"Forget not in your speed, Antonius,To touch Calphurnia; for our elders sayThe barren touched in this holy chaseShake off their steril curse."
"Forget not in your speed, Antonius,To touch Calphurnia; for our elders sayThe barren touched in this holy chaseShake off their steril curse."
The Japanese novelist and antiquary Kiōden, writing about a century ago, informs us that a similar custom was at that time still practised in the province of Echigo. He gives a drawing of the sticks used for the purpose, of the phallic character of which there can be no doubt. They were calledkedzurikake(part-shaved), and consisted of wands whittled near the top into a mass of adherent shavings, as in the illustration.
Kedzurikakeof elder or willow are still made in some places. In Harima, on the 14th day of the 1st month,kedzurikakeare hung up under the eaves in substitution for thekadomatsu, or fir trees placed by the entrance gate at the New Year. In Suwo,kedzurikake, made of a thorny tree calledtara, are placed on each side of the front and back doors at this season, no doubt with the object of averting evil influences. When thekadomatsuand other New Year's decorations are removed on the 15th day of the 1st month, they are in many places collected by the boys as material for a bonfire. This is calleddondoorsagichō, and the burning of thekedzurikakeis a feature of it. In the Yamagata ken, wherever there are stone images of Dōsōjin, the phallic God of Roads,[160]the boys at this time make a bonfire of fir trees and straw, and build for themselves a hut beside it. When the people assemble, they come out and fire it. If the dumplings made on the 14th are roasted in this fire and eaten, malignant diseases need not be feared during the ensuing half year. In Hitachi this hut is called the "Hall of the Sai no Kami." The embers are used for re-lighting the domestic fires or kept as charms against pestilence.
Fire, kindled fromkedzurikakeafter prayer, was given out to the people by the priests of Gion in Kiōto on the last day of the year. It was transferred to a slow match, and used for rekindling the household fires, the object being to prevent pestilence during the coming year.[161]The mythical burning of awobashira(also a phallic emblem) by Izanagi in Yomi was probably suggested by some such custom.[162]It will be observed that the prophylactic virtue of the phallus has not been forgotten in thekedzurikake.
Thekedzurikakeare sometimes described as theshintaiof Dōsōjin, and are placed on the domestic altar to be worshipped as his representative. They are also, by a known confusion of ideas, presented to the Gods as offerings. The Ainus of Yezo, who have adopted thekedzurikakeas the general form of offering to their Gods at all times, and attach to it no phallic signification, were no doubt familiar with this use of it by their Japanese neighbours. It is by them calledinaoornusa, the latter being the old Japanese word for offering. The facility with which such offerings could be prepared by savages must have been a recommendation.
The two cylindricalshingi, or "divine sticks," eight or nine inches in circumference and one foot long, thrown to the crowd by the priests of Seidaiji, near Okayama, on the night of the 14th day of the 1st month, and calledo fuku(luck), to keep off pestilence and bring prosperity, are probably of phallic origin.
The gruel partaken of at the Sahe no Kami festival on the 15th of the 1st month was made of rice, and was coloured with an admixture of the small red bean calledadzuki.[163]The bean is a well-known synonym in Japan forthekteis. The colour red is also significant. It suggests the ruddy complexion of health caused by an abundance of life-giving blood in the lips and cheeks. Children love this colour. Max Nordau says: "As a feeling of pleasure is always connected with dynamogeny or the production of force, every living thing instinctively seeks for dynamogenous sense impressions. Now red is especially dynamogenous." In 'Œdipus Tyrannus,' the Chorus invoke the aid of ruddy-faced Bacchus against pestilence. In Korea red is a terror to devils. A modern Japanese writer says that red is obnoxious to devils on account of its cheerful appearance.
Small-pox being aKijin biō, or demon-sent disease, the colour red is freely employed in combating it. The candles at the bedside are red, and the clothing of the patient and nurse. The God of Small-pox is worshipped with offerings of redgohei(there is here some confusion of ideas) and of redadzukibeans. Red paper is hung round the necks of the bottles ofsakeoffered to him. Redpapier machéfigures of Daruma are placed near the sick-bed. It is explained that red, being ayô(male, bright, positive) colour, is fitted to counteract dark, wintry, negative influences. The potency of red as a charm against small-pox is not unknown to European folk-lore.
