In its development, however, the cultus is
almost wholly Japanese. The modern forms of Shint[=o], as moulded by the
revivalists of the eighteenth century, are at many points notably
different from the ancient faith. At the World's Parliament of Religions
at Chicago, Shint[=o] seemed to be the only one, and probably the last,
of the purely provincial religions.

In order to gain a picture of life in Japan before the introduction of
Chinese civilization, we must consult those photographs of the minds of
the ancient islanders which still exist in their earliest literature.
The fruits of the study of ethnology, anthropology and archaeology
greatly assist us in picturing the day-break of human life in the
Morning Land. In preparing materials for the student of the religions of
Japan many laborers have wrought in various fields, but the chief
literary honors have been taken by the English scholars, Messrs.
Satow,[1] Aston,[2] and Chamberlain.[3] These untiring workers have
opened the treasures of ancient thought in the Altaic world.[4]

Although even these archaic Japanese compositions, readable to-day only
by special scholars, are more or less affected by Chinese influences,
ideas and modes of expression, yet they are in the main faithful
reflections of the ancient life before the primitive faith of the
Japanese people was either disturbed or reduced to system in presence of
an imported religion. These monuments of history, poetry and liturgies
are the "Kojiki," or Notices of Ancient Things; the "Manyoeshu" or Myriad
Leaves or Poems, and the "Norito," or Liturgies.

The Ancient Documents.

The first book, the "Kojiki," gives us the theology, cosmogony,
mythology, and very probably, in its later portions, some outlines of
history of the ancient Japanese. The "Kojiki" is the real, the dogmatic
exponent, or, if we may so say, the Bible, of Shint[=o]. The
"Many[=o]shu," or Book of Myriad Poems, expresses the thoughts and
feelings; reflects the manners and customs of the primitive generations,
and, in the same sense as do the Sagas of the Scandinavians, furnishes
us unchronological but interesting and more or less real narratives of
events which have been glorified by the poets and artists. The ancient
codes of law and of ceremonial procedure are of great value, while the
"Norito" are excellent mirrors in which to see reflected the religion
called Shint[=o] on the more active side of worship.

In a critical study, either