maandag 23 april 2012

Eliade I


I was recommended the work of Mircea Eliade (1907-1986) by my adviser. The writings of Eliade, who was an historian of religion of Romanian descent, turned out to be very valuable indeed. The level on which Eliade approaches religion is interesting in the sense that it allows him to reveal certain universal urges and tendency that seem to be written in the DNA of the Homo sapiens. He goes beyond the study of one particular religion and pays attention to the basic characteristics of religion. By doing so one is forced to reconsider the meaning of the term “religion”.
He, for example, considers housewarming parties to be the modern version of ancient rituals to consecrate a new dwelling1. Mankind seems to yearn for a place he can put in the centre of his universe, a place that is sacred and therefore demands the proper rites, in modern terms “a place to call home”. As mankind cannot cope with the utter chaos of the nature surrounding him, he creates a place where there is order, just like the gods of many a religion created the earth (or a particular country) out of the chaos. Eliade thinks of the consecration of a new dwelling as a repetition of the world’s creation by the gods.
While reading the aforementioned, I immediately had to think of altars. Buddhist altars often have a setting which consists of two parts which are identical to one another. In the middle one finds the deity’s/Buddha’s statue and the incense burner. To both sides there are the candles (closest to the statue) and the vases containing flowers. On Shintoist altars a similar order can be found: food offerings in the middle and to both sides candles and sakaki branches. This inclination to create a sacred space by means of order, or more specifically symmetry, is by no means exclusively East-Asian.  

Other interesting themes and concepts often found in religions according to Eliade (and illustrated with my own examples between brackets):
- Holy pillars (e.g. the pillar around which Izanami伊邪那美and Izanagi伊邪那岐walked before having intercourse, the Jupiter Columns of Roman Germania, etc.)

- Mountains as Heaven or a way to Heaven (e.g. Sumeru [Skt: सुमेरु] in Buddhism, mountains in Taoism and shugendō 修験道, mount Olympus [Ὄλυμπος] in ancient Greece etc.)

- Connection with Heaven or the gods through the chimney (offers by the hearth in ancient Rome, Saint Nicholas in Europe and North America etc.)

- The usage of animals to decide upon a place to found a city (the eagle capturing a snake on a cactus as a sign for the Aztecs [Mexico City], the construction of a church on the spot where one bear killed another in an organised fight [the Belgian village of Berlaar] etc.)

- The killing of a dragon or monster to save people (Susanoo no Mikoto 須佐之男命 killing Ya-mata no Orochi 八岐大, Hercules killing the Lernaean Hydra, Thor killing Jörmungandr, Saint George killing the dragon etc.)

- The cleansing of one’s home/city or even oneself at the beginning of the New year/spring (Ōsōji 大掃除in Japan, cleansing with februa in ancient Rome, Lent in Christianity etc.)

- The decline in actual worship of the highest deities in favour of more accessible deities (Amaterasu-ōmikami 天照大御神, Inari 稲荷 and so forth, rather than Izanagi/Izanami and their ancestors; Jesus, the Virgin Mary and other Saints, rather than God; specific Buddha’s and bodhisattva’s rather than the historical Buddha. )

Footnotes:
1 This reminded me of a story I heard from a native when I visited Chiapas (in the South of Mexico) in 2010. In a village near San Cristóbal (Chamula if I am not mistaken), people who are about to build a new home sacrifice a chicken in church. The church itself shows highly syncretic elements (Roman Catholic elements along with elements from pre-Christian Tzotzil Maya beliefs). After the meat has been consumed the leftovers are buried on the spot where the house is to be built.

