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The role of Shinto in a Metropolitan Society. - Shinto and the future.

It is estimated that by the end of this century three quarters of the world's population will live in cities, that means four and a half out of six billion people. In Japan, even in remote villages there will be few families without television or the latest in fashions. This is the nationwide phenomenon of urbanization.

For the ancient Greeks it was important to have an alter in the house and to keep the sacred fire burning constantly. The dead 'lived' underground in the same way as the living and the distance between the house and the grave was but a few steps. The living made offerings of food and wine to their ancestors. They made their ancestors into deities and prayed to them for a good harvest and the prosperity of their house. To this extent their beliefs are the same as those that have been held by the Japanese for ages past. However in ancient Greece and Rome there was an antagonism between tribes and a consciousness of conquer or be conquered. By respecting the religious ceremonies of several tribes solidarity was attained, and this in turn led to the metropolitan state. To bring about such unity a powerful authority was necesary. The governor that lead on the battle field and was in charge of politics was also a priest. Therefore the man in power built a fine temple and in this way showed his power. Conquerors sometimes made use of existing temples but as it was believed that deities fought in the same way that people did these temples were often destroyed. In Japan clan deities were thought to have originally been members of the clan but gradually people began to worship other people's deities too, in the same way that a person passing in front of the alter in another's house might worship that deity. People even worshipped different deities in the same place so that it became difficult to distinguish between the clan deity, a protecting deity and the deity of one's birthplace. Thus in Japan there was no conflict between beliefs, and religion had very little to do with the growth of the city. Although there are shrines and temples in every city there are very few religious cities. Some are Ise, where the Grnd Shrine is located, Nara the temple town of the Kofuku Temple which includes the ruins of Heijokyo (a former capital of over 1000 years ago) and Nagano which is built around the Zenko Temple, the head of the Rinzai sect of Buddhism. The big city areas are now so vast they are hard to take in at a glance however most began as hometowns. The district of Shinjuku in Tokyo started as a post station, and is very different from the district of Asakusa which was a temple town with a temple to Kannon (the Goddess of Mercy) as its focul point. Asakusa is now a big railway terminal and one of the busiest quarters of Tokyo. It is also the location of the Hanazono Shrine, a shrine dear to the people's hearts. The city is supported by the surrounding districts in the same way a wheel is held together by its spokes or a roof by pillars, and the foundations for these pillars are nothing else but shrines and temples. Take away these supports and panic would ensue, psychologically and physically the city would break down. This is demonstrated by the number of people that visit shrines over the New Year. Eighty million people or over 70% of the population visit a shrine and worship without any compulsion other than their own desire to do so, a really stri king number. This clearly shows the mood and feeling of the people. We cannot think about cities without thinking of this fact. We usually talk of shrines and temples in the same breath and do not differentiate btween what is Shinto and what is Buddhist although their functions are different. Temples take charge of funeral arrangements, shrines handle marriages, festi vals and New Year worship. Shrines are always open to everybody, temples tend to close their doors to outsiders and are surrounded by a high fence and gates. In city centres, in particular, temples have little to do with the region and often move to the suburbs. Shrines never move. Therefore shrines become important as landmarks. Moreover in crowded cities only shrines and temples provide open areas. This space is psychologically impor tant in times of disaster. Shrines and temples are the breathing spaces of the city.

Cities founded five or six thousand years ago were centres of information. And since they also had temples and palaces were centres of politics, commerce and trade, and the targets of war. The proverb says "All roads lead to Rome," one reason why people flock to the cities. Information produced in the city filters out into the countryside but as the life of the city depends on the labour of the farmer or fisherman it is insecure, although free. Real urbanization in a global sense can be said to have started in this century. In Japan it was only in the Meiji Period that people got the idea of going to the city to make their fortune. As the population increased so second and third sons in poor farming families drifted into the city seeking success. Many of them had to return to their homelands on account of the heavy labour, dirty air and diseases such as tuberculosis, which infested the cities, especially at the time of the Industrial Revolution. But still the flow of people from the village into the city continued. In the village one has no private life and cannot escape interference, but this is coming to an end. The flow of people from the country to the town is ending but the flow of information from town or city to country is still a one-way street. In the past the people that migrated to the city were those that, for some reason of their own, had no place in the country. Some were blacksmiths or metal-workers, some street performer. They were called "marebito" (wanderers) by Origuchi Shinobu. Those suffering from leprosy left on pil grimmages having been turned out by their families. They lived in the back streets out of the public's eye and sometimes even settled in shrines or temples. People who grew rice were thought of as ordinary and the others as different. This included non rice-growing farmers. In the Edo Period the farming population comprised 90% of the whole country with the rest being thought of as non-ordinary people. The majority looked on the others with suspicion, as wanderers, even though they got their sickles and farm implements from the blacksmith and their information about events happening in the city from the traveller. On the other hand being subject to fewer restraints the non-ordinary people sometimes cheated and stole and were called devils. Some sold tea or offered prayers, and some even became deities. The people working in the fields led lives protected from the devils by deities that descended from the mountains or by the spirits of their ancestors.

