There’s an interesting interpretation of Shinto as a folk religion on the Japan News website (owned by the conservative-leaning Yomiuri Shimbun). The article is notable for stressing the communal nature of the religion, in contrast to the personal belief systems of such faiths as Buddhism and Christianity. The professor’s views on the benevolent nature of kami, however, stand in opposition to the notion that early worship arose from the placation of angry deities. As is well-known, deities have a ‘rough spirit’ as well as a calm or kind one, and nature’s bountifulness is often offset by the infliction of disasters. The notion that ‘Japanese gods are gods that cannot do bad things’ seems completely at odds with Susanoo no mikoto and the changeable character of the deities. It is after all their human-like nature that makes people feel close to them.
*******************************************************
Japan’s Traditional Culture of Folk Beliefs
Hiroyuki Torigoe, Professor, Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University
Hioryuki Tomogoe, professor at Waseda
Many people in Japan visited Shinto shrines at the beginning of the new year. Long lines formed at even the small local shrine near my home, snaking out of the grounds and down the road. Rather than consisting of just elderly people, these lines reflected an even distribution of age, from children to young couples, the middle-aged and the elderly. As evident in this scene, there are no signs of a decline in Japanese folk religion.
At New Year’s, people read fortune slips to check their fortunes for the coming year. The slips are popular among young women. People burn wooden prayer sticks to pray for the safety of their families and the prosperity of their businesses. Both are New Year events.
During hatsumōde (the first visit to a shrine of the new year), people pray for their happiness over the coming year. Naturally, some make specific requests for things like passing an entrance exam. Very small amounts of money (50 yen on average) are tossed into the donation box for such “big favors.” As this cannot be regarded as a fair exchange by any stretch of the imagination, no rationally-thinking person would conclude that the gods will take the request seriously.
Yet we still join our hands in prayer at shrines for the safety of our families and the happiness of our friends and feel like we’ve done something good. And we optimistically wonder if the gods might possibly grant our requests. This “doing something good” and “optimism” are keys to understanding Japanese folk religion.
Japanese folk religion has traditionally been more of a communal religion than a personal one. Even today, the Emperor of Japan plants rice at the Imperial Palace—a ritual in which the Emperor prays for a bountiful rice harvest as the head of the community (the “community” in this case being Japan). Speaking of rice, long ago when there were not enough irrigation systems, the Emperor would send a messenger to a place like Mount Yoshino to pray for rain when it seemed the people would be unable to secure the water needed that year.
'Let me go out with Nakamura san' asks this ema prayer board, optimistically
As you may know from Japanese history, there have been several Emperors since ancient times who were devout followers of Buddhism. These Buddhist Emperors faithfully held community events like rainmaking rituals and the Autumn Harvest Festival (Niiname-sai). There was no sense of contradiction in this for either the Emperors or the people around them. This was because Buddhism was a personal religion while folk religion was a communal one.
If the head of the community does not hold these events as its head, his title loses its meaning. This is different, however, from a personal religious belief. On the other hand, one cannot be both a Buddhist and a Christian since both Buddhism and Christianity are personal religions.
Thus, Japanese folk religion is a communal religion in which, essentially, “everyone” in the community prays for the happiness (good harvest and long life) of “everyone.” At some stage, specialized Shinto priests emerged and took charge of the events (in a way, the Emperor also possesses the attributes of a Shinto priest). At any rate, “everyone” prayed to the gods on behalf of “everyone” in principle. And this was “something good.”
In fact, while there are nature gods like the god of fire and the god of water, Japanese gods (kami) are primarily ancestral gods, or what are called “tutelary gods” (ujigami). When a grandfather or grandmother dies, the entire family prays, believing that the soul of the deceased will be purified through prayer and transform into a god over time. The more the family prays, the purer the ancestor becomes and the closer he or she gets to godhood. Thus, even if the spirit of the deceased tries to do bad things, it will be transformed from a demon or a ghost into a god through prayer.
Sugawara no Michizane, whose malevolent spirit was appeased by being deified and worshipped at shrines
This tenet gives ancestral gods a very distinct feature: they never do anything bad to their descendants. When a high school student about to take the college entrance exam and her parents pray to a god (they could go to the memorial tablet of a grandfather who had died not that long ago), the god (grandfather) will never respond, “Ha! That’s a good one. I never really liked this kid, so I’m going to make her fail.” From the god’s perspective, being an ancestral god is inconvenient in a way—his vector only moves in the direction of good because the family is always praying to him. He doesn’t have the ability to do bad things.
To take a well-known example from history, after the death of Sugawara no Michizane, his political opponents became sick and died and natural disasters occurred, leading people to believe that these events were caused by his wrath.
As a result, the government of the time built the Tenmangū shrine in Dazaifu dedicated to Michizane. Once the shrine was built, people prayed to Michizane continuously; his will changed, and he became a god who only did good things.
In other words, Japanese gods (kami) are gods that cannot do bad things and are not to be feared. They are easy to get along with, compared to gods in other countries. You could say this is a very optimistic way of thinking.
With their openness to nature and gratitude for the blessings of life, Shinto shrines project an aura of optimism
Nice article, TX for sharing John!