Shinto

Interference with the virgin priestesses was not only a source of uncleanness, but was in some cases severely punished. The Nihongi states that in a. d. 465

"Katabu and an Uneme were sent to sacrifice to the Deity of Munagata. Katabu and the Uneme, having arrived at the altar-place, were about to perform the rites, when Katabu debauched the Uneme. When the Emperor heard this, he said, 'When we sacrifice to the Gods and invoke from them blessings, should we not be watchful over our conduct?' So he sent Naniha no Hidaka no Kishi to put him to death. But Katabu straightway took to flight and was not to be found. The Emperor again sent Toyoho, Yuge no Muraji, who searched the districts of that province far and wide, and at length caught and slew him at Awi no hara in the district of Mishima."

Here it is primarily the offence against the Gods which is reprobated.

As in the Mosaic law, menstruation and child-birth were regarded as sources of uncleanness.[201 - Leviticus xii. 1; xv. 19.] The custom of providing a special hut for parturient women has been already noted.[202 - See above, p. 113. (#Page_113) The couvade was unknown.] In 811 the wife of a Kannushi was delivered of a child close to the enclosure of the Shrine of the Goddess of Food at Ise. Both husband and wife had to perform an Ohoharahi. After that time no pregnant woman was admitted within the tori-wi of this shrine. In 882 a Prince was sent as Envoy to Ise because a bitch had had puppies within the precincts of the Imperial Palace. Several days' religious abstinence had to be observed in consequence. Until recently births and deaths were prohibited on the sacred island of Itsukushima in the Inland Sea.

Disease, Wounds, and Death caused uncleanness.[203 - Compare Leviticus xiii. 2; Numbers xix. 11. See also above, p. 93. (#FNanchor_64_64)]

The death of a relation, attending a funeral, pronouncing or executing a capital sentence, touching the dead body of a man or beast, even eating food prepared in a house of mourning, all involved various degrees of ritual impurity.

Before the Nara period of Japanese history it was the custom on the death of a sovereign to remove the capital to a fresh site, no doubt for the sake of purity. The Ainus of Yezo destroy huts in which a death has taken place. The modern Japanese custom of turning upside down the screen which is placed round a corpse is perhaps a much attenuated survival of the same idea. In 801 a Great Purification ceremony was performed, because a dead dog had been discovered under one of the palace buildings. The same ritual was celebrated in times of pestilence, when a death took place close to the palace and on the Mikado's putting off mourning. If any one died within the precincts of a shrine, no festival could be held there for thirty days. A disability of five days was prescribed in the case of a dog or other beast dying there. At the present day lucifer matches are advertised as "fit for sacred purposes"; that is, they contain no phosphorus which is made of bones, and therefore unclean. Leprosy, owing to its reputed contagious character, is specially mentioned as a cause of uncleanness.[204 - Numbers v. 2.] Wounds, whether inflicted or received, were objectionable, not so much on grounds of humanity, as because of their offensiveness. The Nihongi relates that in a. d. 404 the God Izanagi expressed by the mouth of one of his priests his dislike for the stench of blood caused by branding some of the Mikado's escort. The striking of a Shinto priest while on duty was a cause of uncleanness. In grave cases, however, the offender was handed over to the civil authorities. According to the strict Shinto of a later period, a man must abstain from worship at a shrine for thirty days if he has wounded somebody, or, if he has accidentally hurt himself, so that more than three drops of blood have flowed, for that day. If he has vomited or passed blood, he must not worship for two days, if he has an abscess, until it is cured, for seven days after moxa is applied, and for three days in the case of the operator. At the present day the common word for wound is kega, that is to say, defilement.

Baldness and emaciation were regarded as disqualifications for the position of Imperial Princess consecrated to the service of the Gods.[205 - Compare Leviticus xxi. 17 et seqq.]

It was no doubt the fear of contagion and an instinctive feeling of horror and repulsion which inspired this class of taboos. Contact with death, disease, and wounds are displeasing to living human beings, and therefore to the Gods. In ancient Greece it was not themis for the Gods to look on death. There is an obvious absurdity in referring such incidents of religious ritual to the principle that we must seek for the origin of forms of divine worship in observances towards the dead.

