Centre for the Study of Japanese religions
CSJR Newsletter
January 2004 Issue 9
outside SOAS, and we welcome Mitsu In this issue From the Centre Horii, who is doing his postgraduate 2 From the Centre Chair work at the University of Canterbury in chair Kent, and Anja Andreeva from the University of Cambridge. Both have Centre Activities A Happy New Year to everybody! already taken active part in our 3 CSJR Seminar Schedule London is quiet and gloomy in this activities and we look forward to the beginning of 2004, while in Japan it is results of their research. Japanese Religions Forum the usual hectic time around shrines Finally, as always with the winter issue, 4 Cult of the Stars in Japanese and temples, with people of all ages we include the titles of the dissertations Religious Practices paying their first respects to kami and presented this year for the Masters buddhas. programme in Japanese Religions, which 5 Numata Lecture Series Last term passed quickly as always, the Centre sponsors. Well done! 6 CSJR Post Doctoral Fellowship with new students arriving and the old As previously announced, with this issue one completing their degrees. The we also start a new information section Numata Lectures given by Prof. Matsuo dedicated to publications and Book Reviews Kenji of Yamagata University, which the conferences related to Japanese 9 Shinto- A Short History Centre co-sponsored, were quite religions. Tim Fitzgerald reviews A Short successful in gathering a large audience History of Shinto, and Anja Andreeva of interested auditors from different reports on the section on Japanese Conferences backgrounds, making the discussion, in religion of the European Association of 10 EAJS Conference in Warsaw particular, very alive. Our warmest Japanese Studies conference. thanks to Prof. Matsuo for coming to London and share his knowledge with Finally, I would like to draw your Post Graduate us. In the next pages you will find a attention to two positions offered by the Centre: a postgraduate studentship for 10 MA Japanese Religions report on the lectures and a note from Prof. Matsuo himself on his experience students interested in pursuing a PhD in 11 A Case Study of Buddhist in London. Japanese religions at SOAS from Priests in Japan September 2004, and a one-year post- In the spring term we will resume our doctoral fellowship, also teneable at 12 Chinese Intellectual’s usual seminar series, with a promising SOAS from September 2004. We shall Reconstruction range of lectures by international be grateful if you could circulate these of Confucianism speakers on different aspects of notices with interested students and Japanese religiosity. I hope to see many 12 CSJR Research Studentship scholars. of you in the audience! We also announce the forthcoming CSJR We look forward to an exciting new year. workshop organized by Meri Arichi on This is the Year of the Monkey, as we the Cult of stars in Japanese religious are reminded in the feature article that Japanese Religions practice. concludes this newsletter. 2004 is and Popular Culture certainly going to be a very active year On the post-graduate research side, the for all of us at the CSJR. 14 Feature: Year of the Monkey Japanese Religion Forum, the venue for PhD students presentations, has Lucia Dolce reopened, too. This issue of the newsletter carries a dedicated section to introduce post-graduate research in Japanese religions at SOAS and beyond. In keeping with the aim of the CSJR to function as a centre for scholars of Japanese Religion in UK, its membership is open to students
Front Cover: New Year’s celebrations in Japan. Oshôgatsu is the time when people flock to temples and shrines to pray for a prosperous and healthy year. Ise shrine is one of the most popular destinations for thousands of Japanese, both young and old. The cover features believers receiving a purificatory blessing (oharae) before making their offerings to the gods. Offerings for the new year usually consist of kagami mochi (two flat, round mochi placed one on top of the other) and pine branches, auspicious for longevity (left). People also engage in neighbourhood pilgrimages to a series of temples where the seven gods of good fortune (shichifukujin) are worshiped. From January 1st the icons of these gods are unveiled to the public for a few days and worshippers queue to receive a stamp from each of the seven temples as evidence to their pilgrimage (cover). All photographs by Lucia Dolce 2
CSJR Newsletter • January 2004 • Issue 9
Centre Activities CSJR Seminars
SOAS, Thornhaugh Street Russell Square, WC1H OXG 5.00pm-6:30pm Room G3
22 January 11 March The Medieval Origins of Shinto Moving Towards Academia: The Mark Teeuwen, University of Oslo Transformation of Buddhist Learning Institutions in Modern Japan 29 January Silvio Vita, Italian School of East Asian Studies, Kyoto The Worship of Confucius in Early Modern Japan 29 April James McMullen, Pembroke College Nara Buddhism Masatsugu Hongo, Ritsumeikan University 5 February Samurai Spirituality in the Tokugawa 13 May Period- The Raison d’etre of the Warrior Reactions of Nasake: Wu Wei in pre-Edo in Times of Peace Japanese Narratives Reiko Tanimura, CSJR Research Associate Lone Takeuchi, Independent Scholar
26 February ALL WELCOME Hie-Sannô Mandara: For further information please contact the convenor The Iconography of Kami Lucia Dolce ([email protected]) (020) 7898-4217 Meri Arichi, SOAS
Japanese Religions Forum
The Forum, convened once a month in term time, brings 19 February Tullio Lobetti, SOAS together post-graduate students, MA and PhD, working on Finding a home for the noble souls: Japanese religions from all academic departments at SOAS. The problem of Yasukuni jinja and the The Forum aims to encourage a multidisciplinary approach post-war Japanese constitution to the study of Japanese religions.
Time: 5:00 -6:30 pm 18 March Marc Buijnsters, Leiden University
Place: Room G3 Myôe and the Problem of Orthodoxy in the View on Mappô
15 January Philip Swift, SOAS 6 May Carla Tronu Montane, SOAS Turning towards God (kamimuki): practice, belief, and conversion in Christianity in Early Modern Japan Japanese New Religions
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Centre Activities evince the popularity of the cults. The study of visual and textual sources related to the cult of The Cult of Stars stars has so far not attracted the attention it deserves, especially in Western languages. The symposium aims to in Japanese provide an international and interdisciplinary forum for the study of religious practices related to constellations and planets throughout Japanese history, and to Religious Practices encourage further research on this fascinating topic. CSJR Workshop 2004 For registration and further information, please contact the Project co-ordinator, Dr. Meri Arichi 16-17 September 2004 (CSJR Post-doctoral Fellow) on [email protected] (to be confirmed)
Venue: SOAS, University of London
The religious significance of constellations and planets in pre-modern Japan is evident in a rich variety of visual representations and textual references. The theory of zodiac from the Hellenistic origin and the knowledge of twenty-eight constellations from Indian and Chinese astronomy were transmitted to Japan in the ninth century by the Esoteric Buddhist monks who consequently contributed to the dissemination of Esoteric scripture on astronomy, Sukuyo-kyo, and encouraged the formation of the cult of stars in medieval Japan. The example such as the twelfth century Star Mandala in the Horyu-ji temple, Nara, depicts Sakyamuni Buddha of the Golden Wheel surrounded by the personified images of the seven stars of the Ursa Major (Great Bear), the nine planetoids, the twenty-eight constellations, and the twelve signs of zodiac. Icons of these were created for the Esoteric rites focused on stars which were frequently performed both in Tendai and Shingon temples to protect individuals or the country, or to eliminate the negative forces in the world.
