Shinto

In 965 a selection of sixteen of the more important shrines was made to which special offerings were sent. These were as follows: -

In 991 there were added the three following: -

In 994 there was added

The next to be added was

The number was finally raised to twenty-two in 1039 by the addition of

Proximity to the capital no doubt influenced this selection. Idzumo, Kashima, Katori, Usa, Suha, and other important shrines are omitted. All the principal deities, however, are included in this list.

At the present day there are 193,476 Shinto shrines in Japan. Of these the great majority are very small and have no priests or revenues. Capt. Brinkley, in his 'Japan and China,' gives the following list of the ten most popular shrines in Japan at the present day: "Ise, Idzumo, Hachiman (Kyōto), Temmangū (Hakata), Inari (Kyōto), Kasuga (Nara), Atago (Kyōto), Kompira (Sanuki), Suitengū (Tōkyō), and Suwa (Shinano)."

Very many houses have their kamidana or domestic shrine, where the ujigami, the ancestor, and the trade-God, with any others whom there is some special reason for honouring, are worshipped.

Tori-wi. – The approach to a Shinto shrine is marked by one or more gateways or arches of the special form shown in the illustration (p. 233 (#Page_233)) and known as tori-wi. This word means literally "bird-perch," in the sense of a henroost. By analogy it was applied to anything of the same shape, as a clothes-horse, or the lintel of a door or gateway. As an honorary gateway, the tori-wi is a continental institution identical in purpose and resembling in form the turan of India, the pailoo of China, and the hong-sal-mun of Korea. When introduced into Japan at some unknown date (the Kojiki and Nihongi do not mention them) the Japanese called them tori-wi, which then meant simply gateway, but subsequently acquired its present more specific application. It sometimes serves the purpose of marking the direction of a distant object of worship.[189 - See a contribution by Mr. S. Tuke to the Japan Society's Transactions, vol. iv., 1896-7, and a paper by the present writer in the T.A.S.J. for December, 1899. Mr. B. H. Chamberlain holds a different view, which is stated in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 1895, and in 'Things Japanese,' fourth edition.]

Hyaku-do ishi. – Near the front of the shrine may sometimes be seen a hyaku-do ishi, or hundred-time-stone, from which the worshipper may go back and forward to the door of the shrine a hundred times, repeating a prayer each time.

A sori-bashi or taiko-bashi, representing the mythical floating bridge of Heaven (the rainbow), is also to be seen at the approach to some shrines.

Prayer. – Private individual prayer is seldom mentioned in the old Shinto records, but of the official liturgies or norito we have abundant examples in the Yengishiki and later works. The authors are mostly unknown, but they were no doubt members of the Nakatomi House. Their literary quality is good. Motoöri observes that the elegance of their language is an offering acceptable to the Gods. The Sun-Goddess is represented in the Nihongi as expressing her satisfaction with the beauty of the norito recited in her honour.

The norito are addressed sometimes to individual deities, sometimes to categories of deities, as "the celebrated Gods" or "the Gods of Nankaido," and sometimes to all the Gods without exception. They contain petitions for rain in time of drought, good harvests, preservation from earthquake and conflagration, children, health and long life to the sovereign and enduring peace and prosperity to his rule, the safety of his ambassadors to foreign countries, the suppression of rebellion, the repulse of invasion, success to the Imperial arms, and general prosperity to the Empire. Sometimes the Mikado deprecates the wrath of deities whose services had been vitiated by ritual impurity, or whose shrines had suffered from neglect or injury.

The phrase "fulfilling of praises," which occurs frequently in the norito, must not be taken literally. It is really equivalent to "show all due honour to," and usually applies to the offerings which were made in token of respect. There is very little of praise in the ordinary meaning of the word. The language of the norito presents a striking contrast to the profusion of laudatory epithets and images of the Vedas, or the sublime eulogies of the Psalms of David. The only element of this kind is a few adjectival prefixes to the names of the Gods, such as oho, great; take, brave; taka, high; haya, swift; toyo, rich; iku, live; yori, good, and perhaps one or two more.

The do ut des principle of offerings is plainly avowed in some of the norito.

Besides petitions we find also announcements to the Gods, as of the appointment of a priestess, the bestowal on the deity of a degree of rank, and the beginning of a new reign. The Mongol invasion was notified to Ise in 1277 with the happiest results.

