4:24: PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 



3.— THE LAND OF THE GODS— ITS RELIGIONS AND TEMPLES. 



(Illustrated by a Series of Lantern Views.) 



By E. E. EDWARDS, B.A. 



Tliough it may be said of the Japanese that tliey are essentially 

 an undevotional people, tliere is no side of the national life which is 

 so difficult to appreciate as that relating: to religrious mattex-s. 

 Keligious instinct finds manifestation in temple, pagoda, idol, sacrifice, 

 ceremony, procession, prayer, preaching, teaching, and in many other 

 ways. While the archaic Shinto is the indigenous religion of the 

 country, Japan has received, if not with open arms, at any rate with 

 sc-me considerable degree of hospitality, both Asiatic Buddliism and, 

 in later days, the teachings of Christianity. Thus, at the present day, 

 there exist side by side aboriginal Shintoism and the doctrines of 

 Buddha and Christ. 



In this paper I do not profess to enter into a criticism, but 

 rather I propose to offer a brief description of Shintoism and Japanese 

 jBuddhism, with a few remarks concerning the introduction of Con- 

 fucianism. 



In this remarkable country, for ceiituries past, right up to the 

 present day, tliere haA^e been established two Pagan religions which 

 hnve existed side by side without opposition — at least without serious 

 opposition — by their adlierents, for the Japanese who professes 

 Buddhism still adheres to the old institutions, practices, and 

 ceremonies of the native Shintoism. Though developed independently, 

 these two religions have not been without important influence the one 

 on the other. Since the introduction of Buddhism from Korea in the 

 sixth century of the Christian era, Shinto temples and Buddhist 

 temples have stood, and still stand, side by side. 



The ancestors of the Japanese people (who were not the original 

 occupants of the country) were not without a certain amount of 

 civilisation, for, amongst other things, they had progressed from the 

 stage of nature-worship to that of ancestor-worship, which, known as 

 Shintoism, has obtained, in more or less modified form, to the present 

 day. 



The real religion of Japan, the religion still professed in one form 

 or other by the entire nation, is the cult of ancestor-worship, which 

 has always been universal. Probably the deification of ancestors 

 amongst the Japanese was not of spontaneous growth, for it is found 

 in some degree amongst the Chinese and other peoples of Eastern 

 Asia. The Chinese word " Shin," Japanese " Kami," signifies spirit, 

 soul, and is used to indicate the old Japanese gods ; To (Do) signifies 

 " way," " doctrine." 



Shinto, a word meaning literally " the way of the Gods," is the 

 name given to the mythology and vague ancestor, and, to some extent, 

 nature^worshij), which already existed in Japan before the advent of 

 Buddhism. Unlike Buddliism, Shinto possesses no sacred book, no set 

 of dogmas, no moral code; no promise of Heaven, no threat of hell; 

 indeed, in these i^espects Shinto hardly is entitled to be termed a 

 religion. Native Japanese writers of the present day account for 

 this absence of a moral code by the innate perfection of Japanese 

 humanity, which is supposed to be without the necessity for any such 

 assistance. They aver that it is only the depravity of outcasts like the 