Sources:
  • Eliade, Mircea (translated from French original by Willard R. Trask), The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1961.
  • Eliade, Micea. (translated to Dutch by D. Mok, N. van Maaren, A. Scheepers). Het heilige en het profane: een onderzoek naar het wezen van religie. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Abraxas, 2006.

vrijdag 20 april 2012

Ueno park


In Ueno park there are several temples, but there seems to be a great variety in their usage. The Kiyomizu-dera 清水寺 1 which is dedicated to Sen-ju Kannon-bosatsu 千手観音菩薩 for example attracts a lot of tourists, but monks are often present in or near the temple. There is a rather strict atmosphere surrounding the site: it is forbidden to take pictures of the honzon (the statue of Kannon) and there are signs warning visitors not to clap before praying as is done in Shintoist temples.
In the Benten-dō 弁天堂 near the parks pond, however, there is a completely different atmosphere. Visitors are allowed to approach the temple’s statue of the seated Benzai-ten 弁財天 and take pictures as much as they like. There are also no instructions available for people who want to pray. This lenient atmosphere is enhanced by numerous syncretic elements. As Benten-sama 弁天様 belongs to the gods of Buddhism (天部 tenbu) one would expect a Buddhist altar. The general impression is Buddhist indeed, but there are several elements that are associated with Shintoism. I shall give a brief overview.
Buddhist elements: a large incense burner in front of the temple, singing bowls and sutras on the altar, as well as golden flowers. The usage of golden fittings in general leaves a Buddhist impression. In a Shintoist shrine fittings of unpainted wood or white porcelain are more common. The statue of Benten-sama itself has (at least) eight arms and is carrying a sword with the typical vajra-shaped grip.
Shintoist elements: a sacred rope (注連縄 shimenawa) with attached paper/cloth (紙垂 shide), a temizuya 手水舎 in front of the temple, offerings of sake etc. If I have seen it correctly – it was rather dark inside – there is a small torii 鳥居 on top of Benten-sama’s head, in spite of the statue’s generally South-Asian appearance.

The Kiyomizu-dera in Ueno park


The Benten-dō with the large incense burner


The Benten-dō’s Temizuya


The altar with the shimenawa
[added 19-7-2012
 According to the lady in the Benten-dō the golden zushi 厨子 (miniature shrine) in front of the Benten statue contains Ugajin 宇賀神, a deity often portrayed with a human head and the body of a snake. This deity is commonly associated with Benzaiten.
]

A small Shintoist shrine near the Benten-dō
 
Footnotes
1 I have talked about this temple in one of my earlier entries regarding ningyō kuyō.

donderdag 19 april 2012

Hana-matsuri 花祭り


On the 8th of April, the birthday of the historical Buddha is celebrated in Japan. On this day called Kanbutsue 灌仏会 or Hana-matsuri 花祭り a lot of people visit temples to pour tea on a statuette of the Buddha which is surrounded by flowers. The tea, which is a special kind of sweet tea called amacha 甘茶, is scooped out of a bowl with a ladle (柄杓 hishaku) and poured over a statuette representing the Buddha right after he was born (誕生仏 tanjōbutsu). In Japan and Korea the infant Buddha is generally shown raising his right arm in the air, but in some parts of China and Southeast Asia he is shown raising his left arm.

The Genjō-in 玄静院 near Zōshigaya 雑司ヶ谷


A woman praying before the Kishibojin-dō 鬼子母神堂’s Tanjōbutsu after having poured amacha on the statuette.
Sources:
  • Information provided near the Genjō-in
  • Tanaka, Yoshiyasu (田中義恭).『面白いほどよくわかる仏像の世界: 仏像の種類・歴史から鑑賞のポイントまで』(Omoshiroi hodo yoku wakaru butsuzō no sekai: butsuzō no shurui, rekishi kara kanshō made). Tokyo: Nihon bungeisha (日本文芸社), 2008.

vrijdag 13 april 2012

Seven Lucky Gods of Zōshigaya II

Ōtori-jinja 大鳥神社 is the place of worship for Ebisu 恵比寿 in the Seven Lucky Gods tour of Zōshigaya 雑司ヶ谷.  The main shrine, however, is devoted to the mythical character Yamato Takeru 日本武 1.

