A Shrine Mirror
I like theology. As most theologians will acknowledge, theology has its limits. I mean, there isn’t much merit to defending to the death the exact number of angels that can fit on the head of pin. But theology is interesting and a good exercise in reconciling our “heads and hearts” so to speak. Shrine Shinto doesn’t really engage in theology, partly because it is not so much a religion. But even the parts of Shinto that do have specific doctrines are characterized by an inclusive syncrestic viewpoint. Thus doctrinal disputes are on the whole of a rather mild nature. Christianity, on the other hand, is defined by theology. The mere addition of a single word (filioque) caused a huge fission in medieval Christianity and people killed and died for what outsider might think seem rather trivial doctrinal differences. One of those doctrinal debates was about “iconoclasm”.
Iconoclasm is the idea that Christians musn’t use icons, that is, religious images. There were a lot of debates about this in the early history of Christianity, but in the end, the use of icons (and in their 3D form, statues) was upheld as correct. This debate surfaced again in a milder form during the protestant reformation, with the protestants rejecting religious images as unbiblical. Thus it is easy to distinguish the three major trinitarian Christian sects merely by looking inside one of their churches: Orthodox will have 2D icons, Catholics will have 3D icons, and protestants won’t have any.
One of the arguments against icons was that icons were “idols”, that by venerating icons (ie: bowing down and praying before them, kissing them), Christians were guilty of idolatry. What is idolatry? Basically, idolatry is giving worship to idols (that is material objects) that rightly belongs only to God. The justification the church gave for the use of icons was that icons were not “idols”. Although they material objects, icons do not direct worship away from God. In fact it is the opposite. We worship god through the icons, so the icons infact focus our worship for strongly on God. Protestants might not be convinced by my short explanation here, but I recommend listening to the biblical defense given by Fr. Evan (an orthodox priest).
Now to connect this to Shinto. In colonial Korea, one of the most vocal protests against Shinto was by Christian protestants. In particular, they really objected to having to bow down in front of shrines because they felt that would be committing idolatry. But even today, bowing before a kamidana or shrine is a custom that is often expected of practitioners of traditional Japanese arts (Kyudo is a prime example). So, are Shinto practices a form of idolatry?
I would say no. That Shinto practices are open to being interpreted by their participants in different ways and that there is no single “correct” interpretation has been amply demonstrated by the research of scholars like Nelson. Thus each practitioner is welcome to interpret the praxis how they like, or to even not consider the meaning at all. Inside a kamidana is an ofuda a paper tablet on which the name of a shrine is written. Inside an actual shrine is a goshintai, a item which takes various forms but is often a mirror or tablet etc. But neither the ofuda or goshintai are consider the kami itself. They represent the kami. Thus bowing before a shrine or kamidana is not directing worship at a material object. Thus Shinto practices are clearly not a form of idolatry.
Of course, this argument doesn’t say anything about whether Shinto is a form of demon-worship. Obviously, I don’t think it is. But I will leave that discussion for another day.
天地間に 