Curse godess(Goryo) belief and the Nationalistic Yasukuni godesses

Hi! It's Shellil Linn.(^_^;)

Hence political situation has been becoming  so critical day by day in Japan, many of you might be interested in the basic religious concepts which has been underneath the traditional Japanese culture related with the Neo Nazi nationalist such as the new defense minister Tomoko Inada in Abe cabinet.

I often find a slanders for Catholic and handicapped so often on the twitter line & TV comments.
It seems as if the negative campaign for minorities and week ones is the only faith? those nationalists show.

So, I 'd like to introduce the brief history of Curse Spiritual belief(Goryo) which is the practical origin of the Nationalistic Yasukuni goddesses faith.

Goryo faith is still present in the traditional Shrine Shintoism, and the nationalists' curse' practice is something totally different from traditional Goryo faith. The difference was originated from the diplomatic isolation in our history, especially during Edo period.

Since 5th century, there were primitive belief for spirits who had died in misery and sorrow looser by  tragedic political disputes.

For example, prince Sawara of 8th century is the one of the most powerful curse goddess in Japan. Since his mother was a lower class born, young prince had sent to Zen priesthood, and so called " the Prince Zen monk(Shino-Zenji)".
Todaiji, one of the most powerful temple in Nara at that time had strongly supported and trusted the prince Sawara, he seems to be a monk gathered the respect from both monks and the people.

Since his father, the emperor Koin hadn't have a boy without the prince Sawara,  the empeor called out the prince from the temple, and canonized as his successor prince. But, prince Sawara was named as a suspect of murdering the most influential man, Tanetsugu Fujiwara, prince Sawara and the highest monk of Todaiji had died as traitors.

Prince Sawara is famous on his last words;"if the emperorship become a dominant of the political authority, I will curse the imperial house to abolish the emperorship itself".

Right after prince Sawara's death, misfortune had happened  in nobles and emperor houses over and over as well as natural disasters. People had believed that all the misfortune was the result of prince Sawara's curse, and try to pacify miserable prince's spirit by "Goryo-eh( a form of rituals to pacify the strong curse spirits) over and over.

But, the Goryo-eh rituals seemed not effective, later emperor crowned the dead prince Sawara as "Emperor Sudo(means "way of curses")" and buried him in imperial tomb.

Strong curse after one's death is the one standard regulation to grant or crown a spirit as a goddess.

There had been spiritual hierarchy on Shinto goddesses. Their has been spiritual ranking system for Shinto goddesses by each  class origin, house ranking, their life, personal excellence and each reason to grant the goddesshood.

Belief for curses had been so strong until about 11th century. But, Shinto shrines'  power seems to decline from 11-15th century for local legal power, trial place and legal cases notes had been became custody of Buddhist temples. Ordinary people's mind had shifted from the supernatural solution to more realistic solution.

So, the reasons and causes granted a goddess have forgotten, but the respect for their high ranks and the image of strength have remained in people's mind.

In 1603, Tokugawa tyranny has begun, and Ieyasu Tokugawa deserved to become the most strong and respectful goddess at the time. Ieyasu, the first Shogun had done all the lobby works to let the emperor grant him the great goddess(Dai-gongen), and his enemy be lower goddess than him.

Ieyasu thought that becoming a strongest goddess is the only way to dominate Japan peacefully by clearly political reasons. And banned the Christian mission just to spread the obscurantism to make  up the image of "the looser's goddess" as the emotional frustration vent.

During Edo period, there are only several ways to burst up the frustration for ordinary people; study, marshal art practices for steadies, and love affair, sex, abuse and suicide were the other way out of the frustration.

But as the urban poverty had risen as the social issue, the love affair & master image ghosts and monsters replaced the realistic human relationship. During Edo period, Catholic priests were slandered as a supernatural magicians which no one can ever imagine what it is!

This delusional fantasy was justified as "social truth" at the end of Edo period in the blindly closed nation.

Nationalistic imperialists had reviewed the ancient myth story book "Kojiki" is the truth of truth than the historical myth book called "Nihon-shoki".  National Imperialists thought that their fantastic interpretation study can restore the ancient religion without people's faith and belief.

Those samurai thought that ordinary people are as a lamp of cray which they can make all people's mind as they order by easy carrot and stick policy. And they were seriously scared by spiritual curse without thinking about the reason behind their emotion.

That's why the nationalistic imperialists  were so cautious for all kind of curse goddesses and possible curse spirits.

They thought that to the settlement of Meiji government, they had to performed "Goryo-eh" to pacify the emperor Sudo. They also granted Nobunaga Oda, the former enemy of Tokugawa Tycoonship as the goddess to avoid the possible misfortune caused by supernatural reasons.

Meiji bureaucrats were so careful for those who died in grudge and misfortune during the civil war between the imperial forces and the Tokugawa samurai.

So, to pacify those spirits died in the civil war, Meiji government had established "Chukonsha(Shrines of nationalists' goddesses) to avoid the curses from the huge numbers of dead samurai.

Until Sino-Japan War on 1894-5, only heroes and samurais or above were granted as goddesses as well as nationalists' martyrs. About the Sino-Japan War period, some fallen were granted as goddesses in Chukonsha and Yasukuni Shrine as the warrior hero.

It means the norms of granting goddess status became more precisely political and less religious in fact.

After the World War I, Japanese government have lower the norms of granting goddesses to all the fallen widened to all soldiers. All who died as a soldier granted to be a goddess of Yasukuni Shrine regardless of one's personal faith and belief.

It was so sad and ridiculous when one's dead soldiers' mementos had come home. The famous TV announcer, Monta Mino claimed that he can never forget the sorrow he felt on his father' call up. When his relative's mementos came home, all his neighbors  had started to shouted "Banzai(Cheers!)" with joy  as his father called up to join the military during funeral. In front of  Mino, he saw his mother is crying who was seven months pregnant with several boys include the child Monta Mino himself.

But, all these reality is not  the theme to the followers of Nippon Kaigi. After WWII, except few firemen and police men, Yasukuni Shrine had lost their right to grant any officials grant a goddesshood, because the granting goddess hood itself became anti-constitutional and against the natural human right.

Nippon Kaigi's theoretical founder, Masaharu Taniguchi argue that the constitutional definition for the human right itself is against nationalistic imperialism. Since founder Taniguchi was true reactionist, he thought it is necessary to expel the present constitution to purify his nation.

Ethnocenterists of 1960th to 1980th were influenced on Nippon Kaigi's right wing nationalistic  "mood" or "air(Kooki)" until 2012.

Since then, the ethoncenterists had begun split to the fundamentalistic supporter of the pacifist emperor Akihito, and the fantastic supporter of Taniguchi's theory in "Seimei-no-Jisso(The reality of the life)".

It is the very brief theoretical background of Nippon Kaigi and the national fundamentalists according to the materials and study I've done.

As it always has been, the theoretical background in fantastic belief is always walk along with the industrial vest right, under-the-table money and some political tendency.

We see no way to solve the double-twisted nation under the "divide, sectionalize and dictate" politics in Japan.