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In ancient times when men’s dispositions were straightforward a complicated system of morals was unnecessary. It would naturally happen that bad acts might occasionally be committed, but the straight-forwardness of men’s dispositions would prevent the evil from being concealed and growing in extent. So that in those days it was unnecessary to have a doctrine of right and wrong. But the Chinese, being bad at heart, in spite of the teaching which they got, were good on the outside, and their bad acts became of such magnitude that society was thrown into disorder. The Japanese being straightforward could do without teaching. It is said on the other side that as the Japanese had no names for benevolence, righteousness, propriety, sagacity and truth, they must have been without those principles. To this Mabuchi replies they exist in every country, in the same way as the four seasons which make their annual rounds. In the spring the weather does not become mild all at once, nor the summer hot. Nature proceeds by gradual steps. According to the Chinese view it is not spring or summer unless it becomes mild or hot all of a sudden. Their principles sound very plausible, but are unpractical.
Mabuchi rendered a great service to the study of Shintô by the pains which he took to illustrate the Norito in a commentary entitled Noritokô (1768). The Norito consists of a selection of the liturgies used at certain of the more important Shintô festivals, and together with those parts of the Jôguan-Gishiki and Yengi-shiki which contain directions for the celebration of such festivals, afford the most authentic information as to the native religious ceremonies. Some of them contain passages of remarkable beauty, especially those which are considered to be most ancient in their origin, such as the Ohobarai no Kotoba and Toshigoshi no matsuri no kotoba. The festival of the “General Purification” (Ohabarai) is first mentioned in the Kojiki as having been celebrated after the death of Chiuai Tennô (200 A. D. according to the native chronology), but is supposed to have instituted as far
