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Paper short abstract:

My paper focuses on medieval narratives linking monkeys to the Sannō kami, enshrined at Hie and protectors of the Enryakuji. Exploring a text entitled "Sannō no koto" it shows that these tales were instrumental to situate Hie and its deities in the tradition of continental Buddhist mythology.

Paper long abstract:

The object of my paper are narratives articulating the relation between monkeys and a particular set of kami in medieval Japan (11th to 16th century). The kami on which I focus are the mountain sovereigns (jp. Sannō), enshrined at the Hie (now Hiyoshi) shrines, in Sakamoto, and protectors of the Enryakuji monastery on Mt Hiei. In a variety of medieval material both textual and iconographic monkeys are seen as the messengers or the manifestations of the Sannō deities. My paper explores the significance of this association, showing how it lent itself to being used expediently by religious actors wishing to highlight specific aspects of the Sannō cult. I especially focus on how monkey tales were employed in a text called “Sannō no koto”. This was likely composed between the late 12th and the early 13th century, and transmitted as part of a volume on traditions of Hie called Yōtenki (12th-15th century). “Sannō no koto” weaves a complex argument on the primacy of Hie among all other shrines, bolstering it with exemplary tales, and has a whole lengthy section on monkeys. There we see three main types of narratives: 1. ones that reach out to India, linking the legends of Hie to scriptural traditions. 2. stories set in China, especially in Buddhist monasteries. 3. stories set at Hie, where the presence of monkeys characterises the environment of the shrines, setting them apart from competing institutions. Examining these three narratives together, I show that, although they have a definite geographical scope, they are interwoven into an overarching narrative, told in a sequence such that they echo each other, and are framed as precedents of each other. This situates Hie and its deities in the wider tradition of Buddhist mythology, while also keeping them anchored to a specific locale.

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Paper short abstract:

The Meiji partition of Shinto and Buddhism has been termed a revolution. Anrakuji is a non-revolutionary example. Originally a Buddhist temple, it gradually incorporated Shinto elements, and, before the Meiji, had already evolved into Dazaifu Tenmangū, a Shinto shrine with few traces of Buddhism.

Paper long abstract:

In 1984, Allan Grapard published a paper labelling the Meiji policy of separating Shinto and Buddhism a 'cultural revolution,' and offered Tōnomine as a case study. I would like to introduce an example in which the change was more evolution than revolution. Today, Tenjin, the deified spirit of Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), is identified as a Shinto kami, but Tenjin’s original religious affiliation was unclear. The first 'shrine' dedicated to him was established in 905 at the site of his tomb, just outside Dazaifu, his place of exile. It soon evolved into Anrakuji, a Buddhist temple with close ties to Michizane’s descendants in the capital. Traditional accounts of Michizane’s deification are ambiguous. Although they include more Buddhist elements than modern devotees might expect, they also incorporate a Shinto version of how Kitano, the Tenjin shrine in the capital, was founded. Initially, Anrakuji retained its Buddhist orientation, but Shinto practices gradually crept in and, in 1097, for the first time, a document refers to it as 'Tenmangū Anrakuji,' 'Tenmangū' being the name associated with Shinto shrines dedicated to Tenjin. In medieval times, Anrakuji became involved in civil wars and even made unseemly contributions to Hideyoshi’s invasions of Korea. It also became a major landholder in Kyushu. Michizane’s descendants in the capital controlled the temple and revenue from its estates helped support them. These estates are the focus of most surviving sources from the period. Its religious practices, in contrast, are poorly documented. Nomenclature, however, suggests Shinto elements became dominant. In 1294, for the first time, a document dropped the 'Anrakuji' from the institution’s name, and, by end of the fourteenth century, most sources referred to it simply as 'Tenmangū,' and that is what Edo-period visitors called it. Literary sources continued to use 'Anrakuji,' and Buddhist elements remained, but they became peripheral. The Meiji separation of Shinto and Buddhism was merely the final step in a process that had begun centuries earlier.

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Paper short abstract:

The combination of indigenous and Buddhist identities in the deity Hachiman is clearly represented in the ceremony of ‘liberating sentient beings’ (hōjō-e). This paper will show how the Buddhist rite of atonement interacts with non-Buddhist elements from earlier religious traditions.

Paper long abstract:

Hachiman, a deity in a cult that combines Shinto and Buddhist elements, is commonly described as a protector of Japan and its sovereign. This martial identity coexists with another aspect as a merciful Bodhisattva, credited with saving life and aiding sentient beings who seek to achieve enlightenment.

According to the Hachiman engi, in 720, after Hachiman’s aid led to victory in a military campaign against the hayato tribe in Kyushu, the deity repented the resulting loss of many lives. To expiate sinful karma, Hachiman invented the ceremony of ‘liberating sentient beings’ hōjō-e. This Buddhist rite both changed the karmic consequences of Hachiman’s deeds as a martial deity and served to help participants enhance their virtuous karma in an age of moral decline (mappō). This idea of atonement through repentance followed by confession is related to an episode in the Nirvana Sutra, the story of King Ajātaśatru’s repentance after he killed his own father. The resulting belief was that killing a sentient being was actually, on the karmic level, an act of mercy: “In the eyes of ordinary people it looks like a murder, but essentially it is saving sentient beings sunk in the ocean of suffering” (Hachiman gudōkun).

Some scholars believe that the Hōjō-e was originally more a ritual for appeasing the malevolent spirits of defeated hayato than a Buddhist rite. In my talk, I will show why the Buddhist rite of atonement—intended to erase the sin of killing sentient beings—contains such non-Buddhist elements as purifying the ritual pollution brought about by the court’s political decision to kill hayato in the process of territorial expansion. Moreover, I will examine the correlation between the Shinto and Buddhist identities of Hachiman, which will shed light on the problem of Shinto-Buddhist amalgamation.