The jewels (tama) worn by gods and human beings were [[337]]not, as already insisted upon, merely ornaments, but objects possessing “soul substance”. These are referred to in the oldest Shinto books. In ancient Japanese graves archæologists have found round beads (tama), “oblong perforated cylinders” or “tube-shaped beads” (kuda-tama), and “curved” or “comma-shaped[30] beads” (maga-tama). According to W. Gowland, “the stones of which maga-tama are made are rock-crystal, steatite, jasper, agate, and chalcedony, and more rarely chrysoprase and nephrite (jade)”. He notes that “the last two minerals are not found in Japan”.[31]
Henri L. Joly, writing on the tama, says[32] it is also “represented in the form of a pearl tapering to a pointed apex, and scored with several rings. It receives amongst other names Nio-i-Hojiu, and more rarely of Shinshi, the latter word being used for the spherical jewel, one of the three relics left to Ninigi no Mikoto[33] by his grandmother, Amaterâsu.[34] The necklace of Shinshi, mentioned in the traditions, was lost, and in its place a large crystal ball, some three or four inches in diameter, is kept and carried by an aide-de-camp of the Emperor on State occasions.”
The pearl (tama) is “one of the treasures of the Takaramono, a collection of objects associated with the Japanese gods of luck, which includes the hat of invisibility (Kakuregasa), a lion playing with a jewel, a jar containing coral, coins, &c.; coral branches (sangoju), the cowrie shell (kai), an orange-like fruit, the five-coloured feather robe of the Tennins, the winged maidens of the Buddhist paradise, copper cash, &c.”[35] But although the [[338]]tama may correspond to the mani of the Indian Buddhists, it was not of Buddhist origin in Japan; the Buddhists simply added to the stock of Japanese “luck jewels”.
The tama of jade has raised an interesting problem. Nephrite is not found in Japan. “It is difficult”, says Laufer, “to decide from what source, how and when the nephrite or jadeite material was transmitted to Japan.” Referring to jade objects found in the prehistoric Japanese graves, he says: “The jewels may go back, after all, to an early period when historical intercourse between Japan and China was not yet established; they[36] represent two clearly distinct and characteristic types, such as are not found in the jewelry of ancient China. If the Japanese maga-tama and kuda-tama would correspond to any known Chinese forms, it would be possible to give a plausible reason for the presence of jade in the ancient Japanese tombs; but such a coincidence of type cannot be brought forward. Nor is it likely that similar pieces will be discovered in China, as necklaces were never used there anciently or in modern times. We must therefore argue that the two Japanese forms of ornamental stones were either indigenous inventions or borrowed from some other non-Chinese culture sphere in south-eastern Asia, the antiquities of which are unknown to us.”[37]
Copyright H. G. Ponting. F.R.G.S.
THE FAMOUS OLD TORI-WI (GODDESS SYMBOL), MIYAJIMA, JAPAN
Miyajima or Itskushima (“Island of Light”) is one of the San-Kei or “Three most beautiful scenes of Japan”. The island is sacred to Benten, the Goddess of the Sea, of Beauty, of Wealth—one of the seven Divinities of Luck (see “The Japanese Treasure Ship”, page 352).
The tama is of great importance in Shinto religion. At Ise,[38] “the Japanese Mecca”, which has long been visited by pious pilgrims, a virgin daughter of the Mikado used to keep watch over the three imperial insignia—the mirror, the sword, and the jewel (tama)—which had been handed down from Mikado to Mikado. There were no idols in the temples. The Shintai was carefully wrapped up and kept in a box in the “holy of holies”, a screened-off [[339]]part of the simple and unadorned wooden and thatched little temple. The temple was entered through a gateway—the tori wi, a word which means “bird-perch”, in the sense of a hen-roost. “As an honorary gateway”, says Dr. Aston, “the tori-wi is a continental institution identical in purpose and resembling in form the toran of India, the pailoo of China, and the hong-sal-mun of Korea.”[39] When this symbol of Artemis[40] was introduced into Japan is uncertain. “Rock gates” were of great sanctity in old Japan. There is one at Ise—the “twin-rocks of Ise”.
The mirror was the shintai (god-body) of the sun-goddess; the sword was the shintai of the dragon; and the jewel (tama) was the shintai of the Great Mother, who was the inexhaustible womb of nature. At sacred Ise, the chief deities worshipped were Ama-terâsu, the goddess of the sun, and Toyouke-hime, the goddess of food.[41] The high-priest was the Mikado, who was a Kami (a god), and called “the Heavenly Grandchild”, his heir being “august child of the sun”, and his residence “the august house of the sun”.[42] After the Mikado had ascended the throne, the Ohonihe (great food offering) ceremony was performed. It was “the most solemn and important festival of the Shinto religion”, says Aston, who quotes the following explanation of it by a modern Japanese writer: