anime y shinto

8/11/2019 Anime y Shinto

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rebro Theological Seminary 050502TO 306 Worldviews in context: The Excluded MiddleOskar Kllner

Shinto in Anime

Introduction

Anime, the Japanese art of animation, is increasingly more and more popular here in thewest. There is something fresh and alluring both with the stories, which dont really follow

the western format for storytelling, and with the overall visual presentation, often other-worldly, weirdly colored creations, designed to intrigue their audience. Films like Akira,Princess Mononoke and most recent: Spirited Away, has created a huge audience that cravesfor more. And more is on the way. Japan has all the opportunity and ability to become thenext cultural superpower of the world.

But no medium is without a message; every story has a worldview and makes moral andspiritual verdicts. What kind of a worldview then can be found in Japanese anime? Eventhou contemporary Japan is a highly diverse society, with plenty of subcultures and beliefsystems, still many of the most permeating ideas stem from the old Japanese religion ofShinto.

In this paper, I aim to give a basic introduction to Shinto and its mythology, and try to relatehow the Shinto way of thinking influences and inspires some contemporary Anime seriesand films. In the final chapter I will then, from my studies of Shinto and Anime, form sometheories as to how the gospel could be presented in a Japanese cultural setting.

Shinto Way of the Gods

Shinto has no founder, no canonized holy scripture, no common theology and no strictly hi-

erarchical order of organization. Rather the Shinto organization is a lose knit network of in-terdependent shrines that share a common religious worldview and common rituals. TheShinto worldview is very strong and is deeply embedded in Japanese culture. For at least twothousand years it has commanded the devotion of the Japanese people. Even today, in asecularized Japan, Shinto is still a major cultural and economic power. It has survived the in-troduction of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and lately Christianity. Through historyShinto has, as an ever adapting faith, absorbed elements from other religions, mainly Bud-dhism, while at the same time always remained distinctly Japanese.


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Aspects of the Divine

Shinto is both a polytheistic and pantheistic religion. There is a divine spiritual force thatflows through everything, that is everything. The Judeo/Christian idea of God as external oftime and space is foreign and inconceivable. Rather, the entire cosmos is divine spirit. Thisdivinity is the same in all things, gods, humans, mountains and trees, wherever the divinespirit manifests itself.

The name Shinto comes from the Chinese charactersshen(Spirit) and dao(Way) and sim-ply means the Way of the Gods. The gods or sprits referred to are called kami, a term usedprimarily about the gods of heaven and earth that are mentioned in the old myths, but alsoabout any and every god that lives in the mountains, rivers, animals, birds and great men ofJapan. In Japan there are supposedly eight million kami. There is no difference in kind be-tween the divine spirit and its material manifestations, all is divine and divine in full. All thatis alive and all of nature isKami.

Anything that is to be revered or feared because of their inherent and superior power is kami.The kamidoes not have to be good, in a Judeo/Christian way, but can rather be either goodor evil or in between, depending on their nature. The very terms good and evil seems to losea bit of their meaning, because the kamiare simply what they are, and they have different as-

pects, just as nature has different seasons. They dont need to be good, allknowing, or evenvery well informed, they just need to be powerful. Since the divine spiritual force is every-where, and in everything, even man can become kamiafter death. In Judeo/Christian culturethe complete otherness and absolute holiness of God is emphasized, in Shinto there is nosuch barrier between the divine and the human spheres. There are a number of shrines in Ja-

pan devoted to old powerful emperors and influential scribes.

The old Shinto tradition of forefather worship is quite consistent with this understanding ofthe divine. A practicing shintoist sees himself as a link in a long chain of humans (and there-fore of spirit/kami) that has gone before, and will continue after ones own death. Every fam-ily and every village has their own collective kami, and some believe that this kamiis com-

posed by their ancestors who are still looking over their progeny. The Japanese people (andall of men) are the descendants of the kamithat lived on earth during the prehistoric Age ofthe Gods. The Japanese emperor is the direct descendant of the greatest of all kami, the sungoddess Amaterasu (Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity).

While some gods are forgotten and others are added Amaterasu has reigned supreme in Ja-

pan as the central goddess since the Yamato (sun) clan, devoted worshipers of Amaterasu,conquered the other tribes in central Japan in the 5thcentury AD. Ameterasu is the physicalsun in itself but has many more aspects. It is divine spirit and has a tangible personality. Allaspects are just as much kamias the other ones. Divine spirit has born and chosen Amaterasuto shine over man and nature. The warming sunlight, and her life giving presence, assertAmaterasu as the personification of all spiritual energy.

Shinto loves life, Shinto is all about life. Death is the ultimate enemy, and therefore birth andregeneration is seen as an opposition against the darkest of evil. So detested is death thatShinto even leaves the care of the dead and burial to another religion, Buddhism. Thereforein Japan today, Buddhism is intrinsically linked to the stench of death, and not very popular.Shinto has not a very clear concept of the afterlife, but rather leaves that as a non question, itis life, here and now (and how you die, since it reflects on your life and character) that is im-


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portant, not the afterlife.

Shinto was from the start a pretty uncomplicated animistic nature religion. But through his-tory, with the influence of Chinese culture, Buddhism, and the way the Japanese imperial

power used Shinto to build its powerbase, the conceptions of Shinto has evolved and

changed into something fairly complex.

History

Whether or not the prehistoric Jomon culture (ca. 7.000-300 BC) possessed a faith with thesame basic assumptions as Shinto is unknown. But around 300 BC with the appearance ofthe Yayoi culture, notions of reality, which bear a high similarity to Shinto conceptions,were evidently present.

By the first century AD china had already had a blossoming culture for over a thousandyears, and even thou travel between China and Japan wasnt that common, it was inevitablethat Chinese traits would affect primal Shinto. Typical traits from Confucianism, Taoism andBuddhism were integrated into Shinto. But throughout history these foreign elements havealways been adapted and converted thus Shinto has been able to remain distinctly Japanese.Specifically from Confucianism Shinto imported traits that emphasis: the inherent good ofman, the individuals duty to put family and clan before ones own interests, respect for par-ents and authority, and a low interest in the afterlife.

Later on, during the so called Kofun or Tumulus era(ca 300-550 AD), Shinto was characterized by a belief

system that was intensely local, focusing on the spiri-tual power inherent in nearby topographical featuresand on the divine ancestors of clans and lineages. Asthe Yamato (sun) clan gained advantage over the oth-ers, its divine ancestor, Amaterasu rose to supremacy.

The Yamato emperor used his claim as a direct de-scendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu to promote theemperor cult. This gave him an extraordinary power-

base, and throughout almost all of Japanese history theemperor has been worshiped as a god. This was true

even during those centuries (12th- mid 19th) when theemperor lost almost all political power to the samuraiShoguns, and was reduced to a religious figurehead.

But Shinto was soon to confront its worst opponent inhistory. Buddhism as a religion was introduced in Ja-

pan year 552 AD, by way of Korea, when a Japaneseemperor let a few of his men try out this new relig-ion. In Korea and China, where Buddhism was wide-spread, a higher level of culture had also been devel-oped. Therefore Buddhism soon became the popular religion among the educated and theruling class. Centuries of conflict followed, where Buddhism, backed by the powerful andrich always had the upper hand. But Shinto was so deeply ingrained in the much larger un-

Jimmu Tenno, legendary first emperorof Japan, and his magical crow.


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educated agrarian population that Buddhism never could extinguish it.

A syncretistic movement called the Ryobu Shinto (The double point of view Shinto) cameinto being. They tried to integrate Shinto and Buddhism. Buddhist deities and bodhisattvascame to be worshiped as kami, and vice versa. Buddhist idols came to be presented in Shinto

shrines, which until then had been bereft of any kind of idols.

During a brief period of the 17thcentury there was, by way of the Portuguese missionaries, astrong Christian presence in Japan, over half a million Japanese was converted. That periodended quickly when the Shogun reacted against this threat and most of the converts wereslaughtered or forced to reconvert. Christianity was forbidden by law and the land closed it-self from the outside world.

For the Shinto religion the harshest period was during the 18thcentury when Buddhism wasthe only religion the state endorsed. New magnificent temples were built by the state, the

priesthood was entirely under the states control and all Japanese was ordered to registerthemselves in the temples as Buddhists. An official decree ordered all to build a butsudan, aminiature Buddhist altar, in every household.

But the Tokugawa Shogunate who endorsed the Buddhist religion had become corrupt andcollapsed. Like a mighty river, which the crumbling dam was unable to hold back, the Shintoreligion experienced an unprecedented revolution and revival. In a bloody civil war the Sho-gun was crushed and the emperor was reinstated as a political power, actually as thepolitical

power. The movement was very nationalistic. In a great cleansing process the Buddhist dei-ties was thrown out as foreign and the study of ancient Shinto practices and beliefs wasgiven the greatest attention. TheRyobu Shintowas completely abandoned, instead the

scribes tried to refine Shinto to as pure a state as possible. This was the rise of the Meiji era,which started when the very young emperor Mutsuhito ascended the thrown in 1868. He wasa great leader and strategist, that made sure to buy the best know how from the British andthe Americans. Under his leadership Japan was transformed from a backward farming coun-try to the economical and military superpower of the region. After a while the state observedthat the persecution of the Buddhists was yielding fewer results and more of division in atime when unity was of the essence. So in 1889 they issued a decree that guaranteed full reli-gious freedom, also for Christianity.

Parallel to the revival of ordinary Shinto a National Shinto (Kokutai Shionto) was devel-oped. National Shinto emphasized the divinity and therefore superiority of the Japanese peo-

ple, and how the emperor as the direct descendant of Amaterasu had divine mandate to ruleall the peoples of the earth. National Shinto became the main propaganda channel for thestate as they embarked on military expeditions of conquests in, among others, China andRussia. The victory of the divine Japanese people was assured. The same religious fever fu-eled the war that raged in the pacific during WWII. It was first after the inconceivable defeatat the hands of the US that the emperor admitted to be only human and National Shinto de-flated and was forbidden by law.

Today only ordinary Shinto remains, but it has a lot of company. Many so called new re-ligions has sprung up during the last century. Most of these sects have thought-systems re-sembling Shinto but with traces of other religions, mainly Christianity and Buddhism. The

greatest sect, Tenri-kyo, which shares some resemblance with Christian Science, has abouttwo million followers. The Christian church has not had a story of success in post war Japan,


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rather the opposite. Meanwhile the western materialistic and capitalistic way of thinking hasno problem getting converts, making modern Japan into a highly secularized society wherethe young often know little about their Shinto history and cultural heritage.

Sacred Texts and Myths

In Shinto there is no official holy scripture, but the two most influential collections of mythsare theKojikiandNihonshoki.

TheKojikiwas composed in 712 AD by the Heian noble Ono Yasumaro. TheKojikiis astraight forward narrative, tracking the time from the birth of the first gods, creation of theworld, and the divine genealogy all the way till the first Yamato emperor, the legendary em-

peror Jimmu Tenno.

TheNihonshokiwas compused in 720 AD by a committee of scholars, who sought to rectifywhat they believed to be Ono Yasumaros excessive emphasis of the imperial Yamato clan.Instead of just telling one story, theNihonshokiis a collection of all the different versions ofthe mythical past that could be found among the major clans, which resulted in a jumble ofcompromises and contradictions. TheNihonshokiis therefore a treasure trove of tales thatshows the great range and diversity of ancient Shinto mythology.

TheNihonshokistarts its mythos with the birth of the gods out of chaos.

THE AGE OF THE GODS

Of old, Heaven and Earth were not yet separated, and the In and Yo not yet divided.They formed a chaotic mass like an egg which was of obscurely defined limits and con-

tained germs.

The purer and clearer part was thinly drawn out, and formed Heaven, while the heav-

ier and grosser element settled down and became Earth.

The finer element easily became a united body, but the consolidation of the heavy and

gross element was accomplished with difficulty.

Heaven was therefore formed first, and Earth was established subsequently.

Thereafter divine beings were produced between them.

Note how the chaotic primal material of creation is like an egg. When this consolidatesinto heaven and earth the first gods were spontaneously created between them. The earth isalmost certainly perceived as a female principle, and heaven as a male one. In the mythos thegods are either spontaneously created from different objects and actions, or they are given

birth in physical procreation by another god.

TheKojikitells that after seven divine generations birth is given to the deity Izanagi (Male-Who-Invites) and next to his younger sister Izanami (Female-Who-Invites). These two has

been called Japans Adam and Eve, because they are the primeval ancestors of many of thegods and all of the humans. These two gods where given the task by the other gods to create


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land out of the chaotic mass that was twirling beneath heaven, for this task they were given aheavenly jewelled spear. TheKojikitells of the creation of the first Japanese island:

So the two deities, standing upon the Floating Bridge of Heaven pushed down the

jewelled spear and stirred with it, whereupon, when they had stirred the brine till it

went curdle-curdle, and drew the spear up, the brine that dripped down from the endof the spear was piled up and became an island. This is the Island of Onogoro.

The deities started copulating and after a false start Izanami gave birth to the entire Japaneseisland world and a multitude of different kami. But finally Izanami died in childbirth being

burnt bad while giving birth to the god of fire. (Because of the Shinto abhorrence with death,it says that she retired.) Izanagi, terrible in rage and sorrow slew the infant fire god, and fromthe spilt blood, a multitude of new gods arose.

Now follows a story where Izanagi much like the Greek Orpheus attempts to rescue his be-loved wife from Yomi, the land of the dead. But just as Orpheus in Hades, Izanagi disre-garded her plea not to look upon her. He saw that Izanami had become a rotting, hideous de-mon, filled with eight thunder deities and fled in horror, pursued by Izanami and the fe-male demons of Yomi. He managed to evade her and placed a huge rock in front of the en-trance to Yomi.1

To purify himself from the stench of Yomi, Izanami bathes in the sacred river Hi. As hewashed himself a multitude of kamiwas spontaneously born from the water and the filth.The most important ones of these were the last three. TheKojikitells:

The name of the deity that was born as he thereupon washed his left august eye was

Amaterasu (Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity). The name of the deity that wasnext born as he washed his right august eye was His Augustness Tsukiyomi (Moon-

Night-Possessor). The name of the deity that was next born as he washed his august

nose was His Augustness Susano (Brave-Swift-Impetuous-Male).

After this Izanami retired to the northwest part of Kyushu island, where today a handful ofshrines are dedicated to him and Izanagi. But before his retirement he handed over his powerand authority to the sun goddess Amaterasu. The moon god Tsukiyomi became lord of thenight, while the storm god Susano became lord of the sea. But Susano, or as his name can beunderstood: the raging male, was jealous of Amaterasu, and challenged her to a contest of

producing as many offspring as possible, which they did with the help of a sacred fertility

jewel.

After losing the contest Susano was so enraged that he rampaged through heaven and earth.He did so in such a brutal fashion, causing so much chaos, that Amaterasu locked herselfinto the Heavenly Cave of Darkness. and refused to come out. But the world, deprived ofsunlight was withering and dying, so eight million kamigathered outside the cave for delib-erations. Finally they devised of a trick to lure the sun goddess out of the cave. They con-structed a mirror, and put it in front of the opening, and then they laughed and played, untilAmaterasu curious about the ruckus cautiously opened the door. Astonished she saw herselfin the mirror and came out to see who it was. Then the other kamitook her hand, pulled herout of the cave, slammed the door behind her, and made her promise to never leave them

again. Then theKamicaught Susano, and as punishment for his rampage they made him paya fine, cut of his beard, pulled out his toe and finger nails and finally banished him to earth.


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It is typical of Shinto, never to paint a deity, as all evil or all good, so down on earth Susanosuddenly becomes a hero. He saves a beautiful maiden from a hideous hydra, a dragon witheight heads and eight tails. After the battle, as he walks around cutting of the tails of the hy-dra, he finds the Herb-Quelling Great Sword in one of its tails. Today, Susanos great

sword, Amaterasus sacred mirror and the fertility jewel are said to reside in the imperial pal-ace and they are the three greatest items of Shinto worship.

After a non-measured period of time, the Age of the Gods was coming to an end. Amaterasuinvested her authority in her offspring, the imperial clan of Yamato, and so with the legen-dary emperor Jimmu Tenno, known (or actually not so well known) history begins.

The Sacred in Society

The centers of Shinto devotion are the many shrines that are scattered throughout the coun-try. There are huge temples as well as small and very modest country shrines. The firstshrines was probably just small huts, constructedto frame the topographical feature that was ob-

ject for devotion, trees, stones, rivers, moun-tains. The most famous of all sacred mountainsis Mount Fuji, which is traditionally considereda powerful kami. Still today, shrines are built tohighlight nature, and the surroundings are oftengreen areas filled with trees and gardens. Theonly thing that might tell a passerby, that the

park area hes passing by is actually a Shintoshrine, is the traditional toriileading into thearea. The toriiis a sacred gateway, consistent ofa pair of posts topped by two crossbars, one ofwhich extends beyond the uprights. The toriimarks the boundary between the impure, outer,secular world and the holy ground of the shrine.In passing through it, a visitor symbolically un-dergoes a ritual of purification.

The Shinto shrines are calledjinja, and differ in

size from huge building complexes, to a tinyrooftop shrine. A typicaljinja consists of two

buildings, the honden(sanctuary) which holdsthe image of the kamito which the shrine isdedicated and is rarely, if ever, visited by lay-

people, and the haiden(oratory).There will alsobe some storehouses and outer houses beforewhich worshipers pray and make offerings.Many shrines also have one or more huge Cam-

phor trees on the premises, these trees who canbecome up to a thousand years old, are often re-garded as sacred. The torii, some buildings andtrees are usually decorated withgobei, paired

The most famous torii in Japan is in the sea off tothe island of Miyajima and marks the entrance tothe shrine of Itsukushima. Visitors must passthrough the gateway by boat before entering the

The sacred Camphor tree in the background is over

800 year old, growing on premises of the KumanoNachi Taisha shrine.


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strips of paper, each torn in four places to symbolize the presence of kami. Another decora-tion is theshimenawa,a rope of interwoven strands of rice straw used to mark a place con-sidered sacred.

Shinto has no ethical code of its own. They emphasize only afew, but very important, tenets for righteous living. Respectfor tradition, clan, family and the purity of the heart. A mansheart (kokoro) can become polluted, and so he starts doingthings poorly and sloppily. A hardened kokoromakes a personturn in on himself, sulking, refusing to openly and politely re-late to others. Then man needs to be purified, just as in myth,the deity Izanami purified himself by taking a bath in the riverHi. The purification is both by literary washing away the dirt,as well as cleansing ones attitudes, in order to act with genuine"sincerity" (makoto) toward others. The great importance of

ones attitude is stated in a Japanese proverb: "Both sufferingand happiness depend on how we bear ourkokoro(kurushimu mo tanoshimu mo kokoro no mochiy).2

The Shinto calendar has a great many local and national festi-vals and rituals. A festival is called a matsuri, and possibly thegreatest matsuriis the purifying ritual of o-harai(great-cleansing). O-haraihas an ancient tradition from the 6 thcen-tury and takes place two times a year, the last of June and lastof December. It is a ritual (In my opinion not entirely unlike

the annual Old Testament ritual of cleansing) where that which is despicable by the kamiistaken away. Simplified; food is offered up to the kami, and afterwards a priest waves a stickcalled the kiri-nusa, over the congregation. After collecting the impurities from the people,the priest hack the kiri-nusainto little pieces and throw them into the shrine brook, wherethey flout away into nothingness. The people can now go home, they are cleansed and puri-fied.

There is also an old rural ritual concerned with both purification and revitalization, the Yu-tate Shinji(Hot water ritual), part of the Shimotsuki Matsuri(November Festival). A hot bathis prepared and the kamiare invited to come and bathe in it. The water, now full of divine

power, is splashed on people to rejuvenate them during the cold winter.

Every traditional Japanese home has a miniature shrine, or kamidana(god-shelf). This con-tains a small replica of a hondenwith the names of family ancestors who are honored askami. An elderly member of the household, often the grandmother, tends the kamidanaby

placing on it each morning small cups of sak (rice wine), and small dishes containing riceand vegetables. At shrines priests distribute similar offerings, because all kamimust be nour-ished to be favorable.

Two of the greatest shrines in Japan are the shrine of Ise, and theMeiji-jinguin Tokyo.While Ise is one of the most ancientjinjasin all of Japan, theMeiji-jinguwas constructed aslate as 1920 to honor the great emperor Mutsuhito Meiji. A special place is the Yasukunitemple on the Kudan hill in central Tokyo. It is a monument over all the soldiers that died

Shinto shrines are built to framenature. This is the Nachi waterfall,133m high, the highest waterfall inJapan, and believed to be a power-ful kami.


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before and during the WWII. During the Yasukuni matsurispeople from all over Japan cometo venerate relatives that died on the battlefield. Since these died, gloriously sacrificingthemselves for the emperor, they have become kami, and received Yasukuni as their splen-dorous dwelling.

Anime

How then can Shinto conceptions and myths be found in contemporary Anime? I will nowpresent and analyze four different Animes: three movies made by the same director, the leg-endary Hayao Miyazaki of studio Ghibli, and a series by studio Bones, the 26 episodes epic:Rah-Xephon.

Hayao Miyazaki is legendary in Japan and his works has reached the highest level of popu-larity. His genius lies in his knack of transformation and transfusion. He transforms and rein-

vigorates Shinto beliefs for a contemporary audience, and uses elements out of Japanesemyth such as dragons and kamias inspiration for his characters. He creates a hybrid Japanesemodern myth that is accessible to post-modern audiences all over the world. Hayao Miya-zaki became renowned, even through the western world, when his films Princess Mononoke,and Spirited Away, distributed by Disney, became over night hits. As I write this, his nextmovie Howl's Moving Castle, is being dubbed from Japanese to English and will premierin the west during the summer of 2005.

Rah-Xephon is a very complex and interesting Anime series, and will probably always becompared to its genre predecessor Neon Genesis Evangelion. Even thou I personally thinkthat Rah-Xephon is the superior one; many will se it as nothing more than an Evangelion

copycat. Evangelion used imagery from the Judeo/Christian religions, and freely lootedwestern occultism, and mangled it all into unrecognizability, which was sometimes prettycool. But it had a story that was almost incomprehensible. Rah-Xephon is just as deep, inter-esting (and sometimes confusing), but as opposed to Evangelion, after having seen the entireseries you can actually look back on it, and it all makes sense.

Rah-Xephon 2002

An interdimensional epic

Rah-Xephon features an interdimensional epic, across time andspace, with cosmic significance. A few years back, earth was at-tacked by an alien race from another dimension called the Mu.They wiped out all of humanity except from the ones living inTokyo, over which, human scientists managed to erect a protec-tive force field dome. Every now and then the Mu manages to

break through the dome, but the Tokyo military defends the citywithout too much trouble. Ayato is an ordinary high school stu-dent, living with his mother, who has a high ranking position in the governments. One daysome government agents come for him, but he is saved by a mysterious woman named Ha-ruka. She kills the agents and Ayato is chocked to discover that they have blue blood. Ha-

ruka tells Ayato that everything he thinks he knows is a lie, but Ayato, not trusting her, runsaway. Suddenly the Mu attack again and in the bedlam of battle Ayato escapes the carnage

Ayato, getting scolded.


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into some undisclosed government facility. There he stumbles uponthe Rah-Xephon which is a mecha, a giant robot, a fighting machineof superior ability. Ayato ends up connecting with it, and defeatsthe attacking forces. But Harukas words have sown a seed of doubt,and with power of the Rah-Xephon he penetrates the dome to the

outside world.