Phalli are coloured a bright red, or, what comes to the same thing, gilt. Saruta-hiko, a phallic deity, has a bright red complexion. Torii are painted red. Demons and stage villains have red faces, probably as an indication of great animal vigour.
Griffis, in his 'Mikado's Empire,' tells us that "when by reason of good fortune or a lucky course of events there is great joy in a family it is customary to makekowameshi, or red rice, and give an entertainment to friends and neighbours. The rice is coloured by boiling red beans with it. If for any cause the colour is not a fine red, it is a bad omen for the family." There is a modern superstition thatif, on the 7th day of the 1st month, a male swallows seven, and a female fourteen red beans, they will be free from sickness all their lives.
TheTō-yū-ki, a work published in 1795, has the following:--
"In many places along the highway at Atsumi, in the province of Deha, where the cliffs stand up steeply on both sides, shime-naha are stretched across from one cliff to another. Below these shime-naha there are placed skilfully carved wooden phalli fronting the road. They are very large, being seven or eight feet in length and perhaps three or four feet in circumference. I thought this too shocking, and questioned the inhabitants why they did so. Their answer was that it was a very ancient custom. They were called Sai no kami,[164]and were made afresh every year on the 15th day of the 1st month. As they were local Gods, they were by no means neglectful of them, allowing them to remain even when high officials passed that way. They were not at all, I was told, put up for the amusement of the young folks. Moreover, seeing a number of slips of paper attached to the shime-naha, I inquired what they might be. It appeared that they were fastened there secretly by the women of the place as a prayer for handsome lovers. Truly this is one of those old customs which linger in remote parts. Phalli and ktenes of stone are worshipped by the country-folks in many places as the shintai of their ujigami."
The selection of a rocky pass for the erection of these objects, and the association with them ofshime-naha,[165]show that their original function, namely, to prevent the passage of evil beings or influences, was not forgotten. The prayers of the women betray a misconception of the proper object of this cult.
Near the end of theKogojiuithere is a passage which makes mention of the phallus as a magical appliance. As it has some anthropological interest, I quote it at length:
"Of yore, in the age of the Gods, Oho-toko-nushi no Kami (great-earth-master-deity), on a day that he was cultivating a rice-field, gave his labourers the flesh of oxen to eat. At this time the child of Mi-toshi no Kami (august-harvest-god) went to that rice-field and spat upon the food, after which he returned and reported the matter to his father. Mi-toshi no Kami was wroth and let loose locusts on that field, so that the leaves of the young rice suddenly withered away and it became like dwarf bamboos. Upon this Oho-toko-nushi no Kami caused the diviners to ascertain by their art the reason of this. They replied that it was owing to a curse sent by Mi-toshi no Kami, and advised him to offer a white pig, a white horse, and a white cock in order to dispel his anger. When amends had been made to Mi-toshi no Kami in the manner directed, the latter replied, saying: 'Truly it was my doing. Take bare stalks of hemp, and make of them a reel with which to reel it, take the leaves and sweep it therewith, take "push-grass"[166]of Heaven and push it therewith. Take, moreover, crow-fan[167]and fan it, and if then the locusts do not depart, take ox-flesh and place it in the runnels, adding to it shapes of the male stem (phalli). Moreover, strew the banks of earth between the fields with water-lily seeds, ginger, walnut leaves and salt.' When these instructions were carried out the leaves of the young rice became thick again, and the harvest was a plentiful one. This is the reason why at the present day the Department of Religion worships Mi-toshi no Kami with offerings of a white pig, a white horse, and a white cock."
The facts quoted in the preceding pages show that there was some confusion between the use of the male and female emblems as non-religious magical appliances andtheir cult as deities. Primarily they were symbols, next objects of magic. Finally Religion intervened, and by her handmaids Personification and Myth raised them to the rank of deities, consecrating this step still further by devoting a formal ritual to their service. Thekteishas received somewhat less attention than the phallus. It is no doubt identical with the Yachimata hime of the Michiahenorito, and in theKojiki, its representative the peach is dubbedkami. But theNihongiin the parallel passage merely speaks of its efficacy in repelling evil spirits, and refrains from deifying or even personifying it.
