Eye on religion--Shinto and the Japanese attitude toward healing.

It can be said that Japanese culture is informed by both Buddhism, which made its way into the Japanese islands in the sixth century of the Common Era, and Shinto, the ancient indigenous tradition of Japan. Yet this facile distinction has only been made possible since the end of the nineteenth century when the new Western-style “progressive” Japanese government ordered an unnatural and violent separation of Shinto from Buddhism. The fact of the matter was that Shinto, Buddhism, Confucian and Daoism had been using each others ideas for so long in Japan that each tradition could make a serious claim on the beliefs and practices of the Japanese people. However, despite the fact that Buddhist and Chinese ideas have shared the religious landscape of Japan for a millennium and a half—indeed, some might even say dominated that landscape—and while Western ideas have been the most powerful influence for the last century or more, the origins of what was later to become organized Shinto can be found in the ancient indigenous religious characteristics of the Japanese followers of the kami cults. Archeological and historical evidence suggests that ancient Japanese religion was characterized by what scholars have called vitalism, priestism and particularism. * Vitalism in the Japanese case means that the ancient Japanese worshiped the power of kami, or sacred energy, perhaps best defined by the eighteenth century Shinto revivalist, Motoori Norinaga, as any phenomena that produces the emotions of fear and awe with no distinction between good and evil. This kami was worshiped for its power to create, to sustain or to renew life in all its forms. Statues of female fertility figures and large phallic rods that have been unearthed in preagricultural archaeological sites serve as evidence of these life affirming kami beliefs. This kami energy was later anthropomorphized and worshiped in human form only after the introduction of Buddhism from the continent. This tendency for vitalism directly opposes the Buddhist dictum that insists that attachment to life is the cause of suffering. To this day, the Japanese value long life, health, and material things that make a long, happy life possible. Furthermore, they have no qualms about praying to their native kami in hopes of being granted those benefits. On the opposite side of the coin, this vitalism makes the Japanese reject, avoid or seek to purify those things associated with decay and death. This is clearly inconsistent with the Western perception that ritual suicide was a common practice in Japan, so much in vogue that it is thought that there must be some direct link between suicide and the character of the Japanese as a whole. Happily, this is not the case. The small warrior class from which this behavior and ethic arose was moved by Confucian ideals of loyalty, as well as economic and social realities, rather than the ancient, indigenous Japanese ideas that emphasized life in this world now. Furthermore, given this essential characteristic for celebrating life, the well-known “Japanese” festival for dead souls known as Bon clearly does not have its roots in Shinto tradition, which would prefer to keep dead souls under careful control. Throughout the centuries, the Japanese abhorrence of death and decay has sent them in search of religious assistance in exorcising the evil spirits associated with illness and life depleting processes. This leads us to the second essential characteristic of native Shinto, priestism. The common Japanese person cannot communicate with, nor control, kami. They have always found it necessary to employ a ritual specialist, or a medium, perhaps acting as a healer, to bridge the gap between the world of humans and the world of spirits. With their very lives at stake, the ancient Japanese would not attempt something so foolish as to assume the knowledge and ability of the expert and attempt to solve their spiritual and physical illnesses on their own. Today, this attitude can be seen in how the Japanese practice medicine. In Japan, patients leave decisions about their healthcare completely in the hands of physicians and healthcare professionals to the point that Western onlookers wonder why the Japanese patients are not kept fully informed about their conditions and asked for their input in deciding how they should be treated. The Japanese might answer that the nonphysician who treats himself has a fool for a patient. The third essential characteristic of Shinto—that which emphasizes particularity over universality—has historically