With wonderful naivete and enthusiasm, Motooeri taught that
Japan was the first part of the earth created, and that it is therefore
The Land of the Gods, the Country of the Holy Spirits. The stars were
created from the muck which fell from the spear of Izanagi as he thrust
it into the warm earth, while the other countries were formed by the
spontaneous consolidation of the foam of the sea. Morals were invented
by the Chinese because they were an immoral people, but in Japan there
is no necessity for any system of morals, as every Japanese acts aright
if he only consults his own heart. The duty of a good Japanese consists
in obeying the Mikado, without questioning whether his commands are
right or wrong. The Mikado is god and vicar of all the gods, hence
government and religion are the same, the Mikado being the centre of
Church and State, which are one. Did the foreign nations know their duty
they would at once hasten to pay tribute to the Son of Heaven in
Ki[=o]to.
It is needless here to dwell upon the tremendous power of Shint[=o] as a
political system, especially when wedded with the forces, generated in
the minds of the educated Japanese by modern Confucianism. The Chinese
ethical system, expanded into a philosophy as fascinating as the English
materialistic school of to-day, entered Japan contemporaneously with the
revival of the Way of the Gods and of native learning.
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