Missionaries encounter a Shinto scholar
by Pino Cazzaniga
The friendship between the PIME missionaries and prof. Mitsuhashi has lasted 60 years. Shinto sees reality as a sign of a Creator. Contemporary Japan is marked by this religious tradition in habits and care for nature, but modernity, work, scientific secularism leads to forgetfulness of its roots. The medicine of Christianity.
Tokyo (AsiaNews) – For any missionary knowledge of the culture of the people to whom he must transmit the message of the Gospel is a duty which he cannot fail to fulfil. It is particularly so in Japan where the culture is rich and profound. In this context, Fr. Ferruccio Brambillasca, regional superior of the PIME missionaries in Japan, organized a conference on Shintoism for the community he runs, inviting Professor Takeshi Mitsuhashi (1939), who for decades has been a professor at Kokugakuin Daigaku, the most renowned Shinto university in Tokyo.
Shinto and the cultural soul of Japan
Anthropologists agree that religion is a fundamental element in determining the identity of a people’s culture. Japan, which foreigners see as a heavily secularized country, has not one but three religions: Shinto, Buddhism and Christianity.
The latter can not 'be referred to as traditional religion, having arrived in Japan towards the end of the sixteenth century with the coming of the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier. Neither is Buddhism indigenous, because it was introduced from abroad, but since it took root in Japan in the first half of the sixth century it has had an enormous influence in the formation of the people, it is considered an essential element of Japanese culture.
During the Meiji era (1868-1912), Shinto was unfortunately officially presented as the state religion, in fact becoming a fundamental element of nationalist ideology. Until 1945, the scholars of comparative religion distinguished the "State Shinto" from the "folk Shinto", the terminology has become obsolete after the promulgation of the new constitution (1947), which enshrines the separation of religion from state. In the English translation the Shinto places of worship are indicated as "sanctuaries" (Jinja in Japanese) to distinguish them from those indicated as a Buddhist "temples" (o-tera, in Japanese).
Academic lecture in a familial context
The conference lasted 90 minutes without interruption: rich in content, challenging in its use of scientific language, but with a family atmosphere. The speaker himself referred to the “familial” atmosphere at the beginning of his lecture: his meeting, and later becoming close friends with the missionary Allegrino Allegrini whom he met in the '60s.
Allegrini, who died a few years ago, was one of the first PIME missionaries of the in Japan: from Lucca, with a penetrating intelligence as well as great missionary spirit, he realized that Shinto was a genetic component of Japanese psychology, and studied Shinto attending college in Tokyo, where he graduated. It is likely that the first meeting with the professor took place in this environment. Just 40 years ago, the Catholic priest Allegrini participated in the celebration of the kannushi marriage of Shinto Mitsuhashi.
The title of the conference was proposed by Brambillasca: "How Japanese society today is seen in the context of Shinto." The aim of the lecture is implicit in the title: to help missionaries understand inculturation and how to evangelize in the context of Japanese culture. The professor, while saying at the beginning that this was an extremely difficult subject, masterfully articulated it in two parts: the presentation and explanation of Shinto terminology as the basis for an opinion on Japanese society today.
Shinto presented as "the way of the gods"
For the Japanese professor, the fact of speaking to an audience of European Catholic priests did not present psychological difficulties: after graduation he went in Portugal where he deepened his studies at the Catholic university ' of Coimbra, and then because of his knowledge of the history of Catholicism in Japan in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The word "Shinto" is not a noun, he said, but an adjective, also not Japanese, but Chinese. A specification that amazed his audience. In all the literature in European languages the word "Shinto" is a noun. The American Edwin Reischauer, one of the most 'well-known scholars of Japan (now defunct), writes: "Shinto, the most' distinctive of Japanese religions, an ancient animistic religion was centred around the phenomena of nature - the sun, the mountains, trees, water, rocks, and the whole process of fertility. " In this as in other definitions written by and for Westerners, a Western, even Christian, concept of God is applied to Shinto. In this context Shinto, at least implicitly, is considered idolatrous.
Mitsuhashi rejects this equation. The term Shinto 'was coined by the Jesuit missionaries (Spanish or Portuguese), who, however, are recognised for having made known the culture, history and society of Japan in the West. It is true that in Shinto nature is 'the object of worship but it is because all things in nature are believed to be created by a supreme and unknowable reality, said Mitsuhashi.
