608 ANNUAL REPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



ceptions. The tribal deity of the Sun offspring, as already indicated, 

 is the sun ; the princes very frequently bear names in which the word 

 " sun " (Japanese, Hi) is contained. The disposition of this people 

 is serene, bright, one might say tropical in the good sense. The char- 

 acter is indescribeably fine, brave, aristocratic. 



On the other hand, the tribal deity of the Idzumo is a god of the 

 storm, the clouds, and the sea, vehement, wrathful, and angry. The 

 disposition of this people is somber; the character is more practical 

 than aristocratic. Life's happiness and enjoyment were more es- 

 teemed by them than governing power and brilliant deeds of valor. 



Under such conditions the Sun people found a rival in the Idzumo. 

 The land, which was considered to be its mission and divine right to 

 govern, it found in the control of others. With an amazing sense of 

 its right and might, it sent a messenger to the Idzumo demanding 

 the right of government from the rival. As might be expected, the 

 Idzumo refused to comJ)l3^ A second message was sent in vain. 

 Thereupon the Sun people dispatched its brave general with a fleet 

 and ordered the demand repeated. Some small skirmishes ensued. 

 But the Idzumo were of a practical turn and eschewed the sufferings 

 and inconveniences of war. And thus, on the condition that the Sun 

 people allow the court of the Idzumo government to continue in its 

 former splendor, the dominion over the land was surrendered to the 

 Sun people. 



But the island of Kiushu, where the Sun people had settled, is 

 situated at the southwestern end of Japan, which is very inconven- 

 ient for the fortification of an empire and the subjection of the 

 entire country. Several generations passed away in small, insignifi- 

 cant quarrels with the surrounding tribes. Then there arose a great 

 and mighty movement. Prince Kan-Iware, of the Sun people, left 

 the place of his birth^ the home of his forefathers, and set out with 

 his warriers in ships for the land of the Middle Kingdom. There 

 he fought with various tribes; with the native, hairy Ainu as well 

 as with the vassals of the Idzumo. The sun was his tutelary deity. 

 He fought in the firm belief in his right and the protection of his 

 ancestress and in the end succeeded in establishing an empire in the 

 center of the principal island of Japan. This Kan-Iware is the first 

 Emperor of Japan — the Emperor Jimmu. He is assumed to have 

 founded his throne in 660 B. C. 



2. DEFINITION OF SHINTO. 



The word " Shinto " means the " way of the gods " — that is, the 

 doctrine of the gods — and was coined in the sixth century A. D., 

 when Buddhism was introduced into Japan from Korea, in contrast 

 to " Butsudo," the way of the Buddhas. Thus, the word originally 

 denoted the entire native religion of Japan. In the course of time 



