Article

History

IAIDO AT BYRON BAY, AUSTRALIA

SHINTO

SHINTO AND AMATERASU OMIKAMI

SHRINE AT ISE, JAPAN

1. IAIDO AT BYRON BAY, AUSTRALIA

Amaterasu Omikami Iaido

Byron Bay, NSW, AUSTRALIA

Iaido Byron Bay had its inception over five years ago beginning with a mere four people most of whom had previous martial arts experience.

There are, at present (2007) 24 members with a strong, central core group, including Ly de Angeles, one of the original founding members.

Ours is the way of the Spiritual Warrior and there are equal numbers of male and female members.

During the initial years we were affiliated with one specific style of Iaido but in 2007 we, collectively, went ronin (ronin: the epitome of self-determination; independent; dictating our own path in life, answering only to ourselves and making decisions as we see fit). In other words we are owned by no one and, whilst maintaining strict Reiho (etiquette) and respecting our Sempai (elders) we have no hierarchy and our alliance is based on a mutual honour system where respect is earned and cannot be procured by demand.

Currently we are beginning of training in two styles:

Katori Shinto Ryu: This covers Ken-jutsu - techniques of the katana, Bo-jutsu - techniques of the stick, Naginata-jutsu - techniques of the spear, Iai-jutsu - techniques of cutting at unsheathing, Ryoto-jutsu - techniques of two katanas, Kodachi-jutsu - techniques of the small katana, Soo-jutsu - techniques of the yari, Shuriken-jutsu - techniques of the throw of steel peaks, Ju-jutsu - technique of combat with bare hands, Nin-jutsu - techniques of espionage, Sen-jutsu - strategy, Startegy Chikujo-jutsu - technique of construction of fortifications.

Muso Shinden Ryu Iai-do: These are the standard ZNKR seitei gata.

Our deep thanks go to Tamon-ten and Greg for their friendship, alliance, advice and training.

2. SHINTO

Brief History of Shinto

Shinto is an ancient Japanese religion. Starting about 500 BCE (or earlier) it was originally "an amorphous mix of nature worship, fertility cults, divination techniques, hero worship, and sorcery." At that time:

The complete separation of Japanese religion from politics did not occur until just after World War II and the Emperor was forced by the American army to renounce his divinity at that time.

Unlike most other religions, Shinto has no real founder, no written scriptures, no body of religious law, and only a very loosely-organized priesthood.

Shinto beliefs

Shinto practices

Forms of Shinto

Shinto exists in four main forms or traditions:

These four forms are closely linked. Shinto is a tolerant religion which accepts the validity of other religions. It is common for a believer to pay respects to other religions, their practices and objects of worship.

Shinto texts

Many texts are valued in the Shinto religion. Most date from the 8th century CE:

3. SHINTO AND AMASERATU OMIKAMI

Shinto Mythology

The ruling clan ( uji ) of a particular region claimed descent from powerful deities ( kami ), which served as the "tutelary ” (protective) deity of the clan/region. When the first unified Japanese state was established, the new “imperial” clan (Yamato) commissioned two “official” histories that wove together the myths of the various clans that they had conquered.  These two texts, the Kojiki  and the Nihongi (a.k.a. Nihonshoki ) — both written in the 8th century — provide the first written records of Shinto mythology.

Creation

Izanagi and Izanami stood on the floating bridge of Heaven and held counsel together, saying, “Is there not a country beneath?”  Thereupon they thrust down the jewel-spear of Heaven and, groping about therewith, found the ocean.  The brine which dripped from the point of the spear coagulated and became an island which received the name of Ono-goro-jima.  The two deities thereupon descended and dwelt in this island. [Wm. Theodore de Bary, et al., Sources of Japanese Tradition (SJT), Volume 1, Second Edition (New York Columbia University Press, 2001), p. 14.]


Amaterasu

Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto consulted together saying, “We have now produced the great-eight-island country, with the mountains, rivers, herbs, and trees.  Why should we not produce someone who shall be lord of the universe?  They then together produced the Sun Goddess, who was called O-hiru-me no muchi [a.k.a. Amaterasu] and the resplendent luster of this child shone throughout all the six quarters.  Therefore the two deities rejoiced saying, “We have had many children, but none of them have been equal to this wondrous infant.  She ought not to be kept long in this land, but we ought of our own accord to send her at once to Heaven and entrust to her the affairs of Heaven.”

Susano-o

Izanagi and Izanami's next child was Susa no o no Mikoto. This god had a fierce temper and was given to cruel acts.  Moreover he made a practice of continually weeping and wailing.  So he brought many of the people of the land to an untimely end.  Again he caused green mountains to become withered.  Therefore the two gods, his parents, addressed Susa-no-o no Mikoto, saying, “Thou art exceedingly wicked, and it is not meet that thou shouldst reign over the world.  Certainly thou must depart far away to the Nether-land.”  So they at length expelled him.” [SJT, 20-1]

According to tradition, Ninigi's Great Grandson, Jimmu, went on to become the first “emperor” of Japan in 660 B.C.E.  The present emperor of Japan is said to be a direct descendant of this lineage, which is ultimately traced back to the kami Amaterasu.