The circumstance that the Sahe no Kami were worshipped by the roadsides and at crossways[168]led to their being looked upon as guide-Gods and the special friends of travellers. Saruta-hiko, a phallic deity, represented as dwelling at the eight crossways of Heaven, is said to have acted as guide to Ninigi on his descent to earth. He is popularly called Dōsōjin, or Road-ancestor-deity, and is depicted as of gigantic stature, with a portentously long nose, which (the suggestion is not mine) may perhaps have a phallic morphological signification.
The worship of these deities was extremely popular in ancient Japan. They were much appealed to in divination,[169]and were prayed to by most travellers when starting on a journey. The phrasechi buri no Kami(Gods along the road) means the Sahe no Kami. The Sahe no Kami were themitama par excellence. They were also calledtamuke no Kami(Gods of offerings) because travellers were in the habit of carrying anusa-bukuro(offering-bag) containing hemp leaves and rice, of which a little was offered to each of them when passing. All unforeseen disasters or illnesses on a journey were attributed to a neglect of the worship of these deities.
But a very little advance in enlightenment shows that the sexual instincts need restraint[170]rather than the stimulus which they must derive from such a cult. So early asa.d.939 a deity of this kind which stood in a conspicuous position in Kiōto, and was worshipped by all travellers, was removed to a less prominent situation. Phallicism ultimately disappeared from official Shinto. But it lingered long in popular customs, and is not quite extinct even at the present day, especially in eastern Japan. I have myself witnessed a procession in which a phallus, several feet high and painted a bright red, was carried on a bier by a crowd of coolies in festal uniform, shouting, laughing, and zig-zagging tumultuously from one side of the street to another. In the lupanars they are honoured by having a lamp of simple construction kept burning before them, and are prayed to by the proprietor for numerous clients. The boys' festival ofdondo, on the 15th of the 1st month, still retains traces of its phallic origin.[171]
Oni.--Oni, or demons, have no individual names. It is clear from theKojikiandNihongimythical narratives that theoniexorcised by means of the peach[172]are the same as the "thunders" and the "armies of Yomi." In other words, they are primarily personified diseases.[173]They afterwards lost this specific character. Motoöri definesoniasashiki kami, or "evil deity." He condemns their identification by theWamiôshôwith the spirits of the dead. There is a story of a tenth-century hero who cut off the arm of anoniand brought it home with him, but was tricked out of it by the owner, who came to his house in the disguise of an old woman.
Theonihave red faces, hairy persons, horns, and sometimes only one eye. They are said to devour men. The modern ideas respecting them are mostly borrowed from Buddhist sources.
Gods of Good and Ill Luck.--Among deified human properties we may reckon the Gods of Good and Ill Luck produced when Izanagi washed in the sea after his return from Yomi. Their names, Naobi and Magatsubi, contain the elementsnao, straight, andmaga, crooked.
Naki-sahame, the Goddess of weeping, Ta-jikara-wo (hand-strength-male), whoseshintaiis a bow, and Omohi-kane, the thought combiner, are rather mythical personages than deities on the effective list. It is doubtful whether Mari no kami, the foot-ball God, who has three faces, is a personification of skill or a hazy, imaginative recollection of some distinguished player.
The very terrible deity known as Bimbō-gami, the God of Poverty, is of later origin.
CHAPTER IX.THE PRIESTHOOD.
THE PRIESTHOOD.