The combinatory nature of the Japanese religious tradition has attracted many studies on the honji-suijaku theory and its related practices in recent years, but the combination was not only between Buddhism and the kami worship tradition. A complex fusion of astrology, astronomy, yin and yang principles, geomancy, calendar making and divination exerted a strong influence on Buddhist practices as well as on the lives of people. The religious beliefs focused on individual stars such as Daishogun, the personification of the planet Venus, or Myoken, the Polar Star deity, flourished in pre-modern Japan, and the surviving visual representations of these deities
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Centre Activities Centre Activities Members’ Activities Review of the and Publications Numata Lectures
Meri Arichi October-December 2003 Translation of Professor Whitfield’s essay on the “Dunhuang Anna Andreeva fragments in the British Museum” Ars Buddhica no.271, November 2003. This year the Numata lecture series was delivered by John Breen Professor Matsuo Kenji (Yamagata University), a leading ‘Meiji tenno no Ise sangu: sono sozosei to hakaisei’ in expert in Japanese medieval Buddhism, and the Bukkyô Shinto kokusai gakkai ed., Ise jingu to koshitsu, Tokyo: Dendô Kyôkai visiting scholar at SOAS. Ten lectures entitled Tachibana shuppan, 2003. The Characteristics of Buddhism in Medieval Japan and a seminar on Reading and Interpretation of Chomonshû,a Brian Bocking collection of sermons by the Ritsu monk Eizon (1201-1290) Study of Religions: the New Queen of the Sciences? BASR attracted a broad audience and were a great success. The (British Association for the Study of Religions) Occasional event took place under the auspices of the Centre for the Paper series, published by BASR, c/o Dept of Religious Study of Japanese Religions (Chair: Dr. Lucia Dolce) and the Studies, University of Leeds, 2003 SOAS Centre of Buddhist Studies (Director: Dr. Tadeusz Also Published in: Steven Sutcliffe (ed) Ordering Religion: Skorupski). Empirical Studies, Ashgate Publishing, Forthcoming 2004. Those interested in Japanese Religions can hardly Lucia Dolce underestimate the importance of the doctrinal Lucia Dolce delivered a report on her research at the developments which took place during the Kamakura period meeting of the Canon Foundation in Europe, Bruges, (1185-1333). However, the question of identifying and November 2003; will give a paper on “Ritual and the Study historically modelling Kamakura New Buddhism remains a of ‘Japanese Religion’” in the panel “Constituting ‘Japanese tantalizing problem for scholars both in Japan and in the Religion’ as an Object of Concern” at the AAS convention, West. Most of the recent investigations of the topic take San Diego,California March 4-7. Kuroda Toshio’s kenmitsu taisei theory as their cornerstone and treat it as the basis for their own argument. Publications: “Nel nome del ‘vero’ dharma: ortodossia, strategie di Matsuo Kenji’s model is based on the paradigms of the legittimazione e conflitti religiosi nel buddismo giapponese,“ official monks and reclusive monks in the religious in Verso l’altro. Massimo Raveri, ed., Marsilio, 2003, pp. establishments of the Kamakura period, kansô and tonseisô 247-269 (in press). respectively. One could argue that the approach to medieval history based on such division of the priesthood might be Yukiko Nishimura overly simplistic, when one takes into consideration the Research at the photo archives of the Bukkyo Bijutsu shiryo overall landscape of Japanese religions during the 12th- senta (Centre of Buddhist Texts and Images) in Nara and 14th centuries. In fact, Professor Matsuo’s view of medieval also at the archives of the Tokyo National Museum. Buddhism provided a deep insight for those who question (October-December). basic definitions. One should not be misled by the labelling Attended the conference of Nihon Bukkyo Sogo kenkyu ‘old’ and ‘new’ as the theory is of a firm historical gravity gakkai (Association of General Studies of Japanese and a result of exhaustive research into the nature of Buddhism), Waseda University, Tokyo, 14 December 2003. activities propounded by medieval monastic leaders such as Eizon, Ninshô, Hônen, Shinran, Nichiren, Dôgen and Ippen.
Matsuo Kenji presented a detailed description of the development of the so-called Kamakura New Buddhism. He maintained that the growth of medieval towns was a catalyst for the emergence of a new category, which he defines as “troubled individual”. The new social groups of believers , comprised of hinin. women, warriors and tradesmen, presented an untapped potential for expansion of the new teachings. The focal point was centred on the arrival of the religious reformists of the tonseisô priesthood, who, according to Matsuo, enabled themselves to break free from ritual defilement by performing the self- professed Dharma, anointment and
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abdicating from the realm of official establishments. The revival of the Vinaya precepts propagated by the Ritsu leaders Eizon and Ninshô, and corresponding traditions developed in other religious movements, for instance, Zen, proved to be another dimension for expanding the historical picture. Numata series to enquire deeply into the realm of the Professor Matsuo suggested that an explanation of the propagation of the Buddhist thought in the Kamakura economical background of the religious developments in the period. The Chomonshû, a collection of Eizon’s sermons Kamakura period might be found in the phenomena of compiled by his follower Kyoe, is a document which vividly religious fund-raising or kanjin campaigns. The salvation of reflects the quest for salvation of the population, regardless hinin, the deceased, and women, and funerals conducted by of social status, commenced by Buddhist monks in the early the Ritsu priesthood were issues which never failed to draw medieval era. The complexity of the language of this source the attention of the audience. Professor Matsuo ascribed the was certainly a challenge for the students, but the detailed main argument, in favour of the rising Kamakura New explanations of the lector assisted a better understanding Buddhism, to the liberation of the reclusive monks from the of specific words and definitions. It was a pity that due to tenets of ritual defilement. This propelled them to positions the lack of time the translation of the text remained of power which enabled them to deliver their teachings to the unfinished. new audience previously ignored by the official establishment. Special thanks go to the audience who devotedly attended The interpretation of some historical facts by Professor the lectures and seminars, and did not miss the slightest Matsuo provoked discussion and many queries from the chance to improve their knowledge of the topic. audience. The later involvement of the Ritsu leaders with Extraordinary is the fact the this year’s Numata lectures the secular power structures expectedly raised the attracted not only students and scholars of Japanese suspicion that the actual historical evidence might possibly Religions, but also those with a deep interest in Buddhist go beyond the conventional perception of Eizon and Ninshô Art, Indian philosophy, and contemporary Japanese history. as ‘Mother Theresas’ of the medieval world. The esoteric The thoughtful remarks and parallels drawn by the initiations of nuns at the official ordination platforms offered representatives of the Theravada tradition of Buddhism and another fascinating chance for debate. One can say it is the Anglican Church, respectively, only contributed to a only to the good that such problems were mentioned, and uniqueness of the topic. that further investigations will undoubtedly contribute to the Bearing in mind the many benefits received by all the overall advance of the field. participants during the Numata series, once again I would The seminars held by Professor Matsuo after the lectures like to thank Professor Matsuo for delivering his lectures, presented an opportunity for all the attendants of the his broad knowledge, and his endless patience in answering
CSJR Post-doctoral fellowship in Japanese religions, 2004-5 The SOAS Centre for the study of Japanese religions Applications consist of a curriculum vitae and a list of invites applications for the one-year CSJR Postdoctoral publications, an abstract/ summary of the applicant’s fellowship in Japanese religions (any area) to be held at doctoral thesis, a clear statement of the candidate’s SOAS from September 2004. academic plans for the postdoctoral year (including a proposal for the workshop) and the names of three The main purpose of the fellowship is to enable the referees. Five copies of these documents together with a holder to bring his/her recently completed PhD thesis to covering note should be sent to Human Resources publication during the year at SOAS. Whilst at SOAS, the Department, SOAS, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG. CSJR Fellow will be expected to contribute some teaching on Japanese religion within existing courses, depending The closing date for applications on his/her research field, and to take part in the Centre’s is Friday 5 March 2004. activities, including the CSJR seminars and fora. In addition, s/he will be expected to organise a Interviews will be held on 22-23 April 2004. workshop/symposium in his/her speciality. Financial and For informal inquiries, please contact Dr. Lucia Dolce, administrative support will be available to this end. The Chair, Centre for the study of Japanese religions, Fellow will have access to appropriate study facilities and SOAS, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG. will be a member of the Senior Common room and a full e-mail: [email protected] member of the SOAS library.
The fellow’s annual stipend will be £23,259 (including London weighting).
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questions. Congratulations go to the hosts of the lectures, Bookreview the Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions, and the Centre of Buddhist Studies at SOAS. This year the series Shinto - A Short History was indeed a great contribution to the study of Japanese Religions here in Europe. I do not doubt that many students Inoue Nobutaka (ed.), Ito Satoshi, Endo who attended Professor Matsuo’s lectures and seminars will Jun and Mori Mizue, Shinto - A Short incorporate their knowledge in advancing their respective History, London and New York: Routledge fields of research. Curzon, 2003, pp 223, ISBN 0-415- Anna Andreeva is a PhD candidate at the University of 31179-9 (hbk); 0-415-31913-7 (pbk). Cambridge. Her research is concentrated on the activities This is the English translation of a book of the Ritsu lineage in the Kamakura period, and on one of first published by Shin’yosha in Japanese the examples of medieval kami worship, in 1998 and written by four outstanding Miwa Shinto. Japanese academics. It contains a translators’ introduction; an introduction Centre Activities by the distinguished sociologist of religion Inoue Nobutaka entitled “What is Reflection Upon a Shinto?” and 4 substantial historiographical essays on Shinto Difficult But Enjoyable divided into historical periods. The first is the “Ancient and classical Japan: the dawn of Shinto” by Mori Mizue; the Task second “The medieval period: the kami merge with Buddhism” by Ito Satoshi; the third “The early modern Kenji Matsuo period: in search of Shinto identity” by Endo Jun; and the I came to SOAS to give a series of ten lectures and fourth by the editor, Inoue Nobutaka on “The modern age: seminars, entitled The Medieval City and the Formation of Shinto confronts modernity”. Japanese Buddhism. In my seminars, my students and I At the end of the book there is a useful section of translated into English The Chomonshu (the collections of suggested further reading in both English and Japanese Eizon’s sermons). divided into different categories, either a ‘general’ category Today I finished my last lecture. I feel indeed that the time of books or alternatively a list for a specific historical has flown like an arrow. Just when I find that I am getting period. There are also 16 pages of index, which increases used to giving lectures in English, the day of the last lecture its usefulness as a reference work. These sensible features has come. So, I feel a little sad and I will miss giving the go some way to backing the claim on the back cover that lectures. Before giving these lectures, I had very little the book “does not pre-suppose prior knowledge of confidence that I would complete my task. Every time I Japanese religion, and is easily accessible for those new to finished a lecture, I regretted not being able to explain more the subject.” However, it should also be said that these in proper English. Contrary to my expectations, there were erudite Japanese historians have put a lot of data in their large audiences at my lectures and lots of questions during articles, and the book would not be light reading for many the question and answer sessions. And I was very surprised people. But still, it contains a wealth of knowledge and that the questions were extremely good and hit the nail on interest, and would stand as a handy and reliable source of the head. I think that this is because students at SOAS are information data for lecturers and students. very intelligent and well educated. The translators Mark Teeuwen and John Breen have Anyway, now I am greatly relieved that I managed to finish established for themselves a deserved reputation not only my task. I thought that as one of the Japanese academics, as translators but also as distinguished historians in their specializing in Japanese Buddhist studies, it would be very own right. Recently they published an outstanding volume of exciting for me to give lectures to a non- Japanese audience essays by different contributors, Japanese and non- about Japanese Buddhism in English. But, actually, it was Japanese, Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami (University of very difficult and stressful for me to give lectures in English. Hawaii Press, 2000). In their translator’s introduction to Every time I gave a lecture, I was afraid that the audience both volumes the editors raise the problem of the identity of might flee. But, to my happiness, quite a large audience Shinto and point to the dislocation between a prevalent came to listen to my lectures. image of Shinto created by the Meiji Establishment for ideological nationalistic purposes, and what the vast Although I was so busy preparing my lectures and seminars majority of ordinary Japanese people do and think at that I had to work even on Saturdays and Sundays, I would shrines. very much thank the audience, the conveners Dr. Skorupski, and Dr. Lucia Dolce, and also Dr. John Breen for supporting Theoretically, Shinto – A Short History is interesting for me. Thank you very much indeed. similarly trying to confront a widespread problem of reification in religious studies. Its central problematic is that its putative topic, Shinto, does not refer to anything clearly identifiable – or not before the construction of shrine or state Shinto by the Meiji. This book challenges nationalist projections back into immemorial history of an unbroken indigenous system of
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belief and practice called Shinto. ‘Shinto’ is the elusive, Professor Mori shows a succession of different historical discontinuous ‘ghost image’ of Kuroda’s famous analysis, a contexts, different social formations, different economic ghost image of illusory continuity generated by the use of a systems, different technologies, changes in modes of oral or single term to stand for multiple shifting formations of written transmission, periods of dependence on specialist cultural institutions and practices over centuries of social immigrant clans, transformed conceptions of how power is change. Logically, therefore, it could be argued that the book legitimated, different ways of conceiving of lineage and should only be focused on a critical problematisation of the descent, changed status for women as a result of changed category, perhaps treating it as a myth or fiction generated by ways of constructing gender, different relationships with ideological forces, the Meiji emperor system being the major foreign powers such as China, evolving concepts of kami case in point. which suggests a widely inclusive continuum and identity between the social and the divine, changes in shrine and Yet though this book valuably sets the problem up, and is to temple organisation and their ritual specialists and kinds of be congratulated for that, it fails to make much in the way of rituals, and different ideological imperatives generally. The theoretical gains. Indeed, it could be argued, only slightly more the reader gets into the impressive historiographical unfairly, that this book is keeping the fiction alive in some detail, the less useful does the editor’s interpretive structure way, and that a more critical treatment would have looked at seem. its role in the modern academy, both Japanese and non- Japanese. For Shinto is the central topic of the book, flagged Since another upper-case entity ‘Buddhism’ has (we are told) up in capital letters alongside the usual list of other reified been a presence and influence in Japan for a long time, there ‘religions’. Even the titles set Shinto up as having a History, a has been a complex relationship historically between these Dawn, and a confrontation with Modernity. In the absence of a two: sense of irony, this does not easily sustain an image of “Even if we were to use the term ‘Early Shinto’ to refer to Shinto as myth, a political fiction constructed during Meiji for some archaic prototype of Shinto, we would find that such a the purpose of redefining power relations. For the authors in distant ancestor of Shinto would already have been this book continue the tradition of using the term as a noun transformed in important ways by Chinese forms of and as a descriptive and analytical category, and thus at the Buddhism.” (p2) very moment that they question the term they modify but maintain its operation. Ito Satoshi, in his chapter on the medieval period, also emphasises the fragility of our categories when he says The editor, Inoue Nobutaka, has written the Introduction “What is Shinto?” and the final essay on the modern period. “In spite of what many Shinto theologians have claimed, In his introduction he explains why the term “Shinto” is so ‘Shinto’ has not existed throughout Japanese history as difficult to define. The only generalisation about Shinto that some unchangeable religious bedrock supporting the stands for all time is that it has always had something to do structure of Japanese culture.” (p68) with shrines and kami (p1). Professor Inoue rightly questions But Buddhism too is problematic, for as Inoue says the various categorisations of Shinto into shrine Shinto, sect “Buddhism in classical Japan was fundamentally distinct in Shinto, folk Shinto, and seems intent to radically de- character from modern Japanese Buddhism.” (p3) essentialise the concept of Shinto by making its meaning closely dependent on very specific historical contexts. Nor is the term Buddhism an especially stable term for ‘Shinto’, understood as shrine and kami-directed practices, Professor Ito, for “Buddhism, too, has undergone such radical flows into and mingles with the dominant institutions and changes during its long presence in Japan that many have practices of its day, and is hardly distinguishable as a expressed doubts whether its Japanese forms can still be separate identity. ‘Shinto’ changes radically from one era to called Buddhism at all.” (p.68) another and is thus discontinuous with what came before and There are thus two different relativities, diachronic and what came after. The epistemological status of the term is synchronic. Diachronically speaking, we cannot assume a thus radically challenged, and as a reader I found it difficult to continuous identity through history for either ‘Shinto’ or see how the present theory improves on Kuroda’s. ‘Japanese Buddhism’ or Japanese ‘folk religion’. Whatever is The different historical contexts are defined by the four eras, referred to as Shinto (or by implication Buddhism, Taoism, or and there seems to be a correspondence between each era Confucianism) in one era has only a very problematic and a different prevailing “religious eco-system” made up of relationship with whatever is described as Shinto in another. “individual religions” (p3). One problem here seems to be Synchronically, we cannot assume that Shinto, Japanese that the essentialised idea of individual religions contradicts Buddhism, or folk religion can be clearly distinguished from the intended deconstruction of them. It also isn’t clear each other. For example “it is impossible to draw a line whether the eco-systems determine the eras, or the eras between folk religion and some fictional ‘pure Shinto.’” (p2) We determine the eco-systems. For within each era there are should think in terms of ‘ecosystems’ (p4) for specific historical radical changes occurring too. periods. In the eco-system at any given period we can identify an eclectic combination of elements from Shinto, Buddhism, Even within the period designated “Ancient and Classical Confucianism, Taoism and, more recently Christianity. A new era Japan” so effectively described by Mori Mizue, we are given a is marked by a new ecosystem determined by changes in the picture of quite fundamental changes in social order, ‘constituents’, ‘network’ and ‘substance’. cosmology and technology over a period of several centuries that were in part propelled by imported cultures from East The reader might get the feeling from such ideas that this will Asia. In her essay (and this is generally true of all the essays) be a theoretically radical book, challenging these reified
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entities in much the way that essentialised entities called Conferences ‘religions’ are being widely challenged in other, non-Japanese cases. There is now widespread questioning of our central Report on the categorial practice in religious studies, and the various reified constructions such as Shinto, Buddhism, Hinduism, EAJS Conference Confucianism and Christianity that have been its fruits. Tension exists between the act of describing and analysing ‘a religion’ and the realisation that such a category imposes an awkwardness and [perhaps unintended] substantialisation on the organisation of the data. We seem to move constantly between affirmation and denial of the existence of Shinto or the legitimacy of the idea.
