It is said that there are eight million deities in Japan. And this is almost true. In the Shinto religion, the gods - kami - include the ancestors of people, the spirits of mountains, rivers, stones, trees, fire, wind, localities, crafts, occupations, the spirits of human virtues, body parts, even human traits … Kami are invisibly present everywhere and everywhere, participate in everything that happens. They literally permeate the whole world and exist in it as naturally as humans and animals.
Live here and now
The very name of the original Japanese religion - "Shinto" - means "the way of the gods." In Shinto, the most ancient forms of belief have been preserved, such as magic, totemism (veneration of certain animals as patrons) and fetishism (belief in the power of amulets and talismans).
Unlike other religions, in Shintoism there is no founder or supreme deity. There is not even a clear-cut distinction between humans and supernatural beings. People, according to Shinto, descended directly from kami, live in the same world with deities, and can turn into kami after death. Therefore, Shintoism does not promise salvation in some other world and considers the ideal of the harmonious coexistence of man with the surrounding nature. The Shinto religion (like Confucianism) is entirely focused on earthly life and has little interest in the other world. She seems to say to her followers: live here and now!
Shintoism does not contain the moral principles of evil and good. Their place is taken by the concepts of pure and impure, which are of great importance in Japan. Good, good is associated with cleanliness, while evil means something dirty. If a person is “dirty”, that is, he has done something inappropriate, he must undergo a ritual of purification. There are also unredeemed sins that have to be paid for after death. The sinner goes to the Land of Darkness and leads a painful existence there, surrounded by evil spirits. However, there is no developed teaching about the afterlife in Shintoism. Death is viewed here not as something terrible, but as an inevitable attenuation of vital forces, which are then reborn again. After his departure, the soul of a person will be located not far from the places that he loved, from those people with whom he was connected by close ties.
She continues to live in our mortal world and invisibly participate in its life, therefore Shintoism considers it as the best of the worlds.
Shinto adherents are not required daily prayers and frequent temple visits. Participation in temple holidays and the performance of traditional rituals, usually associated with important moments in the fate of people, is quite enough. Therefore, many Japanese simultaneously with Shinto profess some other religion, more often Buddhism or Christianity, perceiving Shinto not as a religion, but as a set of national customs and traditions that are inseparable from a person's everyday life.
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In the main sacred books of Shintoism - "Kojiki" ("Records of antiquity", 712) and - Nihongi - ("Japanese chronicles". 720) - in a fabulous form tells about the creation of the world, the birth of gods and their struggle for power. As a result of this struggle, the descendants of the sun goddess Amaterasu began to rule Japan. From her they received divine symbols: carved jasper, a mirror and a sword obtained in the battle with the eight-headed serpent. These three items are still the main attributes of the imperial power. The mirror symbolizes justice, jasper pendants - mercy, the sword - wisdom.
Kojiki and Nihongi also have their own philosophy. For example, they assert that no one created the world, it arose by itself. Man was not created either, because people are direct descendants of the gods. In the Shinto sacred books, the idea of the harmony of man and the surrounding world is everywhere held, that man is a part of nature, and nature is his mother's womb, giving various benefits, and that life and everything connected with it must be cherished.
Each spirit has its own flesh
Currently, there are about 80,000 Shinto shrines in Japan. Most of them are dedicated to the cult of a single kami. But there are temples in which several kami are worshiped at the same time, for example, several spirits of the surrounding mountains or the spirits of soldiers who died in the war. Temples are especially visited, the deities of which patronize one or another type of human activity or help at certain moments of life. For example, they contribute to success in a career, support in exams, protect from robberies, disasters, etc.
Usually the temple consists of two or more buildings and is located in a picturesque area: in parks, at the sources of rivers, at the foot of the mountains. The main building for the kami is called honden. An object ("shingtai") is stored in the honden. It is believed to be the flesh of a kami, and its role can be played by a stone, a tree branch, a shell, a mirror, a figurine, a coin, a cup, a sword, a wooden tablet with the name of a kami, a grain of rice and much more. There are temples without buildings at all, they are just fenced areas, in the center of which there is a shintai in the form of, for example, a large stone or tree.
In Shintoism, there are a great many rituals that have survived practically unchanged since ancient times. Their meaning is to strengthen the ties between gods and man.
Before the start of a Shinto ritual, all participants must undergo a purification ritual. It is designed to prepare a person for direct communication with the deity. During the ceremony, the hands and face are washed, in some cases the whole body.
Only after this does the actual cult service begin. The spirit of kami is called - he must accept the praises that the participants in the ceremony offer him, and also listen to their requests. Then food for the spirit is put on the altar, and the praises sound again. Finally, the kami is released back into his flesh, and the participants begin the final phase of the ritual - naorai, a religious feast during which everyone present eats food and drinks presented to the deity. Through the sacrificial food, people seem to receive the blessing of the kami and gain union with him.
Almost like in Brazil
Shintoism is not uniform: it is divided into temple and sectarian. The temple, which is based on the dogma of the divinity of the imperial power, was the state religion of Japan until the end of World War II. However, the defeat of the country in 1945 shook the foundations of Shintoism. The occupying American authorities issued a directive to separate the Shinto religion from the state. All public ceremonies of worship of the emperor and religious education in schools were canceled by special orders. However, shrine Shinto, apart from the emphasis on the divinity of the imperial person, is practically no different from Shinto sects. This probably explains the lack of hostility between them. There is practically no religious fanaticism among the Japanese. Public worship ceremonies in modern Japan, especially in recent decades,acquired a very spectacular character and attract many only as entertainment. The processions of mummers - "matsuri" - began to resemble the Brazilian carnivals.
In the Land of the Rising Sun, there are more than two dozen feasts dedicated to fertility. The behavior of men on them is extremely amusing: in masks, in outlandish fancy dress, the main detail of which is huge phalluses made of papier-mâché, they chase women through the streets. During celebrations dedicated to fertility, thousands of processions, mummers dance, sing, holding images of the phallus in frames. In the city of Nagano, at such an annual festival, a phallus of enormous size is exhibited, weighing more than two tons. It is worn through the streets by about a hundred strong men.
The ritual ceremonies are especially crowded at the temple dedicated to the phallic deity Kanamara-sama in the city of Kawasaki near Tokyo. Women suffering from infertility, their husbands, relatives and acquaintances come here from all over Japan. During the ritual, the deity is presented with two huge, cannon-sized phalluses baked from sweet rice flour. At the end of the ceremony, women eat them to the last crumb - in the hope that now the deity will help, and they will have children. In the Kanamara-sama shrine, no one is left without an appropriate treat, even the children lick penis-shaped lollipops and chew bananas with a "head" made of pink chocolate.
And the annual processions in the city of Inuyama are called "vagina festivals." On this day, a large costume procession is organized, at the head of which a huge shell-shaped product is carried, symbolizing the divine vagina. The "shell" is opened and closed, carrying it along the city streets, and a little girl sitting inside throws rice cakes, which are caught by the gathered crowd. Worshiping the spirit of the vagina, as the Japanese believe, is the key to harmony in marital relations.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №31. Author: Igor Voloznev