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The Religious Background of the Deification of Tokugawa Leyasu

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The Religious Background of the Deification of Tokugawa Leyasu 331 Behind the Indian facade of Dakini, Mahavairocana appears as the unique principle of everything. What is lowest and inferior in the world of gods suddenly becomes the highest expression of truth. By means of Mahavairocana Dakini becomes interchangeable with other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. So the goddess of Inari identified by Kukai with Dakini could become the Japanese form (suijaku) of Kannon or Monju. She became also exchanged with her messenger: the white fox. In the fourteenth century Shingon esoterism turned Fushimi Inari into a huge mandala. Seikei in his Inari-ckronicle merged on this mountain the mounds of the Hata, the foxes, the goddess of food and the doctrine of Shingon Tantrism and turned the top of Mount Inari into a four-petalled lotus flower which offers residence to many Buddhist figures, concretized in Japan in their Shintoist counterparts: the honji and the suijaku. In the centre of this flower we find, of course, the focus of the Buddhist and Shinto world: Inari, Amida and Shin-ko-o. The first two names are familiar to us, but who is Shin-ko-o? One translation could be: King Dragon Fox. If we take into consideration, however, that shin is a zodiacal sign, it could also be translated as: the King, Fox from heaven. This can be identified with the byakko: the white fox and the mount of Dakini. Now it will not surprise anybody that writings of the same period turn this sacred animal god into a Buddhist saviour by calling it: bosatsu Shin-ko-o: the Bodhisattva King, Fox from heaven. Thus, the ancestor gods of the Hata are kept alive in a belief-system which vacillates between merely a fox, goddesses, and the highest truth, Dharmakaya- three representations of a god, who has no original shape. The Religious Background of the Deification of Tokugawa leyasu W. J. BOOT On the 26th day, 9th month of Kyoho 6 (1721) an edict of Yoshimune was read to the assembled fudai-daimyo. The third article is entitled 'That the Peace of the World is due to the Divine Virtue of the Gongen.*1 It reads: 'That I myself and all of you have met with a period of peace, in which the empire is well-ordered, and that we live in ease, is solely due to the divine virtue of the Toshogu. Is it not something to be grateful for? Moreover, that you all now live in ease on account of the meritorious military service of your ancestors, and that your fathers and ancestors have obliged you with their military favour - how could you take this lightly?' We could of course say that these are pious sentiments, and that the gist of the edict lies in the strictures it contains against hiring too many 332 commoners instead of employing warriors, against the misgovernment of the fiefs and against the fudai not setting an example to the tozama-daimyo. The references to the Toshogu no skintoku etc. could be taken as an oblique way of reminding the participants of the fact that none of them would have been present at this occasion if their ancestors had lost at Sekigahara and Osaka. That, however;, is precisely the point. It would be quite possible to express this sentiment 'We are here because we have won' in Japanese, as it would have been possible to express any number of other reasons to explain the peace of the empire. Yet we find a group of very competent native speakers of Japanese making phrases like sejo anhitsu wa gongen-sama go-shintoku no koto. It must have meant something, though what it meant is something historians as a rule do not try to establish. Divine wrath and favour are categories of explanation the modern writer of history hesitates to use. It is a pity that this advance in methodology tends to blind Mm to the fact that the subjects of his research very definitely thought in these terms. To give one example: What should a loyal bakufu official, distressed by the licentious behaviour of his lord (in this case shogun Tsunayoshi), do but go to Nikko and pray to the daigongen, as did Yagi chikara-gashira Nobuyuki? This particular instance I have found in one of the so-called jitsuroku of the Edo-period, which as a genre are of course notorious for containing much fancy and little fact. However, since I want to establish not any particular historical fact but a way of thinking I will be allowed, I trust, to make use of this example. The text in question is the Nikko kantan makura, 'The Dream-Pillow of Nikko,' and purports to describe the evil machinations of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu and his attempt to dislodge the Tokugawa shogun. The story begins with one Yagi Nobuyuki, who is a retainer, at first even something of a favourite of Tsunayoshi. On account of his remonstrances with the shogun, however, he has fallen from grace and has been sent down to live in the country. Still uneasy in his mind he .. .formed the intention of [going] to Nikko and pray. He went there at once. He worshipped the shrine and prayed for the continued military fortune (buun chokyu) of his Lord. That night he kept vigil next to the shrine, but dozed off. ...Around midnight he awoke. An old man, correctly gowned and capped, opened the doors of the sanctuary and stood at his pillow, [saying]: 'The Toshogu has been moved by the sincerity of your loyalty, Yagi Chikara, and he will show you something. ...Because you have remonstrated [with the shogun] to the full extent of the loyalty [you owe him], you have roused his anger. Since the Gongen has been moved by your loyalty and has told me to show you at this place the whole life of Lord Tsunayoshi, I have come to meet you.' With these words he took Nobuyuki by the hand and entered the gate of the shrine. Suddenly the shrine buildings changed to Edo castle. It was certainly most strange to see the whole life of Lord Tsunayoshi before one's eye.'2 The story illustrates how a continuous protection of the bakufu and its loyal servants was confidently to be expected from the god Toshogu- daigongen, and how this expectancy was sufficiently widespread to suggest itself as a useful ploy for introducing a work of popular literature dating from the Shotoku period (1711-1716). 333 For the background of this story I refer to an article by Ishige Tadashi, in which Ishige claims that 'The Kyoho era especially was a time when the ideas of "worshipping the Tosho-daigongen" showed an unusual intensification.'3 In support of this thesis Ishige quotes, amongst others, a passage from a work of Daidoji Yuzan (1639-1730), a military theorist and pupil of Yamaga Soko, which reads: This man, who had acted in accordance with the three virtues of Wisdom, Benevolence and Courage, we worship as the Tosho-daigongen no miya. He may even surpass the gods of the ancient period, at least no one will claim that he is inferior to them. However, it is a very shameful thing that in these times the people of the world do not show any intention of believing in him. They are devoted to Kan'on, Yakushi and Jizo, who are reputed to be Buddhas from India far west, or they consider as gods only the gods of the ancient times of our country and only venerate those. That they are neglecting the Toshogu can only be called ungrateful insolence. ...When amongst the ones dear to you someone is terribly ill (or, of course, when you are ill yourself), it will not be necessary to rely on the other Buddhas and gods: if the divine powers of Toshogu have proven to be of no avail, you may consider it as something that has certainly happened because the time for this person has come (jogo no toki idekitaruyue no koto narubeshi) and resign yourself [to this fate]...4 The message is clear: the Toshogu-daigongen is a divine power on par with the other gods and Buddhas, and when he cannot help, the help of the others, too, will prove to be in vain. We can compare this passage with a quotation from another work by Daidoji Yuzan, his Ochibo-shu, which was completed in Kyoho 13 (1728). At the end of the entry in which he relates the rather gruesome story of the Miike sword, Yuzan explains Ieyasu's divinization as an instance of the usual Shinto procedure: Take the ancient gods of our country. When there were men who during their lifetime had done extraordinarily good deeds, they appeared as gods, and the people of the world venerated and revered their virtue, and worshipped them, calling them gods (shinmei). Thus I have heard. Since the many good deeds these gods have done during their lifetime have been written down in the ancient records, those who are educated will be able to convince themselves of this with one glance.5 Then follows a similar passage as in the first quotation, about Ieyasu having acted in accordance with the three virtues of Wisdom, Benevolence and Courage and not being inferior to the ancient gods; which is topped off by an interesting piece of theological speculation. The point of departure is Lun-yii 1 B 24: 'For a man to sacrifice to a spirit who does not belong to him is flattery.' After quoting this text Yuzan continues: There will not be one man, not only amongst the fudai but also amongst the tozama who since the battle of Sekigahara in Keicho 5 has not received the favour of the Gongen.
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