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- Convenors:
-
Yen-Yi Chan
(Academia Sinica)
Mikael Bauer (McGill University)
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- Section:
- Religion and Religious Thought
- Sessions:
- Thursday 26 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
This panel foregrounds practice in examining the interdependence between political and religious realms in premodern Japan, investigating how Buddhist activities affected power relations, constructed ideas of governance and legitimacy, and served to obtain political and economic resources.
Long Abstract:
The relationship between religious and political spheres in premodern Japan is a topic that has been addressed by several Japanese and Western scholars. Studies on rituals, doctrine, and monastic institutions have thoroughly explored the intersection of religious and secular power, but all too often religious praxis has been considered as subordinate to economic and political developments. This panel foregrounds practice in examining the interdependence between politics and religion. In what ways did religious practices affect power relations, construct ideas of governance and legitimacy, and serve as a means to gain political and economic resources? To consider this question from various angles, this panel examines a wide range of religious activities from history writing, architectural construction, iconographic creation, to memorial rituals. The proposed papers also approach the question by looking at not only political and religious institutions, but also individuals and groups at the center and periphery. Through these investigations, this panel reconsiders what constituted religious and political realms in ancient and medieval times.
The first paper examines the production of the History of the Fujiwara House (Tōshi Kaden) by Fujiwara no Nakamaro (706-764), a text written to provide legitimacy to the Fujiwara as the sovereign's main servants. In addition, the writing of this history will be connected with the creation of one of largest state rituals, the Yuima'e. The second paper investigates how Retired Emperor Go Shirakawa (1127-1192; r. 1155-1158) formulated a new vision of kingship through the construction of the Sanjūsangendō (Hall of Thirty-Three Bays) in 1164 and its splendid 1'000 sculptures of Thousand-Armed Kannon. The third paper demonstrates how Shingon monks in the twelfth century utilized iconographic illustrations to secure patronage from political power and proclaim their agency in the worship of the icon Fukūkenjaku Kannon at the Kōfukuji Nan'endō (Southern Round Hall), which was considered as the protector of the prominent Northern Fujiwara clan. The fourth paper seeks to understand the ways in which monks from local temples in Echizen Province in the Muromachi period (1336-1573) gained resources and maintained relationships with the military government by performing rituals for the shogun and cooperating with monks in Kyoto.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 26 August, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
This paper shows how Shingon monks in the twelfth century utilized iconographic illustrations to secure patronage from political power, the prominent Northern branch of the Fujiwara clan and proclaim their pivotal roles in the family's worship of the Fukūkenjaku Kannon in the Nan'endō at Kōfukuji.
Paper long abstract:
Buddhists have produced images of deities following instructions given in scriptures. The accurate depictions of deities' iconography ensure the efficacy of icons and are essential for establishing a suitable setting for ritual performances and meditative practices. Iconographical elements such as hand gestures and implements allow viewers to identify what icons represent and their religious meanings. Therefore, iconography is not merely a province of art historians, but also a type of Buddhist knowledge and a way of communication between believers and divinities. However, iconography is by no means devoid of political meaning. This paper investigates iconography as a source of religious authority and a pathway to political power by examining copies of the sculpture Fukūkenjaku Kannon (Avalokiteśvara with the Unfailing Rope) in the Nan'endō (Southern Round Hall) at Kōfukuji in Nara.
Seated in the center of the hall, this icon has been known as the protector of the Northern branch of the Fujiwara clan, who dominated politics in the first half of the Heian period (794-1185). The practice of replicating the Nan'endō Fukūkenjaku Kannon appeared in the late eleventh century and as scholars point out, had to do with increased devotion to the icon in the Northern Fujiwara clan. Nevertheless, by analyzing the copies of the icon along with courtier diaries, iconographic manuals, and oral transmission (kuden), this paper reveals the pivotal roles of Shingon monks in the family's worship of the deity. Moreover, the illustrations of the deer skin, the iconography of Fukūkenjaku Kannon, in some of the copies demonstrated that the Nan'endō Fukūkenjaku Kannon was as much connected to esoteric teachings as to Kōfukuji, the family temple of the Northern Fujiwara. The illustrations also marked the religious authority of Shingon monks in explaining deity's iconography. Through this visual production, Shingon monks asserted their roles as not only ritual providers, but also religious consultants for the Northern Fujiwara clan and signified their significance for the family. Taking this point together with other replications of the icon associated with Kōfukuji, this paper further manifests a network of worship and a sociopolitical terrain where multiple monastic and secular power intersected.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the relationship between local prayer temples and the central government in the early 15th century. It argues that this relationship contributed to the establishment of local temples as ritual centers in the local society, and their fame and significance there.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines hitherto neglected connections between local temples and the central political authority in the Muromachi period (1368-1467). Local Buddhist temples are valuable for understanding medieval Japanese society (ca. 1100-1600) because of their important religious, economic, political, and cultural roles in local communities. Recent scholarship pays attention to the local temples particularly in the Muromachi period. This era saw active interactions between the capital and country-side as indicated by the increased number of local temples being designated as prayer temples (kiganji). It is common to see that local temples took the initiative in building up connections with the shogunate and other powers in order to be designated as prayer temples because the designation could secure several benefits from the shogun such as the confirmation of the ownership of land property. To be designated as prayer temples, it is necessarily to form good relationships with head temples in Kyoto in the first place. However, both Japanese and English language scholarships have not to date clarified how the monks in Kyoto took part in the formulation of rituals that were conducted at local temples and were essential for the designation as prayer temples.
