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Reading the Miraculous Powers of Japanese Poetry Spells, Truth Acts, and a Medieval Buddhist Poetics of the Supernatural
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 32/: –33 © 2005 Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture R. Keller Kimbrough Reading the Miraculous Powers of Japanese Poetry Spells, Truth Acts, and a Medieval Buddhist Poetics of the Supernatural The supernatural powers of Japanese poetry are widely documented in the lit- erature of Heian and medieval Japan. Twentieth-century scholars have tended to follow Orikuchi Shinobu in interpreting and discussing miraculous verses in terms of ancient (arguably pre-Buddhist and pre-historical) beliefs in koto- dama 言霊, “the magic spirit power of special words.” In this paper, I argue for the application of a more contemporaneous hermeneutical approach to the miraculous poem-stories of late-Heian and medieval Japan: thirteenth- century Japanese “dharani theory,” according to which Japanese poetry is capable of supernatural effects because, as the dharani of Japan, it contains “reason” or “truth” (kotowari) in a semantic superabundance. In the first sec- tion of this article I discuss “dharani theory” as it is articulated in a number of Kamakura- and Muromachi-period sources; in the second, I apply that the- ory to several Heian and medieval rainmaking poem-tales; and in the third, I argue for a possible connection between the magico-religious technology of Indian “Truth Acts” (saccakiriyā, satyakriyā), imported to Japan in various sutras and sutra commentaries, and some of the miraculous poems of the late- Heian and medieval periods. keywords: waka – dharani – kotodama – katoku setsuwa – rainmaking – Truth Act – saccakiriyā, satyakriyā R. Keller Kimbrough is an Assistant Professor of Japanese at Colby College. In the 2005– 2006 academic year, he will be a Visiting Research Fellow at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture. -
Geography in Japan
GeographyReligion in in Japan Japan Purpose: This lesson will enable students to develop basic knowledge of Japan’s physical geography including absolute and relative location, factors contributing to climate, and temperature comparisons with the United States. Target Grade Level: 6-7 Essential questions: · What are the physical features of Japan? · Where is Japan located? · What effects do location, elevation, and ocean currents have on the climate of Japan? · How do temperatures in Japan compare to temperatures in the United States? Rationale: Location and physical features of a country affect climate. Key Ideas: · Japan is an island nation. · Japan is an archipelago similar to other archipelagoes in the Pacific (Hawaii, Philippines, Micronesia). · Japan is an archipelago similar to other archipelagoes in the Pacific (Hawaii, Philippines, Micronesia). · Japan stretches from 25 to 45 degrees N latitudes and from 128 to 145 degrees E longitudes. · Japan is an island nation consisting of four main islands (Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku, and Kyushu) and many small islands. · The Pacific Ocean is on the south and east of Japan and the Sea of Japan is on the north and west of Japan. · Japan is east of Korea and China, north of the equator, and east of the Prime Meridian. · If super imposed on the U. S., Japan would stretch from Tampa Florida to Montreal. · Japan has many of the same climates, as we would find in the United States. Learning AboutLessons Our Worldabout Japan - 143 GeographyReligion in of Japan Japan Materials: · Wall maps, globes, -
World Philosophies in Dialogue: a Shared Wisdom?
