Japanese Deities under the Sole and Absolute God
There are about more than 80,000 shinto shrines and 70,000 Buddhist temples in Japan. And, it is thought that there are tens of thousands of professional conjurors, faith healers, shamans, and persons with spiritual power in Japan who are associated with shintoism or Buddhism. Indeed shamanism is a tradition of the Japanese culture like in other East Asian countries like China, Korea, etc.For example, it was reported decades ago that a woman running a small and humble Japanese cookshop in Kyoto had such psychic power. She had married a man and divorced him but remarried him again who finally died as her husband in 30 years of troubled family life, while her daughter also died of a disease. In sadness in losing her daughter, she started to visit periodically a certain temple where Kukai, officially called Kobo Daishi, a historically notable priest of Tantric Buddhism, was enshrined. And one day she heard a voice of Kukai saying that he would give her special virtue so that she should help other people with her psychic power. Since then, she could exert supernatural power and heal sick people with her hand power. Due to her psychic power, many customers with some physical or mental troubles came to her small and humble cookshop. She found that a spirit sometimes told her where the disease was and how to send power to the affected areas. She cured 100 patients with hemorrhoid and cancer in a decade. Her life was successfully established as a cookshop owner with psychic power. Truly there are may legends about miracle works of Kukai in various local areas in Japan.
Indeed Kukai is still revered in Japan as he founded the Shingon sect in Japan about 1,100 years ago after learning in China and inheriting Tantric Buddhism from a Chinese old master who admitted that Kukai was the only proper successor of Tantric Buddhism, which means Tantric Buddhism came to Japan from India through China. After coming back to Japan, Kukai performed many miracles to help people and the Imperial Court through healing the sick and making the rain fall during drought. The tantric Shingon sect had strong influences even in the following era of samurai dominance. And the samurai Tokugawa family ruled Japan from the early 17th century till the middle of the 19th century based on the Tendai sect of Tantric Buddhism that is another notable tantric sect. Truly, it is said that the city of Tokyo (then called Edo) was designed by a monk of the Tendai sect called Tenkai who was close to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa regime.
And, there are other Buddhist monks, mountain ascetics, and conjurors who got inspiration from Kukai or other deities of shintoism or Buddhism even today. Japan has been really a country full of spiritual tradition. And such monks or conjurors are said to have played secret but decisive roles behind historic incidents. The authority of the Japanese Imperial Family is rooted in this tradition; although special psychic power is not found in the Imperial Family today, it is thought the family had special power given by deities of the Japanese myths more than 2,000 years ago. In this meaning, the Imperial Family is sacred for the Japanese people, although the family started to rely on psychic power of Buddhism since the capital of Japan had moved to Nara and Kyoto about 1,300 years ago. Yet, there are still psychic people who have tried to build new religions or sects based on shintoism or Buddhism. That is why most of Japanese do not find any need to study, believe in, or rely on Christianity. Japan has already had strong spiritual tradition where spiritualism of today is rooted.
Indeed, even today there are thousands of conjurors, tantric monks, psychics. oracles, fortune-tellers, etc. in Japan. People with difficult diseases sometimes would ask help from them if their conditions could not be improved after visiting medical doctors. Although Japan owes its economic success to modern technology and science imported from Europe and the U.S. since the middle of the 19th century, the Japanese society has not anyhow inclined to Christianity as a religion ruling its people. In the underflow of the Japanese society, reverence to deities of the Japanese Buddhism, shintoism, etc. never disappear.
Yet, in the world, monotheistic faith is mainstream. Probably the Japanese people should admit that there is the sole Creator of the spiritual world and the material world, and believe that under this Creator various deities of the Japanese Buddhism, shintoism, etc. exist and work. So, there should not be contradictions even if Japanese Buddhists started to believe in the God of Christianity.
Truly, there must be spirits of deities of the Japanese Buddhism, shintoism, etc. such as Kukai in the spirit world in parallel with angels of Christianity. Those Japanese good spirits might come to this world to guide or help pious people like angels of Christianity. Put simply, paganism can come into effect under the sole and absolute God who created and ruled the spirit world and material world.
However, the concept that Christ Jesus is a human form of such sole and absolute God is not smoothly accepted by the Japanese people. Nonetheless, although individual or personal matters may be treated well by Japanese deities, more large-scale issues, such as global warming and international wars, must need help from the sole and absolute God in solving these problems. Furthermore, to solve global spiritual matters should need faith in the sole and absolute God or the Creator of the spirit world and the material world.
We should hope that the sole and absolute God in any form would help people in troubles like the spirit of Kukai helped and saved the woman in Kyoto decades ago.
++++ ++++ ++++Luke 11, King James Version
17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.
18 If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.
19 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.
20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: