Tag: Shinto values (Page 1 of 3)

Japan by Train 30: Ibusuki

April 24, 2023 / John D. / 0 Comments

This is the concluding excerpt from a book to be published by Stone Bridge in Novemer 2023 entitled Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan. It concerns the kamikaze museum at Chiran, on the way between the most southerly manned station at Ibusuki and the most southerly unmanned station at Nishi-Oyama. As well as kamikaze, Chiran is notable for its collection of well-preserved samurai houses and gardens.

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A short taxi ride away from Chiran’s samurai houses lies the Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots. Why is it located in such an out of the way place, one may well wonder? The answer is simple: the site was once a wartime training school for pilots, which in the later stages of the war served as a base for kamikaze missions. The museum is generously funded, and the spacious rooms are able to house a collection of planes, with pride of place going to the Mitsubishi Zero fighter favoured by the kamikaze.

The exhibits are all in Japanese, save for one major exception; the translation of a touching farewell letter written by a teenage pilot to his mother. Despite its name, however, the Peace Museum seemed more like a celebration of self-sacrifice. Never again was the message at Nagasaki. I did not get that feeling here.

The ethos of samurai and kamikaze is rooted in the suppression of self, and the cultural values which stem from that are what make Japan so comfortable a place to live. Donald Richie wrote of the paradox this presents to foreign residents like himself, for the very qualities they find praiseworthy derive from darker elements in a feudalistic past – conformity, repression, obligations. It is a great irony that the Vietnam War draft dodgers who headed for Kyoto in search of liberation took up Zen and found themselves undergoing a taming of the ego similar to that implemented by drill sergeants in the US military.

Outside the museum are the inevitable cherry trees, for the truncated lives of kamikaze youth are seen poetically in terms of falling blossom. There is too a reconstructed barracks where the young men spent their final days. The most poignant element is a sparse wooden dormitory with beds set close to one another. The neatly folded bedding is set out in a row, Zen-like in its precision.

Cherry blossom – kamikaze – samurai – Zen. At journey’s end I was being presented with a stereotype, but it is an image that Japanese themselves have been keen to promote. It is one that sustains the status quo and makes Japan a deeply conservative country. For all the fervid Westernisation of the past 150 years, the inner core of Japaneseness remains intact. The words of Lafcadio Hearn, written over a hundred years ago, still contain a large measure of truth. ‘The nation has moved unitedly in the direction of great ends,’ he wrote, ’submitting the whole volume of its millions to be moulded by the ideas of its rulers.’ And the engine driving this unified force was what Hearn described as ‘the absence of egotistical individualism’. He credited this to the moral power of Shinto on the one hand, and on the other to the mastery of self promoted by Buddhism.

Journey’s end – Japan’s most southerly station, Nishi-Oyama, with departing train and Mt Kaimon in the background

Japan by Train 23: Iki Island

January 20, 2023 / John D. / 2 Comments

For those interested in Shinto, Iki is a very special island. Palm trees and a Shinto torii greet visitors, and a welcome poster announces that this is ‘the island of kami’. A brochure promoting the island even claims that here lies the origin of Shinto. I was fortunate in my visit in that a Canadian friend Chad Kohalyk was living on the island and kindly offered to drive me around. He proved an excellent guide.

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The next day Chad had devised a custom-made tour for me. First and foremost was the island’s prime attraction, Monkey Rock. No prizes for guessing why. In fact the likeness was uncanny. Shaped by wind and salt water, the creature looks pensively towards the horizon, as if contemplating the future of monkeykind. It would make the perfect prop for Planet of the Apes. There is something too of King Kong in the formidable size, for it stands on a vertical piece of cliff that rises a massive twenty-five meters from the sea.

Nature’s artwork here reminded me of the large shamanic rock overlooking Seoul, which resembles a monk casting a protective eye over the city. On the slopes around it worshippers pray directly to the rock face. Sacred rock in Japan has long intrigued me, for it forms the essence of ancient Shinto. Most of the major shrines in the country originated with worship of a numinous rock (iwakura), yet curiously there is almost nothing written about it. The standard book on Shinto, by Ono Sokyo, does not contain a single mention of rocks. It is puzzling, but over the years I have pieced together my own understanding.

For ancient humans rock stood for permanence, in contrast to vegetation which was perishable. Humans were impermanent of course, but on death their spirit was thought to live on forever. Rocks were therefore associated with the dead, and came to be seen as a vessel into which spirits could enter. In other words they were physical containers for what was intangible and invisible, which is why they were revered as ‘spirit-bodies’ (goshintai).

