Shinto (the Way of the Gods)Aston, W. G. (William George)
Religion
Shinto (the Way of the Gods)
Aston, W. G. (William George)
Shinto
and appeared to a former friend of his. Terrible storms, inundations,
and other portents ensued. Ministers who tried to stay him from further
ravages were burnt or kicked to death. Ultimately the ghost appeared
before the Mikado and protested his innocence, after which the Kami, as
he is called, ascended. From this day forth the Mikado suffered from a
poison which, in spite of prayers of all kinds, grew worse and worse.
He abdicated in 930, and died a few days later.
Michizane's ghost continued to plague the nation. In 943 he appeared to
a mean woman of Kiôto, and directed that a shrine should be erected to
him in that city. In 947 a boy of six years of age delivered an oracle
from him to the following effect: "All the Thunder-Gods and Demons to
the number of 168,000 have become my servants. If any one does evil
I have him trampled to death by them. Pestilence, eruptive diseases,
and other calamities have been placed in my hands by the Supreme Lord
of Heaven, and no Kami, however powerful, can control me. But I will
give help to those who piously express their sorrow." Eight persons
who were present took down this revelation in writing. At this time
the shrine of Kitano at Kiôto was erected to him. But his wrath was
not yet wholly stayed. Further honours were therefore awarded and
gifts made to him. In 1004 the Mikado visited Kitano in person. At the
present day Temmangu is one of the most widely worshipped of Shinto
deities. In 1820 there were twenty-five shrines to him in Yedo and the
neighbourhood.
_"He still hates the wicked, who do not keep the way of filial
piety, and withholds his favour from those who dislike learning. You
must therefore attend strictly to the commands of your parents and
the instructions of your teachers. You must serve your chief with
diligence, be upright of heart, eschew falsehood, and be diligent in
study so that you may conform to the wishes of Temmangu. If you fail to
do so, you will be cursed by him, and sooner or later incur calamity.
For although the Kami cannot be seen by men, they will know whether
their conduct is good or bad, and whether their hearts are upright or
perverted."_
Although the life of Temmangu, from which the above account is taken,
was compiled by men of the "Pure Shinto" school, and though in the
preface the importation of Buddhist and Chinese ideas is stigmatized,
it is itself penetrated with elements of this very kind. The "Supreme
Lord of Heaven" is Chinese, and the Hades to which Michizane descended
is not the Shinto Yomi, but the Buddhist Jigoku. No doubt the authors
found these things in their materials, and were loth to excise edifying
incidents, however badly they fitted in with Shinto theology.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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