GOD RESTORES THE ORIGIN

In Kyoto, on the East side of the Koryuji Temple is a forest called "Moto-Tadasu-no-Mori" or "Forest of the Restoration of the Origin." In this forest is the shrine called "Amaterasu Mitama-Jinja" or "Shrine of the Spirit of Heavenly Enlightenment." It is often called Kaiko-no-Yashiro, or "Shrine of Silkworm." $he shrine has a small pond with a spring, in which stands a very unique torii, symbolical gateway to Shinto shrine, of three pillars instead of two. And at the very center of the triangular torii, a pile of stones is placed, symbolizing the presence of Ame-no-Minaka-Nushi, the God who is the origin of the universe.

The enshrinement of this deity is quite unusual because absolute deities, such as Ameno-Minaka-Nushi, had never been enshrined in ancient Shintoism. Deities usually revered in various Shinto shrines are not absolute and abstract gods, but ones more relative who represent concrete ideas or natural forces.

The Hadas always made conscious efforts to avoid worship ping these practical household deities, because they considered such worship abomination itself. They preferred to one God who was everything, and truly the "Lord in the midst of heaven."

When the Emperor Kwammu transferred the ancient imperial capital from Nara to Kyoto in 794 C . E ., the Hada tribes rendered an enormous amount of financial and technical aid and assistance to the building of the new capital. However, before the capital was completed the emperor moved his throne temporarily to a place called Nagaoka, a town near Kyoto. While in Nagaoka, he stayed at the residence of the Hada Chieftain, who was his court advisor on financial affairs. He resided there because his mother was a daughter of one of the Hada chieftains.

By the time when Kwammu's second son, the Emperor Saga, succeeded the throne, the tribal religion of the Hada family became so influential over the court, that the emperor called the Hada's deity "Mototadasu-no-Kami," or "the God who corrects religion in the light of the Origin. " He also called the pond, where the triangular torii stands, "the Pond of the restoration of the origin. " People would perform in this pond the rite of purification, the idea of which stemmed from the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) in Judaism, and corresponded to the Christian baptism.

According to the tradition of the shrine, it later became associated with the Luminous Religion, or the ancient Eastern Christianity. In this case, the three-pillar-torii might have been a symbol of the trinity they believed in. *

Eventually over the years, the Koryuji Temple deteriorated r spiritually with the infusion of Maitreya Buddhism. Too late, the Hadas realized that their wonderful faith was slipping away, because of the degenerative process brought on by the great assimilation that had taken place. They made some futile attempts to restore the Koryuji Temple to its original glory.

The faith could not be revived. This spiritual clash between the ancient Hada religion and the Maitreya Buddhism, is humor ously depicted in a poem written by the Emperor Goshirakawa (1127- 92).

"When I was on my way
To visit the Maitreya at Uzumasa
So earnestly the God of Kijima
Objected my going any further."

The Shrine of Kijima, or the Shrine of the restoration of the Origin, is located in the same precinct of the Koryuji Temple. Because the Shrine is situated between the entrance of the precinct and the Koryuji Temple itself, the above poem was made to ridicule the clash between them.

Thus the Yahada faith withered away. Today, only a shadow remains of what was once a vibrant living religion which gave so much to Japan. The Maitreyas who had been largely responsible for this state of affairs, eventually fell in the same destiny. The belief in the coming of a Messiah became a localized occult belief, centralized around Mount Kinka-zan and Mount Fuji. Also some remnants of the faith can be seen in the local worship of the people of Okinawa. Finally, in the Buddhist sect of Shingon-shu (The True Word sect) we are greeted with a fragmentary reminder of its influence.

* The Oriental Christianity (the Luminous Religion) upheld the faith in the trinity, in which they called the titles of the three God head "The Mysterious Being" or the Father Allaha; "The Revealed Being" or the Son-Messiah; "The Witness Being" or the Holy Spirit-Ruach. The worship of Mary as the mother of God, however, was rejected by them.