In the Deguchi sect, the ancient belief is explained by the Chinese Book of Changes (or Divination).  Deguchi Nobuyoshi, the founder, was god-warden or kannushi of the Geiku or Outer Palace Temple at Ise.  He promulgated his views about the year 1660, basing them upon the book called Eki by the Japanese and Yi-king by the Chinese.  This Yi-king, which Professor Terrien de Laeouporie declares is only a very ancient book of pronunciation of comparative Accadian and Chinese Syllabaries, has been the cause of incredible waste of labor, time, and brains in China—­enough to have diked the Yellow River or drained the swamps of the Empire.  It is the chief basis of Chinese superstition, and the greatest literary barrier to the advance of civilization.  It has also made much mischief in Japan.  Deguchi explained the myths of the age of the gods by divination or eki, based on the Chinese books.  As late as 1893 there was published in T[=o]ki[=o] a work in Japanese, with good translation info English, on Scientific Morality, or the practical guidance of life by means of divination—­The Takashima Ekidan (or Monograph on the Eki of Mr. Takashima), by S. Sugiura.

The Jikko sect, according to its representative at the World’s Parliament of Religions at Chicago, is “the practical.”  It lays stress less upon speculation and ritual, and more upon the realization of the best teachings of Shint[=o].  It was founded by Hasegawa Kakugi[=o], who was born at Nagasaki in 1541.  Living in a cave in Fuji-yama, “he received inspiration through the miraculous power of the mountain.”  It believes in one absolute Deity, often mentioned in the Kojiki, which, self-originated, took the embodiment of two deities, one with the male nature and the other female, though these two deities are nothing but forms of the one substance and unite again in the absolute deity.  These gave birth to the Japanese Archipelago, the sun and moon, the mountains and streams, the divine ancestors, etc.  According to the teachings of this sect, the peerless mountain, Fuji, ought to be reverenced as the sacred abode of the divine lord, and as “the brains of the whole globe.”  The believer must make Fuji the example and emblem of his thought and action.  He must be plain and simple, as the form of the mountain, making his body and mind pure and serene, as Fuji itself.  The present world with all its practical works must be respected more than the future world.  We must pray for the long life of the country, lead a life of temperance and diligence, cooperating with one another in doing good.

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Statistics of Shint[=o]ism.

From the official Resume Statistique de l’Empire du Japon, 1894.  In 1801 there were nine administrative heads of sects; 75,877 preachers, priests, and shrine-keepers, with 1,158 male and 228 female students.  There were 163 national temples of superior rank and 136,652 shrines or temples in cities and prefectures; a total of 193,153, served by 14,700 persons of the grade of priests.  Most of the expenses, apart from endowments and local contributions, are included in the first item of the annual Treasury Budget, “Civil List, Appanage and Shint[=o] Temples.”]