Buddhists in the Edo Era – 'Official Monks'

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CHAPTER 14

BUDDHISTS IN THE EDO ERA – ‘OFFICIAL MONKS’ OF THE EDO SHOGUNATE

In the nInth month of 1600, tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 (1542–1616) was the victor in the battle of Sekigahara (in Gifu prefecture) leading the eastern troops of 90,000 against the 80,000 Western troops led by Ishida mitsunari 石田三成 (1560– 1600), and in the second month of 1603, he was appointed ‘generalissimo’ or shogun (for the subjugation of barbarians). this marked the beginning of the edo era.the establishment of the edo shogunate itself was an epoch-making event in Japan’s political history.1 It also exerted a decisive inﬂuence on the Buddhist community because it was the case, as we have seen, that politics and religions were not clearly separated at that time. During the edo period, Buddhism was nationalized through the institutionalization of both the Religious Inquisition System and the danka system (family membership to a temple). monks served as census registrars, or ‘ofﬁcial monks’ for the shogunate. Until a few decades ago, the general view was that monks in the edo period worked within the danka system and engaged only in funerals as their main service or contribution to the community (funerary Buddhism), but also that they were corrupt and did little to look after the wider needs of the community. however, recently, the edo period is looked upon as the time when the various Buddhist sects which developed during the Kamakura period really took root throughout Japan as temples of each sect were built in villages across the country, and as all households were registered, in principle at least, as Buddhists.2

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A History of Japanese Buddhism

Temple control policies in the early Edo era After winning the battle of Sekigahara,tokugawa Ieyasu stood at the top of the warrior class and instigated a policy to bring under his control all the Buddhist temple forces that had been chal- lenging the warrior forces during the medieval period, and accordingly proclaimed the temple Control ordinances (ji-in shohatto 寺院諸法度). Beginning with the ‘Ko#yasan temple Control ordinance’ issued in the fifth month of 1601, the ordinances were sent to influential temples one by one until the seventh month of 1615. It should be noted that these temples became the head temples of the respective Buddhist sects. the content of the ordinances differed from one temple to another. the common points were the revocation of a temple’s right to deny entry to their premises by local military commis- sioners (shugo), and the redefinition of temples as teaching institutions. Amongst other things, the ordinances made provi- sion for learned monks to be assigned to historic temples, and that monks should devote themselves to studying and promoting Buddhism. today, these things may appear normal for religious bodies. however, the fact is that at this time enryakuji, Ko#fukuji, Ko#yasan and other temples supported large groups of armed monks. It should be no surprise, therefore, thattokugawa Ieyasu attempted to disarm them, direct them to engage only in Buddhist learning and teaching, and at the same time place them under the control of the shogunate. furthermore, as each indi- vidual ordinance was given a specific name, such as the ‘Shingon-Sect Control ordinance’, the shogunate’s objective was to bring about a closer relationship between the head temple and branch temples of each sect. the policies of the edo shogunate helped to restructure the Buddhist sects, as well as establish the Shingon, Jo#do and nichiren sects, which have continued to the present day. Su#den 崇伝 (1569–1633) andtenkai 天海 (1536?–1643) were the main players who supported the new temple policies in the early edo era.

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