The Yengishiki contains no norito addressed to deceased Mikados, but several examples of this class, due no doubt to Chinese influence, have come down to us from the ninth century. In 850 Jimmu was prayed to for the Mikado, who was dangerously ill, and who died soon after. In the same year, "evil influences" (the Mikado's illness?) were attributed to his wrath, and envoys despatched to his tomb, in order to ascertain whether he might not have been offended by some pollution to it. The Empress Jingō was prayed to in 866 under similar circumstances. Other norito announce to the preceding Mikado the accession of a new sovereign or the appointment of a Prince Imperial.

The norito contain few petitions for which we might not easily find parallels in modern Europe, but a comparison with Christian, Jewish, or even Mohammedan and Buddhist formulæ reveals enormous lacunæ in the ancient Japanese conception of the scope of prayer. Moral and spiritual blessings are not even dreamt of. Such prayers as "that we may live a godly, righteous, and sober life," "to grant us true repentance and His Holy Spirit," are foreign to its character. "Lead us not into temptation" and "Thy will be done" are conspicuously absent. No Shinto God is petitioned to "endue the Sovereign with heavenly gifts," nor that "after this life he may attain everlasting joy and felicity." Indeed, there is no reference anywhere to a future life-a significant fact, in view of the circumstance that human sacrifices at the tombs of great men were at one time common. The commonly received opinion that the latter indicate a belief in a future state is, perhaps, after all, erroneous. Nor does any one beseech a Shinto deity to send down on the priesthood the healthful spirit of his grace.

Numerous specimens of norito will be found in Chap. XII (#pgepubid00024).

In connexion with the attempted revival early in the last century of the pure Shinto of ancient times, Hirata composed a book of prayer entitled Tamadasuki, not for official or temple use, but as an aid to private devotion. It was not printed until some years after his death, and I doubt whether it was ever much used even by Shinto devotees. Notwithstanding the author's professed abhorrence of Buddhism and his condemnation of Chinese religious notions, the Tamadasuki owes much to these sources. He instructs his followers to "get up early, wash the face and hands, rinse the mouth, and cleanse the body. Then turn towards Yamato, clap hands twice, and bow down the head" before offering their petitions.

Prayers to the Shinto Gods, even at the present day, are mostly for material blessings. Anything more which they contain may be confidently set down to Buddhist influence. There are prayers on reclaiming a new piece of ground, building a house, sowing a rice-field, prayers for prosperity in trade and domestic happiness, prayers promising to give up sake, gambling, or profligacy (Buddhist), thanks for escape from shipwreck or other danger, &c. Sometimes the prayer is written out on paper and deposited in the shrine, perhaps accompanied by the petitioner's hair or a picture having some reference to the subject of his prayer. When it is answered, small paper nobori (flags) are set up at the shrine or its approaches. A common prayer at the present day is for "Peace to the country, safety to the family, and plentiful crops."

Oaths and Curses. – The Nihongi mentions several cases of Heaven or the Gods being appealed to for the sanction of an oath. Thus in 562 an accused person declares: "This is false and not true. If this is true, let calamity from Heaven befall me." In 581 tribes of Yemishi promised submission to the Mikado, saying: "If we break this oath, may all the Gods of Heaven and Earth and also the spirits of the Emperors destroy our race." In 644 the Mikado made an oath appealing to the Gods of Heaven and Earth, and saying: "On those who break this oath Heaven will send a curse and Earth a plague, demons will slay them, and men will smite them." The author of the Nihongi, however, is grievously open to the suspicion of adorning his narrative liberally with rhetorical ornaments of Chinese origin. The following is an example of a nonreligious oath said to have been made by a Korean king in 249: "If I spread grass for us to sit on, it might be burnt with fire; if I took wood for a seat, it might be washed away by water. Therefore, sitting on a rock, I make this solemn declaration of alliance." A curse pronounced over a well in 456 has likewise no religious quality. It is simply "This water may be drunk by the people only: royal persons alone may not drink of it." The instructions of the Sea-God to Hohodemi, "When thou givest this fishhook back to thy brother, say, 'A hook of poverty, a hook of ruin, a hook of downfall,'" are a kind of curse. On the whole, oaths and curses of a religious character are rare in Japanese literature. Profanity is almost unknown. A mild appeal to the "three holy things" (of Buddhism) or to the Sun, or a wish that divine punishment (bachi) may strike one's enemy, are almost the only things of the kind. And they are infrequent. Probably this is due to the want of a deep-seated sentiment of piety in the Japanese nation. Such expressions as "Thank God," "Good-bye," "Adieu," "God forbid," are also rare, whether in speech or in literature. The Mohammedans, with their continual use of the name of Allah, are the antipodes of the Japanese in this respect.

