John Nelson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195176452
- eISBN:
- 9780199785308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176452.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter describes the author's teaching of valuable lessons about the historical uses of ritual that often do not appear in courses — for example, how Shintō symbolism could turn the Japanese ...
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This chapter describes the author's teaching of valuable lessons about the historical uses of ritual that often do not appear in courses — for example, how Shintō symbolism could turn the Japanese emperor into a deity, evoking obedience and reverence from all his subjects. The chapter's author's course on Buddhism also stresses the role of ritual in propping up political power, which is demonstrated through an analysis of the ritual recitation of the Heart Sutra.Less
This chapter describes the author's teaching of valuable lessons about the historical uses of ritual that often do not appear in courses — for example, how Shintō symbolism could turn the Japanese emperor into a deity, evoking obedience and reverence from all his subjects. The chapter's author's course on Buddhism also stresses the role of ritual in propping up political power, which is demonstrated through an analysis of the ritual recitation of the Heart Sutra.
C. Scott Littleton
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195306316
- eISBN:
- 9780199867721
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195306316.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Shinto, an indigenous religion of Japan, is opposed to celibacy because the religion represents a celebration of life and procreation. An exception is found with virgins (miko), who assist priests.
Shinto, an indigenous religion of Japan, is opposed to celibacy because the religion represents a celebration of life and procreation. An exception is found with virgins (miko), who assist priests.
Michael Como
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824829575
- eISBN:
- 9780824870560
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824829575.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
Among the most exciting developments in the study of Japanese religion over the past two decades has been the discovery of tens of thousands of ritual vessels, implements, and scapegoat dolls ...
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Among the most exciting developments in the study of Japanese religion over the past two decades has been the discovery of tens of thousands of ritual vessels, implements, and scapegoat dolls (hitogata) from the Nara (710–784) and early Heian (794–1185) periods. Because inscriptions on many of the items are clearly derived from Chinese rites of spirit pacification, it is now evident that previous scholarship has mischaracterized the role of Buddhism in early Japanese religion. This book argues that both the Japanese royal system and the Japanese Buddhist tradition owe much to continental rituals centered on the manipulation of yin and yang, animal sacrifice, and spirit quelling. The book charts a transformation in the religious culture of the Japanese islands, tracing the transmission and development of fundamental paradigms of religious practice to immigrant lineages and deities from the Korean peninsula. It shows how the ability of immigrant lineages to propitiate hostile deities led to the creation of elaborate networks of temple–shrine complexes that shaped later sectarian Shinto as well as popular understandings of the relationship between the buddhas and the gods of Japan. The examination of a series of ancient Japanese legends of female immortals, weaving maidens, and shamanesses reveals that female deities played a key role in the moving of technologies and ritual practices from peripheral regions in Kyushu and elsewhere into central Japan and the heart of the imperial cult. As a result, some of the most important building blocks of the purportedly native Shinto tradition were shaped by the ancestral cults of immigrant lineages and popular Korean and Chinese religious practices.Less
Among the most exciting developments in the study of Japanese religion over the past two decades has been the discovery of tens of thousands of ritual vessels, implements, and scapegoat dolls (hitogata) from the Nara (710–784) and early Heian (794–1185) periods. Because inscriptions on many of the items are clearly derived from Chinese rites of spirit pacification, it is now evident that previous scholarship has mischaracterized the role of Buddhism in early Japanese religion. This book argues that both the Japanese royal system and the Japanese Buddhist tradition owe much to continental rituals centered on the manipulation of yin and yang, animal sacrifice, and spirit quelling. The book charts a transformation in the religious culture of the Japanese islands, tracing the transmission and development of fundamental paradigms of religious practice to immigrant lineages and deities from the Korean peninsula. It shows how the ability of immigrant lineages to propitiate hostile deities led to the creation of elaborate networks of temple–shrine complexes that shaped later sectarian Shinto as well as popular understandings of the relationship between the buddhas and the gods of Japan. The examination of a series of ancient Japanese legends of female immortals, weaving maidens, and shamanesses reveals that female deities played a key role in the moving of technologies and ritual practices from peripheral regions in Kyushu and elsewhere into central Japan and the heart of the imperial cult. As a result, some of the most important building blocks of the purportedly native Shinto tradition were shaped by the ancestral cults of immigrant lineages and popular Korean and Chinese religious practices.
Mark Thomas McNally
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824852849
- eISBN:
- 9780824868253
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824852849.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
The paradigmatic connection between Kokugaku and nativism is misleading and even wrong. In the humanities and the social sciences, nativism either describes anti-immigrant political movements or ...
