Visitor Explains Japanese Faiths

All Japanese religions seem to tend towards the mystical, Dr. Hideo Kishimoto, head of the Department of Religious Studies of Tokyo University, said yesterday. "They have little to do with the social conduct and ethical principles of man."

Kishimoto spoke to a small gathering at the Geographical Institute in the fifth in a series of lectures sponsored by the Harvard-Yenching Institute.

Japanese religions indicate the national characteristics of "intuitiveness, harmony with nature, and introversion," the professor explained. He described Shinto, one of the dominant religions of Japan, as a conservative and traditional cult in which "nature and man are close by."

According to Kishimoto, Shintoists are decreasing because the Shinto state religion once became associated with Nationalism, and Christianity's God was "tragically mistaken" in translation for the Shinto deity.

By comparison, Japanese Buddhism sees no need for a God and is "practical and psychological." Its main concern, to Kishimoto, is "why humans have so many unnecessary worries." He said it is now the dominant power among religions in Japan.

Although the introduction of Christianity in Japan is misinterpreted as a Western intervention to "Westernize the East," Kishimoto asserted, "it is modernizing the East and greatly influencing Japanese social life." Christian monogamy, equality, and humility are taught and accepted in his country, the professor concluded, but there is no Christian influence upon Japanese concepts of deity.