Animism

The following is taken from a Japan News article entitled ‘Urban Japanese Losing Touch With Animistic Roots; Soulful Greenery Gives Way to Soulless Cement’ by Kagefumi Ueno (a civilization essayist and a former Japanese ambassador to Guatemala (2001-04) and the Holy See (2006-10).)

The article is notable for depicting the friction between modernity and Japan’s traditional animism. As well as considering the literary history, the piece suggests that the dualism of Western science with an animist mindset underlies the ‘mystique’ that attracts so much foreign interest in Japan.

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo. Aerial photo of the Meiji Jingu Gaien area in central Tokyo is seen in September 2023.. The greenery is under threat from urban development.

Kagefumi Ueno writes…

May 23, 2024

The season of hanami cherry blossom viewing parties has passed. Some people — especially visitors to Japan from abroad — may have wondered why such huge numbers of people gathered around the flowering trees with bento lunches and cups of sake.

As I see it, they were out there not just to view the blossoms but also to empathize with the flowers for their ephemerality. In full bloom for just a few fleeting days, they present an analogy to human mortality. It may not be an exaggeration to say that Japanese hanami-goers deem the cherry blossoms to be their kin. Such sentiment appears to be almost animistic.

Indeed, the Japanese often regard animals or even plants as their fellow beings. In the Heian period (794-late 12th century), an era of aristocracy, poets such as Kino Tsurayuki and Saigyo Hoshi, a Buddhist monk, lamented the short lives of flowers, meaning the short lives of people.

In the Edo period (1603-1867), the most renowned haiku poet Matsuo Basho conveyed the profundity of nature through depictions of crows, frogs, cicadas and so forth. Kobayashi Issa, another haiku master known as a lover of small animals, made poems expressing his sympathetic feelings towards sparrows, flies and even mosquitos. These poets had sharp sensibilities to the changing voices of nature in an animistic way.

Their works are classic manifestations of the animistic or pantheistic tradition of Japanese literature. Even today, such sensibilities are nearly omnipresent in the daily lives of many people in Japan.

Indeed, it should be added that Japanese revere not just the souls of animals, but also souls of inanimate objects such as machinery and utensils, which are honored through kuyo “funeral services” when their useful lives come to an end.

In this context, I am of the view that there are two basic cultures in the world. One stands on an assumption that inanimate matter is just material. The other assumes that matter is not just material but meta-material or spiritual. That’s why people embodying the latter culture sometimes hold funeral services even for objects.

The Japanese accept and value the modern science that began flooding into the nation about 150 years ago, and they have made great contributions to it as well — shown by the many Nobel Prizes won by Japanese scientists. Yet even so, the Japanese still preserve the animistic mindset as something natural and inherent. Hence, modernism and traditionalism cohabit without acute contradiction at school or at work. People adhere to modernism professionally while fostering traditionalism in the private sphere, forming the cultural dualism or hybridity that characterizes modern Japan. Some say this duality is part of the Japan mystique that attracts many of the foreign tourists who are now flooding into the nation.

The intake of Western civilization thus has not annihilated animism in the modernization process. Lately, however, Japanese animism faces another threat to its survival due to drastic urban development in big Japanese cities. Obviously, animistic traits are nurtured by a rich environment of trees and greenery. But deforestation and massive urban development have transformed big cities into barren expanses of soulless concrete.

This metamorphosis is weakening the animism of the Japanese. Younger generations here are less likely to regard matter as something spiritual. To them, giving funeral services to lifeless objects seems a bit weird. Some of them unequivocally say that they have little interest in animism as it is unscientific and belongs to bygone days.

Against this backdrop, one could say that urban civilization is unfriendly towards animism. Lamentably in Japan’s megacities, immense construction projects are now underway at the expense of trees and greenery. For example, a redevelopment project in the Meiji Jingu Gaien area in central Tokyo includes a plan to cut down many tall trees, triggering a big debate. [See photo above.]

This situation reminds me of Western conservative intellectuals such as T. S. Eliot, who were displeased with urban civilization and regarded it as a sign of mankind’s arrogance or sin. Be they in the East or in the West, old-school conservatives tend to share similar ethos.

All in all, one should be fully aware that the excessive de-greening of Japanese cities may further weaken or endanger animistic culture in Japan. Without healthy and robust animism, how could Japan be Japanese?


Author of the article, Kagefumi Ueno

Saio-dai

The Aoi festivities, which last the whole month, are overseen by a symbolic ‘Saio-dai’ who is chosen to represent the imperial princess who was once attached to the Shimogamo and Kamigamo Shrines.  It’s supposed to be a great honour, and the representative is chosen only from amongst the city’s best families.  today at Shimogamo Shrine she undertakes a formal purification on behalf of the festival as a whole..