Inari style torii tunnel. Iki island is full of atmospheric shrines.

Sacred rocks are particularly prominent along the ancient migration route leading from Korea to northern Kyushu, then along the fringes of the Inland Sea to the Yamato heartland in Nara. Since Korea had a formative influence on early religion in Japan, and since Korean shamanism derives from Siberia, it struck me that in prehistoric times Shinto-style shamanism too would have its origins there.

One day, while internet surfing, a picture popped up on my screen of an outcrop on the edge of Lake Baikal. My heart leapt up, and the minute I saw it, I knew with absolute certainty that I had to go there. It was located on the island of Olkhon in the middle of the lake, and contained a sacred cave venerated by the Buryat Mongols as the origin of shamanism. That summer I flew to Siberia, and sat on a slope overlooking the cave, which it was forbidden to enter. Prayer flags fluttered in the wind, and as I pondered the scene thoughts coursed through my mind. Could it be that within the dark mystery of the vaginal opening lay the origin of Japanese rock worship?

In shamanic thinking distinctive features are an indication of spiritual power. The leading shaman at Lake Baikal has six fingers, and in Japan rocks with striking shapes are attributed to divine creation. So I asked Chad if there was any evidence of rituals being conducted at the Monkey Rock, hoping for support for my shamanic theory. Disappointingly he replied, ’Not as far as I know,’ and though he had been to meetings of Iki’s official guides, there had been no mention of any religious connection.

There are over 1000 shrines in Iki, testimony to the very real presence of kami in the island life. You get the feeling that here is the true soul of Shinto, rooted in folk belief rather than the top-down imperial Shinto set up by the Meiji government. Iki shrines speak to a tradition of animism, and as we drove around the island the bond with nature was everywhere apparent.

Kojima island, with the torii immersed in water, though at low tide one can walk across

Some of the shrines are very special. Take Kojima Shrine, for instance, which stands on a small island and is only accessible at low tide. It has one of those evocative torii at the water’s edge, whose pillars are submerged by the incoming tide. It represents immersion in the life-force, as if to remind us of cosmic powers beyond our control. Or take Sai Jinja’s large wooden phallus which stands erect before the Worship Hall. Though demonised by Christianity, the male organ is here a powerful force for good, promoting fertility, conjugal harmony, easy childbirth, and protection from sexual disease.

The three monkeys, with a difference. Fertility symbols were a common feature of worship until the Meiji reforms decided they were an embarrassment and largely did away with them.

Farming with Kami

June 4, 2019 / John D. / 0 Comments

With the arrival of rice came continental practices based on harmony (photos by John Dougill)

Farming with Kami, Shinto Spiritual Beings
by guest contributor, Sally Writes

Early Shinto was once centered around rice-planting agricultural festivals and reverence for life. As the religion evolved, the importance of rice agriculture remained and Shinto rituals still play a significant role in farming. Since planting and harvesting are the core values and building blocks of life, they can also develop a harmonious community if done correctly. If farmers had more awareness of Shinto values, they would ultimately become more harmonious with their land, crop, and life in general.

The Kami of the Land

The very concept of trying to create sustainable ways to farm fits Shinto philosophy. In Shinto, the Earth is occupied by various kami or spiritual beings. Kami can take the form of natural phenomena in the environment, such as mountains, trees, and rivers. Therefore, doing harm to any of these elements would ultimately do harm to the kami that inhabit or represent them. This leads to respect for the land and the use of sustainable techniques to minimize the damage done, so as to prevent the disruption of the kami’s peace.

Water as the gift of life

The Purity of Water

In Shinto, clean moving water has an important role in purity and purification. Clean water was used to cleanse the god Izanagi when he went to free his wife Izanami from the underworld. In agriculture, clean water has an important place as well. In aquaculture and hydroponic techniques, it is vital to have a clean source of water. Aquaculture thus provides a cycle of life that is impactful and fulfilling in both agricultural means as well as Shinto principles. The water provides elements needed for plants to grow. It also provides a home for the aquatic creatures that inhabit it. These creatures then provide natural ingredients, fertilizer, and nutrients to help plants grow. In return, the plants filter the water to provide aquaculture farms with a clean habitat. In this way aquaponics is a source of pure clean water that constantly moves between two different states, much as in the Shinto concept of purification and renewal.

