in this issue from the centre chair - soas university of ... their utmost not to disturb it in any...

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Front Cover: During the autumn retreat (akinomine) practitioners of Hagurô Shugendô atMidagahara prepare to climb to the summit of Mt Gassan (Yamagata prefecture). The mountainin the background is Chôkaisan. (Photo by Gaynor Sekimori). Shugendô is a religious traditionunique to Japan, which combines different beliefs, such as esoteric Buddhism and Daoism, withnative traditions regarding the mountains and kami, and incorporates practices like the saitôgoma (fire ritual), seen in the photo on the left. The image is a still from the film "Death andRebirth in the Mountains: The Ascetic Training of Shugenja Practitioners in Japan" which will bescreened at SOAS on 9 December. For more information, please refer to the article about it inthis newsletter.

From the Centre chairSummer is lingering on for a little bit inLondon, after a quite rainy August, giving awarm welcome to the new students. As Iwrite, the Centre is doing the lastpreparations for our yearly symposium.This years’ theme is on the worship ofstars. The programme is included with thisissue, and we will have a report on thecontributions in the winter issue.

With the beginning of the new academicyear we have the usual comings andgoings of members and associates to theCentre. Brian Bocking is on a welldeserved sabbatical, and will be spendingthe academic year 2004-5 bringing tocompletion, with DrYouxuan Wang,Research Fellow in the Department of theStudy of Religions at SOAS, a LeverhulmeTrust-funded research project onMadhyamika and Yogacara thought inChina. Yukiko Nishimura has come backfrom her fieldwork, and will update us onher findings in the postgraduate Forum.Carla Tronu Montane has come back froma short fieldwork trip in Italy and Spain,and is preparing to leave for a longerperiod of study in Japan. We bid farewellto Meri Arichi, 2003-4 postdoctoral fellow,thanking her for her contribution to theCentre activities, and knowing that she willstill be in London and able, from time totime, to be involved in SOAS activities. Inthis newsletter Meri introduces some ofthe fieldwork she conducted this year inJapan, and will be telling us about herimpressions of the year at SOAS in a laterissue.

We welcome the new postdoctoral fellow,Dr Katja Tripplett, from Marburg University,and Tullio Lobetti, a new PhD candidate,who is the recipient of the 2003 CSJRstudentship. Details of their researchprojects are included in this issue. I wishthem a very productive time at SOAS, andlook forward to an exciting collaboration.Other PhD students have started this yearand we hope to read about their researchprojects soon. In this issue the dedicatedsection to introduce postgraduate

research in Japanese religions includes areport by Yoshiko Imaizumi, PhD candidateat SOAS.

Last year was a very hectic one for theCentre, with a tight schedule of seminars.Speakers from Britain, Europe and Japantalked about a variety of topics such asthe origins of Shinto. the worship ofConfucius, samurai spirituality, shinbutsuart, and Buddhist learning, politics andlanguage, all of which gave us the chanceto learn more about aspects of Japanesereligions throughout history. The Forum,too, witnessed exciting papers from youngscholars at SOAS and beyond. This termwe look forward to an array of internationalspeakers at the seminar series and SOASstudents at the Forum. Among theactivities scheduled for this term I wouldlike to highlight the screening of adocumentary film on the mountain retreatof the Hagurô Shugendô group. The filmwill be a rare occasion to learn in depthabout this fascinating aspect of Japanesereligion, and to discuss it with twospecialists in the field who are alsopractitioners.

From our information section dedicated toevents related to Japanese religions Iwould also like to draw your attention tothe announcement of the forthcomingToshiba lectures organized by theSainsbury Institute, where Prof. J.Rosenfield will present his research on themonk Chôgen. In this section of thenewsletter you may also read the reportsof related academic activities that havetaken place in Europe, an internationalsymposium in Vienna and a Shinto ritualand workshop in Venice. I am grateful tothe students who have contributed thesereports. Finally, I am happy to announcethat our website is being revamped, andby the end of the month will be online withmore information about our activities andon Japanese religions in general.

I wish you all a good beginning of theacademic year and I look forward toseeing you at the activities organized bythe Centre!

Lucia Dolce

In this issue

2 From the Centre Chair

Centre Activities

3 CSJR Seminar Schedule

3 Japanese Religions Forum

3 Symposium: The Worship ofStars in Japanese ReligiousPractice

4 Film: The Ascetic Training ofJapanese ReligiousPractitioners of HagurôShugendô

5 Introducing New Members

6 From Past Fellows

7 Postgraduate

8 Fieldwork Reports

9 Research Project: Meiji Jingu

11 PhD Research at SOAS

12 Members’ Publications

Information on JapaneseReligions

14 Vienna Symposium: Culture ofSecrecy

15 A Shinto Workshop in Venice

16 The Toshiba Lectures

Japanese Religions andPopular Culture

16 Japan’s Enduring ReligiousFestivals

19 MA Japanese Religions

CSJR Newsletter • September 2004 • Issue 10

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7 October

Human Sacrifice in Japanese LegendsKatja Triplett (SOAS)

21 October

Exploring Reasons for Dogen’sMid-Career Move to EchizenSteven Heine (Florida International University)

25 November

Religion on MountainsMichael Pye (University of Marburg)

9 December

Film: Death and Rebirth in theMountain:

The Ascetic Training of ShugenjaJapanese PractitionersFumi Ouchi (Miyagi Gakuin/SOAS)

Gaynor Sekimori (Tokyo University)

Venue: Khalili Theatre, 6pm

ALL WELCOMEFor further information please contact the convenorLucia Dolce ([email protected]) (020) 7898-4217

Centre Activities

CSJR SeminarsSOAS, Thornhaugh Street Russell Square,WC1H OXG

5.00pm-6:30pm Room G3

Japanese Religions Forum

The Forum, convened once a month in term time, brings

together postgraduate students, MA and PhD, working on

Japanese religions from all academic departments at SOAS.

The Forum aims to encourage a multidisciplinary approach

to the study of Japanese religions.SOAS, Thornhaugh Street Russell Square, WC1H 0XG

Time: 5:00 -6:30 pm

Place: Room G3

14 October Yukiko Nishimura, SOAS

Revisiting the Study of the Cult ofAvalokitesvara in Japan.

11 November Anna Shegoleva, SOAS

Place for Imagination: Ikai Portrayed in theGhost Stories of Japanese Youth

Day 2:Friday 17 September

Personification of StarsChair Tim Barrett

10am Stars and Planets in Chineseand Central Asian Buddhist Artin the Ninth to FifteenthCenturies

Lilla Russell-Smith(Independent Scholar)

10.45am Coffee break

11.15am Images of Stars and TheirSignificance in JapaneseEsoteric Buddhist Art of theHeian Period

Tsuda Tetsuei (Tokyo BunkazaiKenkyujo)

12.00pm Discussion and Questions

12.30pm Lunch

Star Rituals in ContextChair Brian Bocking

2pm Seven Stars of Heaven and SevenShrines on Earth: HokutoShichisei and the Hie-Sanno Cult

Meri Arichi (SOAS)

2.45pm Nikko Shugendo and Star Rituals

Gaynor Sekimori(Tokyo University)


4pm Tea break

4.30pm Manipulating the Heavens:The Artificial Skies of the EdoPeriod

Timon Screech (SOAS)


Final remarks

Day 1:Thursday 16 September

2pm Introduction

2.30pm Keynote Speech The TokugawaShoguns and Onmyodo

Hayashi Makoto(Aichi Gakuin University)

3.15pm Tea break

Worship of Stars through HistoryChair Lucia Dolce

3.45pm Classical and Early MedievalIse: A Star Cult?

Mark Teeuwen (Oslo University)

4.30pm The Stars of Tokugawa Japan

John Breen (SOAS)


The Worship of Stars in Japanese Religious Practice

When in 2003 the Reverend Shimazu Kôkai, the head ofHagurosan shugenhonshû, decided to allow the wholeprocess of the Akinomine to be filmed, it was Mr KitamuraMinao, a documentary film director and film anthropologist,who made this worthwhile endeavor possible. Although hetook part in the Akinomine in 2002 and realized the valueof it, he never thought of making a film about it because herespected its nature as an ascetic practice. However, whenReverend Shimazu decided that the Akinomine should berecorded on film in order to preserve it correctly, MrKitamura was entrusted with this important task. He andhis team from Visual Folklore recorded the overallAkinomine, whilst acting as participants in the ritual, anddoing their utmost not to disturb it in any way during thefilming.

After the first showing in January 2004 in Tokyo, the filmwas shown in many parts of Japan and earned muchacclaim. A shortened version of it was prepared forbroadcasting on NHK, and it is this adaptation which we willsee at SOAS. This is the first, and might be the only,occasion that this film will be shown outside of Japan.

