Edward R. Drott
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824851507
- eISBN:
- 9780824868833
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824851507.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This book examines the shifting sets of meanings ascribed to the aged body in early and medieval Japan and the symbolic uses to which the aged body was put in the service of religious and ...
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This book examines the shifting sets of meanings ascribed to the aged body in early and medieval Japan and the symbolic uses to which the aged body was put in the service of religious and religio-political ideologies. In the Nara through mid-Heian periods, old age was used as a symbol of weakness, ugliness or pollution to contrast with the glories of the sovereign and his or her efflorescent court. Concurrently, governmental and Buddhist retirement practices called for elders to remove themselves from social, political and cultural centers. From the late-Heian period forward, however, various marginalized individuals and groups took up the aged male body as a symbol of their collective identity and crafted narratives depicting its empowerment. Although in early Japan the terms okina and ōna had been reserved for strange or foolish underclass old men and women, in the medieval period, Buddhist authors presented a great number of gods (kami), Buddhist divinities, saints and immortals (sennin) as okina, or in rare cases, as ōna. In these years literati came to enthusiastically employ the persona of the aged Buddhist recluse and early Noh theorists and playwrights sought to enhance the prestige of their art by linking it to performance traditions featuring mysterious but powerful okina. Although many of the divinized okina of medieval myth are today seen to inhabit a “Shintō” pantheon, they were, in fact, the product of Buddhist texts and arose within a Buddhist cultural milieu.Less
This book examines the shifting sets of meanings ascribed to the aged body in early and medieval Japan and the symbolic uses to which the aged body was put in the service of religious and religio-political ideologies. In the Nara through mid-Heian periods, old age was used as a symbol of weakness, ugliness or pollution to contrast with the glories of the sovereign and his or her efflorescent court. Concurrently, governmental and Buddhist retirement practices called for elders to remove themselves from social, political and cultural centers. From the late-Heian period forward, however, various marginalized individuals and groups took up the aged male body as a symbol of their collective identity and crafted narratives depicting its empowerment. Although in early Japan the terms okina and ōna had been reserved for strange or foolish underclass old men and women, in the medieval period, Buddhist authors presented a great number of gods (kami), Buddhist divinities, saints and immortals (sennin) as okina, or in rare cases, as ōna. In these years literati came to enthusiastically employ the persona of the aged Buddhist recluse and early Noh theorists and playwrights sought to enhance the prestige of their art by linking it to performance traditions featuring mysterious but powerful okina. Although many of the divinized okina of medieval myth are today seen to inhabit a “Shintō” pantheon, they were, in fact, the product of Buddhist texts and arose within a Buddhist cultural milieu.
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.
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/9780190621711.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Discusses Shinto’s “prehistory,” the mixture of continental influences in its formation and early concepts of sovereignty. Through the court’s adoption of Buddhism, a corpus of Kami ritual understood ...
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Discusses Shinto’s “prehistory,” the mixture of continental influences in its formation and early concepts of sovereignty. Through the court’s adoption of Buddhism, a corpus of Kami ritual understood as “indigenous” was embodied in its own code of law and a branch of government, the Ministry of Divinities (Jingikan), placed in charge of it, giving Kami ritual a “public” status. I argue that these linked institutional developments represent the beginning of Shinto.Less
Discusses Shinto’s “prehistory,” the mixture of continental influences in its formation and early concepts of sovereignty. Through the court’s adoption of Buddhism, a corpus of Kami ritual understood as “indigenous” was embodied in its own code of law and a branch of government, the Ministry of Divinities (Jingikan), placed in charge of it, giving Kami ritual a “public” status. I argue that these linked institutional developments represent the beginning of Shinto.
Bernard Faure
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824839338
- eISBN:
- 9780824868260
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824839338.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
Japanese gods are segments of a heterogeneous network composed of myths and rituals, but also of human and divine bodies, objects, institutions, techniques, images, and feelings. Medieval Japanese ...
