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SHINTO

(The Way Of The Gods)

by

W. G. ASTON, C.M.G, D.Lit.

Author of
'A Grammar of the Japanese Spoken Language,' 'A Grammar of the
Japanese Written Language,' 'The Nihongi' (Translation),
'A History of Japanese Literature,' &c.







Longmans, Green, and Co.
39 Paternoster Row, London
New York and Bombay
1905
All rights reserved




TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    CHAP.                                          PAGE.
       I. MATERIALS FOR THE STUDY OF SHINTO           1
      II. GENERAL FEATURES--PERSONIFICATION           5
     III. GENERAL FEATURES--DEIFICATION OF MEN       36
      IV. GENERAL FEATURES--FUNCTIONS OF GODS, &C.   65
       V. MYTH                                       75
      VI. THE MYTHICAL NARRATIVE                     84
     VII. THE PANTHEON--NATURE-DEITIES              121
    VIII. THE PANTHEON--MAN-DEITIES                 177
      IX. THE PRIESTHOOD                            200
       X. WORSHIP                                   208
      XI. MORALS, LAW, AND PURITY                   241
     XII. CEREMONIAL                                268
    XIII. MAGIC, DIVINATION, INSPIRATION            327
     XIV. DECAY OF SHINTO. MODERN SECTS             359




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

                                                               PAGE.
    _Ohonamochi and his Double_                                28-29
    _The Sun-Goddess issuing from the Rock-Cave of Heaven_     98-99
    _Sun Worship at the Twin-Rocks of Ise_                    130-31
    _Hohodemi at the Court of Toyotama-hiko_                     149
    _Kedzurikake_. The one on the right is the ordinary form,
          the other a special kind called _ihaigi_               192
    _Oho-nusa_.
             (From Dr. Florenz's paper in the _T.A.S.J._)        214
    _Gohei_                                                      215
    _Ema_ (Horse-picture)                                        222
    _Mikoshi_                                                 224-25
    _Himorogi_. (From the _T.A.S.J._)                            226
    _Shrines of Ise_                                          229-30
    _Toriwi_                                                     233
    _Chi no wa_                                               266-67
    _Misogi, or Purification Ceremony_                        298-99
    _Tsuina, or Expulsion of Devils_                          310-11
    _Wayside Shrines_                                            366




ABBREVIATIONS.

Ch. K.--Mr. B. H. Chamberlain's translation of the _Kojiki_.

_Nihongi_.--Translation of the _Nihongi_ by W. G. Aston.

_T.A.S.J._--Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.




ERRATA.

For "Welhausen," note to p. 113, read _Wellhausen_.

For "of," p. 12, l. 18, read _on_.

P. 335, l. 24, read _to do her behests_.




ADDENDA.

Add, bottom of p. 60, "St. Augustine says, in his 'Civitas Dei,' that
funeral observances are rather solace to the living than help to the
dead."

P. 41, line 25, after "deities" insert "a phrase which closely
resembles the 'Zembla Bogh' used of the Czar by Russians."

P. 31, add to first note, "The Romans had an evil counterpart of
Jupiter, viz., Vediovis or Vejovis."




PREFACE.


As compared with the great religions of the world, Shinto, the old
_Kami_ cult of Japan, is decidedly rudimentary in its character. Its
polytheism, the want of a Supreme Deity, the comparative absence of
images and of a moral code, its feeble personifications and hesitating
grasp of the conception of spirit, the practical non-recognition of a
future state, and the general absence of a deep, earnest faith--all
stamp it as perhaps the least developed of religions which have an
adequate literary record. Still, it is not a primitive cult. It had an
organized priesthood and an elaborate ritual. The general civilization
of the Japanese when Shinto assumed the form in which we know it had
left the primitive stage far behind. They were already an agricultural
nation, a circumstance by which Shinto has been deeply influenced. They
had a settled government, and possessed the arts of brewing, making
pottery, building ships and bridges, and working in metals. It is not
among such surroundings that we can expect to find a primitive form of
religion.

The present treatise has two objects. It is intended, primarily and
chiefly, as a repertory of the more significant facts of Shinto for the
use of scientific students of religion. It also comprises an outline
theory of the origin and earlier stages of the development of religion,
prepared with special reference to the Shinto evidence. The subject is
treated from a positive, not from a negative or agnostic standpoint,
Religion being regarded as a normal function, not a disease, of
humanity. This element of the work owes much to the continental
scholars Reville, Goblet D'Alviella, and Pfleiderer.

In anthropological matters, I have been much indebted to Dr. Tylor's
'Primitive Culture' and Mr. J. G. Frazer's 'Golden Bough.' I should not
omit to express my obligations to my friend Mr. J. Troup for assistance
with the proofs and for a number of useful corrections and suggestions.




CHAPTER I.

MATERIALS FOR THE STUDY OF SHINTO.


=Prehistoric Shinto=.--Ethnologists are agreed that the predominant
element of the Japanese race came to Japan by way of Korea from that
part of Asia which lies north of China, probably by a succession of
immigrations which extended over many centuries. It is useless to
speculate as to what rudiments of religious belief the ancestors of the
Japanese race may have brought with them from their continental home.
Sun-worship has long been a central feature of Tartar religions, as it
is of Shinto; but such a coincidence proves nothing, as this cult is
universal among nations in the barbaric stage of civilization. It is
impossible to say whether or not an acquaintance with the old State
religion of China--essentially a nature-worship--had an influence on
the prehistoric development of Shinto. The circumstance that the Sun
was the chief deity of the latter and Heaven of the former is adverse
to this supposition. Nor is there anything in Japan which corresponds
with the Shangti