The film’s running time is approximately 60 minutes. It willbe preceded by a short introduction by Dr Gaynor Sekimoriof Tokyo University, and also a shugen practitioner, andfollowed by a question and answer session with theethnomusicologist Fumi Ouchi (Miyagi Gakuin/SOAS), asenior shugen priest at Hagurosan.


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CSJR Seminars: Film Screening9th December 2004

Khalili Theatre, SOAS, 6pm

Death and Rebirth in the Mountains: The AsceticTraining of Shugenja Practitioners in Japan

Fumi Ouchi

Shugendô is a folk religious tradition unique to Japan. It isbased on an ancient faith in mountains, which later cameunder the influence of Taoism and Buddhism, especially theesoteric Buddhism of the Heian Period. Therefore Shugendôis a combination of different beliefs and, in this sense,typical of the complex and syncretic Japanese religiousculture.

Shugendô practices include a variety of activities, frompraying for various worldly benefits, to the performing arts,and ascetic training in the mountains.

Ascetic training was organized in the medieval period. Itsmost important feature was the ritual of mineiri (enteringmountains), which consisted of retreating to a sacredmountain for a specific period of time, which ranged from afew weeks to a few months, three or four times a year,depending on the group. This ritual is still held on somemountains, like Ômine (Kumano, Yoshino), DewasanzanGassan, Hagurosan, Yudonosan), Hikosan and so on.Recently it has interested not only scholars, but alsocommon people. In fact today, the participants include notonly specialized shugen, that is, people who have receivedofficial training as priests (tokudo) or have practiced for along time, but also people from all sorts of backgroundsand professions who are interested in having a deepreligious experience for their own spiritual well-being.

It is the retreat (Akinomine) held at the beginning of autumnat Hagurosan Kotakuji, the head temple of HagurôShugendô, which is considered to preserve the mostmedieval form of the mineiri. The Akinomine is a symbolicdeath and rebirth ritual, where participants symbolicallybegin as fetuses, and “grow up” during the course of it. Atthe same time, the practitioners are experiencing each ofthe ten realms, which embody the process of attainingBuddhahood (jikkai shugyô), an idea that prevailed inmedieval Japan. These two processes, are conveyed topractitioners by visual and aural symbols, or other physicalactivities, but there is a limit to the extent to which they canbe recorded in written form. Even participants do not knowthe whole contents of the ritual actions, as many take placesimultaneously or during preparations attended only by afew senior members.

Because of the inherent esoteric character and gravityappropriate for a religious ritual, although some parts of theactivity had been recorded by participants, the whole eventhad never been recorded on film. In this sense, Death andRebirth in the Mountains: The Ascetic Training of ShugenjaPractitioners in Japan has a tremendous value as adocumentary, in that it contributes both to religious studiesand the preservation of a valuable heritage.

Introducing NewMembers

Dr Katja Triplett, Holder of the2004-5 CSJR post-doctoralfellowship

I am delighted to have been giventhe wonderful opportunity to doresearch and teaching at SOAS asthe CSJR post-doctoral fellow forthe academic year of 2004-5. Icompleted my PhD at PhilippsUniversity in Marburg, Germany inthe Department of the Study of

Religions in 2002, and worked there as a research specialistin a government funded project on the views of fate and lifemanagement in contemporary Japan. The three-year projectwas supervised by Professor Michael Pye, who was was alsomy doctoral advisor, and will culminate in the publication of abook titled Streben nach Glück. Schicksalsdeutung undLebensgestaltung in japanischen Religionen (Striving forhappiness. Destiny and Life Managment in JapaneseReligions). During the project, I examined concepts of karmaand illness in the Tenrikyô religion. This included fieldwork inJapan, and also followed my special interest in the visualaspect of religion, enabling me to prepare a contribution to abook on the use of manga in life guidance by contemporaryJapanese Buddhists.

In my MA thesis (1996, published as Prinz Goldglanz aufder Reise durch Himmel und Höllen. Zwei japanischeBildrollen des Bishamon no honji aus dem 16. Jahrhundertim Kölner Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, 2001) as wellas in my PhD thesis, Menschenopfer und Selbstopfer in denjapanischen Legenden (Human Sacrifice and Self-sacrifice inJapanese Legends), I examined visual presentations inconnection with religious narratives because I felt thatthese image-text combinations such as in “popular” picturescrolls and books had been considered mostly in either oneof our neighboring fields: Art History and Literature. Sincethey are indeed valuable sources for the study of religiouslife-views and concepts, we can observe that they havefinally become the focus of academic work in our field inrecent years.

Based on the subject of my PhD thesis about the motif ofhuman sacrifice in Japanese legends throughout the agesand the discourse on the historicity of a cult of ritual humansacrifice, I would like to continue studying how legends andmyths are transmitted, the different strategies used in theirtransmission and the roles they play. In my thesis, I studiedthe function of legends that contain motifs of forced orvoluntary ritual human sacrifice, by looking into the legendsmost frequently cited in secondary sources that reflect onthese legends from various angles. As an example Ipresented a version of the Matsura Sayohime legend fromthe 17th century. Matsura Sayohime is a name first foundin poems of the eighth century collection Manyôshû and is,in the legend versions I examined, the story of a youngheroine saved, by the power of the Lotus Sutra, frombecoming a sacrificial offering to a giant serpent, and whoultimately manifests as the deity, Benzaiten. The legend is a

typical story of the former human life of a deity (honjimono,engimono), which often features in foundation histories oftemples or shrines.

The Sayohime legend praises filial piety and the virtues ofBuddhism while telling the origin of two deities of particulartemples: Benzaiten of the sacred island Chikubushima, andKannon of Tsubosaka Temple in Nara. After 1600, the basicset of motifs that make up the plot of the Sayohime legendappears in different genres of literature. Up until the Meijiperiod it was also transmitted orally and the story plot canstill be found in local legends of northeastern Japan today,often connected with a temple of the Medicine Buddha.Whereas this material does not bear any resemblance tothe legendary Matsura Sayohime of the Manyôshû, theManyôshû style legend is still very much alive at severalsacred locations and in and around Karatsu (Saga-ken) as Ifound on a recent field excursion. The legends arepropagated here, quite typically, via shrine or templepamphlets and tourist guides, as well as in the text ofexplanatory signs commonly found in sacred precincts.

During my year as a fellow, I look forward to continuingresearch on the role of foundational myths and legends inthe maintance of Japanese tradition. I am especiallyinterested in the media used in their transmission such asillustrated books or the design of sacred places andpilgrimage routes. I will also be revising sections of my PhDthesis and bringing it to publication, as well as organising aCSJR workshop pertaining to this theme.


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From Past FellowsDr Gaynor Sekimori, Holder of the 2000-1 CSJR Post-doctoral Fellowship

I have been working at the Institute of Oriental Culture atthe University of Tokyo since November 2001, aftercompleting my year’s post-doctoral fellowship with theCentre. My job description is two-fold. On one hand I havebeen overseeing the launch of a new academic journal asManaging Editor. Called the International Journal of AsianStudies, it is published twice a year by Cambridge UniversityPress. The third issue is now in press. Being involved withsuch a project has been very exciting, involving the initialproposal to the publishers, the contract negotiationsbetween the publisher and the university, choosing thedesign – colour, layout, font, etc., advertising the Journalamong potential contributors and subscribers, and, mostimportantly, creating a standard and a “personality” for theJournal in the content selection and design for the first fewissues. The Journal has a broad interest in topics related tothe humanities and the social sciences throughout Asia,and is particularly interested in articles able to provide anhistorical perspective, and which provide cross-regionalcomparisons. We particularly want to encourage localscholars to find a voice and join academic debate throughpublishing their work in English. My time, at leasttheoretically, is equally divided between the Journal and myown research, which remains focused on Shugendô. I havea number of projects in hand, primarily concerning thehistory of Hagurô Shugendô. However involvement inconferences, in publishing ventures and other academicwork has prevented me from getting as much down onpaper as I would like. Being back in Japan has ensuredthough that I at least have been able to attend theAkinomine at Hagurosan each year for the last three years. Ireturned last week from there, having reached something ofa milestone in that I have completed my seventh retreat; allthose who do so receive a yuigesa (surplice with pompomsattached) to mark their continued practice. It was alsointeresting from a personal point of view in that myfourteen-year-old son took part for the first time. Last year the Akinomine was filmed in its entirety. Havingcameras continually running did not make concentrationeasy, but the result has been very impressive. It representsperhaps one of the fullest treatments of any ritual practice.It is very exciting that it will be shown at SOAS in December.I have been working on the translation of the script, whichalso involved translating the sûtras and litany used in thetwice-nightly recitation. It has been very useful since I havebeen able to clarify many points about the practice thatwere obscure, and it also gave me the excuse to travel toHagurosan and spend long periods of time discussingShugendô with the Daisendatsu – something normally verydifficult, given the demands on his time. I have also beenworking on an article to contribute to a book concerningMountain-Entry practices at Hagurosan which will bepublished later this year. Originally I intended simply totranslate an article about the historical development of theAkinomine that I wrote about ten years ago, but inevitablythe exercise turned into a full-scale rewrite, involving new

material. (Now I want to rewrite it in English!) A third“distraction” is my volunteering to edit and translate inparts a book in English about Shugendô by the foremostJapanese historian of Shugendô, Miyake Hitoshi, to bepublished in time for the international conference on thehistory of religions (IAHR) to be held in Tokyo next March. Iwill be appearing on a panel with Miyake and otherShugendô scholars to discuss the role of Shugendô inJapanese culture; I will analyse how the Meiji kami-buddhaseparation policies affected the Shugendô centres ofYoshino, Haugurosan and Hikosan in quite different ways. Ialso plan to present a paper in English about early-MeijiHagurosan. Thanks to my participation in the Starsconference, I have embarked on a whole new line ofresearch, concerning on one hand the resurgence of NikkoShugendô and on the other the practice of star rituals, andthe Sonjobo in particular. Life is very full at the moment,and orientated almost completely on Shugendô. What morecould I ask for?

