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To: alt.magick,alt.lucky.w,alt.magick.tyagi From: catherine yronwodeSubject: Re: Notes on Kami Worship Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 01:44:18 GMT Buttsex Optimus wrote: > > I ran across this post in the luckymojo archives: > http://www.luckymojo.com/esoteric/religion/shinto/cy200008kamiworship.txt > > ...and have some uppity additions to make, for those who are > interested in these things. > > > ... Shinto, she said, is the official state religion of Japan > > and holds as a tenet that the Emperor is descended from the > > Sun Goddess. Kami worship, on the other hand, does not hold > > this as a tenet. > > This is a bit more of a schism than a case of two entirely > different religions. IIRC around the time that Japan shifted > from being tribal to imperial - the Yamato period [around the > third century AD], then culminating in the establishment of > the Imperial capital in Nara (during the Nara period, 600 > and environs AD) - the imperial family took steps to consolidate > its power on all fronts. One of these fronts was the theological; > it was during this period that the imperial family declared > that all kami are inferior to the sun kami, or the Sun Goddess > Amaterasu Omikami, and that the emperor is a descendent of the > Sun Goddess. > > (The fun part is that around the Meiji period there was an > overwhelming drive to establish the geneology as lineal through > the male line. Recently the Crown Prince and Princess of Japan > had their first and to date only child: a girl. And the mother > is 37 or so, and there is a question about whether she can have > another child, and so Japan might have a ruling Empress some day > despite the efforts of the past!) > > > ... She was a Kami worshipper, > > she said, and expressed some distate for Shinto. Strangely, > > she, like many Japanese people, also "prayed and bought > > incense" in Buddhist temples (not Zen Buddhist temples, just > > regular Buddhist temples) on the major Buddhist festival days. > > This is also an unusual part of Japanese culture, which has from > ancient times despised death in all its forms - a principle of > vitalism. Even the records of kings reflect this; when a king > becomes a kami, there is no reference ever made to his dying. The > life-annihilating aspects of Buddism have always butted heads with > the Japanese religious undercurrent of vitalism. Homes with Shinto > and Buddhist shrines have *separate* shrines for this very reason. > > There is some noteable anthropologist or historian who described > Buddhism as the religion of the *mind* of the Japanese, but > kami-worship was the religion of its heart. (To be taken with as > much salt as any quote for which I can't dig up the source.) > > > Basically, as > > she explained it, the priests function as blessers and mediators > > between the Kami and the people for those festivals held in > > temples, but there are also folk-festivals in which the populace > > deals directly with the Kami by making offerings at home. > > Historically the priests were chieftans of the tribes, and when the > imperial family was consolidating power - well, you know how that > went. So the kami-priests are one of the last great representatives > of Japan's tribal past. > > Kami worship shares a few qualities with classical Greek paganism - > there seems to be a kami for everything - but it's unique in that > many of these kami are manifestations of *awe* at particular natural > events or objects: great trees, mighty kings and warriors, things > like this, as well as the more obvious sun, ocean, moon, and so > forth. Appealing to these kami is an indigenous folk-magick in > Japan. > > ("Indigenous" is important - incredible amounts of Japanese custom > and religion and politics and metaphysics and so forth were imported > wholesale from China and Korea (and from China through Korea.)) Thanks for a great post! You filled in a lot of blanks for me. cat yronwode The Esoteric Archive --------- http://www.luckymojo.com/esoteric.html Path: typhoon.sonic.net!feed.news.sonic.net!sfo2-feed1.news.digex.net!intermedia!logbridge.uoregon.edu!paloalto-snh1.gtei.net!news.gtei.net!paloalto-snr1.gtei.net.POSTED!not-for-mail From: tight@helpmejebus.WHOREScom (Buttsex Optimus) Newsgroups: alt.magick,alt.lucky.w,alt.magick.tyagi Subject: Re: Notes on Kami Worship Message-ID: <3c23e60e.245805165@news.verizon.net> References: <3c22d471.175749961@news.verizon.net> <3C23E7FF.7150@luckymojo.com> X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.21/32.243 Lines: 34 X-Trace: /bJ8XXrFQLo17Rg3MNodG2KN7PnkTLHqDtsCW9OS3G7sfoOW/VpYJ4NR2dZP1212gWvSDWSetIRb!4vVh0gTUnndXRCKkn6RQ217xh9/FdFgeIZMzzLAw0uFnqB1EBQe/weNObH0jD1UIF1KDjPiABQ== X-Complaints-To: abuse@gte.net X-Abuse-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 01:57:29 GMT Distribution: world Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 01:57:29 GMT Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick:281236 alt.lucky.w:10602 alt.magick.tyagi:30624 On Sat, 22 Dec 2001 01:44:18 GMT, catherine yronwode wrote: >Buttsex Optimus wrote: >> This is a bit more of a schism than a case of two entirely >> different religions. IIRC around the time that Japan shifted >> from being tribal to imperial - the Yamato period [around the >> third century AD], then culminating in the establishment of >> the Imperial capital in Nara (during the Nara period, 600 >> and environs AD) - Whoops. Asuka period was around late 500s to 710 or so, and 710-79x was Nara. Much of the concentration of power was during Asuka, but actual Imperatoring, to neologize, was the Nara thing. >Thanks for a great post! You filled in a lot of blanks for me. Not at all. As long as I've got your attention, I've been spellchecking and reformatting the copy of _Chuangtse, Mystic and Humorist_ I found at your site (the Lin Yutang translation, which is happily my favorite [there's a translation by Clae Waldham which just isn't as graceful, IMO.]) I intend to post it to alt.binaries.e-book when I'm done; I don't suppose you would want a copy as well? I'll be compiling plaintext and HTML versions and I'd be happy to email the files to you or let you know when I've posted to ABEB. -- Why don't you hold off on calling me a fuckhead for three fucking minutes? http://www.metaaid.com * http://www.thehungersite.com http://www.quickdonations.com * http://www.ecologyfund.com
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