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The paradigmatic connection between Kokugaku and nativism is misleading and even wrong. In the humanities and the social sciences, nativism either describes anti-immigrant political movements or reactions to colonial domination, and neither of these is relevant to the case of Kokugaku. Instead, ideas and events associated with sonnō-jō’i conform more closely to how the historiographical category of nativism is used outside of Japanese studies. At the same time, one of the salient characteristics of Kokugaku, the assertion of Japanese superiority, is reminiscent of what Americanists call exceptionalism, a concept that Japanologists heretofore have not applied to early modern Japan. Rather than focus on Kokugaku, thereby reinforcing the ideological connection between Kokugaku and the modern nation-state of Japan, which itself is inherently an exceptionalist connection, Like No Other: Exceptionalism and Nativism in Early Modern Japan focuses on the role of Confucianism in the development of exceptionalism during the early modern era. Even though the histories of early modern Japanese nativism and exceptionalism are distinct, they do overlap with one another during the 1850s and 1860s, indicating a connection between the two that Japanese history shares with the histories of other cultures and societies, including that of the United States.Less
The paradigmatic connection between Kokugaku and nativism is misleading and even wrong. In the humanities and the social sciences, nativism either describes anti-immigrant political movements or reactions to colonial domination, and neither of these is relevant to the case of Kokugaku. Instead, ideas and events associated with sonnō-jō’i conform more closely to how the historiographical category of nativism is used outside of Japanese studies. At the same time, one of the salient characteristics of Kokugaku, the assertion of Japanese superiority, is reminiscent of what Americanists call exceptionalism, a concept that Japanologists heretofore have not applied to early modern Japan. Rather than focus on Kokugaku, thereby reinforcing the ideological connection between Kokugaku and the modern nation-state of Japan, which itself is inherently an exceptionalist connection, Like No Other: Exceptionalism and Nativism in Early Modern Japan focuses on the role of Confucianism in the development of exceptionalism during the early modern era. Even though the histories of early modern Japanese nativism and exceptionalism are distinct, they do overlap with one another during the 1850s and 1860s, indicating a connection between the two that Japanese history shares with the histories of other cultures and societies, including that of the United States.
Heine Steven
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195386202
- eISBN:
- 9780199918362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386202.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The third chapters examines the wide variety of shrines in Akasaka, including Sannō Hie Jinja, Toyokawa Inari, Nogi Jinja, and Hikawa Jinja, which are all dedicated to Inari, at least in part, ...
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The third chapters examines the wide variety of shrines in Akasaka, including Sannō Hie Jinja, Toyokawa Inari, Nogi Jinja, and Hikawa Jinja, which are all dedicated to Inari, at least in part, although each has its own distinctive areas of religious and cultural significance. The Yamanote neighborhood of Akasaka also contains the Aoyama Cemetery as well as dozens of smaller Buddhist temples, most of which function as graveyards while tucked away in alleys or street-side openings. When seen collectively as a network of sacred sites and associations in the social context of the High City, an examination of this area at once confirms and calls for a reassessment of the notion that Shinto exclusively represents rites for living and Buddhism only represents rites for dying. This chapter focuses attention on an underlying level of folk religiosity that sustains both institutional structures. This chapter weaves together a descriptive analysis of the historical and cultural background as well as contemporary functions and atmosphere of some of the main sacred sites in the neighborhood of Akasaka with a critical discussion of Japanese religious institutional structure. By examining a variety of shrines and temples that are prominent and not-so-prominent (but in their own way equally important for understanding the role of sacred space), this chapter explores the conundrum involving the particular type of religious pluralism whereby almost everyone in Japan considers themselves affiliated with both Buddhist and Shinto traditions, but very few acknowledge feeling much loyalty or commitment to a particular institution.Less
The third chapters examines the wide variety of shrines in Akasaka, including Sannō Hie Jinja, Toyokawa Inari, Nogi Jinja, and Hikawa Jinja, which are all dedicated to Inari, at least in part, although each has its own distinctive areas of religious and cultural significance. The Yamanote neighborhood of Akasaka also contains the Aoyama Cemetery as well as dozens of smaller Buddhist temples, most of which function as graveyards while tucked away in alleys or street-side openings. When seen collectively as a network of sacred sites and associations in the social context of the High City, an examination of this area at once confirms and calls for a reassessment of the notion that Shinto exclusively represents rites for living and Buddhism only represents rites for dying. This chapter focuses attention on an underlying level of folk religiosity that sustains both institutional structures. This chapter weaves together a descriptive analysis of the historical and cultural background as well as contemporary functions and atmosphere of some of the main sacred sites in the neighborhood of Akasaka with a critical discussion of Japanese religious institutional structure. By examining a variety of shrines and temples that are prominent and not-so-prominent (but in their own way equally important for understanding the role of sacred space), this chapter explores the conundrum involving the particular type of religious pluralism whereby almost everyone in Japan considers themselves affiliated with both Buddhist and Shinto traditions, but very few acknowledge feeling much loyalty or commitment to a particular institution.
Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki
Richard M. Jaffe, Jeff Wilson, and Tomoe Moriya (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520269170
- eISBN:
- 9780520965355
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520269170.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki was a key figure in the introduction of Buddhism to the non-Asian world. Many outside Japan encountered Buddhism for the first time through D. T. Suzuki's writings and ...