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Risako Ota was chosen as the 59th Saio-dai. Ota is the eldest daughter of Toru Ota, the fourth generation owner of the Japanese confectionery “Oimatsu.” At the time she was at university, studying Art History and belonged to the drama society. Her special skills are Imayou singing and handicrafts, and her hobbies are history and art appreciation. Her elder brother, Yuma, played the role of “Chigo,” or sacred child, on the Naginata Hoko float at the Gion Festival 15 years ago.

Dressed in a cherry-blossom pattern kimono, Ota expressed her aspirations at a press conference in a Kamigyo Ward hotel. “I am honored to take part in this fantastic festival, a holy ritual which has been passed down from the days of Emperor Kinmei. I want to do the job splendidly, and am seeking guidance from many different people to this end.”

The Saio-dai is based on Saio, a Heian Period imperial princess who served both the Kamigamo and Shimogamo shrines, and the role was revived in 1956.

The Saio-dai at her purification ritual

Matchmaking and Marital Harony

Shrines often develop a reputation for certain worldly benefits, such as money-making, easy child birth, or fostering good relationships. Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo, is said to promote good matchmaking and marital harmony. The following amended report is taken from Gaijin Pot Travel and was written by Abhijit Sen.

Photo by: PIXTA/degu66

The shrine has an impressive torii (shrine gate) that stands 15 meters tall. The gate is painted in a bright orange color and is believed to be one of the largest wooden torii in the country. Walking under this magnificent gate is sure to be an exciting experience for anyone visiting the shrine.

A highlight is the main shrine building, which dates to the late Edo Period. The main hall is decorated with exquisite carvings known as Edo-bori, a unique style of carving that originated in the Kanto region. These intricate sculptures were carved over seven years by skilled craftsmen Genzo Shimamura and Iwajiro Iida.

The shrine is home to sacred trees,  the most popular being the one behind the main shrine. Around 600 years old, this zelkova tree is surrounded by a stone path. Sacred water springs from beneath the shrine and is revered for purifying mind and body.

At the shrine, there’s a popular attraction called ‘the ema tunnel’. It’s a wooden, open-air structure that’s decorated with thousands of ema (wooden prayer plaques). Visitors to the shrine can write on their own and add them to the collection to express gratitude or make wishes.

Annual Shrine Events

Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine

Wind chimes (Photo by: PIXTA/takakichi)

Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine hosts several annual festivals, including the summer wind chime festival, when over 2,000 wind chimes are displayed on the shrine’s grounds. The annual Shinko Festival on October 14 and 15 is the largest of the year, featuring a float festival that has been designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. A special feature at New Year is that visitors can use a small fishing rod to catch fish-shaped omikuji (fortune slip).

The shrine is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. It is situated near the Shingashi River, which boasts approximately 150 cherry blossom trees spanning a 500-meter stretch.

Festival Time in Kyoto

Most people who think of Kyoto and festival will bring to mind the month-long Gion Matsuri, an event of ancient origins which displays much of the craftsmanship that makes the old capital special.

But there is another month-long festival in Kyoto with ancient origins that is almost as impressive , namely the Aoi Matsuri. The Gion Festival takes place in July; the Aoi Festival in May. Together the two ancient festivals stand in contrast to the Meiji-era creation of the Jidai Matsuri in the autumn.

Gion Matsuri is hosted by Yasaka Shrine, Aoi Matsuri jointly by Shimogamo and Kamigamo; Jidai Matsuri by Heian Jingu. At the heart of these Shinto festivals is a procession, put on for the delight of the kami (and of course the citizenry, who crowd the streets to watch). In the case of the Aoi Matsuri this takes place on May 15.

Before the procession there are preparatory events, mostly consisting of purification rituals. The first major event takes place on May 3 at 13.00 in the wooded precincts of Shimogamo Shrine. It is known as Yabusame Shinji, or Mounted Archery Ritual, the purpose is to purify the procession route and ensure its safety. Here is a report from an earlier Green Shinto posting.

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Each year on May 3rd at Shimogamo Shrine, one of the preparatory events for the Aoi Festival begins at 13:00 within the green canopy of the Tadasu no Mori forest. The Yabusame Shinji, or Mounted Archery Ritual, is conducted to pray for the safety of the procession and to purify the parade route. Performed by archers of the Ogasawara school based in Kamakura, it is carried out in a style that traces its history back some 850 years and involves riders thundering down a 500-meter lane firing arrows at three targets along the way.

An archer aims for the mark during the Mounted Archery Ritual at Shimogamo Shrine.

