A home may well contain both the kamidana , the altar for the kami , and the butsudan , the Buddhist memorial altar. Yukitaka Yamamoto. As a young man drafted into the Japanese army during World War II, Yamamoto saw for himself the devastation of war and became deeply convinced of its futility.
When he followed his father as High Priest of the Tsubaki Grand Shrine, he was determined to create a context for intercultural understanding, where East and West could meet. While being in its origins particular to the Japanese and their view of life, it is, in principle, capable of being understood as having universal meaning and significance.
This conviction led Rev. Kami can also be people who have passed away such as past war heroes or family ancestors. Anyone who possessed incredible qualities, such as extreme bravery, can be thought of as kami. Even to the Japanese people, the concept of kami, and even the Shinto religion itself, are hard to explain.
This is mostly because the Shinto religion does not contain any defining text or documents. Overall, for foreigners trying to understand the religion, it is best to not question it, but instead appreciate its beautiful history and tradition.
If you have visited any temple or shrine in Japan, there is a good chance Read More. If you frequent Japanese Shinto shrines, you may have noticed that they are commonly As a resident of Kamakura, it would be remiss of me not to talk about We were welcomed at the Nichirenshu Saichuzan Joshoji by Itou-sensei, who was the head priest The thought underpinning this theory was that Buddhas appeared in the world as kami for the purpose of saving people.
The concepts of honji and suijaku were said to have been used originally in the Tendai Ch. T'ien tai' sect in order to distinguish between the eternal Buddha who transcends history and Gautama Siddhattha, the historical Buddha born in India.
This principle was applied to the relationship of Buddhas and kami. It should be noted that in the 14th century when the idea of Japan as "the divine country" spread this theory was reversed mainly by Shinto scholars, stating that Buddhas were manifestations of Shinto reality, that is, kami.
This idea was called han-honji suijaku counter honji-suijaku However, this theory was not accepted widely. In addition to the influence at the ideological level, the harmonious fusion of Buddhism with Shinto had a large influence on worship and rituals for kami in daily life. Such influence is expressed in common phrases like "to adore shin-butsu ," "to pray for shin-butsu ," or "profits by shin-butsu. The idea that kami and Buddha, either as a merged entity or through mutual effort, save people became accepted widely and is accepted even now.
In the modern age, the Meiji government adopted a policy mandating the separation of Shinto and Buddhism shinbutsu bunri. As a result, Shinto shrines were distinguished clearly from Buddhist temples, and Buddhist monks could no longer double as Shinto priests. In spite of this policy, kami and Buddha continued to be worshiped as a set in folk belief. Nevertheless, the distinction between kami and Buddha, namely Shinto and Buddhism, has been maintained in spite of a long history of harmonization.
It should be noted on the other hand that they were never completely unified. Japanese have recognized two categories in religious belief as seen in the expressions shinji or matters concerned with kami and butsuji or matters concerned with Buddhism. Rituals concerned with security of communities, for example, are typical of shinji , while funeral and memorial services are typical of butsuji.
Thus, although kami and Buddha are often identified, a separation based on their role or religious function continues. Shushigaku , and Catholicism arrived in Japan, bringing with them further influence on religious thought.
The extent and form of their influence differs greatly, however. In the case of Neo-Confucianism, it was accepted in ordinary life for its practical ideas or core of ethics, rather than for its religious rituals. On the other hand, the Catholic influence was temporary and definitely limited due to the fact that it was banned by the Tokugawa government less than a century after the start of missionary activities.
Even so, Catholic influence on idea of kami should not be ignored. The Confucianism of ancient China exercised influence on ancient Japanese culture, including expressions and ideas in the Kojiki and Nihon shoki. It was Neo-Confucianism, however, which deeply influenced Shinto theology of the Tokugawa period. Shushi: established a Neo-Confucianism based upon an elaborate theoretical system.
His thought was introduced into Japan by Zen Buddhist monks and others. This new thought was gradually accepted by the intellectuals of the day. In the middle of the Ming dynasty , Wang Yang-ming Jp.
He taught a concise, unmediated access to a spiritual state to be obtained through the "union of knowledge and practice. The ideas of ki and ri , very important concepts in the Chu Hsi and Wang Yang-ming schools, stimulated speculation over the ideal and moral aspect of kami. Thus, consideration as to how the work of kami in actual society and in personal life manifested itself was greatly developed.
As a result, a group of schools called Confucian Shinto was established during the Tokugawa period. Yamazaki Ansai , one of the most famous scholars of Confucian Shinto, had a very large influence on ideas of kami held later by kokugakusha or scholars of National Learning Nativism.
Later, the students of Fukko Shinto Restoration Shinto also established under the influence of Confucian Shinto, showed a deep interest in the theological systematization of the idea of kami. Among them, the most important are Motoori Norinaga who analyzed Japanese myths by using philological methods and Hirata Atsutane who showed a strong interest in the theological analysis of Japanese myths.
They both made powerful contributions to basic perspectives on the ideas of kami discussed in modern academic Shinto studies. As popular culture became more developed in the Tokugawa era, discussions on kami were undertaken by people belonging to a wide range of social classes rather than being limited to a small number of intellectuals.
