Night of the Gods
Yojūrō Yasuda
After the end of the war, I came to live in my hometown, and for the first time in twenty years, I had many opportunities to see the mountains and rivers of my hometown. In my hometown, where the old gods lived, their remains are found in every valley and terrace, transformed into shrines and temples. Our ancestors, who handed down their deeds as festivals from the ancient days of the gods, knew full well that the deeds of the gods were just as they were in the past. The belief in famous shrines did not become fixed in its present form until the modern period, even in some historic places, and in some of the most remote places, the early access of trains and railways attracted a very low level of belief. It is all too obvious to anyone whether the faith of such low-minded people should also be called Shintō or not, and it is obvious to anyone that the word "Shintō" cannot be understood if there is no respect for the hearts of those who worship without greed. It is indeed an oddity and a source of pride in Yamato that, apart from the form of belief and the organisation of its religious groups, the ancient practice of gestures of the gods, handed down as festivals, can be found everywhere in the central part of the Yamato Basin, now called Gunaka, a conveniently accessible area.
The fundamental idea of Shintō is nothing other than the life of human beings, and rather than teaching, it speaks of the naturalness of that system. The centre of this life was, of course, rice cultivation. The ‘Engishiki Norito,’ which I respect the most in classical thought, is an ideological expression of the Shintō system in this sense, showing how mankind, in collaboration with or in aid of the gods, should grow rice, which in ancient times was grown by the gods, ascend to the gods, and share their blessings with them. It should be noted that the rice belongs to the person who made it and eventually goes up to the gods, and the rice is used to make saké and feast with the gods, which is the essence of the autumn festival. The purity of our Shintō religion lies in the fact that it shows us the path of public enlightenment; Shintō is not limited to precepts or self-restraint, but rather represents the true nature of human life in which such things are not necessary at all. The ‘Engishiki Norito’ explains quite simply the meaning of the festival as a feast shared between man and god, a fact that was largely forgotten in ancient times, not to mention today. The autumn festival is called Ohiname, which means to feast together, and like Kyōen, it also means feast.
Today, peace is thought of from many different meanings and perspectives, but there is no other form of life, apart from the cultivation of rice, in which life itself is the foundation of peace. In other words, farming is a way of life centred on individual labour, but it also requires mutual support and cooperation. This is where villages are born and where villages are needed. It is a combination of individualism and the idea that all problems are to be dealt with within the scope of the individual. The inevitable and smooth combination of these two activities is agriculture, which is simply the beginning of Shintōism.
In addition, such a life was based on the belief that rice and rice production would last forever, passed down from ancestors to descendants. This is why our Shintō religion believes in eternity and the infinite in this respect. In other words, it is not a philosophy of the impermanence of all things or the constant flow of things. Our founding belief that heaven and earth are joined together is expressed in the phrases "heaven and earth are eternal" and "all generations are one," but this is not a desire for an eternal ruling power as the Chinese emperors thought, but rather a desire for rice and rice cultivation. Since eternity is guaranteed by heaven and earth, it is equal to the eternity of heaven and earth.
This is an extremely humble and rational thought that clearly states what will happen. What was so obvious to people in the past that it was neither discussed nor spoken of is now forgotten, and is often referred to as a conflict or a rigid theory. In the not-too-distant past, worshipping the gods was not the job of a select few. Life was lived together with the gods. This can be easily seen in the ‘Engishiki Norito’ prayer rites.
It deeply disturbed me that the ancient roots of this way of life were so thoroughly destroyed after the Great War. But now, I thought I would tell you what I have seen and heard myself, starting with a story from my hometown, where I have lived for the first time in twenty years, and then moving on to the old historical times.
The fact that in the early days of the Kamakura period, festivities lasted until dawn, with people singing and drinking, is recorded in the ‘Records of Ancient Tales’ as a banquet at the end of the night at the time of the Kasahi relocation, which includes a song from that time. This poem, which appears to be an "ancient language collection,'' was later transformed into a sacred song, and its four forms were recorded in writing. If one of these is the original form, then a version of the song from the early Heian or late Nara period can already be found in the same book, while another version from the Heian and Kamakura periods can also be found in later books. It is not clear whether these are changes or merely changes in style, but we can assume that they were changes in style.
This night festival also shows the original form of the Iwato kagura, which was a festival held at night, lasting through the night and ending at dawn. Therefore, even if we speak of the mountains, rivers, and lands of the ancient land of the gods, we cannot understand the scene of their festivals unless we consider them as they are at night. The mountains and rivers of Yamato seen at night are the places of the ancient gods. The sight of the mountains and rivers where our ancient ancestors held their gods cannot be understood by a traveller in the daytime. To understand the nature of Yamato as described in the Man'yōshū, one must see the mountains and rivers of Yamato at night. This was so obvious that no traveler from anywhere had noticed it until Mr Horiuchi Minichi mentioned it in his geographical research on Man'yōshū.
I returned to Yamato after twenty years since the end of the war, and walked along the valley of Anashi and the hill road of Shibuya at the foot of the Miwa mountains during the period of lawlessness and anxiety just after the end of the war. It was the land of the gods of my ancestors, the land after the Man'yōshū people had worshipped the gods and sung their songs in high spirits. I had a real sense that the sacred mountain of Miwa is the mountain of the gods, which I fully experienced at night when I went down the hillside road of Shibuya at around one a.m. The night excursion taught me what kind of a deep place Anashi's great warrior resides. The travellers from the front could not possibly understand the greatness of Mount Otowa now and Mount Kurahashi in ancient times. The divine beauty of Mount Miwa on a moonlit night seduced my soul.
I could not help but wonder who had seen such a beautiful mountain. One night, just before midnight, the moon that lingered at night emerged from the valley of Hase and floated over Mount Miwa as I walked.
I read such a song.
"If I go down the road of the Shibuya valley, the clouds will be released and the winter moon will be with me."
"Cherry blossoms in the distance at night on the tail of a mountain in the middle of Miwasan."
This is also a song of Mount Miwa at night. This was seen from Sakurai road. "When it was late in April and most of the cherry blossoms were in leaf, I came out to the sound of Kaku-ko's voice and saw what looked like white clouds floating on the mountainside, and if I looked hard enough, I could see that it looked like cherry blossoms." I thought that the words of my childhood song had been successfully incorporated into the song. I still vividly remember the feeling of relief, as if I had rid myself of one negative aspect.