The Use of Natural Pesticides

Shinto places a strong focus on harmony. This itself can be considered a cyclic concept, by which something constantly renews itself and exists perpetually. Ideally, farmers would like for environments to be in harmony so that all the plants and animals live together without one population overwhelming the other. One way to do this is to provide pest management. The sustainable and Shinto-style way of providing pest management is through the introduction of natural predators rather than pesticides. Pesticides can be poisonous and are an outside source that has to be reapplied and brought in from potentially environmentally harmful locations. Instead, investment in ladybugs and other natural predators of pests create an environment which can be kept in harmony, without the need for external intervention.

While Shinto may not have formal teaching, it makes a lot of sense when applied to the environment. Whether it’s to tell us the importance of water or to respect all of nature and live in harmony, it is rooted in the notion that the Earth is a special place for everyone and that we should not ruin it with unsustainable practices.

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For more by Sally Writes, see this piece on Shinto gardens or this piece on Onsen purification.

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In The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering our place in nature, leading scientist and environmentalist, David Suzuki, claims that at some point in history mankind lost spiritual connection to the natural world and stopped seeing the spirit in the tree. Instead the tree became an object, something inanimate to be ravaged, chopped down and used for material ends. Nature was relegated to a resource, and the earth became a forum for humans to prove they were fitter to survive than any other species. Once food was a precious gift; now it’s a throw-away commodity. The animals that were our brothers and sisters are tortured, maimed and mutilated in factory farms. The conclusion Suzuki comes to is that we have to recover our reverence and respect for the world around us. We have to recover our connection to the spirit in the tree.

Shinto thanksgiving festival for a successful harvest

Taoist links with Shinto

March 29, 2019 / John D. / 9 Comments

3, 5, 7 are lucky numbers in Taoism .

Not many people realise the debt Shinto owes to Taoism. It’s usually asserted that Shinto is the native religion of Japan, as if it is a purely indigenous creation. In fact, up to 70% of modern Shinto rituals are taken from Taoism (also written as Daoism).

Take the divination for instance, which comes from Taoism. Or take the 7-5-3 numerological symbolism which comes from Tao. Or even the mitsu tomoe, symbol of Shinto, which derives from the Taoist triad of heaven, earth and human.

In a youtube video the presenters put forward five general principles of Taoism, which also speak to the core values of ancient Shinto.

1 God and the universal way are beyond comprehension.
In Taoism it is often said that the Way has no name. Similarly in ancient Shinto the kami had no name. They were seen as local manifestations of a universal force that ran through the universe and were beyond understanding. Talking about the incomprehensible is meaningless. That’s why Shinto has no dogma and doctrine. Only as the Yamato state asserted its power through the means of strategically sited shrines did kami take on the names with which we are familiar today.

2) Good and evil are human perceptions, which do not exist in nature
Christians often attack Shinto as being amoral, and Catholic missionaries of the sixteenth century thought it akin to devil worship because the ‘gods’ of Shinto included malicious as well as benevolent aspects. Taoism, like Shinto, recognises that you can’t have good without evil, any more than you can have light without darkness, or truth without falsehood. There is no supreme good, and Amaterasu is not an almighty and all-knowing goddess.

Mitsu tomoe emblem on a Hachiman horse

3) Nature’s laws are heaven’s laws
Taoism looks to nature as the supreme teacher, and Shinto is rooted in kannagara, the way of nature. ‘Heaven follows the way of Tao, and Tao follows the laws of nature,’ says the Tao Te Ching. The consequence that both Tao and ancient Shinto draw from this are similar: ‘living in harmony with the earth, keeping your body healthy, taking care of your family, living a simple natural lifestyle – these are the ways to cultivate contentment, virtue and life,’ runs the Taoist ideal. Similar values are found in ancient Shinto, which put forward the ideals of sincerity, simplicity and naturalness.

4) Karma is self-inflicted
There is no divine punishment by some entity which judges our moral behaviour, but rather natural consequences that flow from our actions. Heaven and the ways of nature are impartial. Selfishness and wrong-doing however result in suffering. You reap what you sow.
(Taoism combines this with a belief in reincarnation, which I think differentiates it from Shinto, where life after death is left to Buddhism and ancestor worship.)

5) All is one
We are all part of one universe and share in the ultimate mystery. Words and the naming of things spread division, but silence and wonder are the natural response. ‘The unity is said to be the Mystery. Mystery of mysteries – the door to all wonders,’ says the Tao Te Ching. Take life as it is, lead a balanced lifestyle, keep healthy, contribute to the community, practise tai chi or aikido, strive for oneness, don’t cultivate the ego. Selflessness. Here Taoism merges with Shinto which merges with Buddhism. All is ultimately one.

