, that she is the greatest benevolent force of
Japanese society and the founder of the principle of Imperial
absolutism in the state, and finally that the value of the Japan-
ese state life transcends that of all other political organizations
of the world.
That Ama-terasu-o-?ni-kami is the Sun-Goddess of the
ancient Shinto pantheon is so apparent and so widely accepted
as to make unnecessary any extended attempt to justify such an
interpretation here. The meaning of her ordinary title, as just
given, is simply " Heaven-Shining-Great- August-Deity." Cer-
tain of her variant titles identify her with the sun even more
directly. Among such names are, d-hini-me-no'imichi (" Great-
Mid-day-Female-Possessor ") and Ama-terasii-d-hirii-me-no-mi-
koto ('* Her -Augustness- Heaven -Shining -Great -Mid-day-Fe-
male ").^ The Nihongi states in so many words that she is a Sun-
Goddess. In the course of its account of the creative activity
of the Sky-Father and the Earth-Mother this record says,
" Hereupon they together produced the Sun-Goddess, Hi-no-
1. Kokutai Kowa (^.|f ^|J§, " Lectures on the National Constitution,''
Tokyo, 192 1), pp. 13 ff.
2. Cf, A., I, p. i8.
242 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
kami [called in one writing Ama-terasu-no-d-kamf\.''^ ^^ the
Kojiki account, as already pointed out, she is born from the
left eye of the Sky-Father, while the Moon-God, Tsuki-yomi-
no-kami, is produced immediately afterwards from his right
eye.^ In Polynesian mythology, again, the sister of Ra, the
solar deity, is Maramaj the moon.* After her creation, Ama-
terasu-d-uii'kami is sent up into the sky and charged with the
ruling of the " Plain of High Heaven " while the Moon-God is
given authority over the dominion of Night.'' The most strik-
ing episode in all the mythology connected with her is to be
interpreted either as an eclipse myth or as the result of experi-
ences with the obscuration of the sun by storm clouds. When
she retires to the Rock Cave of Heaven, great darkness prevails
in heaven and earth ; when she again shows her face, both the
Land of Reed-plains and the Plain of High Heaven again
become light.^ Her shintai [representation or dwelling-place
in the shrine] is a mirror, that is a sun symbol.^ One of the
Nlhongi variants says that she was produced by Izanagl from
a white-copper mirror.'^ In certain of the modern Shinto sects
the sun, under the same of Ama-terasti-d-ini-kaini, is worshipped
as a personalized kami^ This popular faith must be regarded
as expressing the beliefs of genuine Shinto.
There are Shintoists in modern Japan who admit all this
but who, at the same time, call attention to the well established
principle that mythology necessarily takes form under the in-
fluence of the social and political institutions of the environ-
ment in which it develops. The political functions assigned to
Ama-terasu-o-mi-kaml in the ancient records of Shinto are thus
I. ti^w^Vimi-m^^^it-Ktm 67.N.,p.9.
2. cf. c , p. 43.
3. Tregear, Maori- Polynesian Comparative Dictionary^ p. 383.
4. Cf. C, op. cit.
5. Ibid., pp. 54-59.
6. Cf. Satow, E., « The ShiiV.au Temples of Ise," T.A S J., Vol. II, p. 117.
7. Cf. K, I, p. 20.
8. Fujita, K., Shinto Kaku KyoJia no Hyori, pp. 140-143.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 243
taken as evidence for the early manifestation of certain persis-
tent facts both of Japanese state organization and of Japanese
racial psychology.
Dr. Y. Haga well exemplifies this method of interpreta-
tion when he says, " The mythology of our country differs from
that of other countries in that it has its center in the Imperial
House. Again it is a mythology that makes our national
domain central. At the time of the separation of Heaven
and Earth the two kami, Izanagi and Izanami, descended
upon the island of Onogoro and first gave birth to the
Eight Great Islands, that is they gave birth to our national
territoiy. Then they produced the deities of water, trees and
fire. After giving birth to the deity of fire, Izanami went
away. Izanagi, in order to meet with her, went after her to
the Land of Darkness. Afterwards, when he was washing
away his defilement, there were produced from his eyes and
nose the three deities, Ama-terasu-d-iiii-kainiy Tsuki-yomi-no-
ka mi a.nd Susa-no-zvo-no-mikoto. This Ama-terasu-d-nti-kamiis
called the Ancestor of our Imperial Family. In other words
the Japanese territory and Ania-terasu-d-uii-kaini .are both the
children of Izanagi. That is to say, they are broJier and
sister. The fact of an inseparable connection between the
national domain and the Imperial Family may be understood
from this.
" Then it was established that Ama-terasii-d-ini-kami should
rule the Plain of High Heaven, that Tsiiki-yoini-no-mikoto should
rule over the night and that Siisa-no-wo-no-mikoto should rule
the sea. Later Hiko-hoho-ninigi-no-mikoto came down from
heaven upon this land and ruled over it. Since this land was
born in the beginning as the brother of Ania-terasu-o-jni-kami,
there was no reason why any one could object to this.
** Afterwards Susa-no-wo-no-mikoto went to Idzumo. As
jhis descendant, in the fifth generation, appeared O-kimi-nushi-
no-Juikoto. The latter, recognizing (the lordship of) the Heaven-
ly Grandson, quietly submitted and handed over his country to
244 THE POLITICAL PEILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
him Thus it is that the essential, formative
element in our ancient mythology is the idea that our national
domain should be ruled over by the Heavenly Grandson as
well as the idea that our national domain should be ruled over
by no others than those of the lineage of the Heavenly Grand-
son. The spirit of O-kiini-nushi-no-rnikoto who, upon hearing
that Ninigi-no-mikoto was the Heavenly Grandson, quietly
surrendered up the land to him, appears likewise as the spirit
of our people in the Reform of Taika (645 A.D.) and in the
Restoration of Meiji (1868 A.D.)."^
Prof S. Honaga and Dr. T. Inouye make similar use of
the mythology. The latter writer speaks, of the command of
Ama-terasu-d-rni-kami to Ninigi-no-mikoto that he should " go
and rule over " the territory that later became part of the
Empire of Japan, as a great prophecy? Prof Honaga is of the
opinion that the great " edict " of the Sun-Goddess cannot be
taken merely as a bit of mythology, *' since there is handed on
to us in this edict, in an authoritative way, the tendency and
meaning of the foundation of the state. What Ama-terasii-o-
mi-kami therein purposed was actually brought to pass. In
the sequel, the Japanese national spirit has nourished itself
upon this edict. "^
The form of interpretation just examined frankly re-
cognizes that Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami is a Sun-Goddess. At the
same time it attempts to deduce important conclusions from the
political position which she is alleged to have occupied in the
oldest Japanese mythology.
Dr. Haga in making his argument concerning the unique-
ness of Japanese mythology, wherein he seeks to prove an
inseparable connection between the national domain and
the royal family from the relationship of the Sun-God-
1. Haga, Y., Kokumin Set Jurorty pp. 15-17-
2. Inouye, T., Kokumin Dotoku Gairon, pp. 85-86.
3. ^ondig^y^.y Ama-Terasu-Oho-Ml-Ka?ni, Der Urspmng ihrer Verehrung
ah Goettliche Urohnin von Japan ^Bristol, 191 6), pp. 6-7.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO, 245
Goddess and the Japanese islands, is apparently ignorant of the
fact that a similar argument can be built up for practically
every people among whom we can locate the myth of the Sky-
Father and the Earth-Mother. We can imagine a New
Zealand chief, for example, formulating essentially similar con-
clusions on the basis of the myth of the creative activity of
Rangl, the father of many of the islands of Polynesia and the
ancestor of gods and men/
Furthermore, contrary to the view of the above writers, it
may be said with a considerable degree of confidence that the
oldest mythology revealed in the literary records does not
center in the Sun-Goddess. As shown in the preceding
chapter, the center of the oldest Japanese mythology lies in
the activities of the Sky-Father and the Earth-Mother. Earlier
deities, it is true, are mentioned in the Kojiki and the Nihongi,
yet the mythology which surrounds them is meagre and with-
out movement, and the genealogical sequence as it appears in
these two sources is probably a comparatively late expression
of speculative interest, if not, indeed, of a political motive which
aims at deliberate suppression of these two older deities. It is
to be remembered that the Kogoshul opens with the account
of the activities of Izanagi and Izanami. These two are to be
taken as the most primitive Japanese deities that can be
identified.
The important fact for us to observe here is that the earli-
est mythology clearly subordinates the Sun-Goddess to the
Sky-Father. Older than the great command of Ama-terasu-
o-mikami to Ninigi-no-mikoto, which is supposed to have led to
the founding of the Japanese state, is the command of Izanagi
to Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami wherein he says, " Do Thine August-
ness rule the Plain-of-High-Heaven."^ The primitive patri-
archal organization of society that is here reflected in Izanagi s
direct authority over his offspring is manifestly a very different
I. See above, p. 196, note 4.
2. cy:c.,p. 43-
246 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
thing from that which is implied in a program that con-
templates wide-spread political unification under the standard
of the Sun-Goddess regarded as a great tribal chieftainess. The
evidence of the mythology shows that Japanese political
and social life, exactly as in the cases of all other
ancient societies, evolved out of very simple beginnings.
The operation of a principle of change and development
can be discerned even in the mythology. In other words, the
mythology changes in form with alterations in the fundamental
character of the social life and with the appearance of new
interests in the political field. The great fallacy in the
position of modern Japanese Shintoists, as a whole, is that they
practically deny the operation of a principle of development in
Japanese society. Consciously or unconsciously dominated by
an interest in safe-guarding the permanence of the existing form
of political life, they attempt to carry back to the remotest
beginnings of organized Japanese society an idealization of the
present status quo. Over against the conclusions of such a
method, it is to be maintained that the formative element of the
oldest Japanese mythology is not the idea that the national
domain should be ruled over by the Heavenly Grandson and
his descendants. The social life reflected in the most ancient
mythology has not yet advanced to any such complicated
situation. The earliest formative element is, on the other hand,
simply that of a veiy ancient domestic life, under the influence
of which is constructed a world-view in terms of the primitive
relations of father, mother and child. This gives us exactly
the same naive mythological scheme as is found widespread
over the earth at corresponding stages of cultural develop-
ment.
Not only is it true that the oldest mythology does not
make the activities of Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami central, but even
in that later mythology which clearly reflects the presence of a
centralizing political program, the Sun-Goddess is far from being
that embodiment of political absolutism which certain extremists
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 24/
among modern Shintoists would make her out to' be. The
decisions relating to the subduing of the Central Land of Reed
plains are made by a council of the Gods.* In the Nihongi
the Heavenly Grandson is sent down by Taka-mi-musubi-no-
mikoto?' In the Kojiki he is sent down by Ama-terasu-o-tni-
kami and Taka-mi-miisubi-no-kami acting conjointly and the two
together lay on him the command, " This Luxuriant-Reed-
plain-I.and-of-Fresh-Rice-ears is the land over which thou
shalt rule."^
We are brought, then, to a place where we must consider
certain factors relating to the probable reasons for the rise of
the cult of the Sun-Goddess to a central position in Shinto. The
later mythology clearly subordinates the Sky-Father to the
Sun-Goddess.
In accounting for this inversion of the older relationship
we may note the operation of two factors, the one a natural
evolution in mythology, the other, as it would appear, a move-
ment in the field of political interests.
In the course of the ordinary development of mythology
that goes on concomitantly with the tendency of human social
experience to become increasingly complicated, specialized and
definite, it is the universal fate of the Sky-Father and the Earth-
Mother that they are superseded by the more particularized
nature deities to whom they give birth. Foucart, in his study
of sky-gods, has already pointed out three results of this ten-
dency— " (a) The acts of the sky-god become separate perso-
nalities and gradually dismember his personality. (b) The
beings produced by the celestial energy — sun, moon, stars —
tend to ... . relegate to the background the beneficent
role of the sky. (c) On the terrestrial plane the activities of
various spirits and of their representations (fetishistic or iconic)
take a more and more conspicuous part in the world's strug-
1. Cf. C, pp. 93-95, 99-101.
2. Cf. A., I, pp. 64, 67, 70.
3. (^.C, pp. 107, III.
248 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
gles."^ Finally they " capture " at least a portion of the attri-
butes of the original parents.
This process has gone on in Japanese myth as elsewhere.
As the mythology develops, Izanagi and Izanami retire into
the remote background and the story moves on with the account
of activities centering in the more definite forms of their offspring,
regarded as the deities of specific phases of experience which
was once merged as a more or less undifferentiated totality in
the general outlines of the great parents.
In this connection, Foucart's discussion furnishes material
for establishing an illuminating parallelism between Japanese
and Egyptian cultures. This author says, " The progress of the
religious system almost always results in substituting for crea-
tion by the sky-god the organization of the world by the sun-
god, the moon-god, or one of the stellar gods. Sometimes in
fact the sun-god is supreme creator. Ancient Egypt presents
a very complete schema of this type of evolution. It tends to
substitute Ra (the sun) for the sky-gods (such as Atum, Hor,
Nut, Hathor, Anhur, Sebek, etc.) ; but it does not completely
realize this evolution, and consigns to the more or less vague
beginning the primitive activity of the sky-god."^ The Japan-
ese Sun-Goddess is far from being the supreme creator. In
this field the Sky-Father consistently maintains a dominant
position ; yet from the point of view of general type of develop-
ment Shintd must be here classified along with early Egyptian
religion.
The early specialization of social experience which led to
this differentiation and elevation of the Sun-Goddess on the
part of the Japanese ancestors was undoubtedly connected with
agricultural development. This is made plain in the mythology.
After the goddess of food (Uke-mochi-no-kami) has been made
to produce from her own dead body, oxen, horses, millet, silk-
worms, panic, rice and beans, it is the Sun-Goddess who de-
1. Foucart, George, « Sky and Sky-gods," H.E.R.E., Vol. XI, p. 584.
2. Ibid., p. 585.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 249
clares, " These are the things which the race of visible men will
eat and live."^ The myth then says, " So she [the Sun-God-
dess] made the millet, the panic, the wheat, and the beans the
seed for the dry fields, and the rice she made the seed for the
water-fields. Therefore she appointed a village-chief of Heaven,
and forthwith sowed for the first time the rice seed in the
narrow fields and in the long fields of Heaven. That autumn,
drooping ears bent down,'eight span long, and were exceedingly
pleasant to look on. Moreover she took the silkworms in her
mouth and succeeded in reeling thread from them. From this
began the art of silkworm rearing."^ The Sun-Goddess ap-
pears here as the organizer of agricultural industry. The
social organization has reached the stage of well developed
agricultural communities under village chiefs who are account-
able to some central authority, yet even thus the chief functions
of the Sun-Goddess are in relation to food. The same conclusion.
m.ay be deduced from the fact that Ama-terasn-d-mi-kaini appears
in the NoritodiS the ** Divine Producer" (of food and life).*
Her most intimate associate in the mythology, if not her actual
double, is the great producing . god, Taka-mi-musubi-no-kami,
** the High-August-Producing-Wondrous-Deity."* The sur-
vival of an early relation to agriculture is to be seen in the fact
that the center of the Harvest Festivals of modern Shint5 is
still the presention of first-fruits to the Sun-Goddess.^ The
same relationship is further indicated in the fact that the great-
est of the associates of Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami in the worship of
the Ise shrines is a food goddess.®
This development of the cult of the Sun-Goddess under
early agricultural influences has been accompanied by the
I.
A., I, p. 33-
2.
Ibid.
3-
Cf. T.A.S.J., Vol. VII, pp. 126-127.
4-
Ibid.
5-
See above, pp. 132-3.
6.
C/.T.ASJ, Vol. II, pp. 99-121.
250 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
w
operation of definite political interests. Yet the utmost caution
must be exercised in any attempt to reconstruct out of the
legendary records of the Kojiki and the Nlhongi the details of
the expression of this political motive. The modern Japanese
government, in its program of utilizing the old mythology as
material for nationalistic ethical training in the public schools,is
far from recognizing any such limitations. As already pointed
out a particularized account of the descent of the Heavenly
Grandson under the command of the Sun-Goddess and the
establishment of his rule over his destined empire is expounded
with a degree of assurance that is well adapted to induce the
confidence that the entire movement is completely within the
bounds of well established historical fact.
The conclusion that such actual historical facts as lie
behind the narrative here are almost inextricably entangled in
a network of mythology is confirmed by a closer investiga-
tion of the evidence. It will be remembered that the " Japanese
Histoiy for Middle Schools," as quoted earlier in the discussion,
in its account of the presentation of the Reed-plain Land of
Japan to the grandson of Ama-terasii-d-ini-kami, gives prominent
place to the coming down of the two kamiy Take-mika-dziichi
and Fiitsn-nushi} They were sent by the Heavenly Deities to
0-kuni-nushi-7io-mlkolo, the ** ruler of Idzumo " with the message
that the latter should surrender up his land to the Heavenly
Grandson. The episode is of sufficient importance to warrant
the introduction here of the Nlhongi account verbatim. The
story is as follows.
" After this, Taka-mi-musubi-no-mlkoto again assembled all
the Gods that they might select some one to send to the Central
Land of Reed-Plains. They all said : — ' It will be well to send
Futsu-nushi-no-kami, son of Iha-tsutsu-no-wo and Iha-tsutsu-no-
me, the children oi Iha-saku-ne-saku-7io-kami'
" Now there were certain Gods dwelling in the Rock-cave
I. See above, p. 187.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 2$ I
of Heaven, viz. Mika-no-haya-hi-no-kamiy son of Idzii-no-ivo-
bashiri-no-kami, Hi-no-haya-hi-no-kami, son of Mika-no-haya-hi-
no-kami, and Take-mika-dziichi-no-kami, son of Hi-no-haya-hi-no-
kami. The latter God came forward and said : — * Is Futsii-
nushi-no-kami alone to be reckoned a hero ? And am I not a
hero ? ' His words were animated by a spirit of indignation.
He was therefore associated with Futsu-niishi-no-kami and made
to subdue the Central Land of Reed-Plains. The two Gods
thereupon descended and arrived at the Little Shore of Itasa,
in the Land of Idzumo. Then they drew their ten-span swords,
and stuck them upside down in the earth, and sitting on their
points questioned Oho-na-mochi-no-kami [one of the numerous
titles of d-kiini-nushi-no-mikoto]y saying : — * Taka-mi-musubi-no-
mikoto wishes to send down his August Grandchild to preside
over this country as its Lord. He has therefore sent us two
Gods to clear out and pacify it. What is thy intention ? Wilt
thou stand aside or no ? ' Then Oho-na-mochi-no-kami answer-
ed and said : — ' I must ask my son before I reply to yoii.' -At
this time his son, Koto-shir o-iiushi-no-kami was absent on an
excursion to Cape Miho in the Land of Idzumo, where he was
amusing himself by angling for fish
•' He therefore took the many-handed boat of Kumano,
and placing on board of it his messenger, Inase-hagi, he des-
patched him, and announced to Koto-shir o-nushi-no-kami the
declaration of Taka-mi-musubi-no-kaini. He also inquired what
language he should use in answer. Now Koto-shir o-nushi-no-
kami spoke to the messenger, and said : — * The Heavenly
Deity has now addressed us this inquiry. My father ought
respectfully to withdraw, nor will I make any opposition.' So
he made in the sea an eight-fold fence of green branches, and
stepping on the bow of the boat, went off [died]. The mes-
senger returned and reported the result of his mission. Then
Oho-na-mochi-no-kami said to the two Gods, in accordance with
the words of his son : — * My son, on whom I rely, has already
departed. I, too, will depart. If I were to make resistance
252 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ
all the Gods of this Land would] certainly resist also. But as
I now respectfully withdraw, who else will be so bold as to
refuse submission ? ' So he took the broad spear which he had
used as a staff when he was pacifying the land and gave it to
the two Gods, saying : — * By means of this spear I was at last
successful. If the Heavenly; Grandchild will use this spear to
rule the land, he will undoubtedly subdue it to tranquillity. I
am now about to withdraw to the concealment of the short-of-a
hundred-eighty road-windings [road to the Under World].'
