Shinto

The Nihongi states that in a. d. 685 the ceremony of calling on the spirit (mitama) was performed for the Mikado's sake. An ancient gloss identifies this ceremony with that of the mitama furishiki just described. The object of the two ceremonies was, no doubt, the same, but it is to be noted that mitama, which in the one case means jewel or talisman, in the other means spirit-a rare case in the older Shinto records of this word being applied to the human soul. The phrases "calling on the spirit" and "settling the spirit" are of Chinese origin, mitama being in this connexion simply a translation of the Chinese hun (pronounced kon in Japanese). The same ceremony is known in China, and some features of its Japanese form were probably borrowed from that country. Its object, according to a modern writer, was to summon back to and settle in the body the volatile kon. It was performed every year in the eleventh month in the Chapel of the Jingikwan, and also at one time in connexion with the coronation ceremony.

The norito (No. 15 of the Yengishiki) begins with a recital of the Mikado's divine claims to sovereignty. Then the offerings are enumerated. It concludes with a prayer to the eight Gods of the Jingikwan to grant the Mikado a long and prosperous reign, and that he may dwell peacefully in his Palace during the ensuing year. It says nothing of the Mikado's spirit, an expression found only in the heading, which may be supposed to be a later addition.

A performance by the Miko resembling that of Uzume before the Rock-cave of Heaven, and comprising the repetition of the magic words one, two, three, &c., formed part, no doubt the oldest part, of the ceremony. It is now usually called by the Chinese name Chinkonsai.

There is a story of a thief having stolen the clothing presented on this occasion, and also the string which tied the Mikado's mitama, whatever that may mean.

Oho-harahi (Great Purification).[248 - I am much indebted to Dr. Florenz's exhaustive monograph on this rite in vol. xxvii. of the T. A. S. J.] – This ceremony includes a preliminary lustration, expiatory offerings, and the recital of a norito or formula-not a prayer, as it is sometimes called-in which the Mikado, by virtue of the authority transmitted to him from the Sun-Goddess, declares to his ministers and people the absolution of their sins and impurities. This formula is often referred to as if it constituted the whole ceremony. It is known as the Nakatomi no Oho-harahi, because in ancient times it was usually read by the Nakatomi as representatives of the Mikado.

The myths which represent Izanagi as flinging down his garments during his flight from Yomi, and washing away in the sea the pollution contracted by his visit there, and describe the expiatory offerings exacted from Susa no wo, presume an acquaintance with the ceremony of which the Oho-harahi norito forms a chief part. The Nihongi informs us, under the legendary date a. d. 200, that after the sudden death of the Mikado Chiuai, his widow and successor Jingō commanded her ministers "to purge offences and to rectify transgressions," while in the parallel passage of the Kojiki[249 - Ch. K., p. 230.] details are given of these offences, which, as far as they go, are identical with those enumerated in the Oho-harahi itself. Great Purifications are mentioned as having been performed in 676, 678, and 686. The Japanese scholar Mabuchi ascribes the present Oho-harahi norito to this last-named period. In substance it must be very much older.

The chief ceremony was performed in the capital twice yearly, on the last days of the sixth and twelfth months. These dates are not chosen arbitrarily. There is a natural impulse at the close of the year to wipe out old scores and to make a fresh start with good resolutions. The tsuina,[250 - See Index, sub voce.] or demon-expelling ceremonies, of the last day of the year, described below, are prompted by a similar motive. Tennyson gives expression to this feeling in his 'In Memoriam': -

"The year is dying in the night,
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

* * * *

Ring out the false, ring in the true,

* * * *

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

* * * *

Ring out old shapes of foul disease."

The summer celebration of the Oho-harahi is analogous to the custom of lustration, or bathing on St. John's Eve, formerly practised in Germany, Italy, and other countries.

The Chinese had an Oho-harahi, defined by Mr. Giles in his 'Chinese Dictionary' as "a religious ceremony of purification performed in spring and autumn, with a view to secure divine protection for agricultural interests." The Ainus of Yezo have a similar ceremony.[251 - See Mr. Batchelor in T. A. S. J., xxiv. 46.]

The Oho-harahi was not confined to the last days of the sixth and twelfth months. It was performed as a preliminary to several of the great Shinto ceremonies, notably the Ohonihe, and on other emergencies, such as an outbreak of pestilence,[252 - It will be remembered that it was on an occasion of this kind that Agamemnon ordered an Oho-harahi to be performed: -… λαὸνς άπολνμαἰνεσθαι άνωγεν,Οιδ άπελνμάινοντοο καί εἰς άλα λνματ έβαλλον'Iliad,' I. 313.] the finding of a dead body in the Palace (865), the officiating of a Nakatomi who had performed Buddhist rites (816), &c.

