2 14 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



leaders of the Japanese renaissance of the eighteenth century, 

 boldly asserts : " Human beings, having been produced by the 

 spirit of the two creative deities, are naturally endowed with the 

 knowledge of what they ought to do and what they ought to 

 refrain from. It is unnecessary for them to trouble their heads 

 with systems of morality. If a system of morals were necessary, 

 men would be inferior to animals, all of whom are endowed with 

 the knowledge of what they ought to do, only in an inferior 

 degree to men." Hence he concludes that, as the Japanese have 

 and need no system of morals, they are superior to the Chinese, 

 who have and need such a system. Some eight hundred years 

 earlier than Motoori there flourished another great exponent of 

 Shinto, whose name was Michizane. Michizant^ was a patriot, 

 statesman, scholar, and poet, and even at present he is one of the 

 most extensively worshiped gods of Shinto. This hero has a short 

 poem which is expressive of the old religious spirit of the Japan- 

 ese nation, and which, being helped by the influence of his strong 

 and noble personality, has had a very marked influence among 

 our countrymen. The poem, if I may venture to translate it, is 



this : 



" Only if our inner heart is 



In harmony with the true way, 



The gods will protect us, 



Even though we do not pray.'' 



The meaning of these lines is unmistakable. According to Michi- 

 zand, religion can have no real existence apart from morality ; 

 but, on the contrary, if one live a pure and divine life, there is 

 already in his life the reality of religion. If his heart is not in 

 harmony with the heavenly way, and if he does not live his 

 prayer in his life, mere verbal prayer is of no account, because 

 the gods care more for the real purity of our heart than for the 

 empty prayer of our mouth. 



The other important characteristic of Shinto is that this sys- 

 tem is a religion of naive optimism. Our early forefathers seem 

 to have been remarkably happy and cheerful in their tempera- 

 ment. " To live happy with gods and men " seems to have been 

 the long and short of their religion as well as of their life. If any 

 misfortune hapi)ened, they ascribed it to the anger and curse of 

 the gods, and by ofl:erings and festivals they tried to appease the 

 gods and to restore their favor. If everything went well, and 

 especially when the annual produce of the soil was plentiful, 

 again they ascribed this to the favor and mercies of the gods, and 

 by offerings and festivals they praised the gods and rejoiced 

 themselves. Thus there are numerous festivals of the Shinto 

 gods all over the country. These festivals may be classified as 

 public and private, and also as regular and occasional. The 