Often, the lion dogs in front of a shrine or temple are simply called either koma inu 狛犬 or shishi 獅子, but in fact there usually is one of each. The one that has its mouth opened is the shishi and the one that has its mouth closed is the koma inu. Furthermore, when looking up the difference between the two one can usually find that the latter has a unicorn-like horn, but most koma inu I have seen do not have a horn. Since the one at Ōtori-jinja clearly has a horn I elaborated on this subject.

A hōkora dedicated to Ebisu can be found near the main shrine.


Another deity enshrined on the grounds of Ōtori-jinja is Uga no Mitama no Mikoto 倉稲魂尊, a deity closely related to Inari 稲荷.


Footnotes:
1 By the way, Yamato Takeru was portrayed brilliantly by actor Mifune Toshirō 三船敏郎 in the 1959 film Nippon Tanjō 日本誕生.

Sources:
  • Ekubota, Hiromichi (久保田裕道). 『日本の神さま』(Nihon no kami-sama). Tokyo: PHP Kenkyūsho (PHP研究所), 2008.

donderdag 5 april 2012

Seven Lucky Gods of Zōshigaya

In Zōshigaya 雑司ヶ谷 one can visit a sanctuary for each of the Seven Lucky Gods in a so called Shichi Fuku-jin meguri 七福神巡り (Seven Lucky Gods tour or pilgrimage). However, the combination of members of the Seven Lucky Gods of Zōshigaya is slightly different from the common combination.1 In Zōshigaya, Benzai-ten 弁財天 is not the only female member of the Seven Lucky Gods as the South-Asian Kichijō-ten 吉祥天 (based on the Hindu deity Lakṣmī लक्ष्मी) replaces Jurōjin 寿老人.  

At the time of my visit I did not possess a map indicating the exact locations of all the temples and shrines so I was not able to visit all of them yet. Near the Kanjō-in (a sub-temple of the Hōmyō-ji 法明寺) there is a statue of Benzai-ten on which worshippers pour water before they pray.


The Daimoku 題目 (“Namu myōhōrenge-kyō” 南無妙法蓮華教) of the Nichiren-sect.


To my surprise, the place where Daikoku-ten 大黒天 is enshrined, is the Kishibojin-dō 鬼子母神堂 I have visited numerous times in the past. The small building that holds his statue is a shop that sells sweets at the same time and it was often closed during my previous visits. The fact that a deity is enshrined in a candy shop may appear strange at first, but the South Asian Mahākāla (Skt: महाकाल) turned into a deity of the dining hall in Chinese monasteries and was adopted as such by esoteric Buddhists in Japan. Consequently, Daikoku-ten is also often enshrined in the kitchen in certain areas (Miyamoto, 1987; pp35-37). In spite of his Hindu/Buddhist origin, the Daikoku-sama near the Kishibojin-dō is presented two heihaku (幣帛, offerings of cloth/paper) along with what appears to be sake. Offering heihaku is a Shintoist practice and presenting alcoholic beverages to a Buddhist deity is remarkable to say the least. This again proves how the Meiji-government’s efforts to separate Buddhism from Shintoism did not completely succeed in changing the inclinations of the people. Why would something that is considered to be an appropriate offer to one deity be inappropriate for another? Rather than following certain rules in an attempt to practise authentic religion, a lot of people seem to use their own sense of values when it comes to expressing their feelings towards a certain deity.


A similar offer was found in front of the temple grounds’ Inari 稲荷-shrine. Inari is/Foxes are believed to like fried tofu and as such offerings of Inari-zushi 稲荷寿司 (a bite-size bit of rice in a pouch of fried tōfu) are traditionally made at Inari-shrines. Here, however, some people simply made an offering of a package of fried tofu as can be typically found in the supermarket.



