SHINTO. OR THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE JAPANESE. 



By RoMYN Hitchcock. 



Old records — Kami — Heaven — Generation of Kami — Creation of the world — The legend 

 of hades — Birth of the Sun-Goddess and of Susano — Myth of the Sun-Goddess — The 

 Susano myth — The sacred sword of Ise — Heavenly princes sent to subdue Terres- 

 trial deities — The Mikado's divine ancestors — The first Mikado — Shinto as a reli- 

 tjion — Influence of Shinto upon the national character — Liturffies and form of wor- 

 ship — Tendency of religious thought in Japan. 



Autlieutio history iu Japan begins only in the fifth century. What- 

 ever is earlier than that belongs to the age of tradition, which is 

 supposed to maintain an unbroken record for ten thousand years. 

 Intercourse with Korea is said to date from the middle of the second 

 century B. c. The Emperor Sujin (97-30 B. c.) is reputed to have re- 

 ceived tribute from several Korean states; but the art of writing was 

 not introduced until about the fifth century, and it is scarcely credible 

 that a progressive and imitative people like the Japanese would have 

 neglected such a useful accomplishment for five centuries after having 

 seen it practiced in Korea. These dates are therefore doubtful. We 

 may infer that the earliest intercourse between China and Japan was 

 about the time when Chinese writing was introduced. 



Previous to that time the national religion of the Japanese was a 

 very simple form of ancestral worship combined with nature- worship, 

 founded upon a most remarkable and complex mythology which as- 

 scribed to the people divine origin and descent. It is this faith which 

 is now kno^\Ti by the name Shinto. The word is of Chinese origin, but 

 it is obvious that the cult which it designates must have developed 

 many centuries before any trace of (Jhinesc influence was felt iu Japan. 

 Since then, however, Shinto has changed so much in its ceremonials and 

 external character that it is now scarcely to be found in its original 

 simplicity in any part of Japan. Indeed, it is only by the study of the 

 oldest books that we have come to know fairly well what pure Shinto 

 was. First came the teachings of Confucius, which spread rapidly and 

 Mere received with the greatest favor throughout Japan. At the pres- 

 ent day they still constitute an essential part of a Japanese education. 

 Then came a few Buddhist images and sutras from Korea, in the year 

 552 A. D.;* but it was not until the famous priest, Kobo Daishi, in the 



* As related in the, Nilion-oi. 



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