DOCSLIB.ORG

Nor Is It Clear to Me, As People Are Born and Die, Where They Are

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Nor Is It Clear to Me, As People Are Born and Die, Where They Are “Know that we are not good persons”: Pure Land Buddhism and the ethics of exile. Melissa Anne-Marie Curley Faculty of Religious Studies McGill University, Montreal June, 2009 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Melissa Anne-Marie Curley, 2009 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the notion of the Pure Land (Jōdo 浄土) as an immanent utopia in both classical Buddhist sources and modern Japanese thought. The first half of the dissertation presents the argument that the idea of a Pure Land existing in this world was in wide circulation before the modern period, and that the orthodoxy of a strictly- transcendent Pure Land is a modern invention. The second half of the dissertation explores how modern thinkers respond to this orthodoxy by once again positing an immanent Pure Land. It focuses particularly on how notions introduced by the modern Buddhist thinkers Kiyozawa Manshi and Soga Ryōjin are taken up and interpreted by the Kyoto School philosophers Miki Kiyoshi and Tanabe Hajime. It concludes that the ethical and political significance of the modern Pure Land lies in its identification of the utopian space of the Pure Land with the space of exile or homelessness. RÉSUMÉ La présente thèse examine la notion de terre pure (Jōdo 浄土) vue en tant qu’utopie dans le bouddhisme classique ainsi que dans la pensée japonaise moderne. La première partie défend la thèse selon laquelle l’idée d’une terre pure existant dans ce monde était commune avant la période moderne, et que la notion selon laquelle seule une terre pure conçue comme étant strictement transcendante est orthodoxe est une invention moderne. La seconde partie de la thèse décrit la façon dont les penseurs modernes répondent à cette nouvelle orthodoxie en avançant de nouveau une terre pure immanente, et se penche en particulier sur la façon dont des notions introduites par les penseurs bouddhistes modernes Kiyozawa Manshi et Soga Ryōjin sont reprises et interprétées par les philosophes de l’école de Kyoto Miki Kiyoshi et Tanabe Hajime. La thèse conclut que l’importance éthique et politique de la terre pure moderne repose sur le fait qu’elle identifie l’espace utopique de la terre pure avec l’espace d’exil ou d’absence de demeure. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I received generous support in the research and writing of this dissertation from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, in the form of both a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship and a McGill Internal SSHRC Grant, from the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, and from the Faculty of Religious Studies of McGill University, which provided an unexpected and deeply appreciated Dean’s Fellowship in the final year of my program. In the early stages of my research, I was able to spend a semester at Ōtani University as a fellow. This would have been impossible without the assistance of Yasutomi Shin’ya and Robert F. Rhodes; I am extremely grateful to both of them. I also thank Sasaki Ayako and the staff at Nichibunken for all their help, and Iwamoto Akemi and Mizuno Ayumi for their kindness. Among my many amazing colleagues at McGill, I would like particularly to thank Lara Braitstein, Davesh Soneji, and Katherine K. Young for all their kindness and good advice. My first trip to Japan was taken in the company of the wonderful Cindy Bentley and Jessica Main. I cannot express how lucky I feel to have had the opportunity to argue with them over the years. I am likewise very thankful to have had Rong Dao as the fourth member of our cohort, and am saddened at the prospect of abandoning her and the other members of the CCBTTS, Chris Byrne and Lin Fan. Thanks also to Nishitani-lovers Alnis Dickson, Julian Menezes, and Katherine Narraway; Shahin Parhami and Catherine Lejtenyi, the most glamorous people I know personally; Philippe Turenne for giving me perhaps the most valuable single piece of advice I received during my time as a graduate student (and also for translating my abstract); Varant Original Gu Arslanian; my much- adored Erin Reid; and my role model