Confluence Online Journal of World Philosophies Verlag Karl Alber Freiburg/Munich Vol. 2 · 2015 ISSN 2199-0360 · ISBN 978-3-495-46802-9 Confluence: Online Journal of World Philosophies Editors Confluence: Online Journal of World Philosophies is a bi-annual, Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach (University Konstanz, Germany) peer-reviewed, international journal dedicated to comparative Geeta Ramana (University Mumbai, India) thought. It seeks to explore common spaces and differences between James Maffie (University of Maryland, USA) philosophical traditions in a global context. Without postulating cul- tures as monolithic, homogenous, or segregated wholes, it aspires to address key philosophical issues which bear on specific methodologi- Manuscript Editor cal, epistemological, hermeneutic, ethical, social, and political ques- tions in comparative thought. Confluence aims to develop the con- James Garrison (University of Vienna, Austria) tours of a philosophical understanding not subservient to dominant paradigms and provide a platform for diverse philosophical voices, including those long silenced by dominant academic discourses and Advisory Board institutions. Confluence also endeavors to serve as a juncture where specific philosophical issues of global interest may be explored in an Robert Bernasconi (Pennsylvania State University, USA) imaginative, thought-provoking, and pioneering way. Claudia Bickmann (University of Cologne, Germany) We welcome innovative and persuasive ways of conceptualizing, Anat Biletzki (Quinnipiac University, USA) articulating, and representing intercultural encounters. Contribu- Jonardon Ganeri (New York University, Abu Dhabi, UAE) tions should be able to facilitate the development of new perspectives Raghunath Ghosh (University of North Bengal, India) on current global thought-processes and sketch the outlines of salient Peter S. Groff (Bucknell University, USA) future developments. -
Visualizing the Classics: Intellectual Networks and Cultural Nostalgia
Cover Page The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/58771 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation Author: Kok, D.P. Title: Visualizing the classics : reading surimono and ky ka books as social and cultural history Issue Date: 2017-10-10 ō Chapter 5: Visualizing the classics: Intellectual networks and cultural nostalgia 5.1 Introduction This chapter investigates how kyōka poets acquired their knowledge of classical literature, discusses the way in which poets and illustrators visualized literature in their projects, and reflects on what their motivations were for referring to specific elements in cultural history. Shunman’s kokugaku connections have been elucidated by Tanaka, and kokugaku influences in two surimono series that Shunman designed in the first half of the 1810s have been researched by Carpenter.302 My investigation continues on their approach by tracing how other major kyōka poets and surimono designers were connected to intellectual networks of their time; in particular to scholars of the classical texts that inspired literary surimono series. Moreover, textual information in the surimono is matched to contemporaneous scholarship. Did knowledge of classical literature enter kyōka society via printed exegetical texts in commercial editions, or are ties to scholars generally so close that surimono creators had access to such knowledge already before the general public did? How did kyōka poets relate to the ideological underpinnings of the kokugaku movement? And is there any relation between birth class and the influx of cultural knowledge detectable in kyōka society? Answering these questions will clarify where surimono creators gained their understanding of the classical texts they visualized, and what role each of these creators played. -
Confluence 2015 G 1..292
Confluence Online Journal of World Philosophies Verlag Karl Alber Freiburg/Munich Vol. 2 · 2015 ISSN 2199-0360 · ISBN 978-3-495-46802-9 Confluence: Online Journal of World Philosophies Editors Confluence: Online Journal of World Philosophies is a bi-annual, Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach (University Konstanz, Germany) peer-reviewed, international journal dedicated to comparative Geeta Ramana (University Mumbai, India) thought. It seeks to explore common spaces and differences between James Maffie (University of Maryland, USA) philosophical traditions in a global context. Without postulating cul- tures as monolithic, homogenous, or segregated wholes, it aspires to address key philosophical issues which bear on specific methodologi- Manuscript Editor cal, epistemological, hermeneutic, ethical, social, and political ques- tions in comparative thought. Confluence aims to develop the con- James Garrison (University of Vienna, Austria) tours of a philosophical understanding not subservient to dominant paradigms and provide a platform for diverse philosophical voices, including those long silenced by dominant academic discourses and Advisory Board institutions. Confluence also endeavors to serve as a juncture where specific philosophical issues of global interest may be explored in an Robert Bernasconi (Pennsylvania State University, USA) imaginative, thought-provoking, and pioneering way. Claudia Bickmann (University of Cologne, Germany) We welcome innovative and persuasive ways of conceptualizing, Anat Biletzki (Quinnipiac University, USA) articulating, and representing intercultural encounters. Contribu- Jonardon Ganeri (New York University, Abu Dhabi, UAE) tions should be able to facilitate the development of new perspectives Raghunath Ghosh (University of North Bengal, India) on current global thought-processes and sketch the outlines of salient Peter S. Groff (Bucknell University, USA) future developments. -
Shinto, Primal Religion and International Identity
Marburg Journal of Religion: Volume 1, No. 1 (April 1996) Shinto, primal religion and international identity Michael Pye, Marburg eMail: [email protected] National identity and religious diversity in Japan Questions of social and political identity in Japan have almost always been accompanied by perceptions and decisions about religion. This is true with respect both to internal political issues and to the relations between Japan and the wider world. Most commonly these questions have been linked to the changing roles and fortunes of Shinto, the leading indigenous religion of Japan. Central though Shinto is however, it is important to realize that the overall religious situation is more complex and has been so for many centuries. This paper examines some of these complexities. It argues that recent decades in particular have seen the clear emergence of a more general "primal religion" in Japan, leaving Shinto in the position of being one specific religion among others. On the basis of this analysis some of the options for the Shinto religion in an age of internationalization are considered. The complexity of the relations between religion and identity can be documented ever since the Japanese reception of Chinese culture, which led to the self-definition of Shinto as the indigenous religion of Japan. The relationship is evident in the use of two Chinese characters to form the very word Shinto (shen-dao), which was otherwise known, using Japanese vocabulary, as kannagara no michi (the way in accordance with the kami).1 There are of course some grounds for arguing, apparently straightforwardly, that Shinto is the religion of the Japanese people. -
Shintō and Buddhism: the Japanese Homogeneous Blend
SHINTŌ AND BUDDHISM: THE JAPANESE HOMOGENEOUS BLEND BIB 590 Guided Research Project Stephen Oliver Canter Dr. Clayton Lindstam Adam Christmas Course Instructors A course paper presented to the Master of Ministry Program In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Ministry Trinity Baptist College February 2011 Copyright © 2011 by Stephen O. Canter All rights reserved Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served −Joshua TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements........................................................................................................... vii Introduction..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: The History of Japanese Religion..................................................................3 The History of Shintō...............................................................................................5 The Mythical Background of Shintō The Early History of Shintō The History of Buddhism.......................................................................................21 The Founder −− Siddhartha Gautama Buddhism in China Buddhism in Korea and Japan The History of the Blending ..................................................................................32 The Sects That Were Founded after the Blend ......................................................36 Pre-War History (WWII) .......................................................................................39 -
Rape in the Tale of Genji
SWEAT, TEARS AND NIGHTMARES: TEXTUAL REPRESENTATIONS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN HEIAN AND KAMAKURA MONOGATARI by OTILIA CLARA MILUTIN B.A., The University of Bucharest, 2003 M.A., The University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2008 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Asian Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2015 ©Otilia Clara Milutin 2015 Abstract Readers and scholars of monogatari—court tales written between the ninth and the early twelfth century (during the Heian and Kamakura periods)—have generally agreed that much of their focus is on amorous encounters. They have, however, rarely addressed the question of whether these encounters are mutually desirable or, on the contrary, uninvited and therefore aggressive. For fear of anachronism, the topic of sexual violence has not been commonly pursued in the analyses of monogatari. I argue that not only can the phenomenon of sexual violence be clearly defined in the context of the monogatari genre, by drawing on contemporary feminist theories and philosophical debates, but also that it is easily identifiable within the text of these tales, by virtue of the coherent and cohesive patterns used to represent it. In my analysis of seven monogatari—Taketori, Utsuho, Ochikubo, Genji, Yoru no Nezame, Torikaebaya and Ariake no wakare—I follow the development of the textual representations of sexual violence and analyze them in relation to the role of these tales in supporting or subverting existing gender hierarchies. Finally, I examine the connection between representations of sexual violence and the monogatari genre itself. -
RECREATING the PUBLIC and PRIVATE in JAPAN Meghan Sarah Fidler Southern Illinois University Carbondale, [email protected]
Southern Illinois University Carbondale OpenSIUC Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 12-1-2014 PAPER PEOPLE AND DIGITAL MEMORY: RECREATING THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE IN JAPAN Meghan Sarah Fidler Southern Illinois University Carbondale, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Fidler, Meghan Sarah, "PAPER PEOPLE AND DIGITAL MEMORY: RECREATING THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE IN JAPAN" (2014). Dissertations. Paper 950. This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at OpenSIUC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of OpenSIUC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PAPER PEOPLE AND DIGITAL MEMORY: RECREATING THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE IN JAPAN by Meghan Sarah Fidler B.A. Southern Illinois University, 2004 M.A. Southern Illinois University, 2007 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology in the Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale December 2014 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAPER PEOPLE AND DIGITAL MEMORY: RECREATING THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE IN JAPAN By Meghan Sarah Fidler A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of PhD. in the field of Anthropology Approved by: David E. Sutton, Chair Andrew Hofling Anthony K. Webster David Slater Roberto Barrios Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale September 12, 2014 AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF MEGHAN SARAH FIDLER, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in ANTHROPOLOGY, presented on September 12, 2014 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: PAPER PEOPLE AND DIGITAL MEMORY: RECREATING THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE IN JAPAN MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. -
Is Japan Religious?