Outside he learns that the world is safe and sound. Actually it is To-kyo that is occupied by the Mu, and they have raised the force field

dome to prevent earths united forces, the TERRA, to attack and take Tokyo back. With hisnew mecha he pledges his allegiance to TERRA and works towards the destruction of theMu. Then he makes the horrible discovery, that he himself has blue blood. Is he himself aMu?

The human and divine

The truly interesting part of the series comes towards theend. Rah-Xephon turns out to be something much morethan just a fighting machine. It was actually built by a gen-ius Mu scientist for the purpose of tuning the world, inessence, reshaping it into something else, hopefully some-thing better and less twisted, but it all depends on who con-trols the tuning process.

Towards the end Ayato merges with Rah-Xephon to pro-duce something much akin to a god or a powerful kami.The Mu send out a female counterpart, also necessary for

the tuning, and they fight, to determine what kind of world is to be created. Will it be aworld for the Mu, or the earthlings, will it bea world of war, or one of peace. Like somewar crazed Izanagi and Izanami they fightuntil Ayato finally finds love in his heartand defeat his female counterpart, absorbingher power. And so the world is destroyed inwhat looks like a huge nuclear explosion,

becoming an egg. The world has ones againbecome a chaotic mass like an egg, theprimeval state of chaos described in theNi-

honshoki. Ayato, his heart filled with loveand longing for peace, tunes the world,

and it becomes something beautiful, with a newlyborn baby as the last symbolic picture.

The last images of Rah-Xephon reminds of theChristian hope for a new heaven and new earthin the book of revelation. But in Christianity, thehope for such a future world of peace and har-mony is solely based on the power and mercy of

God, not on man or technology. The very thought,of man being able to reform the universe in such a

Rah-Xephon, the mecka.

Ayato merges with Rah-Xephon toproduce something much morethan mere man.

The final showdown between the Mu and the humans isjust about to begin.

Like some war crazed Izanagi and Izanami

Rah-Xephon and his female counterpart slugsit out, to the death.


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drastic way, is much easier to conceive in a Shintocontext than in a Judeo/Christian one. In Shinto eve-rything is spirit, the whole cosmos is kami, andtherefore, even humans, can rise to become thechangers of worlds. In a Judeo/Christian setting

where the absolute power, otherness and holiness ofGod are promoted, the thought of man ever doingsuch a thing is much harder to envision. There issimply an impenetrable wall between the human andthe divine, between the created and its creator. Manis not to play God! (Even thou the western man ofcourse likes to do so anyway, but there is a greater

psychological gap to bridge. And in the west themanmade utopias has not the divine quality thatseems to be the case in the east.)

There are many examples in Japanese Animewhere humans gain special powers, sometimesalmost divine ones, through technological means,such as drugs, genetic engineering, cyborg im-

plements etc, or through spiritual means, as psy-chic powers, special sacred techniques etc, orthrough a combination of both. A classic Animein this genre is the cult film Akira, a film I canrecommend, both for study and enjoyment. Some

other Animes where humans gain divine or atleast supernatural powers are: Kurau PhantomMemory, Ghost in the Shell, Iria - Zeiram, theviolent Elfen Lied, Escaflowne, Lost Universe,Outlaw Star, Read or Die, Candidate for God-dess, and the most famous of them, already mentioned, Neon Genesis Evangelion. There aremany more. That the theme of human divinisation should be so common, is not surprisingwhen one looks upon the human and the divine, not as different in kind, but in degree.

The whole world explodes in a huge nu-clear-like explosion, and a new world is

born. There seems to be some kind of com-mon fascination for nuclear-explosions,

perhaps because of the bombings during theWWII. These explosions can be seen inmany different animes, and are used inmany symbolic ways. The end of Akira is aclassic example.

The world has once again become a chaoticmass like an egg, the primeval state of chaosdescribed in the Nihonshoki

A baby, the symbolic hope for a new future, in peaceand harmony.


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Hayao Miyazakis: My Neighbor Totoro. (Tonari no Totoro) 1988

All of Hayao Miyazakis films have been huge hits in Ja-pan, but one of them is extra cherished, the childrensstory of Totoro. It is a simple story about Mei and Sat-

suki who lives with their dad out in the country, close tothe forest. They are all anxiously waiting for their sickmother to come home from the hospital. Mei and Sat-suki befriend some of the kamiof the forest, first amongthem the giant, cuddly, teddy-bear-like Totoro. He be-comes their friend, takes them on adventures and helpsout in some difficult situations.

A measurement of the films popularity can be seen from that it has had its own museum foryears, and an exact replica of Mei and Satsuki's house is right now involved in a tug-of-waras several cities want to host the building. Among them is Hayao Miyazakis home town To-korozawa, that wants to bring this house back to our city, the hometown of TOTORO. Wethink many of the worldwide fans of TOTORO would agree that the house should be relo-

cated where it really belongs.31

Totoro, a very cute kami

The movie, My Neighbour Totoro, has a pretty low pace and is very cute. One can under-stand why small children all over the world love this film. The kamiare presented as verycute and comical, and if you dont know enough of the Shinto background, you can easilydismiss them as just amusing forest animals. Still there is no mistake that Totoro is the spiritking of the forest and the guardian kamiof the area.

One day when out in the garden, Mei discov-ers some strange, animal looking kami, whichshe follows in under the garden bushes and upa small forest path. She arrives at a great sa-cred Camphor tree, and search for the littlekamis, who seems to have disappear. She dis-covers a hole in the tree trunk and reachingfor an acorn falls into it. She lands softly on agreen carpet of moss, discovering that she isinside the tree and that she is not alone. A

huge creature lies sleeping in an alcove

nearby. Unafraid Mei climbs up the furrything, and after introductions (When asked hisname, the being growls something that soundslike Totoro), Mei falls asleep on his giant

belly.

Mei is waked by her big sister Satsuki, sleep-ing in the shrubbery near the house. She des-

perately tries to show her big sister Satsuki thepath to the giant Camphor tree, but it hasmagically disappeared. Satsuki laughs at her

Studio Ghiblies logo, with Totoro.

Mei discovers a hole in the tree trunk

Mei climbs up on Totoros big belly and makes intro-ductions.


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and Mei, flustered starts crying. But their dad comforts her, and tells her that he doesnt be-lieve she is lying, and explains to her: You certainly met the lord of this forest. That is avery lucky thing. But it is not always possible to find him. Still they go to give him greet-ings.

The Shinto JinjaDad knows where to go.He takes them for a walk tothe forest. They come to anold torii,which signifiesthe presence of a Shinto

jinja. Behind it is stairsleading into the forest.They walk up the stairs,

passing by an old spirithouse, (small clay or stonehouses constructed forkamito reside in) and seethe giant Camphor tree.The tree is decorated with a

shimenawarope symboliz-ing the presence of kami.Just next to the tree is a very old and simple shrine. Filled with joy Mei runs to the tree, butshe cant seem to find the hole. Dad tells her again that its because you cant always meethim but that they shall all meet him later on if they are lucky. He then makes the girl stand atattention and addresses the tree: Mei has already relied on you! From now on, we too would

be pleased to make your acquaintance. after which they bow in respect and then race eachother home.

The next day, while waiting for their father, whois on a late bus from town, they meet Totoroagain. Evidently even a kamineeds to take the

bus from time to time J, because hes suddenlystanding there, next to them at the bus stop. Itsraining, so they let Totoro borrow their umbrella,which he happily accepts. He gives them a gift inreturn. Suddenly Totoros bus arrives, and it is not

just any kind of bus, but a cat bus, normally in-visible to human eyes.

King of nature

When the children open Totoros gift they find,wrapped in bamboo leaves, and tied with a dragon

beard, a lot of tree acorns and seeds. They plant theseeds in their garden, thinking it would be great tohave some trees, but even after quit a few daysthey havent sprouted. One evening, Mei asks dad

if the seeds will sprout the next day, and he an-swers that he doesnt know, but he bets that Totoro

Right in front of Mei is the old Jinja, and to the left is the huge Camphor tree,decorated with a with a shimenawa rope symbolizing the presence of kami.

