God of Toilets : Japanese-like faith

This is a serious story, not a joke. There is a God of toilets in Japan.

One missionary came to Japan from the Philippines, and I met him. He sometimes asks me if the Japanese don’t have God. However I can’t answer his question well. Because I can say both that we don’t have a God and we have a God.

In Japan, since a long time ago, we have thought that there is a God everywhere, that God lives in everything. We call it “Yaoyorozu-no-Kami”. This way of thinking means that nature itself is God. God of forest, God of fire, God of ocean and…

The song called “God of toilets” is very popular in Japan. This song was sung by a female folk singer. And the lyrics of this song is this way;

In the toilet

That means there is a beautiful God.

So if you clean it every day,

you can be beautiful like a goddess

I’m not sure if he can understand what these lyrics mean or not. But, I can say, in my case I can understand these lyrics very well. Yes, actually I was thinking there was a God in the toilet when I was little.

In your country, what kind of God do you have?