A History of Modern Shinto

At Ishiyama Jinja

Through most of Japan’s history, she had several different “ways” (道) and “teachings” (教) that sycrestically existed together with each other. In English we often separate them out with various specific names such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, and so on. But these distinctions were much less clear in old Japan. There was the classification system of the “three teachings” (三教), adopted from China which originally referred Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. However, this classification was less popular in Japan. Furthermore, even the distinction between ways and teachings were ambiguous. For example, Buddhism was usually called a teaching but sometimes referred to as a way, while Shinto is a way, but sometimes included as one of the “three teachings” (replacing Taoism). Thus it is quite clear that these ways and teachings were not strictly separated from one another in premodern Japan, and that there was no one institution or categorization that can be said to be equivalent to the Western idea of “religion”.

This was problem when Japanese entered the modern era in 1868. That year, the old military government was forced to step down, and direct rule by the Emperor was restored. The new Imperial government, faced with pressures both internal and external, needed bring Japan out of its long sleep of peaceful feudalism and unite the entire archipelago into a modern nation-state strong enough to rival the many Western Powers lapping at her shores. One of the pressing issues that Japan needed to confront where the demands for “freedom of religion”. Japan had no word that could translated as “religion”, so it seemed that this new word “religion” meant merely “Christianity”. Indeed, it seems that that was what the foreign nations wanted by their insistence on “freedom of religion”: they wanted to be able to build churches and send Christian missionaries into Japan. Thus “freedom of religion” was written into many of the (unequal) treaties Japan signed with Western nations and was enshrined in the Meiji Constitution.

Eventually, it became clear to Japan that Westerners did not just mean “Christianity” when they said “religion”. So what was religion in Japan then? Already Westerners were familiar Buddhist and Confucian traditions from their experience in China. Buddhism, with its long academic history and wealth of rituals, was a religion. Confucianism on the other hand was only a philosophy. What about Japan’s indigenous tradition of Shinto? That was a bit more difficult.

The Meiji government, in its effort to westernize, had already ordered a clear distinction be made between temples (Buddhism) and shrines (Shinto). Since these two traditions had often been indistinguishable throughout most of Japan’s history, it seems likely that Shinto, just like Buddhism, was also a religion.

Thus in the early Meiji period, Buddhism and Shinto were both seen as religions similar to Christianity. A department of religion was created within the government to regulate the religions. The Imperial government favored Shinto and considered making it the state religion. Despite this, Shinto priests could not compete with the better educated and more theologically-grounded Buddhists when lobbying for influence within the government. Thus both Shinto and Buddhist priests were unhappy with the arrangement.

Shinto had existed syncrestically along with Buddhism, but now separated, there were some important differences between the two. Buddhism had a long tradition of scholarly education and specific doctrines. But Shinto lacked both scriptures and doctrine. And perhaps even more importantly, Shinto had a very public and geographic nature. Given Shinto’s lack of characteristics considered defining of religion (doctrine/scriptures) and its public nature, Buddhist and Shinto priests began to think perhaps Shinto wasn’t a religion. Perhaps it was less than a religion. Perhaps it was more than one.

At this point, it might be good to remind my dear reader of the sort of theories that were in vogue in the West. There was a general idea that time is progressive. All of civilization runs through the same stages with the West being the considered the jewel of modern civilization and all other countries were classified below that at various stages according to their similarity or dissimilarity to the West. Religion also followed this “progressive” path. Ritualistic religions were primitive and for barbarians. Protestant Christianity (monotheistic, lacking ritual, and focusing of internal spirituality) was the most civilized religion. The only stage above Christianity was the lack of a need of religion at all: secularism. That societies progress with time and eventually become secular as they modernize is called the “secularization theory”. It is unfortunately still quite popular today, despite being clearly wrong (Cf. Jose Casanova).

In China, the Qing government and other reformers tried to formulate Confucianism into a state religion equal to or above Christianity. This is understandable, given many of the Western powers had State Churches. However, these Chinese attempts failed and China embraced a Western-style Scientism. Japan, on the other hand, ended up rejecting the idea of a Shinto as a state religion. Instead, the government listened to the Shinshu Buddhists–who argued that Shinto was less than a religion–and the Shinto scholars–who argued that Shinto was more than a religion and determined that religion and state rituals (Shrine Shinto) should be separate. This conclusion provided satisfaction for most of the parties involved.