Shinto illustrates the principle enunciated by Herbert Spencer, that "in early stages of social evolution the secular and the sacred are but little distinguished." The Mikado was at the same time high priest and king. There was no well-marked distinction between secular and religious ceremonies. The functionaries who performed the latter had no specially sacerdotal character and no distinctive costume. The Jingikwan, or Department of Religion, was simply a Government bureau, and the rites celebrated in its chapel were as much Government proceedings as the issuing of decrees or the collection of taxes. Almost any official might be called upon to discharge religious functions. The local governors on their appointment made a round of visits for worship to all the shrines in their jurisdiction. All the principal shrines had State endowments. The wordmatsuri-goto, government, is simplymatsuri, a religious festival, with the terminationkoto, thing, which adds nothing to its etymological significance. Hirata says that the worship of the Gods is the source of Government--nay, it is Government. The same wordmiya(august-house) was in common use both for shrines and palaces. There was, however, a beginning of a differentiation of sacred and secular functions. The Mikado delegated some of his religious duties to the Nakatomi House, and, as we shall see, other religious duties were hereditary in other families. Thus a Sun-worship Be, or hereditary corporation, was established in 577. One version of the myth of Ohonamochi represents him as giving up his authority with the words, "Let the august grandchild direct the public affairs of which I have charge: I will retire anddirect secret matters." Evidently we have here an echo of some actual separation of civil and religious authority. Far on into historical times the guardians of the "Great Shrine" of Ohonamochi in Idzumo retained a title (kuni no miyakko) which, like that of pontifex at Rome, implied the performance of secular duties. In the reign of Kwammu (782-806) it was found that the local nobility (kuni no miyakko), many of whom still acted as governors, neglected their civil functions, on the pretence that their time was occupied by religious duties. A decree was therefore issued that in future no local nobles should hold the office of civil governor.
The Mikado.--The chief priest of Shinto is the Mikado himself. Jimmu, the legendary founder of the dynasty, is represented as performing sacrifice in person. Jingō is said to have acted on one occasion askannushi. In historical times Mikados presided personally over the ceremonies of Nihiname, Shinkonjiki, Kanname, and other festivals. Even at the present day the Mikado's priestly functions are not entirely obsolete.
Nakatomi.--For many centuries most of the Mikado's sacerdotal functions have been delegated. In the Jimmu legend there is mention of the appointment of a Michi no Omi (minister of the way) as ruler of a festival in honour of Taka-musubi. At the dawn of history we find the Nakatomi hereditary corporation the recognized vicars of the Mikado. Tradition traces their descent from the God Koyane. The most probable etymology of Nakatomi explains it as put forNaka-tsu-omi, that is to say, the minister of the middle. Hirata understands by this that the Nakatomi were mediators between the Gods and the Mikado, reciting the Mikado'snoritoto the Gods, and communicating to him their instructions received by divination. In Shinto, however, there was no indispensable sacerdotal mediator. There was nothing to prevent the Mikado, or any one, from holding direct communication with the deities.
A branch of the Nakatomi House, which in the seventh century took the name of Fujihara, was famous in later history. Up to 1868 the nominal Prime Ministers and Regents were invariably taken from it. The officials of the Jingikwan, or Department of Religion, were largely Nakatomi, as were also the Chokushi, or Imperial envoys to the local shrines. Yet the Nakatomi were hardly what we should call a priestly caste, like the Levites or Brahmins. The local priesthood were not ordinarily Nakatomi, and many of this House held purely civil appointments.
The Jingikwan took precedence even of the Dajōkwan, or Grand Council of State. It was presided over by an official called Haku. He had the supreme control of all the Shinto State ceremonies, and authority over the local priesthood. He was assisted by a vice-president, and had a staff of Imbe, Urabe, and clerks. The Haku took the place of the Mikado when the latter was prevented by illness from offering his daily prayers. From the eleventh century up till quite recently the Haku was one of the Shirakaha family, who trace their descent from the Mikado Kwazan (985-6), and enjoyed the title ofÔ, or prince. As explained above, the Nakatomi were practically the Imperial family.
Imbe.--The Imbe were another hereditary corporation, descended, it was said, from the God Futodama (great-gift). Their chief business was to prepare the offerings, and their name Imi-be (imimeans avoidance, or religious abstinence) has reference to the care with which they avoided all sources of impurity in doing so. The Imbe, after praying to the Mountain-God, cut down with a sacred (imi) axe the trees required for shrines, or at least began the work, leaving it to be completed by ordinary workmen. They also dug the foundations with a sacred (imi) mattock. Two of thenorito, namely, the Ohotono and the Mikado, were read by them. It was also their duty, at least at one period, to deliver the regalia to the Mikado at his coronation.
