Chapter II: Shintō: Myths and Ritual

"In the great days of old,
When o'er the land the gods held sov'reign sway,
Our fathers lov'd to say
That the bright gods with tender care enfold
The fortunes of Japan,
Blessing the land with many an holy spell:
And what they loved to tell,
We of this later age ourselves do prove;
For every living man
May feast his eyes on tokens of their love."

--Poem of Yamagami-no Okura,
A.D. 733.

Baal: "While I on towers and banging terraces,
In shaft and obelisk, behold my sign.
Creative, shape of first imperious law."

--Bayard Taylor's "Masque of the Gods."

"Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my
silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of
men, and didst commit whoredom with them, and tookest thy
broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine
oil and mine incense before them. My meat also which I gave
thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou
hast even set it before them for a sweet savor: and thus it was,
saith the Lord GOD."--Ezekiel.

If it be said (as has been the case), 'Shintoism has nothing in
it,' we should be inclined to answer, 'So much the better, there
is less error to counteract.' But there _is_ something in it,
and that ... of a kind of which we may well avail ourselves when
making known the second commandment, and the 'fountain of
cleansing from all sin.'"--E.W. Syle.

"If Shintō has a dogma, it is purity."--Kaburagi.

"I will wash my hands in innocency, O Lord: and so will I go to
thine altar."--Ps. xxvi. 6.