In conclusion, the Imperial government spent the first 20 or so years of the Meiji period looking at Western examples and trying to figure out how to mold Japan’s premodern traditions into the structure required by a modern nation-state that can compete with the West. Since many Western nations had a state religion (of Christianity), Japan considered making Shinto into a religion that could serve as a state religion. However, the lack of doctrine and institutionalization of Shinto made it poorly suited as a religion. Furthermore, it made no sense to call reverence for ancestors/kami a religion because religion is a personal belief and reverencing ancestors/kami is a natural fact of life. Thus the Meiji government adopted Shinto as a system of secular rituals. Meanwhile “freedom of religion” meant that Buddhism, Christianity, and (some) new religions could freely practice their beliefs while still be moderated by the government.

Today, due to the forced re-categorization of Shinto as a religion after WWII, Shinto is legally considered a religion. However, the actual conception of Shinto among most Japanese people tends to align more closely with the prewar idea of Shinto as social ritual or the premodern syncretic conceptions of Shinto as a tradition or custom to be practiced along with Buddhism.

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A Cup of Tea 2

A cup of good, black Chinese tea and castella from Rokkatei. So delightful!

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Racism?

Recently, my kitsuke circle was asked to help dress some visiting students in kimono. We knew the students are from Asia, but not which country. I was surprised when one of my classmates said, “Oh, I hope they aren’t from China! (中国なら、いやな)” But it wasn’t that she doesn’t like Chinese people, it was just that a new type of flu is recently developing and China doesn’t really have a reputation for healthiness.

Thinking about this, recently someone mentioned about the prime minister’s cabinet’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine and the protest over it in Korea. Y-sensei commented that it was just stupid. I think she feels that way about both the visit itself and the protests. I should mention that Y-sensei loves Korea, visiting friends there every year.

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Book: Kojiki-den (Book 1)

Kojiki-den (Book 1)
by Motoori Norinaga, Trans. by Ann Wehmeyer

I became a fan of MOTOWORI Norigana from the time I first read about him in the notes of Chamberlain’s translation of the Kojiki. His scholarship was rigorous, but motivated by his heart, and he left a lasting impact on Japanese philology and philosophy. And as my Japanese is still a work in progress, I was terribly happy to find the first volume of his Kojiki-den had been translated into English. I’ve just finished reading it recently, so here is a record or some of my thoughts on it.

First, I love the academic culture that thrived in the Edo period. Motowori came from a merchant family, but being ill-suited to that sort of business, he studied hard and became a doctor. Entering this educated society, he could attend lectures by teachers and keep up an amazing correspondence with friends and scholars across the country. In the end, he founded his own school. But when I say school, it isn’t the clear-cut prison-like structure of modern schools, but was more of a formalization of a group of like-minded friends, who have gathered around an intelligent man they respect as a teacher. Like Jesus and his disciples, really. The sort of writing that this period produced is also a joy to read. It is respectful, but slightly arrogant; clearly worded, but full of passion. I often get the impression that it pains and saddens him that although he explains even such obvious facts, people still can not yet see the truth that lies so clearly in the ancient texts and are deluded by fancy Chinese writing. It is a sort of argumentative style that fiercely criticizes the opponent, but isn’t mean spirited at all. When I read books like this (in Japanese or in good translation) of authors of this period, my heart feels so happy that it hurts.

Anyway, here are some things Motowori talks about:

Is Shinto a Way?
Shinto or “Way of the Gods” is a term developed in response to the Way of the Buddhas or (Chinese) Sages. Motowori argues that in China and other countries, society was very corrupted, so people had to make up these ways to help correct society. But in Japan, people lived naturally in accordance with the Gods, so they needed no way to correct the already perfectly harmonious society. The Ways of Buddhism and Confucianism/Daoism teach some good stuff, but since they are based on correcting a godless corrupt society, they are foolish for Japan to follow. Japan should merely follow her natural traditions as described in the Kojiki. Thus Shinto is not a Way.