Dr Gaynor Sekimori will be giving a talk entitled ‘Whose arethe mountains. Shugendô and the policy of separation ofShinto and Buddhism 1868-1875’

January 13, 2005

6.00 pm

Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain

60 Queen’s Gardens, London W2 3AF.

Nearest Tube; Bayswater, Lancaster Gate, Paddington.

Non-Fellows welcome but please contact beforehand [email protected] or 02077244741.


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Dr Sekimori wears a yuigesa (surplice with pompoms) after completing her seventh Akinomineretreat.

POSTGRADUATETullio Lobetti, recipient of the 2004CSJR Research Studentship

The working title of my research isFaith in the Flesh: Body and AsceticPractices in Contemporary JapaneseReligious Context. I am honoured tohave the possibility to develop thisresearch project at SOAS, and tobenefit from the guidance of itsfaculty.

The religious practices that may be labelled as “ascetic” arestill alive in contemporary Japan, in spite of its well-knownimage as a modern westernised and completely secularisedcountry. From the practitioner of various religiousdenominations undertaking strict hardships, to commonerswalking on the half-extinguished fire at local fire rituals(goma), the use of the body as a means of spiritualempowerment still plays an important part in the religiouslife of Japanese people. Moreover, in recent years the mediahas drawn a lot of attention to certain aspects of thispractice. The NHK program of 1980 on the Kaihôgyôpractice of Tendai monks received a great deal of attention,and many books have been written during the same periodby the practitioners themselves, or by people who witnessedthem. Some of them, like Wazaki Nobuya’s Ajari tanjô.Hieizan sennichi kaihôgyô: Aru gyôja no hansei, are nowlisted as bestsellers.

Despite this popular interest, the few scholarly works onJapanese asceticism, like those by Hiramatsu Choku aboutKaihôgyô or the works of Miyake Hitoshi about Shugendôfocus mainly on the practices of a single sect, or mentionasceticism as part of a wider discourse. Probably due to thelack of sources even fewer works are available in westernlanguages.

The objective of my research is to conduct a comprehensiveoverview of the various ascetic practices still alive incontemporary Japan and their ties with the various religiousdenominations, and to explore their interaction with thesocial dimension of religion.

Instead of focusing my research on a single practice orsect, I will try to systematize the various practices in orderto clarify all of the differences and likenesses among them.I think that a comparative approach is necessary in order toshow the doctrinal ties between different schools that liebehind the specific practices. We can see, for instance, howthe body purification made by water ablutions is present,with similar modalities, in Shinto, Buddhism, Shugendô andin a variety of popular practices. By not considering a singlepractice as the exclusive feature of a particular sect, I hopeto circumvent the risk of analysing the various traditions asperfectly discriminated and self-contained.

In order to do a preliminary classification I will reviewexisting sources on a variety of practices, and then conducta focused reading on the various traditions involved. Thesewill be drawn from the pertinent corpora of texts, includingthe major works of the founders and major disciples, andthe relevant sûtras and commentaries. Furthermore,

methods and categories referring to the relationshipbetween spirit and body developed inside the westernphilosophical tradition will provide other useful conceptualtools for a deeper theoretical approach.

Since this is the study of a contemporary phenomenon, thework on written sources will be integrated with fieldworkaimed at penetrating as deeply as possible the reality of theindividuals and religious institutions involved. This willinclude not just interviews, but also an attempt toparticipate in some of the practices.

I hope that the final outcome of this work will be theconstruction of a clearer and more comprehensive definitionof “asceticism” in Japan, which will cast new light on theimportance and role of the body and ascetic practices in thecontext of eastern philosophy, highlighting connections andcommon paths, and clarifying the role and the figure of theascetic practitioner; his limits, his ambivalence betweenintegration and marginality inside the tradition, and hisinteraction with society and institutions.


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Fieldwork ReportsYukiko Nishimura, holder of the 2002-05 CSJR Research Studentship

Worship of Avalokitesvara in Japan

I spent the 2003-2004 academic yearin Japan, where I had the opportunity toengage in research on extant images ofKannon (Skr. Avalokitesvara), and alsoto meet Japanese scholars ininterrelated fields.

Among almost 80 extant images ofKannon from the late Hakuho to theNara period, all exist in Japan. These

extant images, their style, iconography, and especially themodifications in them, reveal the changes of religiouspractices surrounding the images, and the purposes forworshipping the deity.

I made several trips to Nara and Kyoto to examine theimages. I was fortunate to have the kind support andsupervision of Professor Matsuda Seiichiro, of the TokyoNational University of Fine Arts and Music, who specialisesin Buddhist sculptures, especially those from the Naraperiod. I cannot thank him enough for all his kindness, help,and support during my stay in Japan. With ProfessorMatsuda and his research centre staff and students, Ivisited museums in Nara, Kyoto and Tokyo, where I wasallowed to handle the religious icons. I also participated inhis research project on the university’s private collection,which includes Bodhisattva images from the late Hakuhoperiod, and are designated as Important Cultural Property ofJapan. I learned a lot from Professor Matsuda about howJapanese scholars research sculptures, from taking photos,measurements and detailed notes, to making databases,and analysing them. Sometimes the process waspainstaking, but what I learned enabled me to incorporatethe study of images into my research on the worship ofKannon in the Nara period.

Also during my stay in Japan, I had the opportunity to attendconferences on various areas of Japanese studies. It washelpful not only to have had the opportunity to meetJapanese scholars, but also to attend some newlyestablished conferences, and to become a member of theassociations sponsoring them, such as Nihon bukkyô sogogakkai and Nihon rekishi bunka gakkai, which aim to reviewexisting academic trends and to stimulate moreinterdisciplinary exchanges of opinions. I hope toincorporate the knowledge gained into my PhD research,which is an interdisciplinary study of art history, Buddhism,and the history of Japan. I look forward to sharing moreabout my findings when I present them at the SOAS post-graduate forum in the autumn term.

Carla Tronu Montane, holder of the 2003-06 CSJRResearch Studentship

A Sociology of the Christian Mission to Japan

During the first year of my ongoing research on the culturalencounter between Japan and Christianity in the sixteenthand seventeenth centuries, I focused on a chapter of mythesis in which I explore the spatial dimension ofChristianity during those centuries. I presented part of thiswork as “Constructing a Place for Christianity in Pre-ModernJapan: A Study of Kirishitan Sacred Space, Body, ReligiousPractice and Sacred Objects” at the Research StudentColloquium organized by the ARHB Centre of Oriental andAfrican Literatures at SOAS and UCL.

That was one of three presentations I gave during the year,all of which provided me with opportunities to discuss myideas with other research students, as well as with SOASlecturers and visiting scholars.

This summer was spent on a research trip to Europeanarchives, thanks to the travel fellowship given to me by theCSJR. From 20 June to 1 July, I stayed in Rome, where Icarried out research at the historical archive of the Societyof Jesus, called Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu (ARSI). Iconsulted a manuscript I was looking for, the earliestObedientias by Valignano, and I explored the rest of thecollection, Japonica Sinica. I acquired some background onthe literature on Jesuit architecture in Europe and in theAmerican missions, thanks to the advice of Father JoséYoldi, archivist at ARSI, and Father Francisco de BorjaMedina, researcher at IHSI. I also researched at thehistorical archive of the Congregazione perl’Evangelizzazione dei Popoli, known as Propaganda Fide,where I consulted the few volumes about Japan. Since theindexes were not updated, the folio numbers did notcorrespond to those quoted in secondary sources or in theindexes, and no microfilms or digitalisations were availablefor consultation. This made research quite exhausting, but Iwas able to find interesting documents on the petition ofthe establishment of provinces and dioceses in Japan.