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Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki was a key figure in the introduction of Buddhism to the non-Asian world. Many outside Japan encountered Buddhism for the first time through D. T. Suzuki's writings and teaching, and for nearly a century his work and legacy have contributed to the ongoing religious and cultural interchange between Japan and the rest of the world, particularly the United States and Europe. This third volume brings together a diverse collection of Suzuki's letters, essays, and lectures about non-Buddhist religions and his thoughts on their relation to Buddhism, as well as his reflections on the nature of religion itself. Some of these writings have been translated into English for the first time in this volume. As a long-term resident of the United States, a world traveler, and a voracious consumer of information about all forms of religion, Suzuki was one of the foremost Japanese mediators of Eastern and Western religious cultures for nearly seven decades. An introduction analyzes Suzuki's frequent encounters with texts and practitioners of many religions, considers how events in Suzuki's lifetime affected his interpretations of Christianity, Shinto, and other traditions, and demonstrates that his legacy as a scholar extends well beyond Buddhism.Less
Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki was a key figure in the introduction of Buddhism to the non-Asian world. Many outside Japan encountered Buddhism for the first time through D. T. Suzuki's writings and teaching, and for nearly a century his work and legacy have contributed to the ongoing religious and cultural interchange between Japan and the rest of the world, particularly the United States and Europe. This third volume brings together a diverse collection of Suzuki's letters, essays, and lectures about non-Buddhist religions and his thoughts on their relation to Buddhism, as well as his reflections on the nature of religion itself. Some of these writings have been translated into English for the first time in this volume. As a long-term resident of the United States, a world traveler, and a voracious consumer of information about all forms of religion, Suzuki was one of the foremost Japanese mediators of Eastern and Western religious cultures for nearly seven decades. An introduction analyzes Suzuki's frequent encounters with texts and practitioners of many religions, considers how events in Suzuki's lifetime affected his interpretations of Christianity, Shinto, and other traditions, and demonstrates that his legacy as a scholar extends well beyond Buddhism.
G. Clinton Godart
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780824858513
- eISBN:
- 9780824873639
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824858513.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Darwin, Dharma, and the Divine demonstrates that evolutionary theory was never passively accepted, but played active and controversial roles in modern Japanese thought. Evolutionary theory was ...
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Darwin, Dharma, and the Divine demonstrates that evolutionary theory was never passively accepted, but played active and controversial roles in modern Japanese thought. Evolutionary theory was controversial and of a major concern to Japanese Buddhist, Shintō, Confucian, and Christian thinkers, who actively debated and contested the theory. As the Japanese redefined their relation to the world, to nature, and built a modern nation-state, evolutionary theory also became an intellectual battleground, and Japanese state ideology became increasingly hostile to evolutionary theory. Japanese intellectuals and religious thinkers actively and constructively, and often critically, appropriated evolutionary theory for a wide variety of ends, but the religious reception of evolution in Japan was dominated by a long and continuous fear of the idea of nature and society as a cold, materialist, world, governed by a mindless “struggle for survival.” This aversion engendered many religious thinkers, philosophers, and biologists, to find goodness, beauty, and the divine within nature and evolution itself. It was this drive that shaped much of Japan’s modern intellectual history, and changed Japanese understandings of nature, society, and the sacred.Less
Darwin, Dharma, and the Divine demonstrates that evolutionary theory was never passively accepted, but played active and controversial roles in modern Japanese thought. Evolutionary theory was controversial and of a major concern to Japanese Buddhist, Shintō, Confucian, and Christian thinkers, who actively debated and contested the theory. As the Japanese redefined their relation to the world, to nature, and built a modern nation-state, evolutionary theory also became an intellectual battleground, and Japanese state ideology became increasingly hostile to evolutionary theory. Japanese intellectuals and religious thinkers actively and constructively, and often critically, appropriated evolutionary theory for a wide variety of ends, but the religious reception of evolution in Japan was dominated by a long and continuous fear of the idea of nature and society as a cold, materialist, world, governed by a mindless “struggle for survival.” This aversion engendered many religious thinkers, philosophers, and biologists, to find goodness, beauty, and the divine within nature and evolution itself. It was this drive that shaped much of Japan’s modern intellectual history, and changed Japanese understandings of nature, society, and the sacred.
Sherry D. Fowler
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780824856229
- eISBN:
- 9780824872977
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824856229.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
When Kannon (Avalokiteśvara in Sanskrit) appears in multiple manifestations, the compassionate Buddhist deity’s magnificent powers are believed to increase to even greater heights. This book examines ...
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When Kannon (Avalokiteśvara in Sanskrit) appears in multiple manifestations, the compassionate Buddhist deity’s magnificent powers are believed to increase to even greater heights. This book examines the development of sculptures, paintings, and prints associated with the cult of the Six Kannon, which began in Japan in the tenth century and remained strong until its transition, beginning in sixteenth century, to the still active Thirty-Three Kannon cult. The complete set of Six Kannon made in 1224 and housed at the Kyoto temple Daihōonji is an exemplar of the cult’s images. With a diachronic approach, beginning in the eleventh century, individual case studies are employed to reinstate a context for the sets of Six Kannon, the majority of which have been lost or scattered, in order to clarify the former vibrancy, magnitude, and distribution of the cult and enhance knowledge of religious image-making in Japan. While Kannon’s role of assisting beings trapped in the six paths of transmigration is a well-documented catalyst for the selection of six, there are other significant themes at work. Six Kannon worship includes worldly concerns like childbirth and animal husbandry, strong ties between text and image, and numerous cases of matching with Shinto kami groups of six.Less
When Kannon (Avalokiteśvara in Sanskrit) appears in multiple manifestations, the compassionate Buddhist deity’s magnificent powers are believed to increase to even greater heights. This book examines the development of sculptures, paintings, and prints associated with the cult of the Six Kannon, which began in Japan in the tenth century and remained strong until its transition, beginning in sixteenth century, to the still active Thirty-Three Kannon cult. The complete set of Six Kannon made in 1224 and housed at the Kyoto temple Daihōonji is an exemplar of the cult’s images. With a diachronic approach, beginning in the eleventh century, individual case studies are employed to reinstate a context for the sets of Six Kannon, the majority of which have been lost or scattered, in order to clarify the former vibrancy, magnitude, and distribution of the cult and enhance knowledge of religious image-making in Japan. While Kannon’s role of assisting beings trapped in the six paths of transmigration is a well-documented catalyst for the selection of six, there are other significant themes at work. Six Kannon worship includes worldly concerns like childbirth and animal husbandry, strong ties between text and image, and numerous cases of matching with Shinto kami groups of six.
