O-shōgatsu

In the period around New Year one can encounter a type of decoration called kadomatsu 門松 at both sides of doors or gates of private residences or shops. Nowadays the kadomatsu generally consists of three large shoots of bamboo of different lengths surrounded by pine and plum branches, but there seems to be a great variety of styles depending on the region. The pairs of kadomatsu are placed near the entrance after the 20th of December where they are supposed to beckon the toshigami 年神 (deity of the year). The toshigami will subsequently take residence in the branches according to the tradition until the branches are removed on the 6th of January. Depending on the region varies and sometimes the branches are burned to release the toshi-gami.

 The three pictures shown above are taken at Yakumo-jina 八雲神社  in Kotake-chō 小竹町. Susanoo no mikoto 素盞嗚尊 has been enshrined here since the beginning of the Edo period and today he is still venerated as the uji-gami 氏神 of the residents of this area. I have visited this site several times, but now one could see pine branches here and there, attached to the tori and the  o-mizuya お水舎 where visitors wash their hands and mouth before praying (or “used to wash”; there is no water left in this one).　If one approaches the shrine and peeks through the wooden framework, as shown on the picture above, one can see the actual altar with traditional rice cake offerings, as shown on the picture below.  These rice cakes called sonae-mochi 供え餅or kagami-mochi 鏡餅 can also be seen in houses and shops as a New Year’s decoration. They usually consist of two disks of rice cake topped by a bitter orange (or nowadays often a mandarin).





















Sources:

• Kōunsha (幸運社).『美しい日本の習慣』(Utsukushii nihon no shūkan). Tokyo: PHP Kenkyūsho (PHP研究所), 2008.
• Tōkyō jinja-chō (東京神社庁). “小竹町八雲神社” (Kotake-chō Yakumo jinja). tokyo-jinjacho.or.jp <http://www.tokyo-jinjacho.or.jp/syoukai/22_nerima/22030.html> (retrieved 2012-2-1).

Manazuru

I have not updated this blog lately due to the holidays, illness and exams and reports for my classes. This entry (and the next few) will therefore be about visits and the like that took place a while back.
First of all a brief report of my visit to Manazuru 真鶴 (Kanagawa-ken) . Manazuru is a quiet seaside city where economic activity seems to revolve around fishing and tourism. I encountered several sites were ancestor worship and the afterlife seemed to play a central part when it comes to religious folklore.

The most interesting site I encountered was a cave that seemed to have been made to look slightly South-Asian. Inside were several statues with offerings. The most prominent statue was one of Enma-ō 閻魔王, the Buddhist judge of hell. This deity, which obviously derived from a Hindu deity (namely Yama यम) has similarities with several other religious creatures like Satan or Hades/Pluto as a ruler of the underworld, but also with Saint Peter as he judges the deceased.

Daikoku-ten and Ebisu in a seafood restaurant.

   

It is perhaps hard to see on this picture, but this mystical island had a torii 鳥居 on it. Unfortunately there were no indications that allowed me to get to know more about the meaning and origin of this apparently sacred island.

Gense riyaku

I was introduced to Professor Ikegami Yoshimasa from Komazawa University by one of my professors. Our meeting left a great impression on me: I did not only gain several new insights, I am now also able to put insights I already had into words.

First of all, I explained to him that I started off  with the intention to compare ancient European pagan syncretism with Japanese syncretism (and more particularly involving the household worship), but that I realised a simple comparison is not suited for a doctoral dissertation and was now looking for historical sources concerning the Ebisu-dana, as it united syncretism and household worship. I made it clear that I was trying to focus on the folkloric aspect of religion, rather than the ideology and professor Ikegami was kind enough to give me some books and texts concerning the so-called Minzoku-gaku “民俗学” (folkloristics).

Professor Ikegami warned me for the risk of ending up simply translating Japanese research concerning the Ebisu-dana. While this kind of research is common and also useful for other researchers who may have limited access to Japanese sources, it is not the best option for a doctoral thesis. He advised me to “zoom out” for the time being to be able to find the right approach. Rather than that, he suggested that I should use my European background and that it may be interesting to do some sort of comparison after all. However, I got the impression that he believed comparing ancient Europe to modern Japan to be slightly stereotypical and perhaps even Eurocentric (“Europeans have surpassed this kind of religion a long time ago”).  As I obviously did not intend such a value judgement and I am rather unfamiliar with church-related practices of the Christian era in Europa I was not inclined to go down that road at first. However, the way he defined religion made me change my mind. He says the concept of “believing” is often overly emphasized as a consequence of the predominant influence of Christianity (in particular Protestantism) on modern science. The observing of certain folk ceremonies or rituals, the construction and usage of religious objects and praying for “worldly benefits” is generally disregarded or at least deemed inferior to “faith” by theologian and religious leaders of the modern time. However, this obviously subjective view is often adopted by scholars, perhaps without them even realizing the subjectivity of their approach.

