ned in the national "Book of Ancient Traditions,"
the "Kojiki." Several of the opening paragraphs of this sacred book of
Shint[=o] are phallic myths explaining cosmogony. Yet the myths and the
cult are older than the writing and are phases of primitive Japanese
faith. The mystery of fatherhood is to the primitive man the mystery of
creation also. To him neither the thought nor the word was at hand to
put difference and transcendental separation between him and what he
worshipped as a god.

Into the details of the former display and carriage of these now obscene
symbols in the popular celebrations; of the behavior of even respectable
citizens during the excitement and frenzy of the festivals; of their
presence in the wayside shrines; of the philosophy, hideousness or
pathos of the subject, we cannot here enter. We simply call attention to
their existence, and to a form of thought, if not of religion, properly
so-called, which has survived all imported systems of faith and which
shows what the native or indigenous idea of divinity really is--an idea
that profoundly affects the organization of society. To the enlightened
Buddhist, Confucian, and even the modern Shintoist the
phallus-worshipper is a "heathen," a "pagan," and yet he still practises
his faith and rites. It is for us to hint at the powerful influence such
persistent ideas have upon Japanese morals and civilization. Still
further, we illustrate the basic fact which all foreign religions and
all missionaries, Confucian, Buddhist, Mahometan or Christian must deal
with, viz.: That the Eastern Asiatic mind runs to pantheism as surely as
the body of flesh and blood seeks food.

Tree and Serpent Worship.

In prehistoric and medieval Japan, as among the Ainos to-day, trees and
serpents as well as rocks, rivers and other inanimate objects were
worshipped, because such of them as were supposed for reasons known and
felt to be awe-inspiring or wonderful were "kami," that is, above the
common, wonderful.[21] This word kami is usually translated god or
deity, but the term does not conform to our ideas, by a great gulf of
difference. It is more than probable that the Japanese term kami is the
same as the Aino word _kamui_, and that the despised and conquered
aboriginal savage has furnished the mould of the ordinary Japanese idea
of god--which even to-day with them means anything wonderful or
extraordinary.[22] From the days before history the people have
worshipped t