While in Rome, I also had the opportunity to visit theHistorical Institute of the Society (IHSI) and its library,thanks to the support of Father Francisco de Borja Medina. Iwas also able to meet Father Jesus Lopez Gay, a Jesuitscholar who has written a lot about the early Japanesemission, and who is, at the moment, Professor Emeritus atthe Pontificia Universita Gregoriana (PUG). His letter of


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support was crucial for my admittance to the PUG library,and his guidance through it made my research moreefficient.

From 4 to 10 July I stayed at the convent of Saint Tomas inAvila, Spain, where the archive of the Dominican missions,called Archivo de la Provincia del Santo Rosario (APSR), iskept. I explored the Japanese collection, which has beenrecently re-filed and reordered, so that again it was almostimpossible to consult the manuscripts following thereferences given in the secondary sources. I appreciatedthe support and kindness of the Dominican community inthe convent of St Tomas, especially from Father DonatoGonzalez Reviriego.

After that, I went to Valladolid, to consult the archive of thePhilippine Augustinians. The Japanese collection is veryreduced, since most of the original letters were sent to theVatican on the occasion of the canonization of theAugustinian martyrs of Japan, and no copies ortranscriptions are available. However, thanks to the help ofthe archivist, Father Carlos Alonso, I managed to consult theJapanese collection and the library, where I could photocopysecondary sources on the Augustinians in Japan

Until now my research has been mainly based on editedJesuit sources, and the few manuscripts kept at the BritishLibrary. Travelling to Rome and Avila was a great opportunityto explore relevant archives for the Catholic missions in pre-modern Japan. While the stay in Rome allowed me toextend the chronological span of my research on the Jesuitmissions, my visits to the Dominican and Augustinianarchives gave me the opportunity to expand the range of myresearch beyond the Jesuits.

My plans for the future are to do research in Japanesearchives. Having been awarded a scholarship from theJapanese Government (Mombukagakusho), from October2004 I will be based at the Osaka University of ForeignStudies for two academic years. During that time I intend toimprove my Japanese language skills, and explore Japaneseprimary and secondary sources.

Research ReportSpatialisation and Ritualisation on November 3rd at MeijiJingu (1920)

Yoshiko Imaizumi

Meiji Jingu was established in Tokyo in 1920, as one of themajor state shrines. It was dedicated to the spirits ofEmperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken, after theirdeaths. After World War II, it wasregistered as a religious corporationin accordance with the ShintoDirective and Religious Corporationlaw. Today, this well known shrine isone of the most popular in Japan,and receives more visitors during thefirst three days of the New Year thanany other shrine in the country. MyPhD research aims to re-examine thehistory of Meiji Jingu, and to providea sound basis for an exploration ofthe relationship between nation,religion and society through the pre-,inter- and post- war periods.

Here I will outline my understanding of theoreticalframeworks, focusing particularly on discussions of theproduction of time and space, and suggest the significanceof performance analysis as part of a time-spaceconstruction. I then examine the inaugural performance ofthe Meiji Jingu rituals, which were held on and aroundNovember 3rd 1920 to celebrate the shrine’sestablishment. My purpose is to clarify the process(es)through which ritual performances became institutionalized,and to explore the dynamic aspects of the operation andacceptance of those performances.

From a theoretical perspective, the following three pointsare instructive. Firstly we need to understand, with scholarssuch as Lefebvre, that space is socially produced. Lefebvreargues that space is not a simple vessel to be filled with itscontents, but rather that it is a socially conceptualizedproduct which ‘overlays physical space, making symbolicuse of it’. The importance of Lefebvre’s argument is that hedraws attention to the difference between conceptualizedspace and physical space. I understand him to be drawing acritical distinction between space on the one hand, andplace on the other. The crucial point is that only by seeingspace and place as distinct, can we grasp the process bywhich space is articulated into places. Secondly, if thesocial production of space is important, it follows that thesocial production of time is also important. Giddens arguesfor a two-stage formation process of modern time-space inwhich pre-modern local time, which previously held sway in agiven locale, is disembedded from its origin, and in whichtime and space are then reordered and recombined bymodern social systems through the standardization of time-space measurement. I follow Harvey in examining how thechanging meaning of space and time can be integrated intoone distinctive time-space.

Thirdly, the purpose of my discussion on Meiji Jingu is todisentangle the dynamics through which one distinctivetime-space is appropriated. My concern is to explore how


9

this time-space was operated, experienced and manipulatedfrom within. Postcolonial thinkers are similarly concernedwith the performance dimension in the analyses of theproduction of nation-space. For example, Bhabha shows howa seemingly horizontal and homogeneous time and space isin reality appropriated by nation-people themselves. Here,De Certeau’s discussion seems to be useful; he re-examines Foucault’s panoptic power production, anddiscusses the question of ‘what popular proceduresmanipulate the mechanisms of discipline and conform tothem only in order to evade them’. The crucial point in DeCerteau’s work is that this manipulation is not merely areactive force employed by ‘consumers’ of the space, but isa spatial practice through which ‘places are reconvertedinto spaces’. This insight opens the way for us to see theever-changing nature of space-place-space dynamics. Myconcern here is to examine how the apparently static spaceof Meiji Jingu was socially produced, and to investigate thedynamics of its production. The meanings of the termsShinto, religion and shrine have been in constant flux alongwith the changing nature of the nation state. The onlyunchanging element is the ‘place’ of the shrine. Myresearch begins with this fact, and examines the ways inwhich events occurring at the place were made, understoodand situated in society.

On and around November 3rd 1920, about 1,500,000people are said to have visited Meiji Jingu for thecelebrations of its establishment. I explore three questionsin my work: firstly, how November 3rd came to bedesignated as Meiji Jingu’s festival day; secondly, how andby whom the celebrations were determined; and thirdly, howthese newly formulated ways of celebration in the newlyconstructed space and time were understood by the peopleof the day. However, due to constraints of space, here I onlyexamine the 2nd and 3rd questions.

In October 1920 the Home Ministry determined the MeijiJingu establishment rituals and Meiji Jingu annual rituals,both ceremonial in nature. Government officials and MeijiJingu shrine priests consequently attended theseceremonies on November 1st and 3rd respectively. Thequestion here is whether on these occasions these rituals,based on the Home Ministry’s regulations, were the onlyperformances constituting the performance dimension ofMeiji Jingu. During these three days ‘ordinary’ people werenot permitted to enter the inner shrine until after 1 p.m.,which suggests that they did not have the opportunity toattend the ceremonies; what was it then that attracted1,500,000 people? To explain this, I shed light on anotherinstitutionalization of events held to commemorate theoccasion. Meiji Jingu’s celebration events were held in andaround its various spatial structures, namely Meiji Jingu’sinner precinct, its outer precinct and Hibiya park, and so thenature of each ritual space and its relationship to the otherspaces were effectively determined through the process ofdistributing various commemorative events among them. Inthis way, the spatial distribution of rituals and thedifferentiation of spaces by rituals mutually worked asmechanisms serving to legitimate each another. Theformation of Meiji Jingu ritual time-space should beunderstood as the process of its legitimatization rather thanas the consequence of legitimacy.

It must however be made clear that it was not only theHome Ministry and the Foundation Bureau for Meiji Jingu(Meiji Jingu zoei-kyoku) that organized and ordered thevarious events; there were also other interested partiesinvolved, such as Tokyo Metropolitan District, Tokyo city andthe Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Tokyoshôgyô kaigi-sho). Joint meetings of such interested groupsin Tokyo as well as the Home Ministry formed a significantpart of Meiji Jingu festivals. Chugai Shôgyô Shinbunnewspaper (1st August 1920) noted how many eventproposals had already been submitted to the FoundationBureau in early 1920 in order to demonstrate their ownperformances, reporting the Bureau’s comment as follows:‘The Foundation Bureau does not have any criteria for theseevents, and whether each event is relevant to the innerprecinct is still under consideration.’ The original reason forhaving the joint meeting was indeed to ‘resolve theappearance of a disordered situation’ and to establish thecriteria for ‘relevance’.

How, then, did these joint meetings ultimately solve thedisorder in the various proposals for the events? Myexamination suggests that these events were reorderedthrough spatial distribution. Meiji Jingu celebratoryperformances were geographically hierarchised; in so doingdifferent places were combined together as spaces for MeijiJingu celebratory performances. There were not a fewdisagreements among the meeting members regarding the‘relevance’ of this or that event, and that the subsequentspatial distribution was the result of their negotiationprocess. Thus, in the inner precinct the Home Ministryhosted ceremonial rituals based on their own regulations, inthe outer precinct (and the grass area of the inner precinct)the Tokyo Metropolitan District, Tokyo city and the TokyoChamber of Commerce and Industry jointly hosted‘traditional’ performances such as yabusame and kyudoJapanese archery, and in Hibiya Park Tokyo city hostedfestive entertainments such as kigeki comedies and akatsudo shashin film presentation. The farther the placewas set apart from the core shrine building, or the closerthe nature of the place approximated that of the park, themore the Meiji Jingu celebration performances seemed tomove from the ‘formal’ to the ‘festive’.


