Hirata Atsutane

I analysed a part of a book called “Tamadasuki ”  (『玉襷』1832) by nativist scholar Hirata Atsutane (平田篤胤; 1776-1843). In the part I found, Hirata talks about the function of the kamidana, as well the proper rituals at the time.

He starts of by saying that a kamidana is a kind of himorogi 神籬 (basically a primitive sanctuary, but the exact meaning of the word seems to have changed over time) in which the eight thousand gods dwell. As it is an alternative to going to an actual shrine, it should be treated with respect. Since it is placed on the inside of the house it is prone to be tainted by impurity (けがれ kegare)　if the residents of the house are, for one reason or another, impure.

After this, Hirata gives an example. When one of his parents passes away he mourns for 50 days and in the case of one of his grandparents 30 days. During this period one should refrain/he refrains from performing the rituals or prayers towards the gods. When the mourning period has ended the rituals are resumed after a ritual cleansing (身滌祓 misogiharai). Hirata probably means that the performing of rituals by an impure person (because of the loss of a family member) will cause the impurity to spread to the kamidana.

He says that it is also possible to ask a distant relative (someone who is not officially in the mourning period) to take over the rituals during this time, but one must let him execute Bekka Kessai 別火潔斎 (I will have to look into the exact meaning of this word, but at this point it appears to me that it is a kind of abstinence that involves him using a different [sacred?] fire to cook his meal than the people who are tainted because of the mourning).

This description by Hirata is likely to seem very strict to modern people, but it gives an interesting insight into rituals observed by at least a number of people in the first half of the 19^th century. We must note, however,  that Hirata is a nativist scholar (a so-called kokugakusha国学者 ) and that his work shows an explicit preference for Shintoism and an equally explicit disregard for Buddhism. It is therefore not completely clear that the rituals he speaks of are descriptive or simply prescriptive. There may have been a lot of his contemporaries who either had no kamidana at all in their homes or executed rituals that were more adapted to their personal or local customs. Furthermore, it is thinkable that certain practises that are said to be typical of Buddhist rituals (the burning of incense, the use of singing bowls etc.) were used to venerate the kami as well by the commoners, on purpose or perhaps out of sheer ignorance.

Sources:

• Rinsen-shoten (臨川書店).『神道大辭典』(Shintō dai-jiten). Tokyo: Heibonsha edition (平凡社版), 1969.

• Shields, James Mark. Critical Buddhism: engaging with modern Japanese Buddhist thought. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2011.

Ikebukuro: the Nichiren school and the "right" Nichiren school

I am quite fortunate when it comes to being in the right place at the right time. On the 16^th of October (Sunday) 2011, I visited the temple-shrine complex I used to visit regularly a few years ago and I was lucky enough to get there at the time of a matsuri 祭 (festival). This time however the background knowledge on Japanese religion enabled me to identify the building about which I always wondered whether it was a Shintō shrine or a Buddhist temple at the time. Even though this structure looks rather Buddhist at first sight, a lot of vermillion tori 鳥居, statues of foxes and other signs clearly indicating Inari no kami 稲荷神  worship can be found on the temple grounds.

The inscription above the entrance reads “Kishimo-jin” 鬼子母神 (the fierce child-and-mother-kami) and gives away the temple’s affiliation:  Nichiren-shū 日蓮宗, as my later research confirmed. According to the legend, this deity was at first a malevolent being that fed on children, eventhough she had (tens of) thousands of children herself. Shaka-nyorai 釈迦如来　(शाक्यमुनि Śākyamuni) intended to punish this creature for her wicked deeds by hiding one of her children and the deity was deeply saddened by the disappearance of her child. Finally realising the pain she inflicted upon the hearts of the mothers whose children she devoured, she showed remorse for her cruel ways of the past and became the protector of children.

(some other pictures of the temple ground I took a few years ago:)