for humany humanness Meera Kachroo. While at McGill, I twice had the opportunity to teach our upper-level seminar on Pure Land Buddhism. I am deeply grateful to all of the students who studied Pure Land with me for working so hard and for teaching me so much. Along with Erin, Katherine, and Rong Dao then, I thank Ian Bacher, Michael Braff, Christopher Cairns, Dinaz Colabewala, Naomi Collins, Jennifer Elward, Gwen Fisher, Trevor Fraser, Daniel Gelfer, 3 Sasha Iliouchine, Emily Kathan, Conor Lavelle, Evan Montpellier, Jodie Shyptika, Michael Urquhart, Sophia Warshall, Elena Young; Alex Beveridge, Stephanie Butcher, Sylvia Chomko, Diya Chopra, Sean Cronin, Akané D’Orangeville, Melissa da Silva, Conrad Eng, David Ewing, Brad Goldberg, Wesley Hardy-Johnson, Shannon Lawrence, Megan Lee, Ella Marcantonio, Samantha Michael, Anna Michalcevova, Avra Morein, Robert Noble, Nicholas Pang, Lauren Pochereva, Alexandra Prince, Madison Robins, Kelly Schuster, Kate Somerville, Jessica Tatlow, Tara Viglione, Devon Welsh, Davis Wood, and Aleana Young. I am filled with shame (feels like gratitude). In the early months of work on this dissertation, I had the opportunity to present some of my research on Miki as part of the Kyoto School Seminar, hosted at McGill and sponsored by the Numata Foundation. There I received a number of extremely helpful suggestions; I would like especially to thank John Maraldo and David Dilworth for their comments, and Mark Blum for his thoughts on a longer version of my conference paper. In the final months of work on this dissertation, I had the good fortune of participating in a graduate fellows’ workshop hosted by the Religion in the Public Sphere project at the University of Toronto, where I received exceptionally valuable feedback from Ken Kawashima, and was inspired by the insights shared by my fellow fellows, as well as by Ruth Marshall, Juhn Ahn, and Pamela Klassen. Thanks to Professor Klassen and Kendra Hawke for orchestrating this exciting meeting. It seems to me now that every single opportunity I have taken advantage of as I progressed toward the completion of this dissertation has been made possible, in ways big or small, by one person: Victor Hori, who remains the finest thinker and finest teacher I have ever known. I took my first class with Professor Hori when I was twenty years old. That means that he has now spent close to fifteen years making endless efforts on my behalf. The debt I owe to him is incalculable. Finally I thank my mother, Anne Jewell, and my father, Thomas Curley, who have been my staunchest supporters. Without their encouragement, patience, and bottomless love, I would never have started my graduate work and could never have completed it. I thank them with all my heart and promise that in the future I will have a comfortable guest room and a telephone. 4 NOTE ON TRANSLATIONS AND ROMANIZATION Translations of the Larger and Smaller sūtras are from Luis Gómez, as indicated. Translations of the material from the rest of the Shinshū Seiten are taken from the Ōtani translation series. Translations of Tanabe’s Zangedō toshite tetsugaku are from Takeuchi Yoshinori’s Philosophy as Metanoetics. Where an available and felicitous translation of other materials exists, I have tried to use it. Translations of Kiyozawa and Miki are for the most part my own. My translation of Miki Kiyoshi’s essay on Shinran in particular benefited tremendously from the input of Victor Sōgen Hori, and Iwamoto Akemi; whatever errors or infelicities remains are entirely my fault. Romanization has not been provided for Japanese phrases more than four characters long, except in the case of proper nouns, and in those instances where the expression is referred to more than once in the text. Romanization follows the revised Hepburn system, with the syllabic n (ん) always written as n, even before labial consonants (so nenbutsu rather than nembutsu). When quoting from authors using the traditional Hepburn system, I have taken the liberty of changing the romanization to revised Hepburn, except where such a change would make it difficult to locate the reference, as when the word in question appears in the title. Similarly, diacritical marks have been inserted even where they did not appear in the text being quoted, with the exception of those words that have entered the common English lexicon. Any errors on this score are again my responsibility. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER ONE: THE LAND IN PURE LAND ......................................................................... 25 The Polemics of Transcendence.................................................................................... 25 Spatial Imagination in the Pure Land Sūtras: The Pure Land as Heterotopia.............. 33 Social Imagination in the Pure Land Sūtras: The Pure Land as Counter-Order .......... 41 The Extremes of the Contemplation Sūtra .................................................................... 46 Spatial Imagination in Chinese Pure Land Thought: The Pure Land as Reward Land 54 Social Imagination in Chinese Pure Land Thought: The Pure Land as Heterochrony 58 Locating the Pure Land in Heian Japan ........................................................................ 63 Local Pure Lands and the Manipulation of History ...................................................... 73 CHAPTER TWO: IMAGINARY
Load more

Recommended publications
  • After Kiyozawa: a Study of Shin Buddhist Modernization, 1890-1956
    After Kiyozawa: A Study of Shin Buddhist Modernization, 1890-1956 by Jeff Schroeder Department of Religious Studies Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Richard Jaffe, Supervisor ___________________________ James Dobbins ___________________________ Hwansoo Kim ___________________________ Simon Partner ___________________________ Leela Prasad Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Religious Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2015 ABSTRACT After Kiyozawa: A Study of Shin Buddhist Modernization, 1890-1956 by Jeff Schroeder Department of Religious Studies Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Richard Jaffe, Supervisor ___________________________ James Dobbins ___________________________ Hwansoo Kim ___________________________ Simon Partner ___________________________ Leela Prasad An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Religious Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2015 Copyright by Jeff Schroeder 2015 Abstract This dissertation examines the modern transformation of orthodoxy within the Ōtani denomination of Japanese Shin Buddhism. This history was set in motion by scholar-priest Kiyozawa Manshi (1863-1903), whose calls for free inquiry, introspection, and attainment of awakening in the present life represented major challenges to the
    [Show full text]
  • Crisis and Revival of Meiji Buddhism
    International Inoue Enryo Research 2 (2014): 55‒73 © 2013 by International Association for Inoue Enryo Research ISSN 2187-7459 CRISIS AND REVIVAL OF MEIJI BUDDHISM Frédéric GIRARD 0 Introduction The Meiji Era 明治時代 (1868–1912) was often considered to be an age of enlighten- ment, because it came after a long period of isolation. Japan opened itself to the Occi- dent, which was considered synonymous with modernization. Japan believed itself pro- gressive when it adopted and wholeheartedly accepted the epistemology and know- ledge, as well as the technologies and sciences, that came from the West. The con- scious steps towards modernization also included disciplines in the humanities, that 0 Frédéric GIRARD, professor of Intellectual History of Japan, Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient EFEO in Paris and Tokyo. GIRARD IIR 2 (2014) | 55 were previously unknown in Japan. New methodologies in the fields of philology, comparative religious studies, critical philosophy, logic and historiography came to be used in parallel with those already extant in the Japanese tradition. In the religious context, the concepts of enlightenment, modernization and pro- gress are problematic due to their hierarchical view of culture. However, during the Meiji Era, Buddhism hoped to benefit from modernization. The concepts of seculariza- tion and religious freedom were introduced during a time of persecution of Buddhism and the consolidation of State Shintō. The first part of this article sheds some light on this period by introducing the activities of the Rinzai monk, DOKUEN Shōshu 独園承珠 (1819–1895). The dialogues of Émile GUIMET (1936–1918) with Buddhist priests around the same time add to the historical picture.
