JAPAN’S NATIONAL RELIGION

Taranaki Daily News, 23 November 1929, Page 11

JAPAN’S NATIONAL RELIGION

ANCESTORS AND NATIVE WORSHIP Shintoism is the national religion of Japan. Its origin is unknown, and it is a mixture of ancestor and nature . worship, Tho history of Shintoism is divided into three periods, the first ending about the sixth century, A.D., the ~ second in tho eighteenth century, and the third is found in the phase of the present day. In the first period Shintoism had no name, no moral precepts nor sacred writings. There was no particular class of gods, but everything in nature that excited admiration was worshipped. • Buddhism and Chinese civilisation were in tho second period. Buddhist priests took charge of the temples and the two religions united. In the third period, beginning in th# eighteenth century, Buddhism and Confucianism were denounced and a return to the “pure Shinto” was demanded by the great scholars of the Empire. Shintoism thenbccame the religion of the . Government, and officials of tho court observed Its rites and ceremonies.