The sound of thundering hoof-beats growing closer and closer lets people know something exciting is about to happen, and each time an archer hits the target, a cheer can be heard from the assembled crowd. If you are in town for Golden Week or Aoi Matsuri, be sure not to miss this dynamic ritual and display of martial prowess. Be warned however; it can be very crowded and difficult to see if you don’t get there early enough.

Cherry blossom in Kyoto

Cherry blossom has arrived in Kyoto!  The trees along the Kamogawa are out in glorious bloom, and people are flocking to the petals in Hirano Jinja, Kyoto’s special shrine for cherry blossom.  Today was a fine day for the emerging blossom, and the crowds were out in force.  Next weekend is sure to see a peak.

Hirano Jinja is one of thirteen Kyoto shrines in Cali and Dougill’s Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan’s Ancient Religion (Univ of Hawaii, 2013).  From that we learn the shrine was founded in 782 in Nara, before being relocated to the new capital of Heiankyo (Kyoto) in 794.  The present buildings date from 1625, and with their unpainted wood and cypress-bark tiles they present an evocative rustic appearance.

The shrine has long been considered prestigious.  It may have been intended by Emperor Kanmu to guard the north-west of his new capital, and the Engishiki (967) mentions it as guardian of the imperial kitchen.  It was one of only 16 shrines to receive regular offerings from the emperor, and the hereditary priests were drawn from the powerful Urabe clan who specialised in tortoise-shell divination.  (The Urabe were one of the three ‘houses of Shinto’, who later divided to form the influential Yoshida lineage.)

The four Hirano kami are unusual.  According to the shrine, Imaki okami is a god of revitalisation; Kudo okami is a deity of the cooking pot; Furuaki okami is a deity of new beginnings; Hime no okami is a deity of fertility and discovery.  There are suggestions of links with Paekche (in ancient Korea) and that the last kami is in fact the ancestral spirit of Emperor Kanmu’s mother, who was descended from a king of Paekche.

The people who throng the shrine these days are little concerned with history, however.  Their concerns are with saké, picnic, conviviality and the brief glimpses of the moon appearing through clouds of pink blossom.  Within the compound are some 500 cherry trees, and the shrine was noted even in Heian times as a place to go for blossom viewing.  Now with lanterns dotting the grounds and a classical guitar strumming ‘Sakura’ in the Haiden, the shrine is a celebration of spring renewal and the touching brevity of life in this world.

Cherry blossom selfies are always popular

Even without cherry blossom the Honden (Sanctuary) has an attractive air with its gabled cypressbark roof, slender chigi crossbeams and goldplated details such as the imperial chrysanthemum

As evening falls, the stalls begin to do good business with people arriving after work for ‘hanami’ (blossom viewing parties)

For some, partying takes precedence over cherry blossom

For others the combination of moon and cherry blossom is enrapturing..

Paper lanterns painted by primary schoolchildren adorn the grounds

Hearn and cherry blossom

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Cherry blossom heaven has broken out in Kyoto. Over a hundred years earlier Lafcadio Hearn was one of the first foreigners to remark on the beauty of the occasion.

Hearn’s first shrine visit came in cherry blossom time in Yokohama, fresh after his arrival there by ship from Vancouver. It was in Hearn’s honeymoon period, when he was elated with being ‘in fairyland’ where everything was enchanting, elfish and curious. His writing conveys all the thrill of the new and exotic, when travellers ride a high of constant discovery.

In a way Hearn had been prepared for Shinto by his attachment to the pagan polytheism of ancient Greece. While still a schoolboy he had turned away from what he saw as the oppressive monotheism of Christianity, and influenced no doubt by the Greek heritage of his idolised mother he had been enraptured by picture books of Greek myth. While in Japan, Hearn opposed Christian missionaries as advocates for an unattractive Western modernism.  Whereas they ridiculed the worship of trees and snakes and rocks, Hearn had an instinctive understanding of how humans are an integral part of the environment around them.

At the time Hearn was writing there was no clear distinction as yet between (Buddhist) temple and (Shinto) shrine. The terms were often used interchangeably.  In the passage below Hearn had asked to visit another ‘temple’, but gets taken instead by his rickshaw man nicknamed Cha to a shrine.

There is a lofty flight of steps here also, and before them a structure which I know is both a gate and a symbol, imposing, yet in no manner resembling the great Buddhist gateway seen before.  Astonishingly simple all the lines of it are: it has no carving, no coloring, no lettering upon it; yet it has a weird solemnity, an enigmatic beauty. It is a torii.

Miya,’ observes Cha. Not a tera this time, but a shrine of the gods of the more ancient faith of the land, – a miya.

