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- Convenor:
-
Jon Morris
(Daito Bunka University)
Send message to Convenor
- Chair:
-
Jon Morris
(Daito Bunka University)
- Section:
- Religion and Religious Thought
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 25 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
This panel presents research contributing to a reexamination of Buddhist institutions kyōdan 教団 in Early Modern Japan. We examine materials demonstrating the nuanced realities of religious institutions the Edo period; exploring their relationships with local communities and feudal overlords.
Long Abstract:
This panel presents research contributing to a reexamination of Buddhist institutions kyōdan 教団 in Early Modern Japan. Previous research has generally discussed Buddhist institutions largely in terms of the head temple-branch temple system honmatsu seido 本末制度 and temple-parishioner system jidan seido 寺檀制度, emphasizing the overall control exercised by the shogunate. We examine materials demonstrating the more nuanced realities of religious institutions the Edo period; exploring their relationships with local communities and feudal overlords.
One of the panel presentations focuses on the shogunate's regulation of religions in Early Modern Japan. In order to reappraise the current discourse on that system of regulation, its key features relating to Buddhist institutions, temples and monks are reassessed. Shedding new light on the ways in which religious institutions operated, special attention is paid to the local foundations of that system and to exceptions to its general pattern, such as temples without affiliation to any religious institution. This invites a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between religious institutions and the feudal overlords of the Edo period.
Another presentation concentrates on the system of administrative temples furegashira seido 触頭制度 in Early Modern Japanese Buddhist institutions. Exploring the system's regional foundations and its connections with Edo period feudal lords, this section nuances the existing discourse with reference to the links between temples and monks' associations kumiai 組合 and confraternities kō 講.
The third presentation discusses Mokujiki 木食, a dietary practice associated with mountain religion. As an institution, it was the victim of successive government ordinances limiting the activities of Buddhist itinerants. The charisma of some of its adherents, however, along with the usefulness to the Shingon sect of a group outside the mainstream established it within Buddhist institutions. The symbiotic relationship of elites and low-status mokujiki practitioners and the extent to which mokujiki institutions existed independently and with distinct lineages are the two main foci of this discussion, providing a case study in how a marginal institution could exist within the official sectarian structures of the Edo period.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 25 August, 2021, -Jon Morris (Daito Bunka University)
Paper short abstract:
As part of a reassessment of the role of "religious institutions" kyōdan 教団 in pre-Modern Japan, this presentation examines source materials indicating the extent to which Shingon, Tendai, Sōtō and Rinzai mokujiki 木食 groups existed as independent institutions and lineages during the Edo period.
Paper long abstract:
Mokujiki 木食 ("eating of wood") is a diet of uncooked tree based foods, always undertaken in conjunction with abstention from cereals, most often found within Shugendō and esoteric Buddhist traditions. Some practitioners were officially ordained monks, predominantly of the Shingon sect. Others took mokujiki vows and lived as itinerant monks with or without official ordination, often devoted to the Buddha Amida. Forms of mokujiki were practiced in Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern and Modern Japan, often within institutionally marginal Buddhist religious groups. The practice of mokujiki developed on Mt. Kōya became one of the distinctive institutions on the mountain. It offered a distinct identity, ascetic path, and social role to many who lacked the background or connections that would lead to an elite clerical post.
Though mokujiki typically had a Shingon or Tendai orientation, the institutional affiliations and religious goals of its practitioners varied considerably and cannot be properly explained either in terms of the head temple-branch temple honmatsu 本末 relationships or the representative doctrines of the sects. Mokujiki practice was distinctive in that it involved dietary asceticism outside the normal framework of Buddhist dietary restriction, and itinerancy that brought the practitioner closer to ordinary folk than settled incumbents of temples could generally hope to be.
As part of a reassessment of the role of "religious institutions" kyōdan 教団 in pre-Modern Japan, this presentation pays particular attention to the extent to which Shingon, Tendai, Sōtō and Rinzai mokujiki institutions existed as independent institutions and lineages. Examining a wide range of source materials indicating the extent to which mokujiki implied a distinct type of practice and affiliation, it concludes with analysis of the reasons for mokujiki's flourishing during the Edo period.
