Audrius Beinorius On the Religious and Cultural Aspects of Divination in Japanese Society LATVIJAS UNIVERSITĀTES RAKSTI. 2016, 813. sēj. ORIENTĀLISTIKA 84.–109. lpp. https://doi.org/10.22364/luraksti.os.813.09 On the Religious and Cultural Aspects of Divination in Japanese Society Zīlēšanas reliģiskie un kultūras aspekti Japānas sabiedrībā Audrius Beinorius Vilnius University, Lithuania Center of Oriental Studies Universiteto g. 5, Vilnius 01122, Lithuania Email:
[email protected] This article presents an overview of the multifaceted history of divination and astrology in Japan. The questions addressed in this paper are the following: What was the place of divina- tion in the traditional Japanese society and within ancient bodies of knowledge? What part of traditional science and cosmology does it form? What are the main methods of divination used in Japan? How was divination related to the Shinto and Buddhist worldview and reli- gious practices? What elements of Indian astrology and divination have been introduced by the Buddhist monks to Japan? And which forms of divination are of Chinese origins? Finally, which of the mantic practices are likely to persist even nowadays and why? These and similar questions are discussed, emphasizing some resumptive cross-cultural and hermeneutic meth- odological considerations. The hermeneutical examinations of those practices are significant for the comparative history of ideas and also for understanding of contemporary religious practices and beliefs. Such approach can also assist in revealing the local modes of cultural transmission of knowledge in Asia, methods of social control, and the nature of the cultural norms, that shaped the traditional epistemic field.