Having said these words, he at length became concealed
[died]. Thereupon the two Gods put to death all the rebellious
spirits and Deities Ultimately they reported the
result of their mission."^
Take-mika-dzuchi-no-kami, who appears in the above
account as the forerunner of the Imperial Grandson, has
already been identified as an ancient Japanese thunder-god.
Futsu-nushi-no-kami, like the sword of Izanagi and like Take-
mika-dziichi with whom he is associated, grew out of primitive
experiences with the lightning flash. He is not altogether the
creation of mere imagination nor is he so entirely the expression of
social experience as to be explicable purely as a culture hero, as
the account in the Japanese History for Middle Schools would
seem to imply. Futsu-nushi is a kami who was actually seen to
come down out of heaven, in shape like a sword. In the visible
traces of his striking and smiting on earth there was vivid proof
of his power to subdue the land. The old account remembers
that such was his character when it says that acting in coopera-
tion with the thunder-god he put to death " the tribes of herbs,
trees and rocks, "^ that is, he struck them with his sword. An
examination of the names and further activities of this deity con-
firms the interpretation just suggested. Futsu-nushi is the Striker
or the Smiter. He appears under various names : Thrust-
1, A., I, pp. 67-70.
2. Ibid.f p. 69.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 253
Strike-Deity {Sazhi-futsic-no-kami), Awful-Strike Deity {Mika-
futsu-no-kami), August-Strike-Spirit {Futsu-no-mi-tamd) and
Strike-Master-Deity {Futsu-niishi-no-kami)} In all of his titles
the idea of striker persists. In one case he is the son of Rock-
Possessing-Male {Iwa-tsutsn-no-wo)^ a kami who Is naturally as-
sociated with primitive experiences with fire-flints. In another case
he is spoken of as a sword belonging to the thunder-god.* Again,
he is so closely related with thunder that the Kojiki gives the
names Terrible-Strike-Deity {Take-futsu-no-kami) and Abundant-
Strike-Deity {Toyo-fntsu-no-kami)z^ alternate titles of the thunder-
god, himself."*
There is a passage in the Kojiki j under the account dealing
with the achievements of the first Emperor, which furnishes
unique evidence in support of the lightning-god character of
Futsu-nushi, The story relates how, when the royal progress of
Jimmu Tenn5 was seriously delayed by the savage deities of
Kumanu, there appeared a man, Takakuraji by name, bearing a
marvelous cross sword that had been sent down from heaven.
When the Emperor once had the sword in his possession, " the
savage deities of the mountains of Kumanu all spontaneously fell
cut down."^ The name of the sword was Thrust-Strike-Deity
1. CT". C, p. 135, A., I, p. 115. The justification of translating futsu by
" strike " is found in the close kinship evidently existing between futsu and butsu
or utsu '•' to hit," " to strike." For example, the derivative adverbial forms /zi^sun,
btittstiri and puttsuri all have reference to a breaking or snapping sound. We
have here the evidence of a b-f mutation in the form butsu {utsu), A common
interpretation oi futsu favors the meaning of " snap," hence " Awful-Snap-Deity "
as the title of this particular kami. {Cf.C, p. 135, note 13). The idea of " snapper,"
however, does not seem altogether congruous to the nature of a deity to whom
the epithets " thrust " and " awful " are applied and who is spoken of as the
sword of the thunder-god. Futsu in the sense of " strike " is fully as permissible
as in that of " snap " and is much more appropriate to the function of the deity
concerned.
2. gr. A., I, p. 67.
3. C, p. 135.
4. Ibid., p. 32.
5. Ibid, p. 134.
254 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
(Sazhi-futsu-no-kami) and the manner of its being let down from
heaven is the interesting part of the story. It was revealed to
Takakuraji in a dream that the thunder-god would perforate the
roof of his store house and drop the sword through the hole
thus made.^ The Nihongi then relates : *' The next morning,
as instructed in his dream, he opened the storehouse, and
on looking in, there indeed was a sword which had fallen
down (from Heaven), and was standing upside down on the
plank floor of the storehouse.'"' We are reminded that in early
Greek rvjligion the lightning-god was also " the Striker " and the
*^ Earth-shaker " and that in certain elevated spots, as on the
Acropolis at Athens, were Places of Coming, open to the sky,
upon which the lightning-god might descend, and, further, that
in order to facilitate his coming down from heaven, a hole was
left in the roof of the north porch of the Erechtheion.^
1. Ibid., p. 135.
2. A., I, p. 115. The statement that the sword was standing upside down
has its probable explanation in the fact that the ceremonial swords found at the
Shinto shrines are frequently inserted in a pedestal and given this inverted position
The ceremonial usage is probably very old. A large wooden sword, seen at the
Namiyoke Shrine of Tokyo in the summer of 1921, had an engraved representa_
tion of a lightning flash, colored in bright red, running the entire length of the
blade. What was fully as remarkable was the fact that the sword was mounted
on a base carved in the form of a serpent's tail. The local explanation declared
that this was the great serpent slain by €iisa-no-wo, from the tail of which was
taken the sword that has since become a part of the Imperial regalia. The object
exhibited by the Namiyoke Shrine was at once a serpent's tail, a sword and a
lightning flash. Both legend and art in Japan connect the serpent or dragon with
the thunder-storm. The storm-dragon is frequently found represented at the
shrines. The great serpent of Mimuro Hill spoken of in the Nihongi gave forth
rolling thunder and had eyeballs that flamed with fire. Its name was Ikadztuhi,
** Thunderbolt " (A., I, p. 347). The sword which Stisa-no-wo extracted from
he serpent's tail is called Mura-kumo-no-tstirngi, " Clustering-clouds-Sword."
The evidence here again suggests a sword that appeared when the great serpent
writhed in the storm clouds. Cf. T.A.S.J., Vol. XLIX, Pt. I, p. 347.
3. Cf. Harrison, T/ie/nisy pp. 91-92. The Place of Coming in Greek
religion may be profitably compared with an ancient ceremonial object of Shinto,
known as the himorogif which is connected with the coming down or the bringing
down of the god. The himorogi is in fact a " place of coming " and is probably
THE POLITICAL PHILCSDPHY OF MODERN SHINTO, 255
The movement of the subduing of the land in preparation
for the coming of the August Grandson of the Sun-Goddess is
thus in the realm of the activities of mythological nature
deities. Idzumo was conquered by Thunder and Lightning.
The account of the descent of the grandson of the Sun-
Goddess is likewise clothed in the garments of a nature myth.
The iV};7/!^;z^/ says of this event, ** So the August Grandchild
left his Heavenly Rock-seat, and with an awful path-cleaving,
clove his way through the eight-fold clouds of Heaven, and
descended on the Peak of Takachiho of So in Hiuga."^ The
picture is that of the sun's rays — offspring of the Sun-Goddess
— striking in a broad path between the clouds down onto a
mountain peak. That the story is not moving merely in the
realm of the figurative representation of imperial splendor is to
be seen in the further statement that Nlnigi-no-mikoto took as
his wife Ko-no-hana-saku-ya-hime (" Princess-Blossoming-Brilli-
antly-Like-the-Flowers-of-the-Trees "),^ who is the goddess of
Mt. Fuji. Her father is the Deity of Mountains, O-yama-tsn-
i7ii-no-kaini (" Great-Mountain-Body-Deity '')!' The offspring
of this marriage in the third generation becomes the first tradi-
tional emperor of Japan, Jimmu Tenno.'*
Yet the conclusion that the outlines of certain remote
tribal movements can also be dimly perceived through this
myth and legend is probably correct. The records appear to
the original Shinto altar. It evidently antedates the shrines, themselves. It con-
sists, in general, of a sacred enclosure marked off by shimenawa within which is
placed a small tree, usually the sakaki, mounted upright on a table. Modern
Shintoists define hhnoiogi to mean " god-dwell-tree." The tree appears to be the im-
portant part of the device. Hemp fibre and white paper, the latter folded and cut in a
zig-zag form, are fastened into the top of the tree and evidently represent descend-
ing influences. The form of the paper suggests nothing so much as a symbolic
representation of lightning coming down into the tree. This in turn suggests the
source from which the gohei possibly derives its pecular zig-zag shape.
1. Ibid., p. 70.
2. C/. C.,p. 115.
3. gr.Cpp. 27, 115.
4. See above, p. 185.
256 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
bear witness to an early struggle between independent tribal
settlements located in Kyushu and Idzumo, which later amal-
gamated to a certain extent and migrated into Yamato. Final
unification was effected under this Yamato state, wherein the
dominant political element was of Kyiishii origin.^ The sub-
duing of Idzumo does not appear to have been accomplished
through such quiet submission on the part of the original rulers
as Dr. Haga and others would have us believe took place.
Repeated attempts were apparently made to conquer this state^
and complete subjection to the offspring of the Sun-Goddess
seems to have been secured only after various " rebellious
spirits and deities " had been put to death.* In determining
the amount of importance that is to be assigned the words of
renunciation in favor of the Heavenly Grandson which the
records put into the mouths of 0-na-mochi and his son, Koto-
shiro-nnshiy it is to be remembered that both the Kojiki and the
Nihongi were written in the interests of an effort to fortify
dynastic claims in the presence of rival political interests,
appearing in the seventh and eighth centuries of Japanese
history."* This policy of centralization and unification was
being carried out by the descendants of the very priests who
brought the Sun-Goddess into Yamato.^ It is in this process
of political amalgamation that the dogma of imperial descent
from Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami becomes especially important. As
just stated, the Sun-Goddess of Shint5 was brought in by the
conquerors from the south. The doctrine plays no part in the
original Idzumo genealogies. The great ancestor of the Idzumo
line is 0-kuni-nushi-no-mikoto^ The latter line has been at-
tached to the lineage of the Sun-Goddess through Siisa-no-wo-
1. Cf. Murdoch, Vol. I, pp. 50-51 ; C, Intro., pp. XLIV— LXIV.
2. Cf, C, pp. 93-99.
3. Cf.Ky I, p. 09.
4. Saito, H., Geschichte Japans, p. 4; Murdoch, op, cit. pp. 57-59.
5. Murdoch, op. cit,, pp. 57, 67.
6. Cf, T.AS J., Vol. XLI, Pt. IV, p. 583.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 25/
no-mikoto, but it is significant that the priests of Idzumo, them-
selves, do not claim descent from Susa-no-wo}
The rise of the cult oi Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami \.o its dominant
position in Shinto is thus to be explained m no small measure
from the point of view of its intimate association with the fortunes
of imperial sovereignty vested in the chiefs of the Kyushii-
Yamato tribe and their royal descendants. As the great
ancestor of this line, she|has gained ascendency pari passu with
the centralization of power in the hands of the Emperor and the
imperial bureaucracy and has subordinated other deities as an im-
portant part of the extension of this centralized political control.
Regarding the great " Edict " of the foundation of the state,
modern Shintoists say, "What Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami therein
purposed was actually brought to pass." The suspicion is
strong, on the other hand, that Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami is made to
purpose what dynastic interests were seeking to bring to pass.
We have examined in outline the main reasons for the
rise of sun worship to preeminence in Shintd. The natural
development of the cult of the Sun-Goddess under the influence
of the needs of an agricultural people has been accompanied
by the interaction of political interests. The problem before
us, however, is not the reconstruction of the nature of sun wor-
ship in old Shintd. Nor need the fate of Shinto throughout
the long medieval period concern us here. We must return to
the modern situation. We know that in the middle of the
nineteenth century, Buddhism and Confucianism were in control
in the fields of religion and morals and that the Shinto shrines
were neglected and disorganized. De facto political power was
in the hands of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Then came the Res-
toration of 1868, a coup (Vet at carried out by men from the
southwest. The Choshu and Satsuma clansmen, descendants
of the original conquerors from Kyushu, broke the power of
the Tokugawas, placed the Emperor on the throne and once
again brought in their ancient Sun-Goddess. The method of
I. Ibid., p 537.
258 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOFHV OF MODERN SHINTO.
unification that had served so well in the establishment of the
state, was to be used again in a modern effort to control the think-
ing of the people. Factions and contentions arising from within
and disintergrating forces threatening from without were to be
met by the stabilizing influence of a state cult centering in the
Sun-Goddess. Certain Shintoists have gone farther and have
actually proposed the unification of the world under the aegis of
Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami,
The political value of sun worship and of a doctrine of the
solar ancestry of the ruler is thus to be found in the centraliz-
ing principle that is necessarily involved therein. The sun is
a source of life for growing crops and a center of strength and
energy for man and thus a benevolent being under whose pro-
vidence the vital needs of society are supplied. In addition,
men, by virtue of their mutual relations to the one and only sun of
heaven, are universally consolidated and at the same time
subordinated. The sun thus becomes symbol of unity — unity,
indeed, under an emblem of incomparable grandeur. Japanese
statesmen and priests have been by no means the first to utilize,
in political affairs, this aspect of sun worship, made to center in
a doctrine of royal descent from the sun deity. Probably the
best example in history is that of ancient Egypt, where already
by the year 2750 B.C. the priests of Heliopolis were beginning
a program of political amalgamation through a worsliip of the
Sun-God, regarded as the great patron divinity of the state. This
was accompanied by the fiction that the Sun-God was a former
ruler of Egypt and also the great ancestor of the reigning
Pharaoh as well as the protector and leader of the nation.*
These propositions are almost indentical with those advanced
in the modern text-books on ethics and on history published by
the Department of Education of the Japanese Government.
We may turn next to the consideration of Susa-no-ivo,
"The Impetuous male" of the Shinto pantheon. Modern
I. Cf. Breasted, J. H , Development of Religion and Thought in Amient
Eoypt (New York, 1912), pp. 15 ff.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 259
official interpretation makes this deity the brother oi Ama-terasu-
b-mi-kami and consequently one of the ancestors of the Imperial
Family. He appears in the Kojiki as Take-hay a-susa-no-w a-
no-mikoto, " His Brave-Swift-Impetuous-Male Augustness "^
and in the Nihongl with the slightly different titles, Susa-no-
wo-no-mikoto^ Haya-susa-no-ivo-no-mikoto^ and Kamu-susa-no-
wo-no-mikoto^ \susa or sosa probably from susumUj ** to be
impetuous "].
The use which the Department of Education of the Japan-
ese Government makes of some of the mythology connected
with Susa-no-wo-no-mikoto may be seen in the following transla-
tion from one of the school readers. The story relates the
origin of the sacred sword which has already been enumerated
as one of the Three Sacred Treasures that constitute the tradi-
tional regalia received by successive generations of Emperors on
accession to the Imperial Throne. The reader says, " The
younger brother of Ama-terasu-o-mi-kanii was called Susa-no-
wo-no-mikoto. He was a deity possessed of great courage. Once
as he w^as passing along the bank of the river Hi in the land of
Idzumo a chopstick came floating down the stream. There-
upon he concluded that people lived up the river and as he
went along the bank, gradually going farther into the depths
of mountains, he came upon an old white haired man and his
wife, with their daughter placed between them. They were
weeping.
** * Why do you weep ? ' asked the Prince. '* The old
man made answer, " We once had eight daughters, but they
have been captured and devoured one each year by a great
serpent called Yamata-no-orochi ('* Eight-Forked-Great-Ser-
pent "). Now only this one child is left to us. It is now the
exact time of the year for the coming of this great serpent and
1. c/:c,p.43.
2. Cf. A, I, p. 28.
3. Cf. A, I, p. 19.
4. Cf, op. cit.
26o THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
■\ve know not whether the life of this child will be taken to-day^
or to-morrow.'
" ' What kind of a serpent is this Yamata-no-orochi f '
" * It is a great serpent whose length covers eight moun-
tains and eight valleys, it has eight heads and eight tails. Its
eyes are red like the ground-cherry and its back is covered
with moss.'
*' On hearing this account the Prince said, ' Enough ! I will
destroy this great serpent. Fill eight sake-vats with strong
sake and arrange them in a row in the place where the great
serpent comes.'
'* They made ready in this way and waited. Presently
the great sei-pent appeared and, spying the sake, he put his
eight heads into the eight sake- vats and began to drink. Vv'Iiile
so doing, he became intoxicated and fell soundly asleep. Then
the Prince drew his sword and cut the great serpent into pieces.
The blood flowed into the Hi River so that the waters became
a bright red. When he was cutting the tail, the blade of his
sword was nicked. Thinking this strange he cut open the tail
and examined it. Whereupon, there appeared a magnificent
sword. * This is a precious thing,' he said and presented it tO'
Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami. This is the Clustering-clouds-Sword-of-
Heaven {Ama-no-mura-ktimo-jto-tsurugi), which afterwards was
called the Grass-mo wing-Sword {Kusa-iiagi-no-tsurugi). It is
one of the Three Sacred Treasures."^
Book I of the teacher's manual accompanying the " Japan-
ese Histoiy for Ordinary Primary Schools ". presents material
that makes similar use of the Susa-no-wo myth in explaining
the origin of the Three Sacred Treasures. The official exposi-
tion here says, " The younger brother of Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami
was Susa-7io-wo-no-mikoto. On account of the violent acts which
he often performed in Takama-ga-haray the Great Deity became
enraged and hid herself within the Rock Cave of Heaven.
Hereupon all the deities held consulation together and caused
79 Jiitjo Shogaku Tokiihon, No. VIII (Tokyo, 1921), pp. 1-6.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 26 1
Ishi-kori-dome to take copper from Heavenly Mount Kagu and
make an eight-sided mirror and caused Taina-no-oya-no-uiikoto
to make the Curved Jewels of Yasaka Gem. These they hung
on the brc nches of a sakaki tree together with blue and white
, soft offerings ' and presented them to the Great Deity. Then
they made music before the Rock Cave and called her forth.
Afterwards on the occasion of the descent of the Heavenly
Grandson, the Great Deity conferred this sacred mirror on the
Prince and commanded him saying, " Regard this as looking
on me, myself" She gave him in addition the Grass-mowing-
Sword and the above mentioned Curved Jewels of Yasaka
Gem. These three together are called the Three Sacred Trea-
sures. The Grass-mo wing-Sword is the sword which Siisa-no-
wo-no-mikoto secured when he subdued the great serpent in
Idzumo. First it was called the Clustering-clouds-Sword
i^Miira-kumo-no-tsiirugi) and later was worn by Yamato-take-no-
mikoto when he went to subdue the barbarians. From the fact
that in order to escape the danger of a fire (kindled by) the
enemy he cut down the grass (about him), the name of the sword
was changed to Grass-mo wing-Sword {Kusa-nagl-no-tsiirugi).
** After the time of Ninigi-no-mikoto the Three Sacred
Treasures were kept for successive generations in the Imperial
Palace, but in the time of Sujin Tennd (Tenth Emperor), out of
a fear lest the divine influence might be contaminated, the
sacred mirror and the sacred sword were enshrined in a separate
sanctuary. Newly made reproductions, together with the
Curved Jewels of Yasaka Gem, became the regalia of the Im-
perial Throne. After this the sacred mirror and the sacred sword
which were handed down from the Divine Age were kept at
the Grand Imperial Shrine of Ise, but ever since the eastern
invasion of Yamato-take-no-mikoto the sacred sword has been
kept at the Atsuta Shrine of the city of Nagpya of the country
ofOwari."*
I- Jinjo Shogakti Nikon Rekishi, Kyoshi Yd (Tokyo, 1912), Bk. I, pp. 5-6.
262 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHJNTO.
