REL 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Mahayana, Miko, Akihito
Document Summary
Kami spirits, deities, or essences found in both animate and inanimate objs. Can be humanlike, animistic, or natural features/forces in the world (ex: mts, rivers, trees, rocks, lightning, and wind) Exist and are interrelated in the same world as ppl. Kami no michi the way of the kami, another term for shinto. Akihito: the 125th emperor of japan in 1989. Is a living god or the true son of heaven, who is entitled to reign over the 4 seas and the 10,000 countries. Spends a night w/the sun goddess as a dinner guest shortly after ascending to the throne. Carries out the great food offering: a ritual that takes place in 2 specially constructed log huts. During the rite: the emperor receives an essence of the sun goddess"s spirit and thus becomes w/her a kind of living ancestor of the entire japanese family. 4 major periods in shinto history: before the arrival of buddhism in japan (600"s):
