2o8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



its express mention, as far as I know, first occurs in the Nihongi 

 of 720 A. D. 



One fact -vvhicli, althougli indispensable to the real under- 

 standing of this religion, is commonly overlooked, is this, that 

 Shinto has a long history, for it has come down to us from the 

 prehistoric ages of its native land, and during this long history it 

 has experienced different fortimes and undergone different inter- 

 pretations. Even at our own time there are at least nine distinct 

 sects, which all go by the name Shinto, but are more or less dif- 

 ferent from one another, both theoretically and practically. The 

 study of these present sects, their origin and characteristics, will 

 be one of the interesting and instructive subjects of investigation. 

 But for those who intend to study Shinto historically it will be 

 quite convenient to divide the whole history of Shinto into three 

 general periods ancient, mediaeval, and modern. 



The ancient period, as I call it, commences with the beginning 

 of the Japanese people, coming down to the close of the sixth 

 century of the Christian era, when the influence of the foreign 

 systems of religion and philosophy began to be strongly felt. 

 This is the period during which Shinto remained almost in the 

 state of original purity, and hence the period may be termed 

 the "period of pure Shinto." The mediceval period of the his- 

 tory of Shinto begins with the seventh century and comes down 

 to the latter half of the seventeenth century. It was during this 

 period that Shinto lost its original purity and became alloyed 

 with the philosophies and religions of China and India. Indeed, 

 we know from history that during this period several attempts 

 were made to amalgamate, in various proportions, these different 

 elements from foreign as well as native sources, and the result 

 was the appearance of diverse compounds thus made. " Ryobu- 

 Shinto" in the ninth century, "Yuitsu-Shinto" in the fifteenth 

 century, and " Deguchi-Shinto " and " Suiga-Shinto" in the latter 

 half of the seventeenth century, are some examples of these com- 

 pounds. In fact, this period was not only the period during 

 which Shinto lost its pristine purity, but also the period during 

 which it was made to withdraw itself into the background, leav- 

 ing the field to its foreign competitors. Its simple and naive 

 content could never be any match for the learned and orderly 

 teachings of Buddhism and Confucianism. Hence this mediae- 

 val period may be called the "period of adulteration and decline 

 of Shinto." The third and last period is the modern period, 

 which covers the present century and the whole of the last. 

 Toward the close of the seventeenth century, several circum- 

 stances which I can not enter upon here made a strong reaction 

 against the foreign influences to set in, and the interest in the 

 things primitive and purely Japanese was revived. In the next 



