Women and Sexism in

Okano Haruko

THE TASK OF THIS article is twofold. The ³rst accepted, while those who go with the is to trace the change in the position, mean- stream are welcomed. ing, and role of women in Shinto, and the sec- ond is to consider critically how Shinto par- WOMEN IN THE HISTORY OF SHINTO ticipated in the formation of women’s Shinto, the “Way of the Gods,” so-called to image and arrived at a sexist stance. I shall distinguish it from Butsudõ the “Way of show this by reconsidering the meaning Buddha,” is a collective term for several dif- and role of women in Japanese society as ferent forms of . Besides primitive developed by Shinto. My ³rst aim is to Shinto, there are Shrine Shinto, the orthodox delineate Shinto’s progressive disownment form which includes Imperial Household of women’s spiritual power which had been Shinto; popular Shinto, the religion of the acknowledged by the ancient Japanese, of people; and ³nally Sect Shinto, a set of women’s exclusion from the center of reli- independent systems. I will not include gious life, and of the gradual deprivation of Sect Shinto here, which I consider to be women’s autonomy. My second is to show akin to the New , because its con- how the issue of feminism in undiffer- tent differs qualitatively from the primary entiated, unitary society is different from form of Shinto. Thus, excluding Sect Western societies where a person is estab- Shinto, Shinto can be classi³ed historically lished as an individual. into three periods: In modern Japanese society, Shinto coex- ists with an advanced technological econo- 1. Primitive Shinto, from early history to my. This is a peculiar phenomenon as the organization of Shinto, from the Shinto, which is very alive, still maintains end of the 2nd to 7th century CE. its archaic animistic beliefs and ancestor 2. Organized Shinto, from the Taika worship. Shinto’s perdurance demonstrates Reform to the Restoration, 645- the persistence of the spirit of the Japanese 1867. who locate themselves in the original life- 3. Shinto after the , community which developed naturally. 1868 to the present day. The ancient Japanese were convinced that It is not quite certain whether in Japan’s their communal well-being was guaranteed early history, the existence of priestesses by the gods. Within ethnically grouped preceded that of the priests or not. We can- communities, individual members do not dif- not say whether a golden age of women ever ferentiate between themselves or between existed or not. The actual state of Shinto in themselves and the world around them. its early period has not been suf³ciently Consequently, those who display individu- clari³ed. A much more important problem ality in Japanese society are not easily is the relationship between men and

27 JAPAN CHRISTIAN REVIEW 59 1993 women in that period where this can be his- lords fell to the emperor. This meant that the torically substantiated. In the earliest stages, individual cults of the local gods of the rulership implied priesthood, and as the clans (ujigami) had to be organized into one social structures included both men and central system. Thus such local , women, so too power in the ruling classes originally worshipped only by certain was distributed between men and women in clans, took on an of³cial and national char- rather interesting ways. The woman was acter. The Department of Shinto Affairs the medium of direct contact with the (Jingikan) was set up to organize religious life and announced the divine will to human- and to see to the administration of the kind. The realization of this will on earth was shrines. In this sense the religious cult had entrusted to the man. Thus priesthood was now become the rationalized concern of the embodied in a male plus female relation- bureaucrats instead of being the sponta- ship, usually brother and sister. This system neous act of a naturally religious person. In is found ³rst in the clan systems (uji), then former times individuals endowed with in territorial administrations of the charism had summoned the gods and these provinces (kuni), and in the centralized had taken possession of certain chosen per- government of the Yamato Empire. sons. But in State Shinto, ful³lling the rite However, in time this man plus woman correctly meant that the gods could only system underwent changes. The more appear at a certain time and in a certain dependent everyday life was on the mysti- place. For this reason, the rites had to be cal, magical elements in religion, the more performed by of³cial priests, and the important was the woman’s role. Proof of this bureaucrats of the Jingikan, sometimes is that many of the miko (female shamans) assisted by other court dignitaries, male or were dei³ed and the ancient chronicles female, of³ciated at ceremonies in the speak of female rulers such as Himiko and shrines at the Imperial court and at other priestesses such as Tamayori-hime. How- shrines of major importance, while the rites ever, as the rights and privileges of the var- at local shrines were the responsibility of the ious petty rulers were gradually absorbed by the Imperial family and a centralized provincial governors (the kokushi) and empire formed, politics assumed an in- priests such as the , negi and hafu- creasingly rational character, although it ri. These of³cial priests were as a rule men, was supposed to be determined ultimately but in many old shrines the tradition of hav- by divine will. Thus began the formal and ing a priestess persisted until the tenth cen- conceptual rift between politics and reli- tury CE. After this time priestesses were very gion, as a result of which women retired rare, but at Ise, the Imperial ancestral more and more from this form of society, for shrine, the body of priests was led by a example, in the case of cult princess Saio. At priestess up until the Middle Ages. this stage the woman was only the emperor’s Three factors are responsible for the representative in the religious sphere, and the decline in the number of priestesses at most same process could be observed in the inde- shrines: 1) since the descent of the divinity pendent provinces. could now be calculated “mechanically”, as The second period of Shinto history it were, women were no longer really nec- began with the Taika Reform which brought essary in the priesthood; 2) the Chinese about a change from the old form of gov- legal system, recently introduced to Japan ernment to a centralized absolute monar- and on which the priesthood was based, chy. In order to achieve political unity in the was strictly male-oriented; and, 3) Bud- state, the power of the earlier provincial dhism strengthened the notion of the

