The Shinto Concept of Kami

The Shinto Concept of Kami As any other religion, Shinto has its own ideas about what is divine and what should be worshipped. The interesting thing about these ideas is that in early and medieval Japan they never became the objects of theoretical analysis, and they had not been systematized or unified before Buddhism started to influece Japanese cultural and religious life, so all pro-Shinto forces had to consolidate to oppose that challenge. But even now there is no exact theological concept of Shinto deities. Perhaps, it is so because there has not been a necessity to reflect upon the way people communicate with these deities, or the way these deities act in the world. Everything was very natural, and there was no need to change this way of looking at the world, so there has not been a necessity to make Shinto theoretically clear and uncontradictory: according to Motoori Norinaga,“Shinto is something the Japanese do rather than think about”. We shall try to explore what the Shinto view of the world is like, and what lies behind Japanese myths and rituals that can be called “the concept” of divinity. The Japanese word meaning “deity” or “divinity” and sometimes translated as “god” is “kami”. Its origin and the existence of the link with the word “kami” meaning “upper” are unclear. The Chinese character used to write the word “kami” consists of two parts: the first means “the altar of ancestors” or “deity”, and the second can be understood as “to report to a superior”, though it is again unclear whether the Chinese-style worship of ancestors was widely spread in Japan. So-called “ujigami” (a kami of a family) existed, but it seems possible that they were not always associated with ancestors. A kami could be a landscape deity, and a family living in a certain territory could later come to worship it as an ancestor. Anyway, it seems interesting that the character for Japanese word “kami” contains the idea of something superior, with which it is possible to communicate. Another word to call deities used in chronicles is “mikoto”. It is more common for “Nihongi”, where there are two different Chinese characters for it (indicating different degrees of respect), than for “Kojiki”. Perhaps, by using one of these characters it was shown that the deity had a genealogical connection with the governing family and was very important for the Emperor The Japanese word “mikoto” itself has a prefix “mi” translated as “sacred”, so the whole word can be understood as “a sacred object”. There was also a special Chinese character for “mi”, and this prefix was often used in the names of deities, e.g. “Amaterasu-oho-mi-kami”. Names of deities have a significant role for their characterization. Names contain the essence of myths: the most demonstrative example is the name of the first male deity born by Susanoo, which symbolizes Susanoo’s victory in the argument with Amaterasu (Masa-ya-a-katsu-kachi-hayabi-amano oshi-ho-mimi-no mikoto, it can be translated as “Truly-I-ConquerSwiftness-Heavenly-Great-August-Person”). Sometimes the only thing known about a deity is its name including a name of some place, a mounain, or a river, or connected with the circumstances of the deity’s appearance or birth, or with some significant object. In any case, a name can give us information about a deity’s function or location. There are no names referring to abstract principles,

like there are no deities worshipped in more than one shrine, so-called branch shrines started to appear later under the influence of Buddhism. This can be called “a functional locality” of kami, which corresponds to their geographical locality: kami, like “hashira”, pillars, which is a counter used for deities in ancient Japanese chronicles, link one point in the divine world with one point in our world. There is no definite answer to the question about the location of the divine world. At least two types of cosmology can be found in Japanese mythology. The first can be called “vertical cosmology”, and it describes three world planes: Takamagahara - The Plain of High Heaven, The Central Land of Reed Plains associated with the human world, and Yomi-no kuni subterranean world. Kami exist on every plane, and in mythical times even trees and herbs of The Central Land could speak, but the deities of Takamagahara, the ancestors of the Emperor and aristocratic families, subdued the land and brought the chaotic multitude of its kami into obedience. Often mountains are also regarded as a part of the divine world: kami descend from the mountains, and, according to the songs of “Mahyoshu”, the souls of dead people go to the mountains. Another type of cosmology, which can be found in Japanese mythology, is so-called “horisontal cosmology” with its image of “marebito”, a deity from some enigmatic overseas land. Sukuna-bikona-no mikoto comes from the land, which lies accross the sea, and this land can be Tokoyo-kuni, The Everlasting Land, where he goes after everything is accomplished in The Central Land. Kami can also be found in the underwater world, as it is described, for example, in the myth about a visit of Ho-deri-no mikoto to the underwater palace of Oho-wata-tsumi-no kami - Deity-Great-Ocean-Posessor. As it is seen, kami can move from one plane to another, and the way they do it depends upon their nature: mountains tremble, when Susanoo rises to The Plain of High Heaven to see Amaterasu, and Sukuna-bikona-no mikoto sails to The Central Land in a small boat made of a rind of a kagami plant. Kami can turn into a serpent, like Oho-mono-nushi-no kami, the deity of mountain Miwa, to have an intercourse with a maiden, or to rise to heaven in such a form. Kami, according to the ancient beliefs, can descend (i.e. come to our world) not only on mountains, but on trees (such trees are called “himorogi”), pillars, stones and piles of stones (“iwasaka”). The sacred territory was surrounded by “shimenawa”, a rope. Shrines appeared later and not without influences from the continent. It should be mentioned here, that there is a special room, “shinden”, in a shrine, where objects called “shintai” are stored. Shintai are used as temporary containers for summoned kami. Shintai are placed in caskets or wrapped in cloth, and it is strictly forbidden to look at them. An object like a mirror, a sword or a stone can be a shintai, but sometimes even a mountain is worshipped as a shintai, like it is in Oomiwa shrine and in Suwakami shrine. Speaking about Oomiwa shrine and Mountain Miwa we should say that, according to the norito “Divine Congratulatory Words of the Kuni-no Miyatsuko of Izumo” from “Engishiki”, Oho-na-mochi-no mikoto (another name for Oho-mono-nushi-no kami or Ookuninushi) placed his “peaceful spirit”, “nigi-mi-tama”, in a mirror - “kagami”, which was situated in a holy