In short, observing “Sinterklaas”, celebrating “Carnaval”, exchanging Christmas gifts or hiding chocolate eggs in the garden for children to find at Easter, as well as praying for a good result on an exam to the kami-dana, throwing beans at Setsubun 節分, dressing up as a Namahage, placing kadomatsu 門松 near the entrance around New Year and so forth are as much entitled to be called “religion” as actual “faith” is. Practical religion (宗教 shūkyō) is in no way objectively inferior to faith (信仰 Shinkō) and therefore deserves equal academic attention.

Professor Ikegami spent a lot of time doing research on the so-called Gense riyaku 現世利益 or the acquisition of “benefits of this world”. Japanese religion is often stereotyped as being focussed mainly on ceremonies that involve such “superficial benefits”. However, it can be misleading to compare Japanese folk religion with Christianity and using hard-core Lutheran theology to represent the latter. Christianity (and perhaps Catholicism in particular) used to be much more of a “practical religion” than we often think. The practice of praying to saints (an obvious remain of pagan polytheism!) for protection, fertility and the like is an example of a ceremony clearly aiming for the acquisition of gense riyaku.

With a definition like that, I am more inclined to compare European religious folklore with its Japanese counterpart in an attempt to prove that Japanese religion is not the only one that revolves around practical aspects and worldly benefits.

Two problems arise, however, if I choose to change my strategy:

•  I have to reconsider the period I will be focussing on.

At this point the 17^th century seems an option (Japan: pre-shinbutsu bunri period, but a fair amount of sources concerning folk culture. Europe: Renaissance period, a lot of attention for pre-christian religion [albeit not in the sense of “faith”], highly documented folk culture and religion, the origin of customs like St. Nicholas eve)

Or the 19^th century were native religious elements were “rediscovered” and stripped from foreign elements (Christianity and Buddhism) in search of national identity (Japan: kokugaku, construction of the concept of kamidana etc. Europe: revival of possibly pre-Christian religious remains, this time approached somewhat diminutively [cfr. Jacob Grimm]).

• Combining the Ebisu-dana with the aforementioned strategy may prove to be difficult.

Further reading will be necessary to determine what strategy would make the greatest contribution to the current debates in folkloristics. 

Sources:

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.

Ebisu-dana in “Yōshūfushi”

Ebisu-dana in “Yōshūfushi”

In “Shintō dai-jiten” I found a quote concerning the Ebisu-dana. The quote was taken out of Yōshūfushi 『雍州府志』, apparently a guidebook to Kyōto dating from the Edo-period (1684 to be precise)

 “

凡倭俗惠比須天大黑天爲 二一雙一民家戸々作二小像一安二置棚頭一祭レ之、是謂二惠美須棚 一、凡自レ外所レ入二家内一之金銀絹帛並酒茶肴核之類、先供二斯棚一言又祈レ得レ之也、故與二福神惠美須一併二祭之一者乎

”

According to this quote, in general every folk dwelling had a shelf called “Ebisu-dana” on which a pair of statuettes of Ebisu-ten and Daikoku-ten was enshrined. Offerings of gold, silver, silk, but also sake, tea, food, fruit seeds and the like were put in front of them and people prayed to acquire more of the offered items.

While virtually absent in Buddhism (worldly desires are not encouraged) and Christianity, the presenting of small amounts of a certain desired good seems to be quite common in polytheistic societies (cf. previous post on kamidana in Yamanashi). There are numerous similar examples within Japanese religion like the offering of rice to Inatama 稲魂, the deity of foodstuffs (cf. ‘Amami-gaku’ Kankōiinkai), but the practice is far from unique. In ancient Rome, the ceremonies of the so-called Equus October (October Horse) to honour Mars were held on October 15. The horse that was to be offered was decided by a race. The one that proved to be the fastest and the strongest was slaughtered, whereupon the horse’s severed head was decorated with loaves of bread. Knowing that Mars played the dual role of deity of war on the one hand and deity of agriculture on the other hand, we can see the similarity with the ceremony of offering gold and the like to Ebisu and Daikoku-ten: a strong horse is sacrificed to ask for strength, loaves of bread are offered to secure a good harvest.  