Rank of Deities. – A system of official ranks, borrowed from China, was introduced into Japan in the seventh century. There were at one time forty-eight different grades, each with its distinct costume, insignia, and privileges. The first notice of deities being granted such ranks occurs in 672, when we are told that three deities were "raised in quality" on account of useful military information supplied by their oracles. This practice became systematized in the period 749-757, and was very prevalent for several centuries longer. A rain of volcanic ashes which fell in many of the eastern provinces in 838 was attributed by the diviners to the jealousy of a Goddess, the true wife of a God, and mother by him of five children, at a step of official rank granted by the Mikado to a younger rival. Tantæ ne animis cælestibus iræ! In 851 Susa no wo and Oho-kuni-nushi received the lower third rank and in 859 were promoted to the upper third rank. The Mikado Daigo, on his accession in 898, raised the rank of 340 shrines. In 1076 and 1172 wholesale promotions of deities took place. After this time the custom fell into neglect, owing partly to the circumstance that many of the Gods had reached the highest class and could not be promoted any further. Several of the most important deities were not honoured in this way. The Sun-Goddess and the Food-Goddess were among this number. The same deity might have different ranks in different places. The lowness of the ranks with which the inferior deities were thought to be gratified is rather surprising. It throws a light on the mental attitude of the Japanese towards them. Beings who could be supposed to take pleasure in a D.S.O. or a brevet majority must have seemed to them not very far exalted above humanity.

Kagura. – This word is written with two Chinese characters which mean "God-pleasure." It is a pantomimic dance with music, usually representing some incident of the mythical narrative. Uzume's dance before the cave to which the Sun-Goddess had retired is supposed to be its prototype. Important shrines have a stage and a corps of trained girl-dancers (miko), for the purpose of these representations. Kagura was also performed in the Naishidokoro (the chamber in the Palace where the Regalia were kept), and under Chinese influences became a very solemn function, in which numerous officials were concerned. Many kinds of music, song, and dance are included in this term. It was the parent in the fourteenth century of the No, a sort of religious lyrical drama, and less directly of the modern popular drama.

Some authorities say that the music of the Kagura consisted at first of flutes made by opening holes between the joints of a bamboo, of wooden castanets, and of a stringed instrument made by placing six bows together.

Pilgrimages. – Paying visits is a recognized mode of showing respect to Gods as it is to men. The Mikado himself formerly paid frequent visits to the shrines of Kiōto and the vicinity, and in all periods of history embassies were continually despatched by him to the great shrines of the Empire. The private worshipper, besides visiting the shrine of his local deity, generally makes it his business, at least once in his lifetime, to pay his respects to more distant Gods, such as those of Ise, Miha, Ontake, Nantai (at Nikko), Kompira, Fujiyama, Miyajima, &c. Intending pilgrims associate themselves in clubs called Kō, whose members each contribute five sen a month to the pilgrimage fund. When the proper time of year comes round, a certain number of members are chosen by lot to represent the club at the shrine of their devotion, all expenses being defrayed out of the common fund. One of the number who has made the pilgrimage before acts as leader and cicerone. As a general rule the pilgrims wear no special garb, but those bound for Fuji, Ontake, or other high mountains may be distinguished by their white clothes and sloping broad hats. While making an ascent, they often ring a bell and chant the prayer, "May our six senses be pure and the weather fair on the honourable mountain."[190 - See Index, Rokkon Shōjō.] Many thousand pilgrims annually ascend Fuji, and over 11,000 paid their devotions at Ise on a recent New Year's day. Almost all Japanese cherish the hope of visiting this shrine at least once in their lives, and many a Tokio merchant thinks that his success in business depends largely on his doing so. Pilgrimages are an ancient institution in Japan. It is recorded that in the ninth month of 934, 10,000,000 pilgrims of all classes visited the shrines of Ise.