Interestingly enough, this problem seems to be mirrored in the late medieval idea of sankyoitchi translated as “three creeds” which Professor Endo then represents as Shinto, Confucianism and Buddhism (p.110). Though this doctrine was intended to assert the unity of the three creeds, by doing so it apparently has to separate them first into these upper- case entities, and then reunite them in the form of a trinity. Warsaw, August 2003 So the very doctrine of sankyoitchi seems to imply that three Anna Andreeva religions organised around three separate “creeds” pre- The 10th International Conference of the European existed the appearance of Yoshida and Shirakawa Shinto in Association for Japanese Studies took place in Warsaw during the early modern period. This process appears to undo all the August 27-30, 2003. More than 400 participants from assurances given that Shinto had not previously existed as a Europe, the United States and Japan took part in this event. distinct and separate ‘religion’. For three days thought-provoking papers were presented and Again, the doctrine of shinbutsu shugo seems to tacitly the heated discussions ensued. The cultural program, assert the conceptual distinction between Shinto and arranged by the Organizing Committee, included a warm Buddhism at the same time that it proclaims their identity. reception at the residence of the Japanese Ambassador, a performance of Chopin given by leading Polish pianists, and a There may be a different way of putting it that makes a post-conference trip to Krakow. difference. For one thing, shinbutsu shugo, translated literally, seems like a proclamation of the fusion or identity of kami The Conference was divided into eight sections, covering a and buddhas, which is a quite different nuance from a range of areas from Japanese religion and arts, to contemporary analytical claim about the fusion of Shinto and anthropology and economics. The section on Religion and the Buddhism thought of as ‘religions’. History of Ideas proved to be exceptionally interesting. Its experimental motto, Concepts of Secrecy encouraged a This reader wonders if the analysis should not instead be number of scholars to present some outstanding research. drawn in terms of a modern fiction or myth of ‘religion’ and Although only 5 papers out of twenty-two addressed the topic ‘religions’ with its own ideological function in the directly, it offered an opportunity for vivid discussions. contemporary academy. Somehow a critical analytical vocabulary is needed that side-steps the contradiction Most of the papers delivered on the first day addressed the inherent in description that both de-essentialises the term historical impact of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism (mikkyô) in and yet simultaneously uses language that sets it up. the early and medieval periods. Martin Lehnert (Zurich University) presented a historical description of Buddhist Of course, one of the functions of the historian is to show us Esotericism in Chinese Tang period Buddhism and his the continuities, how different periods characterised by theoretical considerations on the hermeneutics of secrecy in different hegemonic structures became transformed or partly that context. Robert Borgen (Davis University, California) gave transformed into different ones through time. The four a talk on the Japanese monk Jôjin and his account of a historians do this with impressive detail, and as a source pilgrimage to China in 1072-73. Sergiy Kapranov (Kyiv, book for data it is a serious scholarly work. But the difficulty Ukraine), concentrating on the Ise monogatari zuinô, of writing a book about a subject whose identity is the central considered to what degree religious thought and esoteric problematic remains, and will remain until more imaginative religion influenced Japanese classical literature. second order descriptive and analytical categories are developed.® The next session provided discussions about the concept of secrecy in the realm of kami worship. Bernard Faure Reviewed by Dr Tim Fitzgerald, University of Sterling, (Stanford) addressed the issues of Shintô-Buddhist Department of Religions associations and veneration of the deities Shôten, Matarajin and Jûzenji. Marc Teeuwen (Oslo University) introduced his approach to the medieval collection of esoteric Shinto rituals, the Reikiki, as an example to illustrate how mikkyô ritualism manifested in kami worship.
Christian Steineck (Bonn) questioned the perception of Dôgen’s way of reasoning by indicating that Dôgen, too, had
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used secret or esoteric forms of practice to communicate his religious teaching. Lucia Dolce (SOAS, University of London), Post Graduate presented a view on the process of the “esoterization” of the The SOAS MA Programme in Japanese Lotus Sutra, one of the central texts of Japanese Tendai, Religion is the first European taught which had traditionally been considered to be exoteric. Her graduate programme devoted to the paper provided an understanding of the dynamism of mikkyô study of Japanese religions. The degree as a category in the Heian and medieval periods. Fabio provides an overview of Japanese Rambelli (University of Sapporo) raised a vivid discussion by religion, both past and present, and questioning the whole concept of secrecy in early and supplies the tools of analysis for further medieval Japanese religions. From the debate it was research in the field. The degree understood that the esoteric culture of early and medieval comprises four components: three taught Japan invited a special way of communication that went courses and a dissertation and may be beyond the language and rationality. completed in one calendar year (full The second day was dedicated to the Tokugawa period. Anne time), or in two or three calendar years (part-time). Walthall (Irvine University) illustrated the employment of The programme centres around the course Religious secrecy by Tokugawa shoguns for exercising their power. The Practice in Japan: Texts, Rituals and Believers. which theme of politics was continued by Beatrice Bodart Bailey presents religious phenomena in Japan in their (Tokyo University) who discussed the relationship between historical context and devotes attention to specific shogunal ceremonies and political domination in the 17th themes relevant for the understanding of the social century. Kate Wildman Nakai (Sophia University) gave a paper aspects of Japanese religion and the influence of on the critique of secrecy in the writings of the late Mito religion upon Japanese culture. scholars. Catharina Blomberg (Stockholm) and Ann Wehmeyer (Florida) addressed the culture of mysticism surrounding the Students have the opportunity to select other samurai sword and the reconstruction of the so-called “divine courses, depending on their specific interests and age script” (jindai moji) by the Kokugaku scholars. Karine previous knowledge, in order to gain a more Maranjian (St. Petersburg) dealt with the Sanskrit Studies of comprehensive understanding of the characteristics Keichû. Bettina Gramlich Oka presented a portrait of an anti- of Japanese religion. Options include the study of Christian writer, Tadano Makuzu (1763-1825). Dorothea Filus Asian context, contemporary developments outside (Tokyo) gave a paper on kakure kirishitan (Hidden Christians) Japan, and methodologies for the analysis of of the Nagasaki region. The day was rounded up by Andriy religious phenomena. Nakorchevski (Tokyo University), who experimented with a two- Please note that two new courses directly related to typed conception of Japanese pilgrimage. Japanese religions have been recently created for The last two sessions on Day 3 were mainly related to the programme: East Asia Buddhist Thought is a contemporary religion and intellectual thought. Rosemarie thematic course which every year explores one Bernard (Waseda University) provided a vision of change of major form of Japanese Buddhism, studying its ancient ritualism at Ise Shrines, due to the impact of modern specific doctrinal tenets, textual corpus and mass media. The paper of Monika Schrimpf (Tokyo University) characteristic forms of worship, and the influence was dedicated to a “new religion”, Shinnyoen. Ernst that it exerted on the culture Japan; Directed Lokowandt (Tôyô University, Tokyo) provoked a heated Readings in Japanese Religions is a guided discussion with his approach to the complex matter of Shinto independent research project which enables ethics. The last paper of the section was presented by students to conduct an in-depth study of one Agnieszka Kozyra (Warsaw University) and addressed a specific topic in Japanese religions. typology of paradoxical judgments in Zen koans. A previous knowledge of the Japanese language is CSJR member, Anna Schegoleva, presented a talk, in the not required for entry in the programme. However, Anthropology section, entitled Marketing the Ghosts: Personal students with a sufficient knowledge of Japanese experiences in Japanese contemporary ghost stories, in which and an interest in approaching primary sources will she addressed the inter-influence of ghost story formation be able to take Readings in Japanese Religions. In and the Japanese mass-media. addition, the degree offers language courses in modern Japanese. Students on the programme will The next EAJS Conference for Japanese Studies will be benefit from seminars, discussion groups, guest hosted in 2005 by the Department for East Asian Studies at lectures, and international workshops organized by the University of Vienna. It is especially scheduled a year the Centre for the study of Japanese religions. earlier than usual in order to coincide with “EU-Japan Year of People-to-People Exchanges” which was designated in Application forms are available from the Faculty of November 2002 by Japanese Prime Minister Jun’ichiro Arts and Humanities, SOAS. Koizumi and EU President Kostas Simitis. For further information on the programme see the SOAS webpages or contact the Director of Studies, Dr. Lucia Dolce, Room 334, ext 4217, email: [email protected]
