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Happy Earth Day!

April 22, 2012 / John D. / 0 Comments

Earth Day flag – one Earth, the only one we've got

Here in Kyoto the Earth is celebrating its name day with a strong wind and fierce rain. One way of keeping itself well watered of course…

I’m fortunate in living next to the celebrated sacred grove of Tadasu no mori (Redemption Wood) at Shimogamo Shrine. The forest measures 12 hectares in all and is a remnant of the original primeval forest that covered the Kyoto basin before the city was founded in 712. It is a National Historic site, a Natural Heritage site, and a U.N. World Cultural Heritage site. As such it’s been painstakingly documented, and it’s managed by a foundation which maintains a high profile in publicity terms.

The forest has rich literary and cultural associations. Many poems were written about it in Heian times, and it is mentioned in the Tale of Genji. But its most famous appearance is through a folded screen by Ogata Korin (1656-1716) of Red and White Plum Flowers.

Earth Day is something one feels that Shinto should be backing whole-heartedly as part of a wider movement to rebrand itself. It’s international rather than national. It’s environmental rather than political. It’s concerned with the future rather than the past. Not only Tadasu no mori, but every single shrine in Japan should today be celebrating the sacredness of the world we live in.

Nature-based religions like Shinto have the potential to help humanity reclaim respect towards the planet as the mother from which we all emerge. You’ll often see the Japanese flag flying at Shinto shrines: let us dream of a day when they’re replaced with Whole Earth flags. Let us hope that global concerns overcome the tribal. Let us celebrate our common heritage and what unites us rather than divides. Let us, in short, join together and have a happy Earth Day.

Tadasu no mori – bridge to another world

Stairway to Heaven

April 21, 2012 / John D. / 0 Comments

An article in the Huffington Post yesterday discussed the latest state of neurological research and spirituality. The end of the article was ‘enlightening’: I always thought Led Zeppelin were onto something!! (For the original article, click here.)

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Tuning in to the divine

Scientists have speculated that the human brain features a “God spot,” one distinct area of the brain responsible for spirituality. Now, University of Missouri researchers have completed research that indicates spirituality is a complex phenomenon, and multiple areas of the brain are responsible for the many aspects of spiritual experiences.

“We have found a neuropsychological basis for spirituality, but it’s not isolated to one specific area of the brain,” said Brick Johnstone, professor of health psychology in the School of Health Professions. “Spirituality is a much more dynamic concept that uses many parts of the brain. Certain parts of the brain play more predominant roles, but they all work together to facilitate individuals’ spiritual experiences.”

A neurological scan showing an injury to the right parietal lobe. Such injuries reduce self-centredness and increase a sense of spiritual connection with a higher power.

In the most recent study, Johnstone studied 20 people with traumatic brain injuries affecting the right parietal lobe, the area of the brain situated a few inches above the right ear. He surveyed participants on characteristics of spirituality, such as how close they felt to a higher power and if they felt their lives were part of a divine plan. He found that the participants with more significant injury to their right parietal lobe showed an increased feeling of closeness to a higher power.

“Neuropsychology researchers consistently have shown that impairment on the right side of the brain decreases one’s focus on the self,” Johnstone said. “Since our research shows that people with this impairment are more spiritual, this suggests spiritual experiences are associated with a decreased focus on the self. This is consistent with many religious texts that suggest people should concentrate on the well-being of others rather than on themselves.”

Johnstone says the right side of the brain is associated with self-orientation, whereas the left side is associated with how individuals relate to others. Although Johnstone studied people with brain injury, previous studies of Buddhist meditators and Franciscan nuns with normal brain function have shown that people can learn to minimize the functioning of the right side of their brains to increase their spiritual connections during meditation and prayer.

Getting in touch

Johnstone makes the comparison to other kinds of disciplines; “It is like playing the piano, the more you train your brain, the more the brain becomes predisposed to piano playing. Practice makes perfect.”

While researchers have been focused on finding a ‘God spot’ in the brain, the new research suggests that it might be better to focus on the neuropsychological questions of self focus vs selfless focus. As Prof. Johnstone explains: “when the brain focuses less on the the self (by decreased activity in the right lobe) it is by definition a moment of self-transcendence and can be understood as being connected to God or Nirvana. It is the sensation of feeling like you are part of a bigger thing.”

