The Religions of Japan - From the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji
254 pages
English

The Religions of Japan - From the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji

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Project Gutenberg's The Religions of Japan, by William Elliot Griffis
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Title: The Religions of Japan  From the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji
Author: William Elliot Griffis
Release Date: March 31, 2005 [EBook #15516]
Language: English
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THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN FROM THE DAWN OF HISTORY TO THE ERA OF MEIJI
BY
WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS, D.D.
FORMERLY OF THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OF TOKIO; AUTHOR OF "THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE" AND "COREA, THE HERMIT NATION;" LATE LECTURER ON THE MORSE FOUNDATION IN UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN NEW YORK
"I came not to destroy, but to fulfil."—THE SON OF MAN
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1895
COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
TROW DIRECTORY PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY NEW YORK
IN GLAD RECOGNITION OF THEIR SERVICES TO THE WORLD AND IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MY OWN GREAT DEBT TO BOTH I DEDICATE THIS BOOK SO UNWORTHY OF ITS GREAT SUBJECT TO THOSE TWO NOBLE BANDS OF SEEKERS AFTER TRUTH THE FACULTY OF UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF WHOM CHARLES A. BRIGGS AND GEORGE L. PRENTISS ARE THE HONORED SURVIVORS AND TO THAT TRIO OF ENGLISH STUDENTS ERNEST M. SATOW, WILLIAM G. ASTON AND BASIL H. CHAMBERLAIN WHO LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF CRITICAL SCHOLARSHIP IN JAPAN
"IN UNCONSCIOUS BROTHERHOOD, BINDING THE SELF-SAME SHEAF"
PREFACE
This book makes no pretence of furnishing a mirror of contemporary Japanese religion. Since 1868, Japan has been breaking the chains of her intellectual bondage to China and India, and the end is not yet. My purpose has been, not to take a snap-shot photograph, but to paint a picture of the past. Seen in a lightning-flash, even a tempest-shaken tree appears motionless. A study of the same organism from acorn to seed-bearing oak, reveals not a phase but a life. It is something like this—"to the era of Meiji" (A.D. 1868-1894+) which I have essayed. Hence I am perfectly willing to accept, in advance, the verdict of smart inventors who are all ready to patent a brand-new religion for Japan, that my presentation is "antiquated."
The subject has always been fascinating, despite its inherent difficulties and the author's personal limitations. When in 1807, the polite lads from Satsuma and Ki[=o]to came to New Brunswick, N.J., they foun d at least one eager questioner, a sophomore, who, while valuing books, enjoyed at first hand contemporaneous human testimony.
When in 1869, to Rutgers College, came an application through Rev. Dr. Guido F. Verbeck, of T[=o]ki[=o], from Fukui for a young man to organize schools upon the American principle in the province of Echizen (ultra-Buddhistic, yet already so liberally leavened by the ethical teachings of Y okoi Héishiro), the Faculty
made choice of the author. Accepting the honor and privilege of being one of the "beginners of a better time," I caught sight of peerless Fuji and set foot on Japanese soil December 29, 1870. Amid a cannonade of new sensations and fresh surprises, my first walk was taken in company with the American missionary (once a marine in Perry's squadron, who later invented the jin-riki-sha), to see a hill-temple and to study the wayside shrines around Yokohama. Seven weeks' stay in the city of Yedo—then rising out of the débris of feudalism to become the Imperial capital, T[=o]ki[=o], enabled me to see some things now so utterly vanished, that by some persons their pre vious existence is questioned. One of the most interesting characters I met personally was Fukuzawa, the reformer, and now "the intellectual father of half of the young men of ... Japan." On the day of the battle of Uyéno, July 11, 1868, this far-seeing patriot and inquiring spirit deliberately decided to keep out of the strife, and with four companions of like mind, began the study of Wayland's Moral Science. Thus were laid the foundations of his great school, now a university.
