Shinto

Yayoi Period (1000 BCE - 300 CE)

Rice introduced

• • rice is not a plant, but a god

  • He became known as INARI, which means "carrying rice" (literally "rice load")

    • According to a 1985 survey of 32,000 shrines in Japan, more than one-third were dedicated to Inari

    • Toyota means bountiful rice field

    • Honda means main rice field

  • Before the Yayoi, the Jomon ( c. 14,000–300 BCE ) worshiped nature deities known as KAMI (They live in rocks, trees, and the forest.)

    • kami can nurture and love when respected.

    • kami can cause destruction and disharmony when disregarded

    • kami must be appeased in order to gain their favor and avoid their wrath.

  • With the introduction of rice, Inari became the lead kami where rice is grown (not on the northern islands).

Architecture

Enlargement for political purposes

Ise shrine (circa 700 CE) built by first Imperial family

• modeled after communal rice storage buildings (granary) known as komegura (sacred spaces)

Miniaturization

hokora or honden (mini-granary)

• The term hokora derives from a word that leterally means "kami repository."

• they are small boxes placed at sacred sites

Torri

• archways that separate sacred space, and are often made of wood and painted black or orange. They symbolize the boundry between the secular everyday world and the infinite world of the kami.

Buddhism in Japan took root in the 6th century CE, and came to dominate the imperial court, with confucianism, during the Classical (Nara & Heian)) and Feudal (Kamakura & Muromachi) periods.

• Shinto lacked complex intellectual doctrines, which meant that the development of Japanese theology and philosophy inevitably drew on the comparative intellectual richness of Buddhism and Confucianism.

During the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868), Shinto began to rise to prominence with their distrust of foreign influence. Christianity was seen as a political threat and was ruthlessly stamped out. The 17th century was dominated by Buddhism - but a Buddhism heavily laden with Shinto - partly because an anti-Christian measure forced every Japanese person to register at a Buddhist temple and to pay for the privilege of being a Buddhist.

Movement towards a state religion.

• Japanese civic religion still included very many elements of Confucianism in its political and administrative thinking,

• Japanese civic religion was a pragmatic fusion of Shinto rituals and myths with a hefty dose of Buddhism.

• Buddhist temples came under the control of the state

• the training of priests and the management of temples and the hierarchy was effectively state supervised.

In the two centuries before the Meiji period there was a movement towards a purer form of Shinto, with a particular focus on the Japanese people as being the descendants of the Gods and superior to other races.

• Buddhist and other influences were filtered out of institutions and rituals.

• This was not so much a purification of something that had once existed, as the creation of a unified faith from a group of many ideas, beliefs and rituals.

• During this period Shinto acquired a stronger intellectual tradition than it previously had.

Shinto became the official state religion of Japan, and many shrines were supported by state funding. However, this financial aid was short-lived, and by the 1890s most Shinto shrines were once again supported by those who worshiped at them.

Continuities

• considerable religious ritual and mysticism surrounded many Imperial ceremonies.

• Shinto plays a significant role in Japanese spirituality and everyday life.

• the shrines, structures, and rituals of modern Shinto are so similar to those of ancient Shinto as to provide a clear chain of identity.

Changes

• Shinto was declared 'non-religious.' There are TWO-views on why:

  • • this was done to avoid any conflict between the imposition of Shinto by the Japanese state and the Japanese constitution's guarantee of religious freedom.

    • Shinto was regarded as inseparable from the 'Imperial Way' and inseparable from the fundamental ethical and social code of Japan. This made Shinto so superior to other religions (which, although of enormous value, were created by human beings) that it counted as non-religious.

• Amaterasu (sun goddess)

• until the Meiji period, Amaterasu had not been a major divinity. She brought to center stage and used to validate the role of the Emperor, not only as ruler, but as the high priest of Shinto.

• no longer acceptable for kami to be identified with Buddhist deities, and a considerable reorganisation of the Japanese pantheon of spirit beings had to take place.

• Shrines were cleaned of every trace of Buddhist imagery, apparatus, and ritual

• Buddhist deities lost their godly status.

• Buddhist priests were stripped of their status

• new Shinto priests were often appointed to shrines with a tacit mission to purify them.

  • • within a few years shrines were cautiously re-incorporating elements from Buddhism or tribal tradition.

• Shinto was enthusiastically promoted by Japan's militaristic rulers

• stressed that the emperor was a divine being, directly descended from the gods who had given birth to the Japanese islands.

Shinto became a nationalistic force that bound the Japanese people together with a powerful mix of devotion to kami, ancestor-worship, and group loyalty to family and nation.