Eye on religion--Shinto and the Japanese attitude toward healing.

It can be said that Japanese culture is informed by both Buddhism, which made its way into the Japanese islands in the sixth century of the Common Era, and Shinto, the ancient indigenous tradition of Japan. Yet this facile distinction has only been made possible since the end of the nineteenth century when the new Western-style "progressive" Japanese government ordered an unnatural and violent separation of Shinto from Buddhism. The fact of the matter was that Shinto, Buddhism, Confucian and Daoism had been using each others ideas for so long in Japan that each tradition could make a serious claim on the beliefs and practices of the Japanese people. However, despite the fact that Buddhist and Chinese ideas have shared the religious landscape of Japan for a millennium and a half--indeed, some might even say dominated that landscape--and while Western ideas have been the most powerful influence for the last century or more, the origins of what was later to become organized Shinto can be found in the ancient indigenous religious characteristics of the Japanese followers of the kami cults.

Archeological and historical evidence suggests that ancient Japanese religion was characterized by what scholars have called vitalism, priestism and particularism.* Vitalism in the Japanese case means that the ancient Japanese worshiped the power of kami, or sacred energy, perhaps best defined by the eighteenth century Shinto revivalist, Motoori Norinaga, as any phenomena that produces the emotions of fear and awe with no distinction between good and evil. This kami was worshiped for its power to create, to sustain or to renew life in all its forms. Statues of female fertility figures and large phallic rods that have been unearthed in preagricultural archaeological sites serve as evidence of these life affirming kami beliefs. This kami energy was later anthropomorphized and worshiped in human form only after the introduction of Buddhism from the continent.

This tendency for vitalism directly opposes the Buddhist dictum that insists that attachment to life is the cause of suffering. To this day, the Japanese value long life, health, and material things that make a long, happy life possible. Furthermore, they have no qualms about praying to their native kami in hopes of being granted those benefits. On the opposite side of the coin, this vitalism makes the Japanese reject, avoid or seek to purify those things associated with decay and death. This is clearly inconsistent with the Western perception that ritual suicide was a common practice in Japan, so much in vogue that it is thought that there must be some direct link between suicide and the character of the Japanese as a whole. Happily, this is not the case. The small warrior class from which this behavior and ethic arose was moved by Confucian ideals of loyalty, as well as economic and social realities, rather than the ancient, indigenous Japanese ideas that emphasized life in this world now. Furthermore, given this essential characteristic for celebrating life, the well-known "Japanese" festival for dead souls known as Bon clearly does not have its roots in Shinto tradition, which would prefer to keep dead souls under careful control. Throughout the centuries, the Japanese abhorrence of death and decay has sent them in search of religious assistance in exorcising the evil spirits associated with illness and life depleting processes.

This leads us to the second essential characteristic of native Shinto, priestism. The common Japanese person cannot communicate with, nor control, kami. They have always found it necessary to employ a ritual specialist, or a medium, perhaps acting as a healer, to bridge the gap between the world of humans and the world of spirits. With their very lives at stake, the ancient Japanese would not attempt something so foolish as to assume the knowledge and ability of the expert and attempt to solve their spiritual and physical illnesses on their own. Today, this attitude can be seen in how the Japanese practice medicine. In Japan, patients leave decisions about their healthcare completely in the hands of physicians and healthcare professionals to the point that Western onlookers wonder why the Japanese patients are not kept fully informed about their conditions and asked for their input in deciding how they should be treated. The Japanese might answer that the nonphysician who treats himself has a fool for a patient.

The third essential characteristic of Shinto--that which emphasizes particularity over universality--has historically opened the door for the Japanese people to be practical and accepting of foreign cultures and the healing methods associated with those other cultures. Due to this acceptance of foreign cultures and religions, Shinto as we know it today is an amalgamation of continental religious theory and practice customized by Japanese cultural sensibilities that have themselves been changing throughout the centuries in response to their own societal and environmental conditions. On the one hand, the Japanese are known to be very proud of the unique cultural production of their isolated island nation, but at the same time they have also gained the reputation for their superb ability to adapt, most notably in regards to the practical application of imported technologies. Although more frequently associated with automobiles and electronics, it also applies to both medicine and religion, and especially in the crucial area of the intersection of those two fields.

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In Japan, one is more likely to be criticized for failing to exercise an available religious option than for exercising that option without the proper depth of sincerity or understanding. In other words, the spiritual question for the Japanese is "why not" rather than "why." The polytheistic nature of the indigenous religion, along with the later Asian imports, leave the Japanese open to new gods and multiple religious solutions. What might seem shocking to monotheist cultures is considered open-mindedness in Japan.

Accordingly, medical treatment choices in contemporary Japan run the gamut. Large and small hi-tech hospitals abound in the cities, but their numbers are matched by the numbers of shops that offer moxibustion, acupuncture and herbal remedies. The third major medical alternative can be found in the Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and New Religious Movements that offer spiritual or supernatural alternatives, which are extremely popular, even among those whose first choices are either Western or Chinese medicine. Again, the spiritual option, at the very least, is used to cover every possible angle. For example, whether the Japanese "believe" in the effectiveness of a talisman purchased from a reputable temple or shrine offering safe childbirth or not, those talismans, and many others like them, are sold in great numbers.

To conclude in broad strokes about the Japanese propensity toward accepting a wide range of treatment options, it is important to remember that the Japanese culture has a long history of assimilation, and that although some treatments are harder for them to swallow than others (for example, organ transplantation has been accepted a bit more slowly than in the West, although the reasons for this are most likely due to Confucian concepts of the body), the Japanese appreciate results and can embrace contradictory treatments and shades of gray in explanation if they bring results. As a whole, the Japanese are surprisingly flexible, adaptable, open-minded, and, ultimately, practical. There is one caveat, however: it would be a mistake to treat the Japanese-American as a Japanese native. The Japanese propensity for assimilation has tended to make the Japanese-American thoroughly American, much more so than other Asian Americans. Perhaps the accepting attitude fostered by the indigenous Shinto religion was left behind to facilitate successful assimilation into American society; no doubt historical factors have also played their part in accounting for this difference.

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the
fact.
--William James

Wilburn Hansen, PhD

From Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY.

Reprint requests to Wilburn Hansen, PhD. Email: [e-mail]

*For an in-depth explanation of these essential characteristics, see the editor's introduction to The Cambridge History of Japan, Volume I: Ancient Japan. Ed. Delmer Brown. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.