grove of Oomiwa shrine. Spirits of kami is a very interesting subject. There are at least four types of “tama”, translated as “spirit” or “soul”, which, maybe, show different aspects of a deity’s behaviour. After pacifying The Central Land, Oho-na-mochi-no mikoto meets his “fortune spirit (“saki-mi-tama”), wonder spirit (“kushi-mi-tama”)”, which comes lighting up the sea and says that it is going to rest on Mountain Mimoro in Yamato (the same as Mountain Miwa). A kami can also have a “rough spirit” - “ara-mi-tama”. In “Nihongi” Amaterasu says to the Empress Jingo that her ara-mi-tama may not approach the Imperial Residence, and Jingo uses kami’s ara-mi-tama to lead the army. Kami can turn into everything from an arrow to a human or an animal. A kami itself is neither antropomorphic nor zoomorphic, it can be just more or less connected with such forms. For example, Izanagi and Izanami seem to be antropomorphic deities, as their sex, parts of body and clothes are mentioned in myths, but when Izanami gives birth to the The Deity of Fire, suffers injury, and goes to Yomi-no kuni, her “body” is not lost, it is transformed to another form, appropriate for that unclean territory. And a zoomorphic deity, the serpent Yamato-no worochi, dies, as Susanoo cuts its body into pieces. It does not matter, what the form of kami is at the moment, because it can be more or less easily changed. And of course, it is not necessary for kami to have only “spiritual” or only “physical” form. Some kami, as Taka-mi-musubi-no mikoto, have no “body” (or it is “hidden”), they are more like spiritual forces acting on their own will, and some kami are less powerful and more strongly connected with their visible physical form, “body”, so that they can be killed or hurt. Finally, speaking about kami’s nature, it should be said that kami are neither “good” nor “bad”, they are ethically ambivalent. For example, Susanoo can be called a “raging deity” when acting in Takamagahara, and a “culture hero” when acting in Izumo, in The Central Land. Izanagi and Izanami create The Great Eight Island Country together, and after Izanami got to Yomi-no kuni she promises Izanagi to kill a thoursand people of The Central Land every day. Kami can cause different disasters, such as pestilence or epidemy, when not worshipped or worshipped incorrectly, for example, as it happened, according to the chronicles, in the reign of Emperor Sujin. Oho-mono-nushi-no kami, who caused the disasters, came to Emperor Sujin in a dream as a noble man and explained what should be done to stop the disasters. Another way to find out the deity’s will was to let it posess a human and speak through him or her. Usually a woman was such a medium, and it correspondes to the ancient systyem of ruling a tribe, when a man was a chief and a woman was a shaman. This system survived in Japan until the Middle Ages, as the Emperor’s daughter was the priestess of Ise shrine of Amaterasu. After this short overview of the main characteristics of kami we may proceed to a very important question: what can be a kami? As we have figured out, it is possible for every object of our world to contain specific sacred forces and be regarded as kami, especially for such awe-inspiring and significant phenomenons like the sun, the moon or the sea. We can see here a great difference between Shinto and, for example, Christianity. In Christianity God is not a part of the created world, but the man can know about God by means of perceiving God’s manifestations in the world. So, the act of creation and the

