BREAKING the COSMIC CIRCLE: Religion in a Japanese Village
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' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '' ' ,, ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '' ,'' ' ' ' ' ' ',, ,, ",'fi ' ' '" ' ' ' ' •,i ' ' ' ' ' Breaking the Cosmic Circ/f:): ' ' Reljgion in a,.JapanesrJIViliage ' by Bernard B"3rnier ' ' ' ' ' ' ' BREAKING THE COSMIC CIRCLE: Religion in a Japanese Village by Bernard Bernier China-Japan Program Cornell University Ithaca, New York 14853 The CornellEast Asia Series ispublished by the CornellUniversity East Asia Program (distinct.fromCornell University Press). We publishaffordably priced bookson a variety of scholarly topics relating to East Asia as a service to the academic community and the general public. Standing orders, which provide for automatic notificationand invoicing of each title in the series upon publication, are accepted. If after review by internal and externalreaders a manuscript isaccepted for publication, it ispublished on the basis of camera-ready copy provided by the volume author. Each author isthus responsiblefor any necessary copy-editing and for manuscript fo1·111atting. Address submission inquiries to CEAS Editorial Board, East Asia Program, Cornell University,Ithaca, New York 14853-7601. Number5 in the CornellEast Asia Series Online edition copyright© 2007, print edition copyright© 1975 Bernard Bernier. All rights reserved ISSN 1050-2955 (formerly 8756-5293) ISBN-13 978-1-933947-80-8 / ISBN-10 1-933947-80-2 CAUTION: Exceptfor brief quotations in a review, no part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form without permissionin writing fromthe author. Please addressinquiries to Bernard Bernierin care of the EastAsia Program, CornellUniversity, 140 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY14853-7601 CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements...... , . "'............. , ..........................i List of Tables...............................................iii List of Maps......... , ........... , ...... , .. •11:••·················iii Introduction ............... "'............. , .. "I • •• ••••••••• •• •••••1 Chapter 1 - Ethnographic Background ................. , ......... 3 Chapter 2 - The Institutional Aspect of Religion .............37 Chapter 3 - The Annual Cycle of Rituals...................... SO Chapter 4 - The Rituals of the Life-Cycle .................... 97 Chapter 5 - Pollution, Ancestor Worship........ � ............ 106 Chapter 6 - The New Religions........................ ; ...... 116 Chapter 7 - The Religion of Sone: An Interpretation .........129 Conclusion..................................................· 165 Footnotes......... , ........ � ................................ 170 Glossary ............... ·..................................... 18 0 Bibliography................................................183 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This monograph is based on my doctoral dissertation in anthropology, which was submitted to Cornell University in January 1970. Three important changes have been made: (1) Two chapters of the thesis do not appear in this book: Chapter 1: Theoretical background, and Chapter 5: Dialectic study of change. However, many elements of the latter have been included here in Chapters 1 and 7. (2) The original Chapter 3: Religion has been divided into four chapters: Chapter 2: Institutional aspects of religion; Chapter 3: The annual cycle of rit�als; Chapter 5: Pollution; Ancestor worship; and Chapter 6: The New Religions. (3) One chapter (Chapter 5) on the rituals of the life-cycle has been added. The field-work on which the dissertation was based was undertaken from October 1967 to October 1968, and was made possi ble by a research grant from the London-Cornell Project. Subse quent field-work during the summer of 1970 was financed by a research grant from the Canada Council of Arts. The Canada Council also gave me a one-year grant to write up the thesis. I wish to thank the following people for their assistance. Robert J. Smith read two drafts of the dissertation as well as one of the book. His criticisms were always stimulating and appropriate. Leighton Hazlehurst and Bernd Lambert also read and commented on the dissertation before it was submitted. Don Brown -and Howard Wimberley read the thesis after it was sub mitted and gave helpful comments. My colleagues at University of Montreal, Gillian Sankoff and Yvan Simonis read a draft of this - 1 • • 11 book and commented on it. I also wish to express my thanks to Victor W. Turner who taught me much about the study of religion, and Stephan Feuchtwang who read and commented on part of the dissertation. A paper presented at a London-Cornell Conference held in Ste�Adele-en Haut, P.Q., in August, 1969, has been partly incorporated here, and I wish to thank all the participants in this conference, as