The research does not make claims about spiritual truths but demonstrates the way that the brain allows for different kinds of spiritual experiences that Christians might name God, for Buddhists it could be Nirvana, and for atheists it might be the feeling of being connected to the earth.

On the other end of the spectrum, Professor Johnstone admits that for him it is the music of Led Zeppelin that helps him transcend himself: “When I put on my headphones and listen to “Stairway to Heaven” I just get lost.”

Developing left-brain potential at a young age

Ta no kami

April 20, 2012 / John D. / 0 Comments

In an article today in the Daily Yomiuri, Kevin Short writes of rice paddies and the ta no kami (kami of the rice fields). Surprisingly it was sparked by a chance encounter in a park in Ikebukuro in downtown Tokyo of all places. (The full article can be seen here.)

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Ta no kami representation

To my great disappointment, the park is currently walled off for construction. The two shrines, however, are still accessible. My destination this time was the Suitengu, situated at the northern end of the park. This shrine is dedicated to the spirits of Emperor Antoku, son of the famous late Heian-period (794-1192) warrior chieftain Taira no Kiyomori, and his mother and grandmother, who all drowned themselves in 1185 after the disastrous battle of Dannoura. The Heike clan of samurai warriors, which Kiyomori had led to power and glory, was totally defeated in this battle by their arch-rivals the Genji clan.

This particular Suitengu is just a small local shrine in front of which stand four very unusual stone statues. Seen from the front, these stones depict stolid standing monks with grinning, almost mischievous faces. In their hands, they hold small bowls topped with steamed rice, and shamoji paddle-shaped rice ladles. Although the local people treat these stones as Dosojin guardians, they are actually Ta no Kami, rice paddy spirits that have somehow arrived here from southern Kyushu region.

Sacred rice being swallowed whole at Izumo Taisha

The Ta no Kami cult is widespread throughout the country, and is at the heart of Japanese rural folk cosmology. The Japanese imbue rice with a sacred reverence and deep cultural significance that completely transcends the plant’s nutritional and economic value as a food grain. It was rice, first brought here from the Korean Peninsula nearly 3,000 years ago, that transformed Japan from a land of scattered hunter-gatherers to a great nation. Gohan, the basic word for cooked rice, is also a general term for food or a meal. Even today, the Japanese people, despite their insatiable appetite for bread and noodles, still think of themselves as rice eaters.

In most regions, the Ta no Kami are represented abstractly, with tree branches decorated with strips of paper, sometimes stuck into mounds of sand. In a restricted area of southern Kyushu, however, there is a tradition, dating back to at least the early 18th century, of carving unique stone representations, locally called Ta no Kansa. This tradition centers in Kagoshima Prefecture but includes a small portion of neighboring Miyazaki Prefecture as well.

The statues here are very typical of this Kyushu style. Each wears around his head a thick cowl that is actually the prop in a clever illusion. Seen from behind, this cowl turns into the top of a potent male phallic symbol. In Japanese folk cosmology, the rice-paddy spirits are actually one and the same with the Yama no Kami, or mountain spirits, which are sometimes represented as phallic symbols.

Yama no Kami reside in hills and forests all over Japan. They can be thought of as basic animistic spirits mingled with the departed souls of the local ancestors, which are believed to eventually rise into the mountains. In many regions, these basic protective spirits inhabit the mountains during the winter months, but come spring they move down into the rice paddies, turning into the Ta no Kami and watching over the precious crop until the autumn harvest is over, after which they return to the forested slopes. In Kyushu, the Ta no Kansa stones are placed on the dikes that surround and separate the paddies, and the villagers hold colorful festivals to welcome and petition the Ta no Kami in spring, and to see them off with great thanks in autumn.

Rice fields at Takayama (courtesy of craisen)

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For an interesting page on ta no kami at Gabi Greve’s Daruma Museum site, click here.

