When I watched “The Peach Orchard” on Thursday, I did not understand how this clip was related to Shinto and because I knew very little about the religion, I was very confused about how I could relate the two. I had to replay the movie several times and read over the Shinto notes in great detailed to try and draw a linkage between the two and luckily I did.
The little boy’s family in the clip was responsible for cutting down the peach orchards. I viewed their action as a direct violation of one of the Shinto ethics. One of the ethics states that, “Gravest sins are sins against sacred objects or places.” So, by the little boy's family destroying the peach orchards, I took was a sin and was something that the kami was not pleased and because the kami was not pleased the quantity of peach orchards depleted.
Another part that I found where a form of Shinto was evident in the clip was when the people who looked like soldiers saw that the boy was sadden by what is family did and that it hurt him, they forgave him and performed a ritual which consisted of slow movements, bowing and clapping. By them doing this ritual or rite they were communicating with the kami. At the end, when the soldiers finished their ritual, peach orchards appeared in the fields and it brought joy to the little boy’s face to see how beautiful they were. It also made him to a certain extent appreciate the peach orchards true beauty.
I think it was cool how honest you were about the challenge you had to relate your clip to Shintoism. I had a similar problem at first with my clip, and found it much easier to get around it when I changed my outlook to be a bit more simple. Since Shintoism does not delineate between matter and spiritual forces, it's important to see that physical things hold within themselves important spiritual value, and the desecration of the peach field, as you said, was a "sinful" act. I'm glad you were able to piece it together in the end.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, I also had trouble understanding the video at first as well and I do think it was because of my lack of knowledge of Shinto. I had to read the slides about Shinto about four times over, and then watch the video again to finally see the connections between the two. I agree with what you said about the act of cutting down the peach orchard was thought of as sinful. I think because nature is such an important aspect of this religion, something as simple as this had upsetted the Kami a great deal. Also, after reading about Shinto and it's use of rituals, it was clear that this was also used in the clip. As you metnioned the rituals were a method of communicating with the Kami and that is definately true. They were bowing and clapping and it all just seemed vary calm and nature-like.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you first watch the Peach Orchard video clip, the relation to Shinto doesn’t exactly jump out at you. Coming in to this assignment I decided I would watch the video one time fully through without reading over any of the Shinto notes. I just wanted to be able to enjoy the video for what it was. Then I read over the Shinto notes, took in what the basis of the religion were. Then I watched the video a second time and a few things jumped out at me. The first thing I noticed too was the violation of the Shinto ethic that stated “The gravest sins are those against sacred objects or places.”“Another thing we both noticed was when the white faced dolls, performed a ritual to forgive the boy. I think they performed this ritual because they wanted to cleanse the boy impurity. Impurity bought on by his family for committing the sin against a sacred place. The clapping and bowing in the ritual process is a way of communicating to the Kami. Gravest sins are sins against sacred objects or place. I thought cutting down the trees in the peach or hard was selfish and careless. In the video it was obvious the boy understood this relationship between nature and the spirits. Even though the dolls laughed at him at first, when he gave his reasoning they understood. I think that is why the decided to let him see the orchard blossom one last time. I would like to see the movie in it's entirety to see what happen to the Kami. And also to see what happened to the boy’s family, and to maybe get more insight on why they choose to chop down nature. After watching the video clip and learning more about Shinto I can’t help but to see connections to religious groups in Japanese films.
ReplyDeleteI watched the the peach orchard as well and I didn't notice that the dolls were clapping to communicate with the kami. Good job catching that.
ReplyDeleteI did not look at this selection, however alot of the people did and found it to be a hard one to translate. I viewed The Tunnel and I as well found connections with the Shinto ethics. I feel that all the clips would have at least one part from it that will have something to do with the ethics it seems as if the religion relies heavily on its ethics.
ReplyDeleteIt also took me a while to understand the clip. I looked a few of the other ones and they all seem a little odd, but then again we're not from their culture. But I though that it was a really good film, and it was fascinating how they worked in the themes of Shintoism without making it abundantly clear.
ReplyDeleteI too initially had difficulty linking my clip to Shintoism. It wasn't until I reread my notes and rewatched my clip that I began to piece it together. I think the greatest principle you missed is the importance of nature on the Shinto religion. They appreciate nature and its beauty. By cutting down nature (the orchard tree) they showed that they did not appreciate the blessing of Kami.
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