A Chinese description of Japan, written long before theKojikiorNihongi, gives the following account of what were in all probability the predecessors of the Imbe:--
"They (the Japanese) appoint a man whom they call an 'abstainer.' He is not allowed to comb his hair, to wash, to eat flesh, or to approach women. When they are fortunate, they make him presents, but if they are ill, or meet with disaster, they set it down to the abstainer's failure to keep his vows, and unite to put him to death."[174]
This is a description of a typical ascetic. In the Imbe of historical times we have the closely allied idea of scrupulous attention to religious purity. But they were not celibates or vegetarians exceptad hocwhen a festival was impending, and so far from neglecting the care of their persons, strict cleanliness was incumbent upon them.
Urabe.--A third hereditary religious corporation in ancient Japan was that of the diviners or Urabe. They are mentioned in theNihongiunder the datea.d.585. They were divided at a later period into four branches, belonging respectively to the provinces of Iki, Tsushima, Idzu, and Hitachi. Twenty of these diviners were attached to the Jingikwan. It was their duty to decide by the deer's shoulder-blade or tortoise-shell divination such matters as were referred to them by the superior officials of the department. Urabe were despatched to the provinces to fetch the rice which was used in the Ohonihe ceremony. It was also their duty to take away and throw into a river theharahe-tsu-mono, or offerings of purification. For many centuries this office has been in the hands of the Yoshida family, whose exorbitant pretensions fill Hirata with indignation.
The Nakatomi, Imbe, Urabe, and Ô (princes of the Shirakaha House), constitute what are called the Shi-sei, or four surnames of the Jingikwan.
Saishu.--The high-priest at Ise was called Saishu, or worship-master. This office was hereditary in the Fujinami family, a branch of the Nakatomi.
Daigūji.--The high-priests of Atsuta, Kashima, Usa, and Aso were termed Daigūji, or great-shrine-functionaries. There was a Dai-gū-ji at Ise, subordinate to the Saishu. This office was also hereditary.
Kannushi.--Kannushi is forkami-nushi, that is, deity-master. It is the most general word for Shinto priest. Properly it is only the chief priest of the shrine who is so designated. The Kannushi are appointed by the State. In early times their duties were performed by officials who already held secular posts. In 820 a decree was made prohibiting this practice, as it was found that such Kannushi neglected the care of the shrines of which they had charge. At the present time many Kannushi combine other avocations with their sacerdotal functions. The title may even be conferred on a layman by way of honour. The late famous actor Danjuro was an example. Kannushi are not exempted from military service. They are not celibates, and may return to the laity whenever they please. It is only when engaged in worship that they wear the distinctive dress of their office, which consists of a loose gown, fastened at the waist with a girdle, and a black cap calledeboshi, bound round the head with a broad white fillet. Even this is not really a sacerdotal costume, but simply one of the old official dresses of the Mikado's Court. No special education is necessary for the discharge of the duties of a Kannushi, which consist in the recital of the annual prayers and in attending to the repair of the shrine.
Hafuri or Hōri.--The hafuri are priests of an inferior grade. This word, though now written with Chinese characters which mean "prayer-official," is connected withthe verbhoburuorhafuru, to slaughter, to throw away.Hōmuru, to bury, is another form of the same word. TheNihongisays that in 642, at the bidding of the village hafuri, horses and cattle were killed as a sacrifice in order to procure rain. The high-priest of the God Minagata at Suha is styled Oho-hafuri (great hafuri). At the festival of this God the heads of seventy-five deer are presented as offerings, while the flesh is eaten by the priests. If others than the priests wish to partake of it without pollution, they get chopsticks from the priests which answer this purpose. These facts point to the conclusion that the hafuri were originally sacrificers. Offerings of animal food were common in ancient times.
The termhafuri-tsu-mono(flung-away-things) is used as equivalent toharahi-tsu-mono(expiatory offerings), and is also applied to funeral offerings.
Negi.--This was another name for priests of lower rank. The word is probably connected withnegafu, to pray. The negi of Miha and Mikami are called imi-bi (fire-avoid) because they are specially careful to avoid impurity in respect to fire. They will not use the same fire for cooking as other people.
Miyakko.--The hereditary chief priests of Kitsuki in Idzumo and the affiliated shrine of Hinokuma in Kir were calledmiyakko, a term which originally meant "local governor."
Priestesses.--There are several categories of priestesses attached to Shinto shrines. Their mythical prototype is Uzume, the Goddess who danced before the cave into which the Sun-Goddess retired when insulted by her brother Susa no wo.
