Shinto Blog

     This week our assignment was to watch a Kurosawa video group, from his Dreams collection. The group of videos I chose to watch was Sunshine Through The Rain. I chose this group because I thinks it's very mystical when you're standing in the rain and see the sun overhead. In these videos the main character is a little boy who disobeys his mother on a rainy, sunny day. She tells him that it's not a good time to go out because that is when the Foxes have their wedding procession and they do not like others seeing it. The little boy goes ahead anyway and comes across the Fox wedding procession. They end up seeing him and when he gets home his mother tells him that she can't let him in because they are mad and left a sword so that he can kill himself. She also says that he must go to them and ask for forgiveness, but that they hardly ever forgive. The poor little boy goes on his way to look for them under the rainbow. I thought these videos were very interesting and a bit creepy. I'm not too sure about the ending, it's pretty much left open. My guess at the moral of the story is that you should always obey your mother.
     There are many ways I can relate the story to the Shinto lecture. The story is a myth that is meant to reinforce an ethic. The ethic here is probably one that states to always obey your mother. Another could be to respect the wishes of the Foxes. The Foxes in the story are Kami. Which are Shinto deities who are prayed to by the people. Foxes are seen as intelligent, witty, and have supernatural powers. People are supposed to respect them and not anger them. The little boy disrespected then and made them angry when he spied on their wedding procession. Since he sinned, he had to be punished by death most likely. These videos incorporated much of this to illustrate the moral or morals. I thought it was a very depressing, melancholic dream.