Satsuki gives it all shes got and the seeds sprout.

Totoro and the children, waiting at the bus stop.


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knows. That night Totoro comes to visit thegarden. Mei and Satsuki wake up and seeTotoro and his small kamifriends doing somekind of ritual, walking around the tree seeds,they run out to join them in the fun. They

imitate Totoros praying stance, and suddenlythe seeds start to sprout. The harder they try,the more seeds sprout, until the tree growsinto gigantic proportions overshadowing theentire garden. Satisfied with his work, Totorotakes the girls on an adventure, flying acrossthe country like the wind on his spinning top.

The next morning when the girls wake up, they run out into the garden, there is no giant tree,it is gone, but the seeds have all sprouted. They dance around the seedlings shouting It was

just like a dream, but it wasnt a dream.

It is easy to see that Miyazakis is heavilyinspired by the Shinto worldview. It isevident that Totoro is a kami, or ratherhis very cute character is created from theidea of forest kami. During the end cred-its, there is a song, where one of the stro-

phes goes: Totoro he has lived in theforest since ancient times... if you ever

meet him, it is wonderful fortune. Totorois more than just a cuddle and cute forest

animal; he is the lord of the forest. Helives inside a sacred tree, and looks outfor those that make his acquaintance. Hehas power over the wind and can make seedlings sprout; he is over all a true giver of life, butnot all knowing, nor all powerful, just like the ancient kami.

Sacred trees

The sacred Camphor trees are not only portrayed in My Neighbour Totoro but are popularand powerful symbols in other anime as well. In the very popular series Tenchi Muyo theimperial family (of the galactic empire) is linked to special sacred trees, so called Jurai trees,who has en inconceivable amount of power, making the imperial line the most powerful

family in the known universe. Inanother famous anime, Inu Yasha, aCamphor tree at a Shintojinjaisused to travel back and forward intime. Since the tree has such an-cient roots, it has the inherent

power to warp time and space, andsend anyone back or forward to theancient times when gods and de-mons (oni) roamed Japan.

Totoro roars in the wind, as he takes the girls onadventure, flying across the country on his spinningtop.

Totoros magic cat bus, normally invisible to human eyes.

Mei at the sacred Champor tree, looking for the hole.


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Hayao Miyazakis: Princess Mononoke.(Monomoke hime) 1997

In the past, humans hesitated when they took lives, even non-human

lives. But society had changed, and they no longer felt that way. As

humans grew stronger, I think that we became quite arrogant, los-

ing the sorrow of "we have no other choice." I think that in the es-

sence of human civilization, we have the desire to become rich

without limit, by taking the lives of other creatures. Hayao Miyazaki 4

While My Neighbour Totoro is a lovable movie for children Princess Mononoke is clearly afilm for the adult. It has great depths of meaning, and there are plenty of scenes that arentappropriate for young children.

Hayao Miyazaki has a great respect for nature, and in his stories ha lets his kamiemerge outof, and represent nature. He has been known to say that we should treasure everything be-cause gods and spirits might exist there5and this worldview is palpable in all of his films,from his earliest, Nausicaa, to his latest Spirited Away. An elementary theme in each film isthe hero or heroines awed appreciation of nature. However, the relationship between hu-mans and nature is not always harmonious.

The conflict between man and nature

Humanity and nature are linked to eachother, in modern thought, by being part of

the same ecosystem, and in Shinto thought,by being of the same universal spirit. Stillmodern man separates himself from natureand uses it as a tool for his own endeavours.Miyazaki is very much aware of this in hiswork and says in an interview about PrincessMononoke that Ive come to the point where

I just cant make a movie without addressing

the problem of humanity as part of an eco-

system6Man, separated from nature, easilyends up destroying the natural environment (Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke) or simply

becomes a stranger to nature via the inevitable separation that comes with urbanisation(Totoro and Spirited Away). Princes Mononoke is the story of the destruction of the kamibymodern man.

Ashitaka is the prince of a tribe living in the north east ofJapan. One day a huge kamiboar, turned demon, attackshis village and he has to defend it. But in slaying the de-mon he is also cursed by it. Inside the dead boar they finda round piece of metal, laying in there, always aching andthrobbing, it had driven the boar mad until he had suc-cumbed to fear and hate and turned into a demon. Thewise woman of the village cast pieces of bones to divinethe wishes of the gods, and she charges Ashitaka to travel

A huge kami, turned demon, attacks Ashitakas village,and he has to defend it.

Princess Mononoke, the Possessedprincess, raised by the wolf god.


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west for the source of this metal ball and to seewith eyes unclouded by hate. He cuts of his tophair knot, thus renouncing himself from his tribe,and travels west to find his destiny.

Ashitaka soon comes across a village of iron min-ers, the Tataraba, who are trying to build themselvesa new future out in the wilderness. But the wilddoes not want them there. They are being relent-

lessly attacked by the wolf god and her tree children, two wolfs and a human girl. The girlsname is San, but she is called Princess Mononoke (Possessed Princess) by the villagers, andhas been raised by the wolf god.

The Tataraba are led by a female named LadyEboshi, who is trying to create a sanctuary for humanoutcasts. She is as passionate about protecting her

people as she is ruthless about annihilating the kamithat stand in her way. She is in every sense, a trulymodern human. Miyazaki comments: What Eboshiis trying to do is to build a paradise as she thinks of

it. Hence, she is a person of the 20th century. She has

a clear ideal and can take action. And if she was in-

terfered with she wouldn't hesitate to kill, sacrifice,

or even sacrifice herself.7

The forest is ruled by the great forest spirit, Shishi-

gami, a deer like kamithat changes into a huge, tree-towering giant during the nights, called the nightwalker. Shishigamiis both a giver of life and a

bringer of death. Where he walks, nature flourishesand dies, in an eternal circle of life. Even the wolfgod and her allies are in awe of the Shishigami.There is also a group of forest spirits that does notseem to care, or even be aware of the war, the child-like and quite eerie kodama.

Suddenly the wolf god is reinforced by the huge

tribe of boar gods. They have come to make alast stand against humanity, and so the war be-gins, and the age of the kamidraws to a close.Along side the war there is also a mysteriousgroup of men, sent out by the emperor himself,to return with the head of the Shishigamiwhichis believed to render its owner immortality.

Ashitaka tries to see with eyes unclouded byhate (Eboshi laughs scornfully at him when hesays that) and work as a mediator between the

forces of humans and the kamiof nature. Bothsides comment several times that Ashitaka must

The great wolf god.

The old white boar. King of the boar tribe. He is aNushi, a term used to refer to an exceptionally bigand old creature. The belief is that such creatures ac-cumulate special powers as they grow older , andtherefore they are called the nushi of a place to showrespect.

Shishi Gami, the Great Spirit of the forest. Duringthe day he has the shape of an elk, and during thenight he changes into the giant nightwalker.


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be on the other side, when he is trying desperatelyto convince everyone that there are no sides.

The destruction of the kami

After some initial skirmishes, a mystifying meet-

ing between Ashitaka and the Great Spirit Shishi-gami, and some more serious trouble, the boargods attack the humans in huge numbers. But thehumans, led by Lady Eboshi, are more than readyfor them. The boar gods might be kamiwith an-cient powers, but the humans have tamed fire, guns

and explosives. In a huge battle the boars areslaughtered to the very last one. But Eboshi is notsatisfied. With a group of her best hunters she entersthe forest, looking for Shishigami. She finds theGreat Spirit inside a sacred glade, just turning intothe nightwalker. Cocky, she yells to her menWatch closely, this is how you kill a god! andfires, beheading the Shishigami.The humans takethe head and run, but the headless nightwalker turnsinto some kind of amoeba-like monster, devouringeverything around it for miles, the forest and themining colony, looking for its lost head. FinallyAshitaka manages to get the head back, and thenightwalker is ones again complete. But it is too

late, the sun is rising, and as the first light of dawnpunches through the weakened nightwalker, he fallsand dies, dispersing its divine life giving power overthe forest. The forest blooms ones again, but thegreat kamiare gone, it is now a safe, tamed forest.

