Introduction

When choosing a topic for an essay, I was faced with the problem of the subject of research. It seems that we already know a lot about the three major religions of the world, so I would like to cover some of the minor religions, and therefore my choice was Shinto. I was interested in who the “Kami” were and why Shintoism is the national religion of Japan.

The purpose of this work is to reveal the features of Shintoism and its role in Japanese culture. The main components of the Japanese national religion are the cult of ancestors (Shinto) and the deification of spirits (kami). This religion is called Shintoism. Shintoism ("way of the gods") is a traditional religion of Japan, which is based on animistic beliefs ancient Japanese, the objects of worship of which are numerous deities and spirits of the dead. Shintoism experienced significant influence from Buddhism in its development. From 1868 to 1945 Shintoism was state religion Japan.

The relevance of this topic is that the importance of Japan on this moment incredibly large. In order to understand Japanese culture, it is necessary to understand the meaning and specificity of Shinto, which is an integral part of Japanese culture.

In my essay I will consider two questions, such as:

a.) Shintoism is the religion of Japan;

b.) History and mythology of Shintoism;

In the first question, I want to talk about the religion of the Japanese - Shintoism, as well as its principles and features.

In the second question, I would like to reveal its main historical stages, as well as talk about the mythology of Shintoism and its main ceremonies and rituals.

Shinto is deeply national Japanese religion and in a sense personifies the Japanese nation, its customs, character and culture. The centuries-old cultivation of Shinto as the main ideological system and source of rituals has led to the fact that at present a significant part of the Japanese perceive rituals, holidays, traditions, life attitudes, and the rules of Shinto as not elements of a religious cult, but the cultural traditions of their people. This situation gives rise to a paradoxical situation: on the one hand, literally the entire life of Japan, all its traditions are permeated with Shinto, on the other hand, only a few Japanese consider themselves adherents of Shinto.

The study of Shinto is very important for employees of the Internal Affairs Bodies. The police often have to interact with people of this faith, and therefore a modern police officer needs to know the basic principles, concepts and features of this religion for a correct and tactful dialogue with adherents of Shintoism.

Therefore, the goal of my work is to reveal the features of Shintoism and understand its role in the formation of Japanese culture.

Shintoism japanese culture belief

Shintoism - religion of Japan

Shinto (“the way of the gods”), Shintoism is the national polytheistic religion of Japan, based on the totemistic ideas of antiquity, incorporating the cult of ancestors and developing under the influence of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.

Before we begin to analyze the concept of Shinto in Japanese culture, it is necessary to clarify a number of points related to the Japanese global understanding of the world. The first point is related to religiosity in the Japanese tradition. In this country, however, as in China and India, there is no concept of belonging to only one religious tradition. It is considered normal if a person simultaneously worships Shinto, Buddhist, and Taoist deities. In addition, all possible and existing in Japan religious cults closely intertwined with each other. For example, the norm is to worship the kami by reciting Buddhist prayers before them, or to use Taoist fortune-telling practice at a Shinto festival.

The second point concerns the influence Chinese culture to Japanese. They are often mixed or equated with each other, described as a Chinese-Japanese tradition. Although this expression can still be called more or less correct, nevertheless, it is worth clearly separating these two positions. Of course, Chinese culture had a strong influence on the Japanese tradition (at least hieroglyphic writing), but there is one very significant difference. His philosophical and religious theories are long-term in nature, while the Japanese tradition, limited to the islands, has learned to look for meaning in the moment, here and now. This is the essence and root of their differences, which gives rise to other aspects.

The essence of Shintoism is that the Japanese believe in the existence of kami - deities, spirits inhabiting this world. It was created by them, like the Japanese islands, and the emperor is a direct descendant of the kami. Therefore, these mythological ideas formed the Japanese view of Japan as a sacred country, ruled by a sacred emperor and inhabited by people who have a special relationship with the kami.

The Shinto religion grew out of the ancient religious views of the Japanese, especially that set of beliefs and rituals that were associated with the deification of the forces of nature - the cult of the kami, but at the same time Shintoism quite freely absorbed Chinese and Buddhist influences. Gradually, Shintoism combined in its teaching the ethical principles of Confucianism, the magical calendar and the associated beliefs of Taoism, as well as philosophical concepts and ritual practice of Buddhists. As already mentioned, the word "Shinto" itself literally means "the path of many kami (spirits or deities)", and usually these kami either contributed to the emergence of various natural phenomena, or themselves acted in the forms of natural nature. The power of the kami, being a force that resides simultaneously outside and inside this world, was considered contained in various objects of the surrounding nature. Nature is not the creation of God's hands, but it itself is often portrayed as the bearer of the divine principle. Kami are traditionally seen both as the force behind the landscape and as the force behind the political unity of the state with its people. Shintoism is a way of life according to the belief in kami. Individual Japanese families and entire villages, which were a community of several families living together, revered local kami as givers of grace, sanctifying farming (especially rice growing) and other aspects of their living together, and the emperor, as the personification of power and statehood, performed every season certain rituals that help spread the grace of the kami to the entire population of Japan.

One of the characteristic features of Shintoism is the very close and intimate relationship that exists between kami and people. In fact, kami can even merge with humans, as exemplified by the divine figure of the emperor or the holy founders of new religious movements. Kami exist everywhere, filling the surrounding landscape and inhabiting human homes. Kami are characterized not only by holiness, but also by purity, so people, before approaching the kami, must undergo a purification ceremony, which can be performed at home, in the sanctuary, and on the street. As a rule, kami are not designated in any way (statue or image), they are simply implied, and in special cases Shinto priests use special prescribed prayers (norito) to call the kami to the gathering place of the faithful and impart to them the power emanating from the kami. The home in which a Japanese family lives is itself a sacred place, which is partly facilitated by the presence of a kami in it. According to tradition, in the central part of the house there was a special shelf called kamidana (“kami’s shelf”). A miniature Shinto-type shrine was set up here, where food offerings were made every morning and every evening. In this symbolic way, the presence of kami in the house was ensured, to whom one could turn for help and protection.

Judging by early literary texts, the ancient Japanese considered the dead to be in the same world as the living. They treated their dead fellow tribesmen as if they were leaving for some other world, where the people and objects around them had to follow to accompany the dead. Both were made of clay and were buried in abundance along with the deceased (these ceramic products are called haniwa).

The objects of Shinto cult are both objects and natural phenomena, and the souls of the deceased, including the souls of ancestors - patrons of families, clans, and individual localities. The supreme deity ("kami") of Shintoism is considered Amaterasu Omikami (Great sacred goddess, shining in the sky), from which, according to Shinto mythology, the imperial family originates. The main specific feature of Shintoism is deep nationalism. “Kami” did not give birth to people in general, but specifically to the Japanese. They are intimately connected with the Japanese nation, which is therefore distinguished by its unique character.

The most ancient forms of beliefs, such as magic, totemism, and fetishism, have been preserved and continue to live in Shinto. Unlike many other religions, Shinto cannot name its specific founder - either a person or a deity. In this religion there are no clear distinctions between humans and kami. People, according to Shinto, descended directly from kami, live in the same world with kami and can become kami after death, therefore Shinto does not promise salvation in some other world, but considers the harmonious existence of a person with the outside world, in a spiritual environment, as an ideal .

Another feature of Shinto is the many rituals that have remained virtually unchanged over the centuries. At the same time, Shinto dogma occupies a very insignificant place in comparison with ritual. In the beginning there were no dogmas in Shinto. Over time, under the influence of borrowed from the continent religious teachings individual clergy tried to create dogmas. However, the result was only a synthesis of Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian ideas. They existed independently of the Shinto religion, the main content of which remains rituals to this day.