    [Show full text]
  • Tragédia Mais Gloriosa Que Dolorosa» O Discurso Missionário Sobre A
    «Tragédia mais Gloriosa que Dolorosa» O Discurso Missionário sobre a Perseguição aos Cristãos Tese apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do no Regime Tokugawa na Imprensa Europeia grau de Doutor em História dos Descobrimentos e da Expansão Portuguesa, realizada sob a orientação científica de João(1598 Paulo –Oliveira 1650 e) Costa e Ana Isabel Buescu Ana Cantante Mota Fernandes Pinto Apoio financeiro do POCTI no âmbito do III Quadro Comunitário de Apoio. Tese de(SFRH/BD/4927/2001) Doutoramento em História dos Descobrimentos e da Expansão Portuguesa Abril, 2014 DECLARAÇÕES Ao António Pela tolerância ao martírio. AGRADECIMENTOS Foram várias as instituições e as pessoas que me apoiaram e contribuíram para esta dissertação de doutoramento. Ao Professor João Paulo Costa, meu mestre e orientador, devo o interesse pelo Japão e a confiança que, ao longo dos anos, depositou em mim. À Professora Ana Isabel Buescu, minha co-orientadora, agradeço as novas perspectivas de análise e uma palavra de sincero reconhecimento pela leitura atenta deste trabalho. Sem Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, que me concedeu uma bolsa de doutoramento e apoiou as minhas deslocações às principais bibliotecas europeias, e sem o Centro de História de Além Mar (CHAM), com o seu ambiente académico estimulante, esta dissertação este trabalho não se teria realizado. Aos amigos, agradeço em particular a Liam Brockey e a Manuel Lobato, a quem devo as observações inteligentes, a João Teles, pelas perspectivas históricas inspiradoras, e à Alexandra Curvelo, cujo rigor científico procurei mimetizar. À Mariana Magalhães, à Helena Barros e à Inês Versos agradeço o empurrão final nos aspectos informáticos e logísticos.
    [Show full text]
  • Link for Misunderstandings of Master Rennyo
    N a m o A m i d a B u t s u MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF MASTER RENNYO Eiken K ÇÇÇbai INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 3 FOREWORD................................................................................................................................. 7 CHAPTER ONE - MISUNDERSTANDINGS REGARDING MASTER RENNYO’S TEACHING................................................................................................................................. 13 TURNING OF THE MIND/HEART........................................................................................ 13 SHINJIN AND ANJIN ............................................................................................................. 22 “‘GROUP OF THOSE CORRECTLY ASSURED’ IN THE ‘PRESENT LIFE’” AND “MATTER OF GREATEST IMPORTANCE IN THE NEXT LIFE”..................................... 27 ATTITUDE TOWARDS THOSE IN AUTHORITY............................................................... 34 “SHINJIN IS THE CORRECT CAUSE” AND “RECITING THE NAME IN GRATITUDE” ................................................................................................................................................... 53 THE PROBLEM OF “MERIT-TRANSFERENCE IN THE ASPECT OF RETURNING” ... 61 CHAPTER TWO - THE WORLD OF “THE GROUP OF THOSE ASSURED IN THE PRESENT” .................................................................................................................................. 75 THE ESSENCE
    [Show full text]
  • Zen War Stories
    ZEN WAR STORIES Following the critically acclaimed Zen at War (1997), Brian Daizen Victoria here explores the intimate relationship between Japanese institutional Buddhism and militarism during the Second World War. Victoria reveals for the first time, through examination of the wartime writings of the Japanese military itself, that the Zen school’s view of life and death was deliberately incorporated into the military’s programme of ‘spiritual education’ in order to develop a fanatical military spirit in both soldiers and civilians. Furthermore, it is shown that D. T. Suzuki, the most famous exponent of Zen in the West, was a wartime proponent of this Zen-inspired viewpoint which enabled Japanese soldiers to leave for the battlefield already resigned to death. Victoria takes us on to the naval battlefield in the company of warrior-monk and Rinzai Zen Master Nakajima Genjō. We view the war in China through the eyes of a Buddhist military chaplain. The book also examines the relationship to Buddhism of Japan’s seven class-A war criminals, hung by the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal in 1948. A highly controversial study, this book will be of interest not only to those studying the history of the period, but also to anyone concerned with the perennial question of the ‘proper’ relationship between religion and state. Brian Daizen Victoria is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Asian Studies, the University of Adelaide. THE ROUTLEDGECURZON CRITICAL STUDIES IN BUDDHISM SERIES General Editors: Charles S. Prebish and Damien Keown The RoutledgeCurzon Critical Studies in Buddhism Series is a comprehensive study of the Buddhist tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • 1513-Kano Motonobu and Soami Decorate the Abbot's Quarters of The
