Birth and Death

We took a Saturday trip by train outside of Tokyo to the town of Kamakura.  It has 65 Buddhist temples and 19 Shinto shrines.  It's a great place to learn how two complimentary religions have blended to shape Japanese culture.  In the early 12th C the Minamoto clan seized power and the Shogun set up his government in Kamakura.  He wanted to be far away from the Imperial city of Kyoto.  It was the capital of Japan for roughly 150 years.

First we visited the popular Shinto shrine (see left photo), Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, then we paid respects to the Great Buddha (see photo below).   This is the third largest Buddha statue in Japan and weighs a whopping 93 tons.  We offered up a few Yen and went inside the structure to learn how it was assembled in pieces using highly innovative, new metallurgy techniques.   At one time this Buddha was protected from the elements by a rooftop, but a tidal wave washed the structure away. Now it sits uncovered and alone, dramatically poised against wooded hillsides. 

 The indigineous religion of Shinto (literally, "the way of the gods"), is largely concerned with LIFE and cleanliness, preferring not to associate with death.  In contrast, Buddhism arrived after a considerable journey.  It left India, passing through China and Korea on its way to the shores of Japan.  Besides importing the beauty of Chinese civilization, it also brought the concept of withdrawal from the world and acceptance of DEATH.   Today approximately 80% of Japanese people who get married do so in a Shinto shrine (and many have a Christian wedding as well) and 90% have a Buddhist funeral.  (Although when asked, about 80% say they are "not religious though they might be Buddhist.")   While Shintoism and Buddhism provide the context for nearly all of society, they do NOT dictate morality.  Rather, the rules of human conduct are defined largely by Confucianism, a set of secular ideas including obedience to authority, loyalty to one's elders/superiors, and a life of introspection and simple-living.

As we strolled through a Tokugawa garden one day, I asked a friend how the Japanese deal with, say, the birth of a stillborn child.  "Since it includes both birth and death, is that part of Shintoism or Buddhism?" I asked.    He explained that the guardian diety of children, Jizo, historically played a role in these matters.  Unfortunately, my family and I did not make the 10-minute walk from Great Buddha to the Hase Kannon Temple whose entrance steps are lined with Jizo statues set up by parents long ago to resemble their children in the hopes that the deity would protect  them from harm.   But in recent years the Jizo statues have come to represent miscarried, stillborn, and aborted infants.  Tens of thousands of miniature Jizo statues, some wearing hand-knitted sweaters and hats, have been offered here.  Each statue remains approximately one year before it is burned or buried.  This is a politically-charged and chilling reminder of some very desperate situations.

 Historically, Japanese parents who also found themselves in dire straits, resorted to infanticide and child-prostitution.  After a poor harvest when many farmers had too little rice to pay their heavy tax burden and families were starving, infanticide and abortion became widespread.  This was necessary in order to reduce the number of mouths to feed.  (Frequently baby girls were smothered in the "birthing bowl" but sometimes that was to avoid the burden of eventual dowries.)  When pressed to repay debts, many fathers resorted to selling their daughters (or wives) to brothels and entertainment venues.  He received a loan in exchange for a set number of years for her services.  Often the terms of service were extended when another loan was required.  If the daughter was released, she became marriageable.  If she remained in service, it was possible for a man to purchase her for a wife or mistress.   During hard times, to fulfill one's filial duty to care for parents--and to feed the family-- poor fathers resorted to desperate actions.   And society largely accepted it as a necessary way of life. 

I promise to lighten the topic in the next text!