Mononoke is set in the Muromachi era (1392-1573).Among other things this was a time of great turmoilwhen the relationship between man and nature wasradically changed in Japan. Firearms had been im-

ported by the Portuguese in 1543 and the Iron Agewas dawning. Miyazaki however, is not attemptinghistorical realism; rather, he tries to illustrate a powershift in the ever increasing conflict between natureand the newly industrialised humans. Miyazaki ex-

plains:

I think that the Japanese did kill Shishi Gami around the time of the Muromachi era. And

then, we stopped being in awe of forests. Well, I don't know if it was really during the Muro-

machi era or not, as there would certainly be regional differences, but at least from ancient

times up to a certain time in the medieval period, there was a boundary beyond which hu-

mans should not enter. Within this boundary was our territory, so we ruled it as the human'sworld with our rules, but beyond this road, we couldn't do anything even if a crime has been

The forest spirits called kodama are child-likeand quite eerie

The boars attack, only to be met by explosives.And in a huge battle, they are slaughtered to thevery last one.

Lady Eboshi and one of her hunters. Thenewly industrialized humans have masteredthe magic of fire, and so, through death, theymake themselves the gods of a new era.


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committed, since it was no longer the hu-

man's world... ...As we gradually lost the

awareness of such holy things, humans

somehow lost their respect for nature. This

film deals with such a process in its en-

tirety... ...This film is just reenacting whathumans have done historically. After Shishi

Gami's head was returned, nature regener-

ated. But it has become a tame, non-

frightening forest of the kind that we are ac-

customed to seeing. The Japanese have

been remaking the Japanese landscape in

this way.8

No happy ending

The film ends on a note of sorrow and melancholy. The conflict is not resolved. Ashitaka,torn between his wish to protect nature, but at the same time unable to turn a blind eye to thestarving humans, caries the conflict with him, as a thorn in his side. Miyazaki explains:

It is a thorn that stuck in Ashitaka without being resolved. Ashitaka is the kind of person who

is willing to live with the thorn. So, I think that Ashitaka is a person of the 21st century... ...In

our daily lives, things that humans can do to protect nature are limited... Ashitaka has no

choice but to suffer and live, while being torn between such conflicts. That's the only path

human beings can take from now on.9

Miyazaki evidently thinks of Ashitaka as thepost-modern man, who must always live withthe consequences of modern man, mighty yet

powerless, always longing for that harmonythat can not be restored. Miyazakis criticismof modern Japan can be seen as a criticism ofthe entire modern project, throughout the en-tire world:

The place where pure water is running in the

depth of the forest in the deep mountains,

where no human has ever set foot - Japanesehad long held such a place in their heart We have lost it. I'm not interested in Japan as

a state. But I feel that we have lost our core as the people who live in this island nation ...

It's not like we can coexist with nature as long as we live humbly, and we destroy it because

we become greedy. When we recognize that even living humbly destroys nature, we don't

know what to do. And I think that unless we put ourselves in the place where we don't know

what to do and start from there, we cannot think about environmental issues or issues con-

cerning nature.10

Lady Eboshi holds the head of the Shishi Gami, and eve-rywhere around her, the kodama falls to the ground.

The weakened nightwalker is hit by the light of dawn,and falls to its death.


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Hayao Miyazakis: Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) 2001

Spirited Away is a story of discovery. It is the story of how Chihiro, a typical Japanese urbanchild, came to discover an entire world, filled with powers, that she had no idea existed. Atthe same time it is a story of inner discover as throughout the film Chihiro matures and

comes to a deeper understanding of herself. It is also a journey of discovering the environ-mental issues of the modern world, and how they are interconnected with the kami.

The kami are not gone

Spirited Away takes a more positive stance, thenPrincess Mononoke, on the continuous life ofkamiin modern Japan. This echoes of reality, be-cause even thou the process of secularization is a

powerful one, the old Shinto faith is still practicedaround Japan, and with the post-modern currents

presently challenging the naturalistic rationalityof modernity, the old religions are once againgaining followers. The name Chihiro is composedof chi =1000, hiro = "inquire, fathom, look for,"so Chihiro can mean "looking deeply," or"inquiring after many things".11This is very appropriate, because in Spirited Away Chihirorepresent the typical Japanese child, unaware of her cultural and spiritual heritage, who dis-covers that the kamiare not gone. Rather, they are still an active and dynamic force behindthe curtains of the world.

The film starts with a sullen Chihiro, glooming in the

backseat of the car. The entire family is moving to anew town, and Chihiro doesnt want to leave herfriends, and she is scared of the new and unknown.When dad gets lost on the way to the new house, as atypical male he wont stop and ask for directions,(interesting how this male characteristic seems to becross cultural J ) instead he pushes the four wheel drivecar onto a small forest road. Chihiro is the first to sensethat something is wrong, but her parents will not listento her.

At the start of the old forest road there is anold toriileaning against a huge Camphortree, marking that this was ones the gatewayinto a sacred area. And at the ground, thereare tons of small spirit houses. As the carhurls itself through the forest Chihiro makesgoggled eyes upon a grinning statue by theside of the road. The squat statue seems toleer and grimace at her; however it isclosely modeled onDouso-jin, a roadsideShinto kamiand protector of travelers. Stat-

ues of this kamiwere often put at theboundary of a village or at crossroads to in-

The old torii is leaning against a Camphor tree, mark-ing that this was ones the portal to a sacred place.

Spirit houses, small clay or stone housesmade for kami to dwell in.

The squat, leering statue is closely modeled on Douso-jin,a roadside Shinto kami and protector of travelers.


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dicate the right direction. From the symbolic subtext it is clear that the family is moving,from the secular into the sacred, from the known into the unknown.

The realm of the kami

Finally the family has to leave the car and walk,

and as they walk through a tunnel-like buildingand across a dry riverbed, they end up in a strange,

but seemingly deserted world. Chihiros parentsthink that it is an old theme park, abandoned longago. Dad explains to Chihiro: They built so manyof them you see. And perhaps it is not strange formodern man to regard the world of the kamias aman made fantasy world, just as antiquated as anold theme park.

They are just about to leave when Chihiros par-ents smell the wonderful scent of food. They findan unattended food stall, in an abandoned mar-ketplace, and starts eating despite Chihiros pro-tests. She leaves them to explore and as day turnsto dusk she meets a young boy named Haku. Hetells her to leave immediately, but when she re-turns to her parents they have been turned intotwo big slobbering pigs, and the riverbed is filledwith water, turning it into a great ocean. And asnight falls, the old world of kamicomes alive

againThe last phrase in the Japanese title Sen to Chihiro no kami-kakushiexplicitly indicatesthe hidden realm of the kami. It can be literally translated as "something hidden by kami.There is an old Japanese expression: kami-kakushi ni au(to experience kami-kakushi), whichrefers to those incidents when a person is mysteriously missing for some time. If that personreturns without remembering being gone, that person has been "hidden by the kami."12

In this hidden realm, shadows materialize in frontof Chihiros eyes and turn into all kinds of crea-tures imaginable. Everywhere, there is color, life

and laughter. A huge barge arrive on the riverbed,and at first there seems to be no one on it, but af-ter a while, behind floating paper masks there are,materializing from thin air, even more beings ar-riving for the party.

Unable to leave, Chihiro is now comforted andhelped by Haku. Soon she is forced to apply forwork at the huge bathhouse that dominates thearea. This is the focal point for all the arriving be-ings, run by the pitiless witch Yubaba (yu= "hot

water," baba= "old woman").13

At first, Chihirois not welcome, Yubaba sneers at her and says,

Chihiros parents think that the realm of thekami is an old theme park.

As punishment for eating food that wasnttheirs, Chihiros parents have been turned intotwo slobbering pigs.