Action vs. Feeling:
Motowori quotes a poem of the kami-sama Michizane which says, “心だにまことの道にかなひなば、祈らずとても神や守らん”, ie: if you follow the truth in your heart, even if you don’t pray, the gods will protect you. Motowori disagrees with this and saying active worship of the kami-sama, presenting them with food or dance etc. is very important. Just “feeling it in you heart” is not good enough. I’m afraid here I am not sure I agree with Motowori. While I feel that the honest feelings of your heart are what matter in the end, I think if we don’t take material action in accordance with those feelings (ie: by offering kami-sama food etc.) then it is easy to trick ourselves into thinking our heart are honest, but in actually merely shallowly wanting to believe that is so.
I wonder if this matter can be compared to the issue of good works vs. faith found in Christianity.

Kanji as Decoration:
Writing in Chinese, or in a Chinese-influenced Japanese had been the standard in Japan for many hundreds of years by Motowori’s time. In fact, the pure Japanese of old had been nearly forgotten. Motowori’s work in reconstructing ancient Japanese from the Kojiki and other classics was the most significance. Ancient Japanese, such as in the Koijki, was written in Chinese characters used for sometimes sound and sometimes meaning. Japanese was originally only sound and had no native writing system, so the meaning of the words was all in the sound. Thus the choice of what kanji to use when writing the meaningful sounds was merely a choice of decoration. Actually, I feel very moved by this theory. In modern times, what words are written with what kanji has been completely standardized. But I feel this is a great shame. When we write with both kanji and sound, we can impart a far more complex meaning to our text.

Life isn’t fair:
One of the problems Motowori has with Chinese philosophy is it holds that life is sort of fair. In Confucianism, bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people. But in real life, clearly this is not always so. Buddhism makes a little more sense in explaining that due to karma, bad things happen to good people because they were bad in a past life and vise-versa. Motowori explains this by a sort of Manichean dichotomy of good kami-sama vs. bad kami-sama. Good kami-sama like Amatersu are happy and helped when worshiped. But sometimes even the great power of Ookami cannot overcome the evil workings of bad kami-sama like Musubi-na-nantoka. In that case, all we poor people can do is try to appease the bad kami-sama by worshiping them and avoid things like pollution which helps the bad kami-sama in their works. While it is clear that life isn’t always fair, I can’t really agree so much with Motowori’s explanation here.

The Mandate of Heaven:
The mandate of Heaven in Chinese philosophy is a sort of divine sanction of a ruler’s reign. When Heaven is pleased, things are good and the ruler to allowed to rule. But if the ruler becomes corrupt, then Heaven will take its mandate away, various disasters will occur, and it is the obligation of the people to overthrow the government and set up a new ruler upon whom the mandate of Heaven has been bestowed. Motowori criticized this theory as merely an pretty way of excusing “might makes right”, and pointed out that Japan’s unbroken Imperial line from the age of the Gods was a sign of Japan’s divine superiority.
Now, Japan’s imperial line remains only unbroken by a rather sympathetic look at Japanese history, and China’s mandate of Heaven philosophy was certainly an improvement of Europe’s divine right of kings theory. But Motowori points out here a significant difference between Japanese and Chinese(foreign) culture. Conflict is often framed in a dichotomy, of the right vs. the wrong. But Japanese culture, viewing conflict like this is avoided if at all possible. Instead of two sides, there is only the right side and the other opinions are merely distortions or misunderstandings of this original correct view. Thus even in conflict, Japanese culture encourages unity/harmony.

Anyway, this is just some for my surface thoughts upon having finished reading the Kojiki-den. A large part of the book was dedicated to matters of Japanese linguistics, which tho fascinating, I am not well informed enough of the topic to state any opinion of those matters. Someday, I intend to reread this book, and think more deeply about the many theories he presents.

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Prosperity Sphere

K-sensei was saying how he would like to see Japan and the rest of Asia become more integrated, how the EU is now. He mentioned the example of Greece, how while the EU griped about it, is being helped by the other EU countries through its dire economic straits.

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