Eating Flesh. – Eating flesh is not included among the causes of uncleanness enumerated in the Kojiki[206 - Ch. K. 230.] or in the Ohoharahi. A Chinese notice of Japan written centuries before the dawn of Japanese history says that the "abstainers" (medicine men) of Japan were not allowed to comb their hair, to wash, to eat flesh meat, or to approach women. But this was perhaps asceticism rather than religion. A prohibition of the eating of the flesh of the ox, the horse, the dog, the monkey, and the fowl in a. d. 647 was certainly due to Buddhist influences. The first hint that it was offensive to the Shinto Gods to eat flesh is found in the Kogo-jiuï, where it is stated that when the son of Mitoshi no Kami saw that Ohotokonushi no Kami had given beef to his field labourers he spat upon their offering and reported the matter to his father, who was angry and sent a blight upon the rice. But this very passage speaks of a horse, a pig, and a cock as acceptable offerings. In the norito things coarse of hair and things soft of hair occur frequently in the lists of offerings. Hirata points out that in sacrifices to the Sun-Goddess no flesh was used. In the most ancient times there was no prejudice against eating the flesh of animals. The Food-Goddess entertained Tsuki-yomi with things soft of hair and things coarse of hair. Hohodemi was a hunter by profession. The ancient Mikados frequently went hunting, and had no scruple in partaking of the products of the chase. Under Buddhist influences, however, there came a change. In the Jōgwan-shiki (859-877) we find that persons who ate flesh were unclean for one day. In the Yengishiki three days are the limit. As time went on the prohibition was extended, until in 1683 we find that to eat the flesh of horse, cow, pig, goat, wild boar, deer, monkey, bear, or antelope caused uncleanness for one hundred days. Birds and fish, it will be observed, are not included in this schedule. Whereas in ancient times the Mikados ate the flesh of deer and wild boar as ha-gatame (hardening the teeth) on the third day of the year, from which a person's age was reckoned, fish, fowl, and rice-cake were substituted at a later period.

Persons who are unclean for any cause must have nothing to do with the preparation or serving of the Mikado's food.

Intoxicating liquors are not tabooed in Shinto. There is, however, mention of an embassy to Ise in 749, the members of which were not allowed to take animal life, to eat flesh, or to drink sake.

Impure food communicated its uncleanness to the fire with which it had been cooked. Persons who used such a fire (kegare-bi) for cooking were unclean for seven days. Hirata suggests that the reason why Izanami was unable to return to the upper world after partaking of the food of Yomi was because of the unclean fire with which it had been cooked.

On the first day of the sixth month, the Mikado was served with food specially prepared with pure fire (imu-bi no zen).

Buddhist Rites. – The performance of Buddhist rites incapacitated a man from the service of the Shinto Gods until he had been subjected to purification. For an infringement of this rule, Shinto functionaries might be fined or dismissed. The use of Buddhist terms was forbidden to every one concerned in the Shinto ceremonies at Ise and Kamo. A Sutra was called "tinted paper," Buddha the "middle child," a Buddhist temple a "tile roof." Buddhist priests and nuns were ironically styled the "long-haired ones." At Ise Buddhist priests were not admitted to the sacred precincts beyond a certain cryptomeria tree. A separate place was assigned them for their prayers.

Other words of ill omen were "death," for which "recovery" was used; for "disease" the participant in a Shinto festival said "rest"; for "weeping," "brine-dripping"; for "blood," "sweat"; for "strike," "stroke"; for "flesh," "mushroom"; for "tomb," "clod," &c. These are later inventions.

Calamities. – We learn from the Ohoharahi that snakebite, being struck by lightning, and other accidents were regarded as tsumi, or sources of impurity. At a later time, a fire which destroyed a man's house made him unclean for seven days.

Any neglect or irregularity in the divine services, any interference with the treasures, priests, or slaves of the shrine, or with the sacred grove around it, or failure to repair it whenever necessary, aroused the anger of the God and involved the uncleanness of the culprit.

Magic or witchcraft (majinahi) is one of the sources of impurity enumerated by the Ohoharahi.[207 - Deuteronomy xvii. 11. See Index, 'Magic.']

The above account of Shinto offences must be taken with some qualifications. It is drawn from various sources and different periods of history. Some applied to the whole people, but in most cases it was only the priests and other persons concerned on whom the prohibitions were binding. The Shintō Miōmoku has an enumeration of the "six prohibited things" which includes only "mourning for a relative, visiting the sick, eating flesh of quadrupeds, condemnation of criminals, execution of criminals, music, and contact with impure things."

Imi. – The avoidance of impurity in preparation for a festival was called imi (avoidance). The intending officiator or worshipper remained indoors (i-gomori), abstained from speech and noise, and ate food cooked at a pure fire. For six days previous to the celebration of a festival at the Great Shrine of Idzumo there was no singing or dancing, no musical performances, the shrine was not swept out, no building operations were carried on, and no rice pounded. Everything was done in stillness. A special imi of one month was observed by the priests before participating in the greater festivals. This was called araimi. For middle-class festivals three days' imi were sufficient, and for those of the third class one day. At the present time imi is usually confined to abstinence from meat and from vegetables of the onion class.