Wilburn Hansen
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824832094
- eISBN:
- 9780824869304
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824832094.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
Hirata Atsutane (1776–1843) has been the subject of numerous studies that focus on his importance to nationalist politics and Japanese intellectual and social history. Although well known as an ...
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Hirata Atsutane (1776–1843) has been the subject of numerous studies that focus on his importance to nationalist politics and Japanese intellectual and social history. Although well known as an ideologue of Japanese National Learning (Kokugaku), Atsutane’s significance as a religious thinker has been largely overlooked. This book focuses on Senkyō ibun (1822), which centers on Atsutane’s interviews with a fourteen-year-old Edo street urchin named Kozo Torakichi who claimed to be an apprentice tengu, a supernatural creature of Japanese folklore. It uncovers how Atsutane employed a deliberate method of ethnographic inquiry that worked to manipulate and stimulate Torakichi’s surreal descriptions of everyday existence in a supernatural realm, what Atsutane termed the Other World. The book begins with the hypothesis that Atsutane’s project was an early attempt at ethnographic research. A rough sketch of the milieu of 1820s Edo Japan and Atsutane’s position within it provides the backdrop against which the drama of Senkyō ibun unfolds. There follow chapters explaining the relationship between the implied author and the outside narrator, the Other World that Atsutane helped Torakichi describe, and Atsutane’s nativist discourse concerning Torakichi’s fantastic claims of a newly discovered Shinto holy man called the sanjin. Sanjin were seen as holders of secret and powerful technologies previously thought to have come from or been perfected in the West, such as geography, astronomy, and military technology. Finally, the book addresses Atsutane’s contribution to the construction of modern Japanese identity. The book counters the image of Atsutane as a forerunner of the ultra-nationalism that ultimately was deployed in the service of empire.Less
Hirata Atsutane (1776–1843) has been the subject of numerous studies that focus on his importance to nationalist politics and Japanese intellectual and social history. Although well known as an ideologue of Japanese National Learning (Kokugaku), Atsutane’s significance as a religious thinker has been largely overlooked. This book focuses on Senkyō ibun (1822), which centers on Atsutane’s interviews with a fourteen-year-old Edo street urchin named Kozo Torakichi who claimed to be an apprentice tengu, a supernatural creature of Japanese folklore. It uncovers how Atsutane employed a deliberate method of ethnographic inquiry that worked to manipulate and stimulate Torakichi’s surreal descriptions of everyday existence in a supernatural realm, what Atsutane termed the Other World. The book begins with the hypothesis that Atsutane’s project was an early attempt at ethnographic research. A rough sketch of the milieu of 1820s Edo Japan and Atsutane’s position within it provides the backdrop against which the drama of Senkyō ibun unfolds. There follow chapters explaining the relationship between the implied author and the outside narrator, the Other World that Atsutane helped Torakichi describe, and Atsutane’s nativist discourse concerning Torakichi’s fantastic claims of a newly discovered Shinto holy man called the sanjin. Sanjin were seen as holders of secret and powerful technologies previously thought to have come from or been perfected in the West, such as geography, astronomy, and military technology. Finally, the book addresses Atsutane’s contribution to the construction of modern Japanese identity. The book counters the image of Atsutane as a forerunner of the ultra-nationalism that ultimately was deployed in the service of empire.
Helen Hardacre
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190621711
- eISBN:
- 9780190621742
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190621711.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
The aim of this book is to understand the history of an enduring ideal of Shinto. In this ideal, a divinely descended ruler governs through rituals for deities called Kami. A priestly order assists ...
