Monday, January 01, 2007

The First Day of the World Celebrated through Shinto in Japan

The First Day of the World Celebrated through Shinto in Japan


January 1st should be celebrated, because we have to commemorate the first day of the world; and January 1st is the first day of the year.

By celebrating January 1st, we praise the great feat of God, the creation of the world and the universe, which has eventually generated, so to say, you and your ancestors.

The first day is not linked with any saints, who are human beings, but absolutely linked with the creation of the world, God's great feat.

Or you may think that as we cannot go back to the first day of the world to celebrate God, we celebrate Him on the first day of the year.

You do not need any human saints or legends to celebrate January 1st.

As it is January 1st, we celebrate it for no other worldly reasons. And, it happens to be today.
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Japanese are the people who most sincerely celebrate January 1st.

Or there are tow types of God's people in this world: Japanese and others including Israelites, Christians, Muslims, and other believers.

You cannot judge faithfulness of Japanese by applying the same standards you may be allowed to apply to Israelites, Christians, Muslims, and other believers.

If you do, I suppose, Angels surely will be displeased, and they might report it to God.
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Today, January 1st, even at 5:30 p.m., the city sky was dark and cold, shops were closed, neon signs and electric billboards were humble, only few cars were entering a rotary, and almost no commuters were spotted. No businesses could appeal to consumers if they hustle on January 1st in Japan.

However, there was an endless flow of people apparently from one direction to the station. Yes, they were on their way back home from a shrine; I mean that almost everyone putting on a winter coat, a muffler, and a long boots (for most of young ladies) had just made a pilgrimage probably as a yearly ceremony.

Indeed, most of Japanese go and pray in a shrine nearby or notable on January 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Shinto is this way practiced all over Japan.

Japanese, as a whole, are celebrating the great creation of the God through Shinto.

(If you do not celebrate the first day of the year, no matter if you celebrate every Friday, Saturday, or Sunday thereafter, I wonder if God is pleased with you more than He is on January 1st with pious Japanese. In this sense, today, something decisive is to be completed. It might be useless for you to wait for, for example, Christmas coming on December 25 this year.)
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All I want you to do is not to ask Japanese whether he or she believes in God in a sense of Israelites, Christians, or Muslims.

You should not ask what religion he or she believes, neither.

If somebody is Japanese, it means he or she belongs to the unique religion, which no foreigners can comprehend, that alone praises God on January 1st.

You should not insult January 1st by asking those questions to Japanese.
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Some people, on their way home from a shrine, were holding an arrow with white wings.

The holy arrow is called "Hama-Ya," literally meaning an arrow breaking an evil spirit.

You can purchase it at a shop inside a shrine; as a matter of course, it has no metal arrowhead.
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Now, January 1st will be closed in five hours or so here. And while we are sleeping, pagans might attempt something dangerous against Japan on their January 1st; but as we have already praised God today, we can sleep in peace.


"UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD"