일본 신도(神道)와 도교 : 천황 및 이세신궁과의 연관성을 중심으로

Abstract

It has been often said that Japanese religions have nothing to do with Taoism. This might owe to the overwhelming power of Buddhism in the history of the 'syncretism between Buddhism and Shinto'(神仏習合), as well as the decisive domination of State Shinto in modern Japan. In addition, the fact that the public introduction of Taoist temple(道観) and priest in Taoism(道士) cannot be identified in Japan is also a main reason why the influence of Taoism has been so disregarded or neglected in Japan. However, various remains related to Taoism such as the magical wooden tablets historically used to write on(呪符木簡) have been discovered in recent years, which is bringing about a new tendency to acknowledge the relationship between Taoism and the Japanese religions including Shinto(神道). Then, when and how did Shinto be formed? As regards this question, almost all the Japanese people and even many scholars believe that Shinto is "an indigenous native Japanese religion(民族宗敎) generated and developed from ancient times until now in a spontaneous manner". But such an understanding must be a mistaking. For Shinto is actually a historical production which has been greatly transformed under the influence of East-Asian religious thoughts and rituals such as Shamanism, belief in sacred mountains, Buddhism and Taoism as well. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Taoism and Japanese Shinto, especially focusing on Emperor and Ise Shrine(伊勢神宮) which are central to Japanese Shinto system.