Susa-no-wo-no-inikoto is thus officially included in the Im-
perial genealogies as the younger brother of the greatest of the
ancestors of the Emperor. Evidently the government expects
this to be taken as authentic histoiy. And yet it is difficult to
see how public confidence cannot fail to be weakened ultimately
by thus placing on a mythological basis the account of the
origin of one of the most precious object of modern politico-
religious ceremony, namely the Sacred Sword of the Imperial
Regalia.
The seriousness with which the government regards the
Susa-no-wo myth may be further seen in evidence to be found
in one of the Japanese school readers for Korean children
published by the Japanese Government for Korea, which
says, *' The younger brother of Ama-terasn-o-mi-kami was
named Susa-no-wo-no-mikoto. He was a person of extraor-
dinary strength who visited about in various places and who
also went to the land of Idzumo. At that time there lived in
the land of Idzurho a great serpent having eight heads who
terrorized the .people by capturing and eating human beings.
Susa-no^wo-no-mikoto filled eight large jars with sake and
awaited the coming of the great serpent. Thereupon the
monster came to the spot, drank the sake and became intoxi-
cated. Then, while it was sleeping, Susa-no-wo-no-mikoto cut
it down and thus ended its existence. Strange to relate, in the
body of the serpent was found a jeweled sword. Susa-no<.vo-
mikoto took this and presented it to Ama-terasii-o-ini-kami.
" Susa-no-wo-no-mikoto also visited Korea.* Furthermore,
•in Japan proper he planted a large number of trees and with
these ships were constructed for going back and forth between
Korea and Japan. "^
1. C/. A, I, p. 57.
2. Futsu Gakko Kokugo Tokiihon ("Japanese Reader for OrJinary
Schools," Pub. by the Japanese Government for Korea), Bk. IV, pp. 53 ff.
The account of how Suui-no-wo " planted a large number of trees," as given
in one of the Nihongi variants, reads, " Sosa no wo no Mikoto said: — ♦ In the
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOFH/ OF MODERN SHINTO. 265
In the practice exercises that follow the lesson, question
number two says : " Tell the reason why Suia-no-mjo-no-mikoto^
planted a large number of trees."^
The above official exposition would appear to be legiti-
mately open to the interpretation that the Japanese educational
authorities for Korea are attempting to utilize an episode of
ancient Japanese mythology in a pseudo-historical sense as a
means of establishing a connection between Korea and Japan
in the minds of Korean children. Likewise, the emphasis on
the relation between Susa-no-wo-no-mikoto and Ama-terasu-o-
mi-kami indicates the governmental intention, already pointed
out, of including Siisa-no-ivo-no-mikoto as one of the ancestors
of the Imperial Family.
The historicity of official Japanese statements regarding
Susa-no-wo is to be estimated in the light of evidence going to
show that Siisa-no-wo is an ancient storm-god. Buckley has
already presented convincing proof of the storm-god character
of this deity. ^ Florenz has added his authority to this inter-
pretation.'* Aston eventually came to adopt a similar point of
view/ Mr. Tsuda, one of the best informed of modern Japan-
ese students of Shint5,* likewise concludes that Susa-no<vo is a
region of the Land of Han [Korea] there is gold and silver. It will not be well
if the country ruled by my son should not possess floating riches [ships]. So he
plucked out his beard and scattered it. Thereupon Cryptomerias were produced.
Moreover, he plucked out the hairs of his breast, which became Thuyas. The
hairs of his eye-brows became Camphor-trees. The hairs of his buttocks became
Podocarpi. Having done so, he determined their uses. These two trees, viz. the
Cryptomeria and the Camphor-tree, were to be made into floating riches ; the
Thuya was to be used as timber for building fair palaces ; the Podocarpus was to
form receptacles in which the visible race of man was to be laid in secluded burial-
places. For their food he well sowed and made to grow all the eighty kinds of
fruit." (A., 1, p. 58).
1. Futsu Gakko Kokugo Tokuhon, Bk. IV, p. 56.
2. Cf. " The Shinto Pantheon," New World, Dec , 1896, pp. 13-14-
3. Cf. F., p. 29, note 19.
4. Cf. Shinto, pp. 136 ff". See also Aston's letter in F., pp. 319-20.
5. Cf. Tsuda, N., Shinto Kigeh Kan (^fflgi^, m^M.!^Mm "An Essay
on the Origin of Shinto "), p. 61.
264 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
storm-god. The storm-god character of Susa-ncnivo is assumed
in the present discussion. It is necessary for us to note here
only enough regarding this deity to make comparison with the
Polynesian god, Tawhin-ma-tea, " The Father of Winds and
Storms."
In the Kojiki myth, as already related, Siisa-no<vo sprang
from the nostrils of Izanagi as he purified himself after his
return from the lower world ; in one of the Nihongi accounts
he is represented as having been born from Izanagi and Iza-
nami by the ordinary generative process.^ His stormy char-
acter is indicated in the statement that he was ever weeping,
wailing and fuming with rage.^ His weeping is said to have
been such that he dried up all the rivers and the seas,*'' regard-
ing which Buckley has remarked, *' an apparent contradiction
and a standing puzzle to the Japanese commentators, but plain
enough, when the rains flood the country and hide the bound-
aries of rivers and lakes.'"* In support of this interpretation is
the direct evidence of the records going to show that at least a
portion of the functions assigned to Susa-no<JUo grew out of
experiences with he ivy rain-bearing winds. He is a god who
destroys rice fields V in the spring time " by knocking away
the pipes and troughs used in irrigation, by filling up channels,
and by breaking down the division between fields.^ All this
is plainly based on agricultural experiences during a season of
heavy rain. One of the Nihongi accounts clothes Susa-no-wo
in the characteristic rain-hat and grass rain-coat of the oriental
farmer.^ The story further relates that at the time of his
banishment he went down from heaven in a violent storm, of
wind and rain.' The argument does not appear to be so self-
I.
Cf. A., I, p. 19.
2.
Ibid., pp. 1 9-20.
3
Cf. C, p. 44.
4-
Buckley, op. cit.
5-
Cf. A, I, p. 48.
6.
Ibid., p. 50.
7-
Ibid
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ. 265
evident, however, when we attempt to utilize the. rain-storm
interpretation in order to account for the plain statement of the
Kojiki that the weeping of Susa-no-wo was such as "to wither
the green mountains into withered mountains " and " to dry up
all the rivers and seas."^ Rather, the formative experience
here would appear to have been with hot drying wind. The
inference that ancient Japanese myth referred the devestatioh
caused by both rain and drought to the ravages of Susa-no-wo
is suggested in the description which the Nihongi gives of a
paddy field which this god owned — " In the rains, the soil was
swept away, and in droughts it was parched up."^ Experiences
with seasonal winds, alternating between hot parching winds
and stormy wet winds, may well lie back of this mythology.
The appropriateness of the term " impetuous " in the name
of Susa-no-wo-no-mikoto is to be found in the ascription to him
of a character of such violence as to have brought many people
of the country to an untimely end, as well as in the account of
how he entered into a struggle with his brethern which finally
led to his expulsion from heaven.'* In view of a similar episode
in Polynesian mythology it is of interest to observe that after
this expulsion he went up to Heaven again with a mighty noise
[winds rising in the sky] and visited his sister, Ama-terasu-o-mi-
kami. As a pledge of good faith the two created, individually,
a progeny of lesser kami. From the pieces of the sabre of
Susa-no-wo were produced, Ta-kiri-hime-no-mikoto (" Her-
Augustness-Torrent-Mist-Princess "), Ichiki-shima-hime-jio-mi-
koto (" Her-Augustness-Lovely-Island-Princess "), and Tagi-tsu-
hime-no-mikoio (" Her-Augustness-Princess-of-the-Torrent ")."*
As will be seen below the Polynesian story presents parallel
details.
The Maori god, Tawhiri-ma-tea corresponds in functions
1. Cf. C, op. cit.
2. A., I, p. 48.
3. Cf. A., I, p. 19.
4. C/. C, pp. 47-48.
266 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
and in genealogical connections with the Japanese god, St^sa-
no-wo. The Maori deity is the child of Rangi and Papa. He
appears as an impetuous god of violence who " sends forth
fierce squalls, whirlwinds, dense clouds, massy clouds, dark
clouds, gloomy thick clouds, fiery clouds, clouds which precede
hurricanes, clouds of fier>^ black, clouds reflecting glowing red
light, clouds wildly drifting from all quarters and wildly bursting,
clouds of thunder storms, and clouds hurriedly flying."^ Like
Siisa-no-zvo, he enters into a struggle with his brethern. He
attacks Tane-mahuta and smites and breaks the forest; he
swoops down on the ocean and lashes the waves in his wrath ;
he attacks Rongo-jna-tane and Hamnia-tikitiki, the gods and
progenitors of cultivated and uncultivated food.* With this
may be compared the Japanese tradition that Susa-no<vo was
once assigned by Izanagi the task of ruling the " sea-plain,"
but that, instead of doing so, he only cried and wept,^ also
the account of how he attacked cultivated fields by breaking
down the divisions of rice-fields and filling up ditches,'* and,
finally, that he killed the Food-goddess.^ Parallelism appears
again in the statement of the Maori myth that through the
wTath of TawJiiri-ma-tea a great part of the dry land was made
to disappear and much of Mother Earth was submerged,*
Just as Susa-no<vo went up into Heaven and created oflP-
spring in company with his sister, so also TazvPdri-ina-tea rose
up to Heaven. The myth proceeds : " then by himself and
the vast Heaven were begotten his numerous brood and they
rapidly increased and grew."^ In the Japanese account the
Sun-Goddess takes the place of the Sky-Father, yet the paral-
1. Grey, op. cit , pp. 5, 6.
2. Ibid., p. 9.
3. C/: C, p. 44.
4. Ibid., pp. 52-53.
5. Ibid., p. 59.
6. Cf. Grey, op. cit , p. 1 4.
7. Ib.d.,\i. 5.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHV OF MODERN SHINT5. 267
lelism is remarkably close. Polynesian mythology repeats this
episode in different form in an account of how during the
struggle between TawJiiri-ma-tea and his brethern there appear-
ed as offspring of the former the deities, Ua-niii (" Terrible-
rain "), Ua-roa ('* Long-continued-rain ") and Ua-zvhatu (" Hail-
storm "). These were succeeded in turn by Han-mar ingi
('* Mist "), HaiMnarotaroto (*' Heavy-dew ") and Tomai-rangi
(" Light-dew ").^ It will be observ'ed that these lesser deities,
like the offspring of Susa-no-wo given above, appear in groups
of three and that in the personification" of mist on the Maori
side we have a repetition of the idea of a " Torrent-Mist-
Princess " on the Japanese side.
Finally, like Susa-no-wo, Tawhiri-ma-tea has a high place
in the sacred pedigrees, Li the Maori genealogies (Ngati-
Maniapoto tribe), he appears as eighth from the beginning in a
long list that includes King Tawhiao and other noted leaders
of the modern Maori people.^
In summary of these two deities, then, it may be said that
that both are storm gods ; they enter into struggles with their
brethern and perform like deeds of violence ; they rise up to
heaven and create offspring in similar fashion ; parallelism
appears in the grouping and, perhaps, in the functions assigned
theiir descendants ; and, finally, both deities have important
places in the ancestral genealogies.
Postponing, for the time being, further conclusions we
may turn to the investigation of more of the details of the cult
life of official Shinto.
1. Cf, Tregear, op. cit.y p. 449 ; Grey, op. cit.y p. 14.
2. Cf. Tregear, op. cit., p. 667.
268 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
/
CHAPTER VIII.
Government and National Shrtnes.
Conclusions.
An. estimate of the character of Shinto as a national cult
must, from the nature of the case, be founded to a very large
extent on a study of the existing Government Shrines (Kam-
peishd) and the National Shrines {Kokiiheisha)} The ceremonies
conducted at these two classes of large shrines are accorded a
position of primary importance in the politico-religious pro-
gram of the Japanese government. The official register of
these shrines as revised up to the date of July i6, 1921,
includes a total of 183, distributed as follows: Gov-
ernment Shrines of Major Grade {Kampei Taishd), 57 ;
Government Shrines of Middle Grade {Kampei Chusha), 23 ;
Government Shrines of Minor Grade {Kampei Shosha), 4;
Government Shrines of Special Grade {Bekkaku Kampeisha)^
24 ; National Shrines of Major Grade {Kokuhei Taisha)y 5 ;
National Shrines of Middle Grade {Kokuhei Chusha), 46;
National Shrines of Minor Grade {Kokuhei Shosha), 24.^ To
this list must be added the Grand Imperial Shrine of Ise.
We may take up first the investigation of the nature of the
deities worshipped at the above shrines. These deities may
be studied in the four groups of Emperors, princes, subjects and
nature deities. The names of Emperors whose spirits receive
public worship are given immediately below. The statement is
also made to include the names, grades and locations of all
shrines where Emperor worship can be found, together with
1. See above, pp. 20-21..
2. C/. Genko Jinja II ore i Ruisan, pp. 842, fF.
THE POLITICAL PxilLOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 269
certain other historical facts which may be of value in deter-
mining the status of this phase of Shinto.
1. Jimmu Tenn5 (660-585 B.C.).*
(i). Miyazaki Shrine, Kampel Taisha, Omiya Mura,
Miyazaki Prefecture. A shrine has stood here, apparently,
from very ancient times, and is supposed to mark the traditional
site of the palace of Emperor Jimmu in Hyuga. This shrine
was made a Kokuhei Cliusha on Aug. 10, 1875, and was raised
to the rank oi Kampei Taisha on April 22, 1885.'*
(2). Kashiwara Shrine, Kampei Taisha, Shirakashi Mura,
Nara Prefecture. This shrine was founded on March 20, 1 890.
It supposedly marks the locality of the accession of the first
Emperor to the Imperial Throne. The legendary consort of
Jimmu Tenno, Hiine-tatara-isiizii-hime-Kogd, is also enshrined
here as the first traditional Empress.
2. Chuai Tennd (192-200 A.D.).
(i). Kehi Shrine, Kampei Taisha, Tsuruga Machi,
Fukui Prefecture. The origin of the worship of Emperor
Chuai at this shrine appears to be related to the statement of
the Nihongi that he built the " Palace of Kehi " at Tsuruga and
dwelt there. Tradition says that he worshipped the kami at
this place.
(2). Kashii Shrine, Kampei Taisha, Kashii Mura, Fuku-
oka Prefecture. The date of the establishment of this shrine
is uncertain. Tradition dates it from the first year of Shinki
(724 A.D.). The shrine was raised to the above rank in 1885.
(3). Yunomiya Shrine [Hachiman], Kokuhei Shosha,
1. The dates of all- rulers here listed are given according to the official
chronology.
2. For verification of the statements made here and in what follows the
reader should consult the Dai Nihon Shimmei Jisho under the titles of the various
deities as given and also the appendix of the same work under the titles of shrines
and deities. See also Meiji Jinj i Shiryo (3 Vols., Tokyo, 191 2); K. Sugimori,
Jingu Kankoku Heisha Shingi Yoroku (Tokyo, 19I9, 4th. ed.) ; J. Saito, Isejingu
Kankoku Heisha Saishin Gokeizu Kaisetstt (Tokyo, 19 18, 3d. ed.)j and Genko
Jinja Horei Ruisan, op. cit.
270 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
Chofu Mura, Yamaguchi Prefecture ; raised from a Kensha to
the above rank in 191 6.
(4). Yuhara (Yusuhara) Hachiman Shrine, Kokuhei Sho-
sha, Hachiman Mura, Oita Prefecture ; raised from a Kensha
to the above rank in 1916.
Chuai Tenno's actual connections with the origin of the
worship of Hachiman, the god of war, are, as a matter of fact,
very remote. They rest largely on the tradition that he was
the husband of the Japanese Amazon, Jingo K5go, and by her,
the father of Ojin Tenno who, through some curious shift of
history, has become identified with the god of war.
3. Ojin Tenno {Honda<vake-ito-mikoto, 270-3 10 A.D.).
( I ). Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine, Kampei Taisha, Hachi-
man Machi, Kyoto Prefecture. This shrine was founded in
860 A.D. and was formerly knovvai as the Otokoyama
Hachiman.
(2) Usa Shrine [Hachiman], Kampei Taisha, Usa Machi,
Oita Prefecture. This shrine was founded, according to tradi-
tion, in 570 A.D. It marks the original seat of the worship of
Hachiman, the god of war.
(3). Kehi Shrine, Kampei Taisha, Tsuruga Machi, Fukui
Prefecture. See under Chuai Tenno.
(4). Hakozaki Shrine, Kampei Taisha, Hakozaki Machi,
Fukuoka Prefecture. The shrine has existed from ancient
times. It was raised from the rank of Kensha to that of Kam-
pei Chusha in 1885 and made a Kampei TaisJia in 19 14.
(5) Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine, Kokuhei Chusha ^
Kamakura Machi, Kanagawa Prefecture. The shrine was
founded in 1063 by Minamoto Yoriyoshi and raised from the
rank oi Kensha to that oi Kokuhei Chusha in 1882.
(6). Fujisaki Hachiman Shrine, Kokuhei Shosha, Kuma-
moto, Kumamoto Prefecture ; raised from the rank of Kensha
in 19 1 6.
(7). Hakodate Hachiman Shrine, Kokuhei Chusha, Hako-
date, Hokkaidd. The date of founding is uncertain. The
THE POUTICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ. 2/1
shrine was made a Kokuhei Shosha in 1877 and raised to the
rank of Kokuhei Chusha in 1 896.
(8). Yunomiya Shrine [Hachiman]. See (3) under Chiiai
Tenno.
(9). Yuhara Hachiman Shrine. See (4) under Chuai
Tenno.
The Empress Jingo (201-269 A.D.), the traditional mother
of Ojin Tenno, is enshrined at the following places given in the
above lists: (i) Iwashimidzu Hachiman Shrine, (2) Usa
Shrine, (3) Kashii Shrine, (4) Kehi Shrine, (5) Yunomiya
Shrine, (6) Yuhara Hachiman Shrine.
In the above Hachiman shrines, dedicated to the worship
of Chiaai Tenno, Ojin Tenno and Jingo K6g5, these deities
all appear in the role of patron divinities of war. The*^
multiplication of the number of Hachiman shrines of high
rank by the elevation of certain ones of lower grade must
be taken as an indication of a conspicuous military interest on
tlie part of the modern Japanese government. The origin oi \
the worship of Hachiman, however, is obscure and is not to be
connected with Emperor worship as such. The cult of the
war god becomes prominent in Shinto early in the eighth
century of the Christian era. Ojin Tenno's principal claim
to worship in the cult of Hachiman appears to lie in the
story that during her military expedition against Korea his
mother, being pregnant, bore him with her all through the
campaign.
4. Junnin Tenno (758-764 A.D.).
(i). Shiramine Shrine, Kampei Chusha^ Kyoto, Kyoto
Prefecture. In estimating the nature of the deification
of Emperor Junnin at this shrine it is necessary to take
brief notice of the follo^ving historical episode. In the
course of the struggles for the Imperial Throne that mark
the middle of the eighth century Junnin Tenno was de-
posed after a reign of six years and banished to the is-
land of Awaji, where he was put to death by strangula-
2/2 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
tion.^ In 1873 his spirit was brought to Kyoto and enshrined
at Shiramine.^
5. Kwammu Tenno (782-805 A.D.).
(i). Heian Shrine, Kampei Taisha^ Kyoto, Kyoto Pre-
fecture. This shrine was founded on June 29, 1894.'^ Kwam-
mu Tenno's rights to enduring fame are unquestioned. He is
to be reckoned among the truly great rulers of human history,
yet it must be taken as highly significant that this shrine was
not established until late in the modern period.
