Hello,
I am
Tresi (Tresi is Ainu female name). I am anthropologist from Japan. I have been studying Shintō since 2003, also I
am a follower of a tradition.
Shintō is
first and the basic religion of Japan. Along with Buddhism, Taoism and
Confucianism it shapes the spirit landscape of Japanese culture. Shintō is the
only religion of Japan which was not imported but is of islands origin.
It is important to note that term Shintō would better be revised because it is just an artificial term invented in the period of Nara (more exactly about 720 y.) in order to distinguish believes of islands origin from Buddhism and Taoism: in the scroll of Nihon shoki 日本書記devoted to the emperor of Yōmei 用明can be seen the following “Emperor believed in the doctrine of Buddha and honor the way of kami”.
It is important to note that term Shintō would better be revised because it is just an artificial term invented in the period of Nara (more exactly about 720 y.) in order to distinguish believes of islands origin from Buddhism and Taoism: in the scroll of Nihon shoki 日本書記devoted to the emperor of Yōmei 用明can be seen the following “Emperor believed in the doctrine of Buddha and honor the way of kami”.
Term
Shintō （神道） – “the way of of kami” was invented according to Chinese model of naming
of different doctrines: as far as Chinese culture is culture of written signs, doctrines
and concepts are expressed in written signs and through these signs can be step
by step acquired.
Due to this gradually acquire appears the analogy of “way”, i.e. gradually moving to a certain aim but Shintō was not a "way", it was not a systematic doctrine so we should use this term with certain degree of awareness because using it we accept the Chinese point of view.
If we are going to catch the essence/inner logic of Shintō we have to find its root/roots and if we r going to find its root we have to pay certain attention to the history of Japanese ethnicity cause Shintō was shaped along with the formation of Japanese ethnicity.
Japanese ethnicity is a mix of at least three components: Ainu/Jomon, Austronesian and Korean.
Due to this gradually acquire appears the analogy of “way”, i.e. gradually moving to a certain aim but Shintō was not a "way", it was not a systematic doctrine so we should use this term with certain degree of awareness because using it we accept the Chinese point of view.
If we are going to catch the essence/inner logic of Shintō we have to find its root/roots and if we r going to find its root we have to pay certain attention to the history of Japanese ethnicity cause Shintō was shaped along with the formation of Japanese ethnicity.
Japanese ethnicity is a mix of at least three components: Ainu/Jomon, Austronesian and Korean.
Ainu were the founder of Jōmon culture" 縄文 (about 13000 BC till about 500 BC.)
a comparison of Jōmon skull and
Ainu skull contour: http://oi42.tinypic.com/15xweb6.jpg
a reconstruction of a man of Jōmon
http://www.united-brain.co.jp/koga-jiyo.jpg
Jōmon pottery is the oldest pottery of the world and one of the most
beautiful also: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPcrvfw6-Bow5UmycCOgF8GNM2hUkFOA-zeZVc4LB8QqZe_cJxa6H9Kr1rN2eW3qbjNO5uou7vD1met9Yd-hcXx5vRLAPwTPZb6RreSNNgLdEa2_HD71tTWuwiAIAjN2Bm6owdAhUloWlG/s1600/h2_1992.252.1.jpg
In early Jomon Ainu liven in all islands of Japanese archipelago https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCCZXJCOAhmjBdUvt5nX_PGbnq2K47OkCD4IRAvrkYDleoTFCAy0NKWg9DOH3eMtMI6wKiKd_nuT8twb9GcRIXOfD0y4h12jLomIl9YVNwtALGObIbX27lcppyhf2E3jI65KVwjwhKSL4Z/s1600/before+the+mid.jpg
About the middle of Jōmon from Southern China came some so called Austronesian people who brought rice https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDq9uD5A-7yHfAmCNV5zzLEm31AEUsrwmHLpUPfzZbYig1gXVHPnvzt2rgOiQObsKB7MiX9z5F95nnXpCvIPjELQ1z9Z8ycxAc3YndiUDr5-uMy0BEkfi07in1P7NGWuWniKKk9AZAn7Wl/s1600/late+jomon.jpg
by the end of Jomon appeared some so called Korean tribes (some people from Korean peninsula who were of Mongolid anthropology speaking in a language of Altai stock) they brought metal and horses. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8GEzljZwCRtaodrTNT8t9BWvzmGTSk-nVawSgsgDuSRBJRsXXe2dr6DDvntm2-sUuGNwYkwWU2fBorYyhL4A5aEo6QUkcwD5OpqieHhHV7Nphwk16s4gQ1hECN_TRuHWK0-fEC1jGGwPW/s1600/500+BC.jpg
Ainu and their culture were the basic component of forming Japanese
ethnicity (Ainu Y DNA D2 is one of the most widely spread Japanese Y DNA) and
belief.
