第二の宿題

第二の宿題
The Shinto faith, like many of the world`s major belief systems, conceives of a superior, of "divine," realm which informs and guides human existence.

This realm is populated by a host of beings known as kami.

Some aspects of Shinto pantheon resemble the pantheons of other ancient religions, in the simple sense that gods and goddesses are venerated.

However, other features of the Shinto divine are reminiscent of what in other belief systems are heroic rather then divine figures: a great many kami are far more "human" than the gods and goddesses of other religions, and in some cases, take human form.

The Japanese word kami is often translated as "deity," but in fact it designates an extremely wide range of spirit-beings together with a host of mysterious and supernatural forces and "essences."

In the Kojiki, it is said that there are eight million kami(in Japanese mythology, eight is a sacred number that means simply "many," and thus expresses infinite).

These include countless vaguely defined tutelary divinities of clans, villages, and neighborhoods (ujigami); "spirits of place"-the essences of prominent geographical features, including mountains, rivers, and waterfalls; and other natural phenomena, such as the kamikaze("devine wind"), the typhoon that saved Japan from a seaborne Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century.

Many kami live in the sky and come down to Earth periodically to visit sacred places and shrines.

They are considered so sacred that worshipers must purify themselves before entering shrine precincts or taking part in festivals that are held in their honor....

The Shinto tradition does not believe that there is an absolute dichotomy of good and evil.

Rather, all phenomena, both animate and inanimate, are thought to possess both "rough" and "gentle," or negative and positive, characteristics and it is possible for a given entity to manifest either of these characteristics depending on the circumstances....

Ancestral spirits form another important category of kami.

In Shinto, a person`s soul is believed to become a kami after the death of its mortal "host," and the kami of a family`s ancestors are revered at household shrines.

Some ancestral kami, such as the spirits of Emperor Meiji (reigned 1867-1912) and other rulers, may become the focus of more widespread cults.

Excerpted From C. Scott Littleton, Shinto: Origins, Rituals, Festivals, Spirits, Sacred Places (Oxford University Press, 2002),pp.24-27