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Japanese gods are segments of a heterogeneous network composed of myths and rituals, but also of human and divine bodies, objects, institutions, techniques, images, and feelings. Medieval Japanese gods were enmeshed in a tangle of relationships, they did not so much exist as they occurred. In spite of our fixation with stable iconography, they were identified not by attributes or features but by their trajectories, their transformations, their ever-changing stories, the ebb and flow of their efficacy. They constantly overflowed any systematic attempt to hold them accountable. In our attempts to unravel that tangle, that dense interweaving of rituals and stories and the (un)like, we can no longer simply pigeonhole them into taxonomies and hierarchies. The medieval Japanese pantheon was a fluid pantheon, a pantheon in constant flux.Less
Japanese gods are segments of a heterogeneous network composed of myths and rituals, but also of human and divine bodies, objects, institutions, techniques, images, and feelings. Medieval Japanese gods were enmeshed in a tangle of relationships, they did not so much exist as they occurred. In spite of our fixation with stable iconography, they were identified not by attributes or features but by their trajectories, their transformations, their ever-changing stories, the ebb and flow of their efficacy. They constantly overflowed any systematic attempt to hold them accountable. In our attempts to unravel that tangle, that dense interweaving of rituals and stories and the (un)like, we can no longer simply pigeonhole them into taxonomies and hierarchies. The medieval Japanese pantheon was a fluid pantheon, a pantheon in constant flux.
G. G. Rowley
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231158541
- eISBN:
- 9780231530873
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231158541.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter examines one contemporary account of the dragon-scale scandal: The Tale of Kazan. First printed in 1959, The Tale of Kazan is a novelette named after its hero, Kasannoin Tadanaga, one of ...
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This chapter examines one contemporary account of the dragon-scale scandal: The Tale of Kazan. First printed in 1959, The Tale of Kazan is a novelette named after its hero, Kasannoin Tadanaga, one of the courtiers involved. Scholars believe that the text was composed at some point between the abdication of Emperor GoYōzei in 1611 and the middle of the seventeenth century. The writer used the real names of the guilty, as well as those of the great and the good: Nakanoin Nakako, the shogunal deputy Itakura Iga-no-Kami, and the retired shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu appear in character. The Tale of Kazan recounts the events of the scandal, from the meeting of the young courtiers at the home of the Ōinomikado Colonel to the imperial concubines’ exile to Sagami. It also looks at the death of Kaneyasu Bingo-no-Kami Yoritsugu and the ascendance of a new emperor to the throne.Less
This chapter examines one contemporary account of the dragon-scale scandal: The Tale of Kazan. First printed in 1959, The Tale of Kazan is a novelette named after its hero, Kasannoin Tadanaga, one of the courtiers involved. Scholars believe that the text was composed at some point between the abdication of Emperor GoYōzei in 1611 and the middle of the seventeenth century. The writer used the real names of the guilty, as well as those of the great and the good: Nakanoin Nakako, the shogunal deputy Itakura Iga-no-Kami, and the retired shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu appear in character. The Tale of Kazan recounts the events of the scandal, from the meeting of the young courtiers at the home of the Ōinomikado Colonel to the imperial concubines’ exile to Sagami. It also looks at the death of Kaneyasu Bingo-no-Kami Yoritsugu and the ascendance of a new emperor to the throne.
Herman Ooms
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824832353
- eISBN:
- 9780824869281
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824832353.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter examines the liturgical ceremonies of the new state assembled by Tenmu and Jitō. The Law Codes stipulated a yearly round of ritual events, most of them to secure the ripening of crops ...
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This chapter examines the liturgical ceremonies of the new state assembled by Tenmu and Jitō. The Law Codes stipulated a yearly round of ritual events, most of them to secure the ripening of crops and a bountiful harvest. The format for the principal celebrations required that four times a year, hundreds of representatives from designated local shrines assemble at the capital, a number that grew to two and three thousand early in the eighth century. These shrine officiants returned home with oblations for their local kami (spirits or gods). Ultimately, these regular celebratory reunions implemented the reality of a dynamic centralized rulership and spread consciousness of it throughout the land by word of mouth.Less
This chapter examines the liturgical ceremonies of the new state assembled by Tenmu and Jitō. The Law Codes stipulated a yearly round of ritual events, most of them to secure the ripening of crops and a bountiful harvest. The format for the principal celebrations required that four times a year, hundreds of representatives from designated local shrines assemble at the capital, a number that grew to two and three thousand early in the eighth century. These shrine officiants returned home with oblations for their local kami (spirits or gods). Ultimately, these regular celebratory reunions implemented the reality of a dynamic centralized rulership and spread consciousness of it throughout the land by word of mouth.