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The aim of this book is to understand the history of an enduring ideal of Shinto. In this ideal, a divinely descended ruler governs through rituals for deities called Kami. A priestly order assists the sovereign by coordinating Kami ritual in shrines across the realm, so that shrine rites mirror the monarch’s ceremonies. Through the power of solemn rituals and joyous festivals, the priesthood unites the people with imperial rule. The Kami bless and protect the people, who attain their greatest self-realization through fulfilling their obligations to the collective. Through this theater of state, the human, natural, and supernatural worlds align in perfect harmony and prosper. The book seeks to understand this ideal’s historical origins, development, affective dimensions, and potential to motivate action. The constituent elements of the ideal of Shinto emerged gradually. They include changing concepts of Kami, associations between imperial rule and ritual, a government unit devoted to coordinating ritual throughout the nation’s shrines, a code of law mandating an annual calendar of Kami ritual, the claim that rituals for the Kami are public in character, and the assertion that this complex of ideas and institutions embodies Japan’s “indigenous” tradition. Shinto is often called “the indigenous religion of Japan,” but arguments concerning both its religiosity and its indigeneity are central to its history. The book investigates claims about Shinto as the embodiment of indigenous tradition, and assertions about its rightful place in the public realm, focusing on these debates and the modern controversies regarding whether Shinto should be considered a religion, not to answer these questions but instead to explain their religious, political, and social significance.Less
The aim of this book is to understand the history of an enduring ideal of Shinto. In this ideal, a divinely descended ruler governs through rituals for deities called Kami. A priestly order assists the sovereign by coordinating Kami ritual in shrines across the realm, so that shrine rites mirror the monarch’s ceremonies. Through the power of solemn rituals and joyous festivals, the priesthood unites the people with imperial rule. The Kami bless and protect the people, who attain their greatest self-realization through fulfilling their obligations to the collective. Through this theater of state, the human, natural, and supernatural worlds align in perfect harmony and prosper. The book seeks to understand this ideal’s historical origins, development, affective dimensions, and potential to motivate action. The constituent elements of the ideal of Shinto emerged gradually. They include changing concepts of Kami, associations between imperial rule and ritual, a government unit devoted to coordinating ritual throughout the nation’s shrines, a code of law mandating an annual calendar of Kami ritual, the claim that rituals for the Kami are public in character, and the assertion that this complex of ideas and institutions embodies Japan’s “indigenous” tradition. Shinto is often called “the indigenous religion of Japan,” but arguments concerning both its religiosity and its indigeneity are central to its history. The book investigates claims about Shinto as the embodiment of indigenous tradition, and assertions about its rightful place in the public realm, focusing on these debates and the modern controversies regarding whether Shinto should be considered a religion, not to answer these questions but instead to explain their religious, political, and social significance.
James W. Heisig, Thomas P. Kasulis, and John C. Maraldo (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824835521
- eISBN:
- 9780824870270
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824835521.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
This book documents the richness and diversity of Japanese philosophy as it has developed throughout history. Writings of more than a hundred philosophical thinkers from all eras and schools of ...
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This book documents the richness and diversity of Japanese philosophy as it has developed throughout history. Writings of more than a hundred philosophical thinkers from all eras and schools of thought have been translated, many of them available in English for the first time. The book has been set out to represent the entire Japanese philosophical tradition—not only the broad spectrum of academic philosophy dating from the introduction of Western philosophy in the latter part of the nineteenth century, but also the philosophical ideas of major Japanese traditions of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto. The philosophical significance of each tradition is laid out in an extensive overview, and each selection is accompanied by helpful information on placing the work in its proper context. The bulk of the supporting material is given to original interpretive essays on topics not explicitly covered in other chapters: cultural identity, samurai thought, women philosophers, aesthetics, bioethics. An introductory chapter provides a historical overview of Japanese philosophy and a discussion of the Japanese debate over defining the idea of philosophy.Less
This book documents the richness and diversity of Japanese philosophy as it has developed throughout history. Writings of more than a hundred philosophical thinkers from all eras and schools of thought have been translated, many of them available in English for the first time. The book has been set out to represent the entire Japanese philosophical tradition—not only the broad spectrum of academic philosophy dating from the introduction of Western philosophy in the latter part of the nineteenth century, but also the philosophical ideas of major Japanese traditions of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto. The philosophical significance of each tradition is laid out in an extensive overview, and each selection is accompanied by helpful information on placing the work in its proper context. The bulk of the supporting material is given to original interpretive essays on topics not explicitly covered in other chapters: cultural identity, samurai thought, women philosophers, aesthetics, bioethics. An introductory chapter provides a historical overview of Japanese philosophy and a discussion of the Japanese debate over defining the idea of philosophy.
Jolyon Baraka Thomas
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824835897
- eISBN:
- 9780824871499
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824835897.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
Manga and anime (illustrated serial novels and animated films) are highly influential Japanese entertainment media that boast tremendous domestic consumption as well as worldwide distribution and an ...
