Ancient Japanese Rituals

Satow

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781317792918
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

First published in 2002. What is Shinto? is the key question asked by all who seek to understand Japan and the Japanese, answered in this volume by Sir Ernest Satow, the great British scholar and diplomat. Shinto is the unique and little-known religious beliefs that flourished in Japan before the introduction of Buddhism and Confucianism, but there are many versions - which is the pure form? Satow begins with a detailed study of core Shinto rituals as revealed in ancient texts, which embody the deepest and oldest traditions of Shinto belief in divinity, national destiny and, above all, Japan's special favored status as 'the country of the gods', beliefs that endure today behind the facade of Japan Inc. Shinto rites, incantations, sacred objects and symbols are described meticulously, with illustrations and translations by Karl Florenz. Satow then describes how the Ancient Way of Shinto survived centuries of foreign influence to be revived during the Meiji era, when it became the driving force behind the transformation of Japan into a world power. Unrivalled for its scholarship and elegance, this is a classic in Japanese studies.

ANCIENT JAPANESE RITUALS.—PART I.*

NO. 1.—THE PRAYING FOR HARVEST.

BY

ERNEST SATOW.

(Read before the Asiatic Society of Japan on November 12th, 1878.)

One of the questions most frequently asked by those who take interest in Japanese subjects is, “What is the nature of Shiñtau”? It might seem at first sight that the answer should be easy, but this is not the case. In the first place, there are several kinds of Shintau to be distinguished before an answer can be given. There is the Riyaubu Shiñtau, in which the primitive belief has been overlaid and almost hidden by a mass of Buddhist mysticism, and I cannot say that I have had time to study it at all. Then we have the Yuwiitsu Shiñtau, also consisting mainly of a Buddhist superstructure on a Shiñtau foundation; the Deguchi Shiñtau, in which the ancient belief is explained by means of the Chinese Book of Changes, and the Suwiga Shiñtau, which is a combination of Yuwiitsu Shiñtau and the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Choohe. Besides these there is the real Shiñtau, by which I mean the belief actually held and the rites practised by the Japanese people before the introduction of Buddhism and the Chinese philosophy, to which must further be added the Shiñtau of modern writers, such as Motowori and Hirata, whose views I have attempted to summarize in a paper entitled the “Revival of Pure Shiñtau.” Of al! these kinds, unquestionably the most interesting to students of comparative religion is the Shiñtau of the primitive Japanese, because if we can separate it from the spurious counterfeits and adulterations which are presented to us as Shiñtau, we shall probably arrive at a natural religion in a very early stage of development, which perhaps originated quite independently of any other natural religion known to us, and that would certainly be of value, as showing one way in which a natural religion may spring up. The materials for this study consist of certain books belonging to the earliest period of Japanese literature, some of which are older than the introduction of the Chinese art of writing, but in the absence of any native system of writing, have been preserved first by oral tradition and later through the medium of the Chinese characters. As long as these books remain locked up in the original language they can be accessible, of course, only to the very small number of students who have specially directed their attention to this portion of Japanese literature. There is a wide field for research in Japan, and few if any can hope to find time to explore it thoroughly, because of the difficulties which the language presents. It seems, therefore, most practical to endeavour to remove the principal obstacle which prevents inquirers from learning at first hand what this primitive belief and these early rites were, by making as accurate translations as possible of the most important texts. For thus we shall be contributing towards the stock of material, which must be gathered together for examination by those whose special training fits them to draw the proper inferences from the scattered facts, of which each individual specialist can know only a small portion.

In studying the primitive religion of the Japanese people there are two principal avenues open to us. We may examine the myths which are contained in the Nihoñgi, Kozhiki and other early records of tradition, and by analyzing the names of the gods and other supernatural beings who figure in those legends, discover the real relation in which they stand to each other and the true signification of the stories concerning them. In this way we should gain a general idea of the accepted belief concerning the gods, that was current at the time when those records were compiled, that is to say, if the expression be admissible, of the theory of Shiñtau, and at the same time it would become possible to show how and in what order these myths were evolved. But of not less importance than this inquiry would be an investigation into the practical side of Shiñtau, by considering the attitude which the worshipper assumed towards the objects of worship, the means which he adopted of conciliating their favour or of averting their anger, and the language in which he addressed them. To describe the ceremonies used in the worship of the gods, the buildings in which it was celebrated, the organization of the priesthood, such as it still is, or can be shown to have been in earlier times, would also be of great interest, but such researches would require more ample leisure than falls to the lot of most foreign residents in this country. It would be necessary to visit the chief temples in different parts of the country, to enter into relations with the priests in charge of them, and to be present at their principal festivals. Tied to one spot almost throughout the year, as most of us are, we must content ourselves with such kinds of information as are to be obtained from books, which, though not entitled to be accepted as infallible guides, will yield valuable results when studied with patience.

An important part of every performance of Shiñtau rites, not less so than the presentation of offerings to the god or departed human spirit, is the reading or recitation of a sort of liturgy or ritual addressed for the most part to the object of worship, in which the grounds of this worship are stated and the offerings are enumerated. The Japanese word for such a liturgy or ritual is norito^*, frequently pronounced notto, according to a well known law of phonetic corruption. These norito may be, and often áre, composed for a single special occasion, as for instance a funeral conducted according to Shiñtau rites, and the Government Gazettes of the years immediately succeeding the Mikado's restoration in 1868 contain a large number of these occasional norito. Amongst them are rituals recited to add greater solemnity to the oath by which the sovereign bound himself to govern in accordance with liberal ideas, to celebrate his removal to the eastern metropolis, to obtain military success over his enemies, to give sanctity to the institution of an order of lay-preachers who were intended to spread abroad the teachings of Shiñtau, in honour of the gods of war, and to confirm the bestowal of posthumous titles on certain predecessors of the Mikado who had hitherto not been recognized as legitimate sovereigns. The norito used in the celebration of the annual service called Chiñkoñsai (

), the object of which is to pacify the Mikado's soul, or, in other words, to ensure to him continuance in bodily health, is also said to have been from the earliest ages composed afresh on each occasion; but it is evident that there would be a tendency for a regularly recurrent ritual to settle down into a nearly constant form, from which the variations would be insignificant and might finally disappear altogether. This apparently happened in the cases of a considerable proportion of the rituals used in the services celebrated in early times at the court of the Mikado, for out of seventy-five such recognized services which are enumerated in the Yeñgishiki, we find that in the tenth century the precise wording of the rituals is prescribed for nearly thirty, and those undoubtedly the most important of the whole number. Whether they had all been committed to writing before the promulgation of the Ceremonial Laws of the year 927 (Yeñgishiki) is not known, but there seems good ground for supposing that some of them at least had assumed their present form much earlier. Mabuchi ascribes the congratulatory address of the chieftains of Idzumo, which is included among the norito, to the reign of Zhiyomei Teñwau (

, 629–641), the General Purification to that of Teñmu (

, 673–686) and the Praying for Harvest, which is the subject of this paper, to the reign of Kuwauniñ (

, 770–782), but his grounds for assuming these dates as the probable age of the norito in question are chiefly peculi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• The Kegan Paul Japan Library
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Ancient Japanese Rituals
• The Revival Of Pure Shintau