10

Horse racing held in the outer precinct on November 2nd and 3rd 1920.

(Kyôiku gaho Tokyo:Dô bunkan 1920 p.64)

These seemingly well-ordered time-space performances wereunderstood and appropriated by ordinary people in their owncontexts. There are several reasons for supposing that thesituation during the Meiji Jingu festival days would havebeen somewhat more complex than is indicated by theofficial story such as in the records of the Home Ministry.One is the sheer scale of the event. For example, it wasreported that there were over 130 injuries, including onedeath, amongst the crowds who visited the inner precinct onNovember 1st; on one day alone over 4,000 pairs of getaand waraji sandals were taken to the police station as lostarticles. So what were the peoples’ experiences like?

First of all, entertainment activities such as sideshows,acrobatic performances and stalls were very popular duringthe Meiji Jingu festival days, and that the main locations forthese events were neither the inner precinct nor the outerprecinct but the shrine approaches and alleys surroundingthe shrine. In particular, according to the Tokyo AsahiShinbun newspaper, the area from outside the third gate ofthe inner shrine along with the third shrine approach downto the Yoyogi drill ground seem to have been very congestedwith tents and stalls as well as with people. The TokyoAsahi Shinbun reports that the Tokyo people wereintoxicated by the festivities, suggesting that the eventswhich attracted most people were entertainments such asthe Yoyogi circus troop and puppet shows.

In addition to the lively atmosphere in the streets, it is alsoworth noting that the most popular Meiji events were held inthe evening (sometimes at midnight). As mentioned above,the Home Ministry restricted the visiting hours of ordinarypeople to the inner precinct. Similar temporal segmentationwas made in the case of the Hibiya Park festival. However, intheir use of the word ‘fuyajô’ or the city that never sleeps,newspaper reports indicate that it was the brilliantlyilluminated entertainments, which attracted most people. Anawareness of these street and night performances isimportant in appreciating how the spatial and temporalregulation decreed by the above-mentioned groups and theHome Ministry were experienced by ordinary people. On theone hand, it is possible to say that the spatiotemporalinstitutionalization was imposed on the people from above,and that popular entertainment was relegated in thehierarchy. On the other hand, the streets and nights were notviewed by the people concerned as being something inferior;to use the terms of our analysis, they didn’t feel that theirspace-time was degraded. I want to argue that the distributedspace-time hierarchy was reordered in the peoples’ ownfestive experience, and that it was appropriated as adifferently accentuated commemoration of Meiji Jingu. Takefor example the parading of the mikoshi; even after the HomeMinistry’s order forbidding mikoshi to enter the inner precinct,wards and towns continued to compete in building newmikoshi and did indeed organise mikoshi parades during theMeiji Jingu festival period. Interestingly, these peoplereinterpreted November 3rd by holding special enshrinementfestivals of their own local shrines at the same time, despitethe fact that November 3rd bore no relation to the times andplaces of their shrines’ original establishment. I would arguethat the time-space of the Meiji Jingu festival was exploited bythem as an expansion of their own mode of festival time-space and the celebration of their own locales.

A broader range of practices were undertaken in Meiji Jinguon and around November 3rd 1920, irrespective of whetheror not they were termed ‘religious’, ‘Shinto’, or ‘shrine’rituals. These spatial practices worked to construct thetime-space of Meiji Jingu.

(This paper was originally given in the research studentforum co-hosted by Japan Research Centre (SOAS) andJapanese Cultural Studies Programme (Birkbeck) on the 20of May 2004.)

Yoshiko Imaizumi is a PhD candidate at SOAS, Departmentof Japan and Korea. Her research project is on The MeijiJingu.

PhD Research at SOASon Japanese ReligionsNoriko Furukawa, Arts and new religions in Japan: The FujiMuseum (Dr Dolce, Study of Religions)

Chi Ho Ivan Hon, Japanese and Chinese intellectuals viewson state and religion in mid 19th- early 20th (Prof. Bocking,Study of Religions)

Satomi Horiuchi, Contemporary Japanese Christianity:Ancestors, rites and graves (Dr Dolce, Study of Religions)

Yoshiko Imaizumi, The Meiji jingu (Dr Breen, East Asia)

Tullio Lobetti, Faith in the flesh: body and ascetic practicesin contemporary Japanese religious context (Dr Dolce, Studyof Religions)

Yukiko Nishimura, Worship of Avalokitesvara in Japan (DrDolce, Study of Religions)

Fumi Ouchi, The vocal arts in medieval Japan and Tendaihongaku thought (Dr Dolce, Study of Religions)

Anna Schegoleva, Ghosts in Japan: re-constructing horror inmodernity (Prof. Bocking, Study of Religions)

Philip Swift, Ghosts and spirit possession in Japan’s newreligions (Dr Martinez, Anthropology)

Carla Tronu Montane, A sociology of the Christian mission toJapan (Dr Breen, Dept. of Japan and Korea)


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Nakamura Hajime PrizeAwarded to Dr LuciaDolceBy Meri Arichi

(Photograph by Yukiko Nishimura)

The cherry blossoms came early this year in Tokyo, and theflowers were at their prime in the garden of the InternationalHouse in Roppongi on March 27th when a presentationceremony for the Nakamura Hajime Prize was held. Dr LuciaDolce, the chair of the CSJR, was this year’s recipient of theprize, which is named after the well known scholar ofBuddhism and Asian Culture, Nakamura Hajime. Thisprestigious prize is awarded annually to young scholars whohave made an outstanding contribution to the study ofJapanese religion and culture. Dr Dolce is the first westernscholar to receive this prize.

Professor Nakamura, who taught at Tokyo University formany years, wrote extensively on Indian philosophy,Buddhist thought, and comparative cultural studies. Hisunorthodox approach, based upon a broad perspective, hasbeen highly regarded in the West as well as in Japan; it wasmost appropriate that Dr Dolce should receive this awardbecause her research methodology reflected that ofNakamura’s.

In his introductory speech Professor Sueki Fumihiko ofTokyo University described Dr Dolce’s study on “EsotericPatterns in Nichiren’s Interpretation of the Lotus Sutra” as aground-breaking work which completely overthrows thecommon knowledge held in Japan on the relation betweenNichiren and esoteric Buddhism. Nichiren has traditionallybeen regarded as a stern critic of esoteric Buddhism, but DrDolce’s original research and methodology, backed by solidphilological and doctrinal studies, revealed aspects ofNichiren which had not been focused upon previously. Mostimportantly she argued that the influence of esotericdoctrine remained at the core of Nichiren’s philosophythroughout his life and provided evidence through hermeticulous examination of an array of documents. ProfessorSueki particularly admired the way Dr Dolce analyzed“Nichiren’s mandara”, and the way she explored theesoteric rituals and textual sources for this image. Hestressed the importance of further research on theprofound influence esoteric Buddhism exerted upon, notonly Nichiren, but Buddhism as a whole in medieval Japan,and hoped that this prize would encourage furtherdiscussion and studies, based on the questions she raised.

Dr Dolce responded by thanking the Japanese scholars whohelped and encouraged her research during her stay inJapan, in particular the Nichiren kyogaku kenkyujo at RisshôUniversity, Tokyo University and Waseda University. Sheremembered the influence that Nakamura’s Ways ofThinking of Eastern Peoples exerted upon her when she wasa young student in Italy, and added that she sincerely hopedthat this occasion would offer the opportunity to increasethe dialogue between Europe and Japan in the field ofBuddhist studies and, more broadly, of religious studies ingeneral.

(SOAS Reunion on the occasion of the Nakamura HajimePrize. Left to right: Yukiko Nishimura, Meri Arichi, LuciaDolce, Fumi Ouchi, Gaynor Sekimori)

Members’ PublicationsMeri Arichi:

‘Kukai and Mount Koya: Treasures of a Sacred Mountain’ ExhibitionReview, Orientations, September 2004.

Brian Bocking:

‘The Meanings of Shinto,’ in C. Kleine, M. Schrimpf and K. Triplett, eds,Unterwegs: Neue Pfade in der Religionswissenschaft. Festschrift fürMichael Pye zum 65. Geburtstag (New Paths in the Study of Religions:Festschrift in honour of Michael Pye on his 65th Birthday), Munich:Biblion Verlag, 2004. pp. 269-288.

