gods,” to distinguish it from the continental religion of Buddhism. Shinto was based on a simple feeling of awe in the presence of any surprising or awesome phenomenon pf nature—a waterfall, a mountain crag, a large tree, a peculiarly shaped stone, or even some lowly thing awesome only in its capacity for irritation, such as an insect. Anything awe inspiring was called kami, a word usually translated as “god” but basically meaning “above,” and by extension “superior.” This simple Shinto concept of deity should be borne in mind in trying to understand the deification in modern Japan of living emperors and of all Japanese soldiers who have died for their country.
Places where people often felt a sense of awe became cult places and eventually shrines. Today tens of thousands of such shrines dot the landscape of Japan. Some are now great institutions dating back to shadowy antiquity, others merely miniature edifices of stone or wood recently erected in front of an old oak tree or in a deep recess of a cave.
The underlying stream of Shinto today remains little changed since prehistoric times. Much has been done during the past 1,500 years to make an organized religion of this simple nature worship, and, more recently, by emphasizing the early mythology connected with Shinto, to employ it as a force for national solidarity and an inspiration for fanatical patriotism. But despite these imposed superstructures, the true basis of Shinto remains unchanged, a simple and naïve nature worship.
The possessors of the iron and bronze culture first crossed from Korea to northern Kyushu and western Honshu about the first century of the Christian era,