Indigenous and Imported Traditions in Japan

1. Indigenous and Imported Traditions in Japan Jeffrey L. Richey, Ph.D. REL 232 Religions of China and Japan Berea College Fall 2004

2. EARLY JAPAN(4500 BCE-550 CE) • Origins of Japanese people: unknown, probably multiple, perhaps related to Koreans and Manchurians • Centralized authority and stratified society developed much later in Japan, perhaps due to easy access to water • Earliest records of Japanese religion describe female shaman-rulers, oracle bone divination, and concern with ritual purification • No early Japanese text free of Chinese influence

3. SHINTÔ 神道 • Shintô = term borrowed from Chinese • In both Chinese and early Japanese texts, Shintô = • Popular religion • Buddhism • Daoism • Generic “religion” • Until late medieval period (c. 1500s), Shintô = Buddhism • After 1500s, Shintô gradually acquires modern meaning: independent, indigenous Japanese religion

4. 300s-600s: Yamato period – Chinese art, language, politics, religion (especially Buddhism), and technology imported from Korea 710-794: Nara period – unified imperial rule established; Buddhism endorsed by Nara court; earliest Shintô texts (Kojiki 古事記 [Record of Ancient Matters], Nihongi日本記 [Chronicles of Japan] composed 794-1192: Heian period – imperial capital moved to Kyoto; Pure Land and Chan (Zen) Buddhism introduced 1192-1338: Kamakura period – imperial power eclipsed by rule of shogun將軍(military dictator); dramatic growth for Buddhism 1338-1571: Muromachi (Ashikaga) period – declining stability of shogun rule; endemic civil war; Portuguese bring Christianity 1571-1868: Tokugawa (Edo) period – feudal society under shogun; persecution of Christianity; popularity of neo-Confucianism; Shintô develops independent religious identity PRE-MODERN JAPANESE RELIGIOUS HISTORY

5. SHINTÔ: KEY CONCEPTS • Kami神: non- anthropomorphic spirits of natural sites that embody purity as well as Japan itself • Jinja神社: shrines at which kami are present • Matsuri 祭: festivals involving music, dance, prayer, food offerings, and feasting; closely tied to agricultural seasons • Harae祓: ritual purification, usually as preparation for participation in shrine ceremony

6. SHINTÔ VIEWS OF NATURE • Japan = pure, good, beautiful, and divine land brought into being by kami • Imperial family = descendants of Amaterasu天照大 (sun kami) • Japanese people = “children of the kami” • Thus, all things are good insofar as they arise from kami, but liable to pollution insofar as they stray from kami

7. SHINTÔ VIEWS OF HUMANITY • Human nature = originally pure (“bright, red heart”) • Human life = process of gradual accumulation of pollution (“dirty, black heart”) • Human goal = purity: • outward purification of body and community • inner purification of heart (kokoro 心) • Both goals facilitated by contact with kami at shrines, in nature, etc.

8. THE SHINTÔ RITUAL YEAR • New Year Festival (January 1-15): family purification through shrine visits and house-cleaning • Spring and Autumn Festivals: seasonal rituals of purification • Great Purification (June 30): national ritual of purification performed at each local shrine • Harvest Festival(November 23-24): offering of first fruits by emperor at Ise shrine

9. SHINTÔ VIEWS OF BUDDHISM • No Shintô text predates Buddhism in Japan • Nara thinkers develop theory ofhonji suijaku本地重跡 (original reality, manifest traces), whereby bodhisattvas are honji, kami are suijaku • By Kamakura period, Shintôists invert theory -- kami as honji, bodhisattvas as suijaku • Buddhism and Shintô remain completely intertwined until Muromachi period • By Meiji period (1868-1912), Shintô and Buddhism separate

11. SHINTÔ VIEWS OF CONFUCIANISM • No Shintô texts predate the introduction of Confucianism to Japan • Early rulers such as Prince Shotoku (573-621) based the Japanese imperial state on Chinese and Korean Confucian models • By Tokugawa period, Neo-Confucian thought was very attractive to the ruling and intellectual classes • Shintô-Confucian synthesis complete by late 1800s