‘Study of Religions: the New Queen of the Sciences?’ in Steven Sutcliffeed., Religion: Empirical Studies, Ashgate Press, 2004.

John Breen:

‘BH Chamberlain’; ‘JWT Mason’; ‘Shinto to Kirisutokyo’ in Sonoda Minoruand Hashimoto Masanobu eds., Shintoshi daijiten, Yoshikawa kobunkan,2004.

‘Tenno no gaiko girei to kokusai ninshiki’ in Kokaze Hidemasa ed., Kindai

Nihon to kokusai shakai, Hoso Daigaku Kyoiku shinkokai, 2004.

‘Death issues in 21st century Japan’ in J. Breen. ed., Death in Japan(special issue of Mortality 9/1), 2004.

‘The dead and the living in the land of peace: a sociology of theYasukuni shrine’ in J. Breen ed., Death in Japan

Dolce Lucia:

‘Nichiren (1222-1282) Leader of Japanese Buddhism’, Encyclopedia ofLeadership, Geothals and Sorenson (gen eds.), vols 4, SagePublications, 2004.

‘Nel nome del ‘vero’ dharma: ortodossia, strategie di legittimazione econflitti religiosi nel buddismo giapponese’, in Verso l’altro. Le religionidal conflitto al dialogo, Massimo Raveri, ed., Marsilio, 2003, pp. 241-62.


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Members’ ResearchRelated ActivitiesFebruary

Lucia Dolce spoke on “Gyoki-zu and other ‘esoterica’:mapping Japan in the medieval period,” InternationalColloquy The Cortazzi Map Digitalization Project, SainsburyInstitute, Norwich. (February 20)

Meri Arichi spoke on “Hie-Sannô Mandara: The Iconographyof Kami” at the CSJR Seminar series (26 February).

March

John Breen gave a talk on ‘Yasukuni: behind thechrysanthemum curtain’, at the Foreign CorrespondentsPress Club, Tokyo (15 March)

Lucia Dolce delivered the paper “Reconsidering MedievalBuddhism Again: Reflections on Ritual and the Study of‘Japanese Religion’” at the Panel The Consequences ofConstituting ‘Japanese Religion’ as an Object of Concern,AAS, San Diego. (March 4-7)

Carla Tronu Montane presented on “Constructing a Placefor Christianity in Pre-Modern Japan: A Study of KirishitanSacred Space, Body, Religious Practice and SacredObjects”, at the Research Student Colloquium organized bythe ARHB Centre of Oriental and African Literatures at SOASand UCL, on the occasion of the visit of Prof. Carol Gluck,Columbia University (14 March)

Lucia Dolce went to Tokyo to receive the Nakamura HajimeAward for her study on ‘Esoteric Patterns in Nichiren’sInterpretation of the Lotus Sutra’. (27 March) See report.

April

Lucia Dolce and Meri Arichi conducted fieldwork in Japan,including the Suwa and Sanno matsuri. (March 28-April 15)See report

Lucia Dolce gave a guest lecture on ‘Tantric Buddhism inMedieval Japan’ at the Centre for Buddhist Studies, IstitutoUniversitario Orientale,Napoli. (21 April)

May

Carla Tronu Montane gave a presentation on ‘Christianity inEarly Modern Japan’, at the CSJR Forum (SOAS). (6 May)

Lucia Dolce presented the paper “Reconsidering theTaxonomy of the ‘Esoteric’: Taimitsu Hermeneutical andRitual Practices,” at the symposium The Culture of Secrecyin Japanese Religion, Austrian Academy of Sciences,Vienna. (May 18–21) See report

Carla Tronu Montane spoke about “The Role of Space inthe Cultural Encounter between Christianity and Japan in theSixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries”, at the PhD Forum onJapanese Humanities organized by the Japan ResearchCentre of SOAS and Birkbeck College (21 May)

June

Lucia Dolce made a presentation on “Continuing shinbutsurituals at Hiyoshi shrine” at the workshop on Shinto held on

the occasion of the donation of the Shinto taikei at theUniversity of Venezia Ca’ Foscari. (June 7) See report

Carla Tronu Montane conducted research at the HistoricalArchive of the Society of Jesus (ARSI), Rome, Italy, and theArchive of the Congregatio Propaganda Fide. She alsovisited the library of the Pontificia Università Gregoriana(PUG), and the Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus(IHSI). (20 to 30 June)

July

Lucia Dolce attended the conference ‘BuddhistMonasticism in East Asia,’ St John’s College, Cambridge.(2 July 2004)

Carla Tronu Montane conducted research in Avila, Spain, atthe Japanese section of the Dominican Archive of theProvince of the Holy Rosary (APSR), Also in Valladolid,Spain, at the Japanese section of the archive of theAugustinians in Valladolid. (4-10 July)

Meri Arichi attended the International Buddhist ArtConference at Lanzhou, University, China. (2 July).

Meri Arichi attended the International Dunhuang Seminar atDunhuang, China.(5-16 July 2004)

August

John Breen spoke about ‘Juyondai shogun Iemochi nojoraku to Komei seiken ron’, at Ochanomizu joshi daigaku,Tokyo. (August 2)

Lucia Dolce gave a paper on “The ‘Esoteric Lotus Sutra:’exploring the mandalic icons of the Lotus and theconstruction of alternative interpretations of mikkyô” at the6th International conference on the Lotus Sutra, The LotusSutra in Asian Culture, University of Toronto. (5-7 August2004)


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Information onJapanese ReligionsReport on the symposium: Culture of Secrecy in JapaneseReligions, Vienna, 18-21 May, 2004.

Anna Andreeva

In May the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Institutefor the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia co-hosted asymposium on the Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religions.The discussions, which began at the EAJS Conference inWarsaw in 2003, were continued in Vienna and became aproductive intellectual exchange. Dr Bernard Scheid and DrCynthia Peck-Kubascek are owed many thanks for their workin organizing the symposium to such a high and efficientstandard Professor Ernst Steinkellner, the Director of theInstitute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia,opened the event.

The first and third days of the Vienna symposium werededicated to Ancient and Medieval Japan. Professor MarkTeeuwen of the University of Oslo presented a paper whichaddressed the discourse of Medieval Shinto and the art ofExperimental Esotericism. The invention of new secretobjects and ritual practices, and their interpretation, were afocal point of his presentation. Dr Lucia Dolce of SOAS,University of London, investigated the Taxonomy of the“Esoteric” Taimitsu Hermeneutical and Ritual Practices. Shediscussed the meaning of mikkyô in the Heian and medievalperiods and the construction of the esoteric in the Taimitsutradition, such as Tendai secret teachings and the hokkehôritual. Professor Bernard Faure of Stanford Universitydescribed the concept of secrecy in the cult of Vinâyaka(Shôten) - originally a demonic deity of India, invoked inblack magic rites - and its transformation into the ‘hiddendeity’ in medieval Japan. The presentation by Dr NobumiIyanaga of Tokyo brought about a fruitful discussion on theunderstudied Tachikawa-ryû and other apocryphal medievaltraditions of Japan.

‘Esotericism Outside Japan’ was the theme of the secondday of the symposium. Dr Albert de Jong of LeidenUniversity presented his view on secrecy in antiquity. Thesocial manifestations of secrets and secrecy as well assecret knowledge, rituals and identities were the focalpoints of his discussion. The discourse of IndianEsotericism, based on esoteric scriptural texts andcommentarial literature from the 8th and 9th centuries, wasreviewed by Professor Ronald Davidson of Farfield University.Dr Martin Lenhert of the University of Zurich pointed outhow the lack of conceptual and grammatical equivalencebetween Sanskrit and Chinese gave rise to the Tantricrhetoric of secrecy in Tang China.

The third day of the symposium was again dedicated toEsotericism in Ancient and Medieval Japan. Dr AtsushiKadoya of Waseda University discussed the three imperialregalia and ten sacred treasures in medieval Shintodiscourse in Japan, as well as the ritualism centered onthese objects, and their interpretations by Buddhist monks.The paper presented by Dr Fabio Rambelli of SapporoUniversity questioned the actual status of secrecy in thesecret transmissions (hiden) and consecrations (kanjô) andoutlined the main features of the epistemic field of esotericBuddhism in which these practices originated. Dr SusanKlein, of the University of California at Irvine, examined theincorporation of esoteric Buddhist initiation rituals into thewriting of Noh plays in the Muromachi period. Dr BernhardScheid, of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, analysednotions of secrecy and the pivotal role of the deityÔkuninushi in interpretations of the kuni yuzuri episode inthe Nihon Shoki by Yoshida Kanetomo and Ichijô Kaneyoshi.