In Shintō one can see
Austronesian elements: for instance shrine architecture http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Mishine-no-mikura_02.JPG can be derived from Austronesian stilt houses http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/AttapeuStiltHouse.jpg/800px-AttapeuStiltHouse.jpg
Korean elements: miko 巫女 "priestess" or "shrine maiden" outfit http://images.halloweencostumes.com/products/2052/1-1/miko-san-costume.jpg (the item I am wearing) is actually female clothes of Kofun epoch 古墳(250 – 538 AD) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVKLUYz9zB0yfohTKNT5_CD9qsAiV1vCzcNEHIX358a-BiaQkC27UBGWUQtBM7FR5KhVqXhLOXx7EF5c945LKHUjCitmlF8DgqaFP8au2mxORfZSwW-rTfjQ2ypziwBJh-qtS1t_zeYHxk/s1600/female_kofun_cloth.jpg
Elements of Taoism, for instance Taoist conception of creation which is described in first scroll of “Nihon shoki” 日本書記
or Buddhism ideas accepted by different trends of so called shintō shinshūkyō “new religions of
Shintō branch” (神道新宗教)et c.
While basic concepts of Shintō: tamashii/tama 霊 “vital energy”/”soul energy”, and kami 神 “a super human being” both r traced back to corresponding concepts of Ainu/Jomon origin which sounds alike and have similar meanings: ramat – “soul exists” and kamuy “super human being":
While basic concepts of Shintō: tamashii/tama 霊 “vital energy”/”soul energy”, and kami 神 “a super human being” both r traced back to corresponding concepts of Ainu/Jomon origin which sounds alike and have similar meanings: ramat – “soul exists” and kamuy “super human being":
In Ainu language sound [ ɾ ] can easily become [ tɾ ] [ tl ][ dl ] [ t ]
[ d ] [ l ]. In Old Japanese initial [ ɾ ] was prohibited and also there were
no consonant claster and close syllables so Ainu word ramat could become
only tama/tamatV/tamasV in Old Japanese. (Here sign
"V" means an unidentified vowel sound.)
And etymology of Japanese kami is the following: Old Ainu (Upper Jomon Ainu) ka-mu-'i [kamuj] -> Old Japanese kamɯ -> Modern Japanese kami.
It should be noted that concept kamuy differs seriously from
European concepts deus / god / Gott / dios / deux because European god (God of
christianity) is a transcendental being opposite to this world while kamuy
exists in the neighborhood of people and people can easily get kamuy mosir
(island of kamuy) and also people can become kamuy.
Because of it, the word kamuy should not be translated as dew
/god / Gott / dios / deux into European languages. I think the best way is to
leave the word kamuy without any translation at all and explain its
meaning with a certain context.
Tamashii penetrates by the whole world and fills everything, fills all
beings and all things.
All beings and things are endowed tamashii in different degrees: some
have a lot of tamashii but some have little. It is good to have a lot of tama. More
tamashii you have more mighty you are. Kami have a lot of tamashii and can
endow tamashii or take it away.
Therefore the purpose of any rite
of Shintō is to save present tamashii and get more: in order to save
present tamashii and get more it is need to contact with kami.
Kamuy/Kami is
everything that has a lot of tama and can endow tama other
beings. Kami is all outstanding and unusual, somehow, for example:
thousand-year cedar, stone of a freakish form, falls, mountain of Fuji, founder
of the Panasonic company, emperor Meiji, master of a calligraphy or, for
example, famous musician or writer.
It is very
important to understand that often kami is not any personal/anthropomorphous
being or a subject or a thing which can be presented, touched or, in general,
be felt by means of five feelings. Much more often kami is certain
amorphous force, for example, gravitation acting between Earth and Sun also is
a kami, forces operating in an atomic nucleus between protons and
neutrons also are kami, and other similar phenomena also are kami.
When they speak of contemporary Shintō they always note that Shintō is a religion of nature: Shintō shrines correlate well with nature which is around them and sometimes just some outstanding natural objects are sacred items of Shintō. In early Shintō there were no special artificial shrines at all.
Jōmon culture was tended to care much about nature as far as nature was
its basement. And as far as early Shintō was based on Jōmon so Jōmon ideas were
just continued in early Shintō. Speaking in the terms of early Shintō the
demand to care about nature is actually demand to care about existing ramat of
mankind and all living beings.
Well, as u all could understand, here is just a very brief sketch but all these and related items r described in my book written after a course of lectures which I gave in SL in 2013: http://2549807.flickrocket.com/An-Introduction-Into-Root-Shinto/p/38793/
Well, as u all could understand, here is just a very brief sketch but all these and related items r described in my book written after a course of lectures which I gave in SL in 2013: http://2549807.flickrocket.com/An-Introduction-Into-Root-Shinto/p/38793/
Thank u all very much.
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