Unlike other religions, Shinto does not contain moral principles. The place of ideas about goodness and evil here is taken by the concepts of pure and unclean. If a person has “dirty”, that is, done something inappropriate, he must go through a cleansing ritual. The real sin of Shinto is considered to be a violation of the world order - tsumi, and a person will have to pay for such a sin after death. He goes to the Land of Darkness and there leads a painful existence surrounded by evil spirits. But the developed doctrine of the afterlife, hell, heaven or Last Judgment not in Shinto. Death is seen as the inevitable extinction of vital forces, which are then reborn again. The Shinto religion teaches that the souls of the dead are somewhere nearby and are not fenced off in any way from the human world. For a Shinto follower, all major events take place in this world, which is considered to be the best of all worlds.

A follower of this religion is not required daily prayers and frequent visits to the temple. It is quite enough to participate in temple festivals and perform traditional rituals associated with important events life. Therefore, the Japanese themselves often perceive Shinto as a set of national customs and traditions. In principle, nothing prevents a Shintoist from professing another religion or even considering himself an atheist. And yet the performance of Shinto rituals is inseparable from Everyday life Japanese from the moment of his birth until his death, it’s just that for the most part, rituals are not considered as a manifestation of religiosity.

In Japan, there are about 80 thousand Shinto shrines (jinja), in which over 27 thousand clergy (kannushi) perform rites. While large temples are served by dozens of kannusi, several dozen small ones have one priest each. Most kannushi combine service to Shinto with secular pursuits, working as teachers, employees of local municipalities and other institutions. Jinja, as a rule, consists of two parts: a honden, where an object symbolizing the object of worship (shintai) is kept, and a haiden - a hall for worshipers. Required attribute The jinja is a U-shaped arch installed in front of it - a torii.

The main source of income for large temples are traditional New Year's pilgrimages, when the number of visitors to each of them ranges from hundreds of thousands to millions. Trade in amulets, spells, and fortune telling also brings substantial profits. At the same time, some of them “specialize” in preventing road accidents, others “protect” from fires, others “ensure” passing exams for educational institutions, etc. The halls for wedding ceremonies run by temples also bring impressive income to the Shinto clergy.

Shinto cult is not limited to Jinja. Its object can be any object, the “holiness” of which is indicated by a rope woven from rice straw - shimenawa. Many families have home altars - kamidana, in which tablets with the names of ancestors serve as objects of veneration.

The Shinto ritual begins with purification, which consists of washing the mouth and hands with water. Its obligatory element is the reading of prayers addressed to the deity. The ceremony ends with a ritual during which the kannusi and the believers drink a sip of rice mash, which symbolizes eating “together with the deity” the offerings made to him.

From 1868 to 1945 Shintoism was the state religion of Japan. The foundations of Shintoism are laid in the mythology of Shintoism.

Ancient Shinto myths retained their own, actually Japanese, version of ideas about the creation of the world. According to him, there were originally two gods, more precisely, a god and a goddess, Izanagi and Izanami. However, it was not their union that gave birth to all living things: Izanami died when she tried to give birth to her first child, the deity of fire. The saddened Izanagi wanted to save his wife from the underground kingdom of the dead, but was unsuccessful. Then he had to make do alone: ​​from his left eye the sun goddess Amaterasu was born, whose descendants were destined to take the place of the emperors of Japan.

The Shinto pantheon is huge, and its growth, as was the case in Hinduism or Taoism, was not controlled or limited. Over time, the primitive shamans and heads of clans who performed cults and rituals were replaced by special priests, kannusi (“masters of spirits,” “kami masters”), whose positions were, as a rule, hereditary. Small temples were built to perform rituals, prayers and sacrifices, many of which were regularly rebuilt, erected in a new place almost every twenty years (it was believed that this was the period of time that it was pleasant for the spirits to be in a stable position in one place).

A Shinto shrine is divided into two parts: an inner and closed part (honden), where the kami symbol (shintai) is usually kept, and an outer prayer hall (haiden). Those visiting the temple enter the haiden, stop in front of the altar, throw a coin into the box in front of it, bow and clap their hands, sometimes say words of prayer (this can also be done silently) and leave. Once or twice a year there is a solemn holiday at the temple with rich sacrifices and magnificent services, processions and palanquins, into which at this time the spirit of the deity moves from the sintai. These days, the priests of Shinto shrines look very formal in their ritual robes. On other days, they devote a little time to their temples and spirits, do everyday things, merging with ordinary people.

Intellectually, from the point of view philosophical understanding world, theoretical abstract constructions, Shintoism, like religious Taoism in China, was insufficient for a vigorously developing society. It is therefore not surprising that Buddhism, which penetrated from the mainland to Japan, quickly took a leading position in the spiritual culture of the country.

Ethnographic data indicate the existence of a persistent belief that the soul of the deceased could fly far away and not for long, so the deceased was not immediately considered dead. They tried to revive him with the help of magic - “pacification” or “summoning the soul” (tamasizume, tamafuri). So, the hidden world of the dead, the world of ancestors, turned out to be an invisible part of the world of the living and was not separated from them by an impenetrable wall.

It is also important to note that Japanese art has its own specificity, formed under the influence of Chinese culture and art, Shintoism, based on the cult of nature, clan, the emperor as the viceroy of God, Buddhist irrationalism and the artistic forms of India. This specificity is clearly revealed when comparing the art of Europe and Japan. The stanzas of Alcaeus, the sonatas of Petrarch, the statues of Praxiteles and Michelangelo are perfect in form, which is in harmony with the spirituality of the content. There is nothing superfluous in them; adding even one stroke to them leads to the loss of the artist’s worldview embodied in them. the main objective European artists, sculptors, poets - the creation of an ideal of beauty based on the principle "man is the measure of all things." Japanese poets, painters, calligraphers and tea ceremony masters have a different goal. They proceed from the principle “nature is the measure of all things.” In their work, true beauty, the beauty of nature, is only guessed; it contains the code of the Universe. In the process of comprehending the beauty of nature as a concrete given, a kind of aesthetic intuition arises, allowing a person to comprehend the deep foundations of existence.

Yes. Shintoism has had a significant influence on art in Japan. For example, in ancient Japan, symbols of deity were natural objects and phenomena, where, according to the deep conviction of the Japanese, spirits live:

The peaks of amazingly beautiful mountains, from behind which the sun rises and hides;

Terrible typhoons, sweeping away everything in their path;

Wisterias that provide unsurpassed cascades of color;

The bottomless depths of the seas, frightening and at the same time attractive;

Waterfalls of extraordinary beauty, like a gift from heaven.

Shintoism turned all this into objects of worship and deification. This is where the main thing lies distinctive feature Shintoism from other religions: not a simple animation of nature, but its deification.

SINTO (in Japan) - THE WAY OF THE GODS - KAMI: everything in nature is animate, which means it is endowed with holiness.

SINTO should not be confused with DAO, which arose in China in the 6th century. BC. DAO - THE WAY OF NATURE, the universal law of nature, the deep basis of all things, the forefather of all things, the general Path of human development through merging with nature, with the surrounding life.

Despite their similarities, SINTO AND DAO are very different. The deification of nature in Japan was more pronounced than in other Eastern countries. Hence, the attitude towards her was more subtle, reverent and sublime.

The deification of natural forms and elements during the Shinto period led to the creation of the first altars - original sculptural compositions, where the role of a sacred monument was played by a giant stone in the center of a cleared area. Often this area was bordered by sea boulders or rocks (ivasaka), in the center of which there were one or several stones (ivakura), tied over the entire “divine brow” with a straw rope (shimenawa). The attempt to represent the deity in the form of natural objects was the beginning of the emergence of the first landscape compositions in ancient Japan. They became not only objects of worship, but also objects of aesthetic contemplation. These first stone groups, born of Shinto rites, were nothing more than distant prototypes of Japanese gardens, the first symbolic landscapes of Japan.