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Manga and anime (illustrated serial novels and animated films) are highly influential Japanese entertainment media that boast tremendous domestic consumption as well as worldwide distribution and an international audience. This book examines religious aspects of the culture of manga and anime production and consumption. Rather than merely describing the incidence of religions such as Buddhism or Shinto in these media, this book shows that authors and audiences create and re-create “religious frames of mind” through their imaginative and ritualized interactions with illustrated worlds. Manga and anime therefore not only contribute to familiarity with traditional religious doctrines and imagery, but also allow authors, directors, and audiences to modify and elaborate upon such traditional tropes, sometimes creating hitherto unforeseen religious ideas and practices. The book takes play seriously by highlighting these recursive relationships between recreation and religion, emphasizing throughout the double sense of play as entertainment and play as adulteration. The book demonstrates that the specific aesthetic qualities and industrial dispositions of manga and anime invite practices of rendition and reception that can and do influence the ways that religious institutions and lay authors have attempted to captivate new audiences.Less
Manga and anime (illustrated serial novels and animated films) are highly influential Japanese entertainment media that boast tremendous domestic consumption as well as worldwide distribution and an international audience. This book examines religious aspects of the culture of manga and anime production and consumption. Rather than merely describing the incidence of religions such as Buddhism or Shinto in these media, this book shows that authors and audiences create and re-create “religious frames of mind” through their imaginative and ritualized interactions with illustrated worlds. Manga and anime therefore not only contribute to familiarity with traditional religious doctrines and imagery, but also allow authors, directors, and audiences to modify and elaborate upon such traditional tropes, sometimes creating hitherto unforeseen religious ideas and practices. The book takes play seriously by highlighting these recursive relationships between recreation and religion, emphasizing throughout the double sense of play as entertainment and play as adulteration. The book demonstrates that the specific aesthetic qualities and industrial dispositions of manga and anime invite practices of rendition and reception that can and do influence the ways that religious institutions and lay authors have attempted to captivate new audiences.
G. Clinton Godart
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780824858513
- eISBN:
- 9780824873639
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824858513.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
The Meiji period saw the development of political tensions between evolutionary theory and the emerging kokutai ideology of the Japanese state. Kokutai ideology emerged as an unstable hybrid of ...
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The Meiji period saw the development of political tensions between evolutionary theory and the emerging kokutai ideology of the Japanese state. Kokutai ideology emerged as an unstable hybrid of mainly Shintō, but also Confucianism, Bushidō, and other religious and semi-religious elements. Important ideological thinkers began to reject elements of evolutionary theory, finding the “struggle for survival,” materialism, and individualism in tension with kokutai ideology and its emphasis on harmony, obedience, and spirit. Herbert Spencer’s influence waned and his thought was criticized.Less
The Meiji period saw the development of political tensions between evolutionary theory and the emerging kokutai ideology of the Japanese state. Kokutai ideology emerged as an unstable hybrid of mainly Shintō, but also Confucianism, Bushidō, and other religious and semi-religious elements. Important ideological thinkers began to reject elements of evolutionary theory, finding the “struggle for survival,” materialism, and individualism in tension with kokutai ideology and its emphasis on harmony, obedience, and spirit. Herbert Spencer’s influence waned and his thought was criticized.
Jeff Wilson, Tomoe Moriya, and Richard M. Jaffe (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520269170
- eISBN:
- 9780520965355
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520269170.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter contains an essay written by D. T. Suzuki in which he criticized Shinto, arguing that “the modern interpretation of Shinto” is different from the premodern religious tradition. Suzuki ...
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This chapter contains an essay written by D. T. Suzuki in which he criticized Shinto, arguing that “the modern interpretation of Shinto” is different from the premodern religious tradition. Suzuki claims that the pro-Shinto policy of the government is too partial and that official Shinto is incapable of relating to a deep inner personal experience. According to Suzuki, Shinto used to be completely absorbed in the system of Buddhism, but the so-called Shinto shrines are now devoid of all vestige of Buddhist influence. He accuses the chief Restoration leaders of dispossessing Buddhism of most of its properties and leaving it to its own fate. Suzuki also asserts that the Shinto of bureaucratic imperialism has no sound philosophy to support its ethical ideals of so-called national morality and calls on the Japanese government authorities to stop further meddling with Shinto.Less
This chapter contains an essay written by D. T. Suzuki in which he criticized Shinto, arguing that “the modern interpretation of Shinto” is different from the premodern religious tradition. Suzuki claims that the pro-Shinto policy of the government is too partial and that official Shinto is incapable of relating to a deep inner personal experience. According to Suzuki, Shinto used to be completely absorbed in the system of Buddhism, but the so-called Shinto shrines are now devoid of all vestige of Buddhist influence. He accuses the chief Restoration leaders of dispossessing Buddhism of most of its properties and leaving it to its own fate. Suzuki also asserts that the Shinto of bureaucratic imperialism has no sound philosophy to support its ethical ideals of so-called national morality and calls on the Japanese government authorities to stop further meddling with Shinto.
Takie Sugiyama Lebra
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520076006
- eISBN:
- 9780520911796
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520076006.003.0004
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter looks at kazoku families in terms of succession: what is involved, who the successors—or descendants—were, how they related to the predecessors, and what contemporary successors did and ...
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This chapter looks at kazoku families in terms of succession: what is involved, who the successors—or descendants—were, how they related to the predecessors, and what contemporary successors did and do to keep their ancestors alive. Inevitably, the discussion leads us to explore more fully the structure of the ie (stem-family household), a central element of Japanese social organization. The chapter consists of two parts. Part One is concerned with succession itself, which again calls up the central issues of this book: opposition and collusion between structure and practice, or culture and nature. Part Two turns to rituals and symbols that memorialize and celebrate ancestors, thus perpetuating them. The perspective here extends to the post-Meiji state of religion, especially the relationship of Shinto and Buddhism, to show how that history affected the ancestor rites for the kazoku more than for commoners.Less
This chapter looks at kazoku families in terms of succession: what is involved, who the successors—or descendants—were, how they related to the predecessors, and what contemporary successors did and do to keep their ancestors alive. Inevitably, the discussion leads us to explore more fully the structure of the ie (stem-family household), a central element of Japanese social organization. The chapter consists of two parts. Part One is concerned with succession itself, which again calls up the central issues of this book: opposition and collusion between structure and practice, or culture and nature. Part Two turns to rituals and symbols that memorialize and celebrate ancestors, thus perpetuating them. The perspective here extends to the post-Meiji state of religion, especially the relationship of Shinto and Buddhism, to show how that history affected the ancestor rites for the kazoku more than for commoners.
