Yengishiki

Context

Shinto, sometimes called Shintoism, is a religion that resists description and categorization. The word Shinto derives from two Chinese characters: shin, which means “god,” and to, which means “the way,” much as “the Way” is used in Daoism, a philosophy of life developed in sixth-century China. Accordingly, Shinto can be translated as “the way of the gods.” In many respects, Shinto is less a formal religion than an embodiment of Japanese history and culture, with an overlay of many elements of folk belief. The religion has no particular founder, no dogmas, no formalized theology, no seat of authority, no saints or holy figures, no places that are considered holy, and few formal prayers. It also has no sacred scripture, although a document called the Kojiki (“Records of Ancient Matters”), written in the eighth century, comes close to being scriptural and forms the basis for some of the mythology that appears in the Shinto prayers and rituals of the Yengishiki. Shinto is best described as a life philosophy, a set of rituals and practices that allow people to forge and maintain a relationship with the gods of Shinto, the kami. Even the kami are hard to describe. The word is often translated as “gods” or “divinities,” but a better translation would be “spirits of nature,” “life forces,” or “the sacredness in things.” The spirits of departed ancestors can also be considered kami.

The origins of Japanese civilization, and therefore of Shinto, are shrouded in history and legend. Archaeological evidence suggests that sometime around 35,000 to 30,000 BCE, humans first migrated to the Japanese islands, probably from Mongolia or Siberia through Korea or alternatively from Polynesia westward across the Pacific Ocean. A more stable civilization evolved sometime around 10,000 BCE, the start of the Jomon Period. This period extended to about 400 BCE, and it is believed that Shinto beliefs had emerged in Japan by late in the Jomon Period. During this time in Japan’s history, the concept of the kami originated. Japanese society was organized around separate clans that were not connected by a central government or sense of a national identity. A chieftain headed each of the various clans, and every clan worshipped a divinity, a kami. The chieftain’s job, in part, was to oversee the ceremonies devoted to the kami.

The clans were often in conflict with one another. When one clan defeated another, the kami of the defeated clan became subject to that (or those) of the victorious clan. In this way, the hierarchy of the kami constantly shifted. Later, when a more centralized Japanese government with a supreme emperor at its head evolved, the belief in kami was used to give legitimacy to the emperor’s authority. Because the emperor claimed direct descent from the sun goddess Amaterasu, the emperor’s clan was more powerful than any other clan and thus held the right to rule Japan.

Two historical events had major importance for the development of Shinto. The first was the introduction of writing in the fifth century; the second was the arrival of Buddhism in the sixth. By the seventh century, Japan had become dominated by its much-larger neighbor, China, so many elements of Japanese culture came to reflect Chinese influences, including Buddhist beliefs. The more advanced Chinese had thoroughly documented their history, and under their influence Japanese writers began to do the same, though none of their earliest works survive. Their goal was in part to incorporate themes from Chinese religion and culture into their texts as a way of impressing the Chinese and to establish the divine right of Japanese emperors to rule.

In 673 CE, Emperor Tenmu seized power in Japan, but his hold over the throne was tenuous, owing to continued opposition from rival ethnic groups and clans, including the aboriginal people of Japan, the Ainu. To legitimize his rule by showing that he descended from the gods, Tenmu ordered that a history of Japan be compiled. This history was transmitted orally until 712, when it was written down as the Kojiki, a text that cemented the court’s legitimacy. The Kojiki is the earliest surviving text written by the Japanese.

Shinto, however, was widely regarded as a folk religion, filled with superstitions and myths. “Real” religion, for many Japanese, was Chinese Buddhism. In the centuries that followed, Shinto and Buddhism coexisted and amalgamated in a process referred to as Shinbutsu shugo, a phrase formed from the Japanese characters for “Shinto,” “Buddhism,” “learn,” and “join together.” This state of affairs would last until the end of the Edo Period (1600–1867).

The Yengishiki was compiled during the reign of Emperor Daigo in the Heian Period, which began in 794 after the capital of Japan was moved to Heian-kyo (present-day Kyoto). His reign was divided into “eras,” a common practice in the Japanese calendar, with each era defined by some important event or set of events. The first of the eras, called the Kanpyo era, extended from 889 to 898; the second, the Shotai era, extended from 898 to 901. The third was named the Engi era and lasted from 901 to 923; although it is unclear what event or events marked the beginning of the Engi era, because records were destroyed, it is possible that an eclipse of the sun played a role. Accordingly, the Yengishiki is called “The Ordinances of Engi.” (The fourth and final era of Daigo’s reign was called the Encho era.)

The Heian Period is regarded as a high point in Japanese culture, a period of artistic and cultural flowering at the imperial court, particularly among the aristocracy. Power nominally lay with the emperor but, in fact, was wielded by a clan whose family name was Fujiwara. Although the period was marked by stability, imperial control over the provinces was shaky, and many of the great clans ignored the efforts of the imperial court to impose Chinese-style systems of law and taxation. During this period, the Fujiwara clan intermarried with the imperial family, and some of its members were appointed to high office. Daigo’s predecessors had tried to check the power of the Fujiwara clan, but with limited success. Daigo was the first Heian emperor who was able to do so, at least in part. Nevertheless, the clan continued to acquire estates and wealth, as did other prominent families. They were able to obtain title to lands in perpetuity, evade taxes, and avoid government inspection of their lands. Accordingly, central control in Japan was weakening, and in the decades after Daigo’s death, the Fujiwara clan was able to assert near absolute control over the imperial court. In effect, by the year 1000, the Fujiwara had become perpetual dictators. Meanwhile, the government was becoming increasingly decentralized, and Japan lacked any sense of being a single nation under the direct control of the imperial family.

It was in this context, then, that Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of the Yengishiki as part of an ongoing effort to legitimize the rule of the emperor and impose some unity on Japan. Again, some 80 percent of “The Ordinances of Engi” deal with administrative matters and law, updating earlier legal and administrative texts. The remaining 20 percent, however, focus on Shinto rituals and practices and include twenty-seven norito, or prayers. As far as is known, this was the first time these prayers were reduced to writing, but they were undoubtedly used for hundreds of years before the Yengishiki was compiled.