The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-05-18

has grown up with the customs and
| traditions and general characteristics
| of the nation. 1t recognizes the inn
mortality of the soul: it acknowledges
| the existence of supernatural power;
| it reverences the ancestral spirits, and
| therefore it may be called a religion
| of ancestor worship. 1t concerns it
| self, however. with temporal matters
| far more than with spiritual affairs
| 1t has existed in Japan from time i'm
| memorial, long before the introduction
| of Confucianism and Buddhism. From
/ an ethical point of view it has more
! teaching in il than Buddhism, but ii is
| not so elaborate as Confucianism.
Nevertheless it has a tight grasp on
| the Japanese mind. 1t is based upon
! a patriarchical form of community. Its
| essential notion of ethics is cleanli-
ness of conscience; but the idea of
cleanliness is applied not only men
tally, but physically-hence it's ten
dency TO bodily cleanliness as well as
other cognate matters. 1t speaks of
good and bad, the one as black or
muddy and the other as red or
clear 1t reverences the Ruler from
the very nature of its cult. and a
magnificent ideal of a subject and a
citizen is developed from these simple
notions"
Thus speaks Baron Suematsu, and
in his last sentence he sounds the key
note of the reason for the life of
Shinto. 1t is a political and a national
religion, and the nation fears that
with the death of Shinto, Japan itself
would expire. The 250,00O Shinto
shrines are divided into twelve classes,
from the Great Shrine of Ise down to
the "shrines with no fixed parish to
guard over" Many of these are the
shrines to family deities and about
them still revolves the complicated
machinery of the Japanese family"
Others are erected to the memory of
mythical deities and heroes, and others
to the patriots of history. The last
dedication of note was that of Prince
Kitashirakawa, who died of disease in
Formosa in 1895 while leading an army
sent to subjugate rebels. A shrine Of
high official rank was erected to him
and he is now deified as the God of
Formosa.
The Shintoists are divided in twelve
principal sects and a number of small
er subsects, distinguished by their de-
votion to some particular god, al
though they accept all other gods. One
worships Mt. Full, which it believes
to be 1.-The soul of the GLOBE another
avowedly places the Imperial Family |
first and greatest among the gods. |
another upholds personal ancestor |
worship as of first Importance, and so |
on.
ptrId in ri ha a |
part of the people of Japan as its fol- |
lowers; yet well-informed Japanese |
say that the religion is stagnated and |
has utterly failed to keep up with the
rapid progress of thought in the last |
forty years. True, it has established |
theological seminaries and colleges |
founded on models of Western organ
ization. and has even attempted a re-
form in it's scandalous priesthood. But |
on the whole it is losing power and |
influence in affairs. while perhaps still |
holding the masses of the people. The |
great temple of Kwannon in Asakusa
Park in Toxic is in the center of a
Coney Island amusement park, but the
thousands who come to be amused
also stop in the temple, cast a coin
into the great box and clap their |
hands as they bow in player.
Japanese Buddhism is divided into |
twelve sects and forty-nine subsects.
The youngest of the recognized sects
was established in 1875. But the many
changes of the past few years have
caused the formation of two or three
new sects which are not recognized as
true Buddhists. These are a mixture
of Shinto, Buddhism, orthodox Chris
tianity and Christian Science, and
have made great Roadway among the /
poorer classes of the people
The lower classes of Japan are for |
the most part devout religionists. and
every requirement of Shintoism, Bud
dhism and the thousand and one SUI
perstitions growing out of them, is
fulfilled to the letter. That the upper
classes are atheistic is denied, that
they are agn0stic is quite probable. |
The leaders of nations in times of
transition are often prone to religious
skepticisni as, for instance, Franklin,
Jefferson and Paine in America, and |
the leaders of the French Revolution |
soon after. But in Japan the leaders,
no matter if they themselves are athe-
lists. are determined to keep the people
firm in the faith of Shinto and the
Divinity of the Emperor