Journeying through the interior, I saw many interesting phenomena of popular religions which are no longer visible. At Fukui in Echizen, one of the strongholds of Buddhism, I lived nearly a year, engaged in educational work, having many opportunities of learning both the scholastic and the popular forms of Shint[=o] and of Buddhism. I was surrounded by m onasteries, temples, shrines, and a landscape richly embroidered with myth and legend. During my four years' residence and travel in the Empire, I perceived that in all things the people of Japan weretooreligious.
In seeking light upon the meaning of what I saw before me and in penetrating to the reasons behind the phenomena, I fear I often made myself troublesome to both priests and lay folk. While at work in T[=o]ki[=o], though under obligation to teach only physical science, I voluntarily gave instruction in ethics to classes in the University. I richly enjoyed this work, which, by questioning and discussion, gave me much insight into the minds of young men whose homes were in every province of the Empire. In my own house I felt free to teach to all comers the religion of Jesus, his revelation of the fatherhood of God and the ethics based on his life and words. While, therefore, in studying the subject, I have great indebtedness to acknowledge to foreigners, I feel that first of all I must thank the natives who taught me so much both by precept and p ractice. Among the influences that have helped to shape my own creed and inspire my own life, have been the beautiful lives and noble characters of Japanese officers, students and common people who were around and before me. Though freely confessing obligation to books, writings, and artistic and scholastic influences, I hasten first to thank the people of Japan, whether servants, superior officers, neighbors or friends. He who seeks to learn what religion is from books only, will learn but half.
Gladly thanking those, who, directly or indirectly, have helped me with light from the written or printed page, I must first of all gratefully express my especial obligations to those native scholars who have read to me, read for me, or read with me their native literature.
The first foreign students of Japanese religions we re the Dutch, and the German physicians who lived with them, at Déshima. Kaempfer makes frequent
references, with test and picture, in his Beschryving van Japan. Von Siebold, who was an indefatigable collector rather than a critical student, in Vol. V. of his invaluableArchivvon Nippon), devoted over forty pages to the (Pantheon religions of Japan. Dr. J.J. Hoffman translated into Dutch, with notes and explanations, the Butsu-z[=o]-dzu-i, which, besides its 163 figures of Buddhist holy men, gives a bibliography of the works mentioned by the native author. In visiting the Japanese museum on the Rapenburg, Leyden, one of the oldest, best and most intelligently arranged in Europe, I have been interested with the great work done by the Dutchmen, during two centuries, in leavening the old lump for that transformation which in our day as Ne w Japan, surprises the world. It requires the shock of battle to awaken th e western nations to that appreciation of the racial and other differences be tween the Japanese and Chinese, which the student has already learned.
The first praises, however, are to be awarded to the English scholars, Messrs. Satow, Aston, Chamberlain, and others, whose profou nd researches in Japanese history, language and literature have cleared the path for others to tread in. I have tried to acknowledge my debt to them in both text and appendix.
To several American missionaries, who despite their trying labors have had the time and the taste to study critically the religions of Japan, I owe thanks and appreciation. With rare acuteness and learning, Rev. Dr. George Wm. Knox has opened on its philosophical, and Rev. Dr. J.H. DeForest on its practical side, the subject of Japanese Confucianism. By his lexicographical work, Dr. J.C. Hepburn has made debtors to him both the native and the alien. To our knowledge of Buddhism in Japan, Dr. J.C. Berry and Rev. J.L. Atkinson have made noteworthy contributions. I have been content to quote as authorities and illustrations, the names of those who have thus wrought on the soil, rather than of those, who, even though world-famous, have been but slightly familiar with the ethnic and the imported faith of Japan. The profound misunderstandings of Buddhism, which some very eminent men of Europe hav e shown in their writings, form one of the literary curiosities of the world.
