University of Heidelberg

Abstracts

Anna Andreeva (Karl Jaspers Centre, University of Heidelberg)

“The Cults of Miwa in Pre-Modern Japan”

This paper will concentrate on the processes by which multiple strands of kami worship were constructed in the vicinity of Mt Miwa, in the southeastern corner of the Yamato plain in central Japan. Misleadingly described in twentieth-century scholarship under a single label of “Miwa Shinto”, these cults were actually conceptualized and practiced independently by a number of different cultural agents, all of whom had their own varying political, economic or religious agendas. I will argue that while no unified tradition of “Miwa Shinto” existed in pre-modern Japan, the ritual and intellectual activities of these diverse agents interested in the mythological, economic and political potential of the sacred site at Miwa must be seen in their respective historical contexts. For instance, I will explore the possible avenues for understanding the ancient cults of the Miwa deities as seen in early mytho-historical records by tracing the connections between the cultic areas of Miwa, Izumo, the Ômiwa clan and the early Yamato rulers. I will also discuss how these ancient cults were re-conceptualised by the Ômiwa shrine priests during the medieval period.
Although the mountain itself is located in central Japan, the symbolic and historical ties of the sacred site of Miwa and its deities stretch as far as the coastal areas of ancient Izumo and Harima and possibly, the Korean kingdoms. This paper outlines the relationship of the Miwa deities to the rulers of ancient Izumo and Yamato, and sets out the significance of the Miwa deities for the imperial lines of Tenchi, Tenmu and Jitô.

Michael Como (Columbia University, New York)

"Dream Angel: The Jade Woman and Cultic Practice Beyond Temples and Shrines"

This paper represents a first attempt to tease out the cultic origins of the Jade Woman, or Gyokujo, a somewhat obscure Chinese deity from the Daoist pantheon that burst into prominence in a variety of contexts in medieval Japan. Today the Jade Woman is best known for the integral role that she played in two key moments in Japanese Buddhist history. In the first of these, the Pure Land Patriarch Shinran is said to have traced the formation of his religious vocation to a dream revelation from a deity that he described in terms clearly derived from classical descriptions of the Jade Woman. In the second, the famed medieval prelates Jien and Jihen both recounted dreams involving the Jade Woman that they related to Buddhist discourses on the meaning of the Imperial regalia. Not surprisingly, these events, together with medieval Buddhist glosses that equated the Jade Woman with the wish-fulfilling jewel, have drawn the attention of a number of Buddhist scholars, including Tanaka Takako, Brian Ruppert and Lori Meeks, each of whom has discussed this deity in terms of Buddhist political theory, conceptions of gender and sexuality, etc.
In this paper, however, I would like to argue that there is perhaps an even larger story to be told—namely, that, hundreds of years before the Jade Woman began showing up in the dreams of medieval Buddhist monks, she may have been worshipped by members of the populace at large who lived beyond the confines of the temples and shrines of religious professionals. Although our evidence is extremely sketchy, I will suggest that the Jade Woman is best understood within the context of a number of deities of continental origin that, although they do not appear in Imperial mythologies, were closely related to technologies and activities that played a central role in the lives of common people across the Japanese islands.   

Bernhard Scheid (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien)

“The reproduction of crisis: Hachimanism and the release of animals”

Releasing (previously caught) animals is a standard practice in Buddhism that can be found in the entire Buddhist world in order to attain good karma. In Japan, however, such rituals are typically performed in Hachiman shrines all over the country. Apart from the actual setting free of species that vary from place to place, these so-called Hōjō-e (release of animals ceremonies) also contain performative elements that recount the story of the Hayato, defeated aborigines of Kyushu who turned into malevolent spirits. According to Hachiman mythology, these spirits caused diseases that could only be overcome after Hachiman, who was also instrumental in the victory over the Hayato, pledged to hold a Hōjō-e twice a year. In this way, the quelling of angry spirits by Buddhist ritual means became a consistent element in what I call "Hachimanism". Starting from the Hōjō-e I will argue that Hachimanism was a "syncretic" cult right from its inception deriving from a specific blend of Buddhism and "Shamanism" in response to a catastrophic disease. I will also try to show how the ritual reenactment of this crisis produced the specific religious identity of Hachimanism. Comparable to a drama of Noh, the reproduction and subsequent removal of bad karma seems therefore to be the essential part of Hachiman's Hōjō-e.

Mark Teeuwen (University of Oslo)

“The touchy Sun Goddess of classical Ise, in myth and ritual”

Two protocols of Ise ritual were submitted to the imperial court in 804.  These are the earliest extant sources by far to give a detailed account of shrine or kami ritual anywhere in Japan.  Their historical importance is further enhanced by the fact that they served as a model for the reconstruction of non-Buddhist Shinto ceremonial in later ages.  Yet, as far as I am aware there is not a single article about these protocols in a Western language.
This paper seeks to grasp the image of the imperial ancestor and sun goddess Amaterasu as that kami emerges from classical Ise myth and ritual, with an emphasis on the latter.  How did Ise ritual relate to court myth, and what was the connection between kami ceremonial performed by the emperor and his court in the capital on the one hand, and the priesthood of distant Ise on the other?  What concerns can be identified in the ritual proceedings, and what legitimized the extravagant use of court resources on the Ise cult?  Finally, how did the court's cult of Ise develop between its origins in the late 7th century and the time of the protocols?