Contents
List of Illustrations
Conventions and Abbreviations Used in the Text
Prologue
Chapter 1: An Alternative Approach to the History of Shinto
Conceptualizing Shrine Practice as Shinto
Meiji and the Formation of Shinto as a State Cult
Shinto as Folklore
Religious Shinto Sects
Many Shintos; Many Histories
A Shrine, a Myth, and a Ritual
Chapter 2: Kami Shrines, Myths, and Rituals in Premodern Times
Early Shrine Cults
Jingi Myth
Jingi Ritual
The Jingi Cult and Yin-Yang Ritual
The Jingi Cult and Buddhism
Shrines in Late Classical and Medieval Japan: From Landowners to Pilgrimage Centers
The Emergence of “Shinto”
Yoshida Kanetomo and the Invention of One-and-Only Shinto
Early Modern State Shinto
Popular Practices
The Nativists and their Kami
Chapter 3: The History of a Shrine: Hie
Hie in Ancient and Medieval Japan
The Hie Shrines and Early Modern Japan
The Hie Shrine and Modern Japan
Chapter 4: The History of a Myth: The Sun-Goddess and the Rock-Cave
The Sun-Goddess and the Rock-Cave
Origins
The Rediscovery of Court Myth
The Way of Poetry
Buddhist Readings and Ritualizations: The Way of the Gods
The Rock-Cave Myth as a Performance, and the Way of Noh
The End of the Medieval World
The Rock-Cave Myth after Meiji
Chapter 5: The Daijsai: A “Shinto” Rite of Imperial Accession
A “Shinto” Rite of Imperial Accession
Ritual Controversy
The Daijsai and the Modern Nation-State
The Daijsai and Enthronement Rites in Premodern Japan
Conclusion
Chapter 6: Issues in Contemporary Shinto
NAS: Operations and Agendas
NAS and Beyond
Shinto and Shrines in the Periphery
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 1 An Alternative Approach to the History of Shinto
Chapter 2 Kami Shrines, Myths, and Rituals in Premodern Times
Chapter 3 The History of a Shrine: Hie
Chapter 4 The History of a Myth: The Sun-Goddess and the Rock-Cave
Chapter 5 The Daijsai : A “Shinto” Rite of Imperial Accession
Chapter 6 Issues in Contemporary Shinto
References
Index
Praise for A New History of Shinto
“Written by two scholars at the forefront of the study of Japanese religions, this book offers much more than a brief history. It is in fact a very bold and lucid attempt to redraw the parameters that govern our understanding of that elusive body of thought and practice we call Shinto. After an excellent overview of the development of Shinto through time, the authors present a series of case studies, of a shrine, a myth, and a rite, that reveal neither a precious fossil, nor the remnant of a pristine, primitive past, but a constellation of institutions and practices that was for ever evolving in response to changing demands. This book will surprise and on occasion shock; it will surely be required reading for all those interested in Japan and the Japanese.”
Richard Bowring
University of Cambridge
“A New History of Shinto contains fresh material presented in an entirely original format. Co-written by two of the world’s leading academic authorities on Japanese religions, this book is a substantial and highly readable introduction to Shinto, informed by the best of recent scholarship. The volume offers a host of surprises for any reader who thinks that Shinto is Japan’s ancient indigenous faith, and at the same time provides much new information and fresh insights for those more familiar with the research findings which have radically transformed our understanding of Shinto in recent years. Overall, the book sets a new standard for a concise introduction to Shinto. It should be required reading for anyone interested in Japan and religion.”
Brian Bocking
University College Cork
BLACKWELL BRIEF HISTORIES OF RELIGION SERIES
This series offers brief, accessible, and lively accounts of key topics within theology and religion. Each volume presents both academic and general readers with a selected history of topics which have had a profound effect on religious and cultural life. The word “history” is, therefore, understood in its broadest cultural and social sense. The volumes are based on serious scholarship but they are written engagingly and in terms readily understood by general readers.
Other topics in the series:
Published
Heaven | Alister E. McGrath |
Heresy | G. R. Evans |
Islam | Tamara Sonn |
Death | Douglas J. Davies |
Saints | Lawrence S. Cunningham |
Christianity | Carter Lindberg |
Dante | Peter S. Hawkins |
Spirituality | Philip Sheldrake |
Cults and New Religions | Douglas E. Cowan and David G. Bromley |
Love | Carter Lindberg |
Christian Mission | Dana L. Robert |
Christian Ethics | Michael Banner |
Jesus | W. Barnes Tatum |
Shinto | John Breen and Mark Teeuwen |
Forthcoming
Paul | Robert Paul Seesengood |
Apocalypse | Martha Himmelfarb |
Islam 2nd Edition | Tamara Sonn |
The Reformation | Kenneth Appold |
Monasticism | Dennis D. Martin |
Sufism | Nile Green |
This edition first published 2010
© 2010 John Breen and Mark Teeuwen
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Breen, John, 1956–
A new history of Shinto / John Breen and Mark Teeuwen.
p. cm. – (Blackwell brief histories of religion series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4051-5515-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-1-4051-5516-8
(pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Shinto–History. I. Teeuwen, Mark. II. Title.