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For a 8.30 minute long video of Five Beliefs that Make You Taoist, click here.

Purification rites like this derive from Taoist influence. Simple, healthy, life-affirming immersion in nature.

A multifaith meeting at Ise with Taoists front centre

Farming with Kami (Writes)

March 27, 2019 / John D. / 0 Comments

The following piece submitted by Green Shinto reader, Sally Writes, concerns an ecological view of how Shinto principles might be applied to modern farming.

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Farming with Kami, Shinto’s Spiritual Beings

Pre-Shinto rites were once centered around rice growing festivals and a reverence for life. As the religion evolved, the importance of agriculture remained and Shinto rites still play a significant role in the annual round. Since planting and harvesting are the core values and building blocks of life, they can also promote a harmonious community if done correctly. If farmers learn to have more respect as taught by Shinto, they will ultimately be in harmony with their land, crops, and life.

The Kami of the Land

The very concept of sustainable ways to farm fits Shinto philosophy. In Shinto, the Earth is occupied by various kami or spiritual beings. Kami can take the form of phenomena in the environment, such as mountains, trees, or rivers. Therefore, doing harm to any of these would ultimately do harm to the kami that inhabit or represent them. This leads farmers to respect their land and provide sustainable techniques to minimize the damage they do to the land and prevent the disruption of the kami’s peace.

The Purity of Water

Aquaculture provides a circle of life that is impactful and fulfilling in both agricultural means as well as the Shinto religion. The water provides elements needed for plants to grow. It also provides a home for the aquatic creatures that inhabit it. These creatures then provide natural ingredients, fertilizer, and nutrients to help plants grow. In return, the plants filter the water to provide aquaculture farms with a clean habitat. It forms aquaponics as a source of pure clean water that constantly moves between two resources, much like the Shinto element of purity and purification.

The Use of Natural Pesticides

Shinto places a strong focus on creating harmony. This itself can be considered a cyclic concept, which can be sustained perpetually. Ideally, farmers would like for environments to be in harmony so that all the plants and animals live together without one population overwhelming the other. One way to do this is to provide pest management.

A sustainable and Shinto-approved way of providing pest management is through the introduction of natural predators rather than pesticides. The chemicals can be poisonous and are an outside source that has to be reapplied and brought in from environmentally harmful locations. Instead, introducing ladybugs and other natural predators of pests can create an environment which is self-sustaining, without constantly relying on artificial resources.

While Shinto may not have formal teachings to follow, it makes a lot of sense in what it tries to teach followers about the environment. Whether it’s to tell us the importance of water or to respect all of nature by living in harmony, we can see that the Earth is a special place for everyone and that we should not ruin it with unsustainable practices.

Wet rice cultivation continues to be a defining characteristic of Japan in the present day

Zen and Shinto 20: Ryokan

May 14, 2017 / John D. / 2 Comments

There are many individuals who exemplify the close ties between Zen and Shinto in Japanese history, particularly in the period before an artificial line was drawn between Buddhism and ‘the indigenous religion’ in Meiji times.

One such person is the poet Ryokan Taigu (1758-1831). His father was village headman, a job which would have included handling local (Shinto) rites. This was in a flourishing port called Izumozaki in Niigata, gateway for the Sado Island gold mines. Ryokan might have succeeded him but dropped out to become a Soto Zen monk. After obtaining his certificate of enlightenment, he wandered for five years before returning to live as a recluse in a hut on a hill near his hometown. Here he wrote poems, did calligraphy, and enjoyed games with the local children. He was a genial ‘big fool’ (Taigu), but a fool inspired by divine wisdom.

In 1826 at the age of 59, Ryokan felt physically incapable of continuing his life on Mt Kugami, and he moved into a Shinto shrine lower down the hill known as Otogo Jinja. He lived in a two-room hut next to the thatch-roofed Sanctuary. One can presume that in return for his lodging he looked after the shrine, sweeping the grounds and perhaps making offerings. A poem he wrote at the time reflects this:

When young, I learned literature but was too lazy to become a scholar.
Still young, I practiced Zen, but I never transmitted the dharma.
Now I live in a hermitage and guard a Shinto shrine.
I feel like half a shrine keeper and half a monk.