Sources:

• ‘Amami-gaku’ Kankōiinkai (「奄美学」刊行委員会). 『奄美学その地平と彼方』(Amami-gaku sono chihei to kanata). Nanpōshinsha (南方新社), 2005.

•  Dunstan, William E. Ancient Rome. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010.

•  Kobayashi, Giryō (小林義亮).  『笠置寺激動の1300年: ある山寺の歴史』(Kasagi-dera gekidō no 1300-nen: aru yamadera no rekishi) . Tōkyō: Bungeisha (文芸社), 2002. (p210).

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

Yamanashi-ken

Past weekend I travelled to Yamanashi prefecture to visit a friend who is learning Japanese carpentry as an apprentice from an experienced  Miya-daiku (宮大工 Shrine carpenter). As I am well aware of the fact that the Japanese countryside has a much higher percentage of traditional houses and elderly people than Tōkyō, I expected to find some remains of the religious customs of former generations. In my experience, kamidana are getting rarer and rarer in Tōkyō so I was hoping to see one at my friend’s master’s residence.  The lady of the house apologised for the dust on top of it, but there was indeed a rather simple gods’ shelf present in the house. There was no mini-shrine (miya-gata 宮形 in Japanese) on the shelf, but there were some offerings like a few sakaki 榊branches and some amulets made out of rice straw – as an expression of gratitude for the rice harvest according to my friend’s master. There were several o-fuda 御札 from shrines the family visited, like one dedicated to the popularly enshrined Amaterasu-ōmikami 天照大御神and another to Dōso-daijin  道祖大神.

We headed to a small residence in the mountains where my friend and his master do all kinds of chores like chopping firewood and the like. I was lucky enough to meet a friend of the master’s who happened to have a kannushi (神主 shintō priest) licence. When I inquired about the position of kami in the household he told me that an old folk tale describes how every one of the Seven Lucky Gods (七福神 Shichifuku-jin) chose a room of the household to protect. Benten-sama  弁天様 (also Benzai-ten弁財天)  was the last one to choose and since all the other rooms were taken she had to settle for the toilet.  Even though she was reluctant at first, she finally accepted, but demanded in return that the toilet should be the cleanest room in the house.

I had heard about a pillar that is considered to be important in Japanese architecture called  Daikoku-bashira 大黒柱 and I asked the master’s friend if he knew why it was called that and if there is any link with Daikoku-ten. He was not sure about its origins, but he told me that, as opposed to the single large pillar that is nowadays considered to be the daikoku-bashira, there used to be four daikoku-bashira in traditional “folk dwellings” (民家 minka) .

I looked up “Shichifuku-jin” and “Daikoku-bashira” in several dictionaries, but I was unable to confirm either of the stories, which makes them even more interesting. 

Small shrines near Sensō-ji 浅草寺

I went to the Sensō-ji again. This temple is considered to be one of the oldest if not the oldest temples in Tōkyō, even though it has been damaged and restored several times over the years. The temple is dedicated to Shō-kannon 聖観音1, of whom fishermen allegedly found a statue in the Sumida river in 628. While I was writing my master’s thesis on this Japanese interpretation of Avalokiteśvara अवलोकितेश्वर, unfortunately I was not able to visit this temple, but returning here, this time as a “Kannon scholar”, I obviously had a far better understanding of what I saw around me than the last time a few years ago.

This time, I did not come particularly to see Kannon. As the honzon 本尊, or main idol, remains hidden for the public 2, there is not much to investigate for me when it comes to enshrined statues and altars, but I did remember there were several hokora 祠 (small shrines) besides the main temple.  Among them is a fairly large amount of Jizō-bosatsu 地蔵菩薩 statues. The most remarkable one seemed simply damaged at first sight. Upon closer inspection however, I realised that the statue’s front had been carved away by a ritual process of devotees continuously rubbing small pebbles against the surface.  

