Author: John D. (Page 123 of 202)

John Breen profile

December 19, 2013 / John D. / 1 Comment

John Breen at a Tokyo conference in 2011 (courtesy Wikicommons)

The Kyoto Shinbun recently carried a half-page profile of Shinto scholar, John Breen (click here for his Wikipedia page).

The newspaper notes that he has a high reputation for scholarship and investigates matters that Japanese scholars are hesitant to research. One example is the controversial history of Ise Jingu, which in former times had a pleasure area between the Naiku and Geku. The Meiji government got rid of it as part of its campaign to sanctify the shrine, though as Breen points out there remain strong secular tendencies in the souvenir shops and stalls that pander to tourists.

Breen’s parents were Catholic, and his father was head of the BBC East Asia service. As a youngster he read Mishima and Endo Shusaku, which made him want to learn more. The Hidden Christians had a particular resonance for him, and he became interested in Japanese history. He went to Cambridge and did Japanese medieval studies, one of only four students on the course, then after graduating came to Japan to teach at a school in Kochi. In 1993 he earned a PhD at Cambridge, writing a dissertation entitled ‘Emperor, State and Religion in Restoration Japan’. (Later he became a lecturer at SOAS in London, and is currently associate professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto.)

In his comments about Shinto, Breen notes that kami worship was localised before the Meiji Restoration, and that the centralisation since then has been an innovation, not a reversion to an earlier time. Kami have two faces, he notes, a rough aspect as well as a benign, which makes them different from a merciful and benevolent God. It makes them closer to human beings in fact.

As for Ise, about which Breen is writing a book, he says he was fortunate to attend the shikinen sengu ritual (click here for a report), which he sees as a unique expression of the culture. ‘National authority and civil identity’ runs the headline. He says the current importance of the shrine derives from the time of Emperor Meiji, who signified its new primacy by visiting it in 1869. Before him there are apparently no records of visits by ruling emperors, so this was a dramatic change in policy. Since then stress has been given by the state to its supreme significance, such that imperial representatives and the prime minister attended this year’s ritual.

The Kyoto Shinbun carries a final thought: Breen would like young people in Britain to be more aware of Japan’s rich heritage rather than just being absorbed by manga and anime. Perhaps Martin Scorsese’s planned film of Endo Shusaku’s Silence, about Hidden Christians, will grab the attention of both the scholarly Breen and the anime-loving British youth!

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For more about Hidden Christians, click here.

Below: A Hidden Christian (hidden no more) reads an orashio prayer at an ecumenical gathering at Karematsu Jinja in Sotome (Nagasaki), which in the age of persecution served Hidden Christians as cover for their worship.

Ancestor worship

December 18, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

I have a good friend – a university teacher – who often tells me she has no interest in religion. Yet every morning she puts out food before the butsudan (altar) for her dead father and tells him what she’s going to do that day. To her, that’s not religion… it’s just a natural part of everyday life. In the article below, it’s designated ‘home religion’ – and as Lafcadio Hearn noted a hundred years ago, it’s Japan’s most fundamental form of spirituality.

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Japanese ‘religion of the home’ alive and well, says scholar
KUCHIKOM, Japan Today DEC. 18, 2013

In "Japan: An Interpretation' Lafcadio Hearn depicted the reverence for kami as another form of the worship of ancestors

“The end of the year is approaching. This old man, in the time occupied by a single resolution, began straightening out his disheveled home. Nothing was assigned to any organized place. While first turning toward a pile of clipped newspaper articles on my left and starting to sort them, I pulled out something interesting.”

That is how Nobuyuki Kachi, author of “Silent Religion—Confucianism” (1994) and a fellow at Kyoto’s Doshisha University, opens his essay in the Sankei Shimbun (Dec 15) about the Japanese awareness toward religion.

The newspaper article he had kept was dated Sept 15, 1991. It announced a study by the former General Affairs Agency (now the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications), which released the results of a worldwide survey titled “A national census on life and awareness among the elderly.”

According to the report, the most important factor common to older people in all countries was “family and children.” For the second item, the most common reply in the U.S. was “religion and beliefs,” with over 37%. In the UK and Germany, “friends and companions,” placed second, with 37% and over 34% respectively.

Among Japanese respondents, the second most important item was “wealth,” with over 37%. That figure had risen by 9.5 points over the previous survey conducted in 1986. In South Korea as well, “wealth” was the second place reply, so stated by over 32% of respondents.

In the responses given by Japanese, “religion” ranked fifth in importance, stated by 5%.

Despite Japansese claiming to be not religious, shrines are ubiquitous and sometimes full of surprises

This data from the news clipping is now 22 years old, says Kachi, and he doesn’t know what the current figures are. But his gut feeling then and now would be that if anything, importance placed by Japanese on “wealth” will have increased, while “religion” has remained unchanged or perhaps declined.