Bernard Faure
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824839314
- eISBN:
- 9780824870508
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824839314.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
The Japanese Middle Ages is often perceived as the heyday of the honjui suijaku model of esoteric Buddhism, a model in which Indian buddhas are paired with Japanese kami. According to that model, all ...
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The Japanese Middle Ages is often perceived as the heyday of the honjui suijaku model of esoteric Buddhism, a model in which Indian buddhas are paired with Japanese kami. According to that model, all Japanese gods are “traces” (suijaku) or manifestations of Indian buddhas and bodhisattvas, who constitute their “original ground” (honji). Yet something occurred in that period that considerably affected the model’s operation: at all levels of the esoteric pantheon, certain deities emerged that were neither buddhas nor kami. Because of their obscure origins, these deities were either rejected or domesticated by Buddhist and Shintō orthodoxies. Yet they constitute the living core of medieval Japanese religion.Less
The Japanese Middle Ages is often perceived as the heyday of the honjui suijaku model of esoteric Buddhism, a model in which Indian buddhas are paired with Japanese kami. According to that model, all Japanese gods are “traces” (suijaku) or manifestations of Indian buddhas and bodhisattvas, who constitute their “original ground” (honji). Yet something occurred in that period that considerably affected the model’s operation: at all levels of the esoteric pantheon, certain deities emerged that were neither buddhas nor kami. Because of their obscure origins, these deities were either rejected or domesticated by Buddhist and Shintō orthodoxies. Yet they constitute the living core of medieval Japanese religion.
Bernard Faure
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824839314
- eISBN:
- 9780824870508
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824839314.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This examination of the medieval Japanese pantheon leads to questioning one of its traditional organizing principles, namely, the two-tiered structure of the honji suijaku (essence-traces) theory. ...
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This examination of the medieval Japanese pantheon leads to questioning one of its traditional organizing principles, namely, the two-tiered structure of the honji suijaku (essence-traces) theory. The habitual thesis is that this theory allowed Buddhists to assimilate the “autochthonous” Japanese pantheon. This model has been taken at face value by generations of scholars. However, it fails to explain the role played by most deities (buddhas and kami among others) in medieval Japanese religion. The brocade of medieval Japanese Buddhism was made of many more strands than the simplistic distinction between Buddhism and Shinto would suggest.Less
This examination of the medieval Japanese pantheon leads to questioning one of its traditional organizing principles, namely, the two-tiered structure of the honji suijaku (essence-traces) theory. The habitual thesis is that this theory allowed Buddhists to assimilate the “autochthonous” Japanese pantheon. This model has been taken at face value by generations of scholars. However, it fails to explain the role played by most deities (buddhas and kami among others) in medieval Japanese religion. The brocade of medieval Japanese Buddhism was made of many more strands than the simplistic distinction between Buddhism and Shinto would suggest.
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:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824835521.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
This section provides an overview of Shinto and Native Studies. Native Studies is a movement that emerged from a series of philosophical reflections and analyses based on four elements of ancient ...