Additional Resources:

Craig, Albert M. The Heritage of Japanese Civilization . Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 2003.
Schirokauer, Conrad. A Brief History of Japanese Civilization . Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1993.
Morton, W. Scott. Japan: Its History and Culture. Third Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994.
Varley, H. Paul. Japanese Culture . Third Edition. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1984.
Wm. Theodore de Bary, et al. Sources of Japanese Tradition . Second Edition, Volume 1. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.

4. SHRINE AT ISE, JAPAN

AMATERASU OMIKAMI SHRINE AT ISE, JAPAN

Trees and stones have long been objects of deep devotion in Japan. Originally there were no shrine buildings; instead a tree, forest, or a large boulder or a mountain, festooned with ropes, would be the focus of worship.                                

In Japan the mysterious forces of nature, called ke, were believed to permeate palpable matter and formless space (collectively called mono in Japanese) to create mononoke. Mononoke was seen to coalesce in trees and stones. Certain trees, especially the cryptomeria and the evergreen sakaki, were considered sacred for this reason. When one of these trees was felled and the wood used in the construction of a shrine, this sacred quality was believed to follow it into the building. The sacred tree itself was literally and symbolically present in the form of a pillar or post around which the shrine was constructed.

The great Shinto shrine at Ise is built amid a dense forest of giant cryptomeria trees next to the Isuzu River at the foot of Mount Kamiji and Mount Shimaji in the Mie Prefecture in southern Honshu, Japan. Crossing the Uji Bridge and passing through the large torii gate marking the entrance to the shrine, a long path leads to Ise Jingu (Ise Grand Shrine).

The shrine consists of two groups of buildings: the Imperial Shrine (Kotai Jingu), also known as the Naiku (inner shrine), and the Toyouke Shrine (Toyouke Daijingu ) which constitutes the Geku or outer shrine. The Naiku is dedicated to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Omikami (Heaven-Illuminating Great Deity), and the Geku to the Goddess of Cereals Toyouke Omikami (Abundant Food Great Deity). Each shrine is composed of a number of buildings, including ancillary shrines, workshops, storehouses, etc. Each shrine has an inner precinct with a main sanctuary and two attendant shrines, as well as treasuries, fences, and gates.

Both shrines are constructed of wood, and every twenty years both are totally rebuilt on an adjoining site. The empty site of the previous shrine (called the kodenchi ) is strewn with large white pebbles. The only building on the empty site, which retains its sacredness for the intervening twenty years, is a small wooden shed or hut ( oi-ya ) inside of which is a post about seven feet high known as shin-no-mihashira (literally the august column of the heart, or more freely translated as sacred central post). The new shrine will be erected over and around this post which are the holiest and most mysterious objects in the Ise Shrine. They remain hidden at all times.

The oi-ya in the old shrine compound of the Naiku

Kenzo Tange and Noboru Kawazoe (p. 167, see Bibliography below) suggest that:

"the erection of a single post in the center of a sacred area strewn with stones represents the form taken by Japanese places of worship in very ancient times; the shin-no-mihashira would thus be the survival of a symbolism from a very pimitive symbolism to the present day."

Emperor Temmu had established Ise as the principal cult shrine of Imperial Japan, but the site itself, and the cryptomeria trees that grew on it, were already sacred before then. The cryptomeria is a tree associated with Shinto shrines. The principal sacred plant of Shinto, however, is the sakaki (a shrub related to the tea bush). The shin-no-mihashira is taken to represent a branch of the sakaki stuck upright in the ground.

The chambers of the shrines are raised on timber piles which themselves are analogous to the central sacred post. The roof is not supported by the walls (although the rafters do rest on purlins), but the ridge beam is carried instead by two large columns at either end which embedded directly into the ground without any foundation.

Besides trees, at the Ise Shrine are many subsidiary shrines of rocks from the sea which are regarded as the abodes ( iwakura or rock abodes) of deities.

Bibliography

• Kenzo Tange and Noboru Kawazoe, Ise: Prototype of Japanese Architecture, Cambridge, Massachusetts: M.I.T. Press, 1965.
• Yasutada Watanabe, Shinto Art: Ise and Izumo Shrines, New York: Weatherhill, 1974 (first published in Japanese, 1964).
• The Roots of Japanese Architecture, a photographic quest by Yukio Futagawa, with text and commentary by Teiji Itoh, New York: Harper & Row, 1963 (first published in Japanese, 1962).