6. Sutoku Tenno (11 23-1 141 A.D.).
(i). Shiramine Shrine. See under Junnin Tennd. In
the succession quarrels of the twelfth century the Emperor
Sutoku was banished to Sanuki where he died."* In 1868 his
spirit was brought to Kyoto and enshrined at Shiramine,* later
to be joined by the spirit of Emperor Junnin.
(2). Kotohira Shrine, Kokuhei Chusha, Kotohira Machi,
Kagawa Prefecture ; raised from Kokuhei SJiosha to the above
rank in 1885. Sutoku Tenno is here enshrined in the country
of his banishment and death, along with O-mono-nushi-no-mikoto.
7. Antoku TennO (1180-1182 A.D.).
(i). Akama Shrine, Kampei Chusha, Shimonoseki, Yama-
guchi Prefecture. Antoku Tenno is the child Emperor who was
drowned in the Battle of Dan-no-Ura. In the year 1191 A.D.,
Buddhist piety built a sanctuary by the straits of Shimonoseki,
for the repose of his spirit. It was not until after the Restora-
tion, however, that Shinto manifested any special interest in
the matter. Then the ancient Buddhist institution was abolish-
ed and on October 7, 1875, the Akama Jinja was established.^
8. Go-Toba Tenno (i 183-1 198 A.D.).
9. Tsuchimikado TennO ( 11 98- 1 2 1 o A. D. ).
1. Cf. Murdoch, J., A History of Japan, Vol. I, p. 187.
2. Cf. Genko Jinja Horei Rttisan, p. 342 (3) ; Sugimori, op. cit., Pt. II, p. 63.
3. Cf. Genko Jinja Horei Ruisan, p. 342 (2).
4. Cf. Sugimori, op. cit. ; Murdoch, op. cit., p. 299.
5. Cf. Sugimori, op. cit.
6. Cf Sugimori, op. cit., Pt. II, p. 64 ; Genko Jinja Horei Ruisan, p. 343 (3).
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 2/3
lO. Juntoku Tenno (1211-1221 A.D.).
(i). These three Emperors are worshipped together at
the Shrine of Minase, Kampei Chusha, Shimamoto Mura, Osaka
Prefecture. In the struggle between the Kamakura Shogunate
and the Imperial House, the first of these Emperors was
banished to the Island of Oki, the second was banished first to
Tosa and later to Awa, and the third was removed to Sado/
The spirits of the first two were enshrined at the Minase Miya
in 1873 ; Juntoku Tenno was deified here the following year.^
\\. Go-Daigo Tenno (13 18-1333 A.D.).
(i). Yoshino Shrine, Kampei Taisha, Yoshino Mura,
Nara. In 1330 the Hojo banished the Emperor Go-Daigo to
the island of Oki, from whence he later escaped and succeeded
in effecting a temporary restoration of Imperial power. Later,
however, on the eve of the Great Succession Wars he was
obliged to flee to Yoshino where he established the Southern
Court.' Here he died. A government shrine for the worship
of Go-Daigo Tenno was established at Yoshino on June 6,
1889, with the rank of Kampei Chusha.^ In 1 90 1 it was
elevated to the rank of Kampei Taisha.
12. Meiji Tenno (i 867-191 2 A.D.).
(i). Meiji Shrine {Meiji Jingu), Kampei Taisha y Yoyogi,
Tokyo ; established May i , 1 9 1 5 . Empress also enshrined.
(2). Ch5sen Shrine, Kampei Taisha^ Seoul, Korea ;
founded July 18, 19 19. ^w«-/^r«5/v-5-;m-/^^w/ is also enshrined
here.
We may summarize the results of our study thus far as
follows. Twelve different Emperors and three Empresses are
w6rshipped in twenty different shrines. The numbers are
surprisingly small when we remember that the total figure for
Government and National Shrines of all grades is 183, and that
1. Cf Sugimori, op. cit.^ p. 64; Murdoch, op. cii.y p. 448.
2. Cf. Sugimori, op. c't., Pt. I, p. 34.
3. Cf. Murdoch, op. cit., pp. 540-56 1.
4. Cf. Genko Jiuja Hbrei Ruisan, p. 342 (2).
274 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
the official genealogy gives the names of 122 sovereigns from
Jimmu Tenno to the reigning Emperor. Furthermore, no other
shrines of any grade, high or low, have been located where
any Emperors other than those listed above receive public
worship. It is true that in the Koreiden (Imperial-Spirits-
Shrine) of the Imperial Palace the spirits of all the successive
generations of Emperors from Jimmu Tenno to Meiji Tenno
are enshrined, but this must be regarded merely as an aspect
of the family worship of the Imperial Household.
Seven of the shrines given above are clearly Hachiman.
If these are omitted from our total, we have remaining thirteen
shrines for twelve different Emperors. The Empresses Shoken
Kolaigo (Meiji Empress), Jingo Kogo and the consort of Jimmu
Tenno receive worship at Government and National shrines.
The surprising thing about Emperor worship in modern
ShintQ, however, is not to be found so much in the small
number of rulers and shrines involved as it is in the character
of the worship itself, as indicated by the nature of the Emperors
who are accorded place in the public worship of the shrines.
From this standpoint three groups may be distinguished cor-
responding to three lines of emphasis in modern Emperor
worship : —
y The first group centers in the worship of Hachiman, the
god of war, and manifests a tendency toward an official exalta-
tion of the military ideal in religion. This phase is not the
creation of the present, however, but, on the other hand, repre-
sents a fairly ancient movement in Shinto. Yet the modern
government makes extensive use of this aspect of Shinto. Ojin
Tenno, alone, has almost as many shrines in the Government
\and National classes as all the other Emperors put together.
All the sovereigns that come within this first group — Chuai,
Ojin and Jingo Kog5 — are legendary.
The second group centers in shrines wherein the religious
life of the people is brought into contact with Emperors under
whom conspicuous unification and progress have been consum-
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 2/5
mated in the national life. Here must be classified Meiji
Tenno, Kwammu Tenno and the legendary Jimmu Tenno..
This phase of Shint5 is the creation of the modern Japanese ; -^
government. Four out of five of the great shrines that appear
in this connection have been founded since 1890.
The third group centers in shrines wherein the dominant
idea is the restoration to a position of royal dignity of the
spirits of certain Emperors whose Imperial prerogatives have ?
been compromised by the disloyalty of their subjects. The
worship here includes also the ideas of consolation and propi-
tiation for injuries received. This group embraces a greater
number of Emperors than both the preceding groups taken
together, namely, Junnin, Sutoku, Antoku, Go-Toba, Tsuchi-
mikado, Jintoku, and Go-Daigo — seven out of twelve. Here, \
again, the movement is the creation of the modern Japanese y
government. Certain Buddhist beginnings have been taken
advantage of, but, in every case, with the one exception of
the Kotohira Shrine, the localization of the Imperial spirit in
the official shrine has taken place since 1873.
Imperial princes who'are deified at Government and Na- ^^
tional Shrines are eleven in number.^ In all cases they are
1. These princes and their shrines are : —
I 0 hiko-no-mikotOy son of Kogen Tenno. According to the tradition of the
Nihongi this prince was one of the four " Generals of the Four Circuits " ( Yodo
Shogun) sent out by Sujin TennS in 88 B.C. with the duty of extending the Im-
perial authority over unsubdued territories. 0-hiko-no-mikoto is the conqueror of
the Hokurikudo (" Northern Land Road ") district.
(1) Isasumi Shrine, KoJiuhei Chusha (1873), Takata Machi, Fukushima Pre-
fecture. [The date given immediately after the rank of the shrine, unless other-
wise explained, indicates the time when the shrine was raised to tjie rank stated].
(2) Koshio Shrine, Kokuhei Shosha (1882), Terauchi Mura, Akita Prefecture.
2. Takenuma-kawa-wake-no-mikoto, son of O-hiko-no-mikoto one of the Yodo
Shogun and the traditional conqueror of the Tokaido (" Eastern Sea Road ")
district.
(I) Isasumi Shrine. See above under O-h'ko-no-mikolo.
3. O-kibi-tsu-hiko-notnikotOy son of Korei Tenno, also one of the Yodo
Shogun. He is the traditional conqueror of the Sanyodo (" Mountain Sunlight
Koad ") district.
2/6 TEK POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
certain representatives of the royal line who have manifested
unusual loyalty and who at the same time have undergone
great hardships during military service in the interests of either
the extension or the protection of the claims of the Imperial
Throne. The majority of them are known to have met their
Ljieaths while engaged on military expeditions. The list
includes five of the unfortunate sons of Go-Daigo Tenn5 who
suffered in the first half of the fourteenth century under the
" Hoj5 tyranny " and the " Ashikaga anarchy." A two-fold
idea must be distinguished as underlying the enshrinement and
elevation of these princes to their present high positions among
rthe deities of official Shinto. On the one hand, there is an
exaltation of the ideal of a devoted loyalty that expresses itself
in military service on behalf of the Crown and, on the other
hand, there is a rendering of consolation and propitiation to the
(I) Kibitsu SKrine, Kainpei Chusha (made a Kokuhei Chusha'vsx 187 1 and
raised to its existing rank in 1914), Magane Mura, Okayama Prefeciure.
4. Toyokiirihiko-no-mikoto,%ovioi^\xivs\ Tenno; the traditional conqueror
of the non-Japanese tribes of the Tokoku (" Eastern Country ").
(1) Futaara Shrine, Kokuhei Chusha (i883\ Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture.
5. Yamato-takeru-no-mikoto (d. iii A.D.), son of Keiko Tenno. This
prince is the legendary conqueror of the Kumaso of Kyushu and of the Yemishi
of Eastern Japan. He was seized with severe illness while on the eastern expedi-
tion and died at Nobono in the country of Ise.
(i) Kehi Shrine, Kampei Taisha (made Kokuhei Chusha in 187 1 and raised
to the existing rank in 1895), Tsuruga Machi, Fukui Prefecture.
(2) Takebe Shrine, Kampei Taisha (raised from Kensha to Kampei Chusha
in 1885 and to existing rank in 1 899), Setamura, Shiga Prefecture.
6. Prince Takanaga, the first son of Go-Daigo Tenno. This prince was
banished to Tosa in 1332 but was back in Kyoto the next year. In 1335 he was
made " Sh5gun to Subdue the East " and sent with Nitia Yoshisada to crush the
Ashikaga revolt. He was defeated by Takauji and finally committed suicide at
the siege of Kanegasaki.
(I) Kanegasaki Shrine, Kampei Chusha (established with this rank in 1890),
Tsuruga Machi, Fukui Prefecture.
7. Prince Tsunenaga, the sixth son of Go-Daigo Tenno. He fought in the
Imperial cause under Nitta Yoshisada against the Ashikagas. Although only
fifteen years of age he took part in the defense of Kanegasaki and after the fall of
this stronghold committed suicide by taking poison.
tHK POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 277
Spirits of those who have sustained privation, injury and death
in the discharge of such duties. This latter element shows the
influence of Buddhist compassion.
As an organized movement in Shinto this phase of hero
worship is, again, the creation of the modern Japanese govern-
ment. It is an aspect of the revival of Imperial institutions that /
has taken place since the Restoration. It is a selected deifica-
tion out of numerous possibilities. ^ At least four of the shrines
where Imperial princes are worshipped are entirely new founda-
tions, dating from the Meiji Era, while other shrines represent
the selection and elevation of older and smaller institutions.
The Kanegasaki shrine, for example, where are worshipped
the Princes Takanaga and Tsunenaga was not established
until 1890. These princes lost their lives in 1338. The latter,
Tsunenaga, was not enshrined at Kanegasaki until 1892.^
The best indication of the direction in which the Japanese \/^
(i) Itanegasaki Shrine. See immediately above. Prince Tsunenaga was
enshrined here in 1892.
8. Prince Morinaga, the third son of Go-Daigo Tenno. In the years 1332-
33 he took a prominent part in the protection of Imperial interests and the over,
throw of the Hojos. He was later exiled to Kamakura and imprisoned there and
finally murdered at the instigation of Ashikaga Tadayoshi.
(I) Kamakura Shrine, Kampei Chusha (1873), Kamakura Machi, Kanagawa
Prefecture.
9. Prince Munen^a, eighth son of Go-Daigo TennS. He rendered conspicu-
ous service to the Imperial cause in the struggle against the Hojos and Ashikagas.
(i) linoya Shrine, Kampei Chusha (founded after the opening of the Meiji
Era and given existing rank in 1873), linoya Mura, Shizuoka Prefecture.
10. Prince Kanenaga, one of the numerous sons of Go-Daigo Tenn5, In
1338 he was made " Shogun to subdue the West " and took a prominent part in
putting down revolts in various places in Kyushu. In 1359 he was seriously
wounded in battle and later died somewhere in Kyushii.
(i) Yatsushiro Shrine, Kampei Chusha (established with this rank in 1880),
Yatsushiro Machi, Kumamoto Prefecture.
11. Prince Yoshihisa [Kitashirakawa no Miya]. This prince took a pro-
minent part in the subjugation of the aborigines of Formosa (Taiwan) and in 1895
died of disease while on this expedition.
(I) Taiwan Shrine, Kampei Taisha (established with this rank in 1900), Taiwan-
I. Cf. references given above, p. 269, note 2.
278 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
government has endeavored to guide the public worship
of Shinto ever since the Restoration in 1 868 is to be found
in a study of the class of shrines known as Bekkaku Kampeishay
Government Shrines of Special Grade. This class of shrines
was established in 1871.^ The official definition says, ^^ Bek-
kaku Kampeisha are shrines where subjects who have gained
unusual merit are enrolled and worshipped as kamiy^ The
content of this merit is generally explained as being that
of conspicuous service to the state. The state, however,
is here identified with the Imperial House almost com-
' pletely.^ A reference to the actual achievements of the
/ national heroes worshipped at these shrines will show that
the underlying idea is that of an outstanding loyalty to the
Emperor which expresses itself^£art[cularly in jnilitary service.
The best illustration of this principle is to be found in the fact
that the modern heroes who are enshrined at the greatest of
the Bekkaku Kampeisha^ namely the Yasukuni Shrine of Tokyo,
are limited to those who have given their lives in the active
military service of the state, beginning with the sixth year of
'IjKaei (1853). At the remainder of the shrines of this grade
certain protectors of Imperial prerogatives against rebellion and
aggression, selected from among the hosts that have come and
gone in Japanese histoiy, are individually apotheosized. The
list here includes the names of twenty-seven patriots, one of
them a woman.'* Eleven of the names represent loyalists of
the fourteenth century who fought for the overthrow of the Kama-
1. See above, p. 20.
2. Cf. Jinjo Shogaku Shushin Sho, Kyoshi Yd, No. IV, p. 23.
3. Cf. Sugimoii, op. cit.y p. 85.
4. The names of these loyalists together with the names and locations of their
shrines are as given below. The statement includes in the majority of cases a
brief indication of the nature of the public service rendered. The date given after
the location of each shrine shows when it was made a Bekkaku Kampeisha.
(i) Fttjhvara Kamatari (d. 663 A.D.), loyal to the Imperial House. Tanzan
Shrine (also called Tamu no Yama Shrine), Tamu no Mine Mura, Nara Prefec-
ture. Dec. 22, 1874.
(2) Wake Kiyomaro (d. 799 A.D.), loyal to the Imperial House, circum-
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHV OF MODERN SHINTO. 279
kura Bakufu and for the protection of the Southern Dynasty in
the Great Succession Wars — such faithful supporters as the
Kitabatakes, Kikuchi Taketoki, Nitta Yoshisada and, the most
renowned of all the Japanese patriots, Kusunoki Masashige.
The fact that Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and
Tokugawa leyasu are reckoned among the deities of the Bek-
kaku Kampeisha may appear to be an exception to the general
rule that deification presupposes such public service as includes,
vented the priest, Dokyo, in his scheme to usurp the Imperial throne {cf. Mur-
dock, op. cit.. Vol. I, p. 2co). Goo Shrine, Kyoto Prefecture. Dec. 20, 1874.
(3) Wake Hiromushi, elder sister of Wake no Kiyomaro, aided in the over-
throw of Dokyo. Goo Shrine, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture.
(4) Fujiwara Morokata (d. 1332), loyal to Emperor Go-Daigo. Komikado
Shrine, Komikado Mura, Chiba Prefecture. June 14, 1882.
(5) Kikuchi Taketoki (d. 1333), loyal to the Imperial House. Kikuchi
Shrine, Waifu Mura, Kumamoto Prefecture. Jan. 10, 1878.
(6) Kusunoki Masashige (d. 1336), loyal to Emperor Go-Daigo, committed
suicide in the Imperial cause. Minatogawa Shrine, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture-
July, II, 1871.
(7) Nawa Nagatoshi (d 1336), loyal to Emperor Go-Daigo. Nawa Shrine,
Nawa Mura, Tottori Prefecture. Jan, 10, 1878.
(8) Kitabatake Chikafusa (d. 1354^ loyal to the Southern Court in the Great
Succession Wars (1337-1392) and ?,yx\^QX oi Jintdshotoki ("History of the True
Succession of the Divine Monarchs"). Abe Shrine, Sumiyoshi Mura, Osaka
Prefecture. Jan. 24, 1S82.
(9) Kitabatake Akiie (d. 1338, at the age of twenty-one), first son oi Kita-
batake Chikafusa, loyal to Emperor Go-Daigo. Abe Shrine, Sumiyoshi Mura,
Osaka Prefecture.
(10) Nitta Yoshisada (d. 1338), loyal to Emperor Go-Daigo, took a pro-
minent part in the overthrow of the Kamakura Shogunate. Fujishima Shrine,
Nishi Fujishima Mura, Fukui Prefecture. Nov. 7, 1876.
(11) y«i/Munehiro (d. 1338), loyal to Imperial House. Yuki Shrine, Tsu^
Mie Prefecture. Jan. 24, 1882.
(12) Oe Motonari (d. 157 1), loyal to Imperial House. Toyosaka Shrine,
Yamaguchi Prefecture. Dec. 15, 1882.
(13) 5^a Nobunaga (1534-1582). Takeisoshi Shrine (also called Kenkun
Shrine), Omiya Mura, Kyoto Prefecture. April 24, 1875.
(14) Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598). Toyokuni Shrine, Kyoto, Kyoto
Prefecture. Aug. 14, 1873.
(15) Tokugawa leyasu (d. 1616). (i) Tcshogu, Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture.
June 9, 1873. (2) Toshogu, Kunomura, Shizuoka Prefecture.
28o THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
in a fundamental way, conspicuous loyalty to the Imperial
House. These three men, however, are properly honored as
the principal agents in" the unification of Japan after the confu-
sion and anarchy of the Ashikaga regime. Regarding Oda's
deference to the Imperial Court there is no doubt. In the
modern text-books for use in the public schools he is upheld as
one who restored the Imperial prestige to something of its
ancient splendor.* Hideyoshi, in spite of the fact that his
attitude toward the Throne was probably dominated by personal
(i6) Tokugawa Mitsukuni (d. 1700). Tokiwa Shrine, Mito, Ibaraki Pre-
fecture. Dec. 15, 1882.
(17) Tokuga%va^-3,x\3}^\ {d.. \%(id). Tokiwa Shrine, Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture.
(18) Shimadzu Nariakira (d. 1858), an imperialist and nationalist, one of the
leaders of the sonojoi movement. Tefukuni Shrine, Kagoshima, Kagoshima Pre-
fecture. Dec. 15, 1882.
(19) Kitabatake Akinobu, second son of Kitabatake Chikafusa, loyal to
Emperor Go-Daigo. Ryozan Shrine, Ryozan Mura, Fukushima Prefecture.
April 20, 1885.