In setting forth these Morse lectures, I have purposely robbed my pages of all appearance of erudition, by using as few uncouth wo rds as possible, by breaking up the matter into paragraphs of moderate length, by liberally introducing subject-headings in italics, and by rel egating all notes to the appendix. Since writing the lectures, and even while reading the final proofs, I have ransacked my library to find as many references, notes, illustrations and authorities as possible, for the benefit of the general student. I have purposely avoided recondite and inaccessible books and have n amed those easily obtainable from American or European publishers, or from Messrs. Kelly & Walsh, of Yokohama, Japan. In using oriental words I have followed, in the main, the spelling of the Century Dictionary. The J apanese names are expressed according to that uniform system of transliteration used by Hepburn, Satow and other standard writers, wherein consonants have the same general value as in English (except that initial g is always hard), while the vowels are pronounced as in Italian. Double vowels must be pro nounced double, as in Méiji (m[=a]-[=e]-j[=e]); those which are long are marked, as in [=o] or [=u]; i before o or u is short. Most of the important Japanese, as well as Sanskrit and Chinese, terms used, are duly expressed and defined in the Century Dictionary.
I wish also to thank especially my friends, Riu Watanabe, Ph.D., of Cornell University, and William Nelson Noble, Esq., of Itha ca. The former kindly assisted me with criticisms and suggestions, while to the latter, who has taken time to read all the proofs, I am grateful for considerable improvement in the English form of the sentences.
In closing, I trust that whatever charges may be br ought against me by competent critics, lack of sympathy will not be one. I write in sight of beautiful Lake Cayuga, on the fertile and sloping shores of which in old time the Iroquois Indian confessed the mysteries of life. Having planted his corn, he made his pregnant squaw walk round the seed-bed in hope of receiving from the Source of life increased blessing and sustenance for body and mind. Between such a truly religious act of the savage, and that of the Christian sage, Joseph Henry, who uncovered his head while investigating electro-magnetism to "ask God a question," or that of Samuel F.B. Morse, who sent a s his first telegraphic message "What hath God wrought," I see no essential difference. All three were acts of faith and acknowledgment of a power greater than man. Religion is one, though religions are many. As Principal Fairbairn, my honored predecessor in the Morse lectureship, says: "What we call supersti tion of the savage is not superstitionin him. Superstition is the perpetuation of a low form of belief along with a higher knowledge.... Between fetichism and C hristian faith there is a great distance, but a great affinity—the recognition of a supra-sensible life."
"For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God.... The creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God."
W.E.G.
ITHACA, N.Y., October 27, 1894.
CHAPTER I
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS, PAGE 1
Salutatory.—The Morse Lectureship and its provision s.—The Science of Comparative Religion is Christianity's own child.—The Parliament of Religions. —The Study of Religion most appropriate in a Theolo gical Seminary. —Shortening weapons and lengthening boundaries.—The right missionary spirit that of the Master, who "came not to destroy but to fulfil."—Characteristics of Japan.—Bird's-eye view of Japanese history and religion.—Popularly, not three religions but one religion.—Superstitions which are not organically parts of the "book-religions."—The boundary line between the Creator and his creation not visible to the pagan.—Shamanism: Fetichism.—Mythical monsters, Kirin, Phoenix, Tortoise, Dragon.—Japanese mythical zoölogy.—The erection of the stone fetich.—Insurance by amulets upon hous e and person. —Phallicism.—Tree-worship.—Serpent-worship.—These u nwritten superstitions condition the "book-religions."—Removable by science and a higher religion.
CHAPTER II
SHINTO: MYTHS AND RITUAL, PAGE 35
Japan is young beside China and Korea.—Japanese history is comparatively modern.—The oldest documents date from A.D. 712.—Th e Japanese archipelago inhabited before the Christian era.—Faith, worship and ritual are previous to written espression.—The Kojiki, Many[=o ]shu and Norito. —Tendency of the pupil nations surrounding China to antedate their civilization.—Origin of the Japanese people and their religion.—Three distinct lines of tradition from Tsukushi, Idzumo and Yamato .—War of the invaders against the aborigines—Mikadoism is the heart of Shint[=o].—Illustrations from the liturgies.—Phallicism among the aborigines and common people.—The mind or mental climate of the primæval man.—Representation of male gods by emblems.—Objects of worship andex-voto.—Ideas of creation.—The fire-myth, Prometheus.—Comparison of Greek and Japanese mythology.—Ritual for the quieting of the fire-god.—The fire-drill.
