Japanese superstition has scientific base

2008-10-06T00:03:00.001+09:00

Now in the 21th Century, everything seems to be unveiled with a scientific scalpel and all of the superstitions have disappeared from the earth. They are unbelieveable, and completely silly stories.
But do you really think they are just nonsense??
To make a conclusion first, that scalpel unveiled some traditional superstitions which were made to protect people from poison, sickness and bacteria around them with solid scientific perspective.
Following examples are some of them and you could realize how they are rational.
First of all, I would like to take an example derived from the property of plants.
"You must not approach Lucoris, the equinoctial flower, or you get disease or die."
Before WWWII, burial was common in Japan. The grave must have smelled bad and therefore was unsanitary. And our ancient people noticed that when the Lycoris was around the grave, the bad smells disappeared, because the root of the sinister flower has bactericidal substance. But this chemical substance is poison for people, especially for children. It is easy to imagine what would have happened when the children, who have a strong cutiosity, approached the interesting flower. They might tough the flower, even eat part of it. That's why people made the warning not to approach the flower.
Then following example is a superstition related to meteorology.
"When thunder roll in the sky, you must not show your belly, or your belly will be eaten by 'Kaminari-sama' (the deity of thunder)."
When we hear a clap of thunder, the sky above us is covered with a thick gray cloud. Air pressure and temperature goes down, getting cold. Furthermore humidity is getting higher and higher which leads to mold. For children, it's easy to getting sick when their bellies are bare.
Finally, I'll take an intersting myth that is based on the chemistry.
"Salt protect against evil."
Salt is essential for life and most important thing about salt is its penetration. When we make pickle, kill slugs, we use it for its penetration.
Recently, putting salt with aroma oil into bath water is popular, especially among women. 'Detoxication', they say, is also used for its ability.
For ancient people, it must have seemed to be magic-just putting a pinch of salt make pickle, kill creature and heal desease... Therefore salt is believe to protect against evil around people.
Some Japanese superstition, not all, might have been the precursor to science. Our ancient people might have observed the world surround them very closely and seeing out some of mechanism of phenomena.
Not knowing science, they created stories or warning to avoid infection or disease. And it's very useful for people to know those stories to live in the strict nature without medical treatment.
Now in 21th Century, on the other hands, we are facing some environmental issues thanks to the innovation of sciences. I think it's time to look over our shoulder and connect our traditional wisdoms with our modern life to make it more natural and human way.

Japanese fooding story project

Japanese superstition has scientific base