The souls of Japanese children are often pictured as playing in a celestial garden with the same flowers and butterflies they used to play with while on earth. It is just this subtle element of the childlike disposition in Japanese people that has helped them to discover the secrets of flowers, and birds, and trees, has enabled them to catch their timorous, fleeting shadows, and to hold them, as if by magic, in a picture, on a vase, or in a delicate and wistful poem.
"The Ah-ness of Things"
There is a Japanese phrase, mono no aware wo shiru ("the Ah-ness of things"), which seems to describe most accurately the whole significance of Japanese poetry. There is a plaintive and intimate union between the poet and the scene from Nature he is writing about. Over and over again he suggests that Spring, with all her wealth of cherry- and plum-blossom, will continue to grace his country long after he has departed. Nearly all Japan's people, from the peasant to the Mikado himself, are poets. They write poetry because they live poetry every day of their lives—that is to say, before Japan dreamed of wearing a bowler hat and frock-coat, or became a wholesale buyer of everything Western. They live poetry, always that poetry steeped in an intimate communion with Nature. And when in July the Festival of the Dead takes place, there comes a great company of poet souls to see Nippon's blossom again, to wander down old familiar gardens, through red torii, or to lean upon a stone lantern, and drink in the glory of a summer day, which is sweeter to them than life beyond the grave.
[1] See translation by William N. Porter.
[GODS AND GODDESSES]
| Aizen Myō-ō. | The God of Love. |
| Aji-shi-ki. | A Shintō God who was mistaken for his deceased friends Ame-wake. |
| Ama-no-ho. | The first of the Divine Messengers sent to prepare the way for the coming Ninigi |
| Ama-terasu. | The Sun Goddess. |
| Ame-waka. | "Heaven-young-Prince," and one of the Divine Messengers. |
| Amida. | A Buddhist Deity, originally an abstraction,
the ideal of boundless light. The Daibutsu at Kamakura represents this God. |
| Anan. | A cousin of Buddha, and, like Bishamon,
gifted with great knowledge and a wonderful memory. |
| Benten. | One of the Seven Deities of Luck. |
| Bimbogami. | The God of Poverty. |
| Binzuru. | A disciple of Buddha, and worshipped
by the lower classes on account of his miraculous power to cure all human ailments. |
| Bishamon. | The God of Wealth and also of War. |
| Bosatsu. | A term applied to Buddhist saints. |
| Buddha. | See Shaka. |
| Daikoku. | The God of Wealth. |
| Dainichi Nyorai. | A personification of purity and wisdom. One of the Buddhist Trinity. |
| Daishi. | "Great Teacher," a term applied to many Buddhist saints. |
| Daruma. | A follower of Buddha. |
| Dōsojin. | The God of Roads. |
| Ebisu. | A God of Luck and of Daily Food.
He is the patron of honest labour, and is represented as a fisherman carrying in his hand a tai-fish. |
| Ekibiogami. | The God of Pestilence. |
| Emma-Ō. | The Lord of Hell and Judge of the Dead. |
| Fu Daishi. | A deified Chinese priest. |
| Fudō. | The God of Wisdom. |
| Fugen. | The divine patron of those who
practise a special kind of ecstatic meditation. He is usually depicted as sitting on the right hand of Shaka. |
| Fukurokuju. | A God of Luck, and typifies longevity and wisdom. |
| Gaki. | Evil Gods. |
| Go-chi Nyorai. | The Five Buddhas of Contemplation, viz.: Yakushi, Tahō, Dainichi, Ashuku, and Shaka. |
| Gongen. | A generic name for the Shintō incarnations of Buddhas. It is also applied to deified heroes. |
| Gwakkō Bosatsu. | A Buddhist moon-deity. |
| Hachiman. | The God of War. He is the deified Emperor Ōjin, patron of the Minamoto clan. |
| Hoderi. | "Fire Shine," and son of Ninigi. |
| Hoori. | "Fire Fade," and son of Ninigi. |
| Hoso-no-Kami. | The God of Smallpox. |
| Hotei. | A God of Luck who typifies contentment. |
| Hotoke. | The name of all Buddhas, and frequently applied to the dead generally. |
| Ida Ten. | A protector of Buddhism. |
| Iha-naga. | "Princess Long-as-the-Rocks," eldest daughter of the Spirit of Mountains. |
| Inari. | The Goddess of Rice, and also associated with the Fox God. |
| Isora. | The Spirit of the Seashore. |
| Izanagi and Izanami. | The Creator and Creatress of Japan, and from them the deities of the Shintō pantheon are descended. |