From here it becomes clear special treatment in Japan to stone, its importance in creating gardens. And today a stone for any Japanese - Living being, in which the divine spirit is present.

Thus, in the first question, I revealed the concept of “Shintoism”, examined its basic principles and features, I also found out who the “kami” are and what role they play in Shintoism. I also looked at the influence of Shintoism on Japanese art.

Shintoism(from the Japanese Shinto - way of the gods) is the national religion of Japan. It refers to polytheism and is based on the worship of numerous deities and spirits of the dead. From 1868 to 1945 it was the state religion. After defeat in World War II, the Emperor of Japan renounced his divine origin, however, since 1967, the holiday of the founding of the empire began to be celebrated again.

Shintoism little known compared to other religions, but many people know torii- gates in Shinto shrines, some even have an idea of ​​​​the unique decorations that decorate the roofs of Japanese temples. However, for everyone, with rare exceptions, both the temples into which the torii gates lead and the religion they symbolize remain a mystery.

This religious teaching is based on an animalistic representation of the world. Animalism means the animation of everything that exists, from man to stone. According to the doctrine, there are patron spirits - gods ( kami), which dominate some area: forest, mountain, river, lake. It is also believed that they can patronize a certain family, clan or just a person, incarnate in various items. In total there are about 8 million. kami.

Temple worship began after the arrival in Japan Buddhism in the 6th century, which had a strong influence on this religion, and also eliminated the monopoly position Shintoism. During the heyday of Japanese feudalism (10th-16th centuries) Buddhism played a predominant role in religious life countries, many Japanese began to profess two religions (for example, marriages, the birth of a child, local holidays were usually celebrated in a Shinto shrine, and the funeral cult was performed primarily according to the rules of Buddhism).

There are now approximately 80,000 Shito shrines in Japan.

The main sources of Shinto mythology are collections of " Kojiki"(Records of Ancient Affairs) and " Nihongi"(Annals of Japan), created, respectively, in 712 and 720 AD. They included combined and revised tales that had previously been passed down orally from generation to generation..

Shinto states that at first there was a chaos containing all the elements that were mixed and blurred into an indeterminate formless mass, but then the chaos divided and Takama-nohara (High Sky Plain) and the Akitsushima Islands were formed. Then the first 5 gods appeared, who gave birth to all the other gods, living beings and created this world.

The Sun Goddess holds a special place in worship Amaterasu, who is considered the Supreme Deity, and her descendant Jimmu. Jimmu considered the ancestor of the Japanese emperors. February 11, 660 BC Jimmu, according to myths, ascended the throne.

The philosophy of Shintoism states that in every emperor there live gods who guide all their activities. That's why there are imperial dynasties in Japan. Philosophical schools Shintoism forms another part of the ideology - kokutai (body of the state), according to which deities live in every Japanese person, exercising their will through him. The special divine spirit of the Japanese people and its superiority over all others are openly proclaimed. Therefore, Japan is given a special place and its superiority over all other states is proclaimed.

The main principle Shinto is living in harmony with nature and people. According to views Shinto, the world is a single natural environment where kami, people, the souls of the dead live nearby.

Purification rites are of great importance in Shintoism ( harai), which appeared under the influence Buddhism. The main concept of these rituals is to eliminate everything unnecessary, superficial, everything that prevents a person from perceiving the world the way he really is. The heart of a person who has purified himself is like a mirror; it reflects the world in all its manifestations and becomes the heart kami. A person who has a divine heart lives in harmony with the world and the gods, and the country where people strive for purification prospers. At the same time, with traditional Shinto attitude towards rituals, real action is put in first place, and not ostentatious religious zeal and prayers. That is why there is almost no furniture in Japanese homes and every house, if possible, is decorated with a small garden or pond.

In a broad sense, Shintoism there is more than just religion. This is a fusion of views, ideas and spiritual methods that over more than two millennia have become an integral part of the path of the Japanese people. Shintoism formed over many centuries under the influence of various merging ethnic and cultural traditions, both indigenous and foreign, and thanks to it the country achieved unity under the rule of the imperial family.

Agreeing with the above description, let us dwell on the specific features of the Japanese religious tradition, which expressed the spirit of the nation and influenced the mentality, history, culture, political, state and social life of the country.

Kami

Japanese name folk faith, as noted earlier, is denoted by the phrase kami no michi. Kami are objects of cult: they are worshiped both in public services and in home prayer.

Finding an adequate translation of this word is quite difficult. In European languages ​​this term is translated as "God", "deity" or "spirit". Among researchers today there is no consensus regarding the etymology of this word. However, the most common and probable version is its origin, described by the famous linguist Oono Susumu, who “raising the word kami to the ancient kama, indicates the three main meanings in which it was used: 1) thunder, thunderstorm; 2) a terrible wild beast like a tiger or wolf; 3) mountains."

In other words, in this case we are dealing with an archaic idea of ​​spirits capable of inhabiting various forms, which, as a rule, amaze the human imagination. This idea is called in science "fetishism".

It is significant that the Japanese consciousness was also characterized by the belief in the animation of all things, that is hylozoism, or animism.

One of the famous modern researchers of Japanese religions points out: “Japanese myths speak of the existence of eight hundred myriads of kami- such a metaphor expressed faith in the divinity of the entire Universe."

From the standpoint of Shintoism, people, animals and inanimate objects (for example, stones) are not only alive, animate and therefore can grow (but only very slowly), but also spiritualized, since they are associated with kami, supervising the life of the world and, if necessary, intervening in the course of its history.

From the point of view of the origin of the cult and, accordingly, the method of entry into the pantheon, everything kami can be roughly divided into four categories:

1 . Revered among the people. As a rule, these kami are guardians and inhabitants of localities or the souls of deceased ancestors, often they do not have their own names, iconographic images, or even permanent altars. Examples include: kami mountains, kami streams, kami natural forces, spirits of ancestors.

2 . Foreign divine characters by origin. They have their own names and individual images. Classic examples of such characters: seven gods of happiness(Daikoku, Ebisu, etc.). Separate altars are built in their honor, sometimes as “additional chapels” in churches kami higher level.

3 . Historical characters or widely revered patrons of special places. They are not mentioned in mythological sources and do not have sacred images, but their personal names are known. These kami have many temples, chapels and altars scattered throughout the country. A classic example of this kind is Tenjin, patron of poetry and science, who is the deification of a real historical figure - Sugawara no Michizane, a poet of the 9th century.

4 . Mythological deities mentioned in ancient mythological collections, as well as their descendants, which were recognized as the deceased members of the imperial house. These deities are associated with state religiosity and therefore were revered everywhere. At one time, he built many sanctuaries at state expense. However, these characters are not so popular among the people and do not enjoy the same trust and love of people as the historical kami. As examples, we can point to the main deity of the pantheon, Amaterasu, who is the patron of the reigning family and the emperor himself.

Kami were endowed tama(souls, spiritual powers), of which each of them could have several. In one of the ancient mythological collections, the supreme deity Amaterasu testifies: “My formidable spirit [arami-tama] cannot approach the imperial residence.”

In a functional sense kami may have the following tama:

– Arami-tama, governing the world and allowing kami interfere with the natural course of processes;

– nigimi-tama related to harmony and memory;

– kushimi-tama, capable of performing miracles and transformations;

– sakimi-tama, giving bliss.

Along with the revered divine personalities mentioned above, Japan was also known grief. According to legends, this evil spirits, which could be the souls of enemies or people who died tragically, in circumstances considered undesirable.

In addition, there was a belief that the souls of animals after death could also turn into demons (mono, or mononoke) and harm a person.

Key texts for the Shinto tradition

A distinctive feature of Shintoism is the absence of any canonical texts In the literal sense of the word. Nevertheless, there are ancient chronicle tales, which are at the same time collections of myths “about the origin” (Shinto in spirit and content).

