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Article Full Text EARLY MODERN JAPAN 2012 “A Land Blessed by Word Spirit”: will begin with an overview of the ancient back- ground of kotodama, but will concentrate mainly Kamochi Masazumi and Early on its revival and development in the thought of Modern Constructs of Kotodama several early modern figures, particularly in the © Roger K. Thomas, Illinois State University writings of Kamochi Masazumi 鹿持雅澄 (1791- 1858), a Tosa scholar whose theories about lan- Attitudes toward language—whether native or guage are a broad synthesis of much earlier foreign tongues—often provide keys to a people’s thought, both nativist and Confucian, and whose intellectual history. From the perspective of Eu- prodigious corpus of writings exhibit a wide- ropean cultural history, Umberto Eco claims in his ranging awareness of and interaction with contem- The Search for the Perfect Language that many porary intellectual activity in many parts of the scholarly fruits of modernism—ranging “from tax- country. Moreover, he is a foremost example of onomy in the natural sciences to comparative lin- the Bakumatsu momentum toward ruralization of guistics, from formal languages to artificial intelli- scholarship and the arts.4 In terms of the present gence and to the cognitive sciences”—were born as discussion, his views on kotodama may be seen as “side effects” of this very search.1 A quest for the an illustrative summation of much that had gone perfect language is also observable in Japan, where before, and our investigation must begin with an it has often been associated with kotodama (literal- examination of these precedents. In conclusion, ly “word spirit”), a concept of ancient vintage that some possible reasons will be suggested for the was resuscitated and variously interpreted during enthusiasm with which this ancient belief was revi- the early modern period. Studies have also talized, and some of the ongoing repercussions of demonstrated how theories of language can lay its revival will be noted. intellectual groundwork supporting ideas of emerg- ing nation-states.2 Kotodama in Ancient Japan Various beliefs in the incantatory quality of par- ticular kinds of utterances are found around the After all that has been said and written about globe, but an examination of the role of kotodama kotodama, many are surprised to learn that only in Japanese intellectual and literary history sug- three examples of its usage are found in pre-Heian gests that there it became an important element of writing, all in the Man’yōshū. Any discussion the “linguistic arm” of certain ideologies, most of should begin by examining these. Most famously, them of a highly ethnocentric bent. Indeed, from Yamanoue no Okura (660-733) uses the word in a the early modern period down to the present, koto- chōka addressed to a departing ambassador to Chi- dama has played a prominent role in what could be na in 733: called “linguism” in Japan.3 The present study … kamiyo yori / iitsute kuraku / soramitsu / 1 Umberto Eco, The Search for the Perfect Yamato no kuni wa / sumekami no / itsushiki Language, trans. James Fentress (Oxford: kuni / kotodama (言霊) no / sakiwau kuni to Balckwell, 1995), p. 19. … 2 The most noteworthy study examining the … from the age of the gods / it has been told relationship between language theories and nascent and retold / that the sky-vast / land of Yamato concepts of “nation” in early modern Japan is / is an august land, / its rulers of divine de- Susan L. Burns, Before the Nation: Kokugaku and scent, / a land blessed / by word spirit … the Imagining of Community (Druham: Duke (MYS no. 894) University Press, 2003). 3 W. Martin Bloomer, in his “Introduction” to identities with the language itself,” to the extent of The Contest of Language: Before and Beyond “the identification of the linguistic group as the Nationalism, ed. W. Martin Bloomer (South Bend: political group.” Notre Dame Press, 2005), p. 2, defines linguism as 4A general overview of this trend toward rural- “the most developed form” of “the habit of ization of culture is provided by Tsukamoto Ma- identifying patterns of life, allegiances, and nabu, Chihō bunjin (Tokyo: Kyōikusha, 1977). 6 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 2012 ings, or that the early Japanese mind made no dis- It also appears in an anonymous tanka: tinction between “word” and “phenomenon” (a claim advanced by certain early modern nativists), Kotodama (事霊) no / yaso no chimata ni / but neither interpretation can be said to be conclu- yūke tou / uramasa ni noru / imo wa aiyor- sive. The second example above suggests a rela- amu tionship with divination, and the third, with the At the intersecting roads / of word spirit / I better-documented practice of kotoage, which is do evening divination / the true oracle tells generally understood as a ritual pronouncement to me / I shall see my beloved. (MYS no. bring about either blessing or cursing. A full 2506)5 analysis of kotoage lies outside the scope of the present study, but it is worth noting in passing that Finally, in a verse possibly by Hitomaro, the