the ontake cult associations and local society

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The Ontake cult Associations and

Local Society

:

The Case of the

Owari Mikawa Region in Central Japan

There has been a considerable amount of research published on

the Mt. Ontake cult and the religious associations (k6) dedicated

to the worship of this mou ntain. Since the main characteristic of

the Ontake cult is the spirit possession rite, performed by the na

kaza ( between seat, or medium ), the maeza ( front seat, o r

officer who summons the spirit , interrogates him and sends him

away), the shiten ( four h eavenly kings, or th e guard ians of th e

ritual), and various others endowed with spiritual powers, it is

natu ral that most of these studies should deal with the phenom enon

of sham anism . T h ey consist, for examp le, of analyses of th e

shamanistic elements in the ritual structures and functions of the

oxa

skances; of elucidations of the types and social functions of

groups formed around people with shamanistic powers; or of at-

tempts to measure the religious consciousness connected with

sham anistic beliefs (Ikegami 1955). T h e present paper will follow

th e sam e line. I t will conc entrate on th e On take k6 associations,

and particularly on how these shamanistic groups cope with and

respond to change in a local society under the impact of rapidly

increasing urbanization.

As a concrete example of local society I have chosen the area

which extends from t he east of Nagoya City up to T oyo ta City and

environs in Central Japan. T h is region, crossed by the Sakai-

Translated by Jan Swyngedouw and

W.

Michael Kelsey from Ontake k6 sha-

dan to chiiki shakai: Bisan rinsetsu chitai no jirei-kenkyii

@@: geli&@,$k

~-~~@@f& $oZjS$iJ@@n Oguchi Iichi ,J ~ ~{ $ -- , d.,

Nihon no shamani

zumu ni kansuru chdsa kenkyzj 8

$0

y s x L\ ~ f &@fz

Field Re-

search on Japanese Shamanism].

Nagoya: Yiishinsha, 1981, pp. 3-24.

Japanese Journal

of

Religious S tudies

811-2 March-June 1981

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gawa River, consists of the adjacent areas formerly called Owari

and Mikawa; it is currently being swept by the violent waves of

urbanization affecting many areas in Japan. The Ontake cult as-

sociations which are most deeply rooted in this region are called

Shingank6, and they are among the most influential of the many

Ontake cult groups in Aichi Prefecture, of which this region is a

part (Kodachi 1967).

ORGANIZATION OF THE SHINGANKO

Pattern o distribution. The Shingankb is found from the moun-

tainous district of Mt. Sanage (629 m.) in the north to the flatlands

of the Okazaki plain and the Chita Peninsula in the south, an area

which, taken as a whole, is far from topographically uniform. Its

center consists of the Owari hills that begin at the eastern limb of

the N6bi plain. We could compare the whole region to a range of

wave crests which gradually rise higher and higher to beat upon a

reefy coast. Indeed, the undulated plateau that extends from the

lowlands in the southeast to the highlands in the northwest rises

little by little, finally becoming the Aichi heights. As a result, the

region is dotted with hills, some of them rather low (from four to

fifty meters above sea level) and some higher (100-200 m.). The

re nba

( sacred places ) of the Ontake cult have been established

on the tops of these hills.

Th e center o Shingankd.

The largest in scale of the many

reijinba

is at Iwasaki Mt. Ontake 134 m. , located in Nisshin Town, Aichi

County, east of Nagoya. Iwasaki Mt. Ontake has worshipers not

only in the area where the Shingank6 associations are found, but

also among the members of Ontake cult groups in other parts of

Aichi Prefecture and even as far as Tokyo and the Kansai region

(western Japan).

At present one can reach the top of Iwasaki Mt. Ontake by car

in about twenty or thirty minutes from eastern Nagoya, but before

the Second World War the custom was to make the pilgrimage

from Nagoya and from western and northern Owari, with an over-

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shrine and its office, however, have traditionally been in the hands

of the Shingankd, and this k6 also reserves the right of ownership

of the mountain. T h e ma n in charge at present is M r. Inoue

Tadashi, a

sendatsu

( leader ) of th e Shingankd. H e is th e six-

teenth in line and lives there with his family, attending to th e needs

of the kd me mbe rs and others who come to worship.

Org ani zati on of the Shingankd

According to the Iwasaki ontakesan

engi [History of the Iwasaki Mt. Ontake], the Ontake daigongen

( great incarna tion of the O ntake spirit ) was welcom ed at Ta ki-

noyama in the village of Iwasaki in

1860

(th e first year of th e

Man'en era) by the ascetics Meikan and Meishin, who were the

found ers of Shingankd . T he re are still at present three stone

m onu m ents on which th e words first year of the M an'en era are

carved, attesting to the reliability of tha t date. Fr om these be-

ginnings, the Shingank6 spread from eastern Owari to the western

Mikawa region.

Organizationally, the

k6

were established around the old

6aza

( larger village sections ) an d were called such-and-such Sh in-

gankd according to the nam e of the 6axa where they were founded.

These individual k6 then made up the loose federation which is

the S hingank6. I n addition to Iwasaki Mt . Ontake, which is the

central base of all the individual Shingankd associations, there is

also a separate base for the k6 of the Owari district at Yazalro in

Nagakute Town, Aichi County, and one for the Mikawa distr ict

kd

in Kosema, Toy ota City. How ever, this division does not

seem very important on the organizational level.

T h e present nominal representative of the Shingankd is M r.

Kurachi Mohei, called daishach6 ( great president ), who is th e

grandson of Meishin, founder of the

k6

In his daily life he runs

a watch shop in the center of Nagoya, but he comes to the moun-

tain for the great festivals and sometimes functions as a maexa

T h e most influential and trusted of th e

sendatsu

is Mr. Katd Gin-

tar6 from Yazako. T h e main reason for his position as the most

powerful member of the organization lies in his past achievements.

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Ontake Cult and Local Society

After the Second World War he was one of the key figures in the

foun ding of the Kiso On take Honkyd (a Shrin e Sh into organiza-

tion whose faithful worship at Kiso Mt. Ontake, the volcano which

is the center of all Ontake beliefs), and he served as a bridge be-

tween th e Shingankb an d that organization. Ma ny leaders of the

Shingank6 have received the official title of

sendatsu

from the Kiso

Ontake Honky6 through Mr. Katb.

The individual

k

associations

This does not mean, however,

that the Shingank6 is a sub-group of the Kiso Ontake Honky6.

T h e various local kb are all independent. Investigation shows,

for example, that the organizational affiliation of the shrines where

th e individual kb wo rship often differs. T he se affiliations can be

roughly divided into three categories. First we have th e Ontake

shrines which are located outside the precincts of the (former)

district and village Shinto shrines but nonetheless belong organiza-

tionally to Shrin e Shinto . A second category is tha t of th e O n-

take shrines which belong to independent religious organizations

such as th e Kiso Ontake Honk y6 an d the Ontakeky6. Finally,

there are the Ontake shrines which are in the hands of the k6,

wi tho ut any specific organization above this level.

T o give some examples, the Ontake shrine of Iwasaki M t. On -

take is a shrine outside th e precincts of th e Hakusangii Shrin e

in Hong6, Nisshin Town, which in turn belongs to the Associa-

tion of Shinto Shrines (Jinja Honch 6). O n the other han d, the

Ontake shrine of Yazako, administered by Kat6 Gintar6, belongs

to the Kiso Ontake Honkyb, while the Ontake shrine at Kosema,

which represents the Mikawa district, is the property of the Ko-

sema Shingankb, a nd does not belong to any higher organization.

Sendatsu

stat us is achieved in a similar variety of ways. T he re

are nominally

sendatsu

of the Kiso Ontake Honky6, just as there

are

sendatsu

of the Ontakekyb. Fu rthe r, there are both people

who received their

sendatsu

certifications from other mountain

worship sects, and people who became

sendatsu

simply by assum ing

th e title from their fathers. Except for some special cases, th e

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facts that the various k6 might belong to different organizations,

or that the

sendatsu

might have received their qualifications from

various sources, have had little or no harmful effect on the

sendatsu

group of the Shingankb.

We can point to two reasons for this. One is that the most

fundamental base is inevitably the individual k6 group. Each

sendatsu

represents his own kci and he has a strong conviction that

his k6 is an independent and complete group in itself. Conse-

quently, no need is recognized for any standard system of approv-

ing qualifications to be adopted by the Shingankb as a whole, or

for any organizational statutes or provisions on a higher level, and

there have been, consequently, no demands for codification. Put

in the frankest of terms, it does not matter much to individual

sendatsu where the other k6 belong or what kind of qualifications

other

sendatsu

might have.

T h e

send tsu

group.

The second reason, which might seem to

contradict the first one, is that the sendatsu group of the Shingankb

maintains a high degree of mutual contact through annual religious

observances. The principle of reciprocity by which all the

sen

datsu

in the Shingankb participate in all of the observances of the

individual kci, helping each other in carrying them out, has been

kept alive as an unwritten law. There are at present forty dif-

ferent kd, each of which performs festivals in the spring, summer

and the fall; if the Fire-walking Festival is included this makes four

a year, and simple arithmetic tells us that there are thus one hun-

dred sixty times each year that the sendatsu see each other. Such

often repeated group activities carried out by the same people each

time naturally give rise to an implicit hierarchy within the group,

but factors such as nominal qualifications or memberships in

larger organizations are not given very serious considerations in

this. Admittedly, factors such as one s age, income, occupation,

social position and the like, which are based on ordinary social life,

cannot be completely dismissed, but nonetheless it remains one s

achievements and personality as a

sendatsu

which are the most

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Ontake C d t and Local Society

highly considered.

