Tuesday, December 07, 2004



Well I have been doing some Internet research on the significance of deer and horses in the Japanese society. The Mishima Taisya Shrine had me really confused.
Honestly it has not been going very well.

An interesting point to note is that the deer is mostly connected to the Shinto Religion and not so much the Buddhist. My basic understanding as to the differences between these two religions is that Buddha was a human who became a god but the main god who is worshiped by the Shinto leaning people see him as something very similar to Christ. Not exactly the same but similar.
I also took some pictures to show you the basic differences between the temples.
Mostly the Shinto Shrines have a gate that you pass through. Sometimes these gates are HUGE! The shrine itself is not generally entered except on special occasions. People pray at the shrine by clapping three times, bowing their heads, praying and then ringing the bell by pulling on the huge rope that hangs from the center of the entrance area. There is also the small giving of money involved of course.





The Buddhist Temples are usually more courtyard like and there is often a door type gate but it does not necessarily symbolize anything that I am aware of. Praying at these places require going inside and as I have no idea what the protocol is, and am too nervous about stepping on toes, I honestly do not know what you are supposed to do.





Due to my upbringing, which I don’t regret, that allowed me to be a free thinker when it comes to religions but to still respect what people choose to believe, I feel like a bit of a hypocrite when I go to these places. I am not of their religious denomination so I do not feel it is right for me to pretend. I have been with people who know the rules at a Shinto Shrine therefore I know what you are supposed to do when you are there. I would love to one day go to a Buddhist Temple with someone who can properly explain and prevent me from putting my foot in my mouth. My college religious class brought us to a Sheik Temple in Abbotsford once and that was a real eye opener that I loved and was very enlightened.

Ok but I have totally gone off mark here.
DEER!
Basically deer are seen as the messengers of the god. God speaks through them, so deer are generally a symbol of - Love, gentleness, kindness, gracefulness, sensitivity, purity of purpose, walking in the light, swift, nimble, meek, gentle, meditation, love, longevity, and wealth.

The deer is Foremost a Daoism emblem of longevity. Said to be the only animal that can find the holy linghzi funguses of immortality. Also a symbol of wealth since the Chinese word for deer, lu, is a homonym for the salary of an official.
“According to Shinto belief, deer are the messengers of the gods, so hundreds of them, as tame and mischievous as puppies roam the vast park of Nara, the eighth-century capital of Japan. A broad-minded lot, they're as likely to raid visitors to Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines.” They do not roam free at the Mishima Shrine but they were pretty pushy through the fence holes demanding their share of the special deer cakes that you can buy.

Now my understanding of the horse is that it is considered special mostly due to the fact that the horse is not native to Japan. They were a very special prized possession – expensive and hard to come by, yet very useful and in many cases required.
The horse basically symbolizes - Stamina, mobility, strength and power, coping under difficult circumstances, love, devotion, loyalty, the land, travel. Life and death symbol, intellect, wisdom, power, nobility, energy, freedom, wildness, divination, prophecy, fertility.
As to why there was a small shrine dedicated to a horse I am not sure. I am still working on that.

One of my students believes that the horse is actually from the Buddhist side and not the Shinto side. That confused me, as I was pretty sure I was at a Shinto shrine. According to him, about 150 odd years ago, when the Emperor opened up Japan to the outside world, the Japanese people started to become very lax about their two main religions. The result was a strange mixing of the two – Buddhist and Shinto. There are actually a few places around here that are very clear mixes of the two and they have actually created their own style of religion around this mix. Other mixes are subtler and most do not notice. An example of this would be the presence of a tiny Shrine within the huge shrine dedicated to a horse. According to him the horse is often believed to appear before man as a reincarnation of Buddha, so is in a way considered a messenger of Buddha. I don’t know how true this is though. More research is required.
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Posted by (Top)Andrea::12/07/2004 :: 1 Comments:

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