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Kitō Jiin in Contemporary Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhism

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Kitō Jiin in Contemporary Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhism Brands of Zen: Kitō jiin in Contemporary Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhism Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Heidelberg, vorgelegt von: Tim Graf, M.A. Erstgutachterin: Prof. Dr. Inken Prohl Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Harald Fuess Datum: 07.07.2017 Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Research Questions and Goals for This Study ................................................................................ 7 A Theory of Religious Practice ......................................................................................................... 9 Towards a Working Definition of kitō ....................................................................................... 13 Material Religion ......................................................................................................................... 16 Religion and Marketing .............................................................................................................. 17 Methods ............................................................................................................................................ 19 Chapter Outlines ............................................................................................................................. 23 Chapter One: Historical Perspectives on ‘Zen’ and kitō ................................................................. 27 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 27 Prayers for State Protection in Early Japanese Buddhism ......................................................... 27 Kitō in Medieval Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhism ............................................................................ 30 Dōgen and kitō ............................................................................................................................. 30 Keizan and the Spread of kitō in Medieval Japan .................................................................... 32 Between Memorial and Prevention ............................................................................................ 34 Kitō in Early-Modern Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhism ................................................................... 37 Pilgrimage to kitō jiin .................................................................................................................. 39 Kitō in Modern Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhism .............................................................................. 43 Buddhism and the Nation State .................................................................................................. 43 Buddhist Modernism ................................................................................................................... 46 Kitō and the Rhetoric of ‘Decline’ in Sectarian and Academic Discourses ............................ 47 Kasuisai and the Separation of kami and Buddhas at Mt. Akiha ............................................... 54 The Cult of Akiha Sanjakubō Daigongen ................................................................................. 54 How Akiha Came to Kasuisai: Restructuring of the Akiha Cult in the Wake of shinbutsu bunri .............................................................................................................................................. 56 The Integration of Akiha in Modern Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhism .......................................... 61 Teaching Assemblies (kyōkai) ..................................................................................................... 61 Negotiating a Modern Doctrinal Foundation without Local Gods ......................................... 63 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 66 Chapter Two: Everyday Life at Kasuisai – Branding and Marketing kitō .................................... 68 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 68 The Setting ....................................................................................................................................... 69 Keeping a ‘Mountain Ghost’ Without a Mountain .................................................................. 69 1 A Miniature Pilgrimage .............................................................................................................. 71 Accessibility in an Aging Society ................................................................................................ 75 Understanding Kasuisai’s Marketing of Tokugawa History as a Redistribution of Spiritual Capital .......................................................................................................................................... 77 Ritual Circuits of Worship ............................................................................................................. 82 Performing Urgency: Kitō as a Staged Moment of Crisis ........................................................ 82 A Festival for Fire Protection ..................................................................................................... 89 The Crowds and the Senses: New Year as kitō Peak Season ................................................... 94 Marketing Akiha Devotion: Perspectives on a Once-Every-Sixty-Years Fire God Exhibition ......................................................................................................................................................... 100 Kitō on Dry Ice, on DVD: Daiyūzan Saijōji and the 2010 Public Exhibition of Dōryō in Tokyo .......................................................................................................................................... 103 Zazen and kitō ................................................................................................................................ 108 Lay Voices from the Monks’ Hall ............................................................................................ 111 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 116 Chapter Three: From Civic Engagement to Emptiness – Akiha kō Groups and the Marketing of Responses to Their Decline ............................................................................................................... 119 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 119 Kō Groups at Kasuisai .................................................................................................................. 122 Perspectives on the Proliferation of Temple Support Associations and their Organizational Structures ................................................................................................................................... 125 Akiha Temple Support Associations under Depopulation ........................................................ 132 Signs of Depopulation outside the Main Gate ......................................................................... 137 Changing Family Structures and the Redistribution of Religious Knowledge .................... 142 Innovations in Response to Declining kō Group Activity .......................................................... 147 Overnight Temple Stays (shukubō) .......................................................................................... 149 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 164 Chapter Four: Monastic Training at kitō jiin – Kitō and Authority ............................................. 169 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 169 Training-Steps and Licensing ....................................................................................................... 171 Kitō and Legitimacy ................................................................................................................... 178 Kitō and Merit Transfer as Part of the Sutra-Chanting Morning Service ........................... 181 Embodied Knowledge: Authority and Etiquette ........................................................................ 184 Habitus and Distinction: Visual Markers ................................................................................... 190 The Ideal of Renunciation in Practice ......................................................................................... 196 On Becoming a Monk ................................................................................................................ 196 Asceticism and the Community ................................................................................................ 202 2 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 210 Chapter Five: Beyond Zen – Interactions of kitō and ‘Spiritual Care’ in Post-2011 Japan ....... 214 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................
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