Based on the above, it would be easy to conclude that Japanese are money-grubbing ghouls, and materialists with little or no concern for spiritual matters and religion. But that, he says, would be jumping to a hasty conclusion and is far from the actual situation.

As is widely known, because many Japanese practice more than one religion, they worship a specialized deity when deemed necessary, offer donations and hope for fulfillment of their prayers (such as praying to a specific Buddhist deity for healing from sickness), in ways that benefit them in the here and now. In other words, their religious belief takes on the form of worshipping a god or Buddha at the times deemed necessary, and the rest of the time they do not involve themselves.

Christians and other practitioners of monotheism, on the other hand, worship a god that they believe is omniscient and omnipotent which requires believers to always maintain that kind of absolutist awareness.

Respect for the dead - ancestor worship - is evident outside the house as well as inside it

From such differences, it’s impossible to engage in any debate over which way is superior or inferior to the other, or what is the true religion.

Viewed from such a perspective, all this means is that the figures for Americans, reflecting their awareness of monotheism, tend to be high, whereas for Japanese, who lack such an awareness, tend to be low. Taken from the perspective of polytheism, however, Kachi supposes the figure for awareness toward “religion and belief” by Japanese would probably be considerably higher than that of Americans.

At the core of religion among Japanese is “religion of the home,” which is conducted through rituals centered around the family’s ancestors (both for Shinto and Buddhism). Even if a survey were to be conducted that dropped these explanations or awareness concerning polytheism, such a survey would only produce results that were far from the actual situation. This awareness of “religion of the home’ among Japanese, Kachi asserts, is alive and well even now. It can be elucidated by the teaching in Chapter I of the “Analects” of Confucius that states, “Carefully perform the rituals of “ending” and memorials of “distance” (mourning your parents and venerating your ancestors).”

Pagan Pasts 6): Shinto revival

December 17, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

This is part of an ongoing series comparing the Pagan religions of Britain and Japan. The previous post, Part 5, focussed on the fusion of Buddhism and kami worship that for more than 1000 years was the mainstream of Japanese religion.

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By the nineteenth century the situation in Britain and Japan had certain similarities, in that a dominant axial religion had incorporated traditional folk elements. There were of course significant differences in the extent, since Christianity had more or less erased Paganism, though Shinto too was more marginalised than is sometimes thought. Not only was Buddhism the official religion of Tokugawa Japan, but it was an important part of state control. Everybody had to be registered with a temple, including the small number of ‘Shinto priests’ (perhaps just 5% of those leading rites of kami worship).

Priest in formal costume (saifuku), courtesy Kokugakuin Encyclopedia. In Edo times, only about 5% of kami worship was carried out by 'Shinto priests'.

In Shinto and the State 1868-1988, Helen Hardacre characterises Shinto in the Edo era as ‘a mere appendage’ to Buddhism. There were localised cults with independent lineages, but there was no central authority. Moreover, there was no unified training of priests. The vast majority of kami worship was conducted by Buddhist monks, Shugendo practitioners, shamans, or village elders.^{^[1]} The rites were not considered part of something called Shinto, any more than giving Easter eggs in Britain was considered Pagan.

Most shrines in Edo times were under Buddhist control, and larger shrines were part of syncretic complexes known as miyadera run by Buddhist priests. Even the few independent institutions such as Ise and Izumo had close Buddhist connections, and Hardacre states that in Ise there were a scarcely credible 300 temples. Although the influential Yoshida Shrine in Kyoto operated a licensing system, there was no unified training system or common form of ritual. ‘In an institutional sense, says Hardacre, ‘Shinto has no legitimate claim to antiquity as Japan’s “indigenous religion”.’^{^[2]}

The forerunners of what is now known as Shinto were the Nativists of Edo times, often referred to as the Kokugaku movement. The scholars emerged out of Confucian study of the past and held that Japanese roots had a distinctive difference from those of China. Driven by thinkers such as Kamo no Mabuchi, Motoori Norinaga and Hirata Atsutane, a philosophy emerged that maintained Japan was superior to China, that the emperor should have supreme authority, and that the worship of kami was Japan’s true religion. Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801) was particularly influential in asserting the supremacy of Japan, driven by a loathing of the Chinese and their rationality. By contrast, the Japanese were held up as intuitive, harmonious, and naturally virtuous. Moreover, they had an unbroken imperial line descended from the gods, thus proving their divinity.

A statue of Okuninushi at Izumo Taisha welcomes spirits to the afterworld

Motoori’s research focussed mainly on philological matters and a desire to interpret Japan’s past through an aesthetic of ‘mono no aware’ (awareness of the transience of things). For his part Hirata took Mottoori’s notions of Japanese superiority to claim that all other religions, including Christianity, derived from the truths of Shinto. He had an interest in the supernatural and even investigated the mythical worls of tengu and kappu. He claimed that while the body putrifies after death, the spirit migrates to an afterlife world governed by the Izumo kami, Okuninushi.