By a natural transition imi is also used in the sense of sacred, holy. An imi-dono is a building in which purity is observed. Sacred (imi) axes and mattocks were used in some ceremonies. The Sun-Goddess was in her sacred weaving-hall when Susa no wo outraged her by flinging the hide of a horse into it. A modern derivative of imi, namely, imeimashī, is the nearest Japanese equivalent for "Hang it!" Compare the two meanings of the French sacré.

Mourning is also called imi, perhaps in the passive sense of something to be avoided in connexion with the service of the Gods.

The following story illustrates the danger of appearing before the Gods while in a state of impurity. In 463 the Mikado Yūriaku desired to see the form of the deity of Mimuro, and ordered one of his Ministers to fetch the God. The Minister brought him before the Mikado in the form of a great serpent. But the Mikado had not practised religious abstinence, and when the God showed his displeasure by rolling his thunder and showing his fiery eyeballs, the Mikado covered his eyes and fled into the interior of the palace.

Fire-drill. – In order to avoid the risk of using unclean fire in the great Shinto ceremonies, it was the custom at the shrines of Idzumo, Ise, Kasuga, Kamo, and perhaps other places, to make fire afresh on each occasion by means of the fire-drill. Even when not produced in this way, the sacrificial fire was called kiri-bi or drill-fire. A description of the Japanese form of the fire-drill will be found in a paper by Sir Ernest Satow, T. A. S. J., vol. vi. pt. ii. p. 223, and a good specimen from Idzumo itself may be seen in the Oxford University Museum. Dr. Tylor, in his 'Early History of Mankind,' has shown how universally this method of producing fire has been employed. It is a natural development of the savage plan of rubbing two sticks together, and no doubt originated independently in many places. It is therefore unnecessary to assume that the Japanese fire-drill was borrowed from India, where it is used for sacred purposes, or even from nearer China, where it is also known. It is frequently mentioned in the old Japanese traditions. The Kojiki says that the God Kushiyadama was appointed steward for the service of Ohonamochi (the God of Idzumo), in which capacity he recited prayers, made a fire-drill, and drilled out fire wherewith to cook the heavenly august banquet of fish for the deity.[208 - Ch. K., p. 104. See also Ch. K., p. 211, and Nihongi, i. 205.] The priests of Idzumo have always used pure fire produced in this way, and pure water from a special well called the Ama no mana-wi (true well of Heaven). At the present day, when the office is transmitted from one high priest to his successor, they proceed to the "Shrine of the Great Precinct," where the ceremony of "divine fire" and "divine water" is held. The original fire-drill, given by Ama-terasu to Ame no hohi and preserved as the chief treasure of the shrine, is carried in a bag slung round the neck of the chief priest, who solemnly delivers it over to his successor. This ceremony is called hi-tsugi (fire-continuance). It is curious that the same term (hitsugi) is constantly used of the succession to the Mikado's throne, and that the delivery of the sun-mirror formed part of the ceremony used on his accession. Hi means either sun or fire.

The old fire-drill was worshipped every New Year's day at Idzumo at a festival called hi no matsuri (fire or sun-festival). A fire-drill was among the objects carried in procession at the Ohonihe, or coronation ceremony, and was used to produce the fire used for cooking the sacred rice offered on this occasion.

A modern Japanese writer, describing a festival celebrated at Gion in Kiôto on the last day of the year, says: "A big bonfire burns within the precincts of the shrine. It has been kindled from a year-old flame tended in a lamp under the eaves of the sacred building, and people come there to light a taper, which, burning before the household altar, shall be the beacon of domestic prosperity. At 2 a. m. the Festival of Pine Shavings takes place. A Shinto priest reads a ritual. His colleagues obtain a spark by the friction of two pieces of wood, and set fire to a quantity of shavings packed into a large iron lamp. These charred fragments of pine wood the worshippers receive and carry away as amulets against plague and pestilence."

A Japanese book written two centuries ago informs us that sticks resembling the wands used for offerings at the purification ceremony were part shaven and set up in bundles at the four corners of the Gion shrine on the last day of the year. The priests, after prayers were recited, broke up the bundles and set fire to the sticks, which the people then carried home to light their household fires with for the New Year.[209 - See a paper on the Japanese gohei in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xxxi., 1901. Also a note in Man, October, 1892.] The object of this ceremony was to avert pestilence. There is here a striking resemblance to the Christian practice mentioned by M. D'Alviella: "The fire which the clergy, on the dawn of Easter, had struck from the flint and steel, served to rekindle the fires of individuals which had all been previously extinguished." The use of such fire to prevent pestilence may also be illustrated from European customs. The need-fire, made by striking flints or by the fire-drill, and used to rekindle all household fires, is one of numerous examples.[210 - See Grimm's 'Teutonic Mythology,' ii. 603, Stallybrass's translation.]

