Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/American Libraries. See http://archive.org/details/shintocultchrist00terrrich Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). THE SHINTO CULT A Christian Study of the Ancient Religion of Japan by MILTON S. TERRY, D.D., Lecturer on Comparative Religion in Garrett Biblical Institute. [Illustration] Cincinnati: Jennings and Graham New York: Eaton and Mains Copyright, 1910, By Jennings and Graham. NOTE. The following pages are the substance of a course of lectures on the old Shinto cult which the author has been giving for a number of years to his classes in Comparative Religion. They are here condensed and adapted to the purpose of a little manual which, it is believed, may interest many readers, and bring together within a small space information gathered from many sources not easily accessible to ordinary students. At the same time it is hoped that this little volume may serve to suggest some valuable hints to the Christian missionary who is to come face to face with the Japanese people in their "beautiful land of the reed plains and the fresh ears of rice." It is possible that some portions, if not every jot and tittle, of this ancient cult may, like the law and the prophets of Israel, find a glorious fulfillment in the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. The principal authorities relied on in the preparation of this essay are named in the Select Bibliography given at the end. CONTENTS. 1. THE COUNTRY 7 2. IS SHINTO A RELIGION? 10 3. ORIGIN AND RELATIVE AGE OF THE PEOPLE 12 4. MEANING OF THE TERM SHINTO 14 5. SOURCES OF INFORMATION 15 6. JAPANESE COSMOGONY AND MYTHOLOGY 19 7. THE JAPANESE A SELF-CENTERED PEOPLE 29 8. ESSENCE OF THE SHINTO CULT 30 9. THE GREAT SANCTUARIES 31 10. FIVE NOTEWORTHY OBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE WORSHIP 34 11. THE ANCESTOR WORSHIP 37 12. ELEMENTS OF ANIMISM 41 13. THE DOMESTIC CULT 43 14. THE COMMUNAL CULT 45 15. THE NATIONAL CULT 49 16. THE HARVEST SERVICE 52 17. THE GREAT PURIFICATION 54 18. OTHER RITUAL SERVICES 60