A mirror on an altar at Fushimi Inari-taisha.

A Shinto mirror Shinkyou (神鏡) is a sacred mirror in Shinto. Some mirrors are enshrined in the main hall of a shrine as a sacred object of the divine spirit, or are placed in front of the deity in a hall of worship.[1] Mirrors in ancient Japan represented truth because they merely reflected what was shown, and were a source of much mystique and reverence.[2] Japanese folklore is rich in stories of life before mirrors were commonplace.[3]

The Yata no Kagami, one of the Three Sacred Treasures, is also one of the sacred mirrors.[4]

Significance

Spirits are enshrined in divine mirrors as Shintai[5] Mirrors are believed to have been used to reflect sunlight during Sun-Worship creating optical effects[6]

In the Nihon Shoki, Amaterasu tells her grandson, Ninigi-no-Mikoto, "Take this and revere it as if it were myself".[7] [8]

It is believed a mirror helps a believer see a true image of themselves and their devotion[9] and worshipping the divine within themselves.[8]

Ancient Chinese theologians believed the soul to be a circular disk, so the usage of a circular mirror was seen as reflecting this.[8]

History of divine mirrors

It is said that the origin of the divine mirror dates back to China.[3] In China, more ancient divine mirrors have been unearthed than in Japan, and compared to the oldest mirror in Japan, the "Four divine mirrors with a rectangular shape inscribed in the third year of Seiryu," which is dated to 235 A.D., the oldest divine mirror in China is the "Leaf Vein Mirror (葉脈文鏡, Yōmyaku bun kagami)," which is an order of magnitude older than Japan, dating from 1600 to 770 B.C. In addition, according to the "wajinden", Himiko, the queen of the Yamatai Kingdom, sent an envoy to Wei and received a hundred bronze mirrors from Wei, suggesting that Japan's divine mirror culture is a cultural import from China.[3]

The divine mirror at Iishi Shrine in Hyogo Prefecture is said to have been introduced by a naturalized celestial spear from Silla. On the other hand, the Ministry of the Imperial Household issued a notice to official national shrines founded after 1895 (28th year of Meiji) that their sacred objects should be divine mirrors.[10]

Types of divine mirrors

Goryo Shintai

In Shinto shrines and the imperial court, mirrors are often used as Shintai. The regulations state, "The diameter of the mirror shall be 1 shaku for the heavenly deities and emperors, and 7 shaku for the nobles. The name of the deity shall be engraved on the reverse side, a red cord shall be attached to a knob, and it shall be placed in a brocade pouch. The mirror may be wrapped in silk and placed in the hidai, then in the funadai, and then covered with the bedding.[1]

See also

Bibliography

  • "Usa Hachiman and the Mysteries of Ancient divine mirrors" (Author: Enzumi Tamura, Haruhiko Kimura, Yutaka Momosaka Edition: Ebisu Kosho Shuppan)

References

  1. 1 2 "Shinto Shrine Yushoku Kokusitsu", p. 129, 7, July 1, 1951. Published by the Jinja Main Office on July 1, 1951
  2. ↑ "Yata No Kagami - The Sacred Mirror of Japan | Suki Desu". 2019-01-06. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
  3. 1 2 3 De_Garis, Frederick (2013-09-05). We Japanese. Routledge. p. 237. ISBN 978-1-136-18367-6.
  4. ↑ Denney, John W. (2011). Respect and Consideration. Lulu.com. pp. 321, 318–326. ISBN 978-0-9568798-0-6.
  5. ↑ 日本国語大辞典,デジタル大辞泉,世界大百科事典内言及, 精選版. "神鏡とは". コトバンク (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-05-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ "Mirrors may have worked magic in ancient Japanese rituals". www.kaogu.cn. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
  7. ↑ 坂本太郎 (September–November 2003). 日本書紀. Iwanami shoten. ISBN 4-00-007230-7. OCLC 123050747.
  8. 1 2 3 "The circular mirror: Shinto symbol". Green Shinto. 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  9. ↑ "The Magic Mirror Maker". Kyoto Journal. 2014-02-04. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  10. ↑ 『神社有職故実』全１２９頁７頁昭和２６年７月１５日神社本庁発行
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