10 CSJR Newsletter • January 2004 • Issue 9
Post Graduate Post Graduate MA Japanese Research Projects Religions Dissertations 2002-2003 Professionalisation and Naomi Hilton deprofessionalisation of Buddhist priests: Issues of Universalism and historical development in Byakko Shinko-kai A case study of Buddhist priests in Yoshiko Imaizumi contemporary Japanese society The Interactive creation, negotiated development and reinvented tradition of Meiji Jingu Shrine Mitsutoshi Horii Janet Klippenstein This study explores the dynamics of professionalisation and Deprivation, Survival , and Discipline: a critique of current deprofessionalisation in relation to Buddhist priests in approaches to the study of women in Japanese new religions contemporary Japanese society, by conducting a number of and Mizuko Kuyo in-depth interviews with them. This is a study of religious Kieko Obuse professionals of a non-Christian traditional religious Exploring the Japaneseness in Japanese Christianity: how does institution in a non-western social context. However, there is Uchimura Kanzo use Bushido to promote Christianity? broader sociological significance to this study than a mere application of social theory to a different cultural context. Carla Tronu Montane Sociological studies about the religious profession have Christian marriage in premodern Japan: an assessment of been rarely done, and virtually no previous empirical the transformations in the Jesuit sources used to teach and sociological studies focus on institutional and ideological administer the Sacrament of Matrimony to the Japanese in dynamics of religious specialists of traditional religious the late 16th and early 17th centuries institution. Yumiko Matsuzawa Mitchell The role of healing in Japanese new religions In this study, I hypothesize that the professionalisation and deprofessionalisation of Buddhist priests are highly Akemi Solloway interrelated in a complex way. T here are two major impacts An analysis of the seminal works on Bushido shaping these processes. One is secularisation and the Karen Ward other is the rise of the lay Buddhist movement. These How was Nichiren able to transform mappo into a positive elements simultaneously professionalise and persepctive? deprofessionalise Buddhist priests in contemporary Japan at both the institutional and ideological levels. Thus a key Post Graduate question is how Buddhist priests themselves construct and reconstruct their own meanings and identities (as priests) in PhD Research at SOAS on Japanese the context of the tensions between professionalisation and Religions deprofessionalisation in contemporary Japanese society. First of all, the secularisation process in contemporary Noriko Furukawa modern society has professionalised and Arts and New Religions in Japan: The Fuji Museum deprofessionalised religious specialists in traditional (Dr. Dolce, Study of Religions) religious institutions. In contemporary modern social Usami Hirokuni systems such as Japan, Japanese Buddhist priests can be Social crisis and religious change in pre-Kamakura Japan sociologically defined as a professional group. While they (Dr. Breen, East Asia) deal with Buddhist religious worship and ritual, they are also Chi Ho Ivan Hon often directors and administrators of religious bodies. They Japanese and Chinese intellectuals views on state and religion can be classified as a profession along with other secular mid 19th- early 20th (Prof. Bocking, Study of religions) professions. Thus, Buddhist priests, as a profession, are Yoshiko Imaizumi highly integrated into the Japanese capitalist economy. For The Meiji jingu (Dr. Breen, East Asia) example, they play a liturgist role in exchange for monetary profits. It is a secular feature of Buddhist temples and Yukiko Nishimura priests that financial resource is necessary for temples to Worship of Avalokitesvara in Japan (Dr. Dolce, Study be run and priests, as both directors and administrators, of Religions) are responsible for gaining these resources and for its Anna Schegoleva book-keeping. Ghosts in Japan: re-constructing horror in modernity (Prof. Bocking, Study of Religions) At the same time, secularisation process of Japanese society has stripped Buddhist priests of many of their Philip Swift traditional social roles. In pre-modern Japan, they were Ghosts and spirit possession in Japan’s new religions administrators of the local population. Buddhist temples (Dr. Martinez, Anthropology) and priests used to have close links to the secular Carla Tronu Montane authorities such as the government. However, after the rise A sociology of the Christian mission to Japan (Dr. Breen, of the modern government in the early 19th century, secular East Asia)
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authorities took over Buddhist temples’ administrative roles Buddhists able to avoid the notoriously expensive traditional to govern the population. In addition, by decriminalising Buddhist funerals. Furthermore, an ideological basis of clerical marriage and meat-eating, the modern Japanese Buddhist priests’ professionalism has been radically state attempted to put Buddhist priests out of the public “deconstructed”. For example, in the aftermath of its realm, and confined them into the sphere of religious schism in 1992 with Nichiren-shu priesthood, Soka Gakkai affairs, which was defined as purely private. redefined the concept of priests and priesthood. For Soka Gakkai, ‘priests’ are not a group of people in one way or Secondly, the rise of lay Buddhist organisations in the post- another differentiated from the laity any more, but rather a war era has caused professionalisation and way of life. It claims that anyone who strives for the sake of deprofessionalisation of Buddhist priests in a different level others’ happiness is a ‘priest’, and therefore the from that caused by secularisation. This is ‘priesthood’ is an organisation of those people, namely professionalisation and deprofessionalisation at an Soka Gakkai. This kind of conceptualisation certainly ideological level. A number of large lay Buddhist undermines the religious legitimacy of Buddhist priests. organisation have developed. These organisations usually hold their own groups of religious specialists, who are Given this, this study will provide a rich and detailed responsible for systematisation and preservation of sociological discussion on the tension between teachings. They also have their own executives, professionalisation and deprofessionalisation, as bureaucrats, spokesmen, lawyers, etc. Seeing the rise of experienced by Japanese Buddhist priests. This study is these new religious professionalisms, Buddhist priests try based on qualitative data collected through a number of in- to differentiate themselves from lay Buddhist professionals depth interviews with individual Buddhist priests. Interviews as more authentically religious. To do so, priests tend to were conducted in the initial fieldwork during July-Sep. 2002 express their importance in the performance of Buddhist and during June-Sep. 2003. Interview questions are rituals — for example, they are the only professionals who designed to find out Buddhist priests’ understandings of can deal with funerals. their roles, especially given the pressures of secularisation and the challenge posed by lay Buddhists. By analysing the However, this kind of professionalisation, ironically, has self-image of Buddhist priests, this study will show how they been undermining priests’ legitimacy as religious leaders. define and redefine themselves in relation to the Such a ritual oriented professional feature of Buddhist professionalisation and deprofessionalisation dynamic in priests is often criticised as business-like rather than contemporary Japanese society. ® religious. Moreover, emergence and increasing popularity of funerals without the presence of Buddhist priests seems to Mitsutoshi Horii is a PhD candidate at the University of Kent, have potential to deprofessionalise Buddhist priests from School of Sociology and Social Research. He seeks to examine their liturgist roles. For example, so-called “friends funerals” the dynamics in the occupational structure of the Buddhist have been promoted by the largest lay Buddhist priest in Japan, in relation to secularisation and the lay organisation, Soka Gakkai. This has made a number of lay movement.
CSJR Research studentships, 2004
Applications are now invited for the CSJR research The CSJR studentship may be awarded to candidates studentship in Japanese religions to be held at the proposing to register full-time for a research degree School of Oriental and African Studies, University of (MPhil/PhD) at SOAS in September 2004, and to those London, from September 2004. The studentship is for who enrolled full-time in September 2003 or after for a training leading to a PhD in Japanese religions at SOAS. research degree at SOAS. Candidates must have applied It will consist of a remittance of fees and a bursary of for a research degree at SOAS by March 31, 2004 in £9,350 per year in the first year of postgraduate study, order to be considered for the CSJR Research and is renewable for up to a further two years, subject to Studentship. satisfactory progress. The Studentship is open to outstanding students of Japanese religions regardless of Application forms and further particulars nationality. are available from: Closing date for applications The Registrar, School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG. is March 31 2004. For informal inquiries, please contact Dr. Lucia Dolce, The selection will take place during CSJR Chair, SOAS, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG, April 2004. e-mail: [email protected]
Further details on the CSJR and its activity may be found on the centre webpage:
www.soas.ac.uk/Centres/JapaneseReligions/
12 CSJR Newsletter • January 2004 • Issue 9
Research Projects and adopt it as the “guojiao” of China. Since the notion of “religion” was introduced to China through Japan where Chinese Intellectuals’ Reconstruction there were similar debates on Shinto, religion and “kokkyo” of Confucianism in the Late 19th and in the late 19th century, I also examined Japanese interpretations and views on these issues for comparison Early 20th Centuries and reference. Second, I examined their attempt to reconstruct the images of Confucius. I found that they had Chi Ho Ivan Hon made three different representations of Confucius (religious, I am currently doing research on Chinese intellectuals’ human and historic representation), which led to arguments attempts to reconstruct Confucianism in the late 19th and on the true identity of Confucius (whether he was a deity, early 20th Centuries, taking into consideration how it was religious master or historical figure) as well as his religious influenced by Japanese thinkers of that time period My and historical status. I also found that they all tried to use research refers to their attempt to deconstruct traditional old Confucius as a cultural symbol of China, which I suggested Confucianism and construct a modern, new Confucianism by was part of their attempt to use Confucianism as a form of transforming the focus, orientation and application of cultural nationalism. Third, I examined their attempt to Confucianism, as well as reformulating its content. This was reinterpret Confucian notions. I found that their arguments linked with their attempt to preserve, protect, reform and on the reinterpretation of “Three Ages” had turned into a strengthen Confucianism as well as to re-establish a dispute between Chinese reformers and revolutionaries on meaningful continuity with tradition (of which Confucianism the political system of China in the early 20th Century. They was a major component) in face of the rapid changes in China, had also challenged Chinese intellectuals’ notion of and the challenge of western ideas and culture (e.g. historical development, culture and race. Finally, I examined Christianity) in that period. Since the three Chinese the impact of their reconstruction of Confucianism. I found intellectuals in my research (Kang Yu-wei, Liang Chi-chao and that it had a direct impact on Chinese intellectuals’ critique Zhang Tai-yan) were also the leaders of the reform and of Confucius, Confucianism and Chinese tradition during the revolutionary movements in this period, which aimed at New Culture and May Fourth Movement as well as the strengthening China and transforming it into a modern nation, emergence of New Confucianism. It had also indirectly it was also linked with their attempt to promote reforms and contributed to the discourse on Confucianism’s impact on revolution in China as well as to transform Confucianism into modernisation and economic development as well as an ideology applicable for modern China. Although the employing Confucianism as the national ethical system and research focuses on China, since Kang Yu-wei looked upon content of moral education in the modern period. Meiji Japan as a model of reform, while Liang Chi-chao and Zhang Tai-yan were heavily influenced by the ideas of Japanese In the future, I would like to put this study in a larger thinkers as well as Western ideas transmitted through them context by comparing Kang, Liang and Zhang’s views on during their exile in Japan, Japanese thinkers and their ideas religion and morality; culture and tradition; and nation and are frequently used as references in the research. history with those of contemporary western thinkers.®
The aim of my research is to find out how and why these Chi Ho Ivan Hon is a PhD candidate in Japanese Religions at three thinkers attempted to reconstruct Confucianism, how the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies it was linked with their reformist and revolutionary activities, (SOAS). His main area of inquiry is Japanese and Chinese as well as how it influenced the cultural and intellectual intellectuals views on state and religion in the mid 19th and development of China in the 20th Century. Although many early 20th centuries. previous studies had already been done on these three thinkers’ thoughts and political activities, my research differs and contributes in several ways. Firstly, it compares the three thinkers. Secondly, it examines the link between their reconstruction of Confucianism and their political activities. Thirdly, it explores the issue of the “religiousness of Confucianism”. Fourthly, I put Japan into the picture as point of comparison and reference.
The method I used for this research was to analyse the writings of these three thinkers’ in this period. I tried to examine their attempts to reconstruct Confucianism from three perspectives. First, I investigated their attempt to redefine, reposition and re-evaluate Confucianism as a school of thought. This investigation led to the analysis of their arguments on whether Confucianism was a religion, and if so, whether it should be transformed into a religion and adopted as the state religion of China. I found out that it was an important debate among Chinese intellectuals, Western missionaries and scholars in that period due to the influence of the Western notion of “religion” as well as Kang’s attempt to transform Confucianism into a religion
13 CSJR Newsletter • January 2004 • Issue 9
Japanese Religions and Popular Culture 2004: Year of the Monkey
Janet Leigh Foster
On New Year’s Eve at the Tôshôgu shrine in Nikkô, monkey sculptures, which adorn the stable of the Sacred Horse, spring to life. Dressed as Shinto priests, they dance and sing for their equine companion. This year the Sacred Horse will undoubtedly be treated to an especially festive performance, given that 2004 is the Year of the Monkey. Characterised by its namesake, the Year of the Monkey portends to be an active one, auspicious for innovation, communication, and the performing arts.