World Heritage Shrines

April 18, 2012 / John D. / 1 Comment

The Toshogu Shrine at Nikko

Nikko Toshogu; Futarasan Jinja; Kamigamo Shrine; Shimogamo Shrine; Uji Shrine; Kasuga Shrine; Kumano Sanzan (Hongu, Hayatama and Nachi Taisha); Itsukushima Shrine; Sonohyan Shrine and Sefa Utaki. What do they all have in common – they are all World Heritage sites. (They’re ordered here from north to south.) [More recently, I’ve discovered that Yoshino has three shrines listed in its World Heritage citation, namely Yoshimizu Shrine, Yoshino Mikimaru Shrine, and Kinpu Shrine. See here for a report.]

There are many shrines that have won the Unesco stamp of approval for being of ‘outstanding universal value’, yet some are very obscure indeed. It’s of note too how few of the national and imperial ranked shrines there are. No Ise or Izumo. No Meiji Shrine. Yet the relatively obscure Uji Shrine gets in there. And who has heard of Sonohyan Shrine? What’s going on?

Opening in the rocks at Sefa Utaki

One key to understanding the oddity of selection is that most of the shrines are part of a larger locale. Nikko Toshogu and Futarasan Jinja are part of the Nikko complex. Kasuga Shrine is counted among the “Historic Mountains of Ancient Nara”. The Kumano Sanzan are in the “Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes of the Kii Mountains”. Kamigamo, Shimogamo and Uji are included in the “Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto” (Uji Shrine has the oldest standing shrine building in Japan).

Sonohyan Shrine and Sefa Utaki are rather special, as they belong to “Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu”. In other words they’re part of the traditional Okinawan religion rather than being Shinto. Both are centred around natural phenomenon, in one case a wood and in the other a rock cliff.

Only one shrine is listed as a World Heritage Site in its own right, so a roll of the drums, please, for Itsukushima Shrine. The picturesque setting of the seaside shrine is seen as quintessentially Japanese, and the architecture is highly esteemed. The World Heritage citation quoted below explains what makes the shrine so special… (the full citation can be seen here: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/776).

The island of Itsukushima, in the Seto Inland sea, has been a holy place of Shintoism since the earliest times. The first shrine buildings here were probably erected in the 6th century. The present shrine dates from the 12th century and the harmoniously arranged buildings reveal great artistic and technical skill. The shrine plays on the contrasts in colour and form between mountains and sea and illustrates the Japanese concept of scenic beauty, which combines nature and human creativity.

The Committee decided to inscribe the nominated property on the basis of cultural criteria (i), (ii), (iv) and (vi) as the supreme example of this form of religious centre, setting traditional architecture of great artistic and technical merit against a dramatic natural background and thereby creating a work of art of incomparable physical beauty.

The torii of Itsukushima at high tide

Water – the stuff of life

April 16, 2012 / John D. / 0 Comments

Wet rice cultivation

People often associate Shinto with reverence of rice. The yearly cycle rotates around the planting and harvesting of the crop, and rice is seen as central to the Japanese identity. In addition, rice wine in the form of saké plays a vital part in offerings and celebrations when it’s known as ‘omiki‘. However, wet-rice cultivation could not take place without water, and its vital role in sustaining life has been recognised and celebrated in Shinto since ancient times. In the passage below, written jointly with Timothy Takemoto of the Shinto Online Network, we look at the importance of water in the religion.

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Waterfall in Tohoku

The vital role of water is acknowledged in most religions, both as a means of cleansing and as an essential component of life. In Shinto, water holds a particularly important place. It not only acts as a means of purification, but its life-giving nature is recognised in offerings to the kami. The significance is underlined by every visit to a shrine, because before entering the precincts visitors wash their hands and mouth at a wash-basin.

According to the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, the primary element is fire. In Shinto mythology, however, it is water. This may be because in a wet field rice-based economy such as Japan, water was essential to the production of food. And for early Japanese the crystal clear streams pouring down from the mountainside seemed like a blessing from the gods. From ancient times poets have written of the wonder of springs, wells, and rushing waterfalls.

In Kojiki, it is said that the first gods grew out of water, like blades of grass, and that the first land was raised out of the primal sea. The sun goddess and her siblings were born from drops of water which fell from the eyes, nose and mouth of their father, Izanagi. And the imperial gods of Japan were formed from the water sprayed from the mouth of the sun goddess over the well at the centre of heaven.

Torii set in a lake, a reminder of how important travel by boat was in Japan's past

As in other animist religions, water spirits play an important part in Shinto lore. And purification rites include cold-water immersion known as misogi. This is based on the idea of merging with nature through entering into the flow of water. It carries with it the universal flow of life that pervades the universe.

