Finally, in 1877, the
board became a bureau. Now, it is hard to tell what rank the Shint[=o]
cultus occupies in the government, except as a system of guardianship
over the imperial tombs, a mode of official etiquette, and as one of the
acknowledged religions of the country.
Nevertheless, as an element in that amalgam of religions which forms the
creed of most Japanese, Shint[=o] is a living force, and shares with
Buddhism the arena against advancing Christianity, still supplying much
of the spring and motive to patriotism.
The Shint[=o] lecturers with unblushing plagiarism rifled the
storehouses of Chinese ethics. They enforced their lessons from the
Confucian classics. Indeed, most of their homiletical and illustrative
material is still derived directly therefrom. Their three main official
theses and commandments were:
1. Thou shalt honor the Gods and love thy country.
2. Thou shalt clearly understand the principles of Heaven, and
the duty of man.
3. Thou shalt revere the Emperor as thy sovereign and obey the
will of his Court.
For nearly twenty years this deliverance of the Japanese Government,
which still finds its strongest support in the national traditions and
the reverence of the people for the throne, sufficed for the necessities
of the case.
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