The monkey is ninth in the twelve-year lunar cycle of the Asian Zodiac in which each year is named for an animal. Originally from India, the animal Zodiac was first recorded in its present form in ancient China, and made its way to Japan centuries later. The system was used as a means for understanding otherwise unexplainable phenomena in the every day life of an agrarian society, a sort of astrology, astronomy, meteorology and psychology combined. © Janet Leigh F The animal cycle was used to codify not only years, but also days, months and hours. Monkey hours were from three to five in the afternoon. This was the time when the cumulative effect of wine enjoyed with lunch caused people to act silly, like monkeys. oster
There is a traditional link between Japanese monkeys and entertainment. According to legend, Ame-no-uzume, was the monkey’s association with Saruda-hiko, a Shinto tutelary first lead performer in a troupe called the Female Monkey deity. The Japanese word for monkey is saru, a word that, Dancers (sarume). Sarume is the precursor of kagura, the because of its sound, offers a connection between the sacred Shinto music and dance performed at shrines as an monkey and Saruda-hiko, whose name sounds like offering of entertainment to deities. It stems from Japan’s monkey-field (saru-ta). Saruda-hiko is a guardian of the mythological age, when Ame-no-uzume performed an roads, and shrines dedicated to him are often found at uproarious dance that so amused the assembled gods, important crossings. In former times, horses were the their laughter lured the sun goddess, Amaterasu, out of a most common transport, and petitioners made offerings to cave in which she had sequestered herself, leaving the Saruda-hiko for their protection. These often took the form world in darkness. When Amaterasu emerged to join the of small straw horses. fun, she brought the sunshine with her. Zaru is a negative verb ending in Japanese and when added Japanese monkey fossils date back as far as 500,000 to the words for see, hear and speak, form the famous years. At that time Japan was still attached to the Asian land adage: See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil (mi-zaru, kika- mass and it is thought that the monkey might have migrated zaru, iwa-zaru). An illustrated version of this pun is popularly from China. As monkey communities spread and flourished found as a statue of the “Three Mystic Apes” (sambiki saru), throughout the Japanese nation, so did legends about them. which is often displayed at shrines dedicated to Saruda- hiko. The three monkeys represent the Three Virtues Songoku, of Chinese origin, is perhaps the most famous codified by the Tendai sect of Buddhism, and a Tendai monk monkey of all. He began his life as a hedonist who drank is credited with having carved the first monkey trio. too much at a feast and ended up in Hell. He escaped, but not without having stolen the official registers of the Monkeys have a place in Buddhist lore. Along with the inferno. After being given a chance to explain himself, as a “angry” tiger and “lovesick” deer, the monkey is way to keep tabs on him, he was given the position of characterized in Buddhism as one of the Three Senseless Guardian of the Heavenly Stables. Songoku did not retain Creatures. This is because the monkey is always grabbing at his job at the stables for very long, but the image of the things and is therefore considered to be greedy. There is a monkey is associated with protection of horses. Buddhist parable about a group of monkeys that forms a chain to swing from a branch to capture the full moon Carvings of monkeys can be found at the entrance to reflected in a pond. The branch breaks and the monkeys stables where horses used by Shinto priests are kept. The take a bath. The moral of the tale is a warning of the basis for this is not the legend of Songoku, but rather the dangers of overextending oneself because of greed.
14 CSJR Newsletter • January 2004 • Issue 9
After his stint at the stables, Songoku, the infamous monkey, got into trouble again when he gorged himself on the Peaches of Immortality. He was actually condemned to death Shinto Essay for this, but since the peaches had rendered him immortal, the sentence could not be carried out. To prove that he was sorry, and sincere about mending his ways, he travelled, in Competition the company of a priest and a pig deity, all the way to India to receive the Lotus Sutra and brought it back to China. Upon his return, he discovered that in reality he had only for 2004 been going around in circles on the giant palm of Buddha. 1st Prize: $1,000 Contemporary Japanese monkeys still travel in circles, moving about not on Buddha’s palm, but within mountain 2nd Prize: $500 ranges. Ôyamagui-no-kami, the mountain deity, is particularly fond of them, and monkey statues can be found where he is 3rd Prize: $300 enshrined, particularly the main Hie shrine near Kyoto, and The competition is open to all university-level its branches throughout the country. students. Entrants should submit a 8-10 page essay Since monkeys do not store food, they have to stay on the on any of the following subjects, including footnotes move in search of new places in which to forage. As the and bibliography. seasons grow colder, it becomes more difficult for them to 1) Shinto’s encounter with Christianity. find food in the wild. Although humans have added to the difficulty by encroaching on their habitat, they have also 2) Shinto as the core of Japanese daily life. provided monkeys with new opportunities for scavenging. 3) Shinto and Economy
Monkeys sneak into humans’ houses to raid the kitchen, Essays will be judged on their originality and and wreak havoc at supermarkets where, after having fun comprehensive treatment of the subject. with the automatic doors, they steal food and run away without paying. After a day of rampaging, they relax at local Essays should be typed or clearly printed in 12-point hot spring resorts (onsen). type double-spaced on 8-1/2 x 11 (or A-4) paper. Essays written in languages other than English are People born in the Year of the Monkey are thought to be as acceptable with English translation attached. quick-witted as the animal of their namesake, enabling them Applicants are permitted to submit only one essay and to achieve their goals with finesse. The only barrier that must include short biography on a separate sheet. stands between them and success is the danger of succumbing to a condition known as “monkey mind.” Like All Entries must be received by May 31, 2004. monkeys roaming from mountain to mountain, their attention Essays should be submitted by mail only to: is easily diverted and they become too distracted to carry a goal to its completion. Surely the academic community will The International Shinto Foundation, Inc. not be thusly afflicted in 2004, a year that portends exciting New York Center breakthroughs and innovations. Happy Monkey! 40 East 30th Street, Ground Floor New York, New York, 10016, U.S.A. Janet Leigh Foster, Assistant to the Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions, is a graduate of the MA Japanese Phone: (212) 686-9117 Religions course at SOAS. She is a freelance journalist and Fax : (212) 686-7111 fine- arts photographer. (www.janetfoster.co.uk) E-mail : [email protected] Prize winners will be publicly announced and prizes awarded in October 2004 in New York City and every entrant shall be notified with the result of the competition. All submissions will become the property of ISF.
Sponsored by The International Shinto Foundation, Inc.. accredited Not-for-Profit Organization and NGO associated with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and Department of Public Information(DPI).
15 Centre website Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions School of Oriental and African Studies Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square London WC1 0XG
[email protected] www.soas.ac.uk/Centres/JapaneseReligions/
Chair Dr. Lucia Dolce, [email protected]
Executive Professor Brian Bocking, [email protected] Dr. John Breen, [email protected] Dr. Lucia Dolce, [email protected]
Associate members Meri Arichi, [email protected] Reiko Tanimura, [email protected] Anna Andreeva, [email protected] Chi Ho Ivan Hon, [email protected] Mitsutoshi Horii, [email protected] Yukiko Nishimura, [email protected] Anna Schegoleva, [email protected] Carla Tronu Montane, [email protected]
Centre Assistant Janet Foster, [email protected]
Newsletter editors Lucia Dolce and Janet Foster
For information on the Centre and updates on events, please consult the Centre website. To be added to our electronic mailing list, and to send us your comments, news and announcements, please e-mail: [email protected].
Centre for the Study of Japanese religions
SOAS • Russell Square • London WC1H 0XG • Email: [email protected]