Ahknaton
08-29-2006, 04:54 AM
I'm quite interested in learning more about the Shinto religion, which seems like a kind of Eastern Paganism. Any good links/info appreciated. It's unusual in that the Sun is associated with a female Goddess Amaterasu (a.k.a. Ameritsu?) instead of the more typical sun/moon male/female division.
Excerpted from Wilhelm Reich's The Mass Psychology of Fascism:
A startling revelation of the Japanese war mind, as well as the ambitions prevalent not only in the military and ultra-nationalist
cliques now dominating the Japanese Government but also among the intelligentsia, is contained in a booklet issued in Tokyo in
February of this year [1942] by Professor Chikao Fujisawa, one of the leading exponents of Japan's political thought and philosophy.
According to this booklet, which was made up for widest distribution, Japan, as the original motherland of the human race and
world civilization, is fighting a holy war to reunite warring mankind into one universal family household in which each nation will
take its proper place under the divine sovereignty of the Japanese Emperor, who is a direct descendant of the Sun Goddess in the
"absolute cosmic life-center," from which the nations have strayed and to which they must return.
In its general argument the booklet merely summarizes, systematizes and applies to the present war the ideas derived from Shinto
mythology that Japanese politicians under the leadership of Yosuke Matsuoka developed into an imperialistic dogma to justify
Japan's expansion policy. But for that very reason it appeals to all the religious, racial and national ideas and emotions most deeply
ingrained in the Japanese nature. In that sense Professor Fujisawa is a sort of Japanese Nietzsche and Wagner and his pamphlet
becomes the Japanese equivalent of Adolf Hitler's MEIN KAMPF.
As was the case with MEIN KAMPF, the outside world has paid little attention to this trend in Japanese thought, which is either
regarded as pure phantasy or relegated to the field of theology. But for years it has furnished the ideological background for Japan's
expansion policy, which led to the present war, and the last Japanese notes to the United States cannot be understood without
reference to it.
The authoritative nature of the booklet is indicated by the fact Professor Fujisawa has been a permanent Japanese representative in
the secretariat of the League of Nations and professor of political science in Kyushu Imperial University and has published
numerous works in various languages on Japanese political science. He is now director of [113] the research department of the
Imperial Rule Assistance Association, created to organize the Japanese people for war, and is charged with making such ideas
effective throughout the world.
The flavor of the booklet is amply illustrated by the first few paragraphs, which read:
"Japan is often called in our poetic language 'Sumera Mikuni,' which conveys somewhat the meaning of divine clime, allintegrating
and all-embracing. By keeping in mind its philosophic implications one will be able to grasp the keynote of the imperial
rescript issued September 27, 1939, at the time of the conclusion of the Tripartite pact. Therein our gracious Tenno proclaimed
solemnly that the cause of great justice should be extended to the far ends of the earth so as to turn the world into one household and
thus enable all nations to secure their due places. This significant passage in the rescript will clarify the very character of our august
sovereign, ever anxious to act as head of an all-embracing universal family, in the bosom of which to all nations shall be allotted
their respective posts in a dynamic order of harmony and cooperation.
"It is incumbent upon our Tenno to do his best to restore the 'absolute cosmic life-center' and reconstruct the fundamental vertical
order once prevalent among nations in remote antiquity; by so doing he wishes to transform the present-day lawless and chaotic
world, where the weak are left to fall prey to the strong, into one large family community in which perfect concord and consummate
harmony shall prevail.
"This is the objective of the divine mission that Japan has been called on to fulfill from time immemorial. In a word, it is to
permeate the whole world and earth with the cosmic vitality embodied in our divine sovereign, so that all segregated national units
may be led to reunite themselves spiritually with the sincere feeling of brothers sharing the same blood.
"Only in this way will all nations of the world be induced to abandon their individualistic attitude, which finds expression first of
all in current international law."
This, says Professor Fujisawa, is "the way of the gods," and, after explaining this in mystical terms, he continues:
"In this light one can well understand that capitalistic individualism prevalent in the United States runs counter to the cosmic truth,
for it ignores the all-embracing life-center and deals exclusively with [114] rampancy and unbridled ego. Dictatorial communism,
elevated to an official doctrine by Soviet Russia, proves likewise irreconcilable with the cosmic truth, since it tends to disregard
personal initiative and merely exercises drastic bureaucratic control of the State.
"It is noteworthy that the guiding principle of National Socialist Germany and Fascist Italy have much in common with the Musubi
principle, one of many distinguishing these Axis powers from the democracies and the Soviet Union. It is because of this spiritual
solidarity that Japan, Germany and Italy have been prompted to present a common front against those powers defending the old
order."
Sumera Mikuni, Professor Fujisawa explains, is at war with the administrations of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister
Churchill, which have been eager for realization of their "inordinate ambition" to dominate the Orient. But thanks to the earnest
prayers offered by Sumera Mikoto (the Japanese Emperor) day and night to the spirit of the Sun Goddess, divine power has at last
mobilized to deal a thoroughgoing blow to those revolting against the inviolable cosmic law.
In fact, Professor Fujisawa writes, "the present Greater East Asia is virtually a second descent of the grandchild (of the Sun
Goddess, the mythological ancestor of the Japanese dynasty), who perpetuates himself in the everlasting life of Sumera Mikoto."
Wherefore, Professor Fujisawa concludes:
"The holy war launched by Sumera Mikuni will sooner or later awaken all nations to the cosmic truth that their respective national
lives issued forth from the one absolute life-center embodied by Sumera Mikoto and that peace and harmony cannot be realized
otherwise than by reorganizing them into one all-embracing family system under the guidance of Sumera Mikoto."
Piously Professor Fujisawa adds:
"This noble idea should not be considered in any sense in the light of imperialism, under which weak nations are mercilessly
subjugated."
Startling as these ideas may appear, even more startling is Professor Fujisawa's "scientific" basis for them. Although all Japanese
chronicles and histories admit that at the foundation of the Japanese Empire, which the Japanese Government has put at 2600 B.C.
but which historians date around the beginning of the Christian era, the inhabitants of the Japanese isles were still primitive savages,
some of whom were "men with tails" living in trees, Professor Fujisawa blandly advances [115] the claim that Japan is the
motherland of the entire human race and its civilization.
Recent discoveries and rare archives in Japan, supplemented by the writings of some Western authorities, Professor Fujisawa
explains, prove "the wonderful fact that in the prehistoric age mankind formed a single world-wide family system with Sumera
Mikoto as its head, and Japan was highly respected as the land of parents while all other lands were called lands of children of
branch lands."
As proof of this the professor cites a world map prepared by "a certain Hilliford in 1280" on which "East is located on top and the
space occupied by the Japanese is named 'Kingdom of Heaven.' "
Professor Fujisawa continues:
"Eminent scholars preoccupied with thoroughgoing researches regarding the prehistoric chronicles of Japan are unanimous in
concluding that the cradle of mankind was neither the Pamir Plateau nor the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates, but the middle
mountainous region of the Japanese mainland. This new theory concerning the origins of humanity is attracting the keen attention of
those who confidently look to Japan's divine mission for the salvation of disoriented mankind."
According to this professorial thesis, the Sumerians, who are believed to have founded Babylonian civilization, from which all
other civilizations, including those of Egypt, Greece and Rome, blossomed, are identical with the early Japanese settlers at Erdu, and
this, says Professor Fujisawa, explains the correspondence between the prehistoric accounts of Japan and the Old Testament. The
same, he says, is true of the Chinese, who he insists were civilized by Japan, instead of the other way around. Yet Japanese histories
record that the Japanese did not learn to read or write till the Koreans and Chinese taught them, around 400 A.D.
Unfortunately, says the professor, "the world order, with Japan functioning as its absolute unifying center, collapsed in
consequence of repeated earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, tidal waves and glaciers, and due to these tremendous cataclysms
all mankind became estranged geographically and spiritually from the parent land of Japan."
But, it seems, Sumera Mikuni "was immune miraculously from all these natural catastrophies, and its divine sovereigns, Sumera
Mikoto, [116] enjoying lineage unbroken for ages eternal, have appointed to themselves the sacred mission of remolding this
floating dismembered mankind into a large family community such as existed in prehistoric ages."
