dered inferior to men. This belief became so prevalent with scholars that they questioned the femaleness of the supreme deity Amaterasu. She was called "the great deity of Ise" so that her feminine origins were muddied and labeled "the parent" rather than the mother (Yusa 96).
However, Amaterasu is the ancestor goddess of the imperial family of Japan in direct lineage with the present emperor. The position of saigu, the high-priestess of the Ise Shrine, was held through the years by unmarried Imperial princesses who served as representatives of the emperor. Their duty was to serve as a direct line to the goddess mother, insuring and respecting the sacred connection (Yusa 102-108)).
Amaterasu was originally the protecting deity of the imperial family of Japan, but with the unification of Japan under the emperor, she became the protecting goddess of the nation and bearer of blessings to all its peoples. Her sacred power, once reserved for the emperor's clan, could now be shared by many in this divine country (Yusa 113).
Shinto ethos speaks of an equality of the sexes, a complimentary and necessary arrangement. However, during the era of the Tokugawa government, women were taken lightly, while only men were respected. For instance, women were forbidden to climb sacred mountains (Yusa 117). Nakayama Miki, who founded Tenrikyo, a Shinto-based sect, did much to challenge the taboos of the Tokugawa government. She advocated equality of husband and wife and freed women from taboos regarding uncleanness during menstruation and childbirth, taboos that had been fostered by Buddhism and the Tokugawa government. In 1908, she and her followers founded their own community (Yusa 117-118).
Buddhism changed the way the Japanese viewed women. The Shinto way of life revered women and recognized their equal participation in a good world, but Buddhism is a religion of denial. Buddhism was founded by Sakayamuni, who denied his sexu...