出版社:文芸社 著者:大野靖志 定価:1,680円
• Contents
Understanding the Gods Amatsu and Kunitsu (Heaven and Earth)
From Japanese mythology, the God Amatsu (God of Heaven) is used to generally refer to the Gods that reside in Takama no Hara (Heaven) or those that are said to have descended from that plane. The other God, Kunitsu (God of Earth), refers to the collective of Gods who arose from the earth. Amatsu were the Gods to whom the Royal Family and other upper ranking families believed in and worshiped, while Kunitsu were the Gods that were respected by the general population that resided in the peaceful lands that the Emperor had united. Continuing from the premise that cultural wisdom often resides in the spiritual practices, religious ceremonies and mythology of the society. The mythology of Japan can be interpreted as an allegorical representation of the paradigm that stratification and unification are coexistent forces in nature. Nanasawa says:
The naming of the Gods are actually a metaphor for the fundamental concept of ken (things of this world) and yu (things of the other world). For example, earth is called “earth” as in the physical substance, but the energetic yu that is represented by ‘earth’ is called the God Haniyasuhiko in Shinto. Similarly, the God Amatsu is also a metaphor for yu (things of the other world), only instead of standing for the forces of nature, the God Amatsu represents the internal forces of human consciousness. The yu represented by Amatsu, then, is considered to be the upper rank of yu along the continuum of a spectrum of yu that is represented by Kunitsu and Amatsu. In Greek philosophy, the concept of being able to have “concrete” or “abstract” ideas runs parallel to the concept of divisions of ken and yu that are represented as “Gods” in Shinto philosophy. This stratification is therefore represented that first there is ken (substance), then there are yu (other worldly things) represented by Kunitsu, and finally there are the yu of yu (the upper stage of things of the other world) represented by Amatsu. See the chart on pp. 43-44: In the rites of totsuka no Kandakara (The Ten Stages of God’s Treasures), you are first trained to perceive that the God of Ancestors, Totsumioya, and you are one. Then, when you have become one with Totsumioya, you will learn to greet the God of Earth (Kunitsu) and become as one with that God. In the further stages of practice, when you are as one with Kunitsu, you will be able to greet the God of Heaven (Amatsu). In the last process, united with Amatsu, the practice is to unite with the Great God of Heaven Amaterasu (Illuminate of Heaven), from there, the training is to greet the God Ameno Minakanushi (Master of Heaven) who is the creator of genesis.