    Chronology 1467- - Onin War: collapse of ccntral authority; beginning of Sengoku 1477 period 1471 - death of the dobo Noami 1474 - Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa abandons his office (7 January; Bunmei 5/12/19) 1476? - Soami completes the compilation of the handbook on Higashi- yama aesthetics, Kundaikan sochoki, begun by Noami 1479 - Yamashina Honganji founded by Rennyo, the pontiff of the True Pure Land sect 1482 - Ashikaga Yoshimasa begins building the Higashiyama Villa (site of the Silver Pavilion) 1484 - by this year, a local autonomous council called the Egoshu is functioning in Sakai 1485 - local leaders of the province of Yamashiro form a league (ikki) and take over the administration of the southern part of the prov- ince (until 1493) 1488 - adherents of the True Pure Land sect, organized as the Ikko ikki, take over the province of Kaga (until 1580) 1490 - death of Ashikaga Yoshimasa 1496 - Rennyo founds the Ishiyama Dojo in Osaka: forerunner of the Ishiyama Honganji 1500 - the Gion Festival, lapsed since the Onin War, is revived in Kyoto 1502 - death of the tea master Murata Shuko 1505 - the great popularity of Bon odori in Kyoto causes the shogunate to prohibit the dance 1506 - death ofthe painter Sesshu Toyd (b. 1420) 1507 - Tosa Mitsunobu paints a screen depicting Kyoto for the Asakura daimyo ofEchizen: a prototype Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu byobu X CHRONOLOGY 1513 - Kano Motonobu and Soami decorate the Abbot's Quarters of the Daisen 'in 1515 - Toyohara Sumiaki writes Taigensho, a study of court music 1517 - the rcnga master Saiokuken
    [Show full text]
  • Only Shinran Will Not Betray Us
    Only Shinran Will Not Betray Us: Takeuchi Ryō’on (1891-1967), the Ōtani-ha Administration, and Burakumin Jessica L. Main Faculty of Religious Studies McGill University, Montreal April 2012 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Jessica L. Main, 2012 Table of contents Table of contents i Abstract iii Résumé v Acknowledgements vii A note on usage and conventions x Introduction: Buddhist ethics and buraku discrimination 1 Shin Buddhism and burakumin 2 The story of a burakumin, “Satoru Kawada” 5 Institutional ethics and conflict within the Ōtani-ha sect 15 Buddhist ethics and socially engaged Buddhism 26 Dissertation outline: reading Shin Buddhist ethics in modern history 40 PART I Causing discrimination: Shin Buddhism’s historical responsibility 47 1 Theories of buraku discrimination and the role of Buddhism 47 The study of burakumin in English language scholarship 49 Buddhism as source of discriminatory beliefs: 67 Shin Buddhist preachers deploying discriminatory beliefs 70 2 Shin Buddhism, devotion, and separating the pure from the polluted 81 Shin Buddhism in a nutshell 84 Purity, pollution, and devotion 99 Historical discrimination in Shin Buddhism 107 PART II Curing discrimination: Shin Buddhism’s revolutionary potential 125 3 Buddhism and human rights: egalitarian doctrine and charitable work 125 Shimaji Mokurai’s “The Theory of Human Rights” 126 Contemporary arguments for Buddhism and human rights 135 Ahistorical arguments about “Buddhism” and “human
    [Show full text]
  • SHIN BUDDHISM and JAPANESE SOCIETY Ugo Dessì Until Recently Most of the Relatively Few Studies on Jōdo Shinshū
    INTRODUCTION: SHIN BUDDHISM AND JAPANESE SOCIETY Ugo Dessì Until recently most of the relatively few studies on Jōdo Shinshū 浄土 真宗 (True Pure Land denomination), or Shin Buddhism, published in the English language have reflected a sectarian approach, namely, the interest of Shin Buddhist believers in their own tradition and their concern about promoting their religion within a wider audience of read- ers, or have attempted to develop forms of interreligious dialogue with Christianity and philosophical discourses. While these approaches are respectable in their respective fields, it is noticeable that there has been a relative disinterest in this topic by modern religious studies. One of the reasons for this, as has been suggested by Galen Amstutz and others, is probably the fact that Shin Buddhism substantially lacks many of those ‘exotic’ features, such as focus on meditation and mystical experiences, that have attracted the interest of generations of orientalists.1 Despite the marginalization to which Shin Buddhism has been sub- jected in ‘western’ (but not in Japanese) religious studies, this religious tradition has had a significant presence in Japanese history and cul- ture at least from the fifteenth century onward. It was in this period that the proselytizing work of Rennyo 蓮如 (1415–1499) successfully attracted most of the communities of nenbutsu practitioners which had developed from the earlier preaching of the ‘founder’ Shinran 親鸞 (1173–1262), and masses of new converts as well, to form one of the most powerful religious communities
    [Show full text]
  • What Is Shin Buddhism?
