|
Jinja Shinto (Shrine Shinto)
The Concept of Kami 
In order to understand the concept of Kami of the Japanese,
it is important to wipe off a preconception caused by the
word, god, an English translation which is often used for
the word Kami. In Shinto, there is no faith in the concept
of the absolute one god who is the creator of both nature
and human beings. The ancient Japanese had never divided
material and spiritual existence, but considered that the
both were inseparable, seeing everything to be spiritual.
In other word, they did not draw a border between a certain
object and the work of that object. According to the Shinto
myth, there was one thing in the beginning of this universe.
Later that thing was divided into two things: Heaven and
Earth. From Heaven, Kami appeared and a couple of Kami who
were male and female appeared last gave birth to the various
Kami, the land of Japan and her nature as well as people.
The Shinto faith starts with a belief in this mythology.
Therefore, Shinto does not acknowledge the existence of
the substantial difference or discontinuation between Kami
and man, nature and human beings. It can be said that Shinto
is basically the faith in the life-giving power.
However, Shinto is not pantheism which sees all the existence
on this world as Kami itself. If it is necessary to define
its concept, it might be the best to refer to the opinion
of Motoori Norinaga, a scholar in the late 18th century,
which is now widely accepted. He wrote, "Whatever seemed
strikingly impressive, possessed the quality of excellence
and virtue, and inspired a feeling of awe was called Kami".
Here "the quality of excellence" means an enormous
power which gives great influence on many things. It is
beyond the human power or human works. It brings a good
luck and happiness to man but at the same time it could
bring a misfortune or an evil as well. On the other hand,
both natural elements (or phenomenon) and man are given
a possibility to become Kami, because both the land and
the people of Japan were given birth by Kami. So, they are
all children of Kami.
Nevertheless, all of them are not Kami by themselves. The
principle of the polytheism is reflecting here that the
only thing that has a great influence on human life could
be Kami. For instance, relating to natural phenomenon, Kami
of Rain, Kami of Wind, Kami of Mountains, Kami of Seas,
Kami of Rivers, Kami of Thunders are worshipped. Thus, objects
of worship are limited to those which are closely associated
and have great influences on human life. In the case of
human beings, all people are revered after their death at
their home as ancestral Kami. However, people whose spirits
are enshrined after death are limited to those who have
had a great contribution to a community or the state. People
who are enshrined during their lifetime are especially limited
to those who have enormous spiritual power over human life.
Occidental theologians have long regarded the human attitude
of having an awe towards the mystical power of nature as
'Nature Worship'. Shinto, however, does not impersonate
nor divinize nature itself, which is the physical existence
that works according to its own system. Shinto considers
that people feel awe to some natural elements which have
especially great influence to human life, and worship their
spirituality and pray for their blessing. In the case of
animals, their spirits are called 'mono', a kind of spirit.
Because they were considered sometimes to do mischief to
human beings, people performed rites in order to console
animal spirits. This faith is still observed nowadays. In
medical faculties of some universities, for instance, Shinto
or Buddhism rites are performed in order to console the
spirits of animals which were killed for experimental purposes.
There are another cases of performing a rite: to console
the spirits of some tools which were made and utilized by
men in everyday life such as needles, knives, shoes; or
to purify buildings before inaugurating them including even
nuclear power stations or factories of computer machines,
wishing that all the labour works and productions involved
in there would be done properly and safely. The same attitude
is applied to Shinrei (or divine spirits). Since people
worship divine spirits as they have great influences to
their life, the spirit which brings evils to human beings
called 'Magatsuhi Kami' is also awed as Kami. According
to Shinto, Kami in general also gets angry and brings some
misfortunes to people although Kami usually guards and blesses
people. Accordingly, it is very important to practice the
faith by performing rites for Kami.
It is necessary to call attention to a fact that Shinto
is polytheism in order to understand the concept of Kami.
At the same time, it might be useful to shift the question
of the Kami concept to the question of the Japanese value
system, so that we could be able to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding.
In the case of Monotheism, which worships one absolute god,
it seems that the concept of the absolute truth is dominating.
If there is any conflict between two people or groups, one
of them is considered to be right and the other is wrong
and untrue. On the other hand, polytheism which is based
on pluralism does not consider the existence of the absolute
truth, and accordingly there is distinctive difference between
the two. If there are two things which contradict each other
or cause a conflict between the two, both of them are wrong
and right at the same time. Any quarrels or disputes are
not judged by the one-value orientation. As the result,
both sides will be punished equally. Also it can be said
that people who believe the absolute truth tend to think
that coexistence is possible only among those who share
the same value. People who stand on the pluralism, on the
other hand, consider that coexistence is possible even among
those who have different opinions or ideas because each
individual has a truth in its individuality, so they have
to give tribute to each other. It is coexistence by harmony.
Shinto based on the pluralism takes up the plural-value
orientation, It can be said that Shinto - in this case,
the Japanese had accepted foreign religions such as Buddhism,
Confucianism and Yin-Yang thought, as the Japanese always
have followed according to this plural-value orientation.
In fact, the Shinto mythology does not mention about the
omniscient and omnipotent Kami. Kami who gave birth to this
land had failed at first, and they requested other Kami
in heaven to show them the right way. Then, Kami in heaven
responded that one may search the answer through practicing
divination. Even the supreme Kami, Amaterasu Ohmikami, once
failed at judging her brother's inner mind. In the case
of Kami called Kuebiko who is believed to have an exceptionally
great power, for example, he knows everything happening
in the world, yet, he can not move even a step because he
has no feet. Thus, according to Shinto, there is no Kami
who has no defect.
|