Boys and even girls often run away from their homes and beg their way to Ise. This is regarded as a pardonable escapade.

When an actual visit to a shrine is inconvenient or impossible, the worshipper may offer his devotions from a distance. This is called em-pai, or distant worship. Special shrines are provided in some places where the God will accept such substituted service. Processions may be joint formal visits of the worshippers to the God's shrine, but they oftener consist in attending him on an excursion from it to some place in the neighbourhood and back again. They much resemble in character the carnival processions of Southern Europe.

Circumambulation. – The Brahmanic and Buddhist ceremony of pradakchina, that is, going round a holy object with one's right side turned to it, is not found in Shinto. The principle, however, on which it rests-namely, that of following or imitating the course of the Sun-is recognized in the Jimmu legend. Jimmu says:[191 - Nihongi, i. 113.] "If I should proceed against the Sun to attack the enemy, I should act contrary to the way of Heaven… Bringing on our backs the might of the Sun-Goddess, let us follow her rays and trample them down." It is difficult to reconcile with this a passage in the Kojiki[192 - Chamberlain's Kojiki, p. 312.] where it is counted unlucky for the Mikado to travel from East to West, because in so doing he must turn his back upon the Sun.

Horses presented to shrines were led round them eight times.

CHAPTER XI.

MORALS, LAW, AND PURITY

In the previous chapter we dealt with the positive side of religious conduct. We have now to examine its negative aspect, namely, those prohibitions which fall under the general description of morality and ceremonial purity.

Morals. – Before proceeding to examine the relation of morals to religion in Shinto, let us note some general considerations. Right conduct has three motives: first, selfish prudence; second, altruism, in the various forms of domestic affection, sympathy with others and respect for their rights, public spirit, patriotism and philanthropy; and third, the love of God. Conduct which is opposed to these three sanctions is called in the case of the first folly, of the second crime, and of the third sin; to which are opposed prudence, morality, and holiness. With the infant and the savage the first motive predominates. With advancing age in the individual, and civilization in the race, the second and third assume more and more importance. All but the lowest grades of animals have some idea of prudential restraint. Many are influenced by the domestic affections, while the higher, and especially the gregarious species, have some rudiments of the feeling of obligation towards the community, on which altruistic morality and eventually law are based. But in the lower animals, and even in many men, the religious sanction is wanting.

Right conduct may usually be easily referred to an origin in one or other of these three classes of motives. The duty of refraining from excess in eating and drinking belongs primarily to the first, the care of children and the avoidance of theft, murder, or adultery to the second, acts of worship and abstinence from impiety and blasphemy to the third. There is, however, a tendency for these motives to encroach on each other's provinces without relinquishing their own. Acts which belong at first to one category end by receiving the sanction of the other motives. Drunkenness, at first thought harmless, is soon recognized as folly, though harming nobody but the drunkard himself. It is eventually seen to be also a crime against the community, and last of all a sin in the eyes of God. Criminal Law is a systematic enforcement of the rights of others by adding prudential motives for respecting them. It also punishes blasphemy and heresy, no doubt for the protection of the interests of the community against the curse which such offences bring down. With ourselves religion condemns not only direct offences against the Deity as in the first three commandments, but selfish folly, and throws its ægis over the rights of our neighbour, by prohibiting theft, murder, adultery, lying, disrespect to parents, &c. Can it be doubted that these were already offences before the ten commandments were delivered from Mount Sinai?

There is no stronger proof of the rudimentary character of Shinto than the exceedingly casual and imperfect sanction which it extends to altruistic morality. It has scarcely anything in the nature of a code of ethics. Zeus had not yet wedded Themis. There is no direct moral teaching in its sacred books. A schedule of offences against the Gods, to absolve which the ceremony of Great Purification was performed twice a year,[193 - See Index, Ohoharahi.] contains no one of the sins of the Decalogue.[194 - I quote here, not from any religious document, but from a poem of the Manyōshiu, a solitary instance of a religious stigma being attached to lying:"If, while not loving,I said that I loved thee,The God who dwellsIn the grove of Uneda in MatoriWill take note of it."] Incest, bestiality, wounding, witchcraft, and certain interferences with agricultural operations are the only offences against the moral law which it enumerates. The Kojiki speaks of a case of homicide being followed by a purification of the actor in it. But the homicide is represented as justifiable, and the offence was therefore not so much moral as ritual.[195 - Ch. K. 291.] Modern Japanese boldly claim this feature of their religion as a merit. Motoöri thought that moral codes were good for Chinese, whose inferior natures required such artificial means of restraint. His pupil Hirata denounced systems of morality as a disgrace to the country which produced them. In 'Japan,' a recent work published in English by Japanese authors, we are told that "Shinto provides no moral code, and relies solely on the promptings of conscience for ethical guidance. If man derives the first principles of his duties from intuition, a schedule of rules and regulations for the direction of everyday conduct becomes not only superfluous but illogical."