The last day of the symposium was dedicated to the cultureof secrecy in Early Modern Japan. Secrecy and the nature ofpolitical authority of the shogunate in Tokugawa Japan wereaddressed in a paper presented by Professor Anne Walthallof the University of California at Irvine. Professor WilliamBodiford, of the University of California in Los Angeles,discussed the radical alteration of the Buddhist milieuintroduced by the monks Reikû Koken and Menzan Zuihô,and the resulting intellectual construction of ‘secrecy’ asinherently antinomian and subversive. Professor KateWildman Nakai of Sophia University, Tokyo, discussed theconcepts of ‘esoteric’ and ‘public’ in Late Mito thought,particularly in the works of the Tokugawa Confucian scholarsHayashi Razan and Yamazaki Ansai, and their efforts to linkConfucianism and Shinto.

The concluding discussion of the symposium raised manyquestions concerning the study of Japanese Religions aswell as problems of interdisciplinary and cross-culturalresearch. It allowed all of the participants to express theirconcerns and to offer helpful suggestions as to the furtherdevelopment of the field. Many hopes were expressed tothe effect that the fruitful intellectual exchange that tookplace in Vienna might become an established tradition infuture years.

Anna Andreeva is a PhD candidate at the University ofCambridge. Her research is concentrated on the activities ofthe Ritsu lineage in the Kamakura and Kenmu periods, andone of the examples of medieval kami worship, MiwaShinto.


14

A Shinto Workshop inVeniceErica Baffelli

(Professor Umeda presents to

the Rector volumes 1 and 121

of the Shinto Taikei. Photo by

Erica Baffelli)

On 7 June 2004 a workshop on Shinto took place at theDepartment of East-Asian studies of Ca’ Foscari Universityof Venice, lodged in a beautiful 16th century building namedPalazzo Vendramin dei Carmini. The occasion was thepresentation of the 121 volume set, Shinto Taikei, donatedto the library of the Department of East Asian Studies bythe International Shinto Foundation.

In the morning, the Director of the East-Asian StudiesDepartment, and the Rector of the university welcomedProfessor Umeda Yoshimi, Director General of ISF. ProfessorUmeda presented the Rector with volumes 1 and 121, “thealpha and the omega of Shinto Taikei” to symbolize thedonation. He said that these precious works would be asymbol of mutual understanding between religions andcultures in the spirit of ISF. Furthermore he thanked DrLucia Dolce, Chair of the SOAS Centre for the Study ofJapanese Religion (SOAS) for bringing the University ofVenice (her Alma Mater) in contact with ISF.

(Ven. Umeda Setsuko blesses the

Shinto takei. Photo by Lucia Dolce)

Afterwards all the participants proceeded to one of thelibrary rooms where the Shinto taikei is placed. Here Ven.Umeda Setsuko, an ordained Shinto priestess, performed apurification rite in front of a small kamidana prepared forthe ritual. About 100 people, including students andprofessors of the Department of East-Asian Studies,attended the ceremony and recited the Amatsu norito:“overflowing with reverent devotion […] we also pray thatthis Athenaeum prosper in the times ahead as an eminentcentre in which the myriad books constitute the aliment ofstudy where new knowledge may be cultivated. May Yourprotection, grace and benediction ever descend upon it”.


15

(Reading the Norito. Photo by

Erica Baffelli)

In the afternoon the workshop on “Shinto, the ReligiousExperience of Japan” took place. Four speakers addressedseveral aspects related to Shinto, including its history andits relationship with Japanese politics and society(Professor Umeda Yoshimi), the training to become kannushiand the role of women in Shinto tradition (Ven. UmedaSetsuko), the exchange between Buddhist and Shintotradition during the matsuri (Dr Lucia Dolce), the particularfeatures of some matsuri (Dr Simone Dalla Chiesa) and thehermeneutics of ritual language in Shinto (ProfessorMassimo Raveri, University of Milan).

(Speakers at the workshop, from

left to right: Simone Dalla

Chiesa, Lucia Dolce, Massimo

Raveri, Umeda Yoshimi, Umeda

Setsuko, Adriana Boscaro. Photo

by Erica Baffelli)

There was a large response from the audience, and severalquestions were asked, such as the etymology of the word“Shinto”, the relationship between Shinto and so-called newJapanese religions, the possibility or not for non-Japanesepeople to become kannushi, and the diffusion in Japan ofShinto rites performed in Buddhist temples, or vice versa.

The conference received very positive feedback from theparticipants and the discussions continued even after themeeting broke up.

Erica Baffelli is a PhD candidate in Japanese Religions atthe University of Venice- Ca’ Foscari.

Japanese Religionsand Popular CultureJapan’s Enduring Religious Festivals

Meri Arichi

In Japan, the communal spirit of its people continuallynurtures religious tradition. This is especially evident in thecelebration of religious festivals (matsuri), which take placethroughout the year, all over the country. During ourresearch trip in April, Lucia Dolce and I were fortunate to beable to witness three very special festivals, the Onbashiramatsuri at the Suwa Shrine in Nagano prefecture, theYasurai matsuri at the Imamiya Shrine in Kyoto, and theSanno matsuri at the Hie Shrine in Shiga prefecture.

Onbashira matsuri

The famous festival of Onbashira in Suwa, NaganoPrefecture, is held only once every seven years – a chancenot to be missed by anyone interested in Japanesereligions! The festival is famous for its spectacular, but alsodifficult and dangerous aspects, and it attracts thousandsof tourists from all over Japan. We traveled to see the partof the festival when huge trees trunks are brought downfrom the mountain to the town.

Onbashira are sacred pillars that stand at the four cornersof the Suwa Shrine-complex, marking the sacred area. There

are four separate shrines at Suwa, and during theOnbashira festival, which lasts from April to May, a series ofrituals is held to symbolically renew the life of kami byreplacing the sacred pillars with new ones. There aresixteen pillars in all, each over 17 metres long, which aretransported from nearby mountains and erected by the localujiko (parishioners).

The history of the Suwa Shrine is believed to go back atleast 1,500 years. The enshrined deities, Takeminakata nokami and his consort, Yasakatome no kami, are worshippedas the gods of rain and wind, and also as the protectors ofwater and harvest.

The ancient origin of the Onbashira matsuri could be clearlyobserved by the primitive method with which the massivepillars, each weighing over 10 tonnes, were transported in aceremony called Yamadashi. Two horn-like poles (medo)were attached to both ends of the pillar, with several youngmen perched upon them, apparently to prevent the pillarrolling sideways and also to balance it. Two extremely longropes were attached to the pillars and then pulled byliterally hundreds of men, women and children for milesalong the narrow road, to an accompaniment of noisy musicand singing. Negotiating a sharp bend of the narrow roadrequired a particularly skilful manoeuvre, but everyoneinvolved seems to enjoy this time-consuming, and labour-intensive procedure.

The pillar being dragged

along the road with local

youths clinging on to the

two medo (horn-like

poles). Photo by Meri

Arichi)

The climax of the matsuri was the Kiotoshi ceremony on thenext day in which the pillars were dragged up to the top of ahill, and then “dropped” down the slope at a great speed,with many men courageously clinging on to the medo. Thethrill of the dangerous plunge seemed an important elementof this part of the Onbashira matsuri which seemed morefocused on the entertainment aspect and the benefit of thelocal tourism than the religious significance of the renewalof the pillar. The final stage of the Onbashira matsuri was tobe held in May when all the pillars will be erected in theshrine complex.

Whilst in Suwa, a rare opportunity to learn about Suwa’spre-Meiji religious practices was provided by Mr. Kitamura, aproducer of documentary films on religion. He was kindenough to take us on a tour of the ancient sacred places inSuwa, and to introduce us to Mrs Moriya, the present headof this priestly family, whose ancestors acted as hereditaryshaman-like priests, guarding the belief in indigenous kami,called mishaguchi. The family controlled the Suwa area longbefore the deity Takeminakata no kami, who is consideredto be a son of Ôkuninushi no mikoto, was solicited fromIzumo by a rivalling family. This, no doubt, was a politicallymotivated move to bring the area under the control of

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1616

THE SAINSBURY INSTITUTEPRESENTS

THE TOSHIBA LECTURESIN JAPANESE ARTJOHN M ROSENFIELDPROFESSOR EMERITUS, HARVARD UNIVERSITYTHE RENAISSANCE OF JAPANESE BUDDHIST ARTAND THE GREAT DEEDS OF MONK CHOGENFriday, 12 November 2004 at 6.15pm

Rebuilding the Great Buddha of TodaijiMonday, 15 November 2004 at 6.15pm

Portraits of ChogenVENUE: BP Lecture Theatre, Clore Education CentreThe British Museum, LondonThursday, 18 November 2004 at 6.15pm

Salvation in the Pure Land of the West

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imperial authority. It is, however, remarkable that the Moriyafamily remained as one of the jinchokan (head priest) andthe primordial belief in mishaguchi survive in this area tothis day. Remains of the 3 - 4th century kofun burial moundnear the Moriya residence are further evidence of theancient family’s history involving religious activities in thearea. A display of historical documents and artefacts in thesmall museum, Moriya shiryôkan, also provided valuableinsight into this important, yet little known belief.