This paper seeks to remedy this state of research by exploring ritual performance at prayer temples in Echizen Province and the roles of monks—both in central Kyoto and the local society—in maintaining capital-countryside relationship. By analyzing medieval documents persevered at local temples in Echizen Province, the paper contends that monks in the local temples made a concerted effort to perform the memorial rituals held for the shogun on a regular basis with the support of priests in Kyoto. Moreover, this paper reveals that this cooperation and other interactions between the capital and local monastic communities contributed to the establishment of local temples as ritual centers, earning them reputation for memorial services in the local society.
Paper short abstract:
Focusing on the temple hall Sanjūsangendō, this paper discusses the historical development of the "mass-image hall" as an architectural typology and the key role it played in the visual expression of the religious and political authority of the retired emperors during the twelfth century.
Paper long abstract:
The twelfth century witnessed an extraordinary flourishing of large-scale temple and sculptural production on the outskirts of the Heian capital, most clearly represented by the lost temples-palace complexes of the Shirakawa District to the capital's northeast and the Toba Detached Palace directly south of the capital. As scholars have noted, these building activities were driven largely by the political and economic ambitions of abdicated emperors. Among the architectural trends that emerged at this time was the erection of monumental halls built to enshrine ensembles of 100 to 1,000 sculptures of a single Buddhist deity. This mass production of Buddhist images and their enshrinement within a single monumental temple hall has also been critiqued for its ambiguous relation to Buddhist doctrine, representing at best an excessive display of the Buddhist practice of "good works" (sazen 作善) or "the principle of merit through large numbers" (sūryō kudoku shugi 数量功徳主義). This paper aims to reevaluate this form of large-scale architectural and sculptural practice through a study of the temple hall Sanjūsangendō ("Hall of Thirty-Three Bays"), addressing the unique religious and lineal concerns that underlay its production.
Enshrining a kaleidoscopic ensemble of 1,000 life-sized gilt-wood sculptures of Senju Kannon (One Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara), the monumental thirty-three bay long structure was dedicated in 1164 as the central ritual hall of retired emperor Go Shirakawa's (1127-1192; r. 1155-1158) newly established temple-palace complex east of the Kamo River, the original layout of which can be partially reconstructed through documentary records and recent archaeological findings. By situating Sanjūsangendō within the historical development of a broader architectural typology I refer to as the "mass-image hall," this paper shows how the retired emperors built on and adapted established architectural models and iconographic programs to formulate new visual expressions of Buddhist kingship, postmortem salvation and clan identity. A focus on the position of Sanjūsangendō within the larger program of Go Shirakawa's temple-palace complex in particular shows how he adapted models established by his father Toba (1103-1156; r. 1107-1123) to construct a unique cultic space layered with complex religious, political and lineal symbolism.
Paper short abstract:
This presentation discusses the writing of the clan history 'Tōshi Kaden' as part of the consolidation of Fujiwara legitimacy in eighth century Japan. I will explore the relation between the representation of the clan's origins and institutional reform under Fujiwara no Nakamaro (706-764).
Paper long abstract:
Central to my analysis of the clan history 'Tōshi Kaden' partially composed by Fujiwara no Nakamaro (706-764), will be the text's religious and intellectual property to define the role of the Fujiwara as the sovereign's main servants. The History of the Fujiwara House will thus be approached as a form of myth history that situates the Fujiwara in the physical and conceptual proximity of the sovereign. No history is a direct account of the past and by constantly referring to a supreme, cosmic order, the three biographies included in this text reconstruct history, ending up with a clan record that seeks to legitimate the position of the Fujiwara.
The position of the servant and his moral dilemma regarding political change and rebellion are central topics in the 'Tōshi Kaden' and as we will see these were all too relevant concerns during the last few years leading up to Nakamaro's violent death in 764. Given his importance for the early Japanese state it is puzzling to see that Nakamaro and his institutional policies have not yet received more attention. In fact, his reputation was a very negative one for a very long time, undoubtedly the consequence of his negative depiction in the Shoku Nihongi as ordered by his victorious adversary, Kōken Tennō (718-770). This presentation seeks to readdress Nakamaro's institutional, religious and literary legacy through an in-depth analysis of the 'Tōshi Kaden'.