But although there was little religious sanction of morality in ancient Japan, it by no means follows that there was no morality. We have seen that there are moral elements in the character of the Sun-Goddess as delineated in myth.[196 - See above, p. 129. (#Page_129)] Law, which is the enforcement by penalties of a minimum altruistic morality, certainly existed. A Chinese author, in a description of Japan as it was in the later Han period (a. d. 25-220), says that "the wives and children of those who break the laws are confiscated, and for grave crimes the offender's family is extirpated… The laws and customs are strict." In 490 we hear of two men being thrown into prison for crimes. The Mikado Muretsu (488-506) is said to have been fond of criminal investigation. The Nihongi condemns theft, robbery, rebellion, and non-payment of taxes, none of which matters is taken formal cognizance of by Shinto. Without some law, unwritten and ill-defined though it was, and unequal and fluctuating in its application as it must have been, the Japanese could not possibly have reached even the moderate degree of organized government which we find them enjoying at the dawn of their history.

The earliest so-called legislation which we meet with is embodied in a proclamation issued by the Regent Shōtoku Taishi in a. d. 604. On examination these "laws" prove to be a sort of homily addressed to Government officials, recommending harmony, good faith, a respect for Buddhism, obedience to the Imperial command, early rising, decorum, disinterestedness in deciding legal cases, fidelity to one's lord, and benevolence to the people. In 645 a "beginning of regulations" was promulgated. It relates to the status of slaves and their children. In the following year a set of rules was issued regulating the construction of tombs forbidding human sacrifice in honour of the dead, &c. In the same year laws were promulgated dealing with dishonesty, retaining slaves belonging to other people, bringing plaints of adultery before the authorities without having the evidence of three credible witnesses, &c. "Severe penalties" are threatened in case of their infraction. In 681 a sumptuary law in ninety-two articles was enacted. In 682 flogging was limited to 100 blows: in 689 a book of laws was distributed to all the local authorities; and in 701 the code known as the Taihōriō was promulgated. The latter was borrowed from China, and no doubt Chinese influences had much to do with the more partial legislation which preceded. Shōtoku Taishi's advice to officials is thoroughly Chinese. But the examples quoted show that such enactments were not made without reference to the wants of Japan. It may be inferred from Shōtoku Taishi's mention of "legal cases," and from the regulation of procedure in cases of adultery, that there was already in existence a body of unwritten common law by which a rude sort of justice was administered. Prisons are mentioned more than once in the seventh-century records.

Dr. Weipert says:[197 - Quoted by Dr. Florenz in T.A.S.J., xxvii. p. 56.] "There are in the Kojiki and Nihongi numerous instances of arbitrary punishment inflicted by rulers, chieftains, &c., or of private revenge, but nothing shows the existence of fixed punitive laws or conventions… If we confine ourselves to the prehistoric times of Japan, we find in them no other traces of conceptions of a binding law than those handed down to us in the rituals dedicated to the Gods. It was indeed the power of the ruler which held the community together, but the idea of the society being subject to lawful restraint was to be found only in the religious sentiments of the people. To the extent of these sentiments alone can it be said that a lawfully regulated community and a consciousness of such existed in those days. Now since we take criminal law to be the publicly regulated reaction of a community against all acts of its members which are detrimental to the common interest, we can scarcely hesitate to describe the Ohoharahi[198 - See Index, s. v.] as the first source of Japanese criminal law." This is a special application to Shinto of the principle laid down in general terms by Dr. Pfleiderer that "the beginnings of all social customs and legal ordinances are directly derived from religion." Max Müller has expressed himself nearly to the same effect.