The offering of water at the kamidana is therefore a recognition of its special properties. Out of respect to the kami, it should be as fresh as possible and changed every day. Water is mysterious, fluid, and magical. As we know from the Tohoku tsunami, it can be powerful enough too to destroy life. ‘Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone,’ sang Joni Mitchell, and Shinto tells us that we should never take the gift of water for granted. When making the offering therefore, it is appropriate to be mindful of its special character and to be grateful for its blessings.

Ceremonial use of water every time you visit a shrine

Immersion in the cosmic flow: misogi in the Pacific at meoto iwa near Ise

Imamiya Shrine (Kyoto)

April 12, 2012 / John D. / 2 Comments

The rather grand entrance gate of Imamiya - like a miniature Heian Jingu

Imamiya is not one of Kyoto’s foremost shrines. But it’s atmospheric, boasts some unusual features, and hosts an interesting festival. it stands next to the temple of Daitokuji, famous for its Zen gardens and historical associations (such as with the iconoclast Ikkyu, and tea master Sen no Rikyu). It is also close to the grave of Murasaki Shikibu, author of Tale of Genji (c.1004).

The shrine was established originally on Funaoka Hill for protection against plague. It moved to its present location around the turn of the millennium, which explains its name (Now or New Shrine). it’s closely associated with the Yasurai Matsuri, which started as an attempt to placate the kami of pestilence during cherry blossom time (the falling petals were blamed for spreading the plague).

Praying at the Eight Shrines

The shrine is dedicated to three deities associated with the region of Izumo, with the main kami being Okuninushi (or Onamuchi). An unusual feature is a group of eight shrines ranged in a row, which are branches of eight powerful types of kami worship. There’s Daikoku; Ebisu; Hachiman; Atsuta; Sumiyoshi; Katori; Kagamitsukuri; and Suwa. The idea is that instead of making pilgrimages to the head shrines, you can just come here and do the whole lot in one go, so to speak. Neat!

The shrine has one of the best collection of omamori (amulets) that I’ve seen. (There’s an online display in English here.) One of them, interestingly, is the Zen figure, Daruma, presumably a nod in the direction of the temple next door. Another is styled as a Heian-era poem, presumably in honour of Murasaki Shikibu. And a third one, called tamanokoshi, is for Cinderella types who want to marry into a rich household. Personally I plumped for one shaped like a small mirror, which only reveals the fortune through reflection when the sun (or a light) is shone onto it. Mine was daikichi (big luck) I’m happy to report.

Magic Rock

The shrine makes much of its ‘magical’ rock ahokashisan, believed to possess wish-fulfilling properties. One often comes across such rocks at shrines, with your fortune depending on whether you can easily pick it up or not. Here it’s said that if you tap the stone three times and lift it, it will feel heavy. If you then stroke it three times and make a wish, it will feel light and your wish will be granted. It’s also said that if you rub the stone, and then rub an injured part of the body, it will heal (also a widespread practice).

One special feature of the shrine is found outside its entrance, where there are two ancient shops selling roasted rice dumplings called aburimochi. Amazingly, one of the shops has been doing business on the site since 1002. The other is relatively new, dating only to 1656. It’s amazing to think that for over 350 years these two rivals have been doing friendly business opposite each other and making a living off visitors to the shrine. Japanese traditions can be astonishingly enduring.

Roasting the rice dumplings

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Imamiya has an excellent website in English: http://www.imamiyajinja.org/eng/imamiya_ENG/TOP.html

They've been selling dumplings here for over 1000 years!

Protection from the plague at the Eight Shrines

A decidedly modern take on the traditional ema

A contemporary touch at a subshrine. Nice try, but it just doesn't work...

A curiously plastic ornament for a nature religion!

Origins 2): Yayoi connections

April 10, 2012 / John D. / 3 Comments

Yayoi housing (courtesy of Ray Kinnane)

Around 500-300 BC a wave of continental incomers arrived into Japan who were genetically and culturally different from the Jomon natives. They may have entered from Korea, or from China via Korea, or even directly from China. Most likely a combination of all three. These Yayoi newcomers brought with them a brand new culture based on wet rice cultivation, together with weaving, metalworking and a more advanced form of pottery. “DNA tests have confirmed the likelihood of this hypothesis. About 54% of paternal lineages and 66% of the maternal lineages have been identified as being of Sino-Korean origin,” says this site.