| Jizō. | The God of Children. |
| Jurōjin. | A God of Luck. |
| Kami. | A general name for all Shintō deities. |
| Kashō. | One of the greatest disciples of Buddha. |
| Kaze-no-Kami. | The God of Wind and Bad Colds. |
| Kengyū. | The Herdsman lover of the Weaving Maiden. |
| Ken-ro-ji-jin. | The Earth God. |
| Kishi Bojin. | An Indian Goddess, worshipped by the Japanese as the protectress of children. |
| Kōbō Daishi. | A deified Buddhist sage. |
| Kodomo-no-Inari. | The children's Fox God. |
| Kōjin. | The God of the Kitchen. Worn-out dolls are offered to this deity. |
| Kokuzō Bosatsu. | A female Buddhist saint. |
| Kompira. | A Buddhist deity of obscure origin, identified with Susa-no-o and other Shintō Gods. |
| Kōshin. | The God of Roads. A deification of the day of the Monkey, represented by the Three Mystic Apes. |
| Kuni-toko-tachi. | "The Earthly Eternally Standing One." A self-created Shintō God. |
| Kwannon. | The Goddess of Mercy, represented in
various forms: 1. Shō-Kwannon (Kwannon the Wise). 2. Jū-ichi-men Kwannon (Eleven-Faced). 3. Sen-ju Kwannon (Thousand-Handed). 4. Ba-tō-Kwannon (Horse-Headed). 5. Nyo-i-rin Kwannon (Omnipotent). |
| Marishiten. | In Japanese and Chinese Buddhism she
is represented as the Queen of Heaven. She has eight arms, two of which hold the symbols of the sun and moon. In Brahminical theology she is the personification of Light, and also a name of Krishna. |
| Maya Bunin. | The mother of Buddha. |
| Miroku. | Buddha's successor, and known as the Buddhist Messiah. |
| Miwa-daimyō-jin. | The deity associated with the Laughing Festival of Wasa. |
| Monju Bosatu. | The Lord of Wisdom. |
| Musubi-no-Kami. | The God of Marriage. |
| Nikkō Bosatsu. | A Buddhist solar deity. |
| Ninigi. | The grandson of Amer-terasu, the Sun Goddess. |
| Ni-ō. | Two gigantic and fierce kings who guard the outer gates of temples. |
| Nominosukune. | Patron deity of wrestlers. |
| Nyorai. | An honorific title applied to all Buddhas. |
| O-ana-mochi. | "Possessor of the Great Hole" of Mount Fuji. |
| Oho-yama. | The Spirit of the Mountains. |
| Ōnamuji or Ōkuni-nushi. | Son of Susa-no-o. He ruled in Izumo, but retired in favour of Ninigi. |
| Oni. | A general name for evil spirits. |
| Otohime. | The daughter of the Dragon King. |
| Raiden. | The God of Thunder. |
| Raitaro. | The son of the Thunder God. |
| Rakan. | A name used to designate the perfected saint and also the immediate disciples of Buddha. |
| Roku-bu-ten. | A collective name for the Buddhist Gods Bonten, Taishaku, and the Shi-Tennō. |
| Rin-jin. | The Dragon, or Sea King. |
| Saruta-hiko. | A terrestrial deity who greeted Ninigi. |
| Sengen. | The Goddess of Mount Fuji. She is
also known as Asama or Ko-no-Hana-Saku-ya-Hime "The Princess who makes the Flowers of the Trees to Blossom." |
| Shaka Muni. | The founder of Buddhism, also called Gautama, but most generally known as the Buddha. |
| Sharihotsu. | The wisest of Buddha's ten chief disciples. |
| Shichi Fukujin. | The Seven Gods of Luck, viz.: Ebisu, Daikoku, Benten, Fukurokuju, Bishamon, Jurōjin, and Hotei. |
| Shita-teru-hime. | "Lower-shine-Princess," and wife of Ame-waka. |
| Shi-Tennō. | The Four Heavenly Kings who protect
the earth from demons each defending one quarter of the horizon. Their names are Jikoku, East; Kōmoku, South; Kōchō, West; and Tamon, also called Bishamon, North. Their images are placed at the inner gate of the temple. |
| Shōden. | The Indian Ganesa, God of Wisdom. |
| Sohodo-no-kami. | The God of Scarecrows. |
| Sukuna-Bikona. | A deity sent from Heaven to assist Ōnamuji in pacifying his realm. |
| Susa-no-o. | "The Impetuous Male," brother of the Sun Goddess. |
| Taishaku. | The Brahminical God Indra. |
| Tanabata or Shokujo. | The Weaving Maiden. |
| Ten. | A title equivalent to the Sanskrit Diva. |
| Tenjin. | The God of Calligraphy. |
| Tennin. | Female Buddhist Angels. |
| Tōshōgū. | The deified name of the great Shōgun Ieyasu or Gongen Sama. |
| Toyokuni. | The deified name of Hideyoshi. |
| Toyo-tama. | The Dragon King's daughter. |
| Toyo-uke-bime. | The Shintō Goddess of Earth or Food. |
| Tsuki-yumi. | The Moon God. |
| Uzume. | The Goddess of Dancing. |
| Yakushi Nyorai. | "The Healing Buddha." |
| Yofuné-nushi. | The Serpent God. |
| Yuki-Onna. | The Lady of the Snow. |