Is Japan Religious? Christopher M. Kavanagh12 and Jonathan Jong13 1. Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford. 2. Department of Psychology, Rikkyo University 3. Centre for Psychology, Behavior and Achievement, Coventry University. Author Note Christopher M. Kavanagh https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7545-8137 We have no known conflict of interest. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Christopher Kavanagh, Institute of Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, OX2 6PN. Email: [email protected] 2 Abstract The popular image of Japan and religion presents something of a paradox. On the one hand, large cross-cultural surveys frequently present Japan as a country of non-believers, where only 10-15% of the population self-identify as religious and the vast majority rank religion as being of little importance to their lives. Yet, any visitor to Japan is likely to be struck by the sheer number of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples that dot the landscape and the diverse array of festivals (matsuri) that are performed at these sites. In this paper, we argue that the apparent paradox is actually an illusion generated by the unwarranted ethnocentric assumption that religion everywhere must resemble the features of the Abrahamic faiths that are predominant in Western societies. To make our case we first review recurrent theoretical and definitional debates concerning religion and examine how they relate to the Japanese context. Second, we explore patterns in contemporary data from an online survey of N =1,000 Japanese that asked about religious beliefs and practices. We illustrate through the results obtained that to understand religion in Japan it is necessary to move beyond theocentric approaches and expectations that religious belief must be tied to religious identities or exclusive membership in a given tradition. -
Japanese Approaches to the Meaning of Religion
Bucknell University Bucknell Digital Commons Faculty Journal Articles Faculty Scholarship Winter 1-1-2010 Beyond Belief: Japanese Approaches to the Meaning of Religion James Shields Bucknell University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/fac_journ Part of the Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, East Asian Languages and Societies Commons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Shields, James. "Beyond Belief: Japanese Approaches to the Meaning of Religion." Studies in Religion / Sciences religieuses (2010) : 133-149. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Bucknell Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of Bucknell Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses 000(00) 1–17 ª The Author(s) / Le(s) auteur(s), 2010 Beyond Belief: Japanese Reprints and permission/ Reproduction et permission: Approaches to the sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0008429810364118 Meaning of Religion sr.sagepub.com James Mark Shields Bucknell University, USA Abstract: For several centuries, Japanese scholars have argued that their nation’s culture—including its language, religion and ways of thinking—is somehow unique. The darker side of this rhetoric, sometimes known by the English term “Japanism” (nihon-jinron), played no small role in the nationalist fervor of the early late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. While much of the so-called “ideology of Japanese uniqueness” can be dismissed, in terms of the Japanese approach to “religion,” there may be something to it. -
The Invention of Japanese Religions Jason Ananda Josephson* Williams College
Religion Compass 5/10 (2011): 589–597, 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00307.x The Invention of Japanese Religions Jason Ananda Josephson* Williams College Abstract In recent years, the academic study of religion has begun to challenge the usefulness of the con- cept of ‘religion’ itself. This article examines the extension of this critical turn to the issue of Japa- nese religion. It traces the history of the invention of Japanese religions as conceptual categories and discusses debates about the continuities and discontinuities of ‘religion’ (shukyo) in Japan. Finally, it surveys the Japanese invention of ‘religion’ as a legal and political category. Introduction In 1703 London was abuzz with news that a native of Japanese-occupied Taiwan (For- mosa) had arrived on England’s shores. A popular dinner guest, this exotic foreigner regaled the Royal Society—Britain’s premiere scientific organization—with accounts of his far-flung homeland (Keevak, pp. 4–5). His celebrity status culminated in the publica- tion of a widely read book that contained one of the first accounts of Japanese religions in the English language, An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa, an Island subject to the Emperor of Japan (1704).1 Unlike the comparatively monolithic religious land- scape of 18th century Europe, the Japanese were said to have three distinct indigenous religions (Psalmanazar, pp. 167–9). One of these religions was idolatrous, another focused on the worship of God in nature, and a third was essentially atheistic and philosophical. While a contemporary reader would surely reject the expression ‘idolatrous’ as pejorative and inaccurate, she would be forgiven for seeing in this tripartite schema an early refer- ence to a way of describing Japanese religions that is still popular today.