Kojiki(“Notes on Ancient Affairs”, or “Notes on the Deeds of Antiquity”) - a collection of records about the events of the beginning of time, compiled by order of Emperor Temmu at the end of the 7th century AD. e. and completed in 712. This is the oldest known Japanese book. It's written Chinese characters, with the help of which the compiler of the text tried to convey the sounds of the Japanese language. Here are collected and organized myths telling about the emergence of gods, the world and people, as well as the emergence of the institution of royal power, contains a description of the legendary rulers of antiquity, as well as real historical rulers before 628 AD. e.

Nihongi(“Japanese Chronicles”) - a collection of records about past years, compiled in Chinese in 720 AD. e. It covers the same period as the Kojiki text, but takes the narrative up to 700 CE. e. The influence of the Chinese cultural tradition on the compilers of this chronicle was manifested in the fact that it included sections borrowed from Chinese chronicles and telling about the life of the Chinese royal houses.

Less significant from the point of view of the study of mythology, but providing additional information about the tradition of Shintoism, are the following works.

Kogoshui(“Collection of Ancient Stories”) – a mythological collection. Written in 807 AD. e. the priest Imbe no Hironari, who, with the help of this text, tried to establish the authority of his priestly family, which preserved traditions not mentioned in the Kojiki and Nihongi. At the same time, the main storyline of the two previous collections in Kogoshui is also presented.

Engi-shiki(“Rites of the Engi Period” (901–923 AD)) is a collection of prayers compiled in 927 AD. e. Despite the date being later than the previous texts, this work reflected religious ideas dating back to much more ancient centuries.

Fudoki(“Description of Land Customs”) is a text that, in addition to geographical materials, contains many notes about traditions, beliefs, and rituals that took place in the provinces of the state. It was created over a period of twenty years from 713 to 733 by decree of the emperor. Not all fudoki have survived. A significant part of them is known exclusively from quotations.

Manyoshu- a collection of ancient poetry compiled after 760. The earliest poems date back to the 4th century AD. e. It also reflects the life, rituals and mythology of Ancient Japan.

Shinto mythology

Theogony and cosmogony

In the Kojiki and Nihongi, the beginning of the world is described, with some differences, as follows.

The beginning of the universe

In the beginning, the Universe was in a state of chaos, like a boundless ocean of butter or a huge egg in which no parts could be distinguished. In this primordial substrate something like a reed shoot arose. This was the first deity.

It stood at the origins of the appearance of the next seven generations of gods. Each generation was represented by one marriage couple (god/goddess). Probably, in this case we are dealing with the personification of the primordial elements.

The emergence of the Japanese islands

The seventh pair of deities was destined to play a special role in the formation of the world. This couple were Izanagi(“Calling Husband”) and Izanami(“Summoning Woman”)

These spirits stood together on the Sky Bridge, thrust the heavenly spear into the sea of ​​chaos below, and stirred it until it thickened. When the spear was removed from the liquid, viscous drops fell from the tip back into the ocean and formed the island of Onogoro (lit. "Self-thickened").

Izanagi and Izanami descended into the world that had begun to form in order to continue creation. The resulting island was called the “Middle Pillar”, that is, it became the axis of the world ( axis mundi).

The deities entered into a marriage union. However, due to a violation of the ritual of communication between male and female representatives, the first children turned out to be freaks, and therefore the parents, without a twinge of conscience, immediately got rid of them. Only after all ritual norms are observed, the rest of the Japanese islands, as well as the deities of various elements and natural phenomena: the sea, winds, trees, herbs, etc., become the fruits of divine marriage.

The appearance of death

The last act of birth was the birth of the fire deity. Izanami did not survive this birth and, being scorched by her child, came into a state of death agony. New deities are also born from the secretions of her body: mountain deities from vomit, dirt deities from excrement.

Izanagi, seeing his wife’s suffering, sobs - and from his tears new gods are also born. Then, in desperation, he grabs a sword and cuts off the head of the son who burned his mother. Divine spirits also emerge from the blood of the beheaded fire god.

However, Izanami dies and ends up in Land of darkness, or Country of yellow springs.

The presented plots indicate the existence in the minds of the ancient Japanese of the idea of ​​a tripartite division of the world, well known from the archaic myths of different peoples: "High Sky Plain"(Takama no hara); "The Manifest World"(Utsisiyo), or the world of people; and "Lower World"(Yomotsukuni).

An attempt at a “soteriological” feat

The descent into the underworld and its consequences

Izanagi decides to go down to his wife and return her to Earth. Izanami, from her inner chambers in the kingdom of the dead, says that she has already tasted the food of the Land of Darkness and therefore cannot rise to Earth.

Yielding to the persistent requests of her husband, Izanami promises to ask the ruler of the underworld for the opportunity to return to Earth, but in response, he takes an oath from Izanagi that he will not try to enter her home and see her.

A lot of time passes, but the spouse does not return. And then Izanagi breaks off the tine of his comb, sets it on fire and enters the inner chambers. In horror, he sees his wife's body decomposing and being eaten by worms and begins to flee.

After him, the angry goddess releases the gods of thunder, born from her decaying flesh, as well as witches ( shikome).

Izanagi tries to stop his pursuers with cunning tricks, throwing pieces of his clothing at them. However, it is possible to stop the chase only at the border of the Land of Darkness and the Land of Light: jumping out through the Level Passage, he blocks it with a huge rock. After this, the dialogue between the spouses begins. Izanami promises that in revenge she will kill a thousand people every day. In response, Izanagi declares that he will build one and a half thousand maternity hospitals. Thus, the failed “soteriological” attempt to remove the dead goddess from the land of death receives resolution in the form of a quantitative superiority of births over deaths.

In conclusion, Izanagi pronounces the ritual formula for divorce, thus finally breaking off relations with his wife. ex-wife.

Ritual purification and completion of the formation of the pantheon

The descent into the underworld made Izanagi unclean, defiled him, so he needed to undergo ritual purification.

He takes a bath in a river stream on Koshu Island. As soon as the clothes were thrown to the ground, new deities emerged from them. The following divine characters are born from it birthmarks. And finally, when the left eye was washed, a goddess appeared from it Amaterasu– “Shining in the sky”, the spirit of the Sun. The moon god appears from the right eye - Tsukiyomi.

The god of wind appeared from Izanagi's nostrils Susanoo, also called the “Ardent, Fierce Husband.” The ardent husband immediately showed the violence of his character: he roars, moans and cries. When asked by Izanagi why he is doing this, Susanoo replies that he is grieving for his mother, who remained in the Land of Darkness. The father is angry and throws him out.

Strictly speaking, this is where Izanagi’s active role ends. Probably, having transferred the supreme power to his daughter, Amaterasu, he himself no longer participates in the life of the Universe.

However, Susanoo does not calm down. He decides to visit his sister Amaterasu. She, hearing the noise of his approach, dresses in military clothes and takes a fighting position. The visiting brother tries to calm the goddess down and offers to give birth to new gods as a sign of peace and agreement.

Amaterasu breaks the Furious Husband's sword into pieces, puts them in his mouth and chews them. From the spit out pieces, new male deities are born (since they originated from the sword of Susanoo).

Susanoo does the same with the jasper jewelry of Amaterasu, and from the spit out pieces of jewelry, female deities are born, since they originated from items of women's toilet. The spirits that appeared became a symbol of mutual reconciliation.

However, after some time, Susanoo begins to commit various intrigues: he destroys boundaries in the fields, fills up irrigation canals, and, finally, skins a piebald foal and throws it through the roof of the palace into Amaterasu’s chambers. For this, Susanoo is expelled from heaven.

The goddess gets angry and hides from everyone in the Heavenly Grotto. The worried gods are forced to work together to lure her out of there. Having placed birds (probably roosters) crowing at night in front of the entrance to the cave, having prepared white clothes and performing the appropriate prayers (norito), the deities gather to contemplate the ecstatic (shamanic - in essence) dance performed by the goddess Ama no uzume.

