Look Into a Legend

Legend has it that the first emperor of Japan was descended from the sun and the sea, and ascended the throne on Feb.11, 660 B.C.* During the 26 centuries since. Japanese governments have often used the legend as an anchor when storms rocked the ship of state. During the deadly gale of World War II, the government played up the legend to bolster morale, even forced eminent scholars into backing the "divine nation" story.

Since the war. the legend has dimmed. Few knowledgeable Japanese have taken the tale seriously since Emperor Hirohito conceded in 1946 that he was only human, after all. Last week, determined to clear up the matter of the nation's divine origins, a band of 30 jeep-riding scientists swarmed around the mountain peak of Takachiho on the island of Kyushu, where, according to legend. Ho-wori-no-mikoto, the heavenly ancestor of emperors, came to earth.

Let the Myths Fall. Leader of the expedition, sponsored by the Shinto Cultural Society, is a small, slim bachelor named Masajiro Takikawa. a professor who has spent most of his 65 years studying Oriental and Japanese history.

Takikawa. wearing a floppy white hat and open-necked shirt against the hot Kyushu sun. promised to let the myths fall where they may. "Prewar history taught in the schools has been discarded as false," he explained. "A race which loses its history becomes a rudderless ship. That's the dangerous position Japan is in today. To get out of it, the Japanese must look facts in the face." To the local citizens who have always considered themselves heaven-sent. Takikawa bluntly said: "We will not distort or slant our findings to please you. If this sounds cold, it's because there's nothing colder than pure scientific research."

Hold to Spiritual Truths. With this chilling announcement. Takikawa and his fellows set to work. Archaeologists surveyed pit dwellings and caves. Shinto researchers examined shrines, pored over ancient manuscripts. Anthropologists cross-examined villagers about festival and harvest customs. Sociologists peered at pots and looms.

At week's end the fact-finding task force had found not a shred of evidence to support the legend. After a brief look at a stone tablet engraved with what the people called "god writing." the archaeologists dismissed it as being "only about three centuries old--probably the work of some local mountain hermit." But the leaders of Shinto, the indigenous Japanese religion with roots closely bound to the legend, seemed unconcerned about what the scientists would find. "Whatever historical facts the scientists find cannot destroy the spiritual truths of our religion." said one. "any more than scientific analysis of miracles destroys the truths of Christianity."

* An arbitrary date set by Japanese scholars in 1873.

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