We learn from the regulations of the period Jōgwan (859-876) that at that time the ceremony was performed at the southern gate of the Kioto Palace, in front of which there was a canal. The purification offerings were set out before this gate. The officials took their seats in due order, the women being separated off by a curtain. The officials of the Jingikwan then distributed kiri-nusa[253 - See Index.] among the audience, upon which the Nakatomi took his place and recited the ritual, the officials responding Ô after every paragraph. When the purification was finished, the Oho-nusa ceremony was performed. It had also a purifying influence, and consisted, according to Dr. Florenz, in brandishing the Oho-nusa over the assembly, first to left, then to right, and then again to left.

The norito (No. 10 of the Yengishiki) is as follows: -

"He[254 - "He" is the officiating Nakatomi, speaking on behalf of the Mikado.]says: 'Give ear, all ye Imperial Princes, Princes, Ministers of State, and functionaries who are here assembled, and hearken every one to the Great Purification by which at this year's interlune of the sixth (or twelfth) month he deigns to purge and absolve all manner of faults and transgressions which may have been committed by those who serve in the Imperial Court, whether they wear the scarf or the shoulder-strap, whether they bear on their back the quiver or gird on them the sword, the eighty attendants of the attendants, including, moreover, all those who do duty in the various offices of State.'"

"He says: 'Hearken, all of you. The Sovran dear ancestors,[255 - Usually said to be Taka-musubi, Kamu-musubi, and the Sun-Goddess.]who divinely dwell in the Plain of High Heaven, having summoned to an assembly the eight hundred myriads of deities, held divine counsel with them, and then gave command, saying: "Let our August Grandchild[256 - Ninigi.]hold serene rule over the fertile reed-plain, the region of fair rice-ears,[257 - Poetical expressions for Japan.]as a land of peace."

"'But in the realm thus assigned to him there were savage deities. These were called to a divine account and expelled with a divine expulsion. Moreover, the rocks, trees, and smallest leaves of grass which had power of speech were put to silence. Then they despatched him downward from his celestial everlasting throne, cleaving as he went with an awful way-cleaving the many-piled clouds of Heaven, and delivered to him the Land. At the middle point of the lands of the four quarters thus entrusted to him, Yamato, the High-Sun-Land, was established as a peaceful land, and there was built here for the Sovran Grandchild a fair Palace wherewithal to shelter him from sun and sky,[258 - That is, rain.]with massy pillars based deep on the nethermost rocks and upraising to the Plain of High Heaven the cross-timbers of its roof.

"'Now of the various faults and transgressions to be committed by the celestial race destined more and more to people this land of his peaceful rule, some are of Heaven, to wit, the breaking down of divisions between rice-fields, filling up of irrigation channels, removing water-pipes, sowing seed over again,[259 - Sowing wild oats was one of the misdeeds of Loki, the Scandinavian mischief-God. Compare also Matthew xiii. 24: "The kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat." See above, p. 97. (#Page_97)] planting skewers,[260 - Motoöri says that this is with the malicious intention of injuring the feet of the owner of the ground. I prefer the explanation suggested by the Shiki, an ancient commentary on the Nihongi. It says: "Planting rods (or skewers) in the rice-fields with words of incantation is called 'skewer-planting.' The object is the destruction of any one who should wrongly claim that field. The present custom of planting skewers in a field whose ownership is disputed is probably a survival of this." Kushi, or skewer, is the word used for the wand to which offerings are attached. See Florenz's 'Ancient Japanese Rituals' in T. A. S. J., p. 32.]flaying alive, flaying backwards. These are distinguished as Heavenly offences.[261 - The native commentators point out that the "Heavenly Offences" are so called because they were first committed by Susa no wo in Heaven. This passage of the norito was therefore suggested by the myth. (See above, p. 83. (#Page_83)) The object of the myth-maker, however, was simply to enhance the dramatic quality of his story by attributing to the boisterous Rain-storm God misdeeds whose odious character would forcibly strike his audience, a nation of agriculturists. In the norito the further step is taken of recognizing the same acts, committed on earth, as offences not only against men, but as sins before the Gods. He may have argued that the Sun-Goddess has a tender care for the rice-fields of her beloved race of men as well as for her own, and that any interference with them is therefore hateful to her. The "skewer-planting" above mentioned points to a still earlier attempt to bring agriculture under religious protection. There is no substantial basis for the distinction between Heavenly and Earthly offences. The author's real object in making it was no doubt rhetorical. He wished to break up the long list of offences into two balanced sentences, after a fashion common in Japanese poetry and poetical prose composition. I suspect that the "flaying alive" and "flaying backwards" were magical practices of the same class as the "witchcraft" condemned just below. The flaying was objected to, not for its cruelty, but on account of the malicious use to which the skins so procured were put. See Index, Inugami.]

