Japaneseness

A Guide to Values and Virtues

Yoji Yamakuse

• Publisher: Stone Bridge Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781611720266
• eBook ISBN: 9781611729177
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

Can traditional Japanese life concepts—like loyalty, harmony, meticulousness—make sense in Western societies?

This little book offers readers a provocative tour through seventy-six core life concepts that are at the foundation of Japanese behavior, belief, and beauty.

Japaneseness will be of particular interest to students of ethics and humanism as well as those living, working, or traveling in Japan. And it raises an intriguing question: Can traditional Japanese values—like loyalty, meticulousness, sensitivity, reverence, hierarchy, trust, and harmony —make sense in modern Western societies? You are encouraged to think about how Japanese virtues can cultivate inner strength, mindfulness, and long-lasting relationships at your own homes and workplaces.

reverence

Gods have since ancient times been thought to inhabit different objects and places. The Japanese kami is at the root of nature, a creative force residing in valleys and forests.

When Japanese refer to kami, they usually mean the gods of the Shintō religion.

Shintō has existed in Japan since early times but was instituted as a state religion for political purposes at the time of the Meiji Restoration of 1868, using the prestige of the emperor as its symbolic head. As a result, its beliefs and practices have sometimes been misunderstood.

At its roots, Shintō was a diffuse system of beliefs that developed over time in local areas throughout Japan and, like Hinduism, incorporated multiple gods. The followers of Shintō believed that the power of these gods resided in waterfalls, rocks, lakes, large trees, and other objects of nature. As an agricultural society, the Japanese would pray for an abundant harvest to the spirits represented by these natural phenomena; these religious rites were also an opportunity for the early Japanese to gather together to pray for the safety of their villages.

Throughout Asia, one can find religions that worship rocks and other objects in nature and that perform purifying rites with water. For the Japanese, who worshiped the mystery symbolized by nature, purifying one’s body and soul before these natural objects was an important religious activity. Various types of ascetic training in the mountains developed and are even today rigorously practiced by wandering monks.

The native Shintō later mixed with elements of Buddhism from the Asian continent to help forge the spiritual values of the Japanese. This mixing of Shintō and Buddhist elements can be seen in such things as Shintō-like acts of purification during Buddhist trainings; it is also not uncommon to find a Shintō shrine right next to a Buddhist hall of worship.

In Christianity, people are expected to atone to a god for their sins. The appeal of Shintō for the Japanese is found in the respect paid to nature and, through being unified with the purity of nature, in turn becoming pure oneself.

purification

Kami reside in clear water and in sturdy trees and craggy cliffs. The world itself is kami. Therefore we keep our bodies clean and honor nature.

The rite of purifying oneself before rocks, trees, and other objects of nature where spirits and gods (kami) reside is called misogi.

Misogi takes many different forms in the traditions of Japan. For example, throughout the country you can see people pouring water over themselves at festivals; or you might see people jumping into cold ocean waves on New Year’s Day as they pray for good health in the coming year; or you might find people standing under a waterfall as part of spiritual training in the mountains.

The Japanese preference for taking a bath instead of a shower—soaping and cleaning themselves outside the tub before getting in—may be related to this custom of misogi.

People who participate in the rites of Shintō are expected to purify themselves with water and to always keep themselves clean. The act of misogi is not simply a matter of cleaning one’s body; the Japanese believe it represents a cleansing of the soul.

For the Japanese of old, by first properly purifying the body and soul they marked the distinction between everyday life and the time spent before the gods. Even now, before entering a shrine to pray, Japanese will wash their hands and rinse out their mouths. Only after purifying himself will a Japanese pray to the gods for the welfare of his or her family or business.

defilement

Before the gods we clean ourselves, not just to be rid of defilement but to restore us to a state of innocence and purity—a condition that children come to naturally.

Closely related to misogi (“purification”) is kegare (“defilement”).

Kegare was not simply a matter of being physically unclean; it also referred to the wickedness in a person’s soul.