28 OKANO: Women and Sexism in Shinto uncleanness of woman, due to her biologi- 1. The participation of women is limited cal and psychological make-up. at the higher ranking shrines, such as The newly created bureaucratic state Ise and Atsuta, which had preroga- took over the religious rites and the priest- tives during the period of National hood and organized them, thus rendering Shinto. them static; but charismatic ³gures, mostly 2. Shinto is still sensitive to contamina- women, continued to be active among the tion by “impure blood,” so that priest- people, outside the system of organized esses have to take precautions so as Shinto. We may ³nd them in secularized not to de³le the cult during menstru- types such as dancers, puppeteers or cour- ation. Their menstrual periods are tesans, or even as pillars of popular Shinto, controlled and regulated through the the belief of the people. use of medications. Each new step in the modernization of the While the traditional functions of cultural, political or economic ³elds ousted women within organized religion may have women further from signi³cant positions in all but vanished, the miko, female sorcerers, the priesthood, because their religious are once again active among the people. authority, often inherited, was based on the They will tell fortunes and prophesy, for a supposedly superstitious religious notions consideration, and also function as medi- among the people. cine women. The great number of female The third period, beginning with the founders of sects should also be mentioned. Meiji Restoration, also considerably affect- Their new teachings on religion and values ed the position of women. The newly and their faith healing claims appeal to the restored Imperial dynasty, with its new mass of the people. Religious communities national awareness, strove to establish pure founded by such women existed even Shinto as the national religion, and abol- before the Meiji dynasty. This particular ished such mystical elements of Shinto as the type of charismatic women see themselves concept of inherited charism and also the as mediators between gods and people, and practice of magical rites. Women could no ³lled with prophetic awareness, as found- longer be a member of the of³cial priest- resses of universal religious communities. hood. This is a new phenomenon in Japanese reli- Since the Second World War, however, gious history, but it is interesting to note women have once again been accepted into that such “new” religions show in their the priesthood. No distinction is made community life old elements of primitive between them and their male colleagues magic and base their authority on the tradi- and both men and women ful³ll the same tion of the “classical” religions.1 functions. It must be admitted, though, that women are generally seen as substitutes for SHINTO AS THE CAUSE OF JAPANESE SEXISM male priests. Thus women have achieved a new position in the Shinto religion by Shinto, the original indigenous religion of renouncing their speci³c femininity, which Japan, survives even to this day and lies at was the source of their traditional function the basis of Japanese industrialized society. and role within the religious community. In this section I shall consider the following At present, there are about one thousand two points: what is the principle of Shinto priestesses in Japan and equality of Japanese society which sustains Shinto, the sexes is progressively being pursued. and what is the signi³cance of this principle However, there remain two problems from within the global society. As I mentioned a feminist perspective. above, Shintoistic society is pervaded by an