(20) Kitabatake Morichika, son of Kitabatake Akinobu. Ryozan Shrine.
Ryozan Mura, Fukushima Prefecture.
(21) Sanjo Sanetsumu (d. 1859), loyal to Emperors Nink5 and Komei'
Nashi no Ki Shrine, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture. Oct. 10, 1885.
(22) Sanjo Sanetomi (d. 1891), fourth son of Sanjo Sane'sumu Nashi no
Ki Shrine, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture.
(23) A'wjwwf?/^/ Masatsura (d. 1 348), son of Kusunoki Masashige, loyal to the
Southern Court in the Great Succession Wars, died in the battle of Shijo Nawa'.e.
Shijo Nawate Shrine, Shij5 Nawate, Osaka Prefecture. Dec 17, 1889.
(24) Fujiwara Hidesato (d. 991), loyal to the Imperial House, defeated and
killed the pretender to the throne, Taira Masakado. Karasawa Yama Shrine,
Tanuma Machi, Tochigi Prefecture. Aug. 28, 1890.
(25) f/^j«^z Kenshin (d. 1578, loyal to Emperors Go-Nara and Ogimachi.
Uesugi Shrine, Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture. April 26, 1902.
(26) Maeda Toshiie (d. 1599}, loyal to the Imperial House. Oyama Shrine,
Kanagawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. April 26, 1902.
(27) Mori Takachika (d. 1871), won merit by loyalty at the time of the
Restoration. Noda Shrine, Yamaguchi Machi, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
To the above list must be added the Yasukuni Shrine of Tokyo, eslablished
under the name of Shokonsha in 1869. It was given the rank of Bekkaku Kam-
peisha in June, 1879, at which time the name was changed to Yasukuni Jinja.
For references see above, p. 269, note 2.
I. Cf. Jinjo Shbgaku Nihon Rekishif No. II (Tokyo, 19II}, pp. 16- 18.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5 281
interest, is regarded by the Department of Education as a
staunch supporter of the principle of reverence for the Im-
perial House.^ The modern government expounds the merits
of leyasu as resting primarily on his loyalty to the Imperial
Throne.^ The only members of the Tokugawa family other
than leyasu to receive public worship at the Bekkaku Kampei-
sha are Mitsukuni and Nariaki, both, however, of the Mito
branch. The school text-books exhibit the former as one of
the primary factors in stimulating the growth of the modern
spirit of loyalty to the Imperial Throne. His patronage of the
study of Japanese history is regarded as having led to such a
knowledge of the true nature of Japanese national life as to
have constituted an important instrument in the final overthrow
of the Tokugawa Shogunate.® Nariaki is to be remembered
as the ultra-imperialistic leader of the party that stood for
** reverence for the Emperor and the expulsion of (foreign)
barbarians {sonojdi) " in the period just before the Restoration.
This phase of the cult of the shrines is, again, the creation |
of the government during the past fifty years. It plainly reflects
the interests of the modern revival of Imperial institutions and
for this movement it furnishes the strongest of moral and
spiritual supports. It also represents the magnifying of the k
military ideal in religion. While in an occasional case, as i^'
that of Mitsukuni of Mito, there is a patronage of literature and
art, yet, in general, the special merits which are recognized by '
the government and which constitute the grounds for public
deification are military and political, particularly the former. __i sM
The rich fields of Japanese literature, philosophy, art and \y*
religion are conspicuously unrepresented. ' ^
In addition to the above deities of the Government Shrines
of Special Grade there are only two other ordinary subjects of
the empire who receive public worship at the great Government
1. Cf. Jinjo Shogaku Shnshin Sho, No. IV (Tokyo, I920), pp. 1 1 ff .
2. Cf. Sugimori, op. cit., p. 96.
3. Cf. Koto Shogaku Nihon Rekishi, No. II (Tokyo, 19 12), pp. 62-64.
282 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
and National Shrines. These two national heroes are Suga-
wara Michizane (845-903 A.D.) and TakenouchiSxikymQ} The
former is worshipped as Temmangu, the god of learning and
calligraphy,'^ the latter is a more or less legendary character of
early Japanese history who is accredited with having served
five Emperors.'^ The total number of national heroes, then,
who are worshipped at the Government and National Shrines,
in addition to those enshrined at the Yasukuni Jinja, is
twenty-nine.
At all other large Government and National Shrines the
deities worshipped are either of obscure origin or else they are
well known kami of the ancient Shinto pantheon. For the
most part they are nature deities belonging to the latter group.
The list of '* ancestors " here includes the Sky-Father,
Izanagi-no-mikoto ; the Earth-Mother, Izanavni-no-mikoto ; the
Sun-Goddess, Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami ; the Moon-God, Tsuki-
yomi-no-mikoto ; the wind deities, Shina-tsu-hiko-no-kami and
Shina-tsu~hime-no~kami; the Great Food-Goddess, Toyo-uke-no-
o-mi-kami {Toyo-uke-bime-no-kami) ; the " Food-Spirit-Deity,"
Uka-no-mitama-no-kami ; the Storm-God, Susa-no-wo-no-mi-
koto f" the goddess of Mount Fuji, Ko-no-hana-saku-ya-hime-
no-mikoto ; the ocean deity, 0-wata-tsu-mi-no-kami (" The Deity
Great-Ocean-Possessor ") and other sea deities produced by
Izanagi as he purified himself with water after his return from
the Lower World, namely : " Deity Possessor-of-the-Ocean-
1. The shrines of the former are : —
(i) Kitano Shrine, Kainpei Chusha, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture. This shrine
was established in 947 A.D. with the object of propitiating Michizane's spirit.
(2) Daizaifu Shrine, Kampei Chusha, Daizaifu Machi, Fukuoka Prefecture.
The shrines to Takenouchi are : —
(1) Kehi Shrine, Kampei Taisha, Tsuruga Machi, Fukui Prefecture.
(2) Ube Shrine, Kokuhei Chuska, Kokufu Mura, Tottori Prefecture.
2. Cf. Aston, Shinto, pp. 179-183.
3. Cf. A , I, p. 294, note 4.
4. The natvxre deities inchided in the list thus far are all worshipped at
the Great Shrines of Ise. Cf. Sugimori, op. cit, pp. 1-6.
THE tOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 283
Bottom " {Soko-tsii-ivata-tsu-jni-no-kami), " Deity Possessor-of^
the-Ocean-Middle " {Naka-tsu-zvata-tsu-?m-no-kami), " Deity
Possessor-of-the-Ocean-Surface ' ' ( Uzva-tsu-wata-tsu- mi-no-kami)y
" Bottom-Possessing-Male-Augustness " {Soko-tsutsu-no-wo-no-
inikoto), " Middle-Possessing-Male-Augustness " {Naka-tsutsu-
iio-wo-no-mikoto) and " Surface-Possessing-Male-Augustness "
( Uwa-tsutsu-no-wo-no-rnikotd).
In continuation must be added, the harvest god, Mltoshi*
no-kami ; the mountain deity, O-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami (" Deity
Great-Mountain-Possessor," born from Izanagi and Izanami) ;
the thunder-god, Take-mika-dznchi-no-kaini ; the lightning-god,
Futsu-nushi-no-kami ; the earth deity, Kana-yama-hiko-no-kami
('* Metal-Mountain-Prince-Deity," produced from the vomit of
Izanami) ;]the deity of growth, Waku-musubi-no-kamii^'' Young-
Wondrous-Producing-Deity," who came from the urine of
Izanami) and the deity of the distribution of water, Ame-no-mi-
kumari-no-kami (" Deity-Heavenly- Water-Divider "). The last
named god is the child of the deity of rivers and river mouths,
Haya-aki-tsu-hiko-no-kami, and the sea-goddess, Haya-aki-tsu-
hime-no-kami who are, in turn, offspring oi Izanagi and Izanami}
The apf earance in the official cult of the worship of the
deities who preside over rain deserves special mention. The
god worshipped at the Upper Nifu Kawakami Shrine {Kampei
Taisha)y located at Kawakami Mura of Nara Prefecture, is
Taka-okami-no-kamiy the " Fierce-Rain-god " who appears in
mythology when the great drought is broken with the death of
Kagu-tsuchi} At the Lower Nifu Kawakami Shrine of Minami
Yoshino Mura the enshrined deity is Kura-okami-no-kafni,
*' Dark-Rain- god," who appears on the upper part of the sword
of Izanagi when the latter slays his child.^ The validity of
the interpretation which regards Taka-okami-no-kami and Kura
1. It is not possible to give here the various shrines where these deities are
worshipped. The reader should consult the sources cited above, p. 269, Note 2.
2. See above, p. 205.
3. See above, p. 204.
284 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHV OF MODERN SHINTS,
okami-no-kami as rain deities is supported by a study of their
actual functions in the cult life of modern official Shinto. Prayer
and sacrifice offered to these deities at the Upper and the
Lower Nifu Shrines are regarded as efficacious either in stop-
ping long continued rain or in bringing on rain after a drought.
According to local custom, the presentation of a white horse is
potent in breaking up a long spell of wet weather while the
offering of a black horse will call forth black clouds and an
abundance of rain. ^
Among the deified ancestors of the national cult is a
sword. The deity enshrined at the Atsuta Shrine (liampei
Taishd) of Atsuta Machi, Aichi Prefecture, is Kusa-nagl-ncr
tsurugiy " Grass-mowing-Sword,"^ one of the Three Sacred
Treasures of the Imperial Regalia. It will be recalled that,
according to tradition, the original of this sword was extracted
from the tail of the great serpent of Idzumo. Japanese autho-
rities explain this sword as the shintai of the deity and not the
deity itself^ According to this interpretation the spirit {inita-
ina) of the sword is the real kami. Yet it is significant that
the writers of the Dai Nikon Shimmei Jisho are apparently
unacquainted with any name for this deity apart from the
sword itself"* The official title of the god of the Atsuta Shrine
is Kusa-nagi-no-mi'tsurugi^ " Grass-mowing-Divine-Sword,"
although the older title of Ama-no-mura-kumo-no-tsurugiy
" Clustering-clouds-Sword-of-Heaven," may still be met with.
The deities worshipped at the Idzushi Shrine (Kokuhei
Chushd) of Kamimura, Hyogo Prefecture are even more re-
markable. Here the worship of certain ancient implements of
primitive magic has survived into the official cult of the pre-
sent. The kami of this shrine are the " Eight Great Deities of
1. Cf. Sugimori, op. cit., Pt. I, p. 13 ; Pt. II, p. 31.
2. Jbid., Pt. I, p. 19 ; Pt. II, p. 39.
3. ^zV/., Pt. II, p. 39.
4. Cf. Dai Nikon Shimmei Jisho, p. 128.
5-
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 285
Idzushi " mentioned in the Kojikiy namely, two strings of beads,
a wave-shaking scarf, a wave-cutting scarf, a wind-shaking
scarf, a wind-cutting scarf, a mirror of the ofifing and a mirror
of the shore/ The scarfs listed here undoubtedly have a
magical association. Chamberlain in his translation of the
Kojiki interpretes them to mean, " a scarf to raise the waves
and a scarf to still the waves, a scarf to raise the wind and a
scarf to still the wind."^ The same author calls attention to
other magic scarfs mentioned in| the Kojiki? It is certainly of
no small interest to find these objects among the " ancestors *'
of the great National Shrines of modern official Shintd.
Among the deities worshipped at the Inari Shrine (ICampei
Taisha) of Fukakusa Mura of Kyoto Prefecture is the old
phallic god, ^Saruta-hiko-no-mikoto^
The discussion thus far furnishes us with material on
which to base certain conclusions regarding the nature of
official Shinto. The deities worshipped at the Government
and National Shrines include twelve Emperors, three Empresses .
(two highly legendary), eleven princes and twenty-nine repre-
sentatives of the ordinary subjects of the state, in addition to
those enshrined at the Yasukuni Jinja of Tokyo. All other
deities to be met with in the shrines of the grades which we
have had under examination are nature deities, including a
small number of fetishistic objects which have their probable
origin in primitive magic, or else they are deities of unknown
origin. The worship at these official shrines is far from being
exclusively ancestor worship. The modern Japanese govern-
ment interpretes nature deities as ancient ancestors, but this
does not alter their original character as forces and phenomena
of nature. The worship at the greatest of the government
1. Cf. Sugimori, op. cit., Pt. I, p. 74 ; Pt. II, p. 1 19. The official title of
this group of deities is 7\^%W^, Yakiisa-no-kanm-takara, « Eight-Kinds-of-
Divine-Treasures."
2. Cf. C, p. 261, note 17
3. Jbid.
4. Cf. Sugimori, oJ>. cii.f Pt. I, p. 9; Pt. II, i) 2^.
286 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
shrines, just as in the cases of the smallest rural shrines, centers
in /^ami-cult, wherein kami is to be understood in the sense of
mana. Further confirmation of this statement will be found in
the actual r.eligious use made of these deities by the govern-
ment itself
Forms of prayer to be offered before these various deities
are carefully fixed by national law. Attention has already
been called to the fact that shortly after the Restoration in 1 868
measures were adopted by the Japanese government for pro-
moting politico-religious centralization by providing uniform
ceremonies for the Shinto shrines. New rituals {norito), based
on those of the Engi-Shiki, were issued on April 13, 1875.^ A
revision of these earlier rituals was adopted by the. government
on March 27, 19 1.4, under Order No. 4 of the Department of
Home Affairs.* These new regulations, which furnish forms
of public worship for Shinto shrines of all grades, went into
effect on April i, 19 14.* It is necessary to examine the
nature of the petitions that are contained in these norito
of 1914.
The norito read before the ka?ni by the guji, or chief
priest, in the celebration of the Festival of Prayer for the Year's
Crops (Kinen Sai) at Government Shrines and National Shrines
contains petitions for abundant harvests and for the protection
of the growing crops against devastation by wind, flood and
rain. The passage which contains this prayer may be render-
ed : " Grant that all things produced by cultivation, from the
harvest of late-ripening rice to the smallest leaves of plants,
may not suffer by evil wind or by violent waters. Prosper
them fruitfully and luxuriantly (to the end that) the Harvest
Festival may be performed with splendor and with beauty."*
At the same festival a civil official, sent from either the
1. See above, p. 21.
2. Cf. Genko Jinja Horei Ruisan, pp. 271-310.
3. Ibid., p. 272.
A. The original texts of the sections of this and the other norito wliich are
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 28/
Imperial Household Department or from the office of the local
governor, presents a norito which includes the following prayer :
" Grant to bless with ears eight hand-breadths long, yea with
fine ears, the harvest of late-ripening rice which the sovereign
deities will bestow. From the Great House* of the Sovereign
to the people of the land,^ grant that all jiiay prosper more
and more (with lineage) long and (with families) wide, like the
luxuriant manifold branches of the mulberry tree."^
In the ritual employed in the celebration of the Harvest
Festival (Niiname Sai) on the twenty-third of each November,
prayer is offered to the deities of the official cult as follows :
" Biess and prosper with peace and tranquility the mighty
Reign of His Sovereign Augustness, with majestic Reign, with
prosperous Reign, for a thousand myriad long continued
autumns. Grant to care for and to bless (all), from the. Imperial
Princes and their offspring to the people of the land ; prosper
here considered, accompanied by transliteration with roman letters, are added for
purposes of reference.
m:m^^^%^. 'n-ibyim%^''^M%. f^mgfi^m^^^^. ^.mE^^?^
Oki tsu mitoshi wo hajwiete, kusa no kakiha ni itaru made, tsukuri to tsukuru
mono domo too, ashiki kaze aroki midzti fii awase tamawazu, yutaka ni muktisaka ni
nashi sakiwae tamaite, niinae [niiname] no matsuri ikashiku uruwashiku istikae-
matmrashime tamae. — Genko Jinja Horei Ruisan, pp. 275-6.
1. Omikado, lit. " great- august -gate ; " the reference, however, is to the Im-
perial Household, Cf. I. Muromatsu, Shin Notito Tsukai (^^S^^> WMM%M^
" A Commentary on the New Norito," Tokyo, 192 1), p. 9.
2. Written 5c7^T7^1SS» ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ no shita no omitakara (" the great
august treasure under heaven "). The reference is to the people of the nation ag
the great treasure of the Emperor.
Sumeka77ii tachi no yosashi matsuramu oki tsu mitoshi wo,yatsukn ho no ikashi
ho ni nashi sakiwae tamaite, Sumera ga omikado wo hajimete, afne no shita no
omitakara ni itani made, iyato ni iyahiro ni ikashi yagiiwae no gotoku iachisaka^-
fhitJi^ iamae.— Genko JinJa Horei Ruisan, p. 276.
288 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHJNTO.
them like the luxuriant manifold branches of the mulberry tree,
and make them to serve the kamiy^
In the course of the same ceremony a civil official is
instructed to pray : " Grant that the August Descendants (of
Aina-terasu-d-ini-kami) may partake of the Great Food, in peace
and tranquility, for a thousand myriad long-continued autumns.
From the Great House of the Sovereign to the people of the
land grant that (all) may prosper more and more (with lineage)
long and (with families) wide like the luxuriant manifold
branches of the mulberry tree."^
In the norito prepared for the use of the chief priests in
the grand local festivals (reisai) of Government Shrines and
National Shrines appears a prayer which may be translated :
" Bless the Great Reign of His Sovereign Augustness with
majesty and prosperity ; and may it be as firm and as everlasting
as the rocks. Prosper it as a long continued Reign. Grant pro-
tection and blessing (to all), long continued and peaceful, from the
Imperial Princes and their offspring to the people of the land."^
I- ■^^^IbX'^'^^. WM'^-^^m'^'^. ^^^Ib^'^'^^M. ^^
^^^^^^M^^M^Jt^ ll£^^i^^i^^J£> 5^7>T7!r^SWm©Bi
Stnnera viikoto no omiyo zvo ikashi miyo no tarashi miyo to yorozti chiaki no
nnga io aki ni tairakeku yasurakeku hvai matsuri sckiwae tnatsuri tamai, mikotachi
okimitachi wo hajimete ame no shita no omitakara ni iiaru made node tamai
megutni tamaite, ikashi yaguwae no gofoku tachisakae tsukae matsurashime tamaeP
— Genko Jinja Horei Ruisan, p. 276.
2. ^wk^ib-xm^^. ^^^ib^-£Mmn. ^^X'Sc^xn^i^
Sumemima no mikoto no omike wo yorozu chiaki no naga io aki ni tairakeku
yasurakeku kikoskime sashime tamai, sumei'a ga omikado wo hajimete ame no shita
no omitakara ni itarti made iyato ni iyahiro ni ikashi yaguwae no gotoku tachisa-
kaeshime tamae. — Genko Jinja Horei Ruison, p. 277.
3- '^^^ibxm\'^^. wm'<jb^m'<:^. ^mm'^^^%^m. ^^
Sumera mikoto no omiyo wo ikashi miyo no tarashi miyo to kakiwa ni tokiwa
^i iivai matsuri tanaga no miyo to sakiwae matsuri tamaif mikotachi okimitachi
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ. 289
The ritual provided for the use of civil officials in present-
ing offerings from the government at grand local festivals
contains the following prayer :/" From the Great House of\
the Sovereign to the people of the land, guard and prosper /
(all) continuously and widely. Bring it to pass that this Food \
Country, (extending far) under heaven,' with its unnumbered \
countries and unnumbered islands, with none omitted, with not
on^ left out, (as far as) the limit where the wall of heaven
stands, (as far as) the boundaries of lands standing afar off —
bring it to pass that (all) may look up to the great glory of the
Great Emperor and that (all lands) may be covered with the y^
august light of the Imperial Land."^
In the Saitansai iV<?nV^*^'Ritual for the Festival of the
First Day of the Year) occurs the prayer : '* Protect this new
year and prosper it as a good year, as a rich year. Bless the
Great House of His Sovereign Augustness with the strength
and the eternity of the rocks. Keep the land (ame no shitd) in
peace, make the (five) cereals plentiful, cause industiy to make
progress more and more, and prosper the people with increasing
abundance. Cause thy Great Glory'^ to shine more and more
together with the light of the first rising sun of the year."^
wo hajimete ame no shita no omitakara ni itaru made nagaku tairakeku mamori
tamaimegumi tamae. — Genko Jinja Norei Ruisan, p. 277.
um^^nx. XTbMiLm. tS7^5iiitS> mxmm7bi<,mnm^nM^.M^}:\:.