Under Hirata’s influence the Kokugaku movement developed Motoori’s spiritual notions in a more political direction, which challenged the military control of the Tokuagawa shoguns. For the Kokugaku thinkers, Japanese were by nature inclined to revere the divinity of the imperial line, but the authority of the emperor had been usurped by military rulers. A mythical golden past was constructed when all was harmony under a beneficent father-figure blessed by descent from a heavenly sun-goddess. In this way an ideology was conveniently at hand for the Restoration movement of the 1860s, which under the guise of returning power to the emperor sought to overthrow a dysfunctional shogunate.

With the success of the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Buddhism was side-lined as the new government turned from the religion of Tokugawa Japan to the creation of something new – something that in the West would be considered Paganism. Indeed, when the first Catholic missionaries arrived in Japan in the sixteenth century, that’s just how they did regard what to them was the bizarre worship of sun, rocks, trees and spirits.

^{^[1]} Helen Hardacre Shinto and the State 1868-1988 Princeton Uni. Press, 1989

^{^[2]} ibid. p.5

Mystery (Kodo taiko)

December 16, 2013 / John D. / 1 Comment

Recently I posted an item about the wonderful production of Amaterasu, put on by kabuki star Bando Tamasaburo with the taiko drummers Kodo. Now I’ve seen another co-production, featuring the taiko group and arranged by Tamasaburo (though not starring him). It was titled Mystery and it’s going to be toured in Japan and abroad next year – Italy, France, UK, Ireland, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Estonia, Finland and Russia will all enjoy the opportunity to see this most impressive performance.

(Courtesy Ernest Barteldes)

The performance made much of darkness, and the overall impression was of a series of sketches from the earliest mythical moments of Japan, when monsters loomed out of the night and people told stories by firelight. There was a stunning display of the Orochi snake-monsters that feature in Iwami Kagura, and an amusing skit of women offering saké to Oni monsters to befuddle them while they escape.

In contrast to the Amaterasu production, there was much of the dark Izumo mythic cycle in this production though it was more a series of musical performances than theatrical recreation. In the programme notes, Bando Tamasaburo writes that he would like people to enjoy the ‘darkness’…

The beauty of something you come across lit by candlelight, a sense of something vague yet marvelous. Mystery enfolds within it fear, humor, charm and various other qualities. In the ‘Serpent Dances’ that have come down from old, the defeated serpent is endowed with a surprising level of sacredness. In this performance, many things will emerge out of the darkness. While it’s a drum concert, playing as only drums can play, we’ve added plenty of visual interest.’

The overriding impression though was of the sheer physicality of the drum playing, and the abiding image was of a sweat-covered muscled male torso stood poised before a big drum, pausing after a gruelliing ten-minute long pummeling of the leather skin. The performers looked amazingly young, with an average age I would guess around 30, and the thought came to mind that after a certain age it would simply be impossible to manage the physical exertions involved.

Over the top of the drums floated the sound of yokobue flutes and the clash of cymbal-bells. When the full ensemble of fifteen players (11 men, 4 women) were involved, the sound was overwhelming and the very ground vibrated in unison. The explosive force captures something of the sense of elemental awe, wonder and dread that inspired the early myths of Japan and the roots of Shinto. Here is a performance to thrill to… if it’s coming to anywhere near you, don’t hesitate to go and see it. Simply stunning!!

(On a personal note I have to say that these collaborations with Bando Tamasaburo, exploring the mythic past, bring out the very best of Kodo. Having seen them previously in concert, I found the Japanese nature of their drumming watered down by attempts to embrace musical influences from elsewhere. Here, by contrast is the pure essence of what makes taiko so exciting.)

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For the Kodo website, click here.

For another take on the performance, see Ted Taylor’s blog entry:
http://notesfromthenog.blogspot.jp/2013/12/musings-on-kodos-mystery.html

The Orochi monster of Iwami kagura (Courtesy Japan Visitor Blog)

Christmas spirit (laughter)

December 13, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Any Shinto followers looking to catch a bit of Christmas spirit in Japan at this time of year might head for the Hiraoka Shrine in Osaka, where there’s a laughter festival led by shrine priests…

Check out this link for a video of the 20 minute laugh fest…
http://www.hiraoka-jinja.org/special/2012-owarai-shinji.html

During the free event, which starts at 10 a.m., priests will encourage attendees to laugh for about 20 minutes. There will also be a laughing contest from 11 a.m. in which anyone can take part.

The shrine is close to Hiraoka Station on the Kintetsu Nara line.
For additional information, call (072) 981-4177.

