1. 1 Indigenous and Imported Traditions in Japan Jeffrey L. Richey, Ph.D. REL 232 Religions of China and Japan Berea College Fall 2004

2. 2 EARLY JAPAN (4500 BCE-550 CE)  Origins of Japanese people: unknown, probably multiple, perhaps related to Koreans and Manchurians  Centralized authority and stratified society developed much later in Japan, perhaps due to easy access to water  Earliest records of Japanese religion describe female shaman-rulers, oracle bone divination, and concern with ritual purification  No early Japanese text free of Chinese influence

3. 3 SHINTÔ 神道  Shintô = term borrowed from Chinese  In both Chinese and early Japanese texts, Shintô = 1.Popular religion 2.Buddhism 3.Daoism 4.Generic “religion”  Until late medieval period (c. 1500s), Shintô = Buddhism  After 1500s, Shintô gradually acquires modern meaning: independent, indigenous Japanese religion

4. 4 PRE-MODERN JAPANESE RELIGIOUS HISTORY  300s-600s: Yamato period – Chinese art, language, politics, religion (especially Buddhism), and technology imported from Korea  710-794: Nara period – unified imperial rule established; Buddhism endorsed by Nara court; earliest Shintô texts (Kojiki 古事記 [Record of Ancient Matters], Nihongi 日本 記 [Chronicles of Japan] composed  794-1192: Heian period – imperial capital moved to Kyoto; Pure Land and Chan (Zen) Buddhism introduced  1192-1338: Kamakura period – imperial power eclipsed by rule of shogun 將軍 (military dictator); dramatic growth for Buddhism  1338-1571: Muromachi (Ashikaga) period – declining stability of shogun rule; endemic civil war; Portuguese bring Christianity  1571-1868: Tokugawa (Edo) period – feudal society under shogun; persecution of Christianity; popularity of neo- Confucianism; Shintô develops independent religious identity

5. 5 SHINTÔ: KEY CONCEPTS  Kami 神 : non- anthropomorphic spirits of natural sites that embody purity as well as Japan itself  Jinja 神社 : shrines at which kami are present  Matsuri 祭 : festivals involving music, dance, prayer, food offerings, and feasting; closely tied to agricultural seasons  Harae 祓 : ritual purification, usually as preparation for participation in shrine ceremony

6. 6 SHINTÔ VIEWS OF NATURE  Japan = pure, good, beautiful, and divine land brought into being by kami  Imperial family = descendants of Amaterasu 天照大 (sun kami)  Japanese people = “children of the kami”  Thus, all things are good insofar as they arise from kami, but liable to pollution insofar as they stray from kami

7. 7 SHINTÔ VIEWS OF HUMANITY  Human nature = originally pure (“bright, red heart”)  Human life = process of gradual accumulation of pollution (“dirty, black heart”)  Human goal = purity: 1.outward purification of body and community 2.inner purification of heart (kokoro 心 )  Both goals facilitated by contact with kami at shrines, in nature, etc.

8. 8 THE SHINTÔ RITUAL YEAR  New Year Festival (January 1-15): family purification through shrine visits and house-cleaning  Spring and Autumn Festivals: seasonal rituals of purification  Great Purification (June 30): national ritual of purification performed at each local shrine  Harvest Festival (November 23-24): offering of first fruits by emperor at Ise shrine

9. 9 SHINTÔ VIEWS OF BUDDHISM  No Shintô text predates Buddhism in Japan  Nara thinkers develop theory of honji suijaku 本地重跡 (original reality, manifest traces), whereby bodhisattvas are honji, kami are suijaku  By Kamakura period, Shintôists invert theory -- kami as honji, bodhisattvas as suijaku  Buddhism and Shintô remain completely intertwined until Muromachi period  By Meiji period (1868-1912), Shintô and Buddhism separate

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11. 11 SHINTÔ VIEWS OF CONFUCIANISM  No Shintô texts predate the introduction of Confucianism to Japan  Early rulers such as Prince Shotoku (573-621) based the Japanese imperial state on Chinese and Korean Confucian models  By Tokugawa period, Neo- Confucian thought was very attractive to the ruling and intellectual classes  Shintô-Confucian synthesis complete by late 1800s

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