    1 1. What Is Shin Buddhism? Nobuo Haneda The more ripe a cluster of rice becomes, the lower it bows down its head. ¾A Japanese proverb Shin Buddhism, or the teachings of Shinran (1173-1262), teaches us the importance of humility, the most important universal virtue. Many people think that the ultimate goal in Buddhism as well as human life is to become good. But according to Shinran, it is to become humble. Being good is not good enough; we must become humble persons. We must know our evilness, the existence of our ineradicable egoism. We must know our ignorance, the limitations of our intellects. We must become humble persons who can say, “I’m evil and ignorant.” In order to explain that Shin Buddhism teaches us the importance of humility, let me first discuss the two stages of life that Shinran experienced. Two Stages in Shinran’s Life The most important event in Shinran’s life was his meeting with Honen (1133-1212, the founder of the Jodo [Pure Land] School), when Shinran was twenty-eight. This event divided his life into two stages: the period before the meeting was the first stage and the period after it was the second stage. When Shinran met Honen, Shinran realized that he had had a shallow view of Buddhahood. His thoughts on the subject went through a total transformation. Before Shinran met Honen, Shinran thought that a Buddha was a good and wise person¾a holy person who was possessed of wonderful virtues. In order to become such a Buddha, Shinran attempted to purify himself by eliminating evil passions.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dilemma of Religious Power Honganji and Hosokawa Masamoto
    The Dilemma of Religious Power Honganji and Hosokawa Masamoto Michael Solomon Jōdo Shinshū,*,1 Japan’s largest Buddhist sect, has two main branches and two head temples: Nishi (West) Honganji and Higashi (East) Honganji.2 Located a short distance apart and in close proximity to Kyoto Station, they are not only the first historical landmarks to confront the visitor arriving by train but are among the most imposing of the many temples in the old capital city. The vast compounds of the two Honganjis are generally thronged with people. Among them, the adherents of the sect, or monto, greatly outnum- ber ordinary sightseers.3 The grandiose buildings and crowds of pilgrims re- call the time about four hundred years ago when there was but one Honganji, whose monto followers were organized into a dedicated fighting force, and whose combined religious and temporal power was on a scale unique in Japanese history. Indeed, the division of Honganji into the present two branches was itself the price the sect had to pay for its political and military involvement. After ten years of battle, Honganji’s military power was finally broken by Oda Nobunaga’s army of national reunification in 1580. In 1602 Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, sponsored the found- ing of a new Honganji (Higashi Honganji) just to the east of the existing one Source: Solomon, Michael, “The Dilemma of Religious Power. Honganji and Hosokawa Masamoto,” Monumenta Nipponica 33(1) (1978): 51–65. * The Author is Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Oakland University. Grateful acknowledgement is made to the Japan Foundation, which supported the research on which this article is based.