created world separate the man from God. In Shinto there are no “supernatural forces”: all kami are “natural”, they are a part of the world, and the feeling of their presence tells us that the nature around us is more complicated than we sometimes think. Kami are usually invisible or hide themselves, but their creative or destructive forces can be always awaken, or kami themselves can appear in form of birds, foxes, bears or serpents. Shinto makes no strict distinction between divine powers, the man and the world. Divine powers are incorporated in the world, and men can be posessed by kami or even become kami; for example, souls of dead people can help their alive descendants. Again, all the people are descendants of kami: The Emperor is a descendant of Taka-mi-musubi-no mikoto and Amaterasu, noblemen are descendants of the deities from Takamagahara, and the other people are descendants of the deities from The Central Land. It seems possible that the first deities, which appear in the first episode of “Kojiki” and “Nihongi” (Ama-no mi-naka-nushi-no kami, Taka-mi-musubino kami and Kami-musubi-no kami in “Kojiki”) and have no visible form, are the images strongly influenced by Chinese philosophy. Nothing is said about their shrines and geographical location. Only Taka-mi-musubi and Kamimusubi take part, but still very rarely, in the following myths, though, of course, Taka-mi-musubi together with Amaterasu play an important ideological role as the ancestors of the Emperor’s family. The concept which can be found even in the names of these deities is the concept of “musubu”, which is literally translated as “to tie”, “to bind” or “to link” and interpreted as “a power which gives birth and life force”. After the center of the world (this Chinese idea can be traced in the name “Ama-no mi-naka-nushi”) and this power appear, other deities come to existence. These deities appear in pairs - a male and a female deity, and they are not born, but “appear” or “become” - the Japanese verb “naru” is used to describe it. Only Izanagi and Izanami start to bear children, and their first children are the islands of The Great Eight-Island Country. So, the world is becoming more and more formed as different kami come to life; among them there are numerous deities of the different types of landscape, trees, rivers, the sea, the fire, and so on. Such diversity shows a great attention of the Japanese to the phenomenons of nature and even to the different sides of one phenomenon. But it does not mean that the world was seen as a numer of separate phenomenons: each of them had a kami, or was a kami, and these kami, according to the mythology, had the same ancestors and, we may say, the same nature. Nevertheless it seems incorrect to say, even basing on the first episodes of “Kojiki” and “Nihongi”, where the influences of Taoism and the ideas of Yin and Yang can be found, that kami were regarded as a single force saturating the world. Though we have mentioned the concept of “musubu” above, even “musubu” seems to be more like a function than like such an abstract force. There are situations described in the myths, when the nature acts as a whole, but even in such cases not a single force, but a multitude of kami can be seen. When Susanoo cries, when Amaterasu hides in The Heavenly Rock Grotto, and when the deities of Takamagahara are going to pacify The Central

Land of Reed Plains, there appears an image of “numerous deities which shone with a lustre like that of fireflies and evil deities which buzzed like flies”. This image represents a picture of chaos, and when it happens, people die, herbs wither and the sea goes dry. Anyway, we see here only a great number of kami (as it is written in the chronicles, “eight hundred miriades”, which stands for “a great number”), but not some abstract force. One more interesting idea concerning these situations of chaos is that they are always considered to be negative and dangerous for people and for nature. Although it is clear that the ideas and concepts found in “Kojiki” and “Nihongi”, including the ideas concerning kami, are to a great extent the products of the scholars familiar with Chinese philosophy and culture and have nothing to do with the folk religion, this negative relation towards chaos can be suggested universal not only for all the Japanese, but for all the nations of the world. Chaos is always associated with death and destruction , especially in an agricultural society. So, we are approaching to what might be called “a concept of kami”, as seen not by the compilers of the chronicles, but by the ordinary people of ancient Japan. It is not a theological or a philosophical concept, it is a way of relations between the man and the world, which can be found in everyday life. In “Hitachi-fudoki” there is an episode describing an agreement with kami: a man asks kami, which appeared as a serpent, not to disturb the plants, promises to worship the kami and builds a shrine. This is a very demonstrative story, as kami were “responsible” for maintaining order on some territory, and people were responsible for worshipping kami correctly. There were the relations of neighbourhood (and not of usage, like it is now) between the man and nature, which leaded to harmony amd comfort. The divine forces were very close to the man, he could always communicate with the deities, and such relations with the world allowed to avoid chaos and destruction, which we are facing now.