well as Leighton Hazlehurst and Lorna Amaras ingham who read an earlier draft of the same paper. I am particularly grateful to the Japanese scholars for their encouragement and help, and must mention particularly Professors Toichi Mabuchi and Seiichi Muratake of Tokyo Metropolitan University, Toshiaki Harada of Tokai University, and Mikiharu Ito of Kokuga- kuin University. Two local folklorists, Mr. Tameichiro Kuramoto and Yasuki Taira, were helpful during the period of field-work. Mr. Kuramoto allowed me to photocopy his manuscripts pertaining to Sone, which were of considerable help in my study. Of course, my work would not have been possible without th� generous collab oration of the people of Sone, Kata, Furue and Kajika, in partic ular Mr. Denjuro Sakai and Toshio Ishigaki and their families, and Mr. Nagahiro Yoshiwara. Sayaka Nagayama has been closely associated with my research in Japan, and she provided invaluable help at all stages, inter viewing, translating, commenting and typing. Without her constant help, this monograph could not have been written. Finally, I wish to thank Paola Adem, Gaetane Beaudoin, Micheline Courbron and Cathline Demers who typed parts or drafts of this text and Lucien Goupil and Marcel' Smith, who drew the maps. LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1 - Population, number of households and house hold size, of Owase City, Sone, Kata, Furue and Kajika, December, 1967 .....•...•............. , ..s Table 2 - Population of Sone, 196 2-1967 ....................... 5 Table 3 - Population of Sone, by age group and by sex, 1963...6 Table 4 - Population of Sone, by age group, 1962 and 1967 .....7 Table 5 - Number of units and production· of pearls, Japan, 1955-1966., .. � .. � ... � .... � ......................... 20 Table 6 - Exports of pearls, Japan, 1958-1966 ................ 20 Table 7 - Tablets in Sone and their category of relationship to the household ..........e..........................111 Table 8 - List of nothers" ..........••.•.................... 111 Table 9 - Ascending generations represented by tablets in Sone, per household ...e......... , .....•............ 113 LIST OF MAPS (All maps .at end of monograph) Map 1 Japan Map 2 - South Mie Prefecture Map 3 - Sketch Map of Sone Map 4 - Kata Bay, Various Rights of Use • . - 111 - INTRODUCTION The post-World War II era has been one of considerable change in Japan, and the rural areas have not been spared. The Land Reform of 1947 was strongly "suggested'' to the Japanese government by the U.S. Occupation administration as a necessary step in breaking feudalism and its influence on rural society.1 Subsequent to this many other steps were tgken to democratize the villages. The consequences of these changes and many further innovations have irreversibly altered the quality of life in Japanese villages.e2 Religion was not untouched by this sweep·ing process. It is remarkable, therefore, that many of the rituals and beliefs of folk religion at the local level still continue to function more or less as before. There is no doubt that with respect to the structure and meaning of these rituals, and to their relations to the rest of culture and society, many modifications have been introduced, but the fact that the rituals still remain requires explanation. The village of Sone, Owase City, Mie Prefecture, in South western Japan, is a good case in point. Life in this coastal village is still interspersed with cyclical rituals, and ritual prohibitions are still largely respected. Sone is by no means a backward village, since every household has television--five or six even have color television; many have cars, more own a motor cycle, and all fishermen have motorboats. But despite the fact that modern technology has come to the village, rituals are still performed, albeit sometimes in a simplified way, and many people participate in them. This study is an attempt to describe, analyze and explain - .1 - - 2 - the religion of Sone. "Religion" is defined here only in opera tional terms, as all the rituals, and the beliefs which pertain to them, which could be observed during the periods of field work.2 These include the traditional rituals of the annual and the life cycles, and also the practices and doctrines of two so- - 3 called "new religions": Tenrikyo and Soka Gakkai. The analysis and explanation of the religion of Sone centers on the elements of the rituals and on their meanings. Social, political and economic aspects of life in Sone are included where they are necessary to shed light on some religious aspects. The method of analysis of ritual elements employed in this 4 study is based largely on V.W. Turner's work. However, some adjustments were necessary to suit the present material, the major one being that my analysis emphasizes the changes which have occurred in the symbolse. (The mode of application of the method to the Sone material is stated briefly in