The meaning and mythology of Shinto, J. W. T. Mason and Imaoka Shin’ichirō

Commemorating a visit to Meiji Shrine (October 25, 1933)
From left, J. W. T. Mason, chief priest Arima, Mrs. Mason, translator Imaoka Shin’ichirō

As regular readers of this blog will know, I am profoundly influenced by the work and personal example of Imaoka Shin’ichirō (1881-1988). His understanding of a creative, inquiring, free and liberative spirituality (jiyū shūkyō) has, finally, after decades of diligent searching, gifted me with a liberal religious faith/spirituality that I can truly proclaim with a clean heart and full belief or pathos — where pathos has the meaning of “full impressiveness”, i.e. it is a way of being in the world about which I first saw it I could say, “Wow, yes, that’s it, that’s what I’ve been looking for all my life!” Jiyū shūkyō (free-religion) is now my religion and I am today a jiyū shūkyōjin (free-religionist).

Mason at Imperial Hotel on October 25, 1933

One important element in the development of Imaoka-sensei’s articulation of jiyū shūkyō was an understanding of Shinto that he gained, not via a Japanese thinker, but through an American journalist and advocate of Bergson’s philosophy, Joseph Warren Teets Mason (1879-1941). Indeed, Mason thought that Bergson’s élan vital was nothing but the French translation of the spirit of Shinto.

Imaoka-sensei came to know Mason personally when the Director General of the Religious Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Education, Mr Juichi Shimomura, introduced him to Mason and suggested that he take care of him as much as possible. Imaoka-sensei accepted and from then on, whenever Mason gave a lecture, he was his interpreter. Thanks to the Ministry of Education’s introduction, Imaoka-sensei and Mason eventually embarked on a month-long trip, visiting and giving lectures at shrines in the Tokaido, Kinki, Chugoku, and Kyushu regions. Along the way they became friends and Imaoka-sensei continued to cite Mason as being one of the most important influences on his own life and thought  

Two of Mason’s books resulting from this research, “The Meaning of Shinto (神道の本義, Shinto no Hongi, 1935) and “The Spirit of Shinto Mythology” (神道神話の精神 Shinto Shinwa no Seishin, 1940) were translated by Imaoka-sensei and they are still in print today. Indeed, just last week, two of my Japanese friends let me know that they had purchased copies of “The Meaning of Shinto.”

Naturally, this news has sent me back to begin to reread my English language editions as well as some of the passages about Mason and Mason’s thinking in Imaoka-sensei’s book of essays that I have recently finished a first-draft translation of. And, once again, I find I am deeply impressed by what I read, and it’s a reminder of why I have recently begun to dive so deeply into Konkokyo (see HERE & HERE & HERE], which is a kind of creative, free-religious form of Shinto that particularly appealed to Imaoka-sensei.

Anyway, to accompany the two photos above from the Japanese edition of “The Meaning of Shinto,” I thought some of you may like to read two paragraphs from Imoaka-sensei’s 1966 essay called, “Reconsidering Mason’s Shinto”:  

Mason was frequently asked whether his Shinto belief was monotheistic (一神論), polytheistic (多神論), or pantheistic (汎神論). To this, Mason replied that it is rather panentheistic/animistic (汎霊論). In other words, according to Mason’s thought, everything is divine. The divine spirit does not exist apart from all things. All things themselves are divine spirits. Matter and the divine are two sides of the same coin. All things are the self-realisation of the divine spirit. A living god/kami (活ける神) must realise itself in all things. A god/kami that does not realise itself is a dead god/kami.

A dead god/kami (死せる神) is no longer a god/kami. Therefore, based on this premise, shrines do not need a sanctuary. Mountains, rivers, grasses, and trees are sanctuaries as they are. Mason, who found meaning in the unopened sanctuary, thus felt a great significance in shrines without sanctuaries. Consequently, Mason was deeply interested in Nachi Shrine (那智神社), which regards Nachi Falls (那智滝) itself as the sacred object, and Asama Shrine (浅間神社), which regards Mount Fuji (富士山) itself as the sacred object. In particular, he felt an infinite sense of awe towards Ōmiwa Shrine (大三輪神社), which regards Mount Miwa (三輪山) itself as the sacred object and does not have any sanctuary other than the worship hall.