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- Convenors:
-
Markus Rüsch
(Ryukoku University)
Christoph Reichenbächer (Aichi Prefectural University)
David Weiss (Kyushu University)
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- Chair:
-
Markus Rüsch
(Ryukoku University)
- Discussant:
-
Kikuko Hirafuji
(Kokugakuin University)
- Section:
- Religion and Religious Thought
- Sessions:
- Friday 27 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
This panel reconsiders the role of space in the study of Japanese religions by providing three case studies that focus on spatial change throughout history. The cases conceive of spatial reconfigurations as expressions of new religious concepts rather than as mere byproducts of dogmatic changes.
Long Abstract:
What role does space play in the development of religions? Does space only matter as the site where a historical event occurs, or is it essential to understand religious changes in their spatial dimensions? This panel will address three central aspects of Japanese religions, namely mythology, entertainment, and religious practice, from a spatial perspective. The study of Japanese religions tends to focus on their historical development and tries to define characteristic phases by referring to specific dates. The purpose of this panel is to reconsider this common narrative that focuses on time. The aim is not to substitute the first paradigm (time) with the second (space), but to show that space in Japanese religions as an autonomous category bears a high potential for new insights. By providing three case studies of spatial change during the medieval and early modern periods, the panel will demonstrate how a spatial approach can help us discover new ruptures within the development of religions in Japan.
A central characteristic of the logic underlying the temporal paradigm is the concept of succession. In contrast, a spatial reading of religion is based on the idea of juxtapositions. The creation of new spatial environments due to religious innovations forces the innovator to argue for the particular virtue of re-configuration as compared to the former situation (which continues to coexist). Hence, the appearance of spatial change in religious history raises the following questions: Why was it necessary to cause a spatial change? What are the main characteristics of the new religious site or the reconceptualization of space? What is the boundary that distinguishes the pre- and the post-condition? How does the new religious site or spatial concept relate to the one preceding it? And finally: How did new spatial arrangements lead to new religious understandings - or, to put it the other way around: how did new religious understandings demand new concepts of space? This panel will provide answers to these questions by analysing spatial changes in the history of Shinto and Buddhism, including discourses that were seeking to harmonise the two traditions.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 27 August, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
This paper will analyse how the introduction of new elements for Buddhist practice at Hiei-zan by the third Tendai abbot Ennin connected to a re-consideration of the temple's structure. Emphasis will lie on dynamics of the halls' new coexistences and their expression of temporal developments.
Paper long abstract:
This paper will focus on the connection between the establishment of places for practice and the introduction of new doctrinal theories. The object of this analysis is the temple complex at Hiei-zan that is divided into the three main parts Tōdō, Saitō, and Yokawa. The founder Saichō only erected the first area, although his vision of the mountain for practice also included Saitō. Hence, especially the creation of the Yokawa area is an expression of the need for a place with distinct qualities fitting in new understandings of Tendai Buddhism.
The study of Tendai Buddhism mainly focused on various periods and eminent monks in its history. Such an approach emphasises-by its nature-the dynamics between different times at one specific place. However, this cannot clarify the dynamics that existed and are existing between different places at one time. Based on a spatial turn, a clarification of the interconnections and dynamics of the various places for practice at Hiei-zan is the goal of this paper. Central questions are: How do the areas interact together? How do they spatially reveal their history? What are their unique qualities in their being places for certain practices?
The specific object of this analysis will be the creation of the Constant-walking Hall (jōgyō-dō) within the development of the three main areas at Hiei-zan. The third Tendai abbot Ennin used this hall for a new practice for reciting the Nenbutsu (go-e nenbutsu) he brought with from China. Ennin also erected the third area Yokawa-later one centre of Pure Land thought-and developed a spatial concept for spreading the Lotus thought. One problem in studying Buddhism at Hiei-zan is its total burning by Oda Nobunaga in 1571 that caused the loss of a high number of sources. A spatial approach can circumvent this difficulty since it is not ultimately dependent on sources of that time. This approach understands one spatial condition also as a container of its former situations. Therefore, this paper will use sources on the temple structure after 1571 to analyse how this composition reveals the thought of Ennin we find in his doctrinal writings.