    [Show full text]
  • “Ōsaka Ports and Shipping - Institutions and Organisations from Ancient Times to the Meiji Restoration”
    “Ōsaka Ports and Shipping - Institutions and Organisations from Ancient Times to the Meiji Restoration” Unpublished Resource Paper for Transport Studies Unit (TSU) Seminar 14 February 2017 NOT FOR PUBLICATION – COMMENTS WELCOME John Black, Foundation Professor of Transport Engineering, UNSW Australia Visiting Scholar, Transport Studies Unit, Oxford University ABSTRACT The Ōsaka region has a rich maritime history of exchange and trade that is partially documented from the time that Suminoe was an international port for diplomatic missions before it was overshadowed by Naniwa Port when the capital was moved to there in the 8th Century. From Kamakura times (1185-1333) the regional warlords controlled trade and the turmoil of civil war encouraged piracy in domestic and international waters. Political stability with the unification of Japan in the Edo era (1603 – 1867) resulted in clear documentation on port activities with the importance of rice as a taxation commodity and the elevated national importance of Ōsaka port as a commercial hub. The questions we pose about Ōsaka ports from ancient times to the beginning of the Meiji Restoration are: what institutions and organisations were the dominant players in port administration at any point of time? Whose interests did the port serve? And how have these institutions and organisations changed over time, especially the change agents that triggered reform? To help answer these broad questions we draw on selected aspects of the “new institutional economics” (NIE) that have been recently applied to port administration and port labour markets. The historical period covered in our analysis is from the Japanese ancient period to the Meiji restoration (1868) with its reform of government institutions along Western models.
    [Show full text]
  • "The Sin of Slandering the True Dharma in Nichiren's Thought" (2012)
    ll2 JAMES C. DOBBINS Takase Taisen i%1J!ii:kl[. "Shinran no Ajase kan"' ®.ll!'0fi'Trl!'l"tl!:1ll!. IndogakuBukkyiigaku kenkyii. f'Di3!:${bllit'J!:liJIJ'l; 52.1 (December zoos): 68-70. YataRyOshO fk.IE TiJ. "Kakunyo ni okeruakuninshOkisetsuno tenkai" W:ftDIZ:.:f31t 0~ AlEjjj!Jm(l) ,!llr,::J. In Sh;nrGJl kyiifb_aku no shomondai ®.ll!'W1$0ll1\'Po~l1!l, ed. RyUkoku THE SIN OF "SLANDERING THE TRUE DHARMA'' Daigaku Shinshil Gakkai -~~~j;;:TJ4**~· Kyoto: Nagata Bunshodo, 1987. IN NICHIREN'S THOUGHT "Rennyo ni okeru akunin sh6ki setsu no tenkai" l!li'ftof;::JOft o!!,!;AlEjjj\Jm0,!llr,::J. lnRemryo taike; l!l'ftD{21<:*, voL z., ed. KakehashiJitsuen i!f;)!(~ eta!. Kyoto: Hozokan, 1996. Jacqueline I. Stone "Zonkaku ni okeru akunin sh6ki setsu no tenkai" i'¥fto f;::jO It{\ Jl,!;AlE#li1m0 MIJH. Shinshilgaku J)J;fi<$ 77 (February 1988): 12-13. In considering the category of ''sin" in comparative perspective, certain acts, such as murder and· theft, appear with some local variation to be proscribed across traditions. Other offenses, while perhaps not deemed such by the researcher's own cuJture, nonetheless fa!J into recognizable categories of moral and ritual transgression, such as failures of filial piety or violations of pnrity taboos. Some acts characterized as wrongdoing, however, are so specific to a particular historical or cognitive context as to require an active exercise of imagination on the scholar's part to reconstruct the hermeneutical framework within which they have been abhorred and condemned. Such is the case with the medieval Japanese · Buddhist figure Nichiren B:il (1222-1282) and his fierce opposition to the sin of "slandering the True Dharma" (hihO shi5bi5 ~lwHE$, or sim­ ply hobo lW$).
    [Show full text]