CHAPTER III
THE KOJIKI AND ITS TEACHINGS, PAGE 59
Origin of the Kojiki. Analysis of its opening lines—Norito.—Indecency of the myths of the Kojiki.—Modern rationalistic interpretations—Life in prehistoric Japan.—Character and temperament of the people then and now.—Character of the kami or gods.—Hades.—Ethics.—The Land of the Gods.—The barbarism of the Yamato conquerors an improvement upon the savagery of the aborigines.—Cannibalism and human sacrifices.—The makers of the God-way captured and absorbed the religion of the aborigines.—A case of syncretism. —Origin of evil in bad gods.—Pollution was sin.—Cla ss of offences enumerated in the norito.—Professor Kumi's contenti on that Mikadoism usurped a simple worship of Heaven.—Difference betw een the ancient Chinese and ancient Japanese cultus.—Development of Shint[=o] arrested by Buddhism.—Temples and offerings.—The tori-i.—Pollution and purification. —Prayer.—Hirata's ordinal and specimen prayers.—To the common people the sun is a god.—Prayers to myriads of gods.—Summary o f Shint[=o]. —Swallowed up in the Riy[=o]bu system.—Its modern r evival.—Kéichin. —Kada Adzumar[=o].—Mabuchi, Motoöri.—Hirata.—In 1870, Shint[=o] is again made the state religion.—Purification of Riy[=o]bu temples.—Politico-religious lectures.—Imperial rescript.—Reverence to the Emper or's photograph. —Judgment upon Shint[=o].—The Christian's ideal of Yamato-damashii.
CHAPTER IV
THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN, PAGE 99
In what respects Confucius was unique as a teacher.—Outline of his life.—The canon.—Primitive Chinese faith a sort of monotheism.—How the sage modified it.—History of Confucianism until its entrance into Japan.—Outline of the intellectual and political history of the Japanese.—Rise of the Samurai class. —Shifting of emphasis from filial piety to loyalty.—Prevalence of suicide in Japan.—Confucianism has deeply tinged the ideas of the Japanese.—Great
care necessary in seeking equivalents in English fo r the terms used in the Chino-Japanese ethics;e.g., the emperor, "the father of the people." —Impersonality of Japanese speech.—Christ and Confu cius.—"Love" and "reverence."—Exemplars of loyalty.—The Forty-seven R[=o]nins.—The second relation.—The family in Chinese Asia and in Christendom.—The law of filial piety and the daughter.—The third relation.—Theory of courtship and marriage. —Chastity.—Jealousy.—Divorce.—Instability of the ma rriage bond.—The fourth relation.—The elder and the younger brother.—The house or family everything, the individual nothing.—The fifth relation.—The ideas of Christ and those of Confucius.—The Golden and the Gilded rule.—Lao Tsze and Kung. —Old Japan and the alien.—Commodore Perry and Professor Hayashi.
CHAPTER V
CONFUCIANISM IN ITS PHILOSOPHICAL FORM, PAGE 131
Harmony of the systems of Confucius and Buddha in Japan during a thousand years.—Revival of learning in the seventeenth centu ry.—Exodus of the Chinese scholars on the fall of the Ming dynasty.—Their dispersion and work in Japan.—Founding of schools of the new Chinese learning.—For two and a half centuries the Japanese mind has been moulded by the new Confucianism. —Survey of its rise and developments.—Four stages in the intellectual history of China.—The populist movement in the eleventh cen tury.—The literary controversy.—The philosophy of the Cheng brothers and of Chu Hi, called in Japan Tei-Shu system.—In Buddhism the Japanese were startling innovators, in philosophy they were docile pupils.—Paucity of C onfucian or speculative literature in Japan.—A Chinese wall built around the Japanese intellect.—Yelo orthodoxy.—Features of the Téi-Shu system.—Not agnostic but pantheistic. —Its influence upon historiography.—Ki (spirit) Ri (way) and Ten (heaven). —The writings of Ohashi Junzo.—Confucianism obsolescent in New Japan. —A study of Confucianism in the interest of comparative religion.—Man's place in the universe.—The Samurai's ideal, obedience.—Hi s fearlessness in the face of death.—Critique of the system.—The ruler and the ruled.—What has Confucianism done for woman?—Improvement and revision of the fourth and fifth relations.—The new view of the universe and the new mind in New Japan. The ideal of Yamato-damashii revised and improved.