I hardly think that the Japanese facts bear out these views. It may be admitted that before the seventh century there were no "fixed punitive laws or conventions in Japan." But between this and mere "arbitrary punishment" or "private revenge" there is a middle term, and I submit that it was precisely to this stage that the Japanese nation had arrived at this time. A common law was in existence, unwritten and ill defined, leaving much room for arbitrary procedure and punishments, but yet a reality. It dealt, as there is evidence to show, with matters so essential to the welfare of the community as treason, rebellion, and robbery, none of which is so much as mentioned in the Ohoharahi. Indeed we could scarcely expect to find such offences noticed in it, as the application of the criminal law in these cases places the guilty persons far beyond the reach of a purifying process.

In an organized community like the ancient Japanese there must have been many torts recognized by public opinion. We know that adultery and dishonesty were punishable. Yet Shinto takes no notice of them. The only civil wrongs singled out for religious denunciation relate to agriculture. The ancient authorities enumerate, among the misdeeds of Susa no wo, "breaking down the divisions of rice fields," "filling up irrigation ditches,"[199 - In ancient Egypt, which presents numerous analogies with Japan, interference with the irrigation channels was deemed an offence against the deity.] "sowing seed over again," with one or two other offences of a similar kind, and the Ohoharahi includes them in its schedule of sins which require absolution. But surely rights of property (we can recognize germs of them in the lower animals) are long antecedent to religion, and offences against them are recognized as offences against man before they became sins against God.

Moreover, the Ohoharahi is wanting in the first essential of a criminal law. It provides no fixed punitive sanction. It is true that the culprit was in some cases obliged to supply at his own cost the necessary offerings for the ceremony, and that practically this amounted to a fine. The original intention, however, was not to punish the offender, but to avert the wrath of the Gods. And it must be remembered that individual cases of purification were exceptional. For the offences of the nation generally, which it was the main object of the Ohoharahi to absolve, no punishment was practicable, or indeed dreamt of. The Ohoharahi fines of purificatory offerings may have contributed to a system of criminal law, but they were certainly not its main source. The case of Japan seems to prove that, in many cases at least, altruistic morality, even in the crystallized form of law, is in advance of religion. And may we not point to cases in our own country where religion withholds its sanction until the law has become well established? The following extract from the Nihongi shows that the distinction between criminal law and offences against the Gods, with their respective punishments, was recognized at an early period: -

"a. d. 404 Winter, 10th month, 11th day. The Imperial concubine was buried. After this the Emperor, vexed with himself that he had not appeased the divine curse, and had so caused the death of the Imperial concubine, again sought to ascertain where the fault lay. Some one said: 'The Kimi of the Cart-keepers went to the Land of Tsukushi, where he held a review of all the Cart-keepers' Be, and he took along with them the men allotted to the service of the Deities. This must surely be the offence.' The Emperor straightway summoned to him the Kimi of the Cart-keepers and questioned him. The facts having been ascertained, the Emperor enumerated his offences, saying: 'Thou, although only Kimi of the Cart-keepers, hast arbitrarily appropriated the subjects of the Son of Heaven. This is one offence. Thou didst wrongfully take them, comprising them in the Cart-keepers' Be after they had been allotted to the service of the Gods of Heaven and Earth. This is a second offence.' So he imposed on him the expiation of evil and the expiation of good, and sent him away to Cape Nagasa, there to perform the rites of expiation. After he had done so, the Emperor commanded him, saying: 'Henceforward thou mayest not have charge of the Cart-keepers' Be of Tsukushi.' So he confiscated them all, and allotted them anew, giving them to the three Deities."

Ceremonial Purity. – Things displeasing to the Gods are called by the Japanese tsumi (guilt), and the avoidance of such things by their worshippers is called imi (avoidance). As Motoöri points out, the tsumi of Shinto comprises three distinct things, namely, uncleanness, sin or crime, and calamity. The distinction between ceremonial impurity and moral guilt (of certain specific kinds) was probably obscure to the ancient Japanese. Certain calamities are included among tsumi because they were looked upon as tokens of the displeasure of the Gods for some offence, known or unknown. All tsumi involved religious disabilities or punishments.