 

Far more interesting for my research even, was a small hokora with the duo Ebisu 恵比須 and Daikoku-ten大黒天. Ebisu is believed to be purely Japanese, the kami of fishermen and the sea and Daikoku-ten is likely to have derived from  the Hindu deity Mahākāla महाकाल 3.,  a manifestation of Śiva शिव. From the Muromachi period 4 onwards these two deities have been often enshrined together presented as being brothers, father and son or sometimes as master and apprentice.  They can also be seen in the so-called Ebisu-dana 恵比寿棚, a type of kamidana. And this is where it is inspiring for my research: a Hindu/Buddhist deity and a native Japanese deity that are commonly enshrined alongside one another and venerated by the common folk to such an extent that they have been given a place in the private household. As it probably cannot get much closer to ‘syncretism in folk altars’ than this I plan to look into some historical sources to find out more about the veneration of this duo. At this point I am thinking about the following options: Ebisu and Daikoku in hokora, kamidana (Ebisu-dana) or zūshi 厨子.

1. The most basic one of the seven principle hengeshin 変化身 (manifestations) of Kannon-bosatsu 観音菩薩

2. Such “hidden Boeddha’s” are called hibutsu 秘仏 in Japanese. They are especially common in temples affiliated with the Shingon- and Tendai-sect. Sensō-ji used to be a Tendai temple, but is now independent.

3. महा=big, mega ->大 ; काल=black ->黒

4. 1336-1573

Sources:

• Frank, Bernard. Le panthéon bouddhique au Japon-collections d'Emile Guimet. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1991. (p213).

• Iida, Masao (飯田雅男). 『橋から見た隅田川の歴史』 (Hashi kara mita Sumida-gawa no rekishi). Tokyo: Bungeisha (文芸社), 2002.  

• 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.

Unden Shintō

I was introduced to an interesting series of books by one of my professors who has devoted his research career to medieval Shintō. The series is called “Shintō Taikei” 神道大系 and currently consists of about 120 volumes each dedicated to a historical source (like “Kojiki” 古事記or “Nihonshoki” 日本書紀) or a particular subject (like “Tendai Shintō” 天台神道 or “Shintō in Okinawa”). Basically the original texts, that are often handwritten, are converted into typed text to facilitate the reading. The kanji are not simplified and the kana-usage remains unaltered for maximum authenticity (in Japanese this is called honkoku 翻刻).

One volume out of this series that I have taken an interest in is titled “Unden Shintō” 雲傳神道.  ‘Un’ refers to the school’s  founder Jiun 慈雲(1718-1804) so ‘Unden’ could be translated as ‘the transmissions of Jiun’ and ‘Unden Shintō’ may be translated as ‘The way of the gods as transmitted by Jiun’. Jiun, who was a Shingon monk, advocated the revival of ‘Ryōbu Shintō’ 両部神道, a set of beliefs that was popular among adherents of esoteric Buddhism in the first centuries after the introductions of Buddhism. In Ryōbu Shintō Buddhist concepts are integrated into the native Japanese Shintō relgion. Besides Buddhism and Shintō, Jiun also deemed Confucianist principles important for Japanese society. 

His writings were influential during the Edo-period and remained popular during the Meiji-period. However, quite a few of his contemporaries adhered to the nativist theories and disregarded Buddhism or least demanded a clear separation between Shintoist and Buddhist practices. Therefore, we can hardly call his vision on Japanese religion the dominant one for his time. 

I analysed a part of this volume of the Shintō Taikei series in which a ceremony called ‘Shingi Kanjō’ 神祇灌頂 is explained. According to the writings the ceremony has its origins in India were it was performed when the crown prince ascended the throne. Water from the Four Great Seas (四大海 shidaikai, the sea surrounding Shumisen 須弥山  [Skt. Sumeru सुमेरु]) was poured over the head of the crown prince out of a golden vase.

At some point during the explanation of this ceremony the author made the following statement:

“神ト云ヒ佛ト云ヒ人ト云フ、是假名ニシテ、其心體ハ同ク不思議ナルガ故ニ、唯タ信十分ナレバ十分ニ圓滿シ、信五分ナレバ五分ニ得益ス。”

My first attempt to translate this: 

“Wheter you call it a Kami, a Buddha or a person, they are all just temporary names, their spirit and their body are equally marvellous. Therefore, if you believe for 100%, you will attain harmony for 100%, if you believe for 50%, you will attain harmony for 50%.”

 Even though the tendency of the time was to try to recreate what was believed to be authentically Japanese by removing foreign influences, Jiun did no such thing. He kept believing that Shintoism and Buddhism were not two different ways to see reality, but that they have always been intertwined and always should be. He seemed to be influenced by the spirit of his time however in the fact that he did

 not consider Buddhism to be superior to Shintō, as most of his predecessors did.

Sources:

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