It is a great honor to have been able to perform the Shinto ceremony of Purification at this 23rd International Congress for the Freedom of Religion. I am the High Priest of the Tsubaki Grand Shrine at Suzuka City in Mie Prefecture. The Tsubaki Grand Shrine is the oldest in Japan and I am the 96th successive incumbent of the Shrine. I am very grateful to have the opportunity of expressing my views on the subject of Tolerance in Shinto and its Limitations, in my capacity as the representative of Japanese Shinto.

The Japanese people who worship Amaterasu Omikami , the divinity of the sun as the divine ancestress regard the sun as the source of life. This is by no means a primitive form of sun worship or fear of the sun. I am convinced that a system of thought which names its country after the sun ( Nihon means -- the origin of the sun), which puts the sun on its flag, which regards Amaterasu Omikami as its divine ancestress, and which accords paramount importance to the idea of the nourishment of social and national life as symbolized by the Emperor - rather than being antiquated way of thinking, in fact serves to help us grasp the real meaning of life without in any way contradicting the principles of natural science.

When we see a flower growing in the sun, blossoming as it leans towards the sun, we realize without question that here is the source of life for everything in the world. For Shinto, there is no need for complex reasoning or doctrine. Nor does Shinto regard with slightest hostility or criticism the other great religions such as Buddhism and Christianity. For the true Shintoist there is no opposition. The gods or kami are "void" in the sense that they are void of bias, void of private self, and that they are a vast storehouse of resources in the midst of nothing. This is the true spirit of tolerance. Christianity preaches universal love, the Buddha preached compassion, Confucianism speaks of benevolence (jen ), but Shinto can be said to express the very spirit of tolerance.

When the Shintoist speaks of the "way of kannagara ", which means 'things as they are", or 'nothing' (mu ) or 'void' (ku ), he is speaking of the very source of all religions. The basic principle of Shinto is to give a hundred lights to him who desires a hundred lights, to give a myriad innumerable of lights to him who so desires, and in fact, to act towards all men with perfect justice and impartiality.

In order to survive on this earth, naturally, man must eat. He must provide himself with the vital necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. In the Shinto classic entitled the Kojiki it is written that when the grandson of the divinity of the sun and head of' the heavenly kami, Amaterasu Omikami , whose name was Ninigi-no-Mikoto descended to the Japanese islands, he was commanded to plant and cultivate rice. So when he descended to earth he carried rice seeds in his own hands. Awaiting him on the earth was the head of the earthly earthly kami, Sarudahiko Okami ( to whom my shrine is dedicated). It was this kami who guided Ninigi-no-Mikoto and sowed the first rice seeds on this earth.

Rice is the root of life. It' you sow one seed it will grow ten thousand-fold. It is for the universal good of mankind, for it feeds not only us but others as well. In this manner man living on this earth was shown how to avoid starvation. But rice will not grow in all places. Only when all the conditions of heaven and earth are in harmony -- with wind, rain, and thunder, moon, day, and night -- will it come to its full fruition. In the same manner man can only live properly and correctly if he has the proper spirit of veneration for the laws of nature.

Men on this earth all have their various missions and roles, and when each can fulfil his own mission can we understand how mankind can co-exist and prosper.The fullfilment of these missions and roles is the root of traditional Shinto, which literally translates into English as the "way of the kami ". For generations it has been passed on from father to son and from son to grandson. These we call the "vertical ties" of life. On the other hand, salvation, which is necessary because of man's deviation from the "way of the kami " is the essence of all religions, and in this respect Shinto is no exception. Thus religions may be said to spread by "horizontal ties" , namely, from one human being to another. The harmony between these vertical and horizontal ties is called the "Way of kannagara ". It is the basic principle of Shinto and the very embodiment of the spirit of tolerance itself.

Most religions have strict moral rules in connection with their doctrines, but is it not impossible to carry the spirit of tolerance so far as to transcend these doctrines? Here we can surely discern one possible limitation to tolerance, But in Shinto no Such limitations or oppositions exist. As I said before, it is the source of all religions. Thus Shinto is not for the Japanese alone, but for the whole of mankind. Of this I am firmly convinced. Shintoists believe they have a duty to make a correct understanding of Shinto known to the entire world.

Today in the 20th century we have arrived at a time when travel throughout the whole universe is possible. We know clearly that the sun has its own course, and likewise the planets and the moon circling the earth. Thus for men too, all made by the same creator, there must be a proper course which we must follow, and there are guidelines that must not be overreached. When man arbitrarily steps outside this course or loses sight of it, chaos will always result, be it in the form of either war or sickness. We must grasp the fact that there is a necessity for a body politic, and that in man's proper moral course there is an indissoluble relation between virtue and society and between man and virtue. Violent changes in nature signify the wrath of God/kami. Likewise clashes between countries are nothing more than divine warnings. You will already have understood that the tolerant spirit of Shinto is nothing more or less than the veneration of nature. Indeed we can say that Shinto means following nature, or returning to it.

Think for a moment of a single mountain flower. Its true form is to blossom in beauty and health by drawing near to the sun ( kami). But in contrast to the flower which unconsciously accords with the will of heaven, human understanding is constantly distorted by false knowledge. Hence it is necessary first to rid oneself of this distortion, this delusory knowledge which in fact is a kind of pollution, by willingly practicing the strict and rigorous mi sogi shuho -- the discipline of purification.

I repeat that in Shinto there are no oppositions or limitations. In this respect it is "void". [fence I firmly believe that true and perfect world peace in accordance with Shinto can be born only when men mutually cooperate with one another, understand and respect each other's mission and position, and each other's true nature or essence, and when they make mutual allowance for each other's best and worst aspects as they show from time to time.

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