"'Earthly offences which will be committed are the cutting of living bodies, the cutting of dead bodies, leprosy, kokumi,[262 - A disease which has not been clearly identified. Dr. Florenz renders "afflicted with excrescences."]incest of a man with his mother or daughter, with his mother-in-law or step-daughter, bestiality, calamities from creeping things, from the high Gods[263 - Especially being struck by lightning.]and from high birds, killing animals, bewitchments.[264 - Another rendering is "killing animals by bewitchments." The Chinese character used implies that it is for an evil purpose.]

"'Whensoever they may be committed, let the Great Nakatomi, in accordance with the custom of the Heavenly Palace, cut Heavenly saplings at the top and cut them at the bottom, and make thereof a complete array of one thousand stands for offerings.[265 - Dr. Florenz, following Motoöri, renders "and deposit [upon them] in abundance [the purification offerings]." The character of these offerings is indicated by a passage in the Nihongi (a. d. 676): "The Mikado commanded, saying: 'Let a Great Purification (Oho-harahi) be held in all quarters. The articles needed for this purpose are to be forwarded to the shrines of purification by the governors of each province, to wit, one horse and one piece of cloth. The other things are to be supplied by the governors of districts, namely, each one sword, one deerskin, one mattock, one smaller sword, one sickle, one set of arrows, and one sheaf of rice in the ear. Further, let each house provide a bundle of hemp.'" This Oho-harahi was doubtless celebrated in consequence of the appearance of a comet at this time. On another occasion (681) each local governor supplied a slave as a purification offering. In later times the Harahi-tsu-mono, or purification offerings, were furnished by the central Government.]

"'Having trimmed rushes of heaven at the top and trimmed them at the bottom, let him split them into manifold slivers.[266 - The meaning of this clause is doubtful. The object seems to be to provide a brush for brushing away (harahi) offences. Sir E. Satow says, with regard to a different ceremony: "The high priest waves before the company a sort of broom made of grass, to symbolize the sweeping away of their offences."]

"'Then let him recite the mighty ritual words of the celestial ritual.[267 - In later times it was thought, without sufficient reason, that the "ritual words" here spoken of were a special form of incantation distinct from the norito itself.]

"'When he does so, the Gods of Heaven, thrusting open the adamantine door of Heaven and cleaving the many-piled clouds of Heaven with an awful way-cleaving will lend ear. The Gods of Earth, climbing to the tops of the high mountains and to the tops of the low mountains, sweeping apart the mists of the high mountains and the mists of the low mountains, will lend ear.

"'When they have thus lent ear, all offences whatsoever will be annulled, from the Court of the Sovran Grandchild to the provinces of the four quarters of the Under-Heaven.

"'As the many-piled clouds of Heaven are scattered by the breath of the Wind-Gods; as the morning breezes and the evening breezes dissipate the dense morning vapours and the dense evening vapours; as a huge ship, moored in a great harbour, casting off its stern moorings, casting off its bow moorings, drives forth into the great sea-plain; as yonderthick brushwood is smitten and cleared away by the sharp sickle forged in the fire, so shall all offences be utterly annulled. Therefore he (the Mikado) is graciously pleased to purify and cleanse them away. The Goddess called Se-ori-tsu-hime who dwells in the rapids of the swift streams whose cataracts tumble headlong from the tops of the high mountains and from the tops of the low mountains will bear them out into the great sea-plain. Thereupon the Goddess called Haya-aki-tsu-hime, who dwells in the myriad meetings of the tides of the myriad brine-paths of the myriad ways of the currents of the boisterous sea will swallow them up. And the God Ibuki-do nushi, who dwells in the Breath-blowing-place,[268 - See above, p. 261. (#FNanchor_215_215)]will puff them away to the Root-country, the Bottom Country.[269 - Yomi or Hades.]Then the Goddess Haya-sasura-hime,[270 - Swift-banishment-lady.]who dwells in the Root-country, the Bottom-country, will banish and abolish them. When they have been so destroyed, every one, from the servants of the Imperial Court to the four quarters of the Under-Heaven, will remain void of all offences whatsoever.

"'Attend, therefore, all of you to this Great Purification, by which he is graciously pleased at sunset on this interlunar day of the sixth (or twelfth) month of this year to purify and cleanse you, having led hither a horse as an animal that pricks up its ears to the Plain of High-Heaven.'[271 - A horse was one of the expiatory offerings. It seems here to typify the attentive attitude of the audience, or perhaps of the deities concerned.]