Amaterasu, attracted by the sounds, looks out of the grotto, and the prudent gods lower the rope behind her so that she cannot return to her refuge.

Thus, peace and order, determined by the regularity of day and night, are restored.

Divine nature of power

Enthroned at the top of the pantheon, Amaterasu decides to hand over the reins of the earthly world to his son Osihomimi(“Abundant Spike”). He, in turn, delegates power to his son Ninigi(“Abundant”), who descends to Earth and, in marriage with the daughter of a local god, gives birth to two sons. The youngest of them gave birth to a child with a simple name Amatsu HikoHikonagistake-Ugayafukiaezu no Mikoto, who in turn becomes the father of the first Japanese emperor Jimmu, thus establishing the line of succession to the throne in the archipelago for centuries.

For centuries, the monarch was perceived in Shinto and, more broadly, in the Japanese tradition in general, not only as the favorite of the supreme, solar deity, but also as his direct descendant. Power over people belongs to him by birthright and cannot be taken away.

The presented tales do not completely exhaust the variety of plots of the myths of early Shintoism. Nevertheless, they contain key elements for the worldview of the ancient Japanese, as well as their later followers. kami no michi ideas about the appearance of the world, gods and people.

People and gods in Shintoism

Kami are not only the progenitors of the imperial family, but of all people in general. To be fair, it should be said that since ancient man it was his country that he thought of as the center of the world and, accordingly, his ethnic group, his fellow tribesmen as people in in its own sense words, then he was primarily interested in the origins of his people. In all likelihood, for the ancient Japanese it was obvious the origin of his tribe was from kami. The history of other peoples, about which he probably had very vague ideas, was of little interest to him.

This approach was most clearly manifested in the veneration uji-gami– generic kami, the patron spirits of the tribe. One of such patrons of the future imperial family was the goddess Amaterasu, who probably initially had masculine features.

It is significant that the incarnation ujigami- the head of the clan - are considered to be small children who, for this very reason, end up in Japan Special attention and respect.

In addition, there was a belief that spirits could inhabit people (both men and women), making them thus kamshakari(possessed kami) or monotsuki(possessed mono).

It was the animistic perception of the Universe that caused the absence of religious consciousness any clear boundaries between the world of spirits and the world of people. “The ancient Japanese simply perceived themselves as an integral part of the cosmos, as a “community of living beings” with the nature of kami (divine nature),” writes the famous researcher of Japanese culture, Professor Joseph Kitagawa.

In other words, people are not created, but rather generated kami and are their direct descendants. Man (like kami) has a soul or spiritual power tama, which after death allows him to also become kami.

Shinto's concept of man's posthumous destiny provides a clear vision of the optimistic prospects for each person's personal eschatology. Despite the serious influence on the consciousness of the Japanese Buddhist teachings, it is believed that anyone who dies becomes kami. This happens regardless of his lifestyle and moral qualities.

Any dead person in Japan is called hotoke, that is buddha, contrary to the doctrine of Buddhism itself, which claims that only a few can repeat the path traversed by the founder of the teaching. This is a striking example of the mutual influence of two religious traditions.

After death the soul tama is located next to the corpse, and if the death was unpeaceful or sudden, then it may become Aratama(“restless, violent spirit”). To pacify him, special ceremonies are held ( shizumeru). Thanks to the action of rituals, as well as the pacifying effect of time, after a few years the soul becomes nigitama(“calm spirit”) After 33 years nigitama joins the community kami, while continuing to maintain contact with their descendants, who are responsible for honoring their ancestors through rituals of meeting the souls of the dead during special celebrations.

Codes of conduct and Shinto rituals

Shintoism, as an archaic religion dating back to the shamanic practices of antiquity, proposed as a paradigm of behavior not adherence to ethical criteria, but adherence to ritual norms. Confirmation of this can be seen in the myth telling about the marriage of Izanagi and Izanami. Rituals were designed to perform regulatory functions in personal, family and public life person.

Shintoism has positive and negative regulatory categories.

In general, the entire set of proper behavior is described in Shintoism by the term cannagara- “following the kami.”

This behavior evokes approval and complacency kami. Positive categories include:

– Hare(“purity”), which implies both external and internal (“spiritual”) state of undefiledness;

– Tadashi(“correctness”) – integrity of behavior, honesty, following one’s duty. To the term tadashi close term Makoto, usually translated as "truthfulness".

They are opposed accordingly:

– Kagare(“defilement”) – external or internal uncleanness, contamination;

– Magasi(“crookedness”) – incorrectness in thoughts, words and actions, infidelity to one’s duty.

It is significant that defilements are associated with two things: blood (and all kinds of bodily secretions in general) and death (and everything connected with it).

At the same time, in Shintoism there is a concept tsumi, the most adequate translation of which should be considered the term “misdemeanor” or even “crime”.

In traditional Shinto prayer called

Minazuki no tsugomori no ooharae ("Great expulsion [of sins] on the last day of the month of Minazuki"), listed offenses ( tsumi) are divided into two categories: "heavenly transgressions" And "earthly transgressions".

In the quotation below from the said text, the translator, trying to adapt Shinto categories to the European consciousness, for which the category of sin is fundamentally important, did not quite correctly convey the term "tsumi" as "sins":

«<...>Many sins have been designated as heavenly sins: those heavenly sins are the destruction of boundaries, filling ditches, destroying gutters, re-seeding, driving in stakes, skinning alive, skinning from back to front, leaving uncleanliness.”

«<...>There are many earthly sins: cutting the skin of a living person, cutting the skin of a dead person; people with leprosy; tumor; abuse of one's own mother, abuse of one's own child, abuse of a mother and her own children; over a child and his mother, the sin of intercourse with animals, trouble from a crawling insect, trouble from Takatsukami, trouble from birds from above, damage to someone else’s livestock, sin of divination.”

Some of the listed sins are extremely difficult to interpret. However, it is obvious that "heavenly" offenses mainly associated with agriculture and livestock breeding, while "earthly" crimes belong to the social sphere. It can be assumed that the first sins were considered the most serious, because they threatened the life support of society. It is significant that it was for such sins that the divine Ardent husband Susanoo was punished.

Shinto piety means striving for abstinence ( them) from everything that is associated with filth, as well as periodic fasting. Fasting can vary in duration, usually from one to three days. Sometimes this period extends to 81 days. by them observed, in particular, by priests before performing rituals. During fasting, it is prescribed to abstain from wine, meat foods, and dishes prepared using ground cereals. The described food abstinence symbolically opposes the behavior of Izanami, who tasted the food of death.

It is important that only “clean” water and “pure” fire (produced with flint or friction) are used for cooking. The possibility of ritual impurity presupposes the existence not only of ways to avoid it, but also of purification. In accordance with the practice set by the mythological hero Izanagi, who performed ablutions after returning from the Land of Darkness, there is a custom of ritual ablutions (misogi) after contact with anything that makes a person ritually unclean (kagare).

Ablution is performed in a certain sequence - from bottom to top. If there is no water, you can use its “dry residue” - sea salt. The Japanese quite often use it as a means to cleanse all things and spaces.

Getting rid of wrongdoing ( tsumi) – the process is more complex. However, it does not go beyond ritualism. Rite of purification ( harai) in the form as described in the already cited Minazuki no tsugomori no ooharae(“Great expulsion [of sins] on the last day of the month of Minazuki”), mentions, in particular, the actions of the great priest, who must cut down the lower branches of trees, prepare reeds, perform sacrifices, pronounce the words of the spell, transferring the perfect act to the jurisdiction of special kami. They, in turn, must assign tsumi on the waves of water flowing into the underworld and carrying away the nasty burden to the Land of Darkness.

