The Supernatural (preferably for Japanese)

[Kirie_Maiden]

I was very curious about how many people in Japan actually believe in the supernatural. Other people can answer the poll too, but I am curious to know how big a part the supernatural plays in Japanese culture.

 

[pipokun]

Deep River by Shusaku Endo may be an intereting book for you.
Endo was a Christian, but I think 97% European and 41% Japanese Christians consider him a heretic.

 

[leonmarino]

In my experience, I've always been amazed by the superstitious beliefs that most Japanese have.. Kita-makura, chopsticks in rice, a little bit of salt outside the house (or was it inside!?), to name but a few.. Although I do respect the customs and beliefs for the full 100%, it is pretty tireing if you're not used to it if I may say so..

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Yeah. I do agree with you there. Can get a bit weird people talking about all that stuff if you're not used to hearing it, although, being a spiritualist, I am 100% used to it all. Haha.

 

[Goldiegirl]

This is strange, but husband believes in Japanese ghosts and spirits, but not American (or western) ones. I asked him why, and he didn't have an actual reason other than they are more frightening. Something to do with them being floating heads! Really!

 

[pacalat]

supernatural

The word 'supernatural' is natural to me. Supernatural phenomena exist. No question about it. Those who dont believe in the supernatural were superpractical.

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Floating heads??? How unusual. Never seen one myself apart from on Fatal Frame but... ok. Haha.

Yeah, the supernatural can become a part of your life if you experience it for a long period of time and it just becomes a natural part of life.

 

[Ewok85]

My fiance, quite serious, can see ghosts, and they can "touch" her (ie. one story was her almost being pulled backwards down some stairs). Freaks me out...

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Yeah. I know how you feel, but I know how she feels too. lol.

 

[reiyuki]

well i'm not japanese but.. it think their real

 

[hideway]

I'm not japanese so I didn't vote. But I find it disturbing that so many people accept stuff, like ghosts, as a reality just like that.

 

[hanachan]

Most of Japanese are Buddhist people and also Shintoists, too.
I'm the one of them. I'm not so religious person, but I believe something.
In the spiritual world of Shinto spirits are everywhere.
In Japan a big and old tree is worshiped because the spirits exist there.
Many people believe that if they cut down such holly tree, an evil comes on them.
We call it "tatari".

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Wow... thanks for the information, that was the kind of thing I was asking for. I love that Shintoists believe in the spiritual world, and indeed, for me, I can admire their religion. Do they believe they are spirits of good, evil or both? And are they something to be worshipped?

 

[hanachan]

Do they believe they are spirits of good, evil or both? And are they something to be worshipped?

For Japanese like me, it's difficult to explain about religion.
Because it's very natural way in our lives, and we practice it unconsciously.
Shinto is the native religion of Japan originating from primitive ancestor and nature worship. No Bible in Shinto.
Deities of Shinto are the natural phenomena, animals(fox, racoon dog, snake and others), heroes of the Myth, great leaders of past... haha... anything.
Actually we worship a small stone, too.
We can't see the deities as a objects. We can see those (a stone etc.) that deities exist. ... I don't know they are good or evil. We think that if we do bad things, they will punish us.
We say "warui koto o suruto bachi ga ataru".
I can't say enough well.
It is a state of mind.
I don't pray anything. just thank for living today.

 

[hanachan]

If you are interested, see this;
Japan - a state of mind - Countries of the World - Japan
There are some photos from my hometown about religious things.

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Thank you so much, that is very helpful.

 

[Mars Man]

Well, if I may, I thought I'd just jump in here a little...since I don't get the chance to discuss religious related subjects much these days--although we could say that matters which fall under the heading 'supernatural' need not all be religious per se.

I also, like hideway, didn't vote, but not because I am not a Japanese national...but rather because I didn't know the definitions of the terms used.

I do know that in philosophical debates, one can get really twisted and involved into a very hard to follow line of explanation on just what 'supernatural' is. How would you define or explain what the referent for that term might be, Kirei_Maiden san?

Myself, I general think of 'supernatural' as being a term--a classification if you will--wherein humans tend to put natural phenomenon and observations which cannot be explained by any known 'natural' mechanics. I'd like to read what your thoughts are on the referent or object of that term.

