![]() ![]() And they used to have a principle: “to return the thing given to the human as a gift of nature to its original place.” Until the Edo era (1603–1867) this circulation system of Japanese society functioned very well. This leads to an awareness of the sacredness of life and an appreciation for life given by Kami.įrom ancient times, Japanese people have faced nature and invisible existence with awe and appreciation. But Kami are the origin of all lives, and the life of all things is deeply connected to them. It seems that humans can dominate nature as the master and ultimately “repair” nature, using technical-scientific means. These days, people often say, “Be gentle to nature” or “Be gentle to the earth.” But these expressions sound somehow like the fault of putting the cart before the horse. In other words, Shinto sees nature as the divinity itself. ![]() Shinto regards the land and its environment as children of Kami. Yet, each Kami has an individual character to which people offer their worship, believing in that as the virtue of each Kami. It has neither written dogma nor a teaching book, but people revere numerous deities who are figuratively described as “8 million different deities.” A deity with a female form, Amaterasu Ohmikami, is revered most highly among them, but the idea of one absolute god or a hierarchy among numerous Kami has never existed, and still does not. With the reverence of Kami, Shinto spontaneously developed through the way of life of the ancient Japanese. In this sense, it can be said that Shinto consists of reverence and gratitude to the land, its nature, and the life that these natural elements give to human beings. People of each locality have been carrying out these festivals every year since ancient times. Two of the most important festivals each year are the spring festival called Kinensai, a festival to pray for a rich harvest, and the autumn festival called Niinamesai, a festival to offer thanks for the successful harvest. Large or small, these Matsuri are mostly based on the agricultural cycle. Matsuri Festivals for Nature There are many kinds of Matsuri performed in each locality throughout the year. Nowadays, Shinto has a building, or a compound of buildings, where Kami spirit dwells permanently, and people worship by performing Matsuri - a festival to offer prayers to Kami - in these buildings. In ancient times, reverence toward a holy mountain was expressed by paying respect directly to the mountain itself. This mountain faith prepared the way not only for the preservation of mountain forests but also for conservation of the cycle of the ecosystem, given the fact that mountain forests supply rich nutrition to seas through the rivers, and support good inshore fishing. ![]() Then, people came to regard the mountain itself as a sacred object. Speaking of the reverence toward Kami of Mountain, it started with people’s awareness of mountains as an important source of water for rice cultivation. All these Kami are involved in the life of a rice-cultivating agricultural society. As to natural elements or phenomena that have such enormous power, there exist Kami of Rain, Kami of River, Kami of Thunder, Kami of Wind, Kami of Mountain, Kami of Ocean. ![]() Nevertheless, revered status as Kami is limited to those that live quite extraordinary lives beyond human wisdom or power and that have a profound influence, for good or ill, on human beings. Accordingly, all things existing on this earth have the possibility of becoming Kami. Shinto regards that the land, its nature, and all creatures including humans are children of Kami. This gave rise to the spirit of revering various Kami, the land, nature, people, and, on top of that, the spirit of appreciation of harmony among all these aspects of Nature So, it was natural that people developed the idea that they could make their society flourish only when they worked together, fully performing their own role, but at the same time, helping and supporting each other. Therefore, the relationship between the natural environment of this world and people is that of blood kin, like the bond between brother and sister.Īn agricultural society based on rice cultivation like that of Japan cannot exist without unification and harmony among all things on this earth: mountains, rivers, the sun, rain, animals, and plants, not to mention cooperation among people. The ancient Japanese considered that all things of this world have their own spirituality, as they were born from the divine couple. Originally published in Faith in Conservation by Martin Palmer with Victoria Finlay, published by the World Bank in 2003. This statement was prepared by the Jinja Honcho, the representative body of all Shinto Shrines in Japan. ![]()
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