Saiwö.--At the beginning of every reign, an unmarried princess of the Imperial blood was chosen by divination and consecrated to the service of the Sun-Goddess at Ise. For three years previous to taking up her duties she went every first day of the month to animi-dono(sacred-hall)and worshipped towards the Great Shrine of Ise. This was called themi-tose no mono-imi, or "three years' purity." The Saiwö is also called Itsuki no miya or Saigū, sacred or worship-palace--properly the name of her residence. There was a similar appointment to the shrine of Kamo, where the Ujigami of the Mikados was worshipped. She was also called Saiwö, and both herself and her residence were termed Sai-in, that is, "sacred hall." These offices were discontinued early in the thirteenth century.
Kamu no ko(God-child).--The Kamu no ko were also calledmiko, august child, or sometimesmono-imi, that is, avoiders of (impure) things. They were young girls attached to all the principal shrines for the performance of the kagura dances, and cooking the food for offerings. They also occasionally became the medium of divinely inspired utterances. From theYengishikiwe learn that at that time there were a number of kamuko in the palace for the service of the numerous shrines there. They were appointed at the age of seven or upwards from the families of the local nobles (miyakko). Their places were supplied by others when they got married.
At Kumano in Tango there are certain families whose female children are devoted to the service of the Shrine of Susa no wo. When a girl is born, a divine arrow flies down and sticks in the roof-tree of the house. At the age of four or five, the child thus designated is sent to wait on the God. Though the place is among the mountains, such children are never harmed by wild beasts. When they begin to show signs of puberty, a great dragon comes and glares fiercely at them. Thereupon they return home.[175]
Ichi-ko.--The ichi-ko or agata-miko are parish mediums who are called in when communication is desired with the spirits of the dead. They are sometimes called adzusa miko, from their use of a bow of adzusa wood in theirconjurations. There are also strolling ichiko of indifferent character, who for a trifling consideration will throw open the gates of the spirit world. These are modern institutions.
Kamube.--The peasants who tilled the glebe lands of the shrine and their place of residence were alike termed kamu-be (God-corporation). The present city of Kōbe takes its name from one of these. In the times when slavery was a Japanese institution there were slaves attached to some of the shrines.
Recent statistics give the number of Shinto priests as 14,766. Their maximum salary is about £20 per month.
CHAPTER X.WORSHIP.
WORSHIP.
Religious conduct includes worship, morality in so far as it has obtained the sanction of religion, and ceremonial purity.
The term worship applies both to the forms of courtesy and respect towards human beings and of reverence for the Gods. Indeed the latter is not a separate kind of worship, but is composed almost exclusively of the same elements in a new application. Nearly everything in the worship of the Gods is borrowed from the forms of social respect. It is sometimes maintained that these forms, before they become a part of religious ritual, pass through an intermediate stage, namely, the worship of the dead, whether as ghosts or dead ancestors. This view is based on the hypothesis that Gods were originally deceased men. It cannot well apply to Shinto, where all the Great Gods are nature-deities. When a Japanese greets the rising Sun by bowing his head, he does so because that is already with him an habitual form of respect. No doubt he honours the dead in this way as well as the living. But the occasions for the worship of the living so far outnumber those of paying respect to the dead that the latter may be regarded as a negligible quantity in the formation of the habit. There is surely nothing to prevent a man who had never worshipped ghosts or ancestors from transferring direct to nature-deities forms of respect arising out of the relations of living men.
Several practices of worship, such as clapping the hands for joy and the avoidance of contamination by touching a dead body, have no meaning in the case of the cult of the dead.
Worship has a secondary but most important function. It is addressed not only to the Gods but to our fellow-men. It is a means of communicating religious thoughts and emotions from man to man and from one generation to another.
Obeisance.--The simplest and most universal mode of showing reverence to the Gods is by bowing. In Shinto it is the custom to bow twice before and after praying or making an offering. The wordogamu, to pray or worship, means to bend. Kneeling is also practised--one of thenoritohas the phrase "bending the knee like a deer"--but is less common. Squatting (kashikomaru) is another form of obeisance.
