The Gist of Japan Part 8

Buddhism has profited by its contact with Christianity. As the reaction of Protestantism upon Catholicism was beneficial to the latter, so the reaction of Christianity upon Buddhism has been healthful It has forced a revival and purification of the Buddhist faith, and to-day it is better and more active than before it encountered Christianity. Still, Christianity is gradually encroaching upon its domain and is crippling its influence. That Buddhism is bound to perish in its encounter with Western civilization and Christianity seems a foregone conclusion.

_Confucianism_

Confucianism is even less deserving the name of a religion than Shinto.

It consists chiefly in a set of moral teachings, of narrow application and mostly of a political nature. Confucius, avoiding all metaphysical abstractions and devotional rhapsodies, confined himself to the much more practical field of morals and politics. But his disciples and commentators, especially during the middle ages, expanded his doctrines and added ideas {131} more or less religious. Thus developed, it became a sort of religious system, the only one believed by the old samurai or warrior cla.s.ses.

Confucius, its founder, was born in the year 551 B.C., in the state of Lu, province of Shantung, China. He was an earnest student of the older Chinese cla.s.sics, and one of the most learned men of his time.

He gathered round him a circle of young men, whom he instructed, like Socrates, by questions and answers. He died in 478 B.C. No other human teacher has had more disciples or exerted a wider and stronger influence.

From its birthplace in China Confucianism spread to Korea, where it soon became, and still continues to be, the predominant faith. From Korea it advanced to the j.a.panese archipelago, where for many hundred years it has had much to do with shaping and molding the character of the people. Confucianism has undergone many modifications. At first a comparatively simple system of ethics and politics, it has expanded until to-day it is a complicated philosophico-religious system.

The basal principles of Confucian ethics are the "five relations."

These are: sovereign and minister; father and son; husband and wife; elder brother and younger brother; friend and friend. I have named them in the order of their importance. The duty of loyalty is above that of filial {132} obedience, while the relation of husband and wife is inferior to both of these. We will briefly consider each of these relations separately.

The duty of a minister, or servant, to his prince, or sovereign, is the first duty of man, and is emphasized to an extreme degree. In order to discharge this obligation to the feudal lord or emperor, one must, if necessary, give up everything: house, lands, kinsmen, name, fame, wife, children, society--all. And j.a.panese history is filled with instances of retainers who have counted their lives, their families, their all, as less than nothing when compared with their duty to their lord.

Loyalty is the one idea which dominates all others in the Confucianism of j.a.pan. Thus it has exerted an influence hardly second to Shinto in inculcating loyalty to the emperor and to j.a.pan, and making the people fanatically patriotic.

The second relation is that of father and son, or parent and child. My readers perhaps would consider the relation of husband and wife the first of all human relations, but not so the Oriental. With him the family is of far more importance than the individual, and the chief aim of marriage is the maintenance of the family line. If the wife becomes a mother she is honored because she a.s.sists in perpetuating the family line; if she is childless she is probably neglected. Where there are no children adoption is the universal practice. {133} The one adopted takes the family name and perpetuates it. No greater misfortune can be conceived than for the house to become extinct.

The relation of parent and child is very different from that to which we are accustomed. Mutual love hardly exists. The parent feels compa.s.sion and love for his child; the child reverences the parent. To speak of a child's love for his father, or a man's love for G.o.d, is repugnant to the Confucianist. It is thought to be taking an undue familiarity, and the proper relation is considered one of dependence and reverence. In old j.a.pan the father was absolute lord and master, and had power over the life and death of his child. In recent times his power is more limited, and the idea is beginning to dawn upon thinking natives that children have rights as well as duties. A j.a.panese child feels more reverence for its parents, or at least for its father, than does the average child reared in the Christian homes of the West.

The third relation is that of husband and wife. On this point the teaching of Confucius is very different from that of Christ. Instead of having two parties bound together by mutual love, with equal rights and duties, we have the relation of superior and inferior, of master and servant. The husband precedes the wife in all things. She must serve him and his family zealously and {134} uncomplainingly. She must be especially on her guard against the foolish sin of jealousy, and is not to complain if her husband introduces a concubine into the same house in which she resides. She is to yield absolute obedience to him in all things. She can be divorced for very slight reasons, and divorces are matters of every-day occurrence. Statistics show that the annual number of divorces is about one third the number of marriages.

Sentiment is gradually changing in this regard, and marriage and divorce laws are becoming more strict.

Confucius condemned adultery as a heinous crime, but this teaching is made to apply only to the wife. She must remain true to her husband, but he is not considered under the same obligation to her.

The fourth relation is that of elder brother and younger brother. This is evident from the language used to express the relation of children of the same household to one another. The word for brother or sister is seldom used; in fact, there is no word to express just that idea.