Uncleanness holds a far more important place in Shinto than moral guilt. As in the Mosaic law, it assumes various forms. Actual personal dirt was considered disrespectful to the Gods, as we see by the frequent mention of bathing and putting on fresh garments before the performance of religious functions. The Ohoharahi includes the committing of nuisances among the offences to be absolved by it.

Sexual Immorality and Uncleanness. – It was probably because the consummation of a marriage was thought to defile the house in which it took place that a special nuptial hut was in the most ancient times provided for this purpose. The same idea is illustrated by the custom which existed until quite recently of sousing with buckets of water on New Year's Day young men who had been married during the preceding year. According to a novel called 'Hino-deshima' it is now the bride who is thus saluted while on her way to her husband's house. The bridegroom is treated by the boys of the neighbourhood to volleys of stones which break his paper windows. In later times sexual intercourse generally caused temporary uncleanness. Virgins were selected as priestesses and as dancers before the Gods. But there were no vows of perpetual chastity, and they married in due time just like other girls. The Nihongi mentions a case of the appointment of a princess as priestess having been cancelled on account of her unchastity. A modern Japanese writer says: "At Ise to-day Laïs opens her doors to the pilgrim almost within sight of the sacred groves. To accept her invitation does not disqualify him in his own eyes nor in the eyes of any one else for the subsequent achievement of his pious purpose. A single act of lustration restores his moral as well as his physical purity." Perhaps this puts the matter too strongly. Those shameless wights Yajirō and Kidahachi, the heroes of the Hizakurige, were troubled with scruples in this matter, which were not, however, invincible.

With such ideas of uncleanness it is not surprising that Shinto never had a marriage ceremony. No Shinto or other priest is present. We must, therefore, take with some reserve Max Müller's statement that marriage had a religious character from the very beginning of history. It is to be noted, however, that in modern times Susa no wo and his wife Inadahime are thought to preside over connubial happiness, and that something of a religious flavour is contributed to the marriage ceremony by setting out on a stand (shimadai) figures of the old man and old woman of Takasago, spirits of two ancient fir-trees, who are the Darby and Joan of Japanese legend.

Uncleanness includes bestiality, incest of parent and child, of a man with his mother-in-law or stepdaughter,[200 - Compare Leviticus xviii. 17.] but not of brothers and half-sisters by the father's side. Unions with a sister by the mother's side were unlawful and offensive to the Gods, but they are not specially enumerated in the Ohoharahi schedule.

In 434 Prince Karu, then Heir to the Throne, fell in love with his younger sister by the same mother. At first he dreaded the guilt and was silent. But after a time he yielded to his passion. The next year, in the height of summer, the soup for the Mikado's meal froze and became ice. The diviner said, "There is domestic disorder (incest)." This led to the discovery of Prince Karu's crime, but, as he was successor to the Throne, he was not punished, and his sister only was sent into banishment. After his father's death, however, the ministers and people refused him their allegiance, and he ultimately committed suicide, or, according to another version of the story, went into exile. It is difficult to say whether the religious or the merely moral element predominates in such a case. The portent by which the Prince's crime was followed and the application to the diviners indicate that the crime was thought offensive to the Gods. On the other hand, banishment is a civil form of punishment, and the idea that the offence might bring disaster on the community was probably at the root of the indignation which it caused. Nor is it to be forgotten that there is another non-religious reason for the law against incest. Consanguineous unions are notoriously unfavourable to the propagation of a numerous and healthy progeny, and therefore to the welfare of the community. The 'Chüen,' a Chinese work written several centuries before the Christian era, says: "When the man and woman are of the same surname, the race does not continue." But in China too, the religious sanction of the prohibition of incest is not absent. It is one of those primarily non-religious sexual taboos, having for their object to place a check on masculine tyranny over the weaker sex and the premature, promiscuous, and excessive indulgence of the sexual passion which even savages find to be fatal to the welfare of the individual and the community, and whose transcendent importance and the difficulty of enforcing them by law lead to be reinforced everywhere by religious terrors. The prohibition of unions between brothers and sisters by the mother's side-that is, practically of the full blood-and not of those of the half-blood by the father's side, may be partly due to the circumstance that the former are more commonly brought up together, and a check on immature and consanguineous intercourse was more necessary in their case. This taboo very likely dates from a period when parentage was reckoned chiefly by maternity.

Vulgar licentiousness is not mentioned in the more ancient books as causing ceremonial impurity.