Saturday, March 4, 2006

   Japanese Emperor a God until 1946
Today is going to be a brief, somewhat random history lesson related to Japan. Specifically, a 1946 radio broadcast known as "Ningen-sengen" that had a large impact on Japanese politics and religion. Emperor Hirohito made a radio broadcast in which he declared that he was not a manifestation of a god (that is a compromise between several translations I looked at). The Emperor of Japan before that speech was considered to be a divine being. He was a direct descendant of the most important God in the Shinto religion - Amaterasu Omikami. The Emperor Jinmu, the first emperor of Japan (660 BCE), was the great-great grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu. Hirohito was a direct descendant of the first emperor.

After that announcement, Hirohito continued as a ceremonial emperor of Japan, but was not responsible for governing the country. He made many public appearances, met with foreign dignitaries, etc. I believe the function is very similar to the Queen of England's role today. One of his duties is to make an annual trip to the shrine dedicated to Amatersu (Ise Shrine).

The Shinto religion still exists in Japan today & many Japanese follow Shinto practices at the same time as following other practices, the most common being Buddhism. I went to a few Shinto shrines while I was in Tokyo. The one that was most memorable was near where I was staying in Akasaka. Sorry, don't remember the name of the shrine, but it was at a large intersection and had escalators that would take you up to the shrine. If you decided to take the stairs, don't worry, there is a vending machine at the top so you can get something to drink. I got to see a ceremony where a couple was having their car "blessed", for lack of a better word. The Shinto priest was performing a ritual to protect the car from bad spirits.

Here are some related links:
A video in english on the official Ise shrine web site - A simple animation talking about Shinto & Ise Shrine. Broadband recommended.
A site with info on Shinto beliefs and practices
A site about the shrine dedicated to Amaterasu
Wikipedia site about Ningen-sengen

A couple of pix of a Shinto shrine in Tokyo (the escalator is to the right of the large white gate):




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