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This section provides an overview of Shinto and Native Studies. Native Studies is a movement that emerged from a series of philosophical reflections and analyses based on four elements of ancient Japanese culture: kami worship; the valorization of the ancient Japanese language in the writing and appreciation of waka poetry; the early mytho-historical chronicles of the Japanese court; and the Japanese imperial lineage. This section begins with a discussion of the history of Shinto and Native Studies in Japan before presenting translations of a variety of texts by Japanese philosophers, including Kamo no Mabuchi, Motoori Norinaga, Fujitani Mitsue, Hirata Atsutane, Ōkuni Takamasa, Orikuchi Shinobu, and Ueda Kenji.Less
This section provides an overview of Shinto and Native Studies. Native Studies is a movement that emerged from a series of philosophical reflections and analyses based on four elements of ancient Japanese culture: kami worship; the valorization of the ancient Japanese language in the writing and appreciation of waka poetry; the early mytho-historical chronicles of the Japanese court; and the Japanese imperial lineage. This section begins with a discussion of the history of Shinto and Native Studies in Japan before presenting translations of a variety of texts by Japanese philosophers, including Kamo no Mabuchi, Motoori Norinaga, Fujitani Mitsue, Hirata Atsutane, Ōkuni Takamasa, Orikuchi Shinobu, and Ueda Kenji.
Midori Kagawa-Fox
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190456320
- eISBN:
- 9780190456351
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190456320.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
A hybrid Japanese philosophy, integrating traditional Japanese Buddhist thought with the Western philosophical canon emerged during the twentieth century in response to the program of modernization ...
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A hybrid Japanese philosophy, integrating traditional Japanese Buddhist thought with the Western philosophical canon emerged during the twentieth century in response to the program of modernization instituted by the Maiji Restoration. Japanese culture, however, has been as important in shaping Japanese environmental ethics as have Japanese philosophical values. Japan has an extensive cultural heritage that has been built on mythology and folklore, and on religious beliefs and practices, and these ingredients have influenced the Japanese ethical consciousness. The indigenous Shinto religion, which evolved from animism, teaches that the ever-present kami (spirits) bind the Japanese to their environment. Their presence imparts a strong moral consciousness. Thus an understanding of the relationship of the kami to the Japanese people is essential for appreciating Japanese environmental ethics. Most Japanese have an intuitive belief in the kami that has been significant in forming their caring attitude toward the natural world.Less
A hybrid Japanese philosophy, integrating traditional Japanese Buddhist thought with the Western philosophical canon emerged during the twentieth century in response to the program of modernization instituted by the Maiji Restoration. Japanese culture, however, has been as important in shaping Japanese environmental ethics as have Japanese philosophical values. Japan has an extensive cultural heritage that has been built on mythology and folklore, and on religious beliefs and practices, and these ingredients have influenced the Japanese ethical consciousness. The indigenous Shinto religion, which evolved from animism, teaches that the ever-present kami (spirits) bind the Japanese to their environment. Their presence imparts a strong moral consciousness. Thus an understanding of the relationship of the kami to the Japanese people is essential for appreciating Japanese environmental ethics. Most Japanese have an intuitive belief in the kami that has been significant in forming their caring attitude toward the natural world.
Brett J. Esaki
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190251420
- eISBN:
- 9780190251352
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190251420.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter examines the history of origami, notably streams that divided in early twentieth-century Japan, Europe, and the United States; the art of Linda Mihara; and the silence of self that ...
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This chapter examines the history of origami, notably streams that divided in early twentieth-century Japan, Europe, and the United States; the art of Linda Mihara; and the silence of self that employs indigenous interconnectivity to negotiate psychic bifurcation. The silence of self, illustrated with sign language notation, hybridizes the American independent self of integrity and the Japanese interdependent self of intimacy, a dichotomy portrayed in psychology and religious studies. The history of origami details its transformation in Japanese culture and European and American education, notably in the tradition of Friedrich Froebel. Explications of Linda Mihara's art reveal the cultural negotiation of Japanese American women as the "nice girl" and the preservation of a Japanese American conception of kami (Shinto spirits). These insights are brought together through psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott's potential space, leading to a model of development for a non-binary or polytheistic self that can sustain multiple cultures.Less
This chapter examines the history of origami, notably streams that divided in early twentieth-century Japan, Europe, and the United States; the art of Linda Mihara; and the silence of self that employs indigenous interconnectivity to negotiate psychic bifurcation. The silence of self, illustrated with sign language notation, hybridizes the American independent self of integrity and the Japanese interdependent self of intimacy, a dichotomy portrayed in psychology and religious studies. The history of origami details its transformation in Japanese culture and European and American education, notably in the tradition of Friedrich Froebel. Explications of Linda Mihara's art reveal the cultural negotiation of Japanese American women as the "nice girl" and the preservation of a Japanese American conception of kami (Shinto spirits). These insights are brought together through psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott's potential space, leading to a model of development for a non-binary or polytheistic self that can sustain multiple cultures.