Many countries have the traditional value of “purity” in their cultures. In Shintō, it is believed that the purity of children gives them spiritual powers lacking in adults, and traditionally, it was considered important that a woman remain pure (that is, a virgin) until her marriage.

Adults, who are no longer pure like children or virgins, will try to rid themselves of their kegare at shrines or other places of worship. A person must be purified before standing in front of the gods in order to not present a defiled self.

integrity

Shunning material desire, living a modest, frugal life . . . Many aspire to this state of mind, but in today’s world how are integrity and purity achieved?

Seiren means to have a pure heart, with no personal ambitions. In the traditional Confucian philosophy of China and Japan, personal interests were put aside for the greater good of the public.

From Chinese comes the Japanese phrase seiren keppaku (“integrity and purity”), which means to ignore personal interests and act absolutely impartially, avoiding all dishonor and shame.

Confucian thought entered Japan early on, but it was particularly during the feudal period that the concepts of on (“social debt”) and hōkō (“service”) drove the importance of becoming a person of seiren (“integrity”).

To this sense of “pure heart” was added the Shintō concept of seiso (“neatness”), and when these further mixed with the Buddhist values of Zen and the samurai values of bushidō there developed a way of thinking that prized simplicity and beauty. The ultimate artistic expression of this may be found in the minimalism of the Japanese rock garden.

A pure heart, clean and focused, in the moment, fiercely determined—these are the ideals sought in most Japanese spiritual and cultural traditions.

japanese spirit

“Japanese spirit”: words that should only have ever meant honoring obligations, integrity, honesty, and mindfulness were falsely interpreted and used to lead a nation into war.

During World War II, the phrase yamato damashii (“Japanese spirit”) was abused by the militarists, whose exploitation of it inspired the Japanese people to fight on and sent many young men to their deaths.

Yamato is the ancient name of Japan. Originally, yamato damashii was deeply rooted in Shintō and referred to the spirit a person developed in purifying himself while being at one with the gods (kami) who resided in nature.

In the Meiji period (1868–1912), Shintō was made a state religion with the emperor at its head; with the growth of nationalism, yamato damashii came to mean the strong national spirit of the Japanese. Thereafter the phrase was used to enhance national pride. And then later, in the 1930s, yamato damashii was combined with the concepts of chūgi (“loyalty”) and messhi hōkō (“self-sacrificing service”) as the nation slid down the slippery slope into a totalitarian state and war.

Shintō is a religion unique to Japan. However, the roots of Shintō reveal that it has much in common with other animistic religions in the rest of Asia, as well as in Europe. Yamato damashii is an essential aspect of Japaneseness, and absent the taint of war it expresses the importance Japanese place on the spirit of Shintō.

buddhism

The kami live in nature and have been manifest in Japan since ancient times. The Buddha lives in the human heart, and his teaching originated in India. These two strains of worship have fused within the Japanese people.

Buddhism (bukkyō, or “the teachings of the Buddha”) came to Japan from China around the sixth century C.E. It became attached to the imperial court and the emperor and over time split into different sects and spread widely among the people, taking many forms.

In its early period, Buddhism was more directly associated with the Buddha himself; in later times, as more sects developed, Buddhism was repositioned more closely in association with the “gods” as a manner of belief that could help save people from their suffering.

In other words, Buddhism evolved from being primarily a meditative discipline, such as Zen, in which one sought enlightenment, to a more diverse belief system that included many sects more centered on chanting as a way of finding salvation in the next world.

As it took root, Buddhism also combined with the native religion of Japan, Shintō, to create Japan’s unique form of Buddhism. In Shintō, there is not a strong connection to an afterlife; rather, the belief is in the elements of nature and in how those elements can benefit one in this life on earth. Births in Japan are ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Publisher’s Preface
• On Reading the Japanese Heart
• Maintain Harmony
• Follow Forms and Paths
• Feel Ki, Be Mindful of Change
• Have Feelings, Be Loyal
• Revere the Gods and Buddhas
• Honor Relationships
• Build Trust
• Develop Virtue
• Appreciate Beauty
• Index