Page 272 - Islam and Far Eastern Religions

270

STATE SHINTOISM AND JAPANESE FASCISM

Superstitious Far Eastern religions have an irrational tradition of
reverence to the rulers of the country. For instance the Chinese
Emperor was termed the “Son of Heaven” (Tian Zi) whereas the
Japanese Emperor is known as the “Heavenly Sovereign” (Tenno) with
the difference that the Japanese Emperor was also, as the extension of
one superstitious belief, perversely regarded as a living divinity.
Amaterasu is known as the sun goddess in the superstitious reli-

gion of Shintoism, and the Japanese Emperor is falsely deemed to be
her descendent. For this reason every word from him and everything
he touches is considered supposedly sacred and allegedly divine. Even
the collection of his poems is ignorantly considered to be a supposed
sacred scripture, and people in his service are regarded as intermedi-
aries of the divine.
This superstitious belief in the supposed divinity of the emperor
declined with the arrival of Buddhism and Confucianism in the coun-
try in the 6th century. The internal disorder prevalent in the country

weakened the emperor’s influence over the people. At the end of the
8th century the Fujivara dynasty came to power, but the aristocracy re-
volted and a civil war lasting centuries broke out. In 1192 one of the
aristocracy, Yoritomo Minamoto defeated the rest of the warring frac-
tions and acquired power under the title of “Shogun” (military dicta-
tor), beginning a new era of military rule. Yoritomo made this title
hereditary and therefore controlled the rest of the aristocracy. The em-

peror on the other hand continued his existence as a sovereign spiritu-
al leader, albeit without political powers.

Islam And Far Eastern Religions