I am standing before a Shinto symbol. I see for the first time, out of a picture at least, a torii. How describe a torii to those who have never seen one looked at one even in a photograph or engraving? Two lofty columns, like gate pillars, supporting horizontally two cross-beams, the lower and the lighter beam having its ends fitted into the columns a little below their summits; the uppermost and larger beam supported upon the tops of the columns, and projecting well beyond them to right and left. That is a torii: the construction varying little in design, whether made of stone, wood or metal. But this description can give no correct idea of the appearance of a torii, of its majestic aspect, or its mystical suggestiveness as a gateway. The first time you see a noble one, you will imagine, perhaps, that you see the colossal model of some beautiful Chinese letter towering against the sky; for all the lines of the thing have the grace of an animated ideograph, – have the bold angles and curves of characters made with four sweeps of a master-brush.

Passing the torii I ascend a flight of perhaps one hundred stone steps, and find at their summit a second torii, from whose lower cross-beam hangs festooned the mystic shimenawa. It is in this case a hempen rope of perhaps two inches in diameter through its greater length, but tapering off at either end like a snake. Sometimes the shimenawa is made of bronze, when the torii itself is of bronze; but according to tradition it should be made of straw, and most commonly is. For it represents the straw rope which the deity Funo-tama-no-mikoto stretched behind the Sun goddess, Heavenly-handstrength-god, had pulled her out, as is told in that ancient myth of Shinto which Professor Chamberlain has translated. And the shimenawa, in its commoner and simpler form, has pendent tufts of straw along its entire length, at regular intervals, because originally made, tradition declares, of grass pulled up by the roots which protruded from the twist of it.

Advancing beyond this torii, I find myself in a sort of park or pleasure-ground on the summit of the hill. There is a small temple on the right; it is all closed up; and I have read so much about the disappointing vacuity of Shinto temples that I do not regret the absence of its guardian. And I see before me what is infinitely more interesting – a grove of cherry trees covered with something unutterably beautiful, – a dazzling mist of snowy blossoms clinging like cloud-fleece about every branch and twig; and the ground beneath them, and the path before me, is white with the soft, thick, odorous snow of fallen petals.

Beyond this loveliness are flower-pots surrounding tiny shrines; and marvelous grotto-work, full of monsters, – dragons and mythologic beings chiseled in the rock; and miniature landscape work with tiny groves of dwarf trees and liliputian lakes, and microscopic brooks and bridges and cascades. Here, also, are swings for children. And here are belvederes perched on the verge of the hill, wherefrom the whole fair city, and the whole smooth bay speckled with fishing-sails no bigger than pin-heads, and far faint high promontories reaching into the sea, are all visible in one delicious view, – blue-penciled in a beauty of ghostly haze indescribable.

Hirano Shrine in Kyoto is noted in particular for its cherry blossom celebrations

Spring and the Life Force

Spring is an exciting time of year. After the winter hibernation, nature reawakens in colourful and often spectacular fashion. Plum and cherry blossom are accompanied by daffodil and crocus. Farmers set about planting again, and Shinto hosts a range of festivals dedicated to fertility and success of the year’s new crops.

Promotion of the life force is a central strand of Shinto, sadly overlooked in books and by modern practitioners. One reason is that the reforms of Meiji times did much to sanitise the religion, stripping it of its earthier and uncontrollable elements in order to enforce conformity. Diversity in local practice was replaced by set rituals and an emperor-centred worldview that still prevails.

Phallus worship at Yaegaki Shrine in Shimane

One of the more obvious examples of the drastic change is the plight of phallic worship. Accounts of the country by Victorian travellers tell of the widespread practice in earlier times, but that many of the phalluses were being removed in the face of Christian criticism that it was primitive and offensive. Japan was intent on joining the Big Powers, not being embarrassed by them.

Yet phallic erection is one of the most vital affirmations of the life force that exists. For those who prefer the old pre-Meiji ways to the new, there are vestiges of the spring time celebration of the ‘life force’ all around Japan. They are manifest in the many shrines that still harbour phallic representations, where they serve not only as stimulants for birth, but as protectors against sexual disease or infertility. They can be seen too in rituals such as 7-5-3, which celebrate the development of children’s growth. They are evident too in cherry blossom parties, where the celebration of nature is enhanced by alcohol and communal feasting.

In contrast to the strict adherence to correctness in shrine rituals, the Dionysian side of Japanese culture is manifest in the many wild and sake-fuelled festivals that still retain a local colour. Nothing could be more different from the carefully stipulated niceties of modern Shinto than the spontaneity and communal high spirits of the Japanese matsuri. Here in these unbuttoned festivals the affirmation of the life force can be seen in its most naked guise – sometimes, as in the Hadaka Matsuri below, quite literally.

Dosojin fertility statues were once common across Japan
Symbolic penetration at a Shinto festival of a rice straw phallus into a female vulva.
Parade of 32 year old childless women at the Hounen Festival near Nagoya
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