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

I would class the supernatural as anything that can't be explained by science, but not things like how the world was made and all that. It's things like the spiritual world and related phenomena. You could also class the existence of extraterrestrials under the supernatural, but I wouldn't personally.

 

[basuotoko]

A lot of people in Japan believe in supernatural stuff. It's hard to tell how many exactly, because it's so hard to get a straight answer out of Japanese people, but it seems that the majority actually believe in stuff like fortune telling and astrology. There's an old woman, her name escapes me at the moment, that has made a fortune in Japan by regularly appearing on TV and deceiving people. As you can probably tell, I don't believe any of it.

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Yeah. I can tell. I don't believe in fortune telling and astrology, but I do believe strongly in the spiritual world.

 

[MoBay]

Most of Japanese are Buddhist people and also Shintoists, too.
I'm the one of them. I'm not so religious person, but I believe something.
In the spiritual world of Shinto spirits are everywhere.
In Japan a big and old tree is worshiped because the spirits exist there.
Many people believe that if they cut down such holly tree, an evil comes on them.
We call it "tatari".

So why do they cut down some many freking trees in Japan?

 

[pipokun]

This is the best blog I have ever read, though it has not been updated.

遠野物語
窶播窶ｰﾃｶ窶堙娯?板｢窶ｰ窶懌?禿ｬ窶堙俄?堙坂?ｰﾃｹ窶堋ｩ窶堋ｵ窶堋｢窶愿ｺ窶怒窶堙娯?｢窶版段窶堋ｪﾂ広窶堋ｪ窶堙≫?堙??堋｢窶堋ｽﾂ。88窶彑窶堙固ｽﾃ環真窶堙??凖披?堙ｩ窶ｰ窶懌?禿ｬ窶｢ﾂｨﾅ津ｪ窶堙ｰ窶堙??堋､窶堋ｼﾂ。
In Tono, the villege of Yokai, there still remains nostalgic Japan. Enjoy my Tono Monogatari with 88 photoes.

The blog is not Yanagita's one, but the photoes may be interesting.

Yanagita Kunio is a scholar who is often known as "the father of Japanese native ethnology."
Tono Monogatari
a record of folk tales gathered in Tono, Iwate Prefecture. Famous imps in the stories include kappa and zashikiwarashi.
Kunio Yanagita - Wikipedia

 

[hanachan]

So why do they cut down some many freking trees in Japan?

Japan is a developed nation, we cut down the trees for convenience of living.
Nobody says the fear for "tatari(a curse)".
But...
In many places in Japan you can see the same scenery...Why?

 

[Mars Man]

Thanks for your explanation there, Kirie_Maiden san. I'd like to see if we could narrow it down a little--maybe by some examples. I enjoyed reading the other comments too. I would first say that probably we'd have to make a distinction between superstitious and supernatural, however.

supersitious would be something similar to the refusal to build a house with the entryway facing towards the North (if I have that correct) or taking care not to put some heavy object on top of the Butsudan, or making sure to burn the old darumas, Shinto charms or other things related to the Shinto alter in the home as opposed to simply throwing them in the garbage.

Supernatural would be more like seeing something which is otherwise not seen--say a 'ghost' (although we'd have to define just what that could be too;the normal explanation wanting) It would be somthing like 'knowing' an event would happen before it physically does--for example (can't recall her name at the moment) knowing that president Kennedy would be shot in Dallas, Texas, or as my hearing my mother's voice just as the phone rang, answering it to hear my mother on the other end.

But, in science, we could say that there are theories--for example Dark Matter--which we do not know of, cannot see, and so on, which probably should not be listed as being supernatural just because we can't explain it scientifically. How does this narrowing down the scope sound to you?

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

I agree, it could be very helpful. Although, different countries do have different ideas about the supernatural, so we may have an entire resource on "spirits around the world," starting on this forum. We do need to make a distinction between the supernatural and religions, because sometimes the supernatural may not relate to a religion, for example, no one religion believes that poltergeists exist, but many people do. Scientists think that it is Psychic phenomena produced by stress, spiritualists believe that they are spirits that can't manifest and have to communicate in that way and yet christians would regard them as the devil's work. Can anybody else expand on this?