Clapping Hands.--Clapping hands (kashihade), primarily a sign of joy, as it still is in our nurseries, was in ancient times in Japan a general token of respect. TheNihongi[176]states that the Ministers clapped hands in honour of the Empress when she ascended the throne. More recently, this form was confined to divine worship. One of thenoritohas the rubric, "Offer three cups of sake, clap hands, and retire." The number of hand-clappings was minutely prescribed in the old ritual. In some ceremonies it was done thirty-two times. A silent hand-clapping (shinobi-te) was sometimes directed. It seems possible that in Shinto at least this was the origin of the simple folding of the hands in prayer, common to so many nations, and explained by anthropologists as the attitude of an unresisting suppliant holding out his hands for the cord.
Other Gestures.--Respect may also be shown by raising objects to the forehead or placing them on the head (ita-daku), as the most honourable and important part of the body. This is done in the case of the implements used in the greater divination. Among less formal gestures used in worship are reverent upward looks (awogu), an almostinstinctive practice, which has its root in the idea that Heaven is the dwelling-place of the Gods, and has certainly nothing to do with ghost-worship.
I cannot point to any case of prostration or of uncovering the feet as a form of Shinto worship. Uncovering the head is known in modern times, but I do not find it mentioned in the older ritual.
Offerings.--As the attitude of devotees towards myth varies according to their intelligence and culture, some distinguishing, more or less clearly, between the truth which it adumbrates and its fictitious embroidery, and others accepting it indiscriminately as absolute fact, as the image is by some regarded simply as an aid to devotion and by others as a true representation of the God, or even as the God himself, so in the case of offerings, a double current of opinion is to be traced. There are always worshippers who well know that the God does not eat the food, drink the wine, or wear the clothing which is laid upon his altar; but there are also more literal-minded people who cling, in the face of cogent evidence to the contrary, to the idea that in some ill-defined way he does benefit physically by such offerings. A story in theKonjaku Monogataritells how a boy, possessed of superior insight, could see the devils carrying away the offerings of the purification ceremony. Even Hirata, a highly educated man, thought that food-offerings lost their savour in a way that is inexplicable by natural causes. Incense and burnt-offerings are adapted to the mental capacity of worshippers of this class.[177]The true reason for making offerings, whether to Gods or to the dead, is to be sought elsewhere. Men feel impelled to do something to show their gratitude for the great benefits which they are daily receiving, and to conciliate the future favour of the powers from whomthey proceed. Offerings are part of the language by which the intention of the worshipper is manifested to Gods and men. It is in this rather than in any supposed actual benefit that their chief value consists. Thenoritostate explicitly that the offerings were symbolical. They are callediya-jiro no mitegura, or offerings in token of respect. There is frequent mention of "fulfilling the praises" of the Gods by plenteous offerings. Symbolic gifts are, of course, not confined to religion. In ancient Greece a gift of earth and water indicated a surrender of political independence.
It is on the recognition of the symbolical value of offerings that the practice of substituting humaner, cheaper, or more convenient articles rests. Shinto has many illustrations of this principle.
I shall only mention Herbert Spencer's view that "the origin of the practice of making offerings is to be found in the custom of leaving food and drink at the graves of the dead, and as the ancestral spirit rose to divine rank, the refreshments placed for the dead developed into sacrifices." It must stand or fall with his general theory of the origin of religion, of which the reader will form his own judgment. I would suggest that the earliest offering was rather a portion of the ordinary meal set apart in grateful recognition of the source from which it came.
I find little or nothing in Shinto to bear out Jevons's opinion that "the core of worship is communion. Offerings in the sense of gifts are a comparatively modern institution both in ancestor-worship and in the worship of the Gods." Communion is, of course, out of the question in the case of the various offerings of clothing and implements. Even in the case of food-offerings there is no evidence in Shinto of a "joint participation in the living flesh and blood of a sacred victim."[178]
The general object of making offerings is to propitiate the God. There are several cases in thenoritowhere theyare made by way of reward for their services or in bargain for future blessings.[179]Some are expiatory, and are made with the object of absolving the worshipper from ritual impurity. These are calledaga-mono, or "ransom things."
Offerings were frequently duplicated, no doubt in order that one set at least of the things offered should be free from chance pollution.
Offerings were sometimes personified, and even deified, as in the Jimmu legend,[180]where the food-offering is styled Idzu-uka no me, sacred-food-female. Most of theshintaiwere originally nothing more than offerings.