Honji suijaku From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search The term honji suijaku or honchi suijaku (本地垂迹?) in Japanese religious terminology refers to a theory widely accepted until the Meiji period according to which Indian Buddhist deities choose to appear in Japan as native kami in order to more easily convert and save the Japanese.[1][2] The theory states that some kami (but not all) are in fact just local manifestations (the suijaku (垂迹?), literally, a "trace") of Buddhist deities, (the honji (本地?), literally, "original ground").[1][3] The two entities form an indivisible whole called gongen and in theory should have equal standing, but in history this wasn't always the case.[4] In the early Nara period, for example, the honji was considered more important, and only later did the two come to be regarded as equals.[4] During the late Kamakura period it was even proposed that the kami were the original deities, and the buddhas their manifestations (see the Inverted honji suijaku section below).[4]

The theory was never systematized, but was nonetheless very pervasive and very influential.[1] It is considered the keystone of the shinbutsu shūgō (harmonization of Buddhist deities and Japanese kami) edifice.[5]

[edit] Origin and history of the theory

A mandala showing Buddhist deities and their kami counterparts Early Buddhist monks didn't doubt the existence of kami, but saw them as inferior to their buddhas.[1] Hindu deities had already had the same reception: they had been thought of as non-illuminated and prisoners of samsara.[1] Buddhist claims of superiority encountered however resistance, and monks tried to overcome it by deliberately integrating kami in their system.[1] Japanese Buddhists themselves wanted to somehow give the kami equal status.[1] Several strategies to do this were developed and employed, and one of them was the honji suijaku theory.[1] The expression was originally developed in China[6] and used by Tendai Buddhists to distinguish an absolute truth from its historical manifestation, for example the eternal Buddha from the historical Buddha, or the absolute Dharma from its actual, historical forms, the first being the honji, the second the suijaku.[1][3] The term makes its first appearance with this meaning in the Eizan Daishiden, a text believed to have been written in 825.[3] The honji suijaku theory proper later applied it to buddhas and kami, with its first use within this context dated to 901, when the author of the Sandai Jutsuroku says that "mahasattvas (buddhas and bodhisattvas) manifest themselves at times as kings and at times as kami."[3] It must be noted that the dichotomy was applied to deities only in Japan and not, for example, in China.[1] A different but equivalent explanation of the fact that Buddhist deities choose not to show themselves as they are, but manifest themselves as kami was expressed in a poetic form with the expression wakō dōjin (和光同塵?), which meant that to assist sentient beings, deities "dimmed their radiance and became identical to the dust of the profane world".[1] Their brightness would otherwise be such to destroy mere mortals.[1] In the 10th and 11th centuries we find numerous examples of Buddhist deities and kami pairings, and the deities are usually Kannon, Yakushi, Amida or Shaka Nyorai.[1] The association between them was usually made after a dream or revelation made to a famous monk, later recorded in a temple's or shrine's records.[1] By then, kami in Japan were universally understood to be the form taken by buddhas to save human beings, that is, local manifestations of universal buddhas.[7] Around the beginning of the Kamakura

period the pairings had become solidly codified in large temples or shrines.[1] The frequency of the practice is attested by the kakebotoke (懸仏?), or "Hanging buddhas" found in many large shrines, metal mirrors which carry in the front the effigy of the shrine's kami, and on the rear the relative Buddhist deity.[1] The name is due to the fact that they are usually hanged from a shrine's outer wall.[1] As the theory gradually spread around the country, the concept of gongen ("provisional manifestation", defined as a Buddha that chooses to appear to the Japanese as a kami[3]) evolved.[1] One of the first examples of gongen is Hie's famous Sannō Gongen (山王権 現?).[1] Under the influence of Tendai Buddhism and Shugendō, the gongen concept was also adapted for example to religious beliefs tied to Mount Iwaki, a volcano, so that female kami Kuniyasutamahime became associated with Jūichimen Kannon Bosatsu (eleven-faced Kannon), kami Ōkuninushi with Yakushi Nyorai, and Kunitokotachi no Mikoto with Amida Nyorai.[8]