(Mishaguchi on the grounds

of the Moriya family

residence.

Photo by Lucia Dolce.)

Yasurai matsuri

The following week, we arrived in Kyoto on the 11th April,the day of Yasurai matsuri at the Imamiya Shrine. This isone of the oldest festivals in Kyoto, originating from theHeian period when ritual dances were performed in order torepel the epidemics that spread in the capital, often inspring. It was a very popular event, and traditionally, theinhabitants of the capital dressed up in their best attire,and visited the shrine to pray for good health. In fact, itbecame so popular and extravagant that Emperor Konoehad to ban the festival in 1154; but it was revived in 1210,and survives to this day.

The highlight of the matsuri was a procession of big redumbrellas carried by local ujiko, dressed in traditionalcostume, and accompanied by musicians and dancers. Themost stunning and spectacular among them were youngmen dressed as oni (demons) in red robes and bright redand black wigs. They danced energetically in front of theshrine, leaping and stamping their feet, symbolically quellingdiseases. A special umbrella was set up in the prayer hall,and decorated with paper flowers to attract ekishin (the evilspirits of epidemics). Visitors were encouraged to buy ahitogata (paper doll), write their name on it, and walk with itunder the umbrella. The dolls, meant to catch diseasesinstead of the petitioners, were then dedicated at a specialalter in the prayer hall, and burnt afterwards in a ceremony,thus guaranteeing one’s health for the rest of the year.

Hitogata (paper dolls) are meant to

catch diseases instead of

petitioners.

Sanno matsuri

One of the most important purposes of our research trip toJapan was to visit the Hie Shrine during the time of Sannomatsuri which is held on the 12th to 14th April every year.The Hie Shrine, situated on the south-west side of LakeBiwa at the foot of Mount Hiei, enshrines a group of kamiwho are collectively called Sanno, which literally means theMountain King. The origin of the Hie Shrine goes back atleast to the Kofun period (3rd – 6th centuries AD), longbefore the introduction of Buddhism to Japan.Archaeological evidence suggests that primitive religiousactivities were conducted by the rock near the summit ofMount Hachioji, the sacred mountain in the shrine complex.

When Saicho established the Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei in theearly Heian period, he regarded the Sanno deities asprotectors of his temple, thereby initiating a longassociation of the Hie Shrine with Tendai Buddhism. TheEnryaku-ji flourished under imperial patronage, and at theheight of its prosperity the Hie Shrine encompassed twenty-one major shrines, organized into three main groups ofUpper Seven, Middle Seven, and Lower Seven, as well asnumerous subsidiary shrines. The enshrined kami wereidentified with Buddhas and bodhisattvas in accordancewith the theory of honji-suijaku (Origin and Trace). Mt Hieiultimately developed into one of the largest temple-shrinecomplexes in medieval Japan.

Some aspects of this ancient belief are still evident in thepresent day Sanno matsuri, as in the ceremonial descent oftwo mikoshi (sacred palanquins) from Mount Hachioji on the12th April. Traditionally, to mark seasonal changes,agricultural kami are brought down from their mountain-residence to the village where they were welcomed andentertained. The two mikoshi carrying the aramitama (roughspirit) of the male kami, Oyamakui no kami, and the femalekami, Kamo-tamayori hime, are joined by two more mikoshicarrying the nigimitama (pacified spirit) of the same couplein the yoimiya (Evening resting place). In the morning, tomark the marriage of the kami, priests performed a ritualdedication of bowls of tea. The union of the couple waslater celebrated in a more boisterous manner in the ritual,Yoimiya-otoshi, when all four mikoshi were shaken andswung back and forth in turn by the local youths dressedonly in loin cloths. The ritual is thought to symbolize thebirth of wakamiya, the couple’s offspring. The evening endedwith a rampageous race of four mikoshi to the Nishi-hongu(the Western Main Shrine), where they remained, ready forthe next day’s ceremony.


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Participants in the Yoimiya-otoshi ritual. Photo by Lucia Dolce.

In sharp contrast to the rough and noisy celebration of thenight before, the morning Nishi-hongu ceremony was asolemn and serious affair. The seven mikoshi of the sevenprincipal kami were placed in the player hall in front of theshrine, and a ritual was performed by priests, in traditionalcostume, with an invocation of Shinto norito (prayers) by thehead priest. It was followed by the dedication of heihaku(paper offerings in the five Buddhist colors) by the agedZasu, the head Abbot of Tendai Buddhism in Japan. Themonks of Enryaku-ji chant The Heart Sutra in front of theshrine. The ritual ends with the dedication of branches of asacred tree to the kami by local dignitaries. Theparticipation of Shinto priests, Buddhist monks, and thelocal people in this ritual reflected the typical medievalreligious phenomenon of Japan, shinbutsu-shugo (kami-buddha combination), and it was particularly interesting tosee that the tradition is still maintained today.

(The participation of Shinto priests and

Buddhist monks reflects the Japanese

religious phenomenon of shinbutsu-

shugo (kami-buddha combination).

Photo by Lucia Dolce)

(Dedication of the

heihaku (paper

offerings in the five

Buddhist colors.

Photo by Lucia

Dolce)

After the ceremony, seven mikoshi were transported by localyouths down to Karasaki on the shore of Lake Biwa, andthen were taken on a barge to the middle of the lake wherea ritual dedication of offerings to the kami took place. Thisceremony retraces the legendary journey of Onamuchi nokami, who was solicited to Hie during the reign of EmperorTenji (r. 662-673). According to the Muromachi period text,Gonjinsho, the kami travelled from Mount Miwa by boat, andwas entertained by the local fisherman with a meal of milletoff the shore of Karasaki. The colourful Sanno matsuri onthe lake was a popular subject for festival screens,especially in the Edo period, and many surviving examplesof six-fold screens convey the history of the thrivingcommunity that supported the Hie-Sanno cult in pre-moderntimes. The passage of time has made it necessary to bringin a few changes, and in the present day, the mikoshi are

placed on the barge pulled by a tag boat with engines,instead of by rowboats. Nevertheless, the importanttradition of the ritual on the water is kept alive.

(A mikoshi is transported by local

youths. Photo by Meri Arichi)

It is often feared that today’s youths are disinterested in oldcustoms, and that local traditions are fast disappearing inJapan. The problem was evident in the case of Sannomatsuri in which two out of the seven mikoshi had to betransported by vans instead of being carried on theshoulders of local youths. However, those who took part inall three festivals seemed very happy to participate, and itis my hope that the spirit of community continues to nurturecenturies-old religious traditions.

Meri Aricihi is the holder of the 2003-04 CSJR Post-doctoralFellowhip. Her area of specialization is Japanese ArtHistory with a particular focus on medieval religiouspaintings that are related to the phenomenon of Shinbutsu-shugo (Kami-Buddha combination).


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The SOAS MA Programme in Japanese Religion is the firstEuropean taught graduate programme devoted to the study ofJapanese religions. The degree provides an overview ofJapanese religion, both past and present, and supplies thetools of analysis for further research in the field. The degreecomprises four components: three taught courses and adissertation and may be completed in one calendar year (fulltime), or in two or three calendar years (part-time).

The programme centres around the course Religious Practicein Japan: Texts, Rituals and Believers, which presentsreligious phenomena in Japan in their historical context anddevotes attention to specific themes relevant for theunderstanding of the social aspects of Japanese religion andthe influence of religion upon Japanese culture.

Students have the opportunity to select other courses,depending on their specific interests and previous knowledge,in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of thecharacteristics of Japanese religion. Options include the study of Asian context,contemporary developments outside Japan, and methodologies for the analysis of religiousphenomena.

Please note that two new courses directly related to Japanese religions have been recentlycreated for the programme: East Asia Buddhist Thought is a thematic course which everyyear explores one major form of Japanese Buddhism, studying its specific doctrinal tenets,textual corpus and characteristic forms of worship, and the influence that it exerted on theculture of Japan; Directed Readings in Japanese Religions is a guided independent researchproject which enables students to conduct an in-depth study of one specific topic inJapanese religions.

A previous knowledge of the Japanese language is not required for entry in the programme.However, students with a sufficient knowledge of Japanese and an interest in approachingprimary sources will be able to take Readings in Japanese Religions. In addition, the degreeoffers language courses in modern Japanese. Students on the programme will benefit fromseminars, discussion groups, guest lectures, and international workshops organized by theCentre for the Study of Japanese Religions.

Application forms are available from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, SOAS.

For further information on the programme see the SOAS web pages or contact the Director ofStudies, Dr. Lucia Dolce, Room 334, ext 4217, email: [email protected]

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