Yoshida Shintō

Yoshida Shinto (Jap.吉田 神道) or Urabe Shintō is a school of Shinto, the (吉田 兼 倶; 1435-1511 ) by Yoshida Kanetomo was developed in the second half of the 15th century and then operated by his family on. Yoshida Kanetomo called the Yoshida Shinto Shinto yuiitsu ( " ( the ) one and only Shinto " ), so-called Shinto ( "the original Shinto " ) and genpon absorbed Shinto ( " fundamental and original Shinto ").

It involves an initial systematization of Shinto traditions by the Yoshida family, a branch of the Urabe family, who were in charge of the imperial court as specialists in tortoise-shell divination and by inheritance, the priest - offices the Yoshida Shrine and the Hirano Shrine in Kyoto presided.

This school, the first example of a coherent Shinto system after the introduction of Buddhism in Japan, which is also the term used to describe the Shinto own religious ideas for the first time, is one of the most influential in the historical development of Shinto.

History

The teachings of Yoshida Shinto were written in the so-called Shinto Seishi of Kanetomo first in 1470. The plant probably originated at the time of the Ōnin War, which resulted in Heian - kyō to the destruction of the property of the Yoshida family ( 1467), the Yoshida Shrine (1477 ). Kanetomo was also since 1467 Vice - Indentant of the central Shinto Office ( jingikan ), the first milestone in his career as one of the most important key figures for the development and promotion of Shinto in connection with state affairs, whose climax he had the sole right to to bring people to the rank of kami. In 1476 he described himself as " head of Shinto " ( Shinto Chojo ).

The completion of the theory of Yoshida Shinto found in Kanetomos work Yuiitsu shintō myōbō Yoshu, which probably originated around 1484. In this paper Kanetomo represents the contemporary Shinto is a relationship system original essences sacred (Buddhist ) entities and their manifest traces as kami ( honjaku engi ) and religious practices based on the two fundamental mandala of esoteric Shingon Buddhism ( cf. Ryobu Shinto ). In contrast, the Yoshida Shinto is the original and fundamental form of Shinto, with Kunitokotachi no mikoto as the supreme deity, whose teachings on the original constitution of the cosmos before the split into Yin and Yang ( Onmyo fusoku no Gengen ) and the emergence of the first thought ( ichinen Misho no honpon ) refer. Moreover, the ratio of the kami of the Buddhas is exactly the opposite: the latter are the foreign traces of the native gods of Japan.

Its heyday was the Yoshida Shinto after the death Yoshida Kanetomos with the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate under Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu to the Edo period, as the Ise Shinto underwent a renaissance and the new school of Yoshikawa Shinto began to develop. To the imperial family to divide the authority of Yoshida Shinto the Yoshida family and the Yoshida Shrine, Kami and shrines without traditional ties to ranks to regulate Shinto rituals and issue licenses to practice the Shinto priesthood, however, was not until the Meiji Restoration, were dominant as new doctrines (especially the Kokugaku movement and the Fukko Shinto ( restoration Shinto ) ) and the right to award the Yoshida Shrine ranks of the new central government devolved.

Religious teachings

The teachings of Yoshida Shinto are exoteric ( generally accessible and understandable ) and esoteric (secret ) nature. The exoteric sources consist of the classic Japanese writings, such as the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki the in which the genesis of the heavenly and the earthly kingdom, the divine age and the lineages of the Japanese rulers are displayed. In addition, the exoteric doctrine also includes the worship of the kami of heaven and earth ( tenjin chigi ) and human spirits ( Jinki ) and physical purification rituals ( harae and misogi ).

The esoteric sources that have been passed down only within the Yoshida family, are more complex nature and are aimed at mental purification by showing three divisions in the entire cosmos that match by the Shinto essentially the penetration of the three entities heaven, earth and man.

Although Kanetomo vehemently asserted the originality of his new Shinto teachings, both his religious and philosophical theories, and religious practices are clearly influenced by the esoteric Buddhism (especially Shingon and Tendai Shuu - Shuu ), the Chinese inspired Japanese cosmology ( Onmyodo ) and Daoist ideas have been justified in the practice of strongly pronounced syncretic faith world of medieval Japan. In the Edo period, the Yoshida Shinto was scolded for these reasons by critics as a Buddhist.