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There are problematic aspects of the current position of Shinto in Japanese
life. My Shinto-priest friend Mitsugi Ochiai educated me on a number of these
matters, and much of what I say here is based on our conversations.
Ochiai-san lamented several effects of the American occupation after WW II.
First, many if not all Shinto shrines were shut down and all Shinto celebrations
banned for several years after the end of the War. Shinto was seen as an enemy
religion, a dangerous rallying point for Japanese nationalism and possible resistance
to American rule. The American military showed no respect for Shinto shrines,
violating the sanctity of the most sacred, innermost chambers of the shrines,
places where no one is suposed to go, and removing, that is to say, stealing many
sacred objects such as swords, some extremely ancient and precious, ostensibly
because these were dangerous weapons which must be removed from where they could
cause harm, but more likely because GI Joe wanted an ‘omiyage’ souvenir to show the
folks at home. Well, to the victors belong the spoils; it is an old, sad story. As a
scholar of Northern European religion, I am reminded of the Christian missionaries in
Europe who chopped down majestic sacred trees to ‘prove’ that there was no deity
inside and that the heathens must therefore embrace Christianity....
Shinto was also banned from public education. To the present time, there is,
according to my friend, no discussion of Shinto in the public schools. Taking
together the American conquest of Japan, the closing of shrines, banning of religious
activities, and prohibition of education, it becomes clear that much happened to
weaken and discredit Shinto and make it something shameful. Like the Emperor, forced
to declare on the radio that he was just a human being, not a deity fit to rule the
world as taught in militaristic propaganda, Shinto was a symbol of the Japan that was
defeated. With domination by American power in the 40s and 50s, American and Western
fashions and values were seen as good, economic and technological progress viewed as
paramoun and there was no place of honor for Shinto, just a quiet place in the
backyard, or on the farm, or in the forest, where it wouldn’t disturb Progress. I now
understand that the ‘relaxed’ Japanese attitude toward Shinto (and religion in
general) must also be understood as a reaction of shame and identity crisis, and of
numbness after the humiliation of WW II and the American-dominated
reconstruction....and when Japanese people look at Shinto, it must sometimes be like
looking through a cracked window into a dusty old house that they are not sure if
they should enter...yet there is much that is good about the old house, the old
style, the old traditions, and the question then arises, how to fit together old and
new, traditional and modern? The same dilemma in Japan as elsewhere.
My Shinto priest friend laments that very few young people are interested in
or knowledgeable about Shinto, vaguely aware, yes, but truly knowledgeable, no, and
many smaller shrines are closing down because many young people, the sons of
priests, don’t want to become priests and continue the family tradition. They want to
do something more profitable...
In this way, the situation of the local Shinto shrine is similar to that of
the small family farm. As small farms are lost to modern construction and
development, small shrines, the places where festivals and prayers have been
performed for milenia to celebrate the cycle of agriculture and fertility, disappear
as well. It’s a 2 for 1 deal, irresistable to the forces of modern economic
development: destroy a farming community and destroy its spiritual tradition too,
replace a way of life that has lasted and adapted for centuries with one that will
last...how long?? “Why ask such a question? Long enough to cash in at the bank,
that’s all that matters! Oops, there goes the stock market...well, we can still play
Pachinko.” (Pachinko is a Japanese style of mechanized gambling. Imagine a casino on
every corner and you will get the idea....)
I think that the future of Shinto in Japan may be linked to efforts to
preserve the environment. In the heady years of the ‘bubble economy’, when everyone
was rushing around making and spending lots of money, there was, I gather?, no time
or impetus to reflect on the process of rapid change that Japan has undergone. Now
the bubble has burst, and people are realizing that many things are rotten, corrupt
and....polluted. Shinto, as the religion of the land of Japan, of nature and, dare I
say it, the Forest God, may develop a new vocabulary and energy to address this
situation, to at the very least provide a new/old conceptual, symbolic and
traditional vocabulary to articulate deep spiritual concerns...like the desire to
breathe the air without choking, and to eat food and drink water that is not
poisoned.
At the other extreme, we find Japanese people joining cults like the Aum
Shinrikyo...which spend their time developing high-tech ways to POISON people!! A
harvest of death...almost the polar opposite of Shinto. But I think we should have
some sympathy for the people of Aum, because they are just a more extreme version of
the corporate-consumer-polluter culture in which we are all enmeshed. They are just a
little more direct and honest with their destructiveness!
Writing this is giving me a headache — I think I had better go take a walk in
the forest to get a cleaner, clearer perspective.
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