CHAPTER VI
THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA, PAGE 153
Buddha—sun myth or historic personage?—Buddhism one of the protestantisms of the world.—Characteristics of new religions.—Survey of the history of Indian thought.—The age of the Vedas.—Th e epic age.—The rationalistic age.—Our fellow-Aryans and the story of their conquests.—Their intellectual energy and inventions.—Systems of phil osophy.—Condition of religion at the birth of Gautama.—Outline of his life.—He attains enlightenment or buddhahood.—In what respects Buddhism was an old, and in what a new religion.—Did Gautama intend to found a new religion, or return to simpler and older faith?—Monasticism, Kharma and Nirvana,—Enthusiasm of the disciples of the new faith.—The great schism.—The Northern Buddhists.—The canon. —The two Yana or vehicles.—Simplicity of Southern a nd luxuriance of
Northern Buddhism.—Summary of the process of thought in Nepal.—The old gods of India come back again.—Maitreya, Manjusri and Avalokitesvara.—The Legend of Manjusri.—Separation of attributes and creation of new Buddhas or gods.—The Dhyani Buddhas.—Amida.—Adi-Buddhas.—Abstractions become gods.—The Tantra system.—Outbursts of doctrine and art.—Prayer-mills.—The noble eight-fold path of self-denial and benevolence forgotten.—Entrance of Buddhism from Korea into Japan.—Condition of the co untry at that time. —Dates and first experiences.—Soga no Inamé.—Sh[=o]toku.—Japanese pilgrims to China.—Changes wrought by the new creed and cult.—Temples, monasteries and images.—Influence upon the Mikado's name, rank and person, and upon Shint[=o].—Relative influence of B uddhism in Asia and of Christianity in Europe.—The three great characteristics of Buddhism.—How the clouds returned after the rain.—Buddhism and Christianity confronting the problem of life.
CHAPTER VII
RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM, PAGE 189
The experience of two centuries and a half of Buddhism in Japan.—Necessity of using more powerful means for the conversion of the Japanese.—Popular customs nearly ineradicable.—Analogy from European history.—Syncretism in Christian history.—In the Arabian Nights.—How far i s the process of Syncretism honest?—Examples not to be recommended for imitation.—The problem of reconciling the Kami and the Buddhas.—Northern Buddhism ready for the task.—The Tantra or Yoga-chara system.—Art and its influence on the imagination.—The sketch replaced by the illumination and monochrome by colors.—Japanese art.—Mixed Buddhism rather than mi xed Shint[=o]. —K[=o]b[=o] the wonder-worker who made all Japanese history a transfiguration of Buddhism.—Legends about his extraordinary abilities and industry.—His life, and studies in China.—The kata- kana syllabary. —K[=o]b[=o]o's revelation from the Shint[=o] goddess Toyo-Uké-Bimé.—The gods of Japan were avatars of Buddha.—K[=o]b[=o]'s plan of propaganda. —Details of the scheme.—A clearing-house of gods and Buddhas.—Relative rise and fall of the native and the foreign deities .—Legend of Daruma. "Riy[=o]bu Shint[=o]."—Impulse to art and art industry.—The Kami no Michi falls into shadow.—Which religion suffered most?—Phenomenally the victory belonged to Buddhism.—The leavening power was that of Shint[=o]. —Buddhism's fresh chapter of decay.—Influence of Ri y[=o]bu upon the Chinese ethical system in Japan.—Influence on the Mikado.—Abdication all along the lines of Japanese life.—Ultimate paralysi s of the national intellect. —Comparison with Chinese Buddhism.—Miracle-mongerin g.—No self-reforming power in Buddhism.—The Seven Happy Gods o f Fortune. —Pantheism's destruction of boundaries.—The author's study of the popular processions in Japan.—Masaka Do.—Swamping of history in legend.—The jewel in the lotus.