Christopher Ives
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824833312
- eISBN:
- 9780824870126
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824833312.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter provides an overview of the actions and ideology that characterized Imperial-Way Buddhism from the Meiji Restoration up to 1945. During these years, Japanese religious history is divided ...
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This chapter provides an overview of the actions and ideology that characterized Imperial-Way Buddhism from the Meiji Restoration up to 1945. During these years, Japanese religious history is divided into five periods. The first (1868–1872) featured the advocacy of the “unity of rites and rule” (saisei itchi) and the separation of Shinto and Buddhism. In the second period (1872–1877), the Ministry of Religion and the Great Teaching Promulgation Campaign attempted to consolidate Shinto and Buddhism. During the third period (1877–1912), government officials cemented the power of the imperial system and State Shinto. The fourth period (1912–1935) saw how the state pressured authorized religions to foster “Japanese spirit,” cultivate Imperial-Way Buddhism, and pacify colonized areas. Finally, the fifth period (1937–1945) centered on the system established by the Religious Organizations Law and the full mobilization of religions.Less
This chapter provides an overview of the actions and ideology that characterized Imperial-Way Buddhism from the Meiji Restoration up to 1945. During these years, Japanese religious history is divided into five periods. The first (1868–1872) featured the advocacy of the “unity of rites and rule” (saisei itchi) and the separation of Shinto and Buddhism. In the second period (1872–1877), the Ministry of Religion and the Great Teaching Promulgation Campaign attempted to consolidate Shinto and Buddhism. During the third period (1877–1912), government officials cemented the power of the imperial system and State Shinto. The fourth period (1912–1935) saw how the state pressured authorized religions to foster “Japanese spirit,” cultivate Imperial-Way Buddhism, and pacify colonized areas. Finally, the fifth period (1937–1945) centered on the system established by the Religious Organizations Law and the full mobilization of religions.
Eric C. Rath
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520262270
- eISBN:
- 9780520947658
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520262270.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
At the same time that chefs in the employ of shoguns, elite warlords, and aristocrats in the fifteenth century were developing the arts of cooking and banqueting, they were also doing other, less ...
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At the same time that chefs in the employ of shoguns, elite warlords, and aristocrats in the fifteenth century were developing the arts of cooking and banqueting, they were also doing other, less conventional things with food in demonstrations called “knife ceremonies,” which produced inedible food sculptures. Studying inedible dishes such as these might seem counterintuitive in a history of cuisine, which explains why most culinary historians of Japan mention them only in passing, if at all. Knife ceremonies were one of several entertainments, like singing, storytelling, juggling, and the more serious Noh theater, performed to entertain the elite at banquets. Due to their long history and prominence in elite food culture, knife ceremonies are an important starting point for showing the connections between food and fantasy—raw ingredients and thinking about them—that were the ingredients for premodern Japanese cuisine. Moreover, knife ceremonies have religious significance, particularly in Buddhism and Shinto.Less
At the same time that chefs in the employ of shoguns, elite warlords, and aristocrats in the fifteenth century were developing the arts of cooking and banqueting, they were also doing other, less conventional things with food in demonstrations called “knife ceremonies,” which produced inedible food sculptures. Studying inedible dishes such as these might seem counterintuitive in a history of cuisine, which explains why most culinary historians of Japan mention them only in passing, if at all. Knife ceremonies were one of several entertainments, like singing, storytelling, juggling, and the more serious Noh theater, performed to entertain the elite at banquets. Due to their long history and prominence in elite food culture, knife ceremonies are an important starting point for showing the connections between food and fantasy—raw ingredients and thinking about them—that were the ingredients for premodern Japanese cuisine. Moreover, knife ceremonies have religious significance, particularly in Buddhism and Shinto.
Brett J. Esaki
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190251420
- eISBN:
- 9780190251352
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190251420.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Philosophy of Religion
Japanese Americans have developed complex silences in response to social and religious marginalization. Utilizing histories and ethnographies of Japanese American arts-gardening, origami, jazz, and ...