On the temple grounds I was approached by some youngsters while I was observing the celebrations. As I have often been approached by Japanese in similar situations I assumed that they would tell me a thing or two about the festivities, hand me a leaflet and the like so I was inclined to hear them out. After the introductions however, they asked me if I would like to see what another, nearby temple looks like on the inside. I was aware of the fact that there was another old temple down the road so I naturally decided to join them. However, I soon realised that these people where young members of another Buddhist school called Nichirenshō-shū 日蓮正宗 (“the right Nichiren-school”). It was clear that they were trying to lure me into their temple in order to convert me, but since I am doing research on religion, I decided to play along for a while. The temple seemed fairly new (perhaps built only a few decades ago) and looked somewhat like some of the Protestant Churches I have encountered in the United States of America. Upon entering the premises they asked me to join them in prayer reciting “Namu myōhō renge-kyō” 南無妙法蓮華経. We sat down on benches - that by the way only made my impression of being in a Christian church stronger - amidst a crowd of people that was coming and going freely, chanting this single sentence. Placed on the altar was an incense burner, some vases, a singing bowl and in the centre an elaborate calligraphy of the aforementioned sutra. What immediately struck me was the absence of statues, only adding to the comparison with a protestant church. Afterwards, I was taken upstairs to a room where several groups of people where chatting. After being treated to some ice coffee, I was introduced to some members who gladly explained me about their beliefs, why Nichirenshō-shū is the “right” version of this school and the like. The main difference between this school and the Nichiren-shū is that the former focuses solely on the sentence we quoted earlier which they call daimoku 題目 for this is said to represent the Buddha inside of every one of us. They told me they believe the enshrining of statues of Bodhisattvas, foxes and so forth to be useless.  At this point, my suspicion that this school/temple is going to be of no use whatsoever for my research was confirmed. I did not make it to the exit however before hearing out a women who, as opposed to the others who were kind and even slightly reserved, expressed her disaproval of worshipping the horrific image of the crucified Jesus Christ. After making sure I did not possess a Bible, a crucifix and even lucky charms sold at Japanese shrines/temples (this school opposes to this kind of practices) she invited me to come and pray with them regularly in the future, but I politely declined. Feeling increasingly that I was no longer regarded as a foreign researcher of Japanese culture, but as a possible member of this sect, I decided to leave as soon as possible. On my way out one of the youngsters I was first approached by joined me and suggested we should recite the daimoku for five minutes to take leave from the Buddha. After doing so, I thanked him and left.

Sources:

• 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). Tokio: Nihon bungeisha (日本文芸社), 2008.

Namahage: the New Year's Ogre

Note: The following blog entry does not really concern syncretism (or at least as far as I know), but it is an exquisite example of folk religion. 

In the North of Japan’s main island, ogres visit the households where children reside on New Year’s Eve (Ōmisoka 大晦日).  These mysterious ogres called Namahage ナマハゲ  supposedly leave their residence in the mountains once a year to come down and make sure the children are being good.

Two men, traditionally bachelors,  dress up as namahage wearing horrifying masks, a raincoat made of straw and an imitation knife. In this guise they enter the houses by surprise, growling and moving about wildly. They ask whether the children have been good or bad, if they have not been too lazy, if they cry too much etc.  and then encourage them to behave during the coming year. While the parents are generally amused by the conduct of these visiting gods, some children appear to be genuinely frightened.

The resemblance with a folkloric character from the Low countries is striking. At least since the 19^th century the benevolent Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) is said to be accompanied by a black servant on his mission to deliver presents and candy to all the good children on the 6^th of December.  Zwarte Piet (Black Pete), as he is called, has in recent times acquired jester-like  features, but originally he played the severe, punishing counterpart of the forgiving Sinterklaas. While the namahage would punish lazy children by dragging them into the mountains, Zwarte Piet would put the bad children in his bag and take them away to his home in Spain. In the Alpine regions the somewhat dangerous aspect of Saint Nicholas’ servant survived in the devil-like Krampus.

Is it a universal tendency of mankind to scare the youngsters in order to make them behave or is there a link, perhaps through the unique relationship of the Japanese and the Dutch throughout the Edo period?

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.

Faber, Paul. Sinterklaas overzee: avonturen van een reislustige heilige. Amsterdam: KIT Publishers, 2006.

Greene, Meg. Japan: A Primary Source Cultural Guide. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2005.

Nerima

In Nerima 練馬 I encountered some interesting expressions of folk religion. First, I discovered a temple of Ji-sect (Ji-shū ji 時宗) called Ji-shū Amida-ji時宗阿弥陀寺. Even though the temple itself is quite interesting, my attention was drawn by a small shrine on the temple grounds. I had a hard time identifying the deity that was enshrined in it, for it was adorned with red bibs and the like, making it difficult to see what was underneath. Since the temple is called the Ji-shū Amida-ji, Amida 阿弥陀(Amitābha अमिताभ) would be a fair guess, but as the statue is not in the main temple it is more likely to depict Jizō-bosatsu　(地蔵菩薩 (क्षितिगर्भ Kṣitigarbha) who is often dressed up with red clothing by parents who have lost a child. There are, however, other instances of votive statues being dressed up in a similar fashion and since I could neither detect the monk’s staff nor the shaved head so typical of Jizō-bosatsu I cannot identify the statue with certainty.

What I can say is that the statue seems to have quite some visitors, probably inhabitants of the residential area in which the temple is located. The flowers seem rather fresh and the red hat, the bib and the doll that is being offered to the statue seem relatively clean. All in all, this shrine looks very Japanese. To my knowledge Buddhist deities are not adorned in this way on the continent.

