erors of Japan have ever been held. It is, then, the countless heroes
and demi-gods of the mythological age referred to--the children of Izanagi
reigning over Japan, generation after generation, for many thousands of
years--that are the chief objects of Shinto veneration; for while it is
usual to speak of Shintoism as being a combination of ancestor-worship and
nature-worship, it would seem that the latter of these elements was
largely due to the contact of Japan with the Taouism of China, and with
metaphysical Buddhism. Thus the essential principle of Shintoism, it will
be seen, is closely akin to that filial piety, which forms so conspicuous
a feature in the religious, political, and social life of China, and
which--deserving as it is, in many ways, of respect and
admiration--presents, when carried to excess, so vast a hindrance to
development and progress.

"Shintoism," in the words of Diayoro Goh, Chancellor of the Japanese
Consulate General in London, "originated in the worship offered by a
barbarous people to the mythological persons of its own invention." To
speak accurately, it is not so much a religion as patriotism exalted to
the rank of a creed. It is a veneration of the country's heroes and
benefactors of every age, legendary and historical, ancient and more
recent; the spirits of these being appealed to for protection. Interwoven
with this, its fundamental characteristic, and to a great extent obscuring
it, is a worship of the personified forces of nature; expressing itself
often in the most abject superstition, and, until lately, also in that
grosser symbolism with which the religion of Ancient Egypt abounded. This
latter feature was widely prevalent in Japan at the time that the country
was first opened to foreigners; but after the Revolution in 1868, it was
everywhere suppressed. It would appear that the personal cleanliness for
which the Japanese, as a nation, are celebrated, had its origin in the
idea of the purification of the body symbolizing the cleansing of the
soul; and in a vague and hazy sort of way, Shintoism would seem to
recognize a future state of bliss or misery, for which the present life is
a period of probation. Practically, however, this is the only world with
which Shintoism concerns itself; nor does it inculcate any laws of
morality or conduct, conscience and the heart being accounted sufficient
guides. It provides neither public worship, nor sermons; while its
application is limited t