Paper short abstract:
The paper traces a shift in otherworld conceptions in medieval Izumo. It argues that the superimposition of the Buddhist notion of the "three countries" onto the ancient Japanese myths resulted in a reconceptualization of space by linking mythical otherworlds with geographic sites outside Japan.
Paper long abstract:
Focussing on myths connected to the Izumo region, this paper traces a shift in otherworld conceptions between the ancient and medieval periods. While the mythical narratives contained in the Kojiki, the Nihon shoki, and the provincial gazetteers called Fudoki tended to situate the entrances to mythical otherworlds in peripheral regions of Japan such as Izumo, medieval reinterpretations of these myths tend to associate these otherworldly realms with geographic sites outside Japan such as the Korean peninsula or India. These associations can only be understood in the context of the combinatory paradigm that characterizes medieval and early modern Japanese religiosity. Within this paradigm, the Buddhist notion of the "three countries" (sangoku), comprising "this country" (honchō, i.e. Japan), "China" (shintan or kara; including Korea), and "India" (tenjiku), was superimposed onto the cosmos depicted in the ancient Japanese myths.
Using medieval reinterpretations and reformulations of myths centred on Izumo and its deities, the paper will show how this translocation of otherworlds was connected to the institutional fusion of the Izumo Shrine and Gakuenji, the principal Tendai temple in medieval Izumo province. Gakuenji is situated on a mountain range just north of Izumo Shrine. The paper will show how this spatial proximity was utilized to fuse the two institutions into one religious site: The mountain was identified as a broken-off corner of Vulture Peak that had floated to Japan and came to play a central role in mythical narratives that explained the essential unity of the two religious institutions and thus the inseparability of Shintō and Buddhism.
Finally, the paper will point out some ideological implications of the mythical linking of otherworlds with geographic sites, which led among other things to a transfer of the ambiguity of the mythical otherworlds - as sites of death, but also as abodes of the gods and sources of supernatural power - to "India" or "China". In this way, the paper provides an example of how the medieval combinatory paradigm led to a reconceptualization of space by superimposing Buddhist and Confucian notions as well as new geographic knowledge onto the cosmos depicted in the ancient Japanese myths.
Paper short abstract:
This paper focus on religious space in Early Modern sumo wrestling by means of analyzing the triad of stage, venture, and that developed in Edo Japan laid out in printed matter, travelogues and diaries. It will show that sumo was able to expand reach through contraction in religiously framed spaces.
Paper long abstract:
Focusing on Early Modern accounts, this paper reflects on meaning of "religious space" as a crucial category for performance practice in Edo Period sumo wrestling. Throughout that era, different forms of grappling gained prominence and were practiced in wide areas. However, it is not until the late 1600s when the emergence of fund-raising tournaments for religious institutions, so-called kanjinzumo, opened new paths as mass entertainment. Then, opportunities to support large groups of sumo performers gave way to a flourishing urban culture. In opposition to alternative forms of sumo, space gained importance in this new form as a triad of performance stage, event venture, and itinerant lifestyle.
The first facet was the ring, dohyo. Introduced as response to bans put into effect after grappling events of the early 1600s often ended in brawls, the stage as "sacred space" was designed to limit accidental involvement and focus attention on rikishi. It is through the creation of these rings that bouts as well as wrestlers changed their looks and took on the form known today. The second space-related facet was that of the venture where the performance took place. Due to a restrictive licensing system, kanjinzumo events found their spaces mostly in territories belonging to temple and shrine grounds. These environments asked for a religious re-conception eventually leading to the introduction of sacral ceremonies roughly by the second half of the 1700s. At that time, the last facet, itinerancy, led to the expansion of sumo as specific urban culture in the archipelago. Independent from the on-stage performance, regional conditions determined the meaning of these grappling events. They often gained religious significance, or simply carried meaning as amusement for urban dwellers.
Against that background, this paper lays out a new reading for the development of interactions of "religious space" and sumo wrestling in history; and contribute to the broader understanding of entertainment in religion by taking into account interactions between all three facets. A reading summed up in the phrase expansion of reach by contraction of space.