Sumera ga omikado wo hajimete ame no shita no omitakara ni itajti made
iyato ni iyahiro ni mamori iamai sakiwae tamaite, kono osukuni ame no shita wa
kuni no yaso kuni shima no yaso shima mot urn koto naku otsuru koto naku ame no
kaki tatsu kiwami kuni no sokitatsu kagiri stime cm 'kado no omiizu wo aogashime
tamaiy sume omikuni no omihikati wo kagorashime tamae. — Genko Jinja Horei
Ruis m, p. 277.
2. Addressed to the deity or deities of the local shrine.
mmm'^mn. ^^M^-ii:. ^t^t^^^^ mm.^x. im.^mm'^m
290 THE POUTICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
The ritual for use in the Genshisai (Festival of Sacrifice to
the Origin, Jan. 3) contains the prayer : '* Guard and bless the
prosperity of the Imperial Throne, ruled over by His Sovereign
Augustness, with the eternity of heaven and earth, unshaken
and unchanged. Keep the land {ame no shita) in peace and
the state (kunuchi) in tranquility. Make the Glory of the
Great House of the Sovereign to shine with splendor in heaven
and with splendor on earth and make heaven and earth to .be
filled with the Prosperity of the Imperial Land."^
In the norito for use in the celebration of the Emperor's
Birthday {Tenchosetsu) is the prayer : " Bless the life of His
Sovereign Augustness with length of days and make it as firm
and as everlasting as the multitudinous rock clusters. Prosper
the Emperor with a majestic reign, cause the Imperial Glory to
shine higher and wider evermore and make the Imperial
benevolence to be revered forever and forever."^
The rituals for shrines of prefectural grade and below
Kono toshi wo yoki toshi no umashi toshi to mamori tat?iai sakiwae tamaiie,
sumera mikoto no o mikado wo kakhva ni iokiwa ni iwai matsuri tamai, ame no
shita tairakeku tanatsu mono yutakeku nariwai wo iya siaume ni sustime omitakara
wo iya sakae ni sakaeshime tamaite, omiizu wo sashinoboru toshi no haisuhi no
hikari to tomo ni iya niasumasu ni kagayakashime tamae. — Genko Jinja Horei
Ruisan. p. 279.
Sumera mikoto no shiroshlmesu amatsii hitsiigino omisakae ame tsuchino miita
tokoshie ni tigoku koto naku ka7varu koto ttaku iwai matsnid sakiwai matsuri
tamai, ame no shita tairakeku kunuchi yasurakeku sunie omikado no omiizu wo
amakakashi kunikakashi ni kagayakashime tamai, sume omiktmi no omisakae wo
wnatarashi kunitarashi ni tarawashime tamae.— Genko Jinja Horei Ruisan, p. 279.
2. ^^^Tbi^.u^^. ^^Tb-xmm^. ^mm¥i7b^x. ^i^mmmm
Sumera mikoto no omiinorhi wo tanaga no dmiinochi to yutsu iwa mura no
gotoku tokiwa ni kakhva ni iwai matsuri, ikashi miyo ni sakiwae matsuri tamaiy
dmiizu wo iya iaka ni iya hiro ni kagayakashijne tamai, omimegumi wo iya to
ni iya n ign ni aogashime tamae.— Genko Jinja IJorei Ruisan, 'p. 280.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 29 1
repeat those prescribed for Government and National Shrines,
with only such alterations as are necessitated by differences in
the grades of the shrines and in the ranks of the officiating
priests. The one exception to this; general statement is to be
found in the no7ito used in the great local festivals of all shrines
below the Kampeisha and Kokuheisha classes. This ritual, as
fixed by national law, contains a domestic prayer that deserves
special attention. Herein petition is addressed to the local
tutelary deities as follows :
" Again [lit. dividing the words], we say : Since they
thus serve thee, grant to protect and bless widely and liberally
both thy proteges and also the people of this district [the name
of the village, town, ward, city or district of the prefecture is here
inserted]. Keep them contented in heart and well in body,
make their homes peaceful and their occupations prosperous.
May they one and all live in increasing harmony and grant
that children born to them may prosper more and more unto
numberless generations [lit. yaso tsuzuki, '* eighty succes-
sions "]. This we say with deepest reverence."^
The forms of prayer to be offered before the deities of the
shrines are thus precisely fixed by national law. In these
rituals the government, itself, acting through its authorized
representatives, makes appeal to various kami, regarded as
*' ancestral spirits," for certain very definite benefits. The
range of the appeals covers most of the vital interesLo of the
modern state. It includes prayers for the protection of grow-
Kotowakite tnosahi, kakti tsukaeniaimrii ni yoiite, j?ihtj;ko no hiiodomo mo
maia kono bo dofu ken (gun, shi, kti, choy son) no hitodojuo zuo hiroku atsuku ma-
inori tamai juegitnii tamaJU, kokoro odni ni /iii siikoyaka ni ienuchi yasitku nariwai
yutakeku ono mo ouo nio iya mgibi ni ni^^ibite, nmi no ko no yaso tstizuki ni itaru
made iya sakae ni sakae shivu tumae to, kashikomi kashikoini mdsu.-Genk'oJinja
Borei Rnisan, pp. 283-4.
292 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
ing crops, for abundant harvests, for the prosperity, health and
contentment of the people, for domestic harmony, for national
peace and progress, for flourishing offspring in the families of
rulers and subjects, for the well-being and unbroken continuity
of the Imperial House, for a long and prosperous reign on the
part of the Emperor and for the extension of the prestige o*
Japan throughout the world.
The same idea of an officially inspired appeal to the deides
of Shintd, regarded as active agents in a superhuman spirit-
world, is to be found in certain other important documents of
state which have been promulgated between 1868 and the
present.
The Imperial Rescript to the Daimyo, issued March 21^
1868, says, in one section, " As has already been notified, the
existence of relations with foreign countries involves very im-
portant questions. We are willing therefore for the sake of the
people of the Empire to brave the perils of the deep and to
undergo the greatest hardships ; to swear to spread the national
glory abroad, and to satisfy the departed spirits of Our ances-
tors, and of the late Emperor.'"*
The Imperial Decree of October 12, 1881, promising the
establishment of a parliament, reads in one of its clauses, " Our
ancestors in Heaven watch Our acts, and We recognize Our
responsibility to them for the faithful discharge of Our high
duties, in accordance with the principles, and the perpetual
increase of the glory, they have bequeathed to Us."^
The promulgation of the Japanese Constitution on Feb. 11^
1 889, was accompanied by an Imperial oath, the first declaration
of which says, " We, the Successor to the prosperous Throne
of Our Predecessors, do humbly and solemnly swear to the
Imperial Founder of Our House and to Our other Imperial
Ancestors that, in pursuance of a great policy co-extensive with
the Heavens and with the Earth, We shall maintain and secure
1. Japan Herald, April 18, 1868, p. 1339.
2. Japan Weekly Mail^ i88i, p. 1199.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 293
from decline the ancient form of government." The oath
conckides : " These Laws amount to only an exposition of
grand precepts for the conduct of the government, bequeathed
by the Imperial Founder of Our House and by Our other
Imperial Ancestors. That we have been so fortunate in Our
reign, in keeping with the tendency of the times, as to accom.-
plish this work. We owe to the glorious Spirits of the Imperial
Founder of Our House and of Our other Imperial Ancestors.
** We now reverently make Our prayer to Them and to
Our Illustrious Father and implore the help of Their Sacred
Spirits, and make to Them solemn oath never at this time nor
in the future to fail to be an example to Our subjects in the
observance of the Laws hereby established.
" May the Heavenly Spirits witness this Our solemn
Oath." (Official Translation.)^ ^^^
After the battle of the Sea of Japan in the Russo-Japanese
War, the Emperor telegraphed to the grand fleet under Admiral
Togo : Nanjira no churetsu ni yotte soso no shinrei ni kotoru
zvo uru wo yorokobuy " We rejoice that by your loyalty and
valor We are able to answer to the divine Spirits of Our
ancestors."^
The Imperial rescript issued on the occasion of the suc-
cessful conclusion of the Russo-Japanese war says, in part,
" The result is due in large measure to the benign Spirits of
Our Ancestors, as well as to the devotion to duty of our civil
and military officials and the self<ienying patriotism of Our
people Peace and glory having thus been secur-
ed, We are happy to invoke the blessing of the benign Spirits
of Our Ancestors and to be able to bequeath the fruits of these
great deeds to Our posterity."^
The Address of the Emperor to the Army and Navy at
1. Ito, H., Commentaries on the Constitution of the Empire of Japan (Tokyo,
1889), pp. 1 5 1-2.
2. Japan Weekly Mail, Oct. 21, 1905, p. 433.
3. Japan Weekly Mail, op. cit.
294 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
the close of the same war contains the words, " By your loyalty,
faithfulness, and valour I have achieved the purposes of the
war, and have been enabled to discharge the duties devolving
on Me toward the Divine Ancestors and toward My people."^
The Imperial rescript of Yoshihito, the reigning Emperor-
issued at his coronation, November lO, 19 15, contains the in,
vocation, " May the Heavenly Spirits of Our Ancestors, to
whom We owe so much, witness our determination that We
will fulfill Our mission by diligently labouring day and night. "^
The language of these Imperial utterances is unmistakable.
In these citations from documents which can be taken as repre-
sentative of the life of the state at its very center, we find that the
great ancestral kami are thought of, not as mere human beings
w^iose exalted achievements on earth are being commemorated,
but as actually existing, supernatural agencies whose aid is
sought in prayer and ceremony and toward whom a profound
responsibility is felt.
This same supernaturalistic conception of the kami may
be seen likewise in the manner in which all the great affairs
of state, such as the consummation of treaties, the declaration
of war, the celebration of victory, the signing of peace, import-
ant activities of members of the Imperial Family, the accession to
the throne of a new Emperor, etc., are all reported to the '* spirits
of the Imperial Ancestors " at Ise and elsewhere. Such cases
are so numerous that present treatment must be limited merely
to the setting forth of a certain amount of illustrative material
Notices such as the following occur repeatedly in the
Official Gazette {Kampo). " H.M. the Empress will proceed
to Kyoto to worship at the Imperial mausolea at Momoyama
Izumiyama and other places in and near Kyoto, leaving Tokyo
station at 6:15 on Tuesday morning by a special train."'*
!. Ibid,, p. 434.
2. Ibid., Nov. 13, I915, p. 237.
3. Official Gazette, ^zX^^L^^l^y \l,\(^\c); Japan Times and Mate (Weekly
Ed.), May 17, 1919, p. 666.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 295
Subsequent to the completion of the revision of the Im-
perial House Law by a special committee of high officials the
government stated : " The change was formally announced
before the sanctuary of the Imperial ancestors in the Imperial
palace yesterday with appropriate ceremonies.
" Similar reports were made at the same time at the Grand
Shrines of Ise, and before the mausolea of the First Emperor,
Jimmu Tenno, and the late Emperor Meiji, for which purpose
special messengers were dispatched by the Imperial Court. "^
Imperial Household Ordinances relating to marriages in
the Imperial Family contain the following articles bearing on
the matter under discussion.
" Art. III. When the matrimonial engagement is made,
the fact shall be announced at the Imperial Ancestral Shrine
{Koreiden) as well as at the shrines for the Kami {Shinden)
placed in the Sanctuary in the Palace, and Imperial messengers
carrying special offerings shall be dispatched to the Jingu
Shrines [Ise], and the mausolea of the Emperor Jimmu and of
the Emperor and Empress immediately predeceasing the reign-
ing monarch."
" Art. VI. On the day of the ceremony a solemn an-
nouncement of the fact shall be made at the Shrine in the
Sanctuary."
" Art. VII. The ceremony shall be performed in the
jront of the Santuary {Kashikodokord) in accordance with the
rites specially determined."
" Art. IX. The Emperor, accompanied by the Empress,
shall, at the close of the wedding ceremony, appear (for wor-
ship) at the Koreiden and the Shinden^
" Art. XII. The Emperor and the Empress shall, after
the conclusion of the ceremony, proceed to the Jingii shrines
and to the mausolea of the Emperor Jimmu and of the last
Emperor and Empress for devotional purposes."'
1. Japan Times and Mail (Weekly Ed.), Dec. 7, 191 S, p. 1461.
2. {Official Gazelle) ; Japan Weekly Mail, May 12, 1900, p. 464.
296 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO
The marriage of the Prince Imperial, Yoshihito [present
Emperor], to the Princess Sada was accompanied by religious
observances that differed in no essential respect from the rites
conducted at ordinary Shintd shrines. They included the cere-
mony of opening the shrine, sacred music, presentation of food
offerings, the recitation of norito a«id the presentation of
gohei}
The accession ceremonies of the reigning Emperor, which
took place immediately after the death of the late Emperor,
Mutsuhito, in 191 2, were largely religious in character. The
report says, " At I a.m. yesterday, very shortly after the death
of the Empei'or, ceremonies were held at the Court in connec-
tion with the accession to the throne of the Crown Prince.
" The proceedings began with a service before the Imperial
Sanctuary, the Kashikodokoro (Sanctuary) being fully decorated.
The doors were opened at i a.m. and all due offerings made.
All the court dignitaries and high officials of State were pre-
sent. Prince Iwakura, Chief Ritualist, advanced and read an
address expressing congratulation upon the accession to the
throne of the new Emperor. The bell of the shrine was then
rung by the Chief Ritualist, assisted by a subordinate. Prince
Iwakura, on behalf of the new Emperor, and another Ritualist,
Miyachi, representing the new Empress, worshipped at the
Imperial Sanctuary, after which the offerings were removed
and the door of the sanctuary closed, all present retiring.
** The same ceremony was held also before the Koreiderij
or Imperial Ancestor's Shrine, that the Imperial Ancestors
might be informed of the succession."^
The formal coronation ceremony of the present Emperor
was similarly announced to the ancestral spirits.^ The account
of the service says : " The great Ritual service before the Kashi-
kodokoro enshrined in the Shiinko Den, began at eight o'clock
this morning. At this important ceremonial^ Emperor Yoshi-
1. Cf. Japan Weekly Mail, May 12, 1 900, p. 454; May 5, 1900, p. 4I8.
2. Japan Advertiser, }\\\.y 31, 191 2, p. I.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 29/
hito formally acquired the Three Sacred Treasures and reported
before his ancestral spirits in the Kashikodokoro, the fact of his
succession to the great aiid time honoured heritage. His
Majesty then fervently prayed for the prosperity of his reign. "^
The dates of the coronation were earlier reported to the
Imperial Ancestors, at a ceremony held in the court sactuary,
as follows, " Sacred music heralded the beginning of the
ceremony and the Court ritualists made offering of food at the
sanctuary The Emperor, attended by Lord
Chamberlain, Prince Takatsukasa, and a few others, proceeded
to the sanctuary, before which His Majesty read a scroll
announcing the dates of the Coronation and the thanksgiving
Festival The Imperial messengers, ordered to
the Great Shrine at Ise and the Imperial mausolea at several
places to report the dates of the Coronation and the Thanks-
giving Festival, were present in ceremonial costumes."^
On August 28, 1914, the Official Gazette published as
Order Number 19 of the Department of Home Affairs a ritual
to be used in announcing the declaration of war against Ger-
many before the deities of the shrines. The order contains
the following prayer : —
" Especially care for and bless the soldiers who, in ac-
cordance with the Great Command of the Emperor, are bravely
and steadily pressing forward, and also care for and bless the
people of the whole land who are uniting their hearts and
exerting their strength for the world* and for their country.
1. Japan Weekly Mail, Nov. I3, 1915, p. 234.
2. Japan Evangelist, March, 1914, p. 126. For accounts of similar
religious ceremonies ste Japan Times and A fail {Weekly Ed.), May 10, 1919, pp.
637 and 639; May 31, 19 19, p. 727 ; Jan. 18, 19 1 9, p. 85 ; Japan Weekly Mail,
Oct. 13 and 21, 1905; Nov. 13, 1915. See also articles by K. Ibuka, " TlT^-
Coronation of the Emperor of Japan," Record of Christian Work, Vol. XXXV
(May, I916), pp. 275-8 and by J. Ingram Bryan, " The Crown Prince Comes of
Age," Japan Magazine, June, 1919, pp. 51-53'
3. This is the only instance of internationalism in the Shinto prayers tha
has come under the observation of the writer.
298 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHV OF MODERN SHINTO.
Utterly and quickly subdue the enemy attacking on land and
on sea ; drive him away and scatter him. Restore to peace
and calm the troubled waves of the eastern sea. Makes the
glory of the Imperial House to spread abroad far and wide,
more and more, in the lands of the four directions under heaven ;
make it to shine with increasing brightness. Protect and bless
us with a guard by day and a guard by night."^
Government supervision of the form of the rites conducted
at ^.he shrines on important official occasions is equally minute.
Here again the abundance of data available for examination in
the national laws necessitates that our treatment be limited
to the presentation of a single example. The order of service
translated below appears on the statute books as a part of
Order Number Four of the Department of Home Affairs,
dated March 27, 19 14. It is intended for use in the Festival
of Prayer for the Year's Crops, the Harvest Festival and the
Grand Local Festivals at all Government and National Shrines.
"On the appointed day early in the morning the shrine
sanctuary is decorated.
"At the appointed time the chief priest and others take
seats in their designated places.
" The messenger who presents the offering (for the state)
comes forward. Prior to this the hand-water ceremony is
observed.
" The messenger who presents the offering goes to the
place of purification.
" The purification ceremony is performed. First the offer-
ing, then the messenger and then his attendants are purified.
" The messenger who presents the offering takes his seat
in a designated place.
" The ceremonial chest (containing) the offering (of the
state) is set in a convenient place.
" The chief priest announces to the messenger that all
preparations are completed.
I. Kampo, No. 624, Aug. 28, 19 14.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 299
" The chief priest opens the doors and awaits near by.
Music during this interval.
** The neg-f and others present (ordinary) offerings. Music
during this interval.
'' The chief priest recites norito.
** The messenger and his attendants take the offering (of
the state) from the ceremonial chest and place it temporarily
on a table. The table has been previously set in a con-
\'enient position.
" The chief priest presents the offering (of the state).
*' The messenger recites norito.
" The messenger presents tamagiishi and worships.^ The
attendants hand him the tamagushi.
** The attendants of the messenger worship.
** The chief priest presents iamagiishi and worships. The
shuten hand him the tamagushi.
" The sub-chief priest or negi and others worship.
" The sub-chief priest or negi and others remove the offer-
ing (of the state).
** The negi and others remove the (ordinary) offerings.
" The chief priest closes the doors and resumes his original
place. Music during this interval.
** The chief priest announces to the messenger that the
ceremony is completed.
'' All retire."'
We may pass on to the summary and termination of the'
entire discussion. Our investigation leads to the conclusion
that the official cult of the Shinto Shrines is the state religion
of modern Japan. Shinto must be classified as genuine religion.
Not only so, but it is also a religion to which the government,
actuated by political motives, accords special protection and
1. ^f^, hairei. The term simply inverts the elements of the expression
for worship, reihai, of the ordinary religious vocabulary of modern Japan. Iiiouye
defines hairei 2& " ihe v^^orship of a divine being." Cf. s. v.
