宿谷睦夫訳　加藤方寅著「新日本人論」
“New Japanology”　 by Dr. Michinobu Kato

translator: Mutsuo Shukuya
auditor: Bruce Wyman
supervisor: Boye Lafayette De Mente

(Ⅵ) Qualities of Speaking Japanese (each of them)
(3) Japan’s Shame Culture vs. the West’s Guilt Culture

Japanese people feel no absolute sense of guilt before God, but rather a sense of shame before the eyes of other people, which explains why they seldom join specific religious sects.

Religion is of fundamental significance for human beings in relieving their fear of guilt and death. A famous critic, Katsuichiro Kamei (1907-1966) discussed this in his book, stating that European and American people feel an absolute sense of guilt before God, but Japanese people feel rather a sense of shame before the eyes of other people. Thus, Japanese people seldom join specific religious sects.
Japanese people have surely revered not only the power that nature has but also the dead souls of ancestors and great people. So, they have accepted and revered people who preach good teachings even from foreign countries, while continuing to revere their ancestors. Some parts of teachings in Buddhism were so similar to their traditional thoughts that they accepted Buddhism without doubt and adored Buddha as well as their ancestors.
Confucianism, Taoism and Zen from China were also accepted and their preachers such as Confucius and Mencius have been revered as well. The Bible and the teachings Jesus Christ preached were also accepted although many troubles occurred in this process because it came in the age of civil wars in Japan. So today the Japanese celebrate Christmas, marking the birth of Christ.
Not only these teachings but also the manners of the religious ceremonies that accompany them have merged into Japanese life. For example, Japanese go first to their tutelary deity shrine in order to report that their children have been born. At the same time, when they hold a wedding, they hope to do it in a church although they are not Christians. And at last, most of them perform funeral ceremonies with the manner of Buddhism in a temple.
Each ceremony, wedding or funeral, has significant meaning for each belief, but the Japanese do not care about these beliers. This is a typical example to show that they seldom join specific religious sects.
The feelings of guilt among the Japanese, who seldom join specific religious sects, is rather a sense of shame before the eyes of other people. The reason for these phenomena can easily be explained through the theory of the unique physiological brain mechanism of Japanese people (that is, the left-brain, which manages language-information, treats both emotional and rational information concurrently) as Dr. Tadanobu Tsunoda made clear through his research: most Japanese people accept both Christianity, (which tends to be rather rational) and Buddhism, (which tends to be rather emotional) in their everyday lives.
Therefore, the Japanese seldom hesitate to do wrong where nobody is watching. In this case, “other people” in the eyes of other people, does not mean “ordinary people” but people in the groups to which one belongs.
Through this theory we can easily understand the reason why Japanese culture is often said to be a culture where people are aware of embarrassment in public, or a culture where people need not hesitate to do wrong when nobody in their group is watching, as when they are traveling away from home.
The former phenomenon occurs among people with whom one shares some interests and the latter occurs among other groups of people with whom one shares no interests.
 第 6章　日本人の特性・各論
第 3節　日本人の罪の意識は人の目
―日本人の無宗教性にある―

宗教は人間を死と罪の恐れから開放するものとして、人間にとって根源的に重要なものと言えます。「欧米人にとって罪は神に対する意識（つまり、神の目）であるのに対して、日本人の罪の意識は世間（つまり、人の目）に対してである」というのは亀井勝一郎氏の指摘です。これは日本人の無宗教性にあります。日本人は、古来から大自然の目に見えない力を始め、先祖や偉人の死者の霊を崇めてきました。
先祖や偉人の死者の霊を崇める習性から、古来より日本人は外国から偉人の教えが入ってくると、それを逸早く取り入れ、その偉人を日本の古来の偉人と同様に崇めてきました。インドから入ってきた仏教の教えは、古来の日本人の考えと類似しておりました。そこで、何の違和感も持たずにその教えを取り入れ、その教えを説いたお釈迦様も日本の祖霊と同様に崇めてきました。中国から儒教が入ってくると同じようにそれを説いた孔子・孟子を崇めてきました。キリスト教の場合は戦国乱世の時代も伴って、多少の抵抗はありましたが、その教えを説いたイエス様の生誕の日には、国民がこぞってお祝いをします。そして、これらの宗教はその形式をそのまま受け入れて、日本人の生活様式の中に溶け込んでおります。例えば、子供が生まれますと、これは、古来からの日本人の風習になりますが、産土神社に初参りをいたします。そして、成人して結婚をするということになりますと、クリスチャンでもない人が教会で結婚式をあげることを、日本では多くの人がハイカラであると考えております。そして、人が人生をまっとうして亡くなりますと、これはほとんどの人が仏教の形式で葬式をとり行います。結婚式にしても、葬式にしてもその内容をよく知れば、信仰上重要な意味を持っておりますが、日本人はそれを一向に頓着いたしません。これが日本人が無宗教性であることの典型的なたとえです。
この無宗教な日本人にとって罪の意識は人の目に対してであります。これも、角田氏による日本人の脳の特殊な生理機能（言語脳で理論と感情に関わる情報を処理）で説明できます。理論的なキリスト教も感情的な仏教も共に受け入れて生活に取り入れているからです。ですから、人の見ていないところで悪事をするのにさして抵抗を感じないわけです。ここで、「人の目」の人とは人一般を指すのではなく、自分が所属する小集団の人を意味します。日本文化が「恥の文化」であるとか、「旅の恥は掻き捨て」という日本人の特性も、この文脈に沿って理解できます。
日本文化が「恥の文化」とは、自分に直接利害関係のある小集団の人に対してであり、「旅の恥は掻き捨て」とは自分とは直接利害関係の無い諸々の集団の人に対してなのです。


宿谷睦夫訳　加藤方寅著「新日本人論」
“New Japanology”　 by Dr. Michinobu Kato

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