Whether the use of purificatory water is to be traced to the sense of moral or spiritual sin is doubtful to my mind; in view of the general nature of primitive Shinto.  The interpretation given the system by W.E.  Griffis, in his volume on the “Religions of Japan,” is suggestive, but in view of all the facts does not seem conclusive.  “One of the most remarkable features of Shinto” he writes, “was the emphasis laid on cleanliness.  Pollution was calamity, defilement was sin, and physical purity at least was holiness.  Everything that could in any way soil the body or clothing was looked upon with abhorrence and detestation."[CE] The number of specifications given in this connection is worthy of careful perusal.  But it is a strange nemesis of history that the sense of physical pollution should develop a religious rite fitted to become the very means for the dissemination of physical pollution and disease.

Japanese personal cleanliness is often connected in the descriptions of foreigners with ceremonial purification, but the facts are much exaggerated.  In contrast to nearly if not quite all non-Christian peoples, the Japanese are certainly astonishingly cleanly in their habits.  But it is wholly unnecessary to exaggerate the facts.  The “tatami,” or straw-mats, an inch or more in thickness, give to the room an appearance of cleanliness which usually belies the truth.  The multitudes of fleas that infest the normal Japanese home are convincing proof of the real state of the “tatami.”  There are those who declare that a Japanese crowd has the least offensive odor of any people in the world.  One writer goes so far as to state that not only is there no unpleasant odor whatever, but that there is even a pleasant intimation of lavender about their exhalations.  This exactly contradicts my experience.  Not to mention the offensive oil with which all women anoint their hair to give it luster and stiffness, the Japanese habit of wearing heavy cotton wadded clothing, with little or no underwear, produces the inevitable result in the atmosphere of any closed room.  In cold weather I always find it necessary to throw open all the doors and windows of my study or parlor, after Bible classes of students or even after the visits of cultured and well-to-do guests.  That the Japanese bathe so frequently is certainly an interesting fact and a valuable feature of their civilization; it indicates no little degree of cleanliness; but for that, their clothing would become even more disagreeable than it is, and the evil effect upon themselves of wearing soiled garments would be much greater.  In point of fact, their frequent baths do not wholly remove the need of change in clothing.  To a Japanese the size of the weekly wash of a foreigner seems extravagant.