Removal of Impurity. Lustration. – With every precaution, it is not always possible to avoid the pollution of dirt, disease, and sin. In order, therefore, to do away with the offence to the Gods arising from such impure conditions, various expedients are resorted to. The most natural and universal of these is washing or lustration.[211 - See Dr. Tylor's 'Primitive Culture,' ii. 434.] The Chinese notices of ancient Japan already quoted from inform us that the Japanese, after the ten days' mourning was concluded, all went into the river and washed. Hirata says that even at the present day, when mourning is over, people go to the bank of a stream or to the sea-beach and cleanse themselves. The mythical account of Izanagi's washing in the sea in order to remove the pollutions of Yomi has been given above. In a fourteenth-century work entitled Kemmu nenchiu giōgi, the ablutions of the Mikado previous to the ceremony of Shingonjiki are described with great minuteness; and if this preliminary is usually passed over in descriptions of Shinto ceremonies, the reason no doubt is that it was too well known to require special mention.

Clean garments were put on at the same time. Both the Japanese words for the purification ceremony show by their derivation that washing was originally its cardinal feature. Misogi means "body-sprinkling," and harahi is probably the same word as arahi, "wash."[212 - "Sprinkle the water of expiation on them … and let them wash their clothes." – Numbers vii. 7.] Penitence is not one of the old Shinto means of purification.

Salt. – In Japan, as in other countries, the antiseptic quality of salt has led to its religious use as a symbol for, and means of, purification. In a modern harahi ceremony the priest purifies the himorogi with salt water. At the entrances to theatres at the present day a saucer of salt is placed on a table in order to keep out evil influences. The kaname-ishi, or pivot stones of the earth,[213 - The "earth-fast" stones of our own folk-lore.] are covered with salt, which is then rubbed on a diseased part in order to obtain relief. "A housewife will not buy salt at night. When obtained in the daytime, a portion of it must first be thrown into the fire to ward off all danger, and especially to prevent quarrelling in the family. It is also used to scatter round the threshold and in the house after a funeral for purificatory purposes."[214 - Griffis, 'Mikado's Empire,' p. 470.]

Spitting. – Spitting, or the ejection from the mouth of any disagreeable substance, is naturally used by analogy as a symbol of dislike and disgust when other senses or feelings than that of taste are offended. The modern writer Fukuzawa tells us that when he left his home for the first time he spat in order to show his disgust with the narrowness and poverty of his life there.[215 - We have a good illustration of the transition from the physical to the metaphorical use of spitting in Revelation iii. 16: "Because thou art lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth."] Spitting as a means of symbolical purification is a further corollary from the natural function of this act. In the Izanagi myth a God of the Spittle (Haya-tama no wo) is the result of that deity's spitting during the ceremony of divorce. The "spittle" deity is here associated with another God, who is styled a God of Purification. A commentator on this passage says that "at the present day spitting is essential in the purification ceremony." The ritual, however, does not mention it. Another writer adds that "this is the reason why at the present day people spit when they see anything impure." In the myth of Susa no wo spittle is mentioned along with the nails of the fingers and toes and nose-mucus among the materials for expiatory offerings. When Hohodemi is recommended to "spit thrice" before giving back the lost fish-hook to his brother, a magical effect is probably intended, such as to convey to him any impurity which may have become attached to his own person. Rinsing the mouth as a purifying ceremony before pronouncing an oath is mentioned in the Nihongi.[216 - II. 96.]

Breathing on. – Ritual impurity may also be conveyed away by the breath. The origin of this practice is the sudden expulsion of air from the mouth when some offensive odour or vapour has found an entrance. This instinctive action[217 - Hirata says that in books on magic ibukite harafu (clearing away by puffing) is a means adopted by men naturally, without teaching, for cleansing away evil influences. See also Darwin's 'Expression of the Emotions', pp. 258, 261.] is represented onomatopoetically in English by Pooh! Faugh! Pshaw! and in other languages by similar words, which have come to express not only physical repulsion, but dislike and contempt generally.

