ABSTRACT
As we said before, the Japanese man, woman or child has a very deep and continuous sense of his direct relationship with his ancestors, human and divine, and attaches to it paramount importance. One may say that Shintô is both the science and the art of keeping that connection alive, harmonious and fruitful. Ritualism and worship therefore play a considerable role in daily life, both in the jinja and before the family altar, and also in many other circumstances. ‘Ritual is important’, says a modern theologian, ‘because it enables us to discover the will of the Kami. And for that purpose norito (incantations) give us peace,’(148) and, adds another, also ‘fundamental vitality’.(122)
As in every other religion, the rites practiced by the man in the street without ecclesiastical co-operation are extremely simple-to the eyes of a foreign onlooker, they even look childish-and they are closely connected with a certain symbolism. The ceremonies of worship celebrated by priests in their temples can on the other hand reach an amazing degree of complexity which is proportionate to what Westerners would call their mystic value; in some jinja, it takes priests about ten years to master the essential ceremonies.(5) In this chapter we shall deal with individual worship, and we shall begin by a consideration of the symbolism connected with it.
