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CHAPTER XVII[1]

DISESTABLISHMENT OF SHINTŌ

Outline of Topics: Religion in Japan; Shintō; a "natural religion"; simple services; religious patriotism; perfunctory worship; Shintō doomed "as a religion"; secularization of Ise shrines; element of embarrassment to Christians; "worship" (?) of Emperor's portrait; difficulties in translation of Christian terms; method of reforms in Japan; future of Shintō.—Bibliography.

It is a curious fact that Japan cannot boast of an indigenous religion, or of much original mental or moral philosophy. "Shintō" (The Gods' Way), purely Japanese in its origin, is only a cult, a system of worship, not a religion, or even a philosophy. Buddhism and Confucianism came in from China, perhaps through Korea, and Christianity entered from Europe and America.

Shintō is a system in which the deification and worship of heroes, emperors, family ancestors, and forces of nature play an important part. It has no dogmas, no sacred books, no moral code, "no philosophy, no code of ethics, no metaphysics"; it sums up its theory of human duty in the following injunction: "Follow your natural impulses and obey the laws of

  1. ↑ A large portion of this chapter is reprinted, by permission, from "The Standard," Chicago.
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