[16] Lafcadio Hearn puts this whole matter very tersely, thus: "The ethics of Shinto were all comprised in the doctrine of unqualified obedience to customs originating, for the most part, in the family cult. Ethics were not different from religion; religion was not different from government, and the very word for government signified 'matters of religion.' All government ceremonies were preceded by prayer and sacrifice; and from the highest rank of society to the lowest every person was subject to the law of tradition. To obey was piety; to disobey was impious, and the rule of obedience was enforced upon each individual by the will of the community to which he belonged."--"Japan, an Interpretation," p. 175. [17] This respect for the Sun-Goddess points to an aboriginal worship of the sun among the ancestors of the Japanese people. [18] Strictly speaking, the Shinto sanctuaries are shrines rather than temples, so that the Japanese would always speak of Shinto shrines as distinct from Buddhist temples. [19] A kind of evergreen, like the pine, and peculiar to Japan. [20] "The Shintau Temples of Isè." "The Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan," vol. ii, p. 108. [21] "The Shintau Temples of Isè." "Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan," vol. ii, p. 104. [22] Satow's "The Shintau Temples of Isè," pp. 119, 120. [23] According to Aston, ancestor worship, in the sense of a deification and honoring of the departed spirits of one's own ancestors, was no part of the oldest Shinto cult, but rather a later importation from China. See his "Shinto, the Way of the Gods," pp. 44-47. London, 1905. [24] "Japanese History of Civilization and Arts." "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan," vol. xxv, p. 89. [25] "Japan: an Interpretation," pp. 52, 53. New York, 1904. [26] In vol. xix, pt. I, of the "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan," pp. 93, 94. [27] This cheery and jubilant aspect of Shintau worship ought not to be deemed an objectional element of true religion. Rather the opposite idea, that religion is a matter of soul-peril and seriousness so grave as to produce fear or dread of the deity, is a perversion of the truth. True love of God (or of the gods) must needs have wholesome reverence for what is adorable, but also ought to inspire a warmth of affection and a confidence that drives out superstitious fear and begets exquisite delight in the heart and soul and mind of the true worshiper. [28] See "Ancient Japanese Rituals," translated and annotated by E. Satow, in "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan," vol. vii, part II, and part IV; vol. ix, part II. Also by Karl Florenz, in vol. xxvii, part I. In vol. vii, part II, pp. 106-108, Satow gives a list of the Norito rituals contained in the Yengishiki, to the number of twenty-seven. Of these he translates only nine. [29] "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan," vol. vii, part II, p. 127.