To understand the essence of what is happening during cleansing, it is important to realize that the same word “ harai" is used to denote commodity-money relations. In other words, this is nothing more than buying favor kami, returning their favor through payment in sacrifices.

Shinto public worship

There are about 100,000 shrines of varying sizes and degrees of veneration throughout Japan.

Traditionally, a Shinto shrine is designated by the term jinja("sanctuary"). Particularly revered and historically significant - hide(“great sanctuary”). There are also free-standing altars or chapels called hokora.

A specific feature of a Shinto temple, which visually distinguishes it from a Buddhist prayer house, is the U-shaped arches - torii. They separate the sacred temple space from the profane territory of the rest of the world.

Through torii(and there may be many of them) the worshipers find themselves inside the sanctuary. There is usually a special room here Hayden(“hall for veneration”) - a place where believers are present at divine services, as well as Hayden(“offering hall”) – a place for priests to conduct ceremonies.

The most sacred place is shinden("hall kami"), also called honden("main hall"). This is the place of presence of the object of worship itself, presented in the form of an object containing it - the “body” kami".

In some cases, when this "body" is too large (for example, if it is a sacred mountain), shinden may be completely absent.

In many houses of pious Japanese there are small home altars - kamidana(lit. “shelf for kami"), built in honor of especially revered ancestors or spirits that are significant for a person or for his entire family.

Public rituals are performed by clergy, priests, kannusi. In ancient times, it was believed that during the performance of temple rituals, the priest was possessed by a spirit kami. In other words, kannusi The role of a shaman was typical.

Historically, there were four famous priestly clans: Nakatomi, Imbe, Sarume and Urabe. All of them, with the exception of Urabe, traced their family to one of the deities mentioned in the myths. Each clan was considered the guardian of certain rituals.

Liturgical clothing kannusi dates back to the vestments of dignitaries of the medieval royal court. It is long-haired and light in color. The head is crowned with a special black cap.

The number of priests varies depending on the status of the sanctuary and its ability to support clergy. Many small rural churches do not have a permanent clergyman at all.

Some temples, such as the ancient and highly revered Ise Shrine, also contain miko- temple maidens, who historically played the role of shaman-soothsayers, and now have become an attribute of calm ritual dances in honor of the deity.

It is necessary to highlight the key structural points of Shinto public worship. The first step on the path to the temple action is the ritual ablution mentioned above. misogi.

Next comes the ritual of purification ( harae), consisting of the utterance kannusi– special cleansing spells ( haraekotoba) and blessings of the worshipers with a ritual rod with strips of white paper attached to it.

After this, the ceremony participants sit on mats and the ritual of invocation or descent is performed. kami(Kamioroshi), as a result of which he must condescend to his admirers. At this moment special music often plays. Kannusi makes an offering (kensen) of food to the “descended” deity. Then kannusi is reading norito- a prayer of praise. At the end of the hymn of praise, believers make personal offerings to God in the form of tamagushi- twigs of a sacred tree with strips of white paper attached to them. This is a symbol of requests addressed to the spirit.

The next action is the removal of sacrificial food (tetsusen): kannushi takes food from the altar that has been sanctified by power kami. Now the offerings can be consumed ( naorai), often using consecrated sake(Miki).

The service ends with a symbolic send-off of the spirit or “uplifting” kami(Kamiagari).

In addition to the usual (ordinary) temple services, there are also wide celebrations of a festival nature, attracting a significant number of people, usually called matsuri- "holiday". There are several versions regarding the origin of this word – “matsuri”. The most likely is considered to be the one that indicates the origin of the word from the verb matzo – "wait". Respectively, matsuri literally means “expecting something unseen at a given time in a certain place.”

something that will certainly appear and that should be welcomed with great respect."

Quantity matsuri extremely large. The most famous are the celebrations associated with the agricultural seasons, as well as temple celebrations (reitai).

External forms matsuri very diverse. Divine services in each sanctuary have their own characteristics, and therefore a complete description of them is, in principle, hardly possible. However, as a rule, they include wide public celebrations with mass processions and dances. The essence of what is happening is unity with kami, participating in festivities and having fun with their admirers. Modern folk festivities that take place during Shinto celebrations are a largely desacralized version of the ecstatic shamanic dances of antiquity, through which communication with deities was carried out.

Shinto: a look through the centuries

Since the 6th century AD. e., when the Japanese government adopted the veneration of Buddha as state ideology, Shintoism faded into the background. It did not disappear, but it was constantly in fierce competition with the new faith. At the same time, along with Buddhism, the influence of Taoism and Confucianism on the life of the Japanese was quite noticeable.

The state, while supporting Buddhism through administrative methods, at the same time sought to regulate the life of Shintoism and use it for its own purposes.

So, in the 7th century AD. e. the emperor took the title Akitsumami-to amenoshita shiroshimesu Yaiato no sumera-mikoto("Living Kami, Lord of the World and Emperor of the Yamato Kingdom").

At the turn of the 7th-8th centuries, a special department was established - Department of Shinto Affairs. The heads of priestly clans entered his bureaucracy and thus received high-ranking privileges, while at the same time finding themselves under the control of state power.

Allowing Shintoism to exist within the country, the government for many centuries tried to the best of its ability to promote the establishment of Buddhism. One of the striking examples of this can be considered the publication in 685 of a special command: “... in every house a Buddhist altar should be built and an image of Buddha and Buddhist texts should be placed in it. Worship should be performed at these altars with offerings of food."

The degree of pressure on Shinto from authorities sympathetic to Buddhism varied. Nevertheless, the imperial house did not refuse the services of the national religion, which raised it directly to the supreme deity Amaterasu.

In the 12th century, the official monarch was actually removed from real control. In practice, the real rulers of Japan are shoguns- heads of the most politically and militarily powerful clans. The shoguns supported Buddhism with even greater enthusiasm and zeal, seeing in it a religious tradition that was indifferent to the claims to divine honors of the emperor removed from the political arena.

This situation continued until 1868, when, after an era of conflicts and unrest, the emperor Meiji(1852–1912) managed to regain real power. The emperor undertook large-scale reforms in all spheres of life: economics, military affairs, administration, etc. Japan embarked on the path of assimilating the best achievements of European civilization, while simultaneously trying to rethink them in relation to its own history and culture.

The necessary elevation of the emperor, who had regained real power and become the inspirer of reforms, was supposed to be achieved by returning him to divine dignity. For this purpose, Shintoism was returned to the status of the dominant religion, assigning it the role of the bearer of the ideology of national revival, transformation of the state and society.

At the same time there is growth national identity, which leads to strengthening of nationalist tendencies.

In foreign policy, these trends led to wars of conquest: the Japanese-Chinese (1894–1895) and Russian-Japanese (1904–1905), of which the country rising sun came out the winner. In 1910, Korea is annexed.

In 1914, the First World War begins, which Japan enters, being bound by an allied treaty with Great Britain. Taking advantage of the favorable situation, it occupies all territories previously controlled by Germany in China and the Pacific region. At the Versailles Conference, which summed up the results of the global international conflict, Japan participated as one of the victorious countries.

Victories on the battlefields inspired nationalist movements to new achievements. Throughout the country, persecution of people associated with a foreign culture or religious tradition began.

In the 30s of the 20th century, Japan lived under the influence of the ideas of militarism and nationalistic chauvinism. In 1937–1945 years go by Second Sino-Japanese War. On December 7, 1941, the famous raid on Pearl Harbor was carried out, which actually became the beginning of an armed confrontation with the United States and Great Britain in the framework of World War II. At the same time, Hong Kong, the Philippines and the Malay Peninsula were conquered.

During the hostilities, everyone was amazed by the courage and self-sacrifice of Japanese soldiers, who were ready to give their lives not only in the name of achieving victory, but also in order to gain a tactical advantage during a military operation. Special suicide squads were created - kamikaze.