This relationship between ordinary people and the others could be seen in the towns and cities. The merchants and crafts men who settled in the towns and became rich were the ordinary people, the merchants and entertainers from different cities the others. Today the same phenomenon can be seen on television. But in normal urban life the two kinds are related through busi ness. In general they are not diferentiated. However in the clan system the difference is conspicuous. Take a look at town and ward associations, for instance. People one year older are treated with that much more respect, the old are more respected than the young. There is antagonism between people who have lived in an area for two or three generations and those of only one generation. The two groups fight to be elected to membership of town committees. Even in areas like Shinjuku which accept newcomers comparatively easily such differences can be seen be tween mothers with children of the same age. Even among first generation newcomers there is a big discrepancy between agri cultural people who settled as pioneers immediately after the war and the inhabitants of bed-towns.

What do the people of the cities expect of their shrines? Most of those who come to our shrine to pray bring new born babies for a purification ceremony. The parents have great affection for their offspring and have great expectations at the happiness that should ensue as the result of the purification ceremony. As we also have a sub-shrine called the "Geino Asama Jinja" (Shrine for Artists) many singers come to pray for the success of their songs. The kind of prayers requested meet the needs of people living in the city. Today the prayers of farmers are no different from city dwellers wishing for high market prices. They are keen for news from the city and even destroy crops when there is a glut or too abundant a harvest.

In the rooms of committee members in most modern skyscrapers one can find "kamidana" (house shrines). Even in modern company organizations that function in the most rational way we cannot escape the fear of the deities. Before the construction of the most modern high-tech research centre a ceremony is held to calm the deity of the land on which the centre will be built. Before construction work began on the World Exposition of Science and Technology held recently at Tsukuba, a Shinto ground breaking ceremony was held by the priest of the Tsukuba Shrine. The Exposition was a kind of festival of out time. Shrines have always acknowledged the beliefs of individuals as well as those of communities but the contents of modern prayers are changing to suit life in the city. In medieval times warriors such as Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu sponsored the consruction of shrines, they were replaced by landlords and the rich who will in turn be replaced by the enterprises of the future. An example of this could be seen at a recent festival in Nihohbashi, one of the business centres of modern Tokyo. The portable shrine was carried by company employees, since there were not enough of the local inhabitants left carry it. There will be more such festi vals for compay sponsored memorial events in the not too distant future.

It is hard to predict future trends in society but people will always have to work for a living. Basic emotions like love and hate will not change either, and shrine festivals will also continue to be held. But developments in cummunications will change our outlook on life. If the family's online computer system is connected to the company one can work at home. Child ren playing only with computers will become more and more intro verted and as a reaction people will need more open human contact. Here the shrine festival will be able to take its place in bringing about a feeling of solidarity among the people.

With the introduction of robots welding workers were replaced. Learning how to repair watches was once a life's work, but now watches are one of the cheapest goods on the market. The same could happen to doctors and lawyers. Theses which take a lifetime to write may not be able to compete with analysis done by a housewife with the help of a personal computer, and thus it may be difficult for professionals to make a living. Women will become more active in many fields. In the future synthetic multi-humans may be more appreciated than professionals.

In the year 2020 more than 20% of the population will be over the age of 65. In Scandinavia and Europe it took more than a hundred years for for older people to comprise the percentage it now has of the population. This is quite a drastic rate of ageing. No matter how optimistic or pessimistic the society the role of the shrine, the centre of regional communities, will continue to be appreciated. Shrines should be able to find activities to take care of the aged. The present total of five to six hundred thousand senile people will probably become a million and there will probably be an increase in the number of bedridden, now estimated at around three hundred thousand. Families supporting such people are forced to make sacrifices. What will happen when the upper limits are reached and overflow the towns? One imagines that hope and faith in the power of the deities will be renewed and the shrines will have to respond accordingly.