Civilization of the Divine Forest

When we think of the sharp decrease of forests in the world, or of the destruction of the tropical rain forests which have a grave influence for the environment of planet, we can say that it is remarkable that 67 percent of Japan is still covered by forests. This is not only due to the Japanese monsoon climate, or due to its mountainous geography. It is rather due to the influence of Japanese ancient civilization which respected the forest, utilizing it as holy trees as well. This long continuing value system of Japan made it possible to keep the forests as its fruits until now.

For example, the Nihonshoki (Chronicles of Japan) describes a myth which explains how the land of Japan became a green land. One day, Susanoo-no-mikoto, the deity who founded the culture of Japan, pricked one of his beard hairs and transformed it into a cedar tree. He also pricked one piece of hair from his breast, one from his buttock, and one of his eyebrow, to make each of them respectively a cypress tree, a black pine tree and a laurel tree. And he ordered his offspring deities, Itakeruno-mikoto, Ohyatsu-hime, and Tsumatsu-hime to spread these trees in order to make the whole land green. Later, those deities were en-shrined in Itakiso Shrine of Kii-no-kuni (presently in Wakayama prefecture), the place named afte Kino-kuni which literally means the country of trees.

Since ancient times, the Japanese have cultivated rice and carefully preserved mountain forests as the water source for rice cultivation. At the same time, mountain people venerated those mountain forests as the divine works of the deity. They en-shrined the mountain deity in the deep mounyain forest as well as the deity of water in the water source, and they are still worshiped by people who are living in mountain areas. Nowadays, these people are in a difficult situation due to the decline of traditional agriculture and forestry and also due to the decrease of the population in the mountain areas resulted accordingly. However, their traditional way of life to worship those deities is a valuable spiritual asset handed down from our ancestors, and city people should not ignore this inheritanc as part of their own cultural backbone.

Social Order – the Shinto Shrine

In an occidental community, there is a plaza in the center of a village where the church or the temple is located, and it forms the center of the village both physically and spiritually. In Japan, on the other hand, a traditional village is formed along streets without any central place for the village. Even the village shrine, which is considered to be the spiritual core for the village people, is located in a secluded place. And those streets function only as menas for everyday activities. However, there is a certain time and occasion when the streets are transformed into the center of the village community. That is the time of the village festival. As previously mentioned, the ancient Japanese believed that deities lived in remote places such as steep mountains or deep forests. However, since these places were not accessible to the village people, They began to construct a building near their village where the deity could visit and stay temporarily so that the deities could be accesible and people could conduct rituals and festivals in the grace of the deity. When the deity visits the village shrine, travelling from its original dwelling place in the mountains or forest, the deity is carried in a procession through the village streets.

On such an occasion, the deity crosses the everyday streets, and the streets are purified, be-coming a sacred area. The divine road, which is usually invisible, appears and a market is set up along the streets as a part of the festivity. At this moment, the whole village becomes a holy open space, where village people can share their happiness and joyfulness with each other in being blessed by the deity. The feeling for the community is especially confirmed through the visit of the deity. It is confirmed when the village is transformed into a holy place. It is not confirmed in a human-made building like a church which is usually situated in the center of the village. So, the traditional social order of a village is not symbolized by the antagonism between human beings and a natural world to be conquered. It is symbolized in a social order which constructs a society where the deity dwells, usually in the depth of nature, with which human beings can communicate. Through this divine communication, the village people feel peace and enlightenment which support their life.