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General phenomenology of Shinto

Shinto is one of the most widely practiced religions in Japan; for centuries the Japanese people have been practicing Shinto alongside Buddhism. Although there are some cases of syncretism, mostly a clear distinction is made between Shinto and Buddhism. Generally, Shinto concerns happiness and prosperity in this world, whereas Buddhism, for the Japanese, relates to the peace of deceased souls.

The grounds of a Shinto shrine are usually marked by a grove of tall evergreen trees surrounding a gateway called a torii. In the main building of the shrine, a shintai (divine object), which is supposed to bear the spirit of a particular kami, is enshrined. Typically, a shintai is an ancient-style mirror, which is contained in a special case. No one is allowed to view the shintai directly. With few exception, there are no images or statues of kami.

Most Japanese go to a Shinto shrine on certain occasions, often on New Year's Day, to pray for the kami's blessings. According to tradition, the prayer first washes his or her hands and mouth at a fountain located near the gateway. Then the prayer proceeds to the front of the main building, casts a few coins into an offertory box, rings the bells, bows twice, claps his or her hands twice, and bows one more time. The whole procedure takes only a few minutes.

A number of rites and one major festival are held annually at each Shinto shrine. In a Shinto festival, priests first solemnly offer prayers and foods such as rice and sake (rice wine) to the kami, thanking the kami and asking for the kami's blessings. Dances and music are then performed for the kami and the people to enjoy together. The highlight of the festival is when portable shrines or floats are energetically paraded through the parish, usually carried by male parishioners. Many stalls that sell snacks or goods may be set up on or near the shrine grounds on the day of the festival.

A special ritual called jichinsai (Earth-pacifying ritual) is almost always performed by Shinto priests when construction begins on a new building or facility. It is believed that, without such a ritual, accidents may happen because the deities or spirits that dwell on the construction site become angry.

Characteristics of Shinto

Scholars of Shinto often point out that Shinto has no dogma, although some characteristics of Shinto have continued relatively unchanged during its long history. Muraoka Tsunetsugu (1884–1946) was one of the first scholars to outline the characteristics of Shinto thought. Stimulated and informed by Muraoka's studies, historian Delmer Brown reconsidered and reformulated the Japanese cultural paradigms. The following characteristics of Shinto are largely based on Brown, with a few revisions.

Vitalism. The scholar Motoori Norinaga (1730–1801) once defined kami as whatever seems strikingly impressive, possesses the quality of excellence, or inspires a feeling of awe. Certainly Shinto includes an animistic view of nature, but Shinto has a more distinctive characteristic. The kami enshrined in a Shinto shrine varies from a deity that appears in the mythologies in Kojiki or Nihonshoki to the spirit of a historical figure such as an outstanding emperor, feudal lord, or scholar. However, the kami is always believed to have mysterious power to create, enrich, prolong, or renew any form of life.

In other words, what the kami symbolizes is vitality, productivity, or fertility in this world. Shinto vitalism has roots in agricultural rites that may date back to the third or fourth centuries B.C.E. Even in modern times, people pray to kami for worldly happiness, prosperity, success, safety, or health.

Ritualism. In Shinto tradition, performing and participating in rituals has been given greater emphasis than believing and confessing a certain creed. Although theological treatises of Shinto were written as early as the thirteenth century, no established creed or orthodox dogma ever developed. It is more likely that the articulation of principles was intentionally eschewed than that Shinto failed to establish creed or dogma. Some rituals, such as the Niinamesai (Feast of New Rice Crops), which is performed by the emperor himself, are considered to be so sacred that the entire procedure and even the name of the kami involved are kept secret.

According to surveys, only a small percentage of Japanese confess that they believe in Shinto, but the majority of them visit a Shinto shrine on New Year's Day. Such data provoke some scholars to maintain that Shinto is a cultural custom rather than a religion.

However, State Shinto is an exceptional case. From 1871 to 1945, Shinto was the Rite of State, also called State Shinto. Toward the end of World War II, the sacredness and invincibility of Japan as the nation of kami, was so strongly believed that State Shinto became fanatical, leading many Japanese soldiers to suicidal attacks. Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo enshrines the spirits of the soldiers who died for Japan and the emperor, not as souls of the dead but as kami (i.e., deities that have power to give vitality).

Particularism. Shinto is a national religion practiced only by the Japanese, including Japanese immigrants in other countries. With few exceptions, Shinto has had no interest in overseas missions or in universal principles or values that are considered valid for all human beings. Scholars of Shinto tend to emphasize the "uniqueness" of Shinto rather than its universality. Each kami enshrined in a local shrine is supposed to concern only the people in the local community. This particularism also originates in Shinto's development from agricultural rites focusing on the sacredness of the particular water source of each local community. Nonetheless, when Japan annexed Korea in the early twentieth century, the Japanese government built Shinto shrines in Korea and forced Korean people to worship Shinto kami.

Shinto and science

From ancient times, arts, sciences, and technologies, including philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, medicine, and alchemy, were continuously imported into Japan from China and Korea, and studied and developed in Japan in various ways. However, neither Shinto nor Japan gave birth to anything similar to modern science. In fact, the characteristics of Shinto discussed above, especially the animistic view of nature and the avoidance of establishing universal principles, may have stood in the way of the development of a modern scientific methodology or view of nature.

On the other hand, the Japanese studied and learned modern science earnestly and quickly once it was introduced. Some Japanese scholars started to study modern science when Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune permitted the importation of nonreligious Western books in 1720. After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the study of science was accelerated. Kgakury (College of Science and Technology) was established in Tokyo in 1873 and was merged with Tokyo University in 1886. By the end of the twentieth century, Japan had become a world leader in science and technology. In that process, Shinto did not serve as an obstacle. Once science became associated with success and prosperity in this world, its study and application could be encouraged. Neither Copernican heliocentrism nor the Darwinian theory of evolution raised significant controversy in Japan, probably because the human being has no special status as the crown of creation in Shinto or Buddhism. In Shinto the human being is simply a harmonious part of nature.

The animistic element of Shinto that respects the vitality immanent in nature should certainly have the potential to make a positive contribution to human efforts to preserve the natural environment. Interdisciplinary conferences involving scholars of Shinto are occasionally held, although some feel that the politically conservative tendency of Shinto may work contrary to the efforts of environmentalism.

MASAKAZU HARA