29 JAPAN CHRISTIAN REVIEW 59 1993 ethnic religion and a life community spirit. Japanese capitalism is the offshoot of Within such community, therefore, the Japanese Shintoistic state ideology. As long individual member has a comfortable view as one stays within the social order under- of religion based on the conviction that girded by this maternal principle, peace good fortune and well-being are guaranteed and prosperity are guaranteed, just as chil- as long as the individual remains within the dren are embraced equally at the bosom of community which is protected by the deity. their mothers. Thus, Japan grew to be a civ- Individual Japanese maintain the sense of a ilized nation where basic education spread unitary society without differentiating from to the remotest area without laying ³nancial one another or from the world. In Europe, burdens on the people. Christianity in the process of the civilization Looking back on the , of the Latin and Germanic societies, aban- there are not a few who attempted to cut off doned the blood-relational clan community such maternal bonds and who tried to and the old group consciousness of nondif- assume autonomy. But within Japanese ferentiation. At the same time in Arabia, society, one generally ³nds it dif³cult to Islam replaced its primitive ethnic religion. take up the issue of individuality or dis- In India also, although it occurred during a tinctive personality. On the contrary, it is a short period of its history, Buddhism awak- condition for survival not to be too different ened to the concept of the individual and from others. A man who desires to be a per- replaced the varied forms of ethnic religion son with individuality experiences strong which had previously responded to the resistance from society similar to the efforts spiritual needs of the community. required of a woman trying to overcome In Japan, imported foreign religions such assigned roles. Moreover, Japanese consid- as Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and er that everything in the world is built on rela- even Christianity could not dismantle the tionships. This is underlined by Confucian Shintoistic unitary community spirit. On moral theology which postulates ³ve the contrary, the Shintoistic community human relationships and cardinal virtues. enforced a sense of familial solidarity by Within these relationships, everyone, man means of the extended family. Moreover, by and woman, superior and inferior, is placing the emperor at the top of society expected to sacri³ce oneself. Consequently, and regarding him as divinely descended, this has resulted in creating a general feel- Shinto af³rmed the absolute and sacred ing of victimization. From a woman’s point nature of the nation, while Buddhism and of view this psychic structure makes it Confucianism assisted in the formation of this dif³cult to objectify sexism. It is evident ideology by underlining its authenticity. that no person among the more than one The characteristics of the Japanese unitary hundred and twenty million Japanese can society as a pseudo-national community is remain a child at the mother’s breast. understood in terms of an all-embracing Hence, the ultimate task of Japanese femi- maternal principle, according to Kawaii nism is an anthropological issue of how Hayao.2 Westerners divided society dualis- each individual can establish his or her tically into sacred and profane, good and own identity. evil, superior and inferior, and as a result sup- In spite of Shinto’s maternal principle pressed the weaker elements in society, which operated within Japanese society, while the Japanese glori³ed the equality of the formation of public order and institution the members of their society sustained by the of the national community was in the hands family principle which embraces everyone of the male with an androcentric frame of indiscriminately. In this sense modern mind as I described above. It is my opinion

30 OKANO: Women and Sexism in Shinto that the thrust for such patriarchalization of Shinto and Buddhism were utilized to Japanese society sprang from the political achieve centralization and form legal insti- will to power of the imperial family who tutions; Confucianism was used in the promoted this centralization. The source of establishment of the feudal system in the power of the imperial family is the divine modern period; and Shinto repeatedly authority derived from the ancestral deity, played a decisive role in the Meiji restoration. , as the and Nihongi Outwardly, the religions had no role to play describe. Since Amaterasu is the ancestral in the rebirth of Japan from defeat in war to goddess of the Imperial family, the Sun the democratic state it is today, except for the Goddess who governs the universe and who period immediately after defeat. However, occupies the highest position in the Shinto religion always justi³ed the central institu- pantheon, she serves to hide Japanese sex- tions and the familial system. Inwardly, ism. It is similar to the Christian cult of the Shinto maintained its strong hold on the Blessed Virgin Mary which is deeply , justifying and supporting involved with the issue of sexism. sexism and class discrimination, and rein- Amaterasu, who was originally the forcing fascism. mother of the god of the rice plant, a priest- Shinto belief dei³ed those who died a ess who played a simple role, was raised to heroic death. Thus it exalted the soldiers the state of noble virgin goddess thereby who died in the “Holy War” of Japan as proving the sacredness of the imperial fam- deities. Hence, both men and women were ily. This was a creation by those who held compelled to interiorize the meaning of control of the value system within patriarchal serving their country. One of the important power. This is akin to the process of the causes of the immaturity of the Japanese glori³cation of Mary, the raising of the sim- with regard to autonomy and independence ple mother of Jesus ³rst to the status of eter- lies in their consciousness of the national and nal virgin and mother, and then to the ³nal familial community which is peculiar to glory of assumption into heaven. Japan. Shinto, together with Buddhism and The reason why Shinto can sustain Confucianism which were accepted by meaning in Japan today can be found in the Japan, should be criticized and indicted coexistence of the formal side of the andro- from the feminist perspective, since they centric national cult with the ethnic reli- fermented, reinforced, and justi³ed this gion represented by woman in the back- understanding. ground. Moreover, for the sake of the spiritual peace of the community, Shinto NOTES allowed both god and Buddha to survive 1 For a detailed account of women’s position together within it, thus strengthening its and roles in the history of Shinto, please refer to my own authority in the community. Die Stellung der Frau im Shinto (Harrassowitz, As Japan underwent the processes of 1976), p. 19ff. modernization, religion was deeply in- 2 Kawai Hayao, Bosei shakai Nihon no byõri volved in the formation of its ideology: (Chuõkõronsha, 1976).

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