I continued my search and just across the street I found a Shintō 神道shrine. On the shrine grounds there were two remarkably large shinboku 神木 (sacred trees) and a few medium size buildings. For the second time that day my attention was soon diverted to something else: a small shrine that was separated from the main shrine ground by a narrow street, but still appeared to be a part of it. This time I discovered something that was clearly an example of syncretism. In the shrine stood a small statue of Fudō myōō 不動明王 (Skt: Acalanātha अचलनाथ) , one of the Five Wisdom Kings in Esoteric Buddhism. As Esoteric Buddhism in South Asia was already heavily influenced by Hinduism and passed on to Japan only after being reinterpreted by Chinese and Korean monks it is unlikely that the worship of this deity would be approved by the first disciples of the historical Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama सिद्धार्थ गौतम. As can be noted on the pictures below this Buddhist deity is enshrined in a way that combines several religious traditions. To the left and the right of the statue flowers are offered, which is Buddhist custom (in Shintō shrines branches of the sakaki 榊 tree are often preferred). However, displaying a porcelain vessel on this kind of offering stand (sanbō 三方) is a Shintoist custom. Much more obvious than that even are the pieces of paper (shide 紙垂) that are attached to a sacred rope (注連縄 shimenawa). These items refer to an ancient myth about the sun goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami 天照大神 in which she is drawn out of a cave and prevented from re-entering by means of a boulder and a rope in order to end the darkness on earth.

In short, this Buddhist deity is enshrined in a rather Shinoist manner. On the other hand, we must note that analysing the shrine thus would possibly seem farfetched to the people who maintain this shrine as their “religious reflexes” seem to consist of two parts they consider to be one.  

Finally, in the upper left corner of the building there is a picture, presumably of a deceased family member of the people who visit this shrine. This particular element of the shrine cannot be defined as being either Buddist or Shintoist as it is common to enshrine the ancestors in the Buddhist butsudan as wel as in the Shintoist soreisha 祖霊舎.

Ueno: Ningyō kuyō

On the 25th of September I ventured into Kūkai’s World: it was the last day of an exhibition called Kūkai to Mikkyō bijutsuten 空海と美術展 in one of the large buildings situated in Ueno -park上野公園 and I felt this was an excellent opportunity to get some input for my research. The exhibition was rather impressive, but since it was the last day, I got caught in the stream of visitors and soon arrived at the exit without having the time to carefully examine every object.

On my way out of the park I was lucky enough to encounter something even more relevant for my research. When I passed by the Kiyomizu Kannondō 清水観音堂 (I visited the main temple a few years ago in Kyōto, but there is a branch located in Ueno-park as well).  I saw preparations being made for a ceremony so I decided to stick around. A fellow spectator was kindly enough to explain me a thing or two: the ceremony, which is called Ningyō kuyō人形供養, basically consists of the ritual burning of dolls. These dolls are generally donated to the temple by women who have become a mother in the past year.  They (some of them) consider their newly born to be a gift from Kannon 観音(Avalokiteśvara अवलोकितेश्वर) who heard their prayers in which they expressed the desire to bear a child.

Preliminary list of sources

• Bokhoven, Jeroen. 『葬儀と仏壇』(Sōgi to butsudan). Tokyo: Iwata shoin (岩田書院), 2005.

• Endō, Jun (遠藤潤) (Havens, Norman trans.). An encyclopedia of Shintō. Tokyo: Kokugakuin University (國學院大學), 2001.

P78: particularly elaborate discription of the concept “syncretism”

• 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.

• Frank, Bernard. Le panthéon bouddhique au Japon-collections d'Emile Guimet. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1991.

A book one of my professors suggested: it has marvelous pictures of altars out of the collection of Guimet. Among them are very rare artefacts of which no similar ones in museums in Japan itself, according to this professor.
P213: Daikoku & Ebisu

• Ikegami, Yoshimasa (池上良正).『現世利益と世界宗教』(Gense riyaku to sekai shūkyō). Tokyo: Iwanami shoten (岩波書店), 2004.

Very interesting take on the definition of "religion" and the evaluation of "practical religion", by professor Ikegami from Komazawa University.

• Imai, Jun (今井淳), Yamamoto, Shinkō (山本真功). 『神道大系: 雲傳神道』(Shintō Taikei: Unden Shintō). Tokyo: Shintō Taikei Hensan-kai (神道大系編纂会), 1990.

 P553: Shingi kanjō, P593 Shichifukujin

• Kitami, Toshio (北見俊夫).『恵比寿信仰』(Ebisu shinkō). Tokyo:  Yūsankaku (雄山閣), 1991.