word in some sources (e.g., MYS nos. 972, 1113, 2918, appears in an envoy (hanka) following a short 3250, 3253, and 4124), the practice is viewed ei- chōka in which the poet significantly declares he ther ambiguously or negatively as dangerous, and will perform kotoage (apparently a type of ritual according to legend, Empress Jingū forbad her incantation) in spite of the dangers of doing so: troops from performing kotoage during her mili- 7 tary campaign against Korea. But exactly what Shikishima no / Yamato no kuni wa / kotoda- relationship, if any, obtained between kotoage and ma (事霊) no / tasukuru kuni zo / masakiku kotodama is difficult to ascertain; only one usage ari koso of the former is accompanied by mention of the The land of Yamato / in the region of Shiki / latter. is a land / aided by word spirit— / may good Nor do the six known usages from the Heian fortune be with you. (MYS no. 3254) period support definitive pronouncements. The earliest of these is in a chōka dated 849 and rec- What generalizations can be based on these orded in the Shoku Nihon kōki 続日本後紀. In three usages of the word?6 Obviously they indi- this exceptionally long poem, the monks of Kōfu- cate that kotodama was part of a broader cultural kuji offer their felicitations to Emperor Ninmyō 仁 construct that obtained among Nara-period Japa- 明天皇 (810-850; r. 833-850) on the occasion of nese, though just how pervasive a role it played is his fortieth birthday. In a section explaining why difficult to determine. The usage of both graphs they chose to use a Japanese verse form and not 言 and 事 to record “koto” may be taken to sug- Chinese is found the following: gest either that kotodama encompassed both mean- … ō-mi-yo o / yorozuyo inori / hotoke ni mo / kami ni mo maoshi / tatematsuru / koto no ko- toba wa / kono kuni no / mototsu kotoba ni / 5 Evening divination (yūke) was performed by oiyorite / morokoshi no / kotoba o karazu / standing at an intersection at sunset and listening to fumi shirusu / hakase yatowazu / kono kuni snatches of the conversations of passers-by. no / iitsutauraku / hi no moto no / Yamato no One’s fortune was based on what one heard. I am kuni wa / kotodama (言玉) no / sakiwau kuni grateful to Iori Joko, whose unpublished paper to zo / furukoto ni / nagare kitareru … “Reassessing Kotodama: Usages and … that your reign / may last myriad ages / we Interpretations” (Columbia University, 1993) led offer prayers / to the buddhas / and to the me to some of the sources I investigate here. Her gods / using / for words / the primeval lan- analysis of ancient usages of the word (pp. 55-93) guage / of this country / neither borrowing / is the most thorough and comprehensive of any in from the words of China / nor employing / English. scholars to record— / thus has it been / hand- 6 Roy Andrew Miller takes the analysis of these three verses as far as the evidence permits— and even somewhat beyond what it permits. See 7 “Harima no kuni fudoki,” in Fudoki, ed. his “The ‘Spirit’ of the Japanese Language,” Akimoto Kichirō, Nihon koten bungaku taikei 2 Journal of Japanese Studies 3:2 (1977), 241-298. (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1958), p. 299. 7 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 2012 ed down in this country: / the land of Yamato Iwaitsuru / kotodama naraba / momotose no / where the sun starts its course / is a land / nochi mo tsukisenu / tsuki o koso mime blessed / by word spirit— / in ancient lore / If word spirit resides / in the blessing you so has it come down …8 have made, / a hundred years / from now we shall see / the unfading light of the moon.10 Here, kotodama is juxtaposed with statements de- scribing two qualities of the prayers offered for Although a connection is implied between ko- Ninmyō’s reign: they used the Yamato language todama and Korehira’s felicitous words, there is no rather than Chinese, and; they were not “recorded.” suggestion of any kind of ritual. Moreover, the What, if any, connection these two conditions have conditional “if” in the emperor’s reply “can there- with kotodama is not immediately clear, but some fore be read as casting a shadow of doubt over the have suggested that it indicates kotodama— effectiveness of Koretada’s blessing, which would however defined—was efficacious only in the have been both offensive and imprudent had the Yamato language, while others have taken the sup- two men truly believed in the power of kotodama position even further and argued that it demon- and its ritual efficacy.”11 Rather than being part strates that the traditional rejection of all but pure of a serious belief system, kotodama appears to be Yamato diction in waka demonstrates a relation- little more than a vague literary allusion in the po- ship between kotodama and native verse.9 The lite social exchange that waka had become; such meaning of the second condition—that the verse usage also characterizes the remaining four Heian- was not “recorded”—is even less clear, because it period applications of the word, the latest of which was, after all, written down.
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