The most famous of them are pilots who were preparing to fly a single flight in order to bring their plane down on the enemy at the end of the mission. For this purpose, even special aircraft-shells were made, filled with explosives, the return of which to the air base was not initially intended.

There was a religious concept according to which Amaterasu assigned the pilots a special mission to protect Japan. The dead were glorified as heroes, declared kami, temples were erected in their honor, and the families enjoyed great respect from their compatriots. There were many more young people willing to give their lives for the emperor and the country than there were aircraft suitable for this purpose.

On August 6 and 9, 1945, US aircraft carried out atomic bomb attacks on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 9, the USSR enters the war with Japan. As a result of these events, on September 2, 1945, the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Japan was signed.

In December 1945, an order was issued to religious associations, which gave religions freedom of action. Shinto was stripped of its privileged status as a national religion and ideology. Already in February 1946, it was created Jinja honte(lit. “Central Temple Bureau”) – Shinto Shrine Association, uniting 80,000 of the 100,000 Shinto shrines. In 1947, Japan adopted a new secular constitution.

Today, the majority of the Japanese, although in practice they are not very religious people, at the same time consider themselves to belong simultaneously to the Buddhist and Shinto religious traditions. “Nowadays, a person gets married in a Shinto shrine, lives his life according to Confucian social precepts, adheres to some Taoist beliefs in “fortune” or “misfortune,” participates in folk festivals, and is buried in Buddhist temple» .

Literature

Japan: Profile of a Nation. Tokyo – New York – London, Kodansha International, 1994.

Gods, shrines, rituals of Japan: Encyclopedia of Shinto / ed. AND. . (Orientalia et Classica: Proceedings of the Institute of Oriental Cultures and Antiquity; issue 26.) M.: RSUH, 2010.

Dale Saunders E.Japanese mythology// Mythology ancient world/ lane from English, preface I. M. Dyakonova. M.: Nauka, 1977. pp. 405–431.

Kitagawa J.M.. Religion in the history of Japan / trans. from English N.M. Seliverstova. St. Petersburg: Nauka, 2005.

Nakorchevsky A.A. Shinto. St. Petersburg: ABC-classics - St. Petersburg Oriental Studies, 2003.

Norito. Sammyo, trans. L. M. Ermakova. M.: Nauka, 1991.

Shinto is the way Japanese gods. Essays on the history of Shinto: in 2 volumes. St. Petersburg: Hyperion, 2002.

Animism(from lat. anima- “soul”) - belief in the existence of many spirits inhabiting the world around us. Sometimes this form of belief is simply called "worship of nature and spirits." Almost synonymous with this concept is the term hylozoism(from the Greek ὑ᾿ λη - “matter” and ζωη " - “life”). Animism as a form of belief should be distinguished from the religious theory of the same name. The author of this theory is the British anthropologist E. B. Tylor, who formulated it in the book “Primitive Culture "(1871). Along with designating a certain type of religious worldview, Tylor used this term to define his concept, according to which religion appears through a person’s comprehension of the experience of being in a “borderline state” (sleep, ecstasy, intoxication), during which a person, as he likes, seems to communicate with spirits. Tylor believed that animism is a “minimum of religion.” In other words, in his opinion, all religions from primitive to the most highly developed come from animistic views immediately after their emergence from a number of famous religious scholars ( M. Müller, E. von Hartmann).

Religion in the history of Japan / trans. from English N. M. Seliverstova. St. Petersburg: Nauka, 2005. P. 24. ◄

The national religion of Japan is Shintoism. The term "Shinto" means the way of the gods. Son or kami are gods, spirits who inhabit the entire world around humans. Any object can be the embodiment of a kami. The origins of Shinto go back to ancient times and include all the forms of belief and cults inherent in primitive peoples: totemism, animism, magic, fetishism, etc.

Development of syntonism

The first mythological monuments of Japan dating back to the 7th-8th centuries. AD - Kojiki, Fudoki, Nihongi - reflected the complex path of formation of the system of Shinto cults. A significant place in this system is occupied by the cult of dead ancestors, the main one of which was the clan ancestor ujigami, who symbolized the unity and cohesion of the clan members. The objects of veneration were the deities of the earth and fields, rain and wind, forests and mountains, etc.

In the early stages of development, Shinto did not have an orderly system of beliefs. The development of Shinto followed the path of forming a complex unity of religious and mythological ideas of various tribes - both local and those who came from the mainland.

As a result, a clear religious system was never created. However, with the development of the state and the rise of the emperor, the Japanese version of the origin of the world, the place of Japan and its sovereigns in this world is formed. Japanese mythology claims that in the beginning there were Heaven and Earth, then the first gods appeared, among whom was the married couple Izanagi and Izanami, who played a major role in the creation of the world. They disturbed the ocean with a huge spear with a tip made of gemstone , dripping from the tip sea ​​water formed the first of the Japanese islands. Then they began to run around the sky pillar and gave birth to other Japanese islands. After Izanami's death, her husband Izanagi visited kingdom of the dead , hoping to save her, but could not. Returning, he performed a purification rite, during which he produced from his left eye the goddess of the Sun - Amaterasu, from his right - the god of the Moon, from his nose - the god of rain, who devastated the country with a flood. During the flood, Amaterasu went into a cave and deprived the earth of light. All the gods, having gathered, persuaded her to go out and return the Sun, but they succeeded with great difficulty.

In Shintoism, this event is, as it were, reproduced in holidays and rituals dedicated to the arrival of spring.

According to mythology, Amaterasu sent her grandson Ninigi to earth to rule over people. The Japanese emperors, who are called tenno (heavenly sovereign) or mikado, trace their ancestry from him. Amaterasu gave him “divine” regalia: a mirror - a symbol of honesty, jasper pendants - a symbol of compassion, a sword - a symbol of wisdom. These qualities are attributed to the highest degree to the personality of the emperor.

The main temple complex in Shintoism was the shrine in Ise - Ise Jingu. In Japan, there is a myth according to which the spirit of Amaterasu, living in Ise Jingu, helped the Japanese in the fight against the Mongol conquerors in 1261 and 1281, when the divine kamikaze wind twice destroyed the Mongol fleet heading to the shores of Japan.

The name of the religion “Shinto” itself consists of two hieroglyphs: “shin” and “to”. The first is translated as “deity” and has another reading - “kami”, and the second means “path”. Thus, the literal translation of "Shinto" is "the way of the gods." What is behind such an unusual name? Strictly speaking, it is a Sinto-pagan religion. It is based on the cult of ancestors and the worship of the forces of nature. Shinto is a national religion addressed not to all humanity, but only to the Japanese. It arose as a result of the unification of beliefs widespread in certain areas of Japan around a cult that developed in the central province of Yamato and is associated with the ancestral deities of the imperial house.

The most ancient forms of beliefs have been preserved and continue to live in Shinto, such as magic, totemism (the veneration of individual animals as patrons), fetishism (the belief in the supernatural power of amulets and talismans). Unlike many other religions, Shinto cannot name a specific human or deity founder. In this religion there are generally no clear distinctions between people and kami. People, according to Shinto, descended directly from kami, live with them in the same world and can become kami after death. Therefore, he does not promise salvation in some other world, but considers the ideal to be the harmonious existence of a person with the world around him, in spiritual unity.

Another feature of Shinto is the many rituals that have remained virtually unchanged over the centuries. At the same time, Shinto dogma occupies a very insignificant place in comparison with ritual. In the beginning there were no dogmas in Shinto. Over time, under the influence of religious teachings borrowed from the continent, individual clergy tried to create dogmas. However, the result was only a synthesis of Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian ideas. They existed independently of the Shinto religion itself, the main content of which to this day remains rituals.