• Kukusho Kankōkai (国書刊行会). 『江戸風俗図絵集』 (Edo Fūzoku zue-shū) Tokyo: Kukusho Kankōkai (国書刊行会), 1986. 

P167: image of monks and offerings

• Kokugakuin Daigaku Nihon bunka kenkyūsho (國學院大學日本文化研究所) .『神道事典』(Shintō jiten).Tokyo: 弘文堂, 1994.

P90: 大黒天 description and origin of the association between Daikoku-ten and Ebisu

• Mitsuhashi , Takeshi (三橋健) & Shirayama, Yoshitarō (白山芳太郎). 『日本の神さまの事典』(Nihon no kami-sama no jiten). Tokyo: Daihōrin-kaku (大法輪閣), 2005.

• Miyato, Kesao  (宮本袈裟雄). 『福神信仰』 (Fukujin shinkō).  Tokyo:  Yūsankaku (雄山閣), 1987.

• Miyato, Kesao  (宮本袈裟雄). 『庶民信仰と現世利益』 (Shomin shinō to gense riyaku).  Tokyo:  Tōkyō-dō shuppan (東京堂出版), 2003.

Recommended to me by professor Ikegami.

• Morse, Edward Sylvester. Japanese homes and their surroundings. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1885.

P224: 19th century description of a kamidana

• Nakamaki, Hirochika　(中牧弘允). Japanese religions at home and abroad: anthropological perspectives. London: Routledge, 2003.

P18: Distincion Uragawa-Omotegawa kami shrines + what kind of kami are enshrined where in the house? (Wajirō Kon)
P24: Percentage butsudan-kamidana

• Nara kokuritsu hakubutsukan (奈良国立博物館). 『社寺縁起絵』(“Shaji engi e”). Tokyo: Kadogawa shoten (角川書店), 1975.

P137: image of a shrine (祠) from Urashima myōjin engi emaki 浦嶋明神縁起絵巻

• Nihon mingu gakkai (日本民具学会). 『日本民具辞典』(Minzoku kenchiku daijiten). Tokyo: Tokyo: Kyōsei (きょうせい), 1997.

P312: description of Ebisu and Daikoku-ten as a duo under the title “大黒天”.

• Nihon minzoku kenchiku gakkai (日本民族建築学会). 『民族建築大事典』(Minzoku kenchiku daijiten). Tokyo: Kashiwashobō (柏書房), 2001.

P266: remarks on Ebisu and Daikoku-ten as a duo.

• Nishimuta, Takao (西牟田崇生).『家庭の祭祀事典』(Katei no matsuri jiten). Tokyo: Kokusho kankoukai (国書刊行会), 2005 (based on a 1877 text).

P9: Interesting remark on kamidana 神棚in the “Kojiki”『古事記』(上巻き[神代巻])

• Rinsen-shoten (臨川書店).『神道大辭典　一巻』(Shintō dai-jiten). Tokyo: Heibonsha edition (平凡社版), 1969.

P210 (エビスダナ)
P356

• Sasaki, Masaru (佐々木勝). 『屋敷神の世界■民俗信仰と祖霊』. Tokyo: Meicho shuppan (名著出版), 1983.

• Sonoda, Minoru (薗田稔) & Hashimoto, Masanobu (橋本政宣).『神道史大辞典』(Shintō-shi dai-jiten). Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan (吉川弘文館), 2004.

P232: description of the concept ‘kamidana’.

Yet to be found:

•  坪井洋文.『国学院大学日本文化研究所紀要』四
• 平山敏治郎.『神棚と仏壇』
• 平田篤胤 『玉欅』(Old description of kamidana in Shintō dai-jiten)
• 「仏壇の起源についての一考察」『宗教研究』日本宗教社学会, 2001. (327)
• 柳田国男
• 神社本庁編.『祖霊社の栞』森瑞?枝
• "Venerating the Spirits of the Dead in Modern Japan" (Ghosts and modernity)

Purpose of this Blog

I intend to use this blog as a means to digitize my findings on the subject of Japanese religion and folklore. My research mainly revolves around the subject of syncretism (shinbutsu shūgō 神仏習合), the fusion of the native deities of Japan with the foreign Buddhist deities and their respective cults. As for the eventual research question, I would like to keep a few options open at this point, but I am inclined to focus on folk religion in Japanese history, rather than the dogmatic religion that throve among the members of the monastic elite. Especially the tangible expressions of this kind of religion (votive statues, home altars and the like) are of great importance for my research. Religious objects (神具 shingu / 仏具 butsugu) deserve to be subject to further analysis for they provide indisputable evidence concerning the syncretic tendencies of the Japanese in the past. Furthermore, as they are the local manifestation of the universal human tendency to attribute sacred powers to certain objects, we will be able to compare the object(s) of our choice with similar ones from different cultures or periods.