2. GetiJid Jinja Horei Rn'san, p. 272.
nhJ^
.^
y
/I
300 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
support. There has been no disestablishment of Shintd in
the modern period. From the time of the Restoration in .
1868 right down to the present, the general tendency of legisla-
tion in religious matters has been in the direction of cementing
with increasing closeness the bonds which unite the Shinto
shrines to the inner life of the state itself It is true that
certain Shint5 sects, so-called, have been legally separated
from the official cult and that the legal control of Shint5 as a
state religion has been set apart from that of other religions,
but the net result of such manipulation has been to facilitate an
unimpeded extension of official control over the shrines, and at
the same time to furnish the government with a legal smoke
L screen behind which it can escape the shock of opposition.
Shinto priests are officially defined as officers of the state
with such matters as appointment, duties, privileges, mainte-
nance and discipline adjusted by special legal enactments.
The shrines are regarded as institutions of the state with
affairs of management and finance fixed by national law,
and support supplied either wholly or in part out of thej
revenues of the central or local governments. Rituals for use
at the shrines are carefully determined by special statute.
Government officials, in their capacities as representatives of
the state, participate in the ceremonies. The rituals for use in
the great festivals of Government and National Shrines are
built up around the fact of the presentation of offerings from
the government. Public education makes prominent use of a
program which attempts to build national morality on an appeaj
to Shinto mythology and tradition, and good citizenship is
identified with the acceptance of this mythology. The dogma
of the sacredness of a divinely descended Emperor of unbroken
lineage from the age of the gods is written into the national
Constitution itself The same proposition occupies a central
place in the ethical instruction of the public schools and in the
shrine rituals alike. In other words, Shinto ancestralism center-
ing in the worship of Imperial ancestors enters as a primary
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5. 3OI
element into the foundation of the Japanese state. Also, the
observance of the national holidays is closely connected with
ceremonies conducted at Shintd Shrines. Teachers in govern-
ment schools are instructed to conduct their pupils, on regularly
specified occasions, to the shrines and there do obeisance
before the deities. The visit is also made the opportunity for
the impartation of moral instruction in the elements of Japanese
patriotism. Thus the nation as a whole is called upon to
support the ritual and dogma of Shint5. In these various
matters Shinto occupies a unique status as the cult of the state.
As a religion, it has places of worship, priestly functionaries
and elaborate ceremonies that make use of purification, offerings,
oaths, charms, reports to the deities, prayers and worship. Under-
lying the government rituals appears the assumption of the
existence of a sacred spirit-world of deified "ancestors" who
guard and guide the destinies of the nation. Even thus the
difficulties would be considerably lessened if the deities to
which the government directs prayer and sacrifice could be
consistently identified as authentic ancestors. The authorities,
however, have carried over into the official cult certain elements |
that have far more to do with primitive religion than they have /
with the vital interests of intelligent men in the modern world. '
The greatest of the ** Imperial Ancestors " worshipped at the
shrines are nothing other than mythological nature deities.
In all this the Japanese government is palpably inconsis- \
tent. As the " Report of the Investigation of the Problem of
Reverence " published in 1920 by the Shin sect of Buddhism
states the case, the government is constantly standing in the
presence of a self-contradiction. The authorities have placed ^^
themselves in the anomalous position of maintaining a state \
religion in actual practice and at the same time attempting to
propagate a theoretical denial of the religious status of the /
official cult. Government officials, speaking in their capa-
city as representatives of the state, have repeatedly insisted
that the official policy relating to the Shinto shrines is altogether
^ 302 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
independent of the policy that concerns itself with religion,
or — to quote from the statement of the Chief of the Bureau of
I Shrines made in 19 18 — that "from the standpoint of the
\ organization of the state, the shrines are not regarded as insti-
I tutions of religion." At the same time the government
-^ publishes in the national laws themselves detailed rituals for
use in government services conducted at these same shrines,
! wherein prayers are made to the deities of the shrines, re-
^2;^arded as superhuman spiritual powers. It is to be observed
that the nonto do not attempt to furnish material merely for
nourishing the commemorative attitude and stimulating senti-
// ments of gratitude and loyalty. On the other hand, the unseen
powers of the shrines are appealed to by the government itself
for aid in such all important matters as the safeguarding of the
food supply, the tranquilization and perpetuation of the national
life and the stabilization of the existing organization of the state
around the institution of the Imperial Throne. A government
which promulgates side by side statements which say, " What-
ever opinion may be held as to what should be done regarding
the religious attitude toward the shrines, the government will
maintain a neutral position on the ground that religious belief
should be free," and " Our ancestors in Heaven watch Our
acts, and we recognize Our responsibility to them for the
faithful discharge of Our high duties " ; and which, at the same
time, ir.structs its priestly representatives in the exact words of
prayer to be used in supplicating these same " ancestors in
Heaven " — such a government is, to say the least, inconsistent.
The dualism that is here involved cannot be resolved by any
of the known methods of human thinking which satisfy the
simple requirement of being according to ordinaiy honest logic.
, , The official distinctipn between the cult of the shrines and
religion as such is yumei miijitsu — it possesses name but not
reality. It is a legal fiction wliich is without support in objective
scientific fact.
It would be of no small interest to know the extent
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 303
to which individual officials of the government, actuated
altogether by political motives, deliberately further the existing
dualism, while at the same time they find it impossible to give
sincere personal allegiance to the religious tenets which they
thus propagate for purposes of political control. The problem
as stated in this form involves the investigation of individual
motives— a matter on which it is very difficult to secure evidence.
Mr. Y. Okakura tells us that if we should question the modern
Japanese of ordinary education as to whether or not he be-
lieves in " God in the Christian sense, or Buddha as the creator,
or in the Shinto deities or else in any other personal agency or
agencies, as originating and presiding over the universe," we
would in ninty-nine cases out of a hundred get a negative
answer.* Mr. Fukuza.wa has been taken as a type of the
educated Japanese man when he says, ** I lack a religious
nature, and have never believed in any religion."^ If such'
agnosticism could be established as characteristic of the ruling
classes of Japan as a whole, then the entire modern Shinto
movement would take on the form of a grotes^^ue piece of
make-believe. Undoubtedly for many individuals especially
among the educated and governing classes it is little more nor
less than this. Possibilities of variation in the intensity of
individual conviction, however, and in the range of individual
knowledge, even among government officials, are vast. Ignor-
ance, intentional double-dealipg, out and out agnosticism, or
deep personal religious faith may all exist as possible individual
factors. Yet, taking the cult as it actually stands, with its
paraphernalia of shrines, priests, ceremonies fixed by law and
necessary underlying beliefs, it must be said, on the basis of
the evidence that has already been passed in review, that
modern Shinto represents a naive religious faith in which
officialdom itself shares.
1. Cf. Y. Okakura, The Japanese Spirit (Lonon, 1905^, p. 93.
2. Cf. Chamberlain, The Invention of a New Religion (London, 1912, 27
pages), p 5.
(
304 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5.
For many among the ruling classes the content of the
term ** shares " certainly seems to amount to little more than
a " make-believe " mrticipation which directs and exploits
popular tendencies, ^et the important fact is that the govern-
ment treats the cult of the shrines as pure religion and evidently
builds on the possibility of finding in the life of the nation a
field in which a state religion will grow. Indeed, there is
good reason for believing that the government in its effort to
secure a steadying influence wherewith to meet the stress and
strain attendant upon the abolition of feudalism and the adjust-
ment to a new national unification, which has involved re-
organization to the conditions — including the dangers — of a
wider international association and competition, has simply
fallen back on the inherent conservatism of the old folkways.
Here, as survivals out of the remote past, still exist feelings of
racial uniqueness and even of racial sacredness, along with
tendencies to classify the extraordinary members of society in
the mana category and to assign their genealogical connections
to a divine ancestry. This constitutes a fruitful field for the
support of the official religion.
This means, of course, that the entire movement is domi-
nated by a j)olitical rriotive. Government documents inform
us in so many words that the Shinto shrines are being utilized
in promoting the unification and administration of the country.
Justification of the ambiguous religious policy of the authorities,
if found anywhere, is to be found here on the gi'ound of political
necessity. The cult of the shrines concentrates attention on
" home products " ; it stimulates contentment with the existing
order of things and confidence of superiority such as wdll with-
stand the seductions of foreign intercourse ; it serves as a means
of social discipline; it meets ** dangerous thoughts " and thus
does a kind of police duty for the state ; and, above all, it
utilizes the religious and moral aspirations of the people in such
a way as to secure support for important political institutions.
From the standpoint of the authorities the interests of the
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINT5, 305
people are confronted with the possibility of the simultaneous
existence of two irreconcilable foci, one in the political field and
one in a religious field lying outside of the proper interests of good
citizenship as conceived by the government officials, f The"1
authorities apparently fear the possibility of a weakening of
nationalism through the existence of a strong religious interest
in which the issues of nationalism are not sufficiently prominent^
In the national cult the two foci of nationalism and religion are
made to coincide in a supreme center of loyalty to the Imperial
ancestors. Proof of this statement is to be found not simply in
the ethical and religious teaching of the government but is also
to be seen in the veiy gradation of the shrines themselves,
which passes from the local shrines to tutelary deities of villages
and districts through larger shrines of various grades upward
to the Grand Imperial Shrine of Ise which, as the place of
worship of the " Great Ancestor of the Emperor " is so exalted
as to transcend the ordinary shrine classification. The form of
the religious organization reproduces that of the state. Ac- )
cordingly, the underlying political motive of modern Shintd )
must be said to consist in the furnishing of support to the
Imperial Throne, which is the emotional and practical center of
the state. The Restoration reinstated the Emperor as the "
center of the political life of the nation. The cult of the shrines
continues this work on the religious and moral side by glorify-
ing the sentiment of loyalty to t^e Imperial Throne and giving
to this sentirnent a religious significance. This involves the
elevation to preeminence in Shinto of Emperor worship and
the unification of Shint5 itself about this aspect of the cult. The
government just now is especially concerned with this phase of
the development of Shinto, as is witnessed by the construction
of the great shrine to Meiji Tennd in Tokyo and the extension
of Emperor worship to Korea. ^
The Japanese government is far from having solved all pro-
blems either for itself or for its subjects by its method of handling
the Sliinto issue. A certain small number of intellectuals have
-7
306 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
attempted to sublimate the existing difficulties by the utilization
of a pantheistic philosophy which permits a facile transition
from nature deities to true ancestral spirits and which even
makes room for the worship of living Emperors. The inter-
pretation is esoteric, however, and is not in the original philoso-
sophy of Shinto. Moreover, the prominence of chauvinistic
elements in the solution makes it impossible.
No more can confidence be placed in the solution offered
by those representatives of the nationalistic-ethical school who
take their stand on the fact of a legal distinction between the
control of the Shinto shrines and of other religions and who
assert that the idea of kami in Shinto is fundamentally different
from the idea of deity found in ordinary religion. This form of
interpretation presents a superficial modus vivendi for those
who for various reasons find it necessary to repudiate the state
cult as a religion but who at the same time wish to retain a
social and political status as loyal supporters of the state. The
great fallacy in the attempted solution here is that it completely
overlooks the all important fact that the government itself is
religiously interested even to the extent of making prayer for
the divine aid of the deities of the shrines.
The difficulties of the Shinto situation are most deeply felt
by those who are conscious of obligations to that scientific-
democratic spirit which is slowly growing in modern Japan.
^It is fair to say that the number is steadily increasing of those
who demand that Shinto adjust itself to the accepted conclusions
of modern science and to the retirements of that individual
moral freedom which finds it impossible to accept that which
cannot be logically related to other things which are known
to be true. It is not necessary to consult private opinion for
evidence on tliis matter ; the government itself complains of
the situation. An official statement points to the ** serious
fact " that whereas the children in the elementary schools are
sincere in their faith toward the deities of the shrines, students
of higher schools manifest indifference toward the "■ verities "
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO, 30/
of the government cult. The statement goes on the say, ** The
worshipping of ancestral shrines is so closely associated with
the national character of the Empire that the above tendency
cannot, in the least, be ignored as anything but serious. It is
the authorities' decision that some proper steps be taken for the
correction of the above undesirable state of affairs, assisted by
the Shinto priests."^ Up to the present the government's
method of correction has involved parochialism in moral educa-
tion and inquisitorial rnethods in the control of thought. This
has meant the systematic suppression of individualism and no
small amount of petty persecution. Some of the best minds in
the nation have been forced into a silence that is full of " curses
not loud but d^ep," or else have been driven completely over
into the group of reactionaries. Some find refuge in hypocrisy.
The resultant moral situation is serious. In spite of the pro-
testations of a superior Japanese patriotism that come from a
certain group of ultra-nationalists, the fact yet remains that the
press of the land constantly calls attention to the existence of
an extraordinary degeneration in the morale of public officials
of the government. Comparison is not infrequently made with
the conditions of political corruption that existed in England in
the eighteenth century. If Shintd as a national cult, as a
religion of loyalty and patriotism, is successful, then certainly
one of its fruits ought to be fidelity in the discharge of public
duties. It does not seem to have remotely occurred to the
thinking of those who are responsible for the direction of the
state religion that the possibility exists that the methods and
materials which they utilize in fostering loyalty are slowly
helping to undermine the foundations of the very thing that
they are trying to establish.
In all this varied indication of a new point of view in
present day Japan there is an implied recognition of the fact
that the whole structure of Shinto tradition cannot possibly
I. Statement of the Chief of the Bureau of Shrines. See art. " Students Fail
in Ancestor Worship," Japan Times and Mail ^\K eddy Ed.), May 28, 1921, p, 787.
1/
/!
308 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
stand forever as a consistent whole. The question is, what
shall make up the sacred world of Shinto ? " The divine
origin of the Emperor, the unbroken line of his descent from
the immortals, the guardianship that his deified ancestors ex-
tend to the realm and its people — these are the essential bases
of Japanese patriotism."^ So writes a modern Japanese inter-
preter of his native institutions. The point is a most delicate
one, yet, in what sense shall these sacred things be preserved
in modern Japan ? What shall be the basis of patriotism in a
world that includes science, democracy, internationalism and
modern industrialism? The answer must be given by the
Japanese themselves. Certain it is that a movement toward
readjustment and reinterpretation has already set in. The
great organizing concept in Shinto history is the idea of
sacredness. A kami object is, after all, a sacred object ; a
kairii person is a sacred person. The content of the sacred
world may change ; indeed, as the naive Shinto world-view
gives place to the scientific world-view, it must change ; but
loyalty to sacred things must be eternal. This matter of dis-
covering a basis for loyalty ' to wliich modern intelligent men
can render sincere allegiance is one of the most urgent problems
awaiting the solution of the Japanese people.
I. Cf. Brinkley, Captain F., (ed.), Japan, Described atid Illustrated Iry the
Japane'^e ("Written by eminent Japanese authorities and scholars."). Vol. II,
p. 212.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 309
APPENDIX A.
Bibliography — Works of Reference in
European Languages.
^v Armstrong, R. C, " Shint5 as a National Cult," The Christian
Movement in the Japanese Empire (Tokyo, 191 8), pp.
262-274.
Asakawa, K., TJie Early Institutional Life of Japan, Tokyo,
1903.
Aston, Wm. Geo., Nihongiy 2 Vol., Supplement I of T.J.S.L.,
Eondon, 1896.
Aston, W. G., Shinto, the Way of the Gods, London, 1905.
Aston, W. G., Shinto, the Ancient Religion of Japan, Chicago,
1907.
Aston, W. G., " The Japanese gohei and the Ainu inao!' Jour.
Anth. Inst. Gt. Brit, and Ire., Vol. XXXI (1901), pp.
131-135.
Aston, W. G., " Sacrifice in Shinto," Man, Vol. XII, (191 2),
PP- 5-9-
Aston, W. G., " Ancestor Worship in Japan," Man, Vol. VL
(1906), pp. 35 ff.
Aston, W. G., " Are the NoriLo magical formulae ?," T'oung
Pao, Series II, Vol. X, (1909) pp. 559-566.
Aston, W. G., " Tori- Wi— Its Derivation," T.A.S.J., Vol.
XXVII, Pt. IV.
Aston, W. G., " Shinto," T.J.S.L., Vol. VII, (1906-7), Pt. Ill,
pp. 340-349.
Articles by Aston in H.E.R.E. — " Architecture (Shintd),"
Vol. I, p. 773 ; " Art (Shinto)," i, p. 886 ; '' Shinto," Vol.
2, pp. 462-471.
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310 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
Baty, Thomas, ** Shinto," Hibbert Journal, April, 1 92 1, pp.
414-423.
Bondegger, H., BucJiidd die Geheimwlssenschaft Japans ^ Berlin,
1905.
'B\:di\xns,jydiV{d,JapanischeMdrchenandSagen, Leipzig, 1885.
Brinkley, Captain F., (ed.), Japan, Described and Illustrated
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Consult Vol. II for Shinto.
Buckley, Edmund, " The Shinto Pantheon," New World, Dec,
1896.
Buckley, Edmund, Phallicism in Japan, Chicago, 1895.
Buckley, Edmund, " Shintoism, the Ethnic Religion of Japan,"
Universal Religion (*' A Course of Lessons, Historical and
Scientific on the Various Faiths of the WorW," Chicago,
1893), pp. 153-174.
Bureau of Religions, Department of Education, Japanese Gov-
ernment (Pub.), A General View of the Present Religious
Situation in Japan,/Tok.yo, 1920.
Chamberlain, Basil Hall, Kojiki, or Records of Ancient Matters
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1882. Reprint, 1906; Republished, 1920, by the Japan
Times Pub. Co., Tokyo.
Chamberlain, B. H., The Invention of a Nezv Religion, London,
1912.
Chamberlain, B. H., Language, Mythology and Geographical
Nomenclature of Japan Viewed in the Light of Ainu Studies,
Tokyo, 1887.
Chamberlain, B. H., " Notes on Some Minor Japanese Reli-
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Vol. XXII (1893).
Clement, Ernest W., Constitutional Imperialism, New York,
1916.
Cobbold, G. A., Religion injapauy London, 1905.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSDPHY OF MODERN SHINTQ. 3II
Davis, F. Hadland, Myths and Legends of Japan, London^
1912 (4th ed. 1919).
De Benneville, James, More Japonic o, Yokohama, 1908.
Dening, Walter, *' Mental Characteristics of the Japanese,' *^
T.A.S.J., Vol. XIX, Pt. I.
Dickens, F. V., Primitive and Mediaeval Japanese Texts, 2i
Vols., Oxford, 1906.
Dickens, F. V., " Seven Gods of Happiness," T.A.S.J., Vol.
VIII, Pt. IV.
Dooman, L, " The Beginning of Japanese History, Civilization
and Arts," T.A.SJ., Vol. XXV (1897).
Eastlake, F. Warrington, " Equine Deities," T.A.S.J., Vol. XI,.
Pt. II (1883), pp. 260-285. Reprinted 1914.
Florenz, Karl, Japanische Mythologie', Nihongi, Zeitalter der
Gotter, Tokyo, 1901.
Florenz, Karl, ** Der Shintoismus," Die Orient alischen Religio-
nen (Die Kultur der Gegenwart, Teil I, Abteiling III, I),
Berlin and Leipzig, 1906.
Florenz, Karl, Geschichte der Japanische n Litterattir, Leipzig,.
1906.
Florenz, Karl, ** Ancient Japanese Rituals," T.A.S.J., Vol.
XXVII, PL 1(1899).
Florenz, Karl, Die Historischen Quellen der Shinto-Religion^
Gottingen, 19 19.
Goodwin, C. W., " Some Japanese Legends," T.A.S.J., Vol.