CHAPTER VIII
NORTHERN BUDDHISM IN ITS DOCTRINAL EVOLUTIONS, PAGE 225
Four stages of the doctrinal development of Buddhism in Japan.—Reasons for
the formation of sects.—The Saddharma Pundarika.—Shastras and Sutras. —The Ku-sha sect.—Book of the Treasury of Metaphysi cs.—The J[=o]-jitsu sect, its founder and its doctrines.—The Ris-shu or Viyana sect.—Japanese pilgrims to China.—The Hos-s[=o] sect and its doctrines.—The three grades of disciples.—The San-ron or Three-shastra sect and its tenets.—The Middle Path.—The Kégon sect.—The Unconditioned, or realistic pantheism.—The Chinese or Tendai sect.—Its scriptures and dogmas.—Buddhahood attainable in the present body.—Vagradrodhi.—The Yoga-chara sy stem.—The "old sects."—Reaction against excessive idol-making.—The Zen sect.—Labor-saving devices in Buddhism.—Making truth apparent by one's own thought. —Transmission of the Zen doctrine.—History of Zen Shu.
CHAPTER IX
THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE, PAGE 257
The J[=o]-d[=o] or Pure Land sect.—Substitution of faith in Amida for the eight-fold Path.—Succession of the propagators of true do ctrine.—Zend[=o] and H[=o]-nen.—The Japanese path-finder to the Pure Land.—Doctrine of J[=o]-d[=o].—Buddhistic influence on the Japanese language.—Incessant repetition of prayers.—The Pure Land in the West.—The Buddhist doctrine of justification by faith.—H[=o]-nen's universalism.—Tendency of doctrinal development after H[=o]-nen.—"Reformed" Buddhism.—Synergismversussalvation by faith only. —Life of Shinran.—Posthumous honors.—Policy and aim of the Shin sect, methods and scriptures.
CHAPTER X
JAPANESE BUDDHISM IN ITS MISSIONARY DEVELOPMENT, PAGE 287
The missionary history of Japanese Buddhism is the history of Japan.—The first organized religion of the Japanese.—Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain's testimony—A picture of primeval life in the archipelago.—What came in the train of the new religion from "the West". Missionary civilizers, teachers, road-makers, improvers of diet. Language of flowers and gardens.—The house and home.—Architecture—The imperial capital—Hiyéizan.—L ove of natural scenery.—Pilgrimages and their fruits.—The Japanese aesthetic.—Art and decoration in the temples.—Exterior resemblances between the Roman form of Christianity and of Buddhism.—Quotation from "The M ikado's Empire." —Internal vital differences.—Enlightenment and grac e.—Ingwa and love. —Luxuriance of the art of Northern Buddhism.—Variety in individual treatment. —Place of the temple in the life of Old Japan.—The protecting trees.—The bell and its note.—The graveyard and the priests' hold u pon it.—Japanese Buddhism as a political power.—Its influence upon military history.—Abbots on horseback and monks in armor.—Battles between the S hin and Zen sects. —Nobunaga.—Influence of Buddhism in literature and education.—The temple school.—Thekana writing.—Survey and critique of Buddhist history in Japan. —Absence of organized charities.—Regard for animal and disregard for human life.—The Eta.—The Aino.—Attitude to women.—Nuna an d numerics. —Polygamy and concubinage.—Buddhism compared with S hint[=o]. —Influence upon morals.—The First Cause.—Its leadership among the sects. —Unreality of Amida Buddha.—Nichiren.—His life and opinions.—Idols and
{2}
avatars.—The favorite scripture of the sect, the Saddharma Pundarika.—Its central dogma, everything in the universe capable o f Buddha-ship.—The Salvation Army of Buddhism.—K[=o]b[=o]'s leaven wor king.—Buddhism ceases to be an intellectual force.—The New Buddhism.—Are the Japanese eager for reform?