"He says: 'Ye diviners (Urabe) of the four provinces, remove them to the great river-way and abolish them.'"[272 - Harahi-zare. There is some confusion here between the offences and the expiatory offerings. The harahi-tsu-mono were then taken away and thrown into some convenient river. I suspect, however, that most of them were not thrown away, but went to provide a fund for the expenses of the ceremony. It is not clear what became of the horse or of the slaves. The harahi-tsu-mono were not gifts to any particular Gods, but rather, like the scape-goat of the Mosaic law, vehicles by which the transgressions of the people were conveyed away. But it is better not to put this too sweepingly. There is reason to think that by some they were thought to be offerings to Se-ori-tsu-hime and the other deities mentioned. At the present day they consist of a few pieces of cloth.]

In addition to the Oho-harahi, or National Purifications, there were local and individual celebrations. In the latter case, of which Susa no wo's punishment is the mythical type, the harahi-tsu-mono were naturally furnished by the person for whose benefit they were performed, and so amounted practically to a fine on the offender. The Nihongi (a. d. 646) mentions a number of cases in which travellers and others were compelled by the country people to do harahi, that is, to pay a fine, under various pretences. For example, when a man returning from forced labour fell down by the roadside and died, the villagers of the place said, "Why should a man be allowed to die on our road?" and detained the companions of the deceased until they had done harahi. Cases of drowning were followed by similar claims, and even the cooking of rice by the roadside or the upsetting of a borrowed pot. An Imperial decree was issued prohibiting these extortions, which are described as habitual with the unenlightened vulgar.

The application of the harahi to the purpose of a fine was regulated by an ordinance which was issued in 801. Those who were guilty of neglect in connexion with the celebration of the Ohonihe, or who, during the month of special avoidance of impurity, contracted mourning, visited the sick, were concerned with capital sentences, ate flesh, or touched anything impure were mulcted in an oho-harahi, which in this case meant simply a heavy fine. It consisted of one horse, two swords, two bows, and a long list of other sundries. Other offences of the same classes were fined in a naka-harahi, or medium harahi.

Dr. Florenz describes a more modern form of harahi as follows: "As a third species of harahi we may mention the purification preceding every greater festival of a Shinto shrine, through which the priests and others taking part in the Matsuri are purified. This ceremony takes place in a hall or open place specially prepared for the purpose, called harahi-dokoro (purification-place). It consists in the Kami-oroshi (bringing down the spirits of the purifying deities) into the himorogi, which stands on an eight-legged table in the middle of the harahi-dokoro, the recitation of the purification prayer, various subsequent symbolic ceremonies, and the Kami-age, or sending back the Gods to their abodes. Thereupon the priests are considered to be pure, and the Matsuri proper can begin. The prayer addressed to the Gods is as follows: -

"In reverence and awe: The great gods of the purification place who came into existence when the Great God Izanagi deigned to wash and purify himself on the plain of Ahagi [east] of Tachibana [near] the River Wotō in Himuka in Tsukushi, shall deign to purify and deign to cleanse whatever there may be of sins and pollutions committed inadvertently or deliberately by the officials serving here to-day. Listen ye to these my words. Thus I say reverentially."

In later times there were many abuses and perversions of the harahi, due mainly to Buddhist influence. The formula was much modified, and is found in numerous versions. Some of these are wholly Buddhist, such as the well-known "Rokkon shōjō" (may the six senses be pure), so constantly in the mouths of pilgrims at this day. Others include a prayer for purity of heart, which is an idea quite foreign to the ancient Shinto. Harahi-bako (harahi-boxes) were sold at Ise with inscriptions half Buddhist and half Shinto. In imitation of a similar Buddhist practice, these boxes contained a certificate that the harahi had been recited one thousand or ten thousand times for the purchaser's benefit. Pieces of the gohei wand used by the priests at the Oho-harahi of the sixth and twelfth months were enclosed with these certificates. Sometimes a small fragment of the old shrine, which was broken up every twentieth year and a new one erected, was compressed between two thin boards and called an o-harahi. Pilgrims received these in return for their offerings. The devout could even purchase them from hawkers, who went about the country (like the sellers of indulgences in Luther's time) disposing of them for the benefit of the shrine. This practice is now prohibited.[273 - See 'Notes of some Minor Japanese Religious Practices,' by Mr. B. H. Chamberlain, in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, May, 1893, and Sir E. Satow's 'Visit to the Shrines of Ise,' T. A. S. J., 1874.]