These newcomers brought with them two different strands of East Asian religion. A southern, Chinese agricultural-based strand. And a northern, Siberian shamanistic strand. What could bring these two together? Migration routes into Korea, it seems.

Wet rice culture started in the area around around the current border between Myanmar and China. In around 400 BC, it spread widely over the lower Yangtze region, before the Han (Chinese) people settled there. It seems the people from there didn’t go directly to Japan, but moved first into the southern part of the Korean peninsula. The reason is unknown, but probably fighting drove them to look for a more peaceful place. The fact that rice culture didn’t enter directly into Japan meant that it arrived with many features of Northern Tungusic culture, which had migrated southwards into the Korean peninsula. This mixing of northern and southern strands led to the fusion in Shinto of Siberian shamanism with Chinese folk elements based around the agricultural cycle.

Yayoi-era symbols of spiritual authority: mirror, sword and magatama jewel

Now let’s see what Wikipedia has to say on the subject….

“The origin of Yayoi culture has long been debated. Chinese influence was obvious in the bronze and copper weapons, dōkyō, dōtaku, as well as irrigated paddy rice cultivation. Three major symbols of the Yayoi culture are the bronze mirror, the bronze sword, and the royal seal stone.

“In recent years, more archaeological and genetic evidence has been found in both eastern China and western Japan to lend credibility to this argument. Between 1996 and 1999, a team led by Satoshi Yamaguchi, a researcher at Japan’s National Science Museum, compared Yayoi remains found in Japan’s Yamaguchi and Fukuoka prefectures with those from China’s coastal Jiangsu province, and found many similarities between the Yayoi and the Jiangsu remains.

“Some scholars also concluded that Korean influence existed. These include “bounded paddy fields, new types of polished stone tools, wooden farming implements, iron tools, weaving technology, ceramic storage jars, exterior bonding of clay coils in pottery fabrication, ditched settlements, domesticated pigs, and jawbone rituals. This assumption also gains strength due to the fact that Yayoi culture began on the north coast of Kyūshū, where Japan is closest to Korea. Yayoi pottery, burial mounds, and food preservation were discovered to be very similar to the pottery of southern Korea.”

I would add to the above the influence of Korean shamanism, particularly in the form of miko possession and rock worship. ‘Fossilised shamanism’ is how Gunther Nitschke describes Shinto in his book From Ando to Shinto (1993), but there’s more to it than that… it’s a concoction, with a fair dose of Daoism and Confucianism added later for good measure.

Yayoi-era doutaku bell

It’s thanks to these diverse roots that Shinto is so rich a religion. To what extent it can be called ‘indigenous’, however, is debatable. To me, it’s much more meaningful to call it East Asian. This is of course anathema to Japanese nationalists, who like to think racially and culturally Japanese are unique.

Based on skeletal, DNA and linguistic studies the scholar Satoshi Horai argues that modern Japanese are a mix of 65 percent Yayoi and 35 percent Jomon. Modern Japanese in the northern prefectures have rounder eyes, more body hair and wider faces, which suggests closer links to Jomon people. The archeologist Yasuhiro Okada told the New York Times, “People from northern Japan can be 60 to 80 percent of Jomon origin, while those from western or southern Japan are 40 percent Jomon or less.”

DNA analysis also indicates that Yayoi people and modern Japanese are similar genetically to modern Chinese and Koreans. This evidence strongly suggests that modern Japanese evolved from people who came from Korea or China, a notion that debunks the pre- World War II ideology that states that Japanese are racially distinct from other Asians. Some Japanese still hold this belief. In some museums in Japan you can find displays of ancient hunter-gatherers evolving into modern salarymen without any input from the Asian mainland.

(The above is taken from an excellent website full of interesting facts and snippets about early Japanese: See http://factsanddetails.com/japan.php?itemid=484&catid=16&subcatid=105)

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For the first part of this article, about Jomon Japanese and the Polynesian connection, please click here.
For information on Korean mountain worship and shamanism, see David Mason’s San-shin site here.