The great waves of Japan
By Mark Vernon on Monday, March 14 2011, 07:32 - In the news - Permalink
I was hearing about the famous painting, The Great Wave of Kanagawa, by Hokusai. It captures something of the horror of what's fallen northern Japan, with its image of the fishermen dwarfed by the majestic, indifferent tower of water.
It's a religious image, representing the very different approach that Shintoism has towards nature, compared with Christianity. In Christianity, human beings are at the centre of nature: creation is for humanity, along with other creatures, and it's humanity's task to care for it. Hence, in part, the offence we feel when nature turns against us.
In Shintoism, nature is recognised as infinitely more powerful than humankind - as in the wave - and that humankind is in nature with the permission of the gods but with no particular concern from the gods. Shinto rituals show respect for the gods of nature, befriending the enormity of the forces, if you like. But, apparently, there won't be much of the moral affront at what's happened - the problem of evil - from the Japanese perspective.
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A few years ago the Smithsonian Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC had a Hokusai exhibit, which included this magnificent painting. I took a tour led by a docent, who explained the following about the painting:
All the diagonal lines and dots represent movement, things not always remaining the same. Some of Hokusai's paintings, such as this one, depict scary moments like this big storm. You can see the ends of the waves looking almost like claws, which are scary but also symbolize our wishing to hang on to things the way they are, not wanting things to change. Our wish for things to remain the same makes the situation look worse than it really is.
When you look closely at this picture, the waves don't don't look so scary and are actually quite beautiful. In some of Hokusai's paintings, the faces of scary dragons and monsters actually look comical up close. In this painting, you can see people in boats huddled together and crouching down. This is not because they're scared but because they know how they should position themselves to take on this challenge. Actually, they seem to be in reverence of the big waves. In the midst and at the end of this picture is Mt. Fuji, representing calm at the end of the storm.
Here is the link to the Sackler's online exhibit about Hokusai: http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/...
"But, apparently, there won't be much of the moral affront at what's happened - the problem of evil - from the Japanese perspective."
I don't quite get what you mean here.
An equally compelling, but lesser known work is Hokusai’s, "Dragon of Smoke Escaping from Mount Fuji," painted towards the end of his long life. It symbolizes strength, vitality and rebirth ascending above the trauma of a cataclysmic event. That is Japan; its people will endure and overcome this catastrophe: http://therebelkind.blogspot.com/20...
Daniel - The problem of evil arises from the Christian doctrine that an all-powerful and good God made the world for us, in some sense, though that world is full of horrors. How come? In the Shinto cosmology, though, the gods are not anthropocentric with their attention, so Shintoism teaches, as I understand it, that one should expect evil from nature quite as much as good. Hence, the very moving comments made by the Japanese ambassador to Britain yesterday about his nation being humbled by the catastrophe.
The book of Job presents a vision of nature that goes against the predominate Christian view. In Job we have a vision of nature wild and free - a vast, amazing world that has an existence and value quite apart from our human needs. It shows a world both alluring and terrible, a world that is not created to serve human beings but a world that is all the more attractive because of that. I don't need to be the navel of the known universe, I am privileged just to be a small part of this glorious creation.
And we need to "get religion" of the Shinto-nature-is-powerful type real soon. I put up on my website a great quote from Wendell Berry: he would be pleased, I think, that you bring up the question of evil here.
There is a mural of this print on the side of a house in DC's Georgetown:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mvjant...
I have never agreed with the concept of "natural evil". Nature is morally neutral, therefore earthquakes and tsunamis cannot be evil. Evil requires intentionality, which Nature does not have.
Obviously the suffering and death that results from disasters, earthquakes and tsunamis is deeply distressing, but it's not evil in the sense of a bad act wilfully committed.
Wow... I connected here from a link on Facebook [regarding The Great Wave of Kanagawa].
Thank you for the bit of info on Shintoism - I'll definitely read more! And I will forward
your link to my Atheist/poet/writer son. I believe he will enjoy your POV.
Happy St. Pat's Day!
Great post and great comments. My wife teaches this book every year to her students. I believe if we truly understood Gods love for us, our questions themselves would reveal our heart and the answers would also come. God has been with us all along and even in this tragedgy and that of Christchurch, His love is there and perfect. It is nearly impossible for us to preceive this, but it's true.
~Chris
<a href="http://dailystepstohim.blogspot.com...">The rising morning star</a>