CHAPTER XI
ROMAN CHRISTIANITY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, PAGE 323
The many-sided story of Japanese Christianity.—One hundred years of intercourse between Japan and Europe.—State of Japan at the introduction of Portuguese Christianity.—Xavier and Anjiro.—Xavier at Ki[=o]to and in Bungo. —Nobunaga and the Buddhists.—High-water mark of Christianity.—Hideyoshi and the invasion of Korea.—Kato and Konishi.—Persecutions.—Arrival of the Spanish friars.—Their violation of good faith.—Spirit of the Jesuits and Franciscans.—Crucifixion on the bamboo cross.—Hidéyori.—Kato Kiyomasa. —The Dutch in the Eastern seas.—Will Adams.—Iyéyas[)u] suspects designs against the sovereignty of Japan.—The Christian religion outlawed.—Hidétada follows up the policy of Iyéyas[)u], excludes aliens, and shuts up the country. —The uprising of the Christians at Shimabara in 163 7.—Christianity buried from sight.—Character of the missionaries and the form of the faith introduced by them.—Noble lives and ideals.—The spirit of the Inquisition in Japan. —Political animus and complexion.
CHAPTER XII
TWO CENTURIES OF SILENCE, PAGE 351
Policy of the Japanese government after the suppres sion of Christianity. —Insulation of Japan.—The Hollanders at Déshima.—Wi thdrawal of the English.—Relations with Korea.—Policy of inclusion.—"A society impervious to foreign ideas."—Life within stunted limits.—Canons of art and literature. —Philosophy made an engine of government.—Esoteric law.—Social waste of humanity.—Attempts to break down the wall—External and internal.—Seekers after God.—The goal of the pilgrims.—The Déshima Dutchman as pictured by enemies and rivals,versus reality and truth.—Eager spirits groping after God. —Morning stars of the Japanese reformation.—Yokoi H éishiro.—The anti-Christian edicts.—The Buddhist Inquisitors.—The Shin-gaku or New Learning movement.—The story of nineteenth century Christianity, subterranean and interior before being phenomenal.—Sabbath-day servi ce on the U.S.S. Mississippi.—The first missionaries.—Dr. J.C. Hepbu rn—Healing and the Bible.—Yedo becomes T[=o]ki[=o].—Despatch of the Embassy round the world.—Eyes opened.—The Acts of the Apostles in Japan.
NOTES, AUTHORITIES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, PAGE 375
INDEX, PAGE 451
PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS
"The investigation of the beginnings of a religion is never the work
{3}
of infidels, but of the most reverent and conscientious minds."
"We, the forty million souls of Japan, standing firmly and persistently upon the basis of international justice, await stil l further manifestations as to the morality of Christianity,"—Hiraii, of Japan.
"When the Creator [through intermediaries that were apparently animals] had finished treating this world of men, the good and the bad Gods were all mixed together promiscuously, and began disputing for the possession of this world."—The Aino Story of the Creation.
"If the Japanese have few beast stories, the Ainos haveapparently no popular tales of heroes ... The Aino mythologies ... lack all connection with morality.... Both lack priests and prophets.... Both belong to a very primitive stage of mental development ... Excepting stories ... and a few almost metreless songs, the A inos have no other literature at all."—Aino Studies.
"I asked the earth, and it answered, 'I am not He;' and whatsoever are therein made the same confession. I asked the sea and the deep and the creeping things that lived, and they replied, 'We are not thy God; seek higher than we.' ... And I answered unto all things which stand about the door of my flesh, 'Ye have told me concerning my God, that ye are not he; tell me something about him.' And with a loud voice they explained, 'It is He who hath made us!'" —Augustine's Confessions.
"Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name."—Amos.
"That which hath been made was life in Him."—John.
CHAPTER I - PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS
The Morse Lectureship and the Study of Comparative Religion
As a graduate of the Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York, in the Class of 1877, your servant received and accepted with pleasure the invitation of the President and Board of Trustees to deliver a course of lectures upon the religions of Japan. In that country and in several parts of it, I lived from 1870 to 1874. I was in the service first of the feudal daimi[=o] of Echizen and then of the national government of Japan, helping to introduce that system of public schools which is now the glory of the country. Thos e four years gave me opportunities for close and constant observation of the outward side of the religions of Japan, and facilities for the study of the ideas out of which worship springs. Since 1867, however, when first as a student in Rutgers College at
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