As a religious practice, breathing away impurity is exemplified by the custom of the Mikado breathing on certain aga mono (ransom-objects) of the harahi ceremony, thus communicating to them the pollutions of his own person. It is in order to avoid polluting the offerings by their breath that in some ceremonies the assistant priests cover their mouths with a white fillet and hold their arms outstretched. Even at the present day the stewards who prepare the Mikado's food cover their mouths with a white paper mask. The Nihongi states that when Izanagi washed in the sea in order to remove the pollutions of Yomi, he "blew out" and produced a number of deities, among which were the Great God of Remedy and the Great God of Offences. But the action of the Sun-Goddess and Susa no wo in producing children by crunching various objects and then "blowing away" the fragments, and of Izanagi's creation of the Wind-God by puffing away the mists, requires further explanation. These myths were probably the work of a person who had only a vague idea of the precise nature of the efficacy of this act, and regarded it simply as attended with some magical power. Spitting, primarily a mark of disgust, then practised with the object of purification, is finally done simply "for luck."

Ransom. – The notion of expiating ritual guilt by giving ransom (aga-mono) is familiar to the Japanese. The more intimately the objects offered are connected with the person of the offender, the more effectual is the sacrifice. Susa no wo is said to have expiated his offences by the loss of his hair and of his finger and toe nails. Among objects of ransom presented by the Mikado at purification ceremonies clothing is the most important. The Mikado was measured with great ceremony for suits of garments. Bamboo sticks were used for this purpose, which were broken to the required lengths. Hence the ceremony was called yo-ori (joint-break). The clothing when made was placed in a vase, and set before the Mikado by a Nakatomi woman. He breathed on it thrice, and then returned it to be taken away by the Urahe (diviners) and thrown into a stream. Other ransom offerings were human figures of iron, wood, or leather, and swords, which were similarly treated.

A special mi-aganahi no matsuri (august-ransom-celebration) was inaugurated in 814 for the sake of the Mikado, who was then ill. It was continued annually every sixth and twelfth month, the miko officiating.

In the thirteenth century the Onyōshi (diviners of the Chinese school) presented to the Mikado human figures in a box, inscribed with the place and name. The Mikado breathed on them, rubbed them on his person, and then returned them to the box.

The principle of ransom is illustrated in the present day by the custom of kata-shiro (form-token) or nade-mono (rub-thing). At a shrine of the Sea-Gods in Tokio a purification ceremony is performed twice a year. A few days before, the parishioners and other believers who wish to be purified go to the shrine and obtain from its official a katashiro, that is, a white paper cut into the shape of a garment. On this the person to be purified writes the year and month of his birth and his or her sex, and rubs it over his whole body. When he has thus transferred his impurities to the paper he returns it to the shrine. All the katashiro which are brought back are packed into two sheaths of reed and placed on a table of unbarked wood. They are then called harahi tsu mono, or things of purification. Finally they are put into a boat which is rowed out into the sea, and they are thrown away there.[218 - Dr. Florenz, in T. A. S. J., December, 1899.] The bundles of reeds or rushes which are thrown into the sea at the shrine of Gion at Tsushima in Owari, to avert pestilence, probably represent human figures. It is said that wherever they float to, pestilence breaks out.

A more expeditious form of the same custom is when the katashiro or nademono are simply bought from the Kashima-fure, strolling vendors belonging to the shrine of Kashima, rubbed over the body, and cast into a stream. The object, however, is not so much the removal of ritual pollution as protection against disease. At the present day paper figures, called Ama-gatsu, are made to avert calamity from children. They are prepared before the birth of the child, and are worn up to the age of three. It is thought that evil spirits are diverted into these images from the infant. It is an obvious degradation of these practices when they are used merely to procure good luck instead of to remove impurities offensive to the Gods.

Chi no wa (Reed-ring). – In a modern form of the harahi ceremony there is a kind of purification which consists in passing three times through a large ring made of reeds (pp. 266, 267 (#Page_226)), holding in the hands hemp leaves and reeds, and repeating the verse: -

The sixth month's
Summer-passing-away-
Purification
Who ever doeth
Is said to extend his life
To one thousand years.

Or, according to another version: -

To the end that
My impure thoughts
May be annihilated,
These hemp leaves,
Cutting with many a cut,
I have performed purification.

The Shinto Miōmoku (1699) says that this ring represents the round of the universe. The same work adds that the object of the ceremony is to avert the dangers connected with the change of summer influences to those of autumn. But these explanations have a tincture of Chinese philosophy. The purification of the heart from evil thoughts is also a conception foreign to the older Shinto. The injunction to cleanse the inside of the cup and the platter belongs to a later stage of religious development.

The chi no wa is subsequently flung into the water.