The ideas associated with the harahi ceremony also underwent a change. Some writers speak of it as intended "to propitiate evil deities." The harahi sold by the priests of Ise were set up in the Kami-dana, or domestic shrine, and worshipped as the shintai of the deity. They were supposed to be indestructible by fire or water, to keep away robbers, to heal diseases, to make the old young, and to protect against calamity of every kind.

In some later forms of the harahi the purifying Gods are besought to cleanse from evil, sin, and pollution. This marks a different attitude from that of the Nakatomi no Oho-harahi, where they are merely a part of the machinery of purification.

Invocation by the Hereditary Corporation of Scholars of Yamato and Kahachi. – This norito (No. 11 of the Yengishiki) was read previous to the performance of the Oho-harahi. The two corporations named were descendants, or, at least, successors of the Korean scholars who in the fifth century introduced Chinese learning into Japan. The language, thought, and sentiment of this norito are Chinese. The Sun, Moon (not Hirume and Tsukiyomi) and stars, the High Emperor of Supreme Heaven (Shangti), the five Emperors of the five cardinal points, the King-father of the East, the King-mother of the West, the four influences of the four seasons, and other Chinese divinities are invoked to grant prosperity to the Mikado. An offering was made of a silver man in order that calamity might be averted from him, and of a golden sword so that his reign might be lengthened. The sword, really of wood gilt, was called the harahi-tsu-tachi, or sword of purification, and was breathed upon by the Mikado before being taken away. The silver man was also for use as an aga-mono, or ransom-object.

Michi-ahe no Matsuri. – The object of this ceremony was to invoke the aid of the Sahe no Kami in preventing evil spirits, that is to say, pestilences, from entering Kioto.[274 - See above, p. 187. (#Page_187)] The norito (No. 13 of the Yengishiki) read on this occasion is as follows: -

"I humbly declare in the presence of the Sovran Gods whose functions first began in the Plain of High Heaven, when they fulfilled the praises[275 - That is, "did honour to."]of the Sovran Grandchild by guarding the great eight-road-forks like a multitudinous assemblage of rocks.[276 - These deities were worshipped at cross-roads, and were called the eight-cross-road deities.]

"Naming your honoured names, to wit, Yachimata-hiko, Yachimata-hime, and Kunado, I fulfil your praises. Whenever from the Root-country the Bottom-country there may come savage and unfriendly beings, consort not and parley not with them, but if they go below, keep watch below, if they go above, keep watch above, protecting us against pollution with a night guarding and with a day guarding.

"The offerings I furnish in your honour are bright cloth, shining cloth, soft cloth, and rough cloth. Of sake I raise up the tops of the jars and fill and range in order the bellies of the jars. [Grain] in juice and in ear I offer you. Of things that dwell in the mountains and on the moors I offer the soft of hair and the coarse of hair. Of things that dwell in the blue sea-plain, the broad of fin and the narrow of fin, even to the weeds of the offing and the weeds of the shore. Peacefullypartaking of these plenteous offerings, which I lay before you in full measure like a cross range of hills, hold guard on the highways like a multitudinous assemblage of rocks, preserving from pollution the Sovran Grandchild firmly and enduringly, and bless his reign to be a prosperous reign.

"Also be pleased peacefully to preserve from pollution the Imperial Princes, the Princes, the Ministers of State, and all the functionaries, including, moreover, the people of the Under-Heaven.

"I, as official of the Department of Religion, humbly fulfil your praises by this celestial, this great pronouncement."

The offerings included hides of oxen, boar, deer, and bear, in addition to those above enumerated.

Sagi-chō. – This is a modern ceremony, which was also intended to repel evil influences. The Wakan-Sansai-dzuye (1713) gives the following description of it as practised in the Imperial Palace: -

"On the fifteenth day of the first month[277 - The date of one Sahe no Kami festival.]green bamboos are burnt in the courtyard of the Seiryōden, and happy reports[278 - Written on paper and thrown into the flames.]sent up to Heaven therewith. On the eighteenth also bamboos are dressed up with fans attached to them, which are burnt at the same place. There is a reader of spells called Daikoku Matsudaiyu, who has four followers, two old men and two old women. These wear devil-masks and 'red-bear' wigs. The two old women carry drums, and the two old men run after them trying to beat the drums. There are two boys without masks, but with 'red-bear' wigs, who beat double cymbals. Moreover, there are five men in dress of ceremony who stand in a row and join in with cries of 'dondoya,' while one costumed somewhat differently calls out 'Ha!'"

The Wakan Sansai does not know the origin of this ceremony, which is said to expel demons. There is a similar Chinese practice, though on a different date, namely, the first day of the year. Its object is said to be to drive away mountain elves.