平出 昌嗣

There is a difference of religion behind cultural differences between Japan and the West. Some of the main differences between Christianity and Shinto are monotheism and polytheism, the god-man-nature hierarchy and the nature-god-man hierarchy, the male principle based on reason and order and the female principle based on life and fertility, which lead to the self-assertive attitude of Westerners and the self-negating attitude of the Japanese. In point of ethics, as it is said that Japan has a "shame culture" and the West a "sin culture", the Japanese fear most of all to be estranged from society by putting on shame or dirt, while Westerners fear to be deserted by God through committing a sin. At the bottom of these ideas lie the nomadic life that values obedience to a leader and the rice-farming life that values settlement on the earth respectively.西洋と日本の文化の違いの背後には宗教の違いがある。キリスト教と神道の主な違いは,一神教と多神教,神・人間・自然という序列と自然・神・人間という序列,理性・秩序を重んじる男性原理と生命・豊穣を重んじる女性原理の違いであり,それは自己肯定的な西洋人と自己否定的な日本人の態度につながる。倫理観においても,西洋の罪の文化に対し,日本は恥の文化と言われるが,日本人は恥やケガレを持つことで共同体から疎外されることを恐れ,西洋人は罪を犯すことで神から見放されることを恐れる。こうした人生観および宗教観の根底には,指導者への忠誠に価値を見る遊牧生活と土地への定着に価値を見る稲作生活の違いがある。