"Obviously," Professor Fujisawa adds, "none is better qualified than Sumera Mikoto to accomplish this divine work of saving
humanity."
Excerpted from Wilhelm Reich's The Mass Psychology of Fascism:
A startling revelation of the Japanese war mind, as well as the ambitions prevalent not only in the military and ultra-nationalist
cliques now dominating the Japanese Government but also among the intelligentsia, is contained in a booklet issued in Tokyo in
February of this year [1942] by Professor Chikao Fujisawa, one of the leading exponents of Japan's political thought and philosophy.
According to this booklet, which was made up for widest distribution, Japan, as the original motherland of the human race and
world civilization, is fighting a holy war to reunite warring mankind into one universal family household in which each nation will
take its proper place under the divine sovereignty of the Japanese Emperor, who is a direct descendant of the Sun Goddess in the
"absolute cosmic life-center," from which the nations have strayed and to which they must return.
In its general argument the booklet merely summarizes, systematizes and applies to the present war the ideas derived from Shinto
mythology that Japanese politicians under the leadership of Yosuke Matsuoka developed into an imperialistic dogma to justify
Japan's expansion policy. But for that very reason it appeals to all the religious, racial and national ideas and emotions most deeply
ingrained in the Japanese nature. In that sense Professor Fujisawa is a sort of Japanese Nietzsche and Wagner and his pamphlet
becomes the Japanese equivalent of Adolf Hitler's MEIN KAMPF.
As was the case with MEIN KAMPF, the outside world has paid little attention to this trend in Japanese thought, which is either
regarded as pure phantasy or relegated to the field of theology. But for years it has furnished the ideological background for Japan's
expansion policy, which led to the present war, and the last Japanese notes to the United States cannot be understood without
reference to it.
The authoritative nature of the booklet is indicated by the fact Professor Fujisawa has been a permanent Japanese representative in
the secretariat of the League of Nations and professor of political science in Kyushu Imperial University and has published
numerous works in various languages on Japanese political science. He is now director of [113] the research department of the
Imperial Rule Assistance Association, created to organize the Japanese people for war, and is charged with making such ideas
effective throughout the world.
The flavor of the booklet is amply illustrated by the first few paragraphs, which read:
"Japan is often called in our poetic language 'Sumera Mikuni,' which conveys somewhat the meaning of divine clime, allintegrating
and all-embracing. By keeping in mind its philosophic implications one will be able to grasp the keynote of the imperial
rescript issued September 27, 1939, at the time of the conclusion of the Tripartite pact. Therein our gracious Tenno proclaimed
solemnly that the cause of great justice should be extended to the far ends of the earth so as to turn the world into one household and
thus enable all nations to secure their due places. This significant passage in the rescript will clarify the very character of our august
sovereign, ever anxious to act as head of an all-embracing universal family, in the bosom of which to all nations shall be allotted
their respective posts in a dynamic order of harmony and cooperation.
"It is incumbent upon our Tenno to do his best to restore the 'absolute cosmic life-center' and reconstruct the fundamental vertical
order once prevalent among nations in remote antiquity; by so doing he wishes to transform the present-day lawless and chaotic
world, where the weak are left to fall prey to the strong, into one large family community in which perfect concord and consummate
harmony shall prevail.
"This is the objective of the divine mission that Japan has been called on to fulfill from time immemorial. In a word, it is to
permeate the whole world and earth with the cosmic vitality embodied in our divine sovereign, so that all segregated national units
may be led to reunite themselves spiritually with the sincere feeling of brothers sharing the same blood.
"Only in this way will all nations of the world be induced to abandon their individualistic attitude, which finds expression first of
all in current international law."
This, says Professor Fujisawa, is "the way of the gods," and, after explaining this in mystical terms, he continues:
"In this light one can well understand that capitalistic individualism prevalent in the United States runs counter to the cosmic truth,
for it ignores the all-embracing life-center and deals exclusively with [114] rampancy and unbridled ego. Dictatorial communism,
elevated to an official doctrine by Soviet Russia, proves likewise irreconcilable with the cosmic truth, since it tends to disregard
personal initiative and merely exercises drastic bureaucratic control of the State.
