RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Jansen Japan
JAPAN.
I. The Country and People. II. Native Religions.
1. Shinto.
Its Character (§ 1).
Its Obscuration by Buddhism (§ 2).
Its Revival (§ 3).
Its Writings and Cosmogony (§ 4).
Its Worship and Sects (§ 5).
2. Buddhism.
Its Establishment in Japan (§1). Its Dominance, Decline, and Recovery (§ 2). Buddhist Sects (§ 3). Modern Doctrinal Basis (§ 4).
III. Christianity in Japan. 1. Roman Catholic Missions.
Introduction under St. Francis Xavier (§ 1).
Conditions Favoring Christianity (§2).
Beginnings of Persecution (§3).
Dissensions among Roman Catholics (§ 4).
Persecution under Ieyasu (§ 5).
Period of Exclusion of Christianity (§ 6).
Renewed Missionary Efforts (§ 7).
Modern Roman Catholic Missions (§ 8).
Results (§ 9). . Missions of the Eastern Church.
Initiation by Nicolai Kasatkin (§1).
Results (§ 2). . Protestant Missions.
Beginnings in 1859 (§ 1).
Alternating Advance and Reaction (§2).
The Advance, 1873-88 (§ 3).
The Obstacles Encountered (§4).
The Reaction of 1889 (§ 5).
The New Advance since 1899 (§ 6).
Harmony of Protestant Effort (§ 7).
General Results (§ 8).
I. The Country and People : [Japan, called by its own people Nihon or Nippon, consists of a chain of nearly 4,000 islands, of which about 500 are inhabited, in the western Pacific, reaching from Formosa to the Kurile Isles, or from 22° to 51° north latitude, a distance of about 2,400 miles, and lying generally in direction n.e. to s.w. off the eastern coast of Asia. Its climate, consequently, ranges from the subtropical to the subarctic. Its central portion is the most important, consisting of the four great islands (named from north to south), Yezo, Honshm, Shikoku, and Kiushiu. Its territory, including Formosa, has an area of 162,154 square miles with a deeply indented coast line nearly 20,000 miles in length, favorably conditioned therefore for commerce by water. It is a country of high mountain ranges, deep valleys, few plains, no great rivers, many volcanoes, and frequent earthquakes, few of which are severe. Its population, slightly under 50,000,000, is of varied stock, the result of the fusion of several migrations possibly of Mongol stock with the original inhabitants. The Ainu, found only in the northern parts, seem to represent the aborigines. The Formosans betray a strong Malay infusion. The principal industries are agriculture and the fisheries, though the development of mining and manufactures during the last quarter century has been enormous. Its government, since 1889, is a constitutional monarchy, with two houses of parliament, the lower entirely elective by the people, the upper partly elective and partly appointive.]
II. Native Religions. — 1. Shinto: This indigenous cult of Japan combines nature worship, hero worship, and reverence for ancestors. At
1. Its times its most distinguishing character- Character, istic has been reverence for the imperial family, and the present tendency is to emphasize this feature; nevertheless through long periods of Japanese history the emperors were almost forgotten by the mass of the people, and the extreme honor shown at the present day is largely a growth of the last forty years. The name Shinto is the Chinese equivalent of the Japanese Kami no michi, " Way of the Superior Beings," the word kami (Chinese shin), although employed by Christians as the name for God, being used of supernatural beings — whether good or evil— of the spirits of departed heroes, and even of extraordinary natural objects. The number of these beings is said to be 800 myriads. The beginnings of the system are lost in antiquity; but its oldest elements
are found in the worship of the forces of nature. Phallicism was once common, but in recent times the government has caused most of the symbols to be removed from public view. Shinto combines religious and non-religious elements, the former being sometimes so overshadowed by the latter as to be hardly discernible. In its present form it has no system of dogmas, no prescribed code of morals, and no sacred writings unless a few semihistorical books and some forms of addresses to the kami can be considered such.
Buddhism came to Japan in 552 a.d., and in the ninth century it taught that the kami were avatars
(reincarnations) of Buddhist saints.
2. Its Ob- Buddhism proved the stronger religious
scuration element in this combination, and most
by of the prominent Shinto shrines, with
Buddhism, the exception of those at Ise and Izumo,
were served by Buddhist priests, who introduced the images, incense, and elaborate ritual of their worship. Many of the smaller shrines remained unchanged, and there was nothing in either Shinto or Buddhism that made it seem inconsistent for the people to observe the rites of both. While every locality had its Shinto shrine where some hero or other superior being was honored as the patron saint of the community, it may be said that the people were at the same time Buddhists and Shintoists. There was, however, one marked distinction in their conceptions of the two systems. The chief concern of Shinto was with the present world, while Buddhism busied itself more with what came after death. The erection of buildings and the commencement of public works were preceded by Shinto rites, and infants were taken to the village shrine for consecration to the local deity; but funerals and memorial services for the dead were conducted by Buddhist priests. Hence graveyards were contiguous to Buddhist temples, while Shintoism avoided the pollution associated with death. In the rare cases where Shinto funerals were held, there were usually additional Buddhist rites.
In the seventeenth century a movement began for the revival of ancient Shinto, largely political
in its motives. It was chiefly conduc-
3. Its ted by scholars who investigated old
Revival, records and embodied the results in
books that advocated a return to ancient ideas of government and ritual. Their writings, though reaching only a small section of people, had an important influence in bringing
Japan