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Government steamer Thabor in December 1872 to the lighthouses on the southern coasts, she put into Toba harbour, and arrangements were most liberally made by Mr. Ôkuma, Councillor of State, and Mr. Yamao, Vice-Minister of Public Works, for giving to the party of Europeans on board an opportunity of visiting these temples. I had the good fortune to be a member of the party, and endeavoured to observe as much as the limited time at our disposal would allow of, but no doubt there still remains much to be investigated by future travellers.
The foregoing paper by Mr. Satow was illustrated by drawings, specimens of “O-harai,” and the model of a Primeval Hut, such as would seem to have furnished the type of Shintô Temple architecture, and on its conclusion
The President tendered the thanks of the Society to Mr. Satow for his very interesting paper. He knew there were some gentlemen present who had made the subject of Shintôism a study, and hoped they would favour the Society with their views. As for himself he had earnestly endeavoured to find out what there was in it, but had long given it up, unable to find any thing to reward his labor;—excepting a small book of Shintô prayers, he had not been able to find any book on the subject. In these prayers man was recognized as guilty of the commission of sin and in need of cleansing.
The Rev. Mr. Syle quoted from Oliphant’s narrative of Lord Elgin’s Mission to Japan a passage which claims that “the Shintô religion has produced results which entitle it to a very high rank among the religions of the world.” (Vol. 2 p. 86.)
Mr. Satow agreed with the President’s opinion that Shintôism contained no moral code. Indeed that view was expressly maintained by Motoori, one of the leaders of the modern revivalists of pure Shintôism. According to Motoori morals were invented by the Chinese because they were an immoral people, but in Japan there was no necessity for any system of morals, as every Japanese acted aright if he only consulted his own heart. Further, Motoori declared that all the duty of a good Japanese consisted in obeying the commands of the mikado, without questioning whether those commands were right or wrong. It was only immoral people like the Chinese who presumed to discuss the characters of their Sovereigns. Shintôism, as expounded by Motoori, was nothing else than an engine for reducing the people to a condition of mental slavery, and this was the reason why such a high rank was assigned to