[edit] The practice of honji suijaku The honji suijaku paradigm remained a defining feature of Japanese religious life up to the end of the Edo period, and its use wasn't confined to just deities, but was often extended even to historical figures as Kūkai and Shōtoku Taishi.[1] It was claimed that these particular human beings were manifestations of kami, which in turn were manifestations of buddhas.[1] Sometimes the deity involved wasn't even Buddhist.[1] This could happen because the theory was never formalized, and always consisted of separate events usually based on a temple or shrine's particular beliefs.[1] Nothing was fixed: a deity could be identified both as a honji and a suijaku in different parts of the same shrine, and different identifications could be believed to be true at the same time and place.[1] The religious situation during the Middle Ages was therefore confused and confusing, and historians have consequently tried to concentrate on the reformers of that age with a clear way philosophy and little interest in kami questions because they are easier to understand.[1] The theory was ultimately beneficial to the kami, which went from being considered unilluminated outsiders to actual forms assumed by important deities.[1] The ultimate expression of this shift is Ryōbu Shintō, in which Buddhist deities and kami are indivisible and equivalent like the two sides of a coin.[1] The use of the honji suijaku paradigm wasn't limited to religion, but to the contrary had important consequences for society in general, culture, art and even economy.[9] Buddhism for example proscribed fishing, hunting and even agriculture because they involved the killing of living beings (insects, moles and the like in the case of farming), but the honji suijaku concept permitted to void the prohibition.[10] If one fished for himself, the reasoning went, he was guilty and should go to hell, however, if the catch was offered to a kami that was a known emanation of a buddha, the gesture had an obvious karmic value, and was permissible.[10] The idea allowed the forbidding of individual, and therefore uncontrolled, economic activity.[10] Applied as it was to all major economic activities, this interpretation of honji suijaku allowed a thorough control of population dissent.[10] How important the concept was can be understood also from how the idea that some local phenomenon may be somehow linked to an absolute and sacred object found extensive application in the medieval and early modern periods.[9] It was used for example to say that temple lands in Japan were local emanations of Buddhist paradises, or that an artisan's work was one with the sacred actions of an Indian buddha.[9]

[edit] The honji suijaku in religious art

Kami Hachiman in Buddhist attire The honji suijaku paradigm found wide application in religious art with the Honji Suijaku Mandalas (本地垂迹曼荼羅?) or Songyō Mandalas (尊形曼荼羅?).[11] The Honjaku Mandala ( 本迹曼荼羅?) (see image above), shows Buddhist deities together with their kami counterparts, while the Honjibutsu mandala (本地仏曼荼羅?) show only Buddhist deities, and the Suijaku mandara (垂迹曼荼羅?) show only kami.[11] The Sōgyō Hachiman (僧形八幡?), or "Hachiman in priestly attire" is one of the most popular syncretic deities.[12] The kami is shown dressed as a Buddhist priest and is considered the protector of people in general and warriors in particular.[12] From the 8th century on, Hachiman was called Hachiman Daibosatsu, or Great Bodhisattva Hachiman. [12] The fact he is dressed like a Buddhist priest is probably meant to indicate the sincerity of his conversion to Buddhism.[12] By the 13th century, other kami would also be portrayed in Buddhist robes.[12]

[edit] Shintōshū Main article: Shintoshu The Shintōshū is a book in ten volumes believed to date from the Nanboku-chō period (1336–1392).[13] It illustrates with tales about various shrines the honji suijaku theory. The common point of the tales is that, before reincarnating as tutelary kami of an area, a soul has first to be born and suffer there as a human being.[14] The suffering is mostly caused by relationships with relatives, especially wives or husbands.

The book had great influence over literature and the arts.[13]

[edit] Inverted honji suijaku The dominant interpretation of the buddha-kami relationship came to be questioned by what modern scholars call the inverted honji suijaku (反本地垂迹, han honji suijaku?) or shinpon butsujaku (神本仏迹?) paradigm, a theology that reversed the original theory and gave the most importance to the kami.[15] Supporters of the theory believed that, while those who have achieved buddhahood have acquired enlightenment, a kami shines of his own light.[15] The doctrine was first developed once again by Tendai monks, and its first full formulation is attributed to Jihen, a monk tied to the great Ise shrine who was most active around 1340.[15] In the first fascicle of the Kuji hongi gengi he argued that, in the beginning, Japan had only kami, and that only later did buddhas take over.[16] He believed that for this reason there had been a decadence in the country's morals, but that a world where kami dominated would soon reappear.[16] In the fifth fascicle of the same work, he compared Japan to a seed, China to a branch and India to a flower or fruit.[16] Just like flowers that fall and return to the roots, India had come back to its roots, the kami were the honji and the buddhas their manifestations.[16] Yoshida Kanetomo was influenced by these ideas and brought them further, making a clean break with the past, becoming the creator of Yoshida Shintō and bringing inverted honji suijaku to maturation.[16] While it is usually claimed that inverted honji suijaku was a reaction of native cults to the dominance of Buddhism, as we have seen history shows that it also came out of Buddhist intellectuals.[15] The theory isn't per se anti-Buddhist and does not question the existence of buddhas, but simply seeks to invert the established order of importance between kami and buddhas.[17] Why Buddhist should develop such a theory to the detriment of their own divinities is unclear, but it is possible that it was developed by shrine monks, or shasō, who took care of the shrine part of temple-shrine complexes to enhance their status.[15]