The Christianity propagated by Catholic missionaries in the 16th century influenced to some extent the development of the ideas of kami. The concept of "God as the creator of the universe" was first introduced by Christian priests and brothers who belonged to the Jesuits, the Franciscans, and other orders. Christianity spread rapidly during half a century under the favor of certain powerful warlords such as Oda Nobunaga It is said that the membership of Christians in the beginning of the 17th century was a maximum of ,, The word "God" was translated as tenshu or the Lord of Heaven.
It is a fact that some Japanese accepted the idea of a god controlling everything in the universe. After the Tokugawa government banned Christianity in , its influence became more and more limited to a relatively closed circle of people. However, their influence on religious thought should not be ignored.
Some scholars insist that the influence of the Christian idea of God can be recognized in Hirata's idea of kami. This would in part be the result of his having read books on the Bible that had been originally published in China. Christian churches started their missionary work in Japan again around the middle of the 19th century. Protestant denominations were particularly active after the Meiji Restoration of Despite the activities of the many Protestant denominations and Catholic orders, the number of Japanese Christians did not increase a great deal.
Presently, only about one percent of the total Japanese population is Christian. In contrast to their numbers, the social influences of Christians have been rather strong. This is because the Christian churches were eager to educate the young generation in their mission schools and as a result their new members were mostly intellectuals.
Presently about two-thirds of the schools which were established by religious bodies are Christian schools. In this context, it is reasonable to say that Christian ideas have exerted a huge influence on society in spite of the small number of Christians. For many Japanese modernization meant mostly Westernization so many ideas concerned with Christianity became common knowledge, although the number of people who actually became Christian was quite small.
As a result, when people talked about god they tended to understand it chiefly from a monotheistic perspective. Japanese traditional ideas of kami based on polytheism tended to be regarded as a primitive concept of gods, especially in academic discussions, literature, and essays in journals.
Although this attitude is not so remarkable these days, we must not fail to note the change in the Japanese consciousness on ideas of kami that has occurred in modern times.
As Japanese people began to understand monotheistic notions, they were able to grasp the idea of kami from slightly different angles.
This can be understood as a relativization of the idea of kami arising partly from the advancement of the intellectual level of the people and partly from the process of Westernization.
Moreover, it should be supposed that the ideas of kami in the new religions of Shinto origin were influenced indirectly by the Christian idea of God. The reason for this is that there are many instances of new religions constructing their teachings while being fully aware of the Christian idea of god. As briefly demonstrated above, the ideas of kami among Japanese have shown complex historical development. On the other hand, the variety of ideas of kami in present-day Japan should be discussed from another point of view, namely dimensions of perspectives.
The jingi system was established in ancient times. The jingi system was established as a part of this system in order to venerate deities nationwide. Japanese had established this unique jingi system with reference to Chinese ideas of deities and rituals for them.
For example, the classes of deities were divided into fifteen categories. One of the first records of assigning kami to a certain class is from the 7th century.
A kami 's class was determined first by applying to the officials of the Ministry of Religion or the local governments, then a discussion was held by members of the noble families and the Emperor's will ascertained. It is quite interesting that this is exactly the same process used for the affairs of human beings. Titles for kami were also bestowed. The most famous one is mikoto.
In the early Modern age, reisha came to be used for deceased persons, as it was widely accepted then that deceased persons were to be venerated as divine spirits. The special title, tenjin , is used for the divine spirit of Sugawara Michizane These examples make it clear that classes of kami and titles for kami were modeled on hierarchies in human society.
It is also possible to group kami according to whether they were worshiped by the central government, by a local government, by individuals, by a clan, or by the Imperial family.
However, this distinction is not a fixed one. Many cases can be found where local deities became popular, or that kami venerated by a clan came to be venerated by many clans or families. At Shinto shrines kami were worshiped as saijin enshrined deities. In most cases, the saijin chosen for enshrinement was related to the origin of the shrine. When a certain kami was enshrined at a shrine, a "division of a divine spirit" was sometimes observed.
This division is called bunrei and it means that an enshrined divine spirit is divided and transferred to another shrine. Requests were often made for a division of the divine spirit of popular kami.
The kami that is enshrined in the most shrines is Inari. The next most popular bunrei was of Hachiman. This deity was originally enshrined in the Usa Hachiman Shrine in Kyushu and worshiped as the god of war. In the Middle Ages, Hachiman was widely worshiped among the samurai class.
A division of the Hachiman divine spirit was requested because the Genji clan, which in the 12th century established the first samurai led government in Kamakura, venerated Hachiman as its ancestral god. It is generally not the case that only one deity is enshrined at a shrine.
Most shrines enshrine multiple deities. Sometimes divine spirits enshrined in other shrines are gathered together at one shrine, a practice called goushi or joint enshrinement. If a shrine has multiple deities, the most important deity is understood as the "main deity," the other deities are designated "combined deities.
Accordingly, the jingi system and nationally supported rituals for kami declined and became nominal. However, the body of ideas of kami did not change very much. Veneration at each jinja was maintained and the number of jinja increased gradually.
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