BL2218.B74 2010
299.5′61–dc22
2009029982
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
1 2010
List of Illustrations
Maps
1 The geographical location of the Hie Shrines
2 The position of the seven shrines in the Hie precinct
Figures
1 Extract from Akisato Rit, Ise sang meisho zue (Illustrated guide to famous sites for Ise pilgrims)
2 One-panel extract from Hie Sann sairei kozu (Ancient map of the Sann festival)
3 One-panel extract from Hie sairei tenk bybu (Panels depicting the Hie festival)
4 A 1988 performance of iwato kagura at Isozaki Shrine in Shing (near Fukuoka)
5 Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Shichifukujin iwato no kurabiraki (The Seven Gods of Fortune opening the storehouse)
Tables
1 The early modern Sann festival: main events
2 The Hie kami
3 Priestly lineages
Conventions and Abbreviations Used in the Text
In this book we follow the standard convention of giving Japanese names in Japanese order, with the family name followed by the given name. Less conventionally, we refer wherever possible to Shinto kami, often inadequately translated “god” or “gods,” as “kami,” without italics.
Finally, a note on periodization is called for. A number of conventional period names are used in the text, sometimes without dates. For easy reference, these dates are listed here:
Nara | 710–794 |
Heian | 794–1185 |
Kamakura | 1185–1333 |
Muromachi | 1336–1573 |
Edo | 1600–1867 |
Meiji | 1868–1912 |
Taish | 1912–1926 |
Shwa | 1926–1989 |
Perhaps unwisely, we often refer to the Nara and Heian periods collectively as “ancient” or “classical,” Kamakura and Muromachi as “medieval,” Edo as “early modern.” Meiji and after are the “modern” period, and “premodern” thus refers to pre-Meiji. Whenever these terms are encountered in this book, they are used in these particular senses. Note also that the lunar calendar prevailed in Japan until 1873, when the Japanese government adopted the solar calendar.
Abbreviations
NKBT | Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei |
SBS | Meiji Ishin Shinbutsu Bunri Shiry |
SNKBT | Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei |
ST | Shint Taikei |
Prologue
The premise for A New History of Shinto is the more or less obvious point that Shinto is a construct, that Shinto is not in other words coeval with heaven and earth. At some time in the past, it came into being. It follows from this observation that there must have been a “pre-Shinto,” a time, that is, when Shinto did not exist, and there must also have been historical processes of “Shintoization” that led to its construction in particular ways at particular times. In this book we are every bit as interested in exploring this “pre-Shinto” and pursuing these “Shintoization” processes as we are in the Shinto construct itself. The method we adopt is to devote three core chapters to in-depth, historical case studies of three central Shinto motifs: shrines, myth, and ritual. Specifically, and for reasons which will become apparent, we focus on the Hie Shrines, east of Kyoto in Shiga Prefecture, the myth of the sun-goddess and the rock-cave, and the Great Rite of Feasting, known as the daijsai. The other chapters range more broadly and less deeply, but always critically, across different Shinto themes in premodern and modern Japanese history.
A New History of Shinto is a co-authored book, and we shared the research and writing load equally. Mark Teeuwen was responsible for Chapters 1 and 4; John Breen wrote Chapters 5 and 6. Chapters 2 and 3, as well as the Conclusion, were co-written, with Mark Teeuwen being responsible for the early and medieval sections, and John Breen for the early modern and modern. Both of us incurred numerous debts in the researching and writing of our different chapters and sections, which we want to record here. Both authors want to thank Kirsten Berrum of Oslo University for drawing and redrawing the Hie maps. Mark Teeuwen would like to thank Michael Como and Herman Ooms for generously sharing their work on the ancient period with him, Kadoya Atsushi for good company and for directing him to some wonderful sources on the medieval period, and Mori Mizue for giving him free tickets to the Noh play that is discussed in Chapter 4. He is also grateful to Arne Kalland for the photograph of iwato kagura at Shing and to Yajima Arata from Shibuya Kuritsu Sht Bijutsukan for the reproduction of Shichifukujin iwato no kurabiraki.
John Breen wants to thank Takagi Hiroshi of Kyoto University for lots of advice and friendship, the shrine priests Sagai Tatsuru and Suhara Norihiko, and the local historian Yamaguchi Yukitsugu both for sharing their deep knowledge of Hiyoshi Taisha, and for introducing him to some invaluable written and visual sources. He wants to record his gratitude, too, to the archivists at Shiga Prefectural Library and Shiga Prefectural Office, as well as to Iwahashi Katsuji of the National Association of Shrines and Kase Naoya of Kokugakuin University. It goes without saying that any shortcomings in the arguments presented are solely the responsibility of the authors.