Putting this in a Japanese perspective, to summerise the primitive religion of Japan, he used the term kami no michi o kannagara no michi or "The Way of the Gods" as it is usually translated into the languages of Western literature . But it is a translation that is easily misunderstood. The misunderstanding is because the word kami, was translated into English with the word "god" or "spirit". According to the British George Sansom (1883-1965), an eminent scholar of pre-modern Japanese history, "this word in Japanese means 'higher" or "superior"; for the Japanese a thing or a person is called kami if believed to be in the possession of some higher quality or power. "
The influence of Shinto on Modern Japan
The cleanliness and respect for nature are two characteristics of Japanese society that have gained the admiration of foreigners living in this country. In a city of 12 million inhabitants like Tokyo, it is rare to find a piece of paper or a cigarette butt on the sidewalks or streets. Public toilets and onsen (natural hot or artificial springs) can be found anywhere. None of the millions of employees or workers, who return home late in the afternoon after a day of work, sit down to dinner without first having taken a bath in the home or public o-furo (bath).
The clothes you wear may be modest, but they must be clean. If you meet men with dirty clothes at railway stations and squares, you can be sure that they are homeless (usually elderly), as a result of some psychological meltdown. The view seen from almost any skyscraper window in Tokyo shows at first a depressing sight: a mass of concrete buildings. But if you have the patience to look more carefully you see here and there patches of green, public gardens where nature rules.
Listening to Mistuhashi’s lecture, the reason for this enviable quality of the people of Japan is better understood. The supreme value of Shinto is nature (shizen) and its moral principle is to respect and cultivate it. Using the language of mythology, the professor said that the goddess Amaterasu-O-Mikami, the supreme deity in Shinto, taught the Japanese to "nurture nature", especially in relation to rice cultivation. In the context of the psychology the main Shinto months are May and September, because May is the month in which the rice is transplanted and September it is harvested.
The attitude of today’s Japan to Shintoism
Touching on this last issue the attitude of the professor became poignant and the word used to summarize his belief was "forgetfulness". For many Japanese today, fear of God has been replaced by fear of the shachoo, company director, the "Shizen" (nature), first considered as a sacred and revered reality, today is mere object of scientific analysis. To indicate a natural disaster they usethe term Tensai, a word composed of two characters, the first of which means Heaven (God), the second disaster, in the sense the word had a moral meaning: the Tensai was considered a punishment from heaven for man’s sins.
In ancient times the responsibility of man was reflected on, now it is simply forgotten. Tragic events such as the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 1945) or the devastating tsunami that struck the nuclear power plant in Fukushima (March 11, 2012) were soon forgotten. "Forgetfulness," said Mitsuhashi, is a sign of irresponsibility. To recover from this serious illness of "forgetfulness" the message of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, offers a very effective medicine. Christians should not forget this.
Shinto and the cultural soul of Japan
Anthropologists agree that religion is a fundamental element in determining the identity of a people’s culture. Japan, which foreigners see as a heavily secularized country, has not one but three religions: Shinto, Buddhism and Christianity.
The latter can not 'be referred to as traditional religion, having arrived in Japan towards the end of the sixteenth century with the coming of the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier. Neither is Buddhism indigenous, because it was introduced from abroad, but since it took root in Japan in the first half of the sixth century it has had an enormous influence in the formation of the people, it is considered an essential element of Japanese culture.
During the Meiji era (1868-1912), Shinto was unfortunately officially presented as the state religion, in fact becoming a fundamental element of nationalist ideology. Until 1945, the scholars of comparative religion distinguished the "State Shinto" from the "folk Shinto", the terminology has become obsolete after the promulgation of the new constitution (1947), which enshrines the separation of religion from state. In the English translation the Shinto places of worship are indicated as "sanctuaries" (Jinja in Japanese) to distinguish them from those indicated as a Buddhist "temples" (o-tera, in Japanese).
Academic lecture in a familial context
The conference lasted 90 minutes without interruption: rich in content, challenging in its use of scientific language, but with a family atmosphere. The speaker himself referred to the “familial” atmosphere at the beginning of his lecture: his meeting, and later becoming close friends with the missionary Allegrino Allegrini whom he met in the '60s.
Allegrini, who died a few years ago, was one of the first PIME missionaries of the in Japan: from Lucca, with a penetrating intelligence as well as great missionary spirit, he realized that Shinto was a genetic component of Japanese psychology, and studied Shinto attending college in Tokyo, where he graduated. It is likely that the first meeting with the professor took place in this environment. Just 40 years ago, the Catholic priest Allegrini participated in the celebration of the kannushi marriage of Shinto Mitsuhashi.