In sum, what is important is one's experience and length of

time as a sendatsu, the frequency with which one has attended the

observances, one's abilities and skill in performing the specialized

incantations and protection devices by means of the kuji ( nine

mudras ) spells, and other behavioral and leadership qualities.

These elements, of course, are not formally investigated one at a

time. Rather, they come to be mutually understood as the result

of long years of contact; this is how the natural hierarchy comes to

be recognized.

T o conclude, a sendatsu has two faces. One comes from his

position as the person in charge of his individual k6, and as the

religious leader of its ordinary members. In this respect, the

individual sendatsu is formally on an equal footing with other indi-

vidual sendatsu, each of whom has an independent existence. The

other face derives from his position as a member of the sendatsu

group, a group of specialists who are all in the same profession.

Within this group there is a tendency to rank people according to

specific value standards.

T H E S IG N IF IC A N C E O F

R I J I N

F A I T H

Thus each sendatsu in the ShingankB occupies both a position as

religious leader in his own individual k6 and a position as member

of the sendatsu group, which is a group of people endowed with

special spiritual powers. Th is latter group is one of functionaries,

and the main factor constituting it is an occasional one, based on

ritual exchanges among the individual k6. As a group of func-

tionaries, it does not have a real organizational structure. Of

course, as just noted, it has an implicitly recognized internal hi-

erarchical order, and since this is rather strong there are but few

cases in which it is violated. On the other hand, the lack of for-

malized organization makes change very easy and there are some-

times people who-even though temporarily-act in ways which

deviate from the hierarchical order.

In this sense the sendatsu group is in a relatively fluid situation,

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but this might be due to the fact that, as will be explained later,

it is still in an initial, unse ttled stage. W e cannot very readily

predict at this point whether the sendatsu group will in the future

stre ng the n its cohesion still furt he r and a cquire a specific organiza-

tional form, or whether it will, on the contrary, proceed in the

direction of disinte gration and extinction because t he sendatsu have

becom e scattered or disappeared altogether. I n any case, th e ur -

banization trend in the region that constitutes the base of the

Shingankb will, along with developments in the individual kd,

certainly exert an increasing influence on its future fate.

The

oza date

dance .

In order to elucidate the relationship be-

tween the Shingankb and the process of urbanization, we must

first say a few words about the actual practices of the Shingankb.

Within the Shingankb, the term sendatsu is used to designate gen-

erally the maeza and the nakaza. I n fact, it is not always tru e

that one given person will perform only the role of either nakaxa

or maeza; there are man y sendatsu who perform b oth. At the

be ginn ing of th e oza-date or o-tsutome ( sCance or religious

service ) the re is always a ritual exchange am ong th e sendatsu;

then, after some m utual declamations, th e person considered high-

est in rank takes the place of maeza, indicating that in the Shin-

gankb this role is valued very highly. W hile the Ontakesan gon-

gyd y6shfi [Essentials of th e M t. On take services] is recited, th e

sp iri ts of deceased officers of the k6, called reijin, will tak e posses-

sion of the nakaza and deliver oracles.

Either the sendatsu of the k6 in charge of the particular festival

or any other sendatsu whose ability is recognized will serve as na-

ka za . Occasionally as m any as six or seve n na ka za will succes-

sively receive oracles during th e same da n c e . Unlike th e case of

the maexa, however, there is no previous approval needed to as-

su m e th is role. Of course, if a person who is no t qualified as a

nakaxa suddenly starts delivering oracles, that person will be

scorne d as a tobiza ( abnormal possession ) an d politely be ex-

cluded from the group, showing that there is indeed some special

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prerequisite for the nakaza. But in any event, th e maeza role is

th e mo re imp ortan t in th e Shingankd. As for the shiten role (the

four officers who mount guard during the ritual), this is usually

left unfilled, although the sendatsu will take it if necessary.

Authority

of

the sendatsu T h e sendatsu are overwhelmingly m ale.

T h is do es not m ean, how ever, that fem ale sendatsu who are qualified

ar e trea ted coldly. O ne could even say tha t the female sendatsu

are m uch more active than their male counterparts. Fo r example,

the representative of Kosema Shingank6 is sendatsu Yoshikawa

Ka neko , wh o, altho ugh she function s mostly as a naka xa, is especial-

ly well known for her former career and also ranks high in the

sendatsu hier archy .