Ill, Pt. n.
^ Griffis, Wm., Elliot, The Mikado : Institution and Person^
Princeton, 191 5.
Griffis, Wm. Elliot, The Religions of Japan, New York, 190 1
(4th ed.).
Gulick, Sidney L., The Evolution of the Japanese, Social and'
Psychic, New York, 1903.
Haas, Hans, Religion der Japaner, Jena, 19 1 4.
. Haga, Y., ** The Spirit of Japan," T.J.S.L., Vol. XV^
(1916-17).
312 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
Hall, J. Carey, " A Japanese Philosopher on Shinto," Trans.
Third International Congress for the History of Religions,
Vol. I (Oxford, 1908), pp. 158 ff.
Harada, T., The Faith of fapan. New York, 1907.
Articles by Harada in H.E.R.E. — '' God (Japanese),'*
Vol. 6, pp. 294-5 \ " Images and Idols (Japanese and
Korean)," Vol. 7, pp. 146-8 ; *' Names (Japanese)," Vol. 9,
pp. 167-8 ; " Purification (Japanese)," Vol. 10, pp. 495-6.
Hearn, Lafcadio, Kwaidan, Stories and Studies of Strange
Things, Leipzig, 1907 ; Boston, 19 14.
Hearn, Lafcadio, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Jap an ^ 2 Vol., Cam-
bridge, Mass., 1894.
Hearn, Lafcadio, In Ghostly Japan, Boston, 1903.
Hearn, Lafcadio, Japan : An Attempt at Interpretation, New-
York, 1905.
Hildburgh, W. L., " Some Japanese charms connected with
the preparation and consumption of food," MaUy Vol.
XIII, No. ej.
Hildburgh, W. L., ''Japanese Household Magic," T.J.S.L.,
1908.
Hildburgh, W. L., " Charms and Amulets (Japanese),"
H^E.R.E., Vol. Ill, pp. 449-451.
Hitchcock, R., " Shintd," Rep. Smith. Inst., 1 891.
Honaga, S., Ama-Terasn-Oho-Mi-Kami, Der Ur sprung ihrer
Verehrung als Goettliche Urahnin von Japan, Bristol, 19 16.
Honaga, S., The National Spirit of Japan, Bristol, 191 6.
Home, C. F., (ed.), Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XIII, /^/^;/,
New York and London, 191 7.
Hozumi, N., Ancestor Worship and Japanese Law, Tokyo, 1901
and 191 3.
Imperial Precepts to the Soldiers and Sailors and the ** Boshin"
Imperial Rescript, Eng. Trans, authorized by the Depart-
ment of Education, Tokyo, 191 3.
It5, H., Commentaries on the Constitution of the Empire of Japan,
(trans, by M. Ito), Tokyo, 1889.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 313
Joly, H. L,, Legend in Japanese ^r/, London, 1907; New-
York, 1908.
Kato, G., " The Ancient Sliinto God, Ame-no-mi-naka-nushi-no-
kami. Seen in the Light of Today," T. A.SJ., Vol. XXXVI,
1908.
y^ Kato, G., Two Papers on Shlntoism^ Tokyo, 19 14.
Kato, N., ** Eastern Ideals and the Japanese Spirit," T.J.S.L.,
Vol. XIII (1914-15), Pt. I, pp. 116-148.
Kikuchi, T)., Japanese Education, London, 1909.
Kirby, R. J., '' Ukemochi no Kami," T.A.SJ., Vol. XXXVIII,
PL 11(1911).
Kirby, R. J., " Ancestral Worsliip in Japan," T.A.S.J., Vol.
XXXVIII, Pt. IV (191 1 ).
Knobloch, A. von., " Die Begraebnissgebraeuche der Shin-
toisten," Mittheilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur
Natur-und Volkerkunde Ostasiens, 6 tes Heft, Dec, 1874.
Knox, Geo. W., The Development of Religion in Japan, ^&vj
York, 1907.
Knox, Geo. W., The Spirit of the Orient, New York, 1906.
Knox, Geo. W., " Arai Hakuseki," T.A.S.J., Vol. XXX,
Pt. 11.
/ Kume, K., '' Shintd," Fifty Years of New Japan, Vol. II, pp.
22-41, London, 1910.
La Vieuville, G., Essai de Psychologie Japonaise, La Race des
Dieux, Paris, 1908.
-Leo, J., Die Entwickelung des alt est en japanischen Seelenlebens^
Leipzig, 1907. ^
Longford, J. H., The Story of Old Japan, London, 1910.
Longford, J. H., ** The Spirit of Japan," The Spirit of the
Allied Nations (ed. by Sidney Low), London, 191 5. ^
Lowell, Percival, " Esoteric Shinto," T.A.S.J., Vol. XXI, pp.
106-135, 152-197, 241-270; Vol. XXII, Pt. I, pp. 1-26.
Low^ell, Percival, Occult Japan, Boston and New York,
1895.
Matsuura, Y., Bushido by Foreign Writers, Tokyo, 1904.
314 THE POLITICAL PH L^SOPHY OF MODERN SHINfO.
McLaren, W. W., " Japanese Government Documents,"
T.A.SJ.y.Vol. XLII, Pt. I (1914)-
Munro, Neil Gordon, " Some Origins and Survivals," T.A.SJ.,
Vol. XXXVIII, Pt. III.
Munro, Neil Gordon, " Reflections on Some European Paleoliths
and Japanese Survivals," T.A.SJ., Vol. XXXVII, Pt. I.
Munro, N. G., Prehistoric Japan, Yokohama, 1908.
Munro, N. G., " Primitive Culture in Japan," T.A.SJ., VoL
XXXIV, Pt. 11.
Murdoch, James, A History of Japan, 3 Vols. (Vol. i, " From
the Origins to the Arrival of the Portuguese in 1542,"
Yokohama, 1910. Vol. II, ** During the Century of
Early European Intercourse, 1 542-1651," Kobe, 1903.
Vol. Ill not yet published).
Nitobe, I., Bus/lido, the Soul of Japan, New York, 1905.
Nitobe, I., The Japanese Nation^ New York and London, 191 2.
Nukariya, K., The Religion of the Samurai (Luzac's Oriental
Religions Series), 191 3.
Ohrt, E., " Totengebrauche in Japan. Das Staatsbegrabnis
des Fiirsten ltd," Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Natur-und
Volkerkunde Ostasiens, Mittheilungen, Bd. 13, Tl. 2, 1910.
Okakura, K., Ideals of the East, London, 1903 ; New York,
1904.
Okakura, Y., The Japanese Spirit, New York, 1905.
Okuma S., "A Summary of the History of Japan," Fifty Years
of New Japan (London, 19 10), VoL I, pp. 1-54.
Ozaki, Y., The Voice of Japanese Democracy, Being an Essay on
Constitutional Loyalty, Ydk.o)\diVi\2i, igi^.
Pasteur, V. M., Gods and Heroes of Old Japan, London,
1906.
Pieters, Albertus, " Emperor Worship in Japan," International
Review of Missions, Vol. IX, No. 35 (July, 1920), pp.
340-356.
Revon, Michel, '* Le Shintoisme," Revue de L Histoire des
Religions, Vol. 49, pp. 1-33, 127-153, 306-325; Vol. 50,
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 315
pp. 149-199, 319-359 ; Vol. 51, pp. 37^392 ; Vol. 52, pp.
33-77 ; Vol. 54, pp. 163-217, 327-373 ; Vol. 55, pp. 51-1 10.
Revon, M., Le Shintoisme, Paris, 1907.
Revon, M., " Les Anciens Rituels du Shinto Consideres Comme
Formules Magiques," Transactions of the Jhird Interna-
tional Congress for the History of Religions^ Vol. I, pp.
165-181.
Articles by Revon in H.E.R.E. — " Ancestor- wor-
ship and Cult of the Dead (Japanese)," Vol. i, pp.
455-7, "Cosmogony and Cosmology (Japanese)," Vol.
4, pp. 162-7 ; " Divination (Japanese)," Vol. 4, pp. 801-6 ;
" Heroes and Hero-Gods (Japanese)," Vol. 6, pp. 662-4 ;
" Human Sacrifice (Japanese and Korean)," Vol. 6, pp.
855-8 ; " Magic (Japanese)," Vol. 8, pp. 296-300; "■ Na-
ture (Japanese)," Vol. 9, pp. 233-240; "Possession
(Japanese)," Vol. 10, pp. 131-3; "Prayer (Japanese),"
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Zeitschrift fur Missionskimde unci Religionsivissenchaft, vi
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Rivetta, Pietro Silvio, Shinto {la religione nazionale dei Giap^
pojiesi), Rome, 1908.
Satow, Ernest M., " The Revival of Pure Shintau," T.A.S.J.,
Vol. Ill, Pt. I, Appendix, 1874.
Satow, E. M., " The Shintau Temples of Ise," T.A.S.J., Vol.
II (1874), pp. 99-122. Reprint, 1907.
Satow, E. M., "Ancient Japanese Rituals," T.A.S.J., Vol.
VII, Pt. II (1879); Vol. VII, PL IV (1879); Vol. IX,
Pt. II(i88i).
Satow, E. M., "The Mythology and Religious Worship of the
Ancient Japanese," Westminister Reviczv, 1898.
Satow, E. M., " Ancient Sepulchral Mounds in Kandzuke,"
T.A.S.J., Vol. VIII, Pt. III.
Schedel, Jas., Phallus-Qdtus in Japan, Yokohama, 1896.
3l6 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
Schiller, Emil, Shinto : Die Volksreligion Japans, Berlin, 191 1.
Schwartz, W. L., " The Great Shrine of Idzumo, Some notes
on Shinto, ancient and modern," T. A.S J., Vol. XLI (191 3),
Ft. IV.
Shibata, R., " Shintoism," The World's Parliament of Religion
(Chicago, 1893), pp. 451 ff-
Smith, R. G., Ancient Tales and Folk-Lore of Japan, London,
1908.
Stead, Alfred {cd.), Japan by the Japanese, London, 1904.
Stead, Alfred, "Japanese Patriotism," T.J.S.L., Vol. VII
(1905-6), Pt. II, pp. 180-204.
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Vol. 5, pp. 489-501.
Terry, Milton S., The Shinto Cult, Cincinnati and New York,
1910.
Tomii, M. " Le Shintoisme," Annales du Musee Gidmet, Tome
10, 1887.
Visser, M. W. de, " The Fox and Badger in Japanese
•Folklore," T.A.S.J., Vol. XXXVI, Pt. Ill (1908).
Visser, M. W. de, " The Dog and Cat in Japanese Folklore,"
T.A.S.J., Vol. XXXVII, Pt. I (1909).
Visser, M. W. de, " The Snake in Japanese Superstition,"
Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat. Seminar fur orient alische
Sprachen, 19 ii.
Weaver, R. M., " Emperor Worship," Asia, June, 1920, pp.
472 ff.
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Japan," T.J.S.L., Vol. \\f (1897-8), pp. 256-272.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 317
APPENDIX B.
bibuography — ^works of reference in the
Japanese Language.
i^iH^^mm^. (AOliE*)
H*#JiiKa m MM)
^MRm K S- ffia 5 #11: (i^^x)
mmMm&m (#ifcm#)
316 THE POUTICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
mmmm^mm m±.)
mmmm^mm mi.)
mmm^^mm m±)
fiss:** -^ (ffi»M«)
mmmmmmm^ m<^9mm)
i^mmmmiimtmm opmrnx)
mmimimm (s* ii: mHM.x)
WftwfiJS (lljIBip^'fiK)
imts^sia (tgf«fig)
»me*«M£ (tB4'iifiB)
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 319
H**Eiilg JPI'ftS (HUtRM 7jc^«E;i:li ffifflS*)
Mrfig««i3*ffis n^t (Mm ^)
^m^mmm m±)
320 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHV OF MODERN SHINTO.
mm^m m ^i
ll>
wmm^m -«
(I&;KSJ1)
mm^mmm^^mm
; m -iBE)
mmmmm (#*§
n^m
nmmmf^m^m
imf^mm)
m-^-uwrnmrnrf^mm (+i*±^3^)
®SR5?M^S-Il
m±)
#gtS?i?ti-iE
m:t^)
mmn^M. mm m)
■^AUm (IfilJb)
■^m.m.m m±)
mmr,mt i>m'^-£.WM mm'sm)
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINIO. $21
w:MAO)mmm ' mrii'mm
Willi: K^#illfe
0 * ^
m M
322 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
mm m^mm (:^0*iafs#)
mmmm i^Mm'^m
f3 * f5 mmmw
M m. ill (tiBsiSif^ Mm^'k)
:fcB*iiRfii mm m
rJfeS^fls BIRilS (=1=smA)
WIS)
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 323
324 THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO.
APPENDIX C*
I — Statistics for Shinto Shrines.
X.
Totals for
Totals
Grand
Govern-
National
Prefec-
Shrises
District
Village
Ungraded
for
TotaL
Year
Shrine
ment
tural ;
above grade
Village and
all
of Ise.
Shrines.
Shrines.
Shrines.
of District
Shrines.
Shrines.
Shrines.
Shrines.
Ungraded
Shrines.
Shrii
1880 ...
55
68
369
493
3,272
52,754
130,293
183,047
186,i
1881 ...
65
68
414
538
3,365
53,310
130,144
183,454
187,;
1882 ...
63
69
429
562
3,426
52,520
131,661
184,181
188,;
18«?> ...
63
70
445
579
3,445
53,451
132,393
185,847
189,i
1884 ...
63
70
457
691
3,461
53,231
133,135
186,366
190,^
1885 ...
78
73
454
606
3,457
52,613
136,050
188,663
192,;
1886 ...
78
73
460
612
3,456
52,680
135,220
187,900
191,<
1887 ...
78
73
458
610
3,453
52,778
135,518
188,296
192,J
1888 ...
79
76
455
611
3,448
52,365
136,607
183,972
193,(
1889 ...
81
76
456
614
3,460
52,426
136,783
189,209
193,;
1890 ...
87
75
457
620
3,467
52,423
136,732
189,155
193,t
1891 ...
87
75
458
621
3,470
52,410
136,652
189,062
193,]
18^2 ...
87
75
460
623
3,470
52,411
136.972
189,383
193,^
Ife93 ...
Si
75
462
624
3,469
52,420
136,916
189,336
193,^
1894 ...
88
75
467
631
3,463
52,404
134,305
186,709
190,^
1895 ...
90
75
472
638
3,461
52,412
134,247
186,659
190,-
1896 ...
93
73
486
653
3,465
52,423
135,459
187,882
192,(
1897 ...
93
73
493
660
3,462
52,419
135,421
187,840
191,i
1898 ...
93
73
496
663
3,464
52,413
135,366
135,332
187,779
19I,t:
1899 ...
93
75
496
665
3,467
52,414
187,746
191,^
1900 ...
93
75
538
707
3,319
54,045
138,287
192,332
196,^
1901 ...
93
75
543
712
3,318
53,037
138,189
191,226
195,i
1902 ...
95
75
574
745
3,478
62,135
139,698
191,833
196.(
1903 ...
95
75
571
742
3,476
52,133
136,947
189,080
193,5
1904 ...
95
75
566
737
3,447
52,506
136,139
188,645
192,^
1905 ...
95
75
571
742
3,476
52,467
135,681
188,148
192,:^
1906 ...
95
75
578
749
3,465
52,397
133,825
186,222
190,^
1907 ...
95
75
580
751
3,463
51,052
121,474
172,526
176,7
1908 ...
95
75
580
751
3,461
49,508
108,722
158,230
162,^
1909 ...
95
75
580
751
3,463
47,988
95,239
143,227
147,4
1910 ...
95
75
583
754
3,449
47,081
85,850
132,931
137,1
1911 ...
95
75
587
758
3,446
46,455
79.599
126,054
13(»,5
1912 ...
97
73
590
761
3,447
46,117
76,751
122,868
127,(;
19131 ...
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
1914 ...
98
72
599
770
3,452
45,680
72,691
118,371
122,5
1915 ...
98
72
606
777
3,455
45,514
71,063
116,577
120,^
1916 ...
102
73
625
801
3,447
45,332
69,338
114,670
118,£
1917 ...
102
75
634
812
3,4nl
45,248
68,218
113,466
117,7
1918 ...
102
75
648
8-26
3,456
45,165
67,419
112,584
116,J-
1919 ...
105
75
6H6
847
3,457
45,155
66,738
111,89^^
116,1
1920 ...
105
75
685
866
3,462
45,112
66,069
111,181
115,5
* Based on yearly reports in Kohisei Ippan, published by the Department of
Home Aflalrs. The statistics here given do not include those for small
UDgraded shrines located within the precincts of larger shrines.
t Statistics ior 1913 are not available.
THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SHINTO. 32$
2 — Statistics for Shinto Priests.
Grand
Shrine
of Ise.
Gtovem-
rnent
Shrines.
National
Shrines.
Prefec-
tural
Shrines.
Totals
for Shrines
above
District
Shrines.
District
Shrines.
Village
Shrines.
Ungraded
Shrines.
Totals for
i)istriot,
Village and
Ungraded
Shrines.
57
287
285
716
1,345
4,093
8,643
177
12,913
55
336
305
769
1,465
4,212
8.798
180
13,190
54
375
348
791
1,568
4,332
9,031
27
13,390
68
394
372
781
1,605
4,285
8,819
34
13.138
59
399
367
779
1,604
4,088
8,649
275
13,012
58
500
381
767
1,70'6
4,103
8,588
273
12,964
59
503
371
766
1,699
4,084
8,756
310
13,150
56
—
—
758
814
4,133
8,742
503
13,378
61
231
209
748
1.249
4,039
8,897
363
13,299
61
252
214
746
1,273
4,006
8,984
402
13,392
61
264
209
739
1,273
4,032
9,035
377
13,444
61
277
224
732
1,294
4,006
9,034
366
13,406
61
296
217
732
1,306
4,062
8,994
371
13,427
60
290
218
742
1,310
3,759
9,275
406
13,440
61
294
211
737
1,313
3,830
9,244
449
13,523
61
298
213
770
1,342
3,876
9,114
597
13,587
68
305
205
823
1,401
3,955
9,103
699
13,757
71
317
210
869
1,467
3,897
9,264
838
13,999
72
306
308
207
868
1,453
3,991
9,418
9,238
890
971
14,299
72
207
863
1,450
3,787
13,996
73
314
217
873
1,477
3,802
9,364
1,765
14,931
73
318
216
896
1,503
3,703
9,228
1,931
14,862
72
334
220
893
1,519
3,661
9,399
1,514
14,574'
73
342
222
901
1,538
3,726
9,073
1,131
13,930
73
345
219
915
1,552
3,631
8,743
1,091
13,465
73
346
227
906
1,552
3,647
8,670
1,143
13,460
73
354
225
918
1,570
3,688
8/710
1,176
13,574
72
354
230
923
1,579
3,608
8,660
1,161
13,429
73
360
230
912
1,575
3,588
8,549
1,124
13,261
73
356
234
910
1,573
3,604
8,543
1,101
13,248
73
377
214
908
1,572
3,575
8,485
895
12,955
73
371
224
902
1,570
3,532
8,513
883
12,928
73
369
226
887
1,555
3,470
8,448
879
12,797
73
383
225
894
1,575
3,394
8,378
876
12,648
73
408
208
890
1,579
3,365
8,491
907
12.763
73
403
227
907
1,610
3,422
8,679
908
13,009
73
414
239
955
1,681
3,408
8,677
926
13,011
73
426
236
951
1,686
3,405
8,716
925
13,046
73
427
234
958
1,692
3,433
8,714
920
13,087
73
432
233
969
1,707
3,417
8,624
950
12,991
DA-^
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530 SIM-
UNIVERSiTY .
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