"It is noteworthy that the guiding principle of National Socialist Germany and Fascist Italy have much in common with the Musubi
principle, one of many distinguishing these Axis powers from the democracies and the Soviet Union. It is because of this spiritual
solidarity that Japan, Germany and Italy have been prompted to present a common front against those powers defending the old
order."
Sumera Mikuni, Professor Fujisawa explains, is at war with the administrations of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister
Churchill, which have been eager for realization of their "inordinate ambition" to dominate the Orient. But thanks to the earnest
prayers offered by Sumera Mikoto (the Japanese Emperor) day and night to the spirit of the Sun Goddess, divine power has at last
mobilized to deal a thoroughgoing blow to those revolting against the inviolable cosmic law.
In fact, Professor Fujisawa writes, "the present Greater East Asia is virtually a second descent of the grandchild (of the Sun
Goddess, the mythological ancestor of the Japanese dynasty), who perpetuates himself in the everlasting life of Sumera Mikoto."
Wherefore, Professor Fujisawa concludes:
"The holy war launched by Sumera Mikuni will sooner or later awaken all nations to the cosmic truth that their respective national
lives issued forth from the one absolute life-center embodied by Sumera Mikoto and that peace and harmony cannot be realized
otherwise than by reorganizing them into one all-embracing family system under the guidance of Sumera Mikoto."
Piously Professor Fujisawa adds:
"This noble idea should not be considered in any sense in the light of imperialism, under which weak nations are mercilessly
subjugated."
Startling as these ideas may appear, even more startling is Professor Fujisawa's "scientific" basis for them. Although all Japanese
chronicles and histories admit that at the foundation of the Japanese Empire, which the Japanese Government has put at 2600 B.C.
but which historians date around the beginning of the Christian era, the inhabitants of the Japanese isles were still primitive savages,
some of whom were "men with tails" living in trees, Professor Fujisawa blandly advances [115] the claim that Japan is the
motherland of the entire human race and its civilization.
Recent discoveries and rare archives in Japan, supplemented by the writings of some Western authorities, Professor Fujisawa
explains, prove "the wonderful fact that in the prehistoric age mankind formed a single world-wide family system with Sumera
Mikoto as its head, and Japan was highly respected as the land of parents while all other lands were called lands of children of
branch lands."
As proof of this the professor cites a world map prepared by "a certain Hilliford in 1280" on which "East is located on top and the
space occupied by the Japanese is named 'Kingdom of Heaven.' "
Professor Fujisawa continues:
"Eminent scholars preoccupied with thoroughgoing researches regarding the prehistoric chronicles of Japan are unanimous in
concluding that the cradle of mankind was neither the Pamir Plateau nor the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates, but the middle
mountainous region of the Japanese mainland. This new theory concerning the origins of humanity is attracting the keen attention of
those who confidently look to Japan's divine mission for the salvation of disoriented mankind."
According to this professorial thesis, the Sumerians, who are believed to have founded Babylonian civilization, from which all
other civilizations, including those of Egypt, Greece and Rome, blossomed, are identical with the early Japanese settlers at Erdu, and
this, says Professor Fujisawa, explains the correspondence between the prehistoric accounts of Japan and the Old Testament. The
same, he says, is true of the Chinese, who he insists were civilized by Japan, instead of the other way around. Yet Japanese histories
record that the Japanese did not learn to read or write till the Koreans and Chinese taught them, around 400 A.D.
Unfortunately, says the professor, "the world order, with Japan functioning as its absolute unifying center, collapsed in
consequence of repeated earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, tidal waves and glaciers, and due to these tremendous cataclysms
all mankind became estranged geographically and spiritually from the parent land of Japan."
But, it seems, Sumera Mikuni "was immune miraculously from all these natural catastrophies, and its divine sovereigns, Sumera
Mikoto, [116] enjoying lineage unbroken for ages eternal, have appointed to themselves the sacred mission of remolding this
floating dismembered mankind into a large family community such as existed in prehistoric ages."
"Obviously," Professor Fujisawa adds, "none is better qualified than Sumera Mikoto to accomplish this divine work of saving
humanity."