The apparitions wear classic Japanese court attirewith white "kasuga sama" masks. These masksappear to be the same as those masks worn at"bugaku" performances offered at Kasuga-jinja in

Nara prefecture.


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This is no place for humans. Its a bathhouse whereeight million gods can rest their weary bones. So thecreatures are kami, come to rest and get purified. ButChihiro persists, and she gets a job cleaning the bath-house. When Chihiro signs the employee contract, Yu-

baba steals Chihiro's name, and she is given a newone: Sen. This is a typical example of word and namemagic. In many cultures all over the world it is be-lieved that if you know the true name, of something orsomeone, you can also control it.

Sen, bereft of her true identity, finds good friends in ayoung, confident woman named Lin, and in an old

man, living in the basement of the bathhouse where he is in charge of the boiler. His name isKama-ji ( kama="iron pot, boiler;"ji = "old man")14and has multiple spider-like armswhich he uses to perform his duties.

Environmental restoration

According to Miyazaki the inspiration for the bath-house comes from the old Shinto ritual of YutateShinjiwhere kamibathing water, is splashed on

peoples to rejuvenate them during the cold winter.Miyazaki has in a genius way transformed the ideasand practices of Shinto for his contemporary audi-ence, and infused it with a passion for environ-mental concerns. The idea of the film seems to be

that even the kamithemselves can be rejuvenated and reenergized by being once again puri-fied. The kamihas not been killed off by the rational thought of the modern world. They arestill around, and through environmental work and caring for nature, mankind can once againconnect to this lost part of her existence.

The films best example of kamirestoration is the purification of the stink god. This scene isalmost the perfect analogy for an ecological undertaking. Miyazaki describes his inspirationfor this scene, which is very close to what happens in the anime:

No, it doesnt come from mythology, but from my own experience. There is a river close to

where I live in the countryside. When they cleaned the river we got to see what was at the

bottom of it, which was truly putrid. In the river there was a bicycle with its wheel stickingout above the surface of the water. So

they thought it would be easy to pull out,

but it was terribly difficult because it had

become so heavy from all the dirt it had

collected over the years. Now theyve

managed to clean up the river, the fish

are slowly returning to it, so all is not

lost. But the smell of what they dug up

was really awful. Everyone had just been

throwing stuff into that river over the

years, so it was an absolute mess.15

Chihiro signs her employee contract, wit-nessed by Yubabas three "bouncing heads".These heads are reminiscent of darumadolls(representing Bodhisdharma), oryoukai, akind of human-like goblins.

Kama-ji, in charge of the boiler room.

The arrival of the stink god.


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In the film Sen is given the task of cleaningthe stink god (cause no one else wants to doit.) She works up her courage and does sowhen she finds that the god has a thorn inhis side. Yubaba rallies the entire staff to

help Sen pull out the thorn. It happens to bethe handle of a bicycle, and when they fi-nally get it loose, a flood of garbage and de-

bris pour out of the stink God. There areamong other stuff old steel bars, oil barrelsand microwaves, the trash of modern soci-ety. With the blocking garbage gone, an old

kamiwooden mask surfaces from the water. The face says Well done and gives Chihiro aball of bitter substance that appears to hold self-knowledge. Finally, out of the water comesthe radiant, powerful dragon of a river kami, it flies out into the night, pure, powerful andfree.

Identity and self-understanding

Even larger than the issue of environmental care is thequestion about identity and self-understanding. In the film,Miyazaki has included an eerie being, which seems to bethe very anti thesis of a complete and stable self; a creaturecalled No face. I think that No face has many charac-teristics in common with the lonely man of the modernworld, isolated, seen by no one and therefore being noone. Sen first notices No face outside the bathhouse, and

it seems like she is the only one who can see him. Helooks like a black shadow with a white mask. Because shecan see him No face gets very attracted to her andwants to follow her into the bathhouse. Thinking it is acustomer she opens the door, and then forgets about it.No face is a very lonely creature, since no onenotices him, he has no one to relate to, and there-fore he has no true identity. He exists in an exis-tential and relational limbo. Even Sen seems notto notice him, and No face, frustrated takes mat-ter into his own hands. He finds that he can create

gold from his hand palms, and he tricks a lonebathhouse worker, a frogman, to get close to him.He then eats him, and so gains a voice. Since hehas no own identity, he has to eat those aroundhim to be someone, to be able to communicate.

The entire bathhouse goes crazy with joy over the new costumer who has springs of gold inhis palms, but Chihiro, who must hurry on an errand, is not interested. Gold can not buy herfriendship, and that is the only thing the discouraged No face really wants. Instead shefeeds him the ball of self-knowledge she gained from the river god, and when No facerealizes who he is: a no one, he gets sick, and disgorges everything and everyone he has

eaten, until he once again is a small dark shadow. To the great dissatisfaction of Yubaba, allthe gold that No face left them suddenly turns into mud, it was never real. Now, small and

Lin is leaning in through the door, looking for her friendChihiro among all the junk.

No face tricks a frogman intocoming close, and then eats him.

No face eats everything around him, andswells into monstrous proportions.


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insignificant, No face follows Chihiro on her er-rant, and possibly here is the start of a new andtrue friendship, that might, in time, give No facehis own voice and identity.

Chihiro also help Haku realize his real identity,that story can also be seen as another one of Miya-zakis criticisms of the modern ways. One day Chi-hiro sees a great river dragon flying in the sky andwithout thinking she cries out Haku. Later, shesuddenly remembers, how she could possibly have

known that it was him. It is knowledge from the real world. When she was little she oncefell into a river and almost drowned, but was saved by that rivers kami, a great river dragon.Chihiro explains to Haku: She [mom] said they drained it and built things on top, but Ive

just remembered. The river was called its name was the Kohaku River. Your real name is

Kohaku. Knowing his own name, Kohaku is freed from yubabas power, he has regained hisidentity, even thou the river is no more. Perhaps that was why Yubaba could enslave even a

powerful river god; he had been horribly weakened by the draining of his river. Filling riv-ers, and building on them, is common practice in Japan where real estate is a very valuablecommodity.

Towards the end of the film, remembering her ownname, Chihiro breaks free of Yubabas power and by arisky game of wits; she manages to get her parents out aswell. They walk back through the park and find their carwhere they left it. Her surprised parents find a layer of

dust on it, they dont remember anything.Identity through relationships

It is very interesting to see that the film endorse, not some kind of inner search for yourself,but rather that you should reach out, facing obstacles in a brave manner, and find yourself inrelation to others. Throughout the film Chihiro faces her challenges and her character ma-tures and is purified. She is no longer the sulking child in the backseat. She and her parentshave been "hidden by the kami" and through that process her kokoro(heart) has attained ma-koto(sincerity) toward others and the world.

This message is clearer for a Japanese audience than for a western one, therefore, in the

dubbed English version, when they are driving away in their car, Chihiros dad asks her if sheis up to the challengesof a new home and newschool. Chihiro re-sponds "I think I canhandle it."16

No face offers Chihiro huge amounts of gold,but she is not interested.

Haku, in his guise as human and river dragon. In some respects Hakus charactercan be seen as the embodiment of traditional Japanese values. His clothes resem-

bles those of the Heian period, he wears something similar to a Shinto priests for-mal robes. Also, his speech is formal and traditional.

Yubaba on a bad hairday


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Missiological approach

With this knowledge, of Shinto myth, history and contemporary manifestations; how then tocommunicate the gospel to Japanese culture? I definitely do not imagine that I will be able to

give the answer to that question. I would need to live in Japan for a couple of years and thor-oughly study the culture first. I can however present some tentatively theories and sugges-tions.

First of all, we may not forget, that even thou Shinto is still strong in Japan, the majority ofthe Japanese are secularized, with only rudimentary knowledge about Shinto. Of course,even the secularized have plenty of unconscious premises, inherited from Shinto, in theirworldview. The worldview of a christian Westerner and an ordinary Japanese is by all reck-onings vastly different but I believe it to be possible to find some common ground, some po-sitions of contact, so that a dialog can get started and the gospel explained.

