The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of MéijiGriffis, William Elliot
Religion
The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji
Griffis, William Elliot
Japan -- Religion
[Footnote 5: Dr. Joseph Edkins, D.D., author of Chinese Buddhism, who
believes that the primeval religious history of men is recoverable, says
in Early Spread of Religious Ideas, Especially in the Far East, p. 29,
"In Japan Amatérasŭ, ... in fact, as I suppose, Mithras written in
Japanese, though the Japanese themselves are not aware of this
etymology." Compare Kojiki, Introduction, pp. lxv.-lxvii.]
[Footnote 6: Kojiki, p. xlii.]
[Footnote 7: T.A.S.J., Vol. III., Appendix, p. 67.]
[Footnote 8: E. Satow, Revival of Pure Shintō, pp. 67-68.]
[Footnote 9: This curious agreement between the Japanese and other
ethnic traditions in locating "Paradise," the origin of the human family
and of civilization, at the North Pole, has not escaped the attention of
Dr. W.F. Warren, President of Boston University, who makes extended
reference to it in his interesting and suggestive book, Paradise Found:
The Cradle of the Human Race at the North Pole; A Study of the
Prehistoric World, Boston, 1885.]
[Footnote 10: The pure Japanese numerals equal in number the fingers;
with the borrowed Chinese terms vast amounts can be expressed.]
[Footnote 11: This custom was later revived, T.A.S.J., pp. 28, 31.
Mitford's Tales of Old Japan, Vol. II., p. 57; M.E., pp. 156, 238.]
[Footnote 12: See in Japanese Fairy World, "How the Sun-Goddess was
enticed out of her Cave." For the narrative see Kojiki, pp. 54-59;
T.A.S.J., Vol. II., 128-133.]
[Footnote 13: See Choméi and Wordsworth, A Literary Parallel, by J.M.
Dixon, T.A.S.J., Vol. XX., pp. 193-205; Anthologie Japonaise, by Leon de
Rosny; Chamberlain's Classical Poetry of the Japanese; Suyématsŭ's
Genji Monogatari, London, 1882.]
[Footnote 14: Oftentimes in studying the ancient rituals, those who
imagine that the word Kami should be in all cases translated gods, will
be surprised to see what puerility, bathos, or grandiloquence, comes out
of an attempt to express a very simple, it may be humiliating,
experience.]
[Footnote 15: Mythology and Religious Worship of the Japanese,
Westminster Review, July, 1878; Ancient Japanese Rituals, T.A.S.J.,
Vols. VII., IX.; Esoteric Shintō, by Percival Lowell, T.A.S.J, Vol.
XXI.]
[Footnote 16: Compare Sections IX. and XXIII. of the Kojiki.]
[Footnote 17: This indeed seems to be the substance of the modern
official expositions of Shintō and the recent Rescripts of the
Emperor, as well as of much popular literature, including the
manifestoes or confessions found on the persons of men who have
"consecrated" themselves as "the instruments of Heaven for punishing the
wicked," i.e., assassinating obnoxious statesmen. See The Ancient
Religion, M.E., pp. 96-100; The Japan Mail, _passim_.]
[Footnote 18: Revival of Pure Shintō, pp. 25-38.]
[Footnote 19: Japanese Homes, by E.S. Morse, pp. 228-233, note, p. 832.]
[Footnote 20: Chamberlain's Aino Studies, p. 12.]
[Footnote 21: Geological Survey of Japan, by Benj. S. Lyman, 1878-9.]
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