Naohide Hozawa (Toyo University)
Paper short abstract:
This presentation is an attempt to reappraise the current discourse on the shogunate's regulation of religions in Early Modern Japan. It aims to identify key features of this system of control, paying particular attention to the actual regulation of Buddhist institutions, temples and monks.
Paper long abstract:
This presentation is an attempt to reappraise the current discourse on the shogunate's regulation of religions in Early Modern Japan. It aims to identify key features of this system of control, paying particular attention to the regulation of Buddhist institutions, temples and monks.
It would seem that a certain stereotypical view persists regarding questions of "the regulation and oversight of Buddhist temples" in the Early Modern period. This is the view that regulation and oversight of religions was put firmly in place in the early Edo period and this then shaped and regulated the organizational structure and activities of Buddhist institutions until the late Edo period. With a view to addressing those lingering unnuanced views of the subject, this presentation discusses the control of Buddhist institutions, temples and monks by the Edo shogunate, the structures and mechanisms in place within Early Modern Buddhist institutions, and various conditions placed upon the existence of Buddhist temples and monks.
The following three points are vital considerations for this discussion. First, it is necessary to confirm what issues the authorities were responding to when they introduced the various aspects of the control of religion; with reference, where appropriate, to political issues of the time other than the control of religion itself. Second, the generally accepted view is that the regulation and control of Buddhist institutions was implemented throughout each separate sect as a national level organization. However, there were some smaller religious institutions which were limited to a particular region, and there were those temples with no organizational affiliation to any religious institution. Examples such as these are also an important focus for a reconsideration of the basic principles behind the system of control and regulation. Thirdly, groups of monks would form links with regional society via the intermediary role of temples. For this reason, all those factors essential to the continued existence of temples, along with other aspects of the life and work of temples, exerted an influence on the forms which religious institutions and monks' associations were to take. This is also an aspect of the issue that demands attention.
Daisuke UENO
Paper short abstract:
This presentation focuses on the system of administrative temples in Early Modern Japanese Buddhist institutions. It discusses the system's regional foundations and its connections with feudal lords and confirms the importance of the system to the management of Buddhist institutions.
Paper long abstract:
This research report presents examples of the system of administrative temples furegashira seido 触頭制度 in Early Modern Japanese Buddhist institutions kyōdan 教団. It discusses the system's regional foundations and its connections with Edo period feudal lords. Research thus far has discussed Buddhist institutions largely in terms of the head temple-branch temple system honmatsu seido 本末制度 and temple-parishioner system jidan seido 寺檀制度, emphasizing the overall control exercised by the shogunate. In recent years, however, research on the various systems and frameworks within Buddhist institutions themselves and on sectarian and regional diversity has highlighted the need to reexamine the temples policy of the Edo period regime. With that research direction in mind, this presentation focuses on the system of administrative temples in Buddhist institutions. These administrative temples were established in the various regions by head temples honzan 本山 and feudal lords. They would pass on communiques such as new laws and regulations from head temples and feudal lords to their subordinate temples fureshita 触下. Administrative temples were also responsible for receiving official petitions and suchlike from the temples under them.
The system of administrative temples organized temples by region, and there were cases of subordinate temples forming associations kumiai 組合 within these regions. Many matters were dealt with via this head temple-administrative temple-subordinate temples structure in addition to the transmission of instructions to subordinates and reports to superiors. Ties between local confraternities kō 講 and the temples in their neighboring areas also developed.
The system of administrative temples was an important factor contributing to the management of Buddhist institutions under the authority of the Edo period regime. Bringing local foundations of that system such as associations and confraternities into proper perspective makes clear the ways in which Buddhist institutions operated and organized themselves. It also opens the way for a reassessment of the relationship between Buddhist institutions and the feudal overlords of the Edo period.