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/9780190621711.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
The introduction sets out the terms of the argument and why it matters; it presents the rationale for a new study of Shinto’s history and an overview of the manuscript.
The introduction sets out the terms of the argument and why it matters; it presents the rationale for a new study of Shinto’s history and an overview of the manuscript.
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/9780190621711.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Examines the pervasive influence of Buddhist esotericism. Premised on the ultimate identity of Kami and Buddhist divinities, esotericism neutralized Shinto’s claims to represent the indigenous. The ...
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Examines the pervasive influence of Buddhist esotericism. Premised on the ultimate identity of Kami and Buddhist divinities, esotericism neutralized Shinto’s claims to represent the indigenous. The Great Purification Prayer came to be used in shortened form for all manner of private devotional purposes. Warrior oaths show that the Kami were increasingly perceived as requiring people to conform to a moral code. Shugendō, the cult of sacred mountains, introduced myriad ceremonies for mountain deities, who came to be roughly classed with the Kami, contributing to the ongoing diversification of the pantheon. In the late thirteenth century, when the Mongol invasions threatened to destroy Japan entirely, typhoons called Kamikaze, “divine winds,” diverted them. The popular sense that the Kami had saved Japan greatly strengthened ideas of Japan as a divine land (shinkoku), propagated by Kitabatake Chikafusa (1293–1354), among others.Less
Examines the pervasive influence of Buddhist esotericism. Premised on the ultimate identity of Kami and Buddhist divinities, esotericism neutralized Shinto’s claims to represent the indigenous. The Great Purification Prayer came to be used in shortened form for all manner of private devotional purposes. Warrior oaths show that the Kami were increasingly perceived as requiring people to conform to a moral code. Shugendō, the cult of sacred mountains, introduced myriad ceremonies for mountain deities, who came to be roughly classed with the Kami, contributing to the ongoing diversification of the pantheon. In the late thirteenth century, when the Mongol invasions threatened to destroy Japan entirely, typhoons called Kamikaze, “divine winds,” diverted them. The popular sense that the Kami had saved Japan greatly strengthened ideas of Japan as a divine land (shinkoku), propagated by Kitabatake Chikafusa (1293–1354), among others.
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/9780190621711.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Examines Shinto art, literature, dance-drama, and aspects of architecture to uncover medieval Shinto’s devotional patterns. New architectural spaces were created for encountering “foreign” deities, ...
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Examines Shinto art, literature, dance-drama, and aspects of architecture to uncover medieval Shinto’s devotional patterns. New architectural spaces were created for encountering “foreign” deities, to transform them into beneficent Kami, and enable practitioners to absorb their power. New interpretations of Nihon shoki myth emerged, along with tale literature, shrine mandalas, and the monumental work of twenty illustrated scrolls called Kasuga Gongen Genki-e, portraying the Kami as compassionately leading humanity to salvation. Mandalas pictured shrines as Pure Lands, giving pictorial form to the idea of Kami and Buddhas as ultimately the same. The shinkoku idea assumed a personal guise in that the people of the divine land were believed descended from the Kami, and to lack for nothing required for salvation.Less
Examines Shinto art, literature, dance-drama, and aspects of architecture to uncover medieval Shinto’s devotional patterns. New architectural spaces were created for encountering “foreign” deities, to transform them into beneficent Kami, and enable practitioners to absorb their power. New interpretations of Nihon shoki myth emerged, along with tale literature, shrine mandalas, and the monumental work of twenty illustrated scrolls called Kasuga Gongen Genki-e, portraying the Kami as compassionately leading humanity to salvation. Mandalas pictured shrines as Pure Lands, giving pictorial form to the idea of Kami and Buddhas as ultimately the same. The shinkoku idea assumed a personal guise in that the people of the divine land were believed descended from the Kami, and to lack for nothing required for salvation.
