英語で仏教！の仏教と神道を並べて考えてみるシリーズ。今回は【像】についてです。
仏像には大きな魅力がありますが、信仰の対象を偶像化しない宗教も多いようです。神道では【像】はないのか、また信仰の対象は何なのか、すこし考えてみました。

⚫︎チャプター①
Why are there images of the Buddha, but no images of the gods?
Actually, in the beginning it was taboo to make figures of the Buddha. Just before he died, the Buddha told his followers, “Make the self your light, make the Law your light.” As a result, one was not able to make a statue of the Buddha one’s light.
However, the religious spirit of the people sought a ground for their faith and from about the first or second century they began to create Buddhist figure and make them objects of worship. Later Buddhist art bloomed in many parts of world and many varieties of statues of the Buddha were created. Again we should note that it was because there was historical Buddha who founded the faith that such figures came into existence.

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In Shinto, on the other hand, there is no entity that could reasonably be called a fonder. It was only the writing of the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki that the gods were given anthropomorphic qualities; before that time the gods of Japan were all creation and nature itself. Therefore, the deities had no form and could no be made into icons.
In shrines one finds mirrors, swords and stones which are called goshintai, objects of worship, or mitamashiro, things worshiped as a symbols, but there are not symbols of the gods, but rather sacred objects in which the divine spirit resides. Therefore, in the beginning making images of the deities was impossible, whereas following the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, based upon the narratives of the myths, pictures and figures could be produced and this has continued to the present day.