The way of the Kami

[imomus]

'The roots of Japanese religion originate in several places. First we have the indigenous religion. This seems to follow the basic patterns of other primitive cultures in that it was (and still is) centered around nature worship, “Kami” (gods, spirits, forces or powers) and a divine agricultural cycle. It's quite similar to Native American traditions, the most important thing being, of course, keeping people fed and safe with the help of supernatural powers. So, for example, the Rice Kami, the Goddess Inari, was and is one of the most important gods. Other foreign kami, festivals and customs were introduced into Japan through the Korean Peninsula. This first wave of people and ideas overwhelmed the indigenous people and their customs and, mixing with it, created something new and unique, but still basically animistic and pagan. Much later Buddhism was introduced into Japan from India via Tibet, China and  Korea. This came in several waves, along with art, writing and technological innovations, was contested at first, and eventually merged with the local religion which had by then come to be called Shinto.

'The word Shinto breaks down as follows; SHIN is the Kanji character for kami. TO means way. Thus SHINTO is the Way of the kami, their rituals and worship. 

'A short explanation of “kami” is in order here in that it is quite unique to Japan. Most people translate kami as god, sometimes as spirit. Strictly speaking, this is incorrect. In the words of a venerable Shinto scholar, a kami is “any specific power that causes awe.”  As in Native American or other shamanic traditions, doctrine, dogma and intellectual concepts are not important. Kami can be either heavenly or earthly. They can dwell in stars, mountains, trees, lakes and people. They can be malignant or helpful or neutral. They can be eternal or they can be the powerful ghosts of deceased people. If this seems confusing, read on.

'All through the long cultural history of Japan, one thing remained constant: Nature was seen as the supreme force in life.  As indicated, some trees had great and powerful kami that could help or hinder. Lakes had Serpent kami that could drown you or give you children, mountains were (and still are) gods and goddesses. The most famous of these is, of course, the Goddess who is Mt. Fuji. Village life centered around Shinto shrines, which were the spiritual and social cores of the culture. Later, Buddhist temples were built on shrine sites or, as is often the case, shrines and temples were combined in one area. Buddhism eventually became concerned almost solely with death, funerals and afterlife, while Shinto continues to be woven into the daily life of the Japanese people, celebrating such events as birth, renewal and purification. Yet it is often hard to strictly separate temples from shrines and the lines between their functions and divine histories often blur.'

From Shinto and Its Festivals by Denny Sargent.

Comments

[sarmoung.livejournal.com]

Mmm, it's hard to resist adding my tuppence to the above. It's an early Saturday morning, drinking espresso and smoking a fag sort of tuppence.

There's a few noticeable lapses in Sargent's outline:

"This first wave of people and ideas overwhelmed the indigenous people and their customs..."

Eh? Since he doesn't indicate when this settlement occurs, it's hard to place it within any historical or archaeological timeline (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/04/eaj/ht04eaj.htm). Only the most ardent of Nihonjinron (http://homepage.mac.com/brucecaron/CDP/Output/GLOSSARY18.html) types would deny the influence of the Korean peninsula upon early Japan. However, the "Japan" of this time is not a single society, but a whole number of societies stretched along the various islands. It's not monolithic or monocultural. What happens in the central area isn't necessarily what happens elsewhere, e.g present-day Tohoku. "Japan", or Yamato, the political entity, does begin in the the general Kinki (Osaka, Nara, Kyoto) area, but there's plenty of other people elsewhere. And who are these "indigenous" people? They all came from somewhere else at some point. Take your pick-and-mix of theories as to whether it's the Korean peninsula, Siberia, Micronesia, Babylon (http://www.rc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/~michel/serv/ek/) or that the Japanese are really a lost tribe of Israel (http://www.haruth.com/JewsJapan.html). Err....?

I'm unconvinced that the Goddess Inari is part of this untouched ur-Japan. Rice did not become an important part of the diet until the introduction of wet-rice cultivation in around 500 BCE from the mainland. Now, the Goddess Shellfish or Takenoko perhaps!

"Much later Buddhism was introduced into Japan from India via Tibet, China and Korea"
Not that much later! Buddhism trickled (and then flowed) in, as did Confucian and Daoist teachings. The term "Shinto" is very problematic. For a start, it's meaning is quite unclear at this point in the literature. Secondly, the same characters are used in the China of the time to describe Daoism. What "Shinto" refers to slips and slides over the next two millennia in Japan. Kuroda Toshio (http://www.stthomasu.ca/~parkhill/cj01/irepjb.htm) is worth reading in this regard.

Sargent is right to suggest that the division between Shinto and Buddhism is hard to distinguish. I'd suggest that it was barely there at all for most of the time. With rise of nativist teachings (http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/shinto/koku.html) during the generally secluded Tokugawa period, and the establishment of the Meiji period, Japan became ever more conscious of needing to separate itself from the East Asian sphere. The formal division of (native) Shinto from (foreign) Buddhism (shinbutsu bunri (http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/shinto/shin.html)) and the attempted establishment of a centralised religious orthodoxy under state control savaged a wondrous fabric of differing local traditions and customs that stretched all along the archipelago. Think of what Cecil Sharpe did to English folk music. It's never been the same since. It's like those supposed "Druids" you see at Stonehenge...

Well, I could go on about this all day (it's my job!), but that first espresso is beginning to fade. The crucial things to remember about the early history of Japan is that we are reliant upon few sources. Unlike China, there's no written record of this period, except the later Nihon Shoki and Kokjiki and a few other texts. Like all other (myth-)histories, these were composed with an agenda - to legitimate centralised imperial control, as opposed to the previous uji/clan (http://www3.la.psu.edu/textbooks/480/ch1_main.htm) system - and were written by Korean scribes from Paekche (http://gias.snu.ac.kr/wthong/publication/paekche/eng/paekch_e.html) and, as a fair few think, upon the instructions of one ascendant group keen to emphasise their "Japaneseness" rather than their peninsular origins. Everyone in Japan "knows" that the Imperial family are Korean in origin...

Anyway, the coffee is fading, sorry for taking up so much room!