Today (July 29, 2024), I am the chair, discussant, and one of the presenters for a panel about Ise Jingū called "Japan’s National Shrine: Ise Jingū in the Early Modern Period and Beyond" at the 13th International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS 13) in Surabaya, Indonesia. The other presenters on the panel are Yoshiko Yuasa 湯浅 佳子 (Tokyo Gakugei University), Kaoru Oshima 大島 薫 (Kansai University), Satoshi Sonehara 曽根原 理 (Tohoku University), and Jon Morris モリス ジョン (Daito Bunka University).
In this post, I have included the panel abstract, my abstract, and a selected bibliography for my presentation, "Ise in Japanese Culture: Kenkō Hōshi’s Essays in Idleness at the Intersection of Literature and History." I originally gave a longer version of this talk in Japanese for a general audience, and besides revising it for an academic audience, based on the comments I received then, I have made significant changes to it. I plan to publish the research soon, so if you aren't in the audience today, keep your eye out for it in print.
PANEL ABSTRACT
Like Indonesia, Japan has a rich history of engaging with diverse religions, beliefs, philosophies, and people worldwide. The two countries have many institutions and sites bound up with religious traditions—in Japan, the imperial household and Mt. Fuji are perhaps the most iconic of these. However, many others are important for understanding Japanese history and culture, even though they are less well-known outside Japan. This panel focuses on Ise Shrine (Jingu)—one of the most revered religious sites in the nation’s Shinto religious tradition—to explore how an ancient indigenous religion has emphasized its deep-rooted traditions while evolving over the centuries to adapt to society within a varied religious landscape that has come to include a significant Buddhist and Christian presence. Agap of its cultural and historical significance, it maintains a unique position as a site that exerts tangible and intangible influences on the Japanese psyche.
Attention has primarily focused on Jingu in the ancient period, and we know considerably less about it from the late medieval (14th to 16th centuries) to the early modern period (17th to 19th centuries). In ancient times, Jingu received strong protection as a core component of the state organization. However, this support crumbled during the medieval period, forcing it to seek new patrons among warriors and upper-class farmers. Proselytizers or pilgrimage facilitators known as “onshi” were dispatched to acquire followers throughout Japan. While they successfully spread faith in the site, Jingu had difficulty obtaining sufficient financial support to fulfill its ritual functions. From the 17th century, the Tokugawa Shogunate revived Jingu, which had declined significantly, and by the late early modern period, commoner faith had spread widely, with tremendous numbers of people all over the country coming together to join in the “okage mairi” (pilgrimages of gratitude).
This panel’s research on early modern Jingu seeks to describe perceptions of the shrine from various disciplines to understand its place in national, local, elite, and popular culture. The first three presentations focus on literary and other textual sources to address issues such as evolving textual and visual understandings of Ise. The remaining two presentations explore the shrine’s political and popular aspects, including the relationship between Jingu (associated with the imperial family) and Toshogu Shrine, which enshrined the founder of the ruling warrior house.
MY ABSTRACT
This presentation uses a collection of historical and literary essays to explore the religious and cultural resonance of the Ise-Shima region, which is probably best known for having one of Japan's most sacred sites from the Shinto religious tradition. It focuses on depictions of Ise in one of Japan’s most beloved classical texts, Kenko Hoshi’s14th-century Essays in Idleness. Scholars have paid considerable attention to Kenko’s incorporation of key concepts associated with the Buddhist worldview, and from the perspective of intellectual history, the text is considered an eloquent expression of Japanese views on impermanence.
In contrast to the emphasis on Buddhist thought in the text, this presentation highlights connections made by the author to the Shinto tradition in relation to Ise. In particular, it considers a passage about a close unmarried female relative of the emperor tasked with performing ritual services at the Ise Shrine complex on behalf of the emperor and another section that introduces an anecdote about an oni (demon) woman from Ise. This presentation aims to deepen our understanding of the initial medieval religio-social context for the passages, reevaluate how Kenko’s medieval textual depictions of Ise were received in subsequent centuries, and consider how gender and other themes have been interpreted in both written and visual culture from the early modern period to the present.
SOME ONLINE RESOURCES (my presentation)
- Jinja Honchō 神社本庁 (Association of Shinto Shrines): ""Jinja Honcho was formed with the consensus of 80,000 Shinto shrines throughout the Japanese archipelago in 1946. Since then, respecting the Grand Shrine of Ise as the most prominent shrine in Japan, Jinja Honcho has worked to encourage Shinto rituals, to promote the prosperity of Shinto shrines, and to support the continuity of Japanese culture and traditions."
- Irei, the Spirituality of the Japanese (PDF)
- Jinja, Heart of Japan (PDF)
- Soul of Japan (PDF) this booklet covers all the basics and gives a good idea of what Shinto is from the perspective of its largest organization.
- To Nurture A Noble Spirit - The Power of the Imperial Rescript on Education -
- Rosemarie Bernard (Shinto and Ecology Bibliography) : also conveniently available as a downloadable document.
- John Breen and Mark Teeuwen (A Shinto Bibliography in