Reading through Ryokan with my poetry in translation study group, I can often sense a similarity with Shinto in the striving of the poet for Zen enlightenment. This is particularly evident in such matters as sincerity of purpose, identification with nature, and living in the present. It seems in many of his poems that he aspires to a state of complete selflessness, free of the ego which clouds human understanding.

kakubakari ukiyo to shiraba okuyama no kusanimo kinimo naramashi mono o

Had I known of this distressing world
I would like to have been
A blade of grass or a tree
On a remote mountain

Other of his poems are clearly inspired by Zen but have a strong Shinto element in their concern with natural purity versus the ‘pollution’ of human concerns. Zen like Shinto wishes ultimately to look into the soul-mirror and see no distorting ego (which is why both temples and shrines have mirrors on their altars).

Yamakage no iwama o tsutau kokemizu no kasukani ware wa sumiwataru kamo

Like the little stream
Making its way
Through the mossy crevices
I, too, quietly
Turn clear and transparent.

On his choice of life as a recluse, rather than living in a monkish community, he had this to say:

I don’t tell the murky world
to turn pure.
I purify myself and
check my reflection
in the water of the valley brook.

In old age Ryokan had time for reflection on having ‘idled his life away’, and his conclusion about what he will leave behind is so pure and selfless as to bring a smile to the face…

My legacy —
What will it be?
Flowers in spring,
The cuckoo in summer,
And the crimson maples
Of autumn.

Ryokan’s grave (courtesy Wikicommons)

Zen and Shinto 18: Values

December 4, 2016 / John D. / 0 Comments

Sincerity, loyalty, self-sacrifice. Zen or Shinto values?

Mindfulness is a key concept in both Zen and Shinto. Purification and egolessness too.
Harae (purification) and kegare (impurity) in Shinto resemble Delusion and Attachment in Buddhism. The goal in both religions is similar, though the means are different.

A Shinto poster promoting patriotism

In Shinto people look to restore their kami nature by visiting shrines and praying to the mirror (the pure soul of Amaterasu). In Buddhism they look to restore their original Buddha nature and look to the mirror as a symbol of egolessness. Both strive for a spotless mirror that reflects without the distortions of the ego. In one case the mirror is a gift from the kami; in the other it is a product of one’s own endeavour.

Consider the following quotation. It’s written by D.T. Suzuki, but it seems to me it could equally apply to Shinto as much as to Zen.

The sword has thus a double office to perform: the one is to destroy anything that opposes the will of its owner, and the other is to sacrifice all of the impulses that arise from the instinct of self-preservation. The former relates itself with the spirit of patriotism or militarism, while the other has a religious connotation of loyalty and self-sacrifice. In the case of the former very frequently the sword may mean destruction pure and simple, it is then the symbol of force, sometimes perhaps devilish. It must therefore be controlled and consecrated by the second function. Its conscientious owner has been always mindful of this truth. For then destruction is turned against the evil spirit. The sword comes to be identified with the annihilation of things which lie in the way of peace, justice, progress, and humanity. It stands for all that is desirable for the spiritual welfare of the world at large.
– Suzuki, Zen Buddhism and Its Influence on Japanese Culture, pp. 66-67.

One thing Suzuki is at pains to emphasise is that acts of war are objectionable when carried out for egoistical ends. However, a sincere and selfless sacrifice is to be regarded as virtuous. He praised the Zen connection with Bushido as promoting a sense of selflessness. Submitting to a higher authority thereby becomes an absolution for the act of killing.

Read through Shinto writings and you will find much the same kind of thinking. Patriotism is fiercely upheld. Since the good of the nation is equated with the figure of the emperor, its heroes are those who sacrificed themselves for the imperial institution while its enemies are those who stood in opposition. Yasukuni’s cult of the kamikaze pilots is an obvious example of self-sacrifice being exalted as a supreme virtue.

At Ise Jingu, the country’s premier shrine, the tradition is that you never pray for things for yourself. That would be a sign of selfishness. By contrast you should express gratitude – gratitude to the kami and the imperial descendant. In the great communal enterprise of pilgrimage to the national shrine, self is subjugated in the larger entity of the nation, symbolised in the person of the emperor. Subjugation of self thus lies at the core of Shinto, just as it is in Zen.

Sincerity, loyalty, self-sacrifice. These are very much common to Shinto and Zen. Perhaps they offer an example of the way in which the indigenous culture helped shape the transformation of Chinese Chan into Japanese Zen.

A demonstration of Kendo at Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto, put on to please the kami

A celebration of Samurai virtues at a Shinto festival in Tohoku