saith the Lord GOD."--Ezekiel.

If it be said (as has been the case), 'Shintoism has nothing in
it,' we should be inclined to answer, 'So much the better, there
is less error to counteract.' But there _is_ something in it,
and that ... of a kind of which we may well avail ourselves when
making known the second commandment, and the 'fountain of
cleansing from all sin.'"--E.W. Syle.

"If Shint[=o] has a dogma, it is purity."--Kaburagi.

"I will wash my hands in innocency, O Lord: and so will I go to
thine altar."--Ps. xxvi. 6.


CHAPTER II - SHINT[=O]: MYTHS AND RITUAL

The Japanese a Young Nation.


What impresses us in the study of the history of Japan is that, compared
with China and Korea, she is young. Her history is as the story of
yesterday. The nation is modern. The Japanese are as younger children in
the great family of Asia's historic people. Broadly speaking, Japan is
no older than England, and authentic Japanese history no more ancient
than British history. In Albion, as in the Honorable Country, there are
traditions and mythologies that project their shadows aeons back of
genuine records; but if we consider that English history begins in the
fifth, and English literature in the eighth century, then there are
other reasons besides those commonly given for calling Japan "the