In its stead we hear "elder brother," "elder sister," and "younger brother," "younger sister." The children of a household are not considered equals; the elder ones are given the preference in all things. Especially does the eldest son hold a position of prominence far above that of the other children. {135} He is looked upon as the perpetuator of the family line and is given especial honor. His younger brothers and his sisters, and even his mother, must serve and obey him.

The younger sons are subjects for adoption into other families, especially into those where there are daughters to be married and family names to be perpetuated. This is in accordance with the Eastern idea that the house is of more importance than the individual.

Confucian ethics largely overlooks the idea of personality.

The fifth relation is that between friends. Some writers have spoken of this as that of man to man, and have thus read Christian ideas into Confucianism; but this relation as taught by Confucius is only between friends. As regards man and man, Confucius taught the duties of courtesy and propriety, but no others. He taught the duty of kindness to strangers, but most students of his writings are of the opinion that he did not include foreigners among strangers. The nearest approach to Christianity in Confucianism is the negative of the golden rule, "Do not do unto others as you would not have others do unto you." This approaches the teaching of Christ very nearly, but only in a negative form. Some have thought that Confucius taught the duty of returning good for evil, but this is a mistake. One of his contemporaries, Lao-tse, did teach {136} this duty; but when Confucius was asked about it he replied, "What, then, will you return for good? Recompense _injury with justice_, and return good for good."

Certain it is that this relation, as understood in j.a.pan, does not apply to foreigners. How the j.a.panese treated foreigners in former times is well known. Foreign sailors shipwrecked on her coasts were tortured and executed. Ships from abroad, bringing shipwrecked j.a.panese back to their own country, were met with powder and ball and repulsed. Commodore Perry, in attempting to establish a treaty with j.a.pan, justly complained to the native authorities that the dictates of humanity had not been followed, that shipwrecked men were treated with useless cruelty, and that j.a.pan's att.i.tude toward her neighbors and all the world was that of an enemy and not of a friend. The fifth relation did not teach a common brotherhood of men and obligations of kindness to foreigners. It applied only to the charmed circle of friendship.

On these five relations rests the whole j.a.panese social and moral structure. Family and national life has been shaped and molded by them. They are the ten commandments of the East. How very different from the principles which have determined our own family and social life!

Confucianism in j.a.pan has been developed into {137} a highly complicated religious system, and in this form is believed by large numbers of high-cla.s.s, educated j.a.panese. It is wholly pantheistic in its teaching, having points of resemblance with German pantheism. It knows no such thing as G.o.d as a separate existence. Rather, all is G.o.d. Dr. Martin, of China, has well styled it "a pantheistic medley."

Although Confucianism has long had a strong hold upon j.a.panese minds, its influence is waning. The ancient cla.s.sics are little studied, and the younger generation knows almost nothing of them. The great temple of Confucius in Tokyo, the Seido, has been changed into an educational museum.

_Tenrikyo_

Perhaps some will think that Tenrikyo does not deserve mention along with the before-named great religions. Certainly it is not worthy of the respect accorded to them, and has not exerted such an influence as they have. It is of very recent origin and is as yet confined to the lower strata of society. But its disciples const.i.tute one of the most vigorous and active religious bodies in j.a.pan to-day. Its growth has been remarkably rapid, especially during the past five years.

Government recognition has been already gained, and it is gradually making a place for itself among {138} the religions of j.a.pan. Some authorities place the number of its adherents as high as 5,000,000, but these figures are probably too high.

Tenrikyo is a missionary religion, having very earnest representatives in almost every district in j.a.pan. These men rely almost exclusively upon preaching for the propagation of their doctrines, and their efforts are generally successful.

s.p.a.ce permits us to say only a few words in regard to the origin of this religion. Its founder was a peasant woman named Nakayama Miiki, popularly called Omiiki, who was born of a very poor family in the province of Yamato in 1798, There was nothing remarkable about her life until her fortieth year, when she fell into a trance. While in this state one of the old Shinto deities, Kuni-Toko-Tachi No Mikoto, appeared to her, and, after causing her much distress, left her for a short time undisturbed. After this brief interval of quiet she again fell into a trance, and was visited by a large number of G.o.ds, some of them the greatest of the Shinto pantheon. These G.o.ds revealed to her the substance of her teaching, representing it as the only true doctrine and the one which would ultimately triumph over all others.

They also informed her that she was the divinely appointed instrument through whom this revelation was to be given to the world. From {139} this time forward Omiiki devoted herself to the propagation of this revelation.

Not wishing to break entirely with the old religions, she represented her revelation as having been received from the Shinto G.o.ds, and gave a place in her teaching to some prominent Buddhist elements. By this means she won popular favor and gained an earnest hearing.

The term "Tenrikyo" signifies the "Doctrine of the Heavenly Reason."

While many of its teachings differ but little from current Shinto and Buddhistic ideas, its more prominent tenets are radically different.

In the first place, Tenrikyo tends much toward monotheism. Omiiki herself accepted polytheism, but taught that man's real allegiance is due to the sun and the moon. These she regarded as the real G.o.ds; but as they always work together, and as the world and all things therein are the product of their joint working, they are practically one.

Since her death the teaching has become more and more monotheistic in tendency, and some of its preachers teach explicit monotheism.

Omiiki taught a new relation between the G.o.ds and men--a relation of parents to children. The G.o.ds watch over and love their children just as earthly parents do. The emperor is the elder brother of the people, who rules as the representative of the divine parents.

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Faith-healing formed a prominent part in the original teaching of Tenrikyo. It a.s.serted that neither physicians nor medicine was needed, but that cures are to be effected through faith alone. Marvelous stories are told of the wonderful cures it has accomplished, many of which seem well authenticated. But while there seems no good reason for doubting the genuineness of some of these cures, the power of mind over mind, and the influence of personal magnetism in certain kinds of nervous disorders, are so well known that they can be easily explained without any reference to the supernatural. The faith-cure feature of this religion is now falling into disuse.

Tenrikyo makes very little of the future state, although Omiiki a.s.sumed its reality. In one pa.s.sage she refers to the soul as an emanation from the G.o.ds, and says that after death it will go back to them. She teaches that the cause of suffering, disease, and sin is found in the impurity of the human heart, and that the heart must be cleansed before believers can receive the divine favor. She insists over and over again that no prayers nor religious services are of any avail so long as the heart is impure.

The aim of Omiiki and her followers seems to be a worthy one. The movement is highly ethical, and there is little doubt but that the adherents of the Tenrikyo are superior in morals to {141} the rest of their cla.s.s. Some features of this new religion are, however, looked upon with suspicion, and it is being closely watched by the government.

Charges of gross immorality have been preferred against it, especially in reference to the midnight dances, in which both s.e.xes are said to partic.i.p.ate indiscriminately; but these charges are made by its enemies and have never been proved.

In many respects Tenrikyo materially differs from the other religions of j.a.pan. Its adherents a.s.semble at stated times for worship and instruction, while the Buddhists a.s.semble in the temples for worship and preaching only three or four times a year, and the Shintoists seldom, if ever, a.s.semble. The worship of Tenrikyo, for the most part, consists of praise and thanksgiving by music and dancing; but prayer is also practised.

Another distinguishing characteristic of Tenrikyo is that it is exclusive. The other religions of j.a.pan are very tolerant of one another; one may believe them all. But Tenrikyo will not tolerate either Buddhism or Shinto. Its adherents must give their allegiance to it alone.

It is interesting to conjecture as to the influence Christianity has had upon Tenrikyo. It does not seem probable that Omiiki was at all influenced by it, unless the traditions of the Catholic Christianity of some two or three hundred years previous reached her in some way. But the expansion {142} and development of the system by its later teachers have been very much affected by Christianity. Some of its present preachers, in constructing their sermons, borrow largely from Christian sources. In the minds of the common people Tenrikyo is generally a.s.sociated with Christianity.

There are several other small religious sects in j.a.pan, such as the Remmon Kyokwai, Kurozumi Kyokwai, etc., but they are not of sufficient importance to command notice here.

Any statement of the religions of contemporary j.a.pan would be incomplete without notice of Christianity, but that will be reserved for another portion of this book.

The three great religions, Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism, are completely woven into the warp and woof of j.a.panese society. As Christianity has shaped the political, social, and family life of the West, so these ancient faiths have that of the East. The laws, the morality, the manners and customs of these peoples all have been determined by their religions. And to-day the ma.s.ses of the people look to them for principles to guide their present life, and for their future spiritual welfare, with just as much confidence and trust as my readers look to Christianity. The missionary, in his work, must encounter and {143} vanquish all of these religions, which is no light task. They all have elements of superst.i.tion, and their origin and supernatural teachings will not bear the search-light of the growing spirit of criticism and investigation. Each one of them is even now modifying gradually its doctrines in some features, so as to bring them into harmony with true learning and science; and as the nation progresses intellectually the hold of these ancient faiths upon the common mind will become more and more precarious. We expect to see them gradually retreating, though stubbornly resisting every inch of ground, until they shall finally leave the field to their younger and more vigorous antagonists, Christianity and civilization.

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VIII

FIRST INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY

One of the most interesting chapters of j.a.panese history is that relating to the introduction and growth of Catholic Christianity in the sixteenth century. This story has been eloquently told in nearly all European languages, and is familiar to the reading public. The terrible persecutions then enacted are vividly represented in paintings and other works of art on exhibition in art galleries of Europe and America. This chapter is not written with the hope of saying anything new upon the subject, but because a story of mission work in j.a.pan would be incomplete without it; and it may be that some for the first time will here read this story.