Unlike other religions, Shinto does not contain moral principles. The concept of pure and unclean takes the place of the concept of good and evil. If a person is “dirty”, i.e. has done something inappropriate, he must go through a cleansing ritual.

A real sin in Shinto is considered to be a violation of the world order - “tsumi”, and a person will have to pay for such a sin even after death. He goes to the Land of Darkness and there leads a painful existence surrounded by evil spirits. But there is no developed teaching about the afterlife, hell, heaven or the Last Judgment in Shinto. Death is seen as the inevitable extinction of vital forces, which are then reborn again. The Shinto religion teaches that the souls of the dead are somewhere nearby and are not fenced off in any way from the human world. For a Shinto follower, all major events take place in this world, which is considered to be the best of all worlds. A follower of this religion is not required to perform daily prayers or frequent visits to temples. Participation in temple festivals and the performance of traditional rituals associated with important events in life is quite enough. Therefore, the Japanese themselves often perceive Shinto as a set of national events and traditions. In principle, nothing prevents a Shintoist from professing any other religion, even considering himself an atheist.

When asked about their religious affiliation, very few Japanese answer that they are Shintoists. And yet, the performance of Shinto rituals is inseparable from the daily life of a Japanese person from the moment of his birth until his death, it’s just that for the most part the rituals are not considered as a manifestation of religiosity.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF RUSSIA

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution

higher professional education

Volga State Social and Humanitarian Academy

History department

Department of General History and Teaching Methods

Shintoism

Performed by a first year student of group 11

Full-time study specialty: 050401.65 history

Fomicheva Yulia Vladimirovna

Work plan

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………3

Origin of Shintoism………………………...4

Mythology of Shintoism……………………….………………………..……7

Cult in this religion, main rituals and holidays……………...9

Temples……..…………..……………………………………………………………...….11

The current state of this religion………..………..…………..21

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………...………24

Introduction

Shinto is a traditional Japanese religion. The term “Shinto” or “Shinto” means “way of the gods.” Shinto is a pagan religion. It is based on the cult of ancestors and the worship of the forces of nature. Shinto is the national religion and is purely Japanese. It is aimed at the elevation of the imperial house, their deification.

The most ancient forms of beliefs, such as magic, totemism, and fetishism, have been preserved and continue to live in Shinto. Shintoism has no founder, like Buddhism or Christianity. According to Shinto legends, religion does not give people salvation; it does not even raise this question. Its ideal is the existence of man in harmony with nature.

The purpose of the study is to study the Shinto religion.

Tasks include:

finding out the history of the origin of this religion;

familiarization with the mythology of Shintoism;

studying the main rituals and holidays of Shintoism;

familiarization with the structure of temples;

clarification current state of this religion.

§1 Origin of Shintoism

The name of the religion “Shinto” consists of two characters: “shin” and “to”. The first is translated as “deity” and has another reading – “kami”, and the second means “path”. Thus, the literal translation of “Shinto” is “the way of the gods.”

Since time immemorial, the Japanese have believed in and worshiped kami. This is the national religion that arose in mythical ancient times. It is the indigenous religion of the people who built the Japanese state and created Japanese culture. The Kami religion has been refined over the centuries and continues to evolve today.

Gods-kami are, first of all, the gods of Heaven-Earth and their souls, revered in shrines, as well as human beings, birds and animals, trees and plants, seas and mountains, which have special power and naturally become the object of worship. The concept of kami includes not only good and beneficent creatures, but also evil spirits that have a special nature and are worthy of veneration.

The word Shinto is the term used today for the Kami religion. This term is quite ancient, although it is not widely used in old times neither among the population nor among theologians. It is first found in written sources in the Nihon seki - “Annals of Japan”, written at the beginning of the 8th century. There it was used to distinguish the traditional local religion from Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, continental beliefs that had entered Japan in previous centuries. Since about the 13th century, the word Shinto has been used to refer to the kami religion to distinguish it from Buddhism and Confucianism, which were widespread in the country. It is still used in this meaning today.

Unlike Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, Shintoism does not have a founder such as the enlightened Gautama, the messiah Jesus or the prophet Muhammad; not in it and sacred texts, such as the sutras in Buddhism, the Bible or the Koran. From a personal perspective, Shinto involves faith in the kami, observance of customs in accordance with the mind of the kami, and spiritual life achieved through worship of the kami and merging with them. For those who worship kami, Shinto is a collective name for all beliefs. This is an all-encompassing term covering most different religions, interpreted according to the idea of ​​kami. Therefore, Shintoists use this term differently than is customary

use the word “Buddhism” when talking about the teachings of Buddha and the word “Christianity” when talking about the teachings of Christ.

Broadly speaking, Shintoism is more than just a religion. This is a fusion of views, ideas and spiritual methods that over more than two millennia have become an integral part of the path of the Japanese people. Thus, Shintoism is both a personal belief in kami and a corresponding social way of life. Shintoism was formed over many centuries under the influence of various merging ethnic and cultural traditions, both indigenous and foreign, and thanks to it the country achieved unity under the rule of the imperial family.

Not in Shintoism scriptures, similar to those found in many other religions. This fact characterizes Shintoism as a faith. However, there are ancient texts considered authoritative that outline the historical and spiritual foundations of Shintoism.

The oldest of these texts were compiled under the direction of the imperial family, and they contain myths and early historical chronicles of Japan. The oldest surviving monument of Japanese writing is the Kojiki, “Records of Ancient Deeds,” dating back to 712 AD. The Kojiki describes events up to the year 628. The text is written in Chinese characters, but the writing style is ancient colloquial Japanese, thanks to which you can learn about the style of oral speech that existed earlier and was passed on from generation to generation. This is why this written source is extremely valuable. Another text called Nihongi, or Nihon shoki - "Annals of Japan", which appeared eight years later, in 720, recounts events that took place before 697. It is written in Chinese and therefore in a different style. This manuscript, unlike the Kojiki, has more detail; some events have mythological explanations and interpretations, which is very important, since there are no such details in the Kojiki. Shintoists value these two documents especially highly, since they contain the only ancient information that has reached us about the imperial family and several clans that gave rise to the Japanese nation.

The texts talk about the origins of the imperial throne, the genealogies of certain clans, and much more that formed the basis of the Japanese social system and traditions. In addition, these sources contain a wealth of information about ancient Shinto rituals and customs, as well as the duties and

inviolable rights of individual clans with regard to their participation in religious rites. These duties and rights expressed the special claims of certain clans to a role in the social structure of Japan, without which the clan system itself would almost inevitably collapse. Kujiki - --- "Chronicles of Ancient Events", Kogo-shui - "Selected Stories from Antiquity" and Engi Shiki - "Code of the Engi Era" are also considered reliable sources. It is believed that Kujiki was written around 620, i.e. a hundred years before the appearance of Nihongi. Kogoshui's book, written in 807, adds further information on early Shintoism. Published in 927, the Engi Shiki is a fundamental source of knowledge about early Shintoism, ceremonies, prayers, rituals, and methods of managing church affairs.

It should be emphasized again that, unlike Christianity and Islam, none of the manuscripts listed above are considered sacred texts. These are primarily historical records which, in addition to their political and dynastic significance, reveal ancient forms of belief in the kami. In Shintoism, no canonical set of religious rules arose, since at first the temples were only ritual intermediaries between people and the kami deities, and later, when these temples began to be perceived as symbols of faith of a certain community of people, there was no need to create any doctrines and instructions. Moreover, throughout history there are only a few cases where people professing Shinto shunned their public duty. It must be admitted that there were times when forced opposition to foreign religions and the fear of losing one’s traditions gave rise to talk about the need to create canons; however, the circumstances were never serious enough to bring the matter to an end. Modern changes in society and confusion in religions no less require deepening and strengthening the doctrine of shrine Shintoism. However, there is no indication yet that this will be done.

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