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The aphorism “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him” is attributed to the French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. This statement is a complex tapestry of social observation, theological nuance, and philosophical insight, woven into a single line that captures the zeitgeist of the Enlightenment era.
Voltaire was both a critic of organized religion and a deist; he believed in a supreme being but was skeptical of religious institutions that he saw as corrupt, oppressive, and intellectually stifling. His statement reflects the dual roles that the concept of God has played in human society: as a moral anchor and as a social construct. On the one hand, the idea of God serves to instill ethical and moral norms, giving life a sense of purpose and morality a divine foundation. On the other hand, the concept of God can be seen as a human invention, formulated to address existential questions and to serve societal needs such as social cohesion, law, and order.
In making this statement, Voltaire also encapsulates the tension between the empirical spirit of the Enlightenment and the religious traditions that had long held sway over European thought. He suggests that even if empirical inquiry were to disprove the existence of God, the social and moral utility of belief in a higher power would make it necessary to “invent” such a concept. In this way, the statement serves both as an acknowledgment of the deep-seated human need for spiritual belief and as a critique of the ways in which that need has been institutionalized and manipulated.
The Unification of Japan and the Legend of the Three Sacred Treasures
Setting: The Land Divided
In the late 16th century, Japan was a fractured nation, divided among competing warlords known as daimyōs. Amidst this chaos emerged a unifying force—Oda Nobunaga, later succeeded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. These three leaders aimed to bring the warring states under a single rule. In doing so, they invoked the mythic power of the Imperial Regalia: the sword Kusanagi, the mirror Yata no Kagami, and the jewel Yasakani no Magatama.
In the twilight years of Japan’s Sengoku period, a span of time that witnessed the fragmentation of a once-potent nation, the country’s landscape was a tapestry of rival fiefs and shifting alliances. This era, stained by the sword and haunted by the specter of unceasing conflict, was dominated by powerful warlords known as daimyōs. Each daimyō was the master of his own realm, fortified by samurai vassals and driven by ambitions that rarely extended beyond territorial gains. Into this fractious panorama emerged Oda Nobunaga, a man of indomitable will and audacious military stratagems, who sought to pull the jagged pieces of Japan into a coherent whole.
Nobunaga’s meteoric rise to power was followed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the sandal-bearer turned military general, and later solidified by the sagacious Tokugawa Ieyasu. What set these three figures apart was not merely their military acumen or their political shrewdness but their evocation of Japan’s mythical past as a template for its fractured present and an aspirational future. In their quests for unification, they turned to the Imperial Regalia—three sacred items said to have been bestowed upon Japan’s legendary first Emperor Jimmu by the Shinto sun goddess, Amaterasu. These were the sword Kusanagi, no ordinary blade but a weapon steeped in legend; the mirror Yata no Kagami, which held the power to reflect the truth and divine will; and the jewel Yasakani no Magatama, a talisman that embodied virtue and benevolence.
The invocation of the Imperial Regalia was more than mere symbolism; it was a meticulously crafted narrative that served to legitimize their rule. The Regalia were not just relics; they were pulsating symbols of divinity, imperishability, and the eternal spirit of the Japanese nation. By associating themselves with these divine tokens, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu were not just unifying a nation; they were embarking on a sacred quest, sanctified by the divine apparatus of their country’s origin myths. This mythic association lent them an air of invincibility and an aura of divine favor that was indispensable in winning the allegiance of a populace weary of civil strife.
Here, the Imperial Regalia acted as a conceptual linchpin—a God, if you will—fusing individual ambition with collective aspiration, human endeavor with divine providence. Just as the sacred items were said to have bound the heavens to the archipelago, so did they serve to bind the fractured states into a unified entity. The legend of the Regalia thus served a dual purpose: on the one hand, as a conduit for heavenly mandate, and on the other, as a template for earthly governance. The symbiotic relationship between the men who would be shoguns and the mythic power they invoked, encapsulates the potent idea that sometimes, the most effective truths are those we choose to create.
The Three Sacred Treasures: The Invention of a Unifying God
The Imperial Regalia was said to have divine origins, handed down from the gods to the imperial lineage. Although the historical existence of these items was questionable, their symbolic value was immense. They served as a “God”—a unifying concept that went beyond individual ambitions and petty squabbles. Just as Voltaire’s quote captures the idea that the notion of God could be both a reality and an invention to serve social needs, the Three Sacred Treasures acted as a collective belief that justified the unification process. It gave people a reason to put aside their differences and offer allegiance to a centralized authority.
Unification Achieved: The Dual Role of the Divine Concept
Tokugawa Ieyasu eventually succeeded in unifying Japan and establishing a shogunate that would last for more than 250 years. The Imperial Regalia continued to serve as a symbol of divine right and social cohesion. While the “divine” authority may have been based on a mythical narrative, its impact was tangibly real—enabling a level of social and political stability that Japan had never before seen.
The story of Japan’s unification under the symbolic aegis of the Three Sacred Treasures embodies the idea that even if a deity or divine concept is human-made, its sociopolitical utility can be indispensable. The Treasures served both as a moral compass and a tool for social cohesion, echoing Voltaire’s sentiment that the existence or non-existence of God is secondary to the role such a concept plays in society. Here, the “God” of the Imperial Regalia was perhaps invented—or at least embellished—for the necessity of unification, illustrating the profound impact a divine concept can have on the course of human events.