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RELIGION in CONTEMPORARY JAPAN Religion in Contemporary Japan

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RELIGION in CONTEMPORARY JAPAN Religion in Contemporary Japan RELIGION IN CONTEMPORARY JAPAN Religion in Contemporary Japan lan Reader Lecturer in Contemporary Japanese Studies Scottish Centre Jor Japanese Studies Universiry oJ Stirling palgrave © Ian Reader 1991 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place, London WCIE 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution an<.i civil claims for damages. First published 1991 Published by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Transferred to digital printing 2001 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Reader, Ian Religion in contemporary Japan. 1. Japan. Religion. Sociological perspectives 306.60952 ISBN 978-0-333-52321-6 (he) ISBN 978-0-333-52322-3 ISBN 978-0-230-37584-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230375840 For Rosemary Contents Acknowledgements viii Conventions x Introduction xi 1 Turning to the Gods in Times of Trouble: The Place, Time and Structure of Japanese Religion 2 Unifying Traditions, Cosmological Perspectives and the Vitalistic Universe 23 3 'Born Shinto .. .': Community, Festivals, Production and Change 55 4 ' ... Die Buddhist': Zen, Death and the Ancestors 77 5 Individuals, Ascetics and the Expression of Power 107 6 Sites and Sights: Temples and Shrines as Centres of Power and Entertainment 134 7 Actions, Amulets and the Expression of Meaning: Reflections of Need and Statements of Desire 168 8 Spirits, Satellites and a User-Friendly Religion: Agonshü and the New Religions 194 Conclusion: Mystery, Nostalgia and the Shifting Sands of Continuity 234 Notes 244 References Cited 260 Index 268 vii Acknowledgements I did the research for this book while living and teaching in Japan during April 1981-April 1982, and September 1983-January 1989. I would like to thank my colleagues, friends and students at the two universities where I worked, Köbe University of Commerce and Kansai University of Foreign Studies, for making my stay enjoyable and for contributing in various ways to this book. Over the years I have also benefited immensely from countless conversations with friends, colleagues, acquaintances and people met casually in temple court yards: I owe a large debt of gratitude to all of them. Special mention must be made of the Revd Oda Baisen of Töganji in Nagoya for his friendship and constant support throughout these years and for making the temple a second horne to both myself and my wife. Many academic colleagues have added something, directly or indirectly, to this book as weil. In particular I would like to thank Beth Harrison for many long conversations about all aspecls of contemporary religion in Japan. I am grateful to the Japanese Journal 0/ Religious Studies and its editor Dr Paul Swanson of Nanzan University for allowing me permission to reproduce, in slightly different form, the information on Agonshü in Chapter 8, which first appeared in the journal in 1988. My Japanese academic colleagues in the Shükyö Shakaigaku no Kai in Osaka, especially Professors Shiobara Tsutomu of Osaka and Iida Takafumi of Toyama University, are also thanked for their contributions to my growing understanding of the overall subject. I can do no more than extend a general thank-you to them, and to a11 the anonymous members of new religions, pilgrims, temple-goers and priests who spared the time to talk to me, and say that I hope this book is worthy of their help. Needless to say, wh at mistakes there are herein are mine alone. There are three people to whom I have a special debt of gratitude. Professor lan Gow, Director of the Scottish Centre for Japanese Studies at the University of Stirling, has actively supported the writing of this book by a110wing me the time off other duties to work on and complete the manuscript: suffice it to say that without this generosity it would not have seen the light of day so readily. My viii Acknowledgements IX wife Dorothy has given indispensable support throughout: she was an unftagging companion in forays to festivals and walks along pilgrimage routes and up to mountain temples, and a perceptive observer who helped in gathering information at temples and shrines and in interviewing priests. More than that she has con­ stantly encouraged me and kept me going when I thought I would never finish the book, and deserves my deepest thanks. The final thanks go to our daughter Rosemary who was born just about the time I started to put preliminary pen to paper on the topic, and was crawling enthusiastically as it came to completion. It is to her this book is dedicated, in the hope that she will grow to love and enjoy Japan as much as we have, and that she may enjoy one of the