To communicate, both parties must first be aware of some basic concepts. Perhaps the mostbasic concept in a religious dialog is the concept of God. There is such a huge difference be-tween the Judeo/Christian God and the Shinto gods, that perhaps one shouldnt even use thesame word for them. I think that we instead should import and use the word kami. Also, thehuge difference between monotheism and pantheism must be made clear, and the absolutecharacteristics of God must be explained. According to Christianity God is not part of theuniverse; he has created the universe and upholds it with the power of his word. It is true thatGods spirit permeates the universe, but the universe itself isnt God. Nevertheless, one cansee the Masters touch everywhere in nature. Therefore all of mankind can join in the awe ofnature, and give thanks, not to nature itself but to its creator.

[Later addition to the concept of God:During the seven months since I finished this workI have been thinking a lot about how to translate the concept of God into Japanese culture. Ifinally ended up reprimanding myself for cultural pride and have changed opinion some-what. In the history of the western church we have been fighting all pantheistic traits as her-esy for so long that we have forgotten something. We have often emphasized Gods transcen-dence on the expense of his immanence. And we have often emphasized God personal attrib-ute so strongly that we have forgotten how his immanent presence and power may be experi-enced in an impersonal way. We have therefore no cultural right to disqualify the Japaneseexperience of the divine. I still believe the Christian dogma to be true, not thanks to anywestern cultural superiority, but thanks to Gods self revelatory grace. I believe in an inclu-sive attitude rather than an exclusive one. By seeing the Japanese concept of an impersonal

all encompassing spirit as a true experience, of the immanent presence of the all encompass-ing personal God. Then the presentation of God could be based on something already experi-enced in Japanese culture. That it is, this same God, this same Spirit, who people all over theworld experience, each one according to his own history and culture, who by Himself has re-vealed who He is, through the person of Jesus Christ, a Jew (not a westerner), for the benefitand salvation of the whole world. Jews, Swedes and Japanese.]

There is another basic concept that might be hard to translate, the concept of sin. That isreally nothing new, because we have the same problem here in the west in our post-modernculture. Even if sin doesnt get distorted into sex, fun, shame or something else, peo-

ple simply dont regard themselves as sinners, thinking: Hey, Im just as good as the nextguy. My guess is that the Japanese people dont see themselves as sinners either. There are


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many reasons for this. Just a few generations ago they thought of themselves as divine, andsince then they have, with their own hands, rebuilt themselves from the ashes into an eco-nomic super power. Another factor is that they do not have laws as unattainable as the TenCommandments in their culture; rather the opposite as in Shinto, good and evil tend to losetheir meaning. They have therefore no meta-human moral code to wake them to an under-

standing of their own inability of righteousness. And finally, during the last century theyhave been hit from the west, first with the man centered humanism of the modern era andthen with the relativism of the post-modern era. How ever could they ever see themselves assinners, in need of divine intervention and forgiveness?

There might however be another way to present Christ, namely as Christos Victor, the glo-rious conqueror of death, Lord of all the powers (included among them, the kami), giver oflife, ruler of the earth. In Japanese culture those individuals, who give their own life, forfamily, clan and nation, are regarded as heroes, as the Yasukuni shrine is just one exampleof. Then the character of Jesus, his life, and his death, should be very intriguing. Here wehave a man, who gives his life, not only to save family or friends, but to save all of human-kind! Could there be a greater hero?

And perhaps there is a way to present sin in a comprehensible way as well. I feel I wouldhave to do much more research on this subject, but the o-harai(great-cleansing) ritual is inmy opinion not that different from the Old Testament annual atonement. The Jews sacrificedand transferred the sins of the people onto a goat, which was send into the wilderness. The

participators of the o-harai,sacrifices and transfers their sins into the kiri-nusa, which ishacked and washed away by water. In my opinion it would be good theology, and hopefullyculturally relevant, to perceive sin as the impurity in man that separates us from God. Thisimpurity keeps us from being able to meet God and build a relationship with him. But Jesus

Christ died on the cross for all mankind; he was the great kiri-nusaof all time, and his bodygot broken, just as the kirinusasticks. But Jesus conquered death, rose again, and now, any-one who believes in him, can have ones impurities washed away, by the purifying blood ofJesus and by his gift, the living water that flows from the heart (kokoro).

There are some other things in Christianity I think many Japanese would appreciate. Themyths of Shinto are clearly not historical, but the Bible as opposed has a very high level ofhistoricity. I think many modern Japanese would appreciate historical truth.

In Spirited Away, we saw how Chihiro matured and became a person with greater self-understanding by relating to others. I have no idea how widespread this idea is in Japan, but

this is very close to the Christian idea of identity. God is relationship and fellowship. Beforeanything had been created, the father, son and holy spirit of the trinity enjoyed fellowship,and loved each other. Fellowship between humans is part of being created as images ofGod. The ultimate human expression for this fellowship is the church (at least when it func-tions as it should.) A way to reach the Japanese heart should therefore be for the local Japa-nese congregations to truly pursue their divine mission and love thy neighbor as thyself.By doing so, they would authenticate other peoples identities (and their own for that matter)with the love of Christ.

Again I am only speculating, but perhaps the easiest way to show the love of Christ is to carefor the socially impoverished, those that dont have the energy to fulfill the ever increasing

demands of company and society. I think the church is called to work, with a social pathos,against the evils of modern society, no matter if is the destruction of nature or of man, it has


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to be opposed.

Finally, I believe, that in a society that abhors death and celebrates life, the news of the res-urrection and eternal life in Jesus Christ, must indeed be good new. Just as Shinto loves life,so God is not a God of the dead, but of the living. I think it is clear from animes like Neon

Genesis Evangelion and Rah-Xephon that the Japanese, as all of humanity, longs for a betterworld, a world of peace and harmony. The Christian faith has this hope; hope for a newheaven and a new earth. But that is not going to happen through man, neither with the helpof advanced technology nor mystical occultism; it is going to happen because God, the crea-tor of all, has promised to do so. That is indeed good news, for the Japanese and for the en-tire world.


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Notes

1) One could think that a story like this would convince the Shinto scribes that there exists a Hades-like after-life. But instead, through history, Shinto scribes have made great efforts explaining that the story of Izanami inYomi is inconsequential, and that there isnt a shred of evidence that Yomi really exists.

2) Boyd & Nishimura (2004).

3) Tokorozawa Junior Chamber, Inc. (2005)

4) Toyama, (1997).

5) Wright, (2004).

6) Wright, (2004).

7) Toyama, (1997).

8) Toyama, (1997).

9) Toyama, (1997).

10) Toyama, (1997).





15) Wright, (2004).



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References

Ashton, W. G. (Tr. 1896). The Nihongi (excerpts)at Sacred-texts.com.http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/nihon0.htm

Chamberlain, B.H. (Tr. 1882). The Kojiki (excerpts)at Sacred-Texts.com.http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/kojiki.htm

Ershammer, Selfrid. (1959). Shinto Gudarnas vg.Stockholm: Svenska Kyrkans Diakonisty-relses Bokfrlag.

Littleton, C. Scott. (2002). Understanding Shinto. London: Duncan Baird Publishers.

Toyama, Ryoko (1997).Interview: Hayao Miyazaki on Mononoke-himeat Nausicaa.net.http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/interviews/m_on_mh.html

Wright, Lucy. (2004). Wonderment and Awe: the Way of the Kami. at Refractory: A journalof entertainment media. http://www.refractory.unimelb.edu.au/journalissues/vol5/wright.html

Tokorozawa Junior Chamber, Inc. (2005) Welcome Home, Satsuki and Mei!http://www.tokorozawa-jc.or.jp/events/house/index_e.html

Boyd, James W. and Tetsuya Nishimura (2004). Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki's AnimeFilm "Spirited Away"at The Journal of Religion and Film. http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/Vol8No2/boydShinto.htm

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