| OCR Text |
Show 8 ‘The phrase "presented (0 the Imperial Japanese court a witing in and papers" as recorded in the K loes not necessarily mean that thi was the introduction of papermaking itself. Perhaps the Kojiki, and late the Nihongi, .nny meant to say "in the 18th year of Suiko (Empres Suiko, 593-628 A.D.),a Buddhist priest from Korea introduced to Japa apers forw W )it W i ey Jananc ot e le ongmatmg in pre-historic ages frequently rcl'u' to kami, or paper, leads u ¢ that paper was known in Japan for other purposes than writin e any contact with oomincntal Asia, although it was no used for writing until the time of Empress Suiko. The poems and song of the Manydshi, which antedate the Suiko Era, occasinnally refer to th danger of damaging or losing one's clothing if caught in. Thi might be construed to mean that some of the ¢hmg worn by th ancient Japanese was made of crude paper, perhaps from the bark of th 1y tree In the Japanese language God is known as kami, and paper is also calle kami. Many historians agree that the reason for this is that in Shin Gism the chief religion of Japan, paper has long been used as a symbol for God In pure Shintdism idols and images are not employed, but pure white pape is used constantly; the name of the god or goddess to be worshipped i written on a slip of paper which s folded and placed in the shrine. T the devout Shintdist a piece of clear white paper consigned to the prope place in a shrine is as sacred as the cross is to the Christian. It is casy therefore, to comprehend why God and paper were expressed by the sam term. Shintism came into being between 1000 B.G. and 700 B. G, and lon before the founding of the Empire or the introduction of the art of writing crude paper, uninscribed, was usedin its rites.S ome Japanese historian are of the opinion that Japanese paper and Shintgism have been co-cxistent and that the origin of Japanese paper, which was independent of forcig influence, must be sought in the mist depths of pre-historic Nippon Al rights reserved |