ideals central to the Japanese religious world - a happy, fruitful and productive life. Conventions Japanese names are given throughout this book in Japanese order, that is, family name followed by given name. Long vowel sounds in Japanese words and names have been indicated with a macron as, for example, in Sötö Zen Buddhist sect. Following normal conven­ tions I have omitted the macron-' in widely known words and geographical names (for example, ,Shinto, Tokyo, Osaka). When Japanese words are us~d in the text they are printed in italics, with a general explanatiori of their meaning in English given the first time they occur. In a few instances I have continued to use the Japanese term throughout rather than use an English equiv­ alent, because the potential equivalents are liable to convey nuances that are not quite applicable. Two words that appear consistently throughout this book are 'shrine' and 'temple': the former is the standard word used in English to signify a Shinto institution, and the latter a Buddhist one. Thus when I speak of shrines I am referring to Shinto, and when temples to Buddhist institutions. I have reaffirmed this point in the first chapter, where I also suggest that in many ways there are not all that many differences between them anyway. I have also used the word 'sect' as a translation for shü, the suffix used for Buddhist organisations in Japan. This again is fairly standard: some people prefer 'school' but this gives, to my mind, too philosophical a slant that does not fit in with Japanese realities. All translations from Japanese sources are mine, and where they are from written sources I have given the reference in the notes. x Introduction The major purpose of this book is to give the reader an overview of the eontemporary nature of religion in Japan, in partieular looking at religious behaviour and the ways in which religious themes are found in the lives of Japanese people. My foeus is eoneerned with religion at ground level, in the aetions people perform in religious eontexts and with the extent to whieh social, eultural and personal behaviour manifests religious traits. In short, I am more interested in studying religiosity than the theoretical structures and philosophi­ cal frameworks of religion or, indeed, of religions. This is doubtless an approach eonditioned 'by my own experienees and ways of working, for mueh of my study on religion has not only been from sociological and anthropological perspectives. starting with religion in Africa and then moving, via India, to the Far East and specifieally to Japan, but has very mueh been involved with participant observation. Before I first went to Japan I studied Zen Buddhist thought, but it did not take long living in and visiting Zen temples, talking to the people at them and watehing what went on there, for me to realise that there was a profound difference between the ideals and theories espoused by Buddhism and wh at actually went on at Zen (and other) Buddhist temples. The year I spent at Zen temples helped me in my understanding of the problems facing religions as they attempt to deal with social situations and to work at ground level, trying to transmit religious ideas in a manner that ean be understood by the ordinary Japanese looking through the lens of his or her socio-cultural experienees. Much of my earlier aeademie writing has looked from various angles at this problem, and it will surfaee periodically throughout this book, especially where lexamine the social position and workings of eontemporary Buddhism (Chapter 4). After that initial period I returned to Japan and lived there for just over five years. during whieh time I taught courses about religion in Japan to both Japanese and Western students. Besides teaehing and researehing, I have talked extensively about religion to innumerable Japanese friends, eolleagues and acquaintanees, aea­ demic and non-aeademic, some reJigious and others avowing cyn- xi xii Introduction icism and lack of any religious feeling. I have interviewed religious officiants, worshippers, practitioners and other less devout partici­ pants in the religious process in many different situations - Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, the centres of new religious movements, at pilgrimage sites and meditation centres, or at some of the innumer­ able little wayside shrines that dot the Japanese landscape. It has been, wherever possible, a participatory, or at least an active, period of research. I love travel, and one of the delights of living in Japan was the abilityto combine this love with my academic research. Sundays and other 'days off' were generally days to visit religious centres, while Jonger holidays were times to go off on one of the pilgrimages that make up Japan's rich pilgrimage tradition.
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