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Japanese Americans have developed complex silences in response to social and religious marginalization. Utilizing histories and ethnographies of Japanese American arts-gardening, origami, jazz, and monuments—Enfolding Silence uncovers silences that are mixtures of silences from religion, art, and oppression. To explain this, a theory of "non-binary silence" articulates how multidimensional silences form and function. Japanese American non-binary silences have been enfolded through a strategy of survival called gaimenteki doka (outward assimilation), in which an external silence of hiding in plain sight from oppression preserves internal silences of religion, history, and culture, and in the process merges them. Silences also embody the transformation of Japanese Americans as they integrated with White Americans, African Americans, and Native Americans and hybridized religious ideas from indigenous religions, Shinto, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, and contemporary spirituality; silence thus epitomizes the complexity of American religion and ethnic minorities’ contribution to it. Each chapter details the history of one art, a few key artists, an important historical moment, and one kind of non-binary silence in order to illustrate how silence in art utilizes religious ideas to mitigate a significant source of oppression. What emerges is a picture of Japanese Americans negotiating marginalization by race, gender, sexuality, and economics in society and within art worlds, and making imperfect choices. Yet, it is the flaws that make non-binary silence rich, turning silence into a window of the struggles, hopes, and spirituality or ordinary people in extraordinary times. Silence thus facilitates the multiplicity and internal contradiction of Japanese Americans.Less
Japanese Americans have developed complex silences in response to social and religious marginalization. Utilizing histories and ethnographies of Japanese American arts-gardening, origami, jazz, and monuments—Enfolding Silence uncovers silences that are mixtures of silences from religion, art, and oppression. To explain this, a theory of "non-binary silence" articulates how multidimensional silences form and function. Japanese American non-binary silences have been enfolded through a strategy of survival called gaimenteki doka (outward assimilation), in which an external silence of hiding in plain sight from oppression preserves internal silences of religion, history, and culture, and in the process merges them. Silences also embody the transformation of Japanese Americans as they integrated with White Americans, African Americans, and Native Americans and hybridized religious ideas from indigenous religions, Shinto, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, and contemporary spirituality; silence thus epitomizes the complexity of American religion and ethnic minorities’ contribution to it. Each chapter details the history of one art, a few key artists, an important historical moment, and one kind of non-binary silence in order to illustrate how silence in art utilizes religious ideas to mitigate a significant source of oppression. What emerges is a picture of Japanese Americans negotiating marginalization by race, gender, sexuality, and economics in society and within art worlds, and making imperfect choices. Yet, it is the flaws that make non-binary silence rich, turning silence into a window of the struggles, hopes, and spirituality or ordinary people in extraordinary times. Silence thus facilitates the multiplicity and internal contradiction of Japanese Americans.
Richard Bowring
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198795230
- eISBN:
- 9780191836534
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198795230.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Early Modern History, History of Ideas
In Search of the Way is a history of intellectual and religious developments in Japan during the Tokugawa period, 1582–1860. It begins with an explanation of the fate of Christianity, and goes on to ...
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In Search of the Way is a history of intellectual and religious developments in Japan during the Tokugawa period, 1582–1860. It begins with an explanation of the fate of Christianity, and goes on to cover the changing nature of the relationship between Buddhism and secular authority, new developments in Shintō, and the growth of a consciousness of ‘being Japanese’; but the main emphasis is on the process by which Neo-Confucianism from Song and Ming China captured the imagination of the intellectual class and informed debate throughout the period. The narrative is divided into three sections, breaking at 1680 and 1786, each section prefaced with an essay that provides the historical, political, social, and economic background to the intellectual and ideological discussions that follow. The narrative aims, as far as possible, to show how one set of concerns led to another with some interesting digressions on the way. This period is treated as being important in its own right, not merely as a backdrop to the events of the Meiji Restoration.Less
In Search of the Way is a history of intellectual and religious developments in Japan during the Tokugawa period, 1582–1860. It begins with an explanation of the fate of Christianity, and goes on to cover the changing nature of the relationship between Buddhism and secular authority, new developments in Shintō, and the growth of a consciousness of ‘being Japanese’; but the main emphasis is on the process by which Neo-Confucianism from Song and Ming China captured the imagination of the intellectual class and informed debate throughout the period. The narrative is divided into three sections, breaking at 1680 and 1786, each section prefaced with an essay that provides the historical, political, social, and economic background to the intellectual and ideological discussions that follow. The narrative aims, as far as possible, to show how one set of concerns led to another with some interesting digressions on the way. This period is treated as being important in its own right, not merely as a backdrop to the events of the Meiji Restoration.
Helen Hardacre
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190621711
- eISBN:
- 9780190621742
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190621711.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Examines the numerous changes, many of which were initiated within government, that resulted in Shinto becoming independent from Buddhism and assuming new public roles associated with the ...
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Examines the numerous changes, many of which were initiated within government, that resulted in Shinto becoming independent from Buddhism and assuming new public roles associated with the perpetuation of indigenous tradition. Examines the process through which Shinto came to be deemed nonreligious, the construction of new shrines in partnerships between government and local communities, and the public funding for shrines. Earlier research has treated the period 1868 to 1945 under the rubric of State Shinto. Critique of that concept produced the idea of “state management” as an alternative. The chapter experiments with that term to explore its advantages and limitations.Less
Examines the numerous changes, many of which were initiated within government, that resulted in Shinto becoming independent from Buddhism and assuming new public roles associated with the perpetuation of indigenous tradition. Examines the process through which Shinto came to be deemed nonreligious, the construction of new shrines in partnerships between government and local communities, and the public funding for shrines. Earlier research has treated the period 1868 to 1945 under the rubric of State Shinto. Critique of that concept produced the idea of “state management” as an alternative. The chapter experiments with that term to explore its advantages and limitations.