Footnotes:
1 Common combination: Ebisu, Daikoku-ten, Benzai-ten, Hotei, Bishamon-ten, Fukuroku-ju and Jurōju

Sources:
  • Miyamoto, Kesao  (宮本袈裟雄). 『福神信仰』 (Fukujin shinkō).  Tokyo:  Yūsankaku (雄山閣), 1987.
  • Tanaka, Yoshiyasu (田中義恭).『面白いほどよくわかる仏像の世界: 仏像の種類・歴史から鑑賞のポイントまで』(Omoshiroi hodo yoku wakaru butsuzō no sekai: butsuzō no shurui, rekishi kara kanshō made). Tokyo: Nihon bungeisha (日本文芸社), 2008.

woensdag 4 april 2012

Suwa-jinja in Nishi-Nippori


Suwa-jinja 諏方神社 enshrines Take-Mi-nakata no Mikoto 建御名方命(たけみなかたのみこと).

Temizuya 手水舎


Front view of the main hall


The altar inside the main hall from up close


One out of a remarkable pair of archaic koma-inu  狛犬


A small hokora on the shrine grounds dedicated to Sanbō-Kōjin三宝荒神. In spite of his South-Asian appearance (he is often depicted with three faces and several arms), Sanbō-kōjin is the kami of the hearth of furnace (Ekubota, 2008: p14). In this respect, he may be slightly similar to the Di Penates of ancient Rome.
On the picture we see two branches of a sakaki tree, a divine mirror, a sacred rope (注連縄 shime’nawa) with shide 紙垂 and a wooden box for offering money.


Another hokora I have not been able to identify. The remarkable thing about this one is that is is made out of stone instead of wood.


Even more interesting for my research was an encounter with a very friendly elderly couple on the shrine grounds. This man and his wife walked up to me, initially aiming to practise his English as he had been taking some classes recently. The couple came to visit a nearby graveyard to pay their respects to a family member of the misses. The woman told me her parents, who passed away a while ago, were very devout Buddhists of the Nichiren school. The couple does not have a butsudan 仏壇 at home as neither of them were firstborn, but she does recall how the offerings were made at her parents’ home. Modest offerings of the day’s  first rice, miso soup and tea/water were presented to the Buddha on the altar and taken away again around 3pm. These offerings were thrown away after usage, but offerings of fruit or candy were just put near the butsudan to be consumed later. Similarly, presents and souvenirs from visitors were presented to the Buddha/the ancestors before consumption.

The couple did not possess a butsudan at the time of our encounter, but they were considering buying one, even though they both stated they had their doubts about religion. The man of the house told me he had a Sōtō-shū 曹洞宗 background and to make sure I understood he was talking about a Zen-sect he closed his eyes and formed the Zenjō-jin 禅定印 (meditation mudrā) as he said the sects name. Since both had their own background I inquired how they would set up the butsudan as both traditions require different images or statuettes to be enshrined. 1 The man laughed and responded this problem had never occurred to him before I asked him. The woman, who seemingly felt guilty about their limited knowledge about the matter, tried to justify the situation by saying that her thoughts on religion changed because of religiously inspired terrorist attacks, like the one executed by AumShinri-kyō オウム真理教 members in 1995.

Footnotes:
1 Nichiren-shū has the Daimoku 題目 (Namumyōhōrengekyō 南無妙法蓮華経) in the middle with Daikoku-ten 大黒天 and Kishibo-jin 鬼子母神 to its flanks, whereas Sōtō-shū has Shaka-nyorai 釈迦如来 (the historical Buddha Śākyamuni [Skt: शाक्यमुनि]) in the middle, flanked by  Jōsai-daishi 常済大師 and Shōyō-daishi 承陽大師 (Dōgen 道元).

Sources:
  • Ekubota, Hiromichi (久保田裕道). 『日本の神さま』(Nihon no kami-sama). Tokyo: PHP Kenkyūsho (PHP研究所), 2008.
  • Tōkyō-to jinja-chō (東京都神社庁). “諏方神社” (Suwa-jinja). Tokyo-jinjacho.or.jp/ (2012) < http://www.tokyo-jinjacho.or.jp/syoukai/23_arakawa/23002.html> (28-3-2012).