Shinto offerings are of the most varied description. The Gods being conceived of as beings animated by human sentiments, it is inferred that anything which would give pleasure to men is suitable for offering to a God.
Food and Drink.--The primary and most important form of offering is food and drink. The Jimmu legend, a very ancient document, speaks of none but food-offerings. The wordnihe, an element in the names of some of the great festivals, means food-offerings. The central feature of the most solemn rite of Shinto, namely, theoho-nihe, was the offering of rice and sake to the Gods by the Mikado on his accession to the throne. Thenoritoadd clothing, and theYengishikia great variety of other articles. There are several instances in history of the substitution of cloth for an older food-offering. Under food are included rice, in ear and in grain, hulled and in husk, rice cakes, fruit, sea-ear, shell-fish, vegetables, edible seaweed, salt, sake, water, deer, pigs, hare, wild boar, and birds of various kinds. In 642 horses and cattle were sacrificed in order to produce rain. But even at this early period such sacrifices were condemned. They were no doubt a revival in a case of national emergency of a practice which under Buddhist influence had become more or less obsolete. There arenumerous indications that animal sacrifices were very common in the most ancient times. In theYengishikiperiod offerings of four-footed animals or their flesh were confined to four services, namely, that of the Food-Goddess, of the Wind-Gods, of the Road-Gods, and that for driving away maleficent deities.
There is no evidence in the older Shinto records of the use of incense or of burnt-offerings, nor is any special importance attached to the blood of slaughtered animals.
White being considered an auspicious colour, white animals were frequently selected for sacrifice.
At the present time the daily offerings made to the Sun-Goddess and the Food-Goddess at Ise consist of four cups ofsake, sixteen saucers of rice and four of salt, besides fish, birds, fruits, seaweed, and vegetables. The annual offerings at the tomb of the first Mikado, Jimmu, are products of mountain, river, and sea, includingtahi(a fish), carp, edible sea-weed, salt, water,sake,mochi(rice-cake), fern-flour, pheasants, and wild ducks.
Clothing.--The clothing of the ancient Japanese consisted of hemp,yuju(a fibre made of the inner bark of the paper mulberry), and silk. All these materials are represented in the Shinto offerings enumerated in theYengishiki. Silk, however, was at this time still somewhat of a novelty, and, therefore, religion being conservative, it takes a less conspicuous place. But hemp and bark-fibre, with the textiles woven from them, are very common offerings. They were more convenient than perishable articles of food for sending to shrines at a distance from the capital, and as cloth was the currency of the day, it was a convenient substitute for unprocurable or objectionable articles. In theYengishikiso many ounces of fibre or so many pieces of cloth are prescribed, but at a later period a more specialized and conventional form, calledoho-nusa(great-offering), came into use. Theoho-nusa(p. 214) consists of two wands placed side by side, from the ends of which depend a quantity ofhempen fibre and a number of strips of paper.[181]One of the wands is of thecleyera japonica, or evergreen sacred tree. The other is a bamboo of a particular species. Their use is connected with an old Japanese rule of etiquette that presents to a superior should be delivered attached to a branch of a tree, the object being doubtless to mark a respectful aloofness of the giver from the receiver. The paper slips represent theyufu, or mulberry-bark fibre. The use ofyufufor clothing having become more or less obsolete, owing to the introduction of cotton, paper, which in Japan is made of the samematerial, was substituted for it. Theoho-nusaare still employed on important occasions, but for general use they are now replaced by the well-knowngohei(p. 215), in which the hemp and one of the wands are omitted. Another form ofnusa, calledko-nusa(littlenusa) orkiri-nusa(cut-nusa), consists of paper with leaves of the sacred tree chopped up and mixed with rice. Travellers in ancient times carried this mixture with them in a bag and made offerings of it to the phallic deities along their way. It was also used when in danger of shipwreck. The same system of "accommodements avec le ciel" is further illustrated by the substitution of the still more inexpensive hemp leaves for the original hempen fibre or fabric. If, it is argued, the God does not really eat the food or wear the clothing placed on his altar, a few grains of rice or a few leaves of hemp will answer the purpose of expressing the sentiments of the worshipper just as well as more costly gifts.