On the other hand, the majority of the ordinary members of the

k6 (k6in) are women. If one participates in the sum m er pil-

grimage to Kiso Mt. Ontake, one is struck with admiration for the

large group of middle-aged and older women going up and down

the steep paths of the 3,000 m. mountain. T h e women's mo un-

tain worship aspect of the Onta ke cult in general is, the n, also a

conspicuous part of the Shingankd.

Individual k6 often also have a class of members called sewanin.

T he se a re people who financially su ppo rt th e relationships between

the sendatsu and the ordinary cult members and who, during fes-

tivals, attend to the sendatsu ar,d the local dignitaries in the name

of the k6; they are, in short, in charge of internal and external

affairs. M an y of these sewanin come from wealthy families from

with in th e k6, or are descendants of sendatsu. I t goes without

saying that k6 with many or with well-qualified sewanin are the

mo st likely to prosper.

I n s um , each individu al kb consists of th ree categories of peo ple:

the sendatsu, the sewanin, and the k6in or ordinary members; the

combination of these three categories defines the vicissitudes and

th e specific char acter of th e k6. Additionally, the re are also peo-

ple wh o have rec ourse to t he spiritual powers of t he sendatsu in a

private ca pacity; these are called sfikeisha. M ost of the m are resi-

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dents of the center of Xagoya and Toyota and, in former times,

there were several presidents of large enterprises and wealthy

merchants among them. Some of these szikeisha entered into rela-

tionship with sendatsu in order to have their wealth restored or to

help their business; in some cases their financial support did not

stop with the one sendatsu they had established a relationship with,

but was offered to his kd as well, or, occasionally, to the whole

Shingankd association. At present, however, there are almost

no such influential sckeisha remaining.

Annual obser~ances

All of the individual

kd

have their own an-

nual observances, and these differ only slightly from each other.

The main festivals observed at Iwasaki NIt. Ontake are listed in

table

1.

Since Iwasaki Mt . Ontake is the center of the whole

Shingankb, one would expect that its ceremonies would have a

special status, but in reality the festivals are those of the individual

kd called Iwasaki Shingankb, and they are performed much the

same as those of the other individual kd Using the participants

TABLE 1

Annual Festivals of Iwasaki Mt. Ontake

ON ew Year's Fest~val Jan. 1 OG ra nd Summer Festival May 1 1

(gantansaz Z7g

(t6zan rez~insat2 ~ I Z @ E )

,@Fire-walking Festival Jan. 6 @All Souls Festlval July 13

(hizuatarisai

A@ )

(0-yama slzoreisai @ ~ I @ )

I

OMonthly Festival

15th of

OSurnmer Pilgrimage late July

(tsukinamisai

Jj

3 ) each mon th (natsu tozan E B ~ I ) (Kiso)

Winter Austerities early I@Grand Autumn Festival Sept. 18

(kangyd

fi)

January (shziki taisai @ kg)

OWin ter Pilgrimage

middle Jan. OWakami ya Shrine Festival Oct. 24

(kan tozan @ ~ )

(Kiso) (wakamiyasai ggB (Kiso)

__ I :___.

@Gr and Spring Festival April 18

,OG d Purification

Festival Dec. 30

(shunki taisai

A )

(oharaesai

.

Festivals of only the Iwasaki Shingenkb

@ Festivals attended by the sendatsu group

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as a criterion, we can distinguish between two types of festivals.

The first type includes the religious observances performed by

only the members of the particular k6, while the second type con-

sists of those participated in by the sendatsu of other k6, which are

thus centered on the sendatsu group rather than the k6 itself.

Ceremonies particular to the individual k6 are performed by the

three categories of people mentioned above (sendatsu, sewanin, and

k6in). There are at present five sendatsu in the Iwasaki Shingank6,

but the k6 has no sewanin, and the sendatsu thus take on this role

when the necessity arises.

The number of ordinary members of the Iwasaki Shinganko is

rather unclear. If we consider as members those who regularly

attend the tsukinami-sai ( monthly festival ), there are about

twelve or thirteen, but if we reckon the irregular ones who par-

ticipate only in the pilgrimages to Kiso Mt. Ontake, there are be-

tween fifty and sixty members. In point of fact, the three religi-

gious observances connected with pilgrimages to Kiso Mt. Ontake

-the kan tozan ( winter ~ilgrimage ), he natsu toran ( summer

pilgrimage ) and the Wakamiya Shrine Festival-are the most im-

portant of the k6's observances.

big bus is chartered for these trips, which can be either for one

day or two. This is true for all the individual k6.

It often hap-

pens that different k6 travel together, as was the case, for example,

with the Iwasaki Shingank6, which until about two years ago went

with the Miyoshi Shingank6 of Nishi-kamo County. This, how-

ever, is nothing more than a matter of convenience or custom.

The individual k6 are all linked directly and independently with the

the ontake cult associations and local society

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