Hiraoka Jinja shrine festival (courtesty golden jipangu)

Power spotter

December 5, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Tarobo Mountain in Shiga

Bilingual Australian, Kara Yamaguchi, who does tours of Japan’s power spots, has updated her blog and has some stimulating new information as well as stunning photos… Check it out:

http://sacredgatewaysofjapan.blogspot.jp/

Below is an extract from an interview on her website…. (all photos courtesy Yamaguchi)

Could you tell us a little bit about your background and how you became interested in ‘the worlds of ancient Japan’ ?

Apparently as a child I was always digging up our garden looking for old relics and coins, so I guess my love of lost ancient worlds has always been there! I’ ve also always been drawn to indigenous people and shamanism as a way to communicate with other worlds. But I never followed any particular spiritual practice until recent years.It all really came about when my father passed away. I’d been taking photos for several years and found myself very drawn to Wakayama prefecture and places like Asuka without understanding the deeper connection at the time. My path to research sacred sites in Japan started in earnest after a promise I made with my father that we would go on a pilgrimage if he got better. I’ d seen a book on Koya-san iii in a local bookstore and I was just so mysteriously drawn to it and I knew there was some hidden connection. I showed it to him one day in hospital to lift his spirits and he said ‘ That is so beautiful’ . He didn’ t know about Koya-san so I said ‘ Ok, when you get better we’ll go there’. When he died, I honoured our promise and that was the beginning of all the pilgrimages, and my dad’s parting gift to me.

A Japanese 'Rosetta sone'

I wasn’t even aware of all the pilgrimage routes and only vaguely aware at that time about ancient Shinto beliefs. But after I returned from Koya-san, for the next two weeks all I would see was the kanji for Izumo (出雲) everywhere I went. It was calling to me for some reason!

In hindsight it is interesting to see that many of the places I have visited are linked with Amaterasu, the sun goddess. Izumo is of course directly linked to the goddess in Japanese mythology as the shrine is said to have been a gift from her to the kami, Okuninushi.

A lot of foreigners don’ t make the journey there for some reason, but its power and sacredness is something that stays with you. Visiting these sacred sites somehow seems to change you and before I knew it, I had a new identity and I just sensed intuitively that this ancient world was one I needed to explore. I started documenting sacred sites and it expanded into a body of work spanning five years of research and pilgrimages all over the country. And I hope that it is a journey which will continue, because there are still many unanswered questions about so much of the ancient world. I am also compelled to carry on with this work as urban development coupled with recent environmental disasters is threatening the survival of some of these sacred sites. We can’ t take the risk of losing such important keys to our understanding of Japan’ s ancient history and how it relates to our history as a whole.

Could you give a brief overview of the ancient beliefs of Japan?

Ancient spiritual practices in Japan, later known as Shinto, adhered to the belief that spirits were to be found and honoured in everything around you: the rocks, the trees, the mountains and even in the tools that you used. There was a reverence for life in all things which we have sadly moved away from in our modern age. There was also a very strong tradition of shamanism which is not something often associated with Japan. The legendary Queen Himiko (3rd century AD), Japan’ s most famous shaman leader, seems to forever fascinate the Japanese public. It is interesting to see how in recent years there has been a sudden surge in interest with anything to do with psychic and paranormal phenomena. It’ s hard to be certain why this is all happening, but I feel it may be a sign that these ancient beliefs are returning to modern Japan and being readapted to the context of contemporary life.

Amazing energy at Hayatama Shrine, Wakayama

Power spot Hayatama Shrine in Shingu, Wakayama

Awaji Island megaliths

New Year countdown

December 4, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

New Year’s Japanese good luck charm, Hamaya
December 4, 2013 The Yomiuri Shimbun

With the arrival of December, attendants at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, are busy making New Year’s hamaya, or evil-repelling arrows. The lucky arrows are believed to ward off demons and ensure the safety of family members. The shrine will make about 200,000 60-centimeter arrows and 45,000 94-centimeter arrows by New Year’s Eve.

: Miko preparing hamaya (good fortune arrows) at Tusurgaoka Hachimangu in Kamakura. It:s said the origins lie in the Edo era custom of giving newborn boys a decorative set of bow and arrows.

Extract from the Kokugakuin Encyclopedia of Shinto…

Hamaya are popular among New Year’s visitors to shrines as one type of good-luck charm or engimono. From the Edo to the early Meiji period, hamayawere given as gifts to celebrate the first New Year of a male baby’s life, frequently in a set together with a pair of decorative bows calledhamayumi (“demon-breaking bows”). The custom of selling the arrow alone is thought to be a later abbreviation of this custom. Even today, the custom persists of standing such symbolic bows and arrows at the northeast and southwest corners of a new house (called kimon, the directions thought particularly susceptible to evil influences) on the occasion of the roof-raising ceremonies (jōtōsai). The etymological significance of hama is not clear, but it is said to have been an ancient word for an archery target or an archery contest.