The title of the conference was proposed by Brambillasca: "How Japanese society today is seen in the context of Shinto." The aim of the lecture is implicit in the title: to help missionaries understand inculturation and how to evangelize in the context of Japanese culture. The professor, while saying at the beginning that this was an extremely difficult subject, masterfully articulated it in two parts: the presentation and explanation of Shinto terminology as the basis for an opinion on Japanese society today.
Shinto presented as "the way of the gods"
For the Japanese professor, the fact of speaking to an audience of European Catholic priests did not present psychological difficulties: after graduation he went in Portugal where he deepened his studies at the Catholic university ' of Coimbra, and then because of his knowledge of the history of Catholicism in Japan in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The word "Shinto" is not a noun, he said, but an adjective, also not Japanese, but Chinese. A specification that amazed his audience. In all the literature in European languages the word "Shinto" is a noun. The American Edwin Reischauer, one of the most 'well-known scholars of Japan (now defunct), writes: "Shinto, the most' distinctive of Japanese religions, an ancient animistic religion was centred around the phenomena of nature - the sun, the mountains, trees, water, rocks, and the whole process of fertility. " In this as in other definitions written by and for Westerners, a Western, even Christian, concept of God is applied to Shinto. In this context Shinto, at least implicitly, is considered idolatrous.
Mitsuhashi rejects this equation. The term Shinto 'was coined by the Jesuit missionaries (Spanish or Portuguese), who, however, are recognised for having made known the culture, history and society of Japan in the West. It is true that in Shinto nature is 'the object of worship but it is because all things in nature are believed to be created by a supreme and unknowable reality, said Mitsuhashi.
Putting this in a Japanese perspective, to summerise the primitive religion of Japan, he used the term kami no michi o kannagara no michi or "The Way of the Gods" as it is usually translated into the languages of Western literature . But it is a translation that is easily misunderstood. The misunderstanding is because the word kami, was translated into English with the word "god" or "spirit". According to the British George Sansom (1883-1965), an eminent scholar of pre-modern Japanese history, "this word in Japanese means 'higher" or "superior"; for the Japanese a thing or a person is called kami if believed to be in the possession of some higher quality or power. "
The influence of Shinto on Modern Japan
The cleanliness and respect for nature are two characteristics of Japanese society that have gained the admiration of foreigners living in this country. In a city of 12 million inhabitants like Tokyo, it is rare to find a piece of paper or a cigarette butt on the sidewalks or streets. Public toilets and onsen (natural hot or artificial springs) can be found anywhere. None of the millions of employees or workers, who return home late in the afternoon after a day of work, sit down to dinner without first having taken a bath in the home or public o-furo (bath).
The clothes you wear may be modest, but they must be clean. If you meet men with dirty clothes at railway stations and squares, you can be sure that they are homeless (usually elderly), as a result of some psychological meltdown. The view seen from almost any skyscraper window in Tokyo shows at first a depressing sight: a mass of concrete buildings. But if you have the patience to look more carefully you see here and there patches of green, public gardens where nature rules.
Listening to Mistuhashi’s lecture, the reason for this enviable quality of the people of Japan is better understood. The supreme value of Shinto is nature (shizen) and its moral principle is to respect and cultivate it. Using the language of mythology, the professor said that the goddess Amaterasu-O-Mikami, the supreme deity in Shinto, taught the Japanese to "nurture nature", especially in relation to rice cultivation. In the context of the psychology the main Shinto months are May and September, because May is the month in which the rice is transplanted and September it is harvested.
The attitude of today’s Japan to Shintoism
Touching on this last issue the attitude of the professor became poignant and the word used to summarize his belief was "forgetfulness". For many Japanese today, fear of God has been replaced by fear of the shachoo, company director, the "Shizen" (nature), first considered as a sacred and revered reality, today is mere object of scientific analysis. To indicate a natural disaster they usethe term Tensai, a word composed of two characters, the first of which means Heaven (God), the second disaster, in the sense the word had a moral meaning: the Tensai was considered a punishment from heaven for man’s sins.
In ancient times the responsibility of man was reflected on, now it is simply forgotten. Tragic events such as the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 1945) or the devastating tsunami that struck the nuclear power plant in Fukushima (March 11, 2012) were soon forgotten. "Forgetfulness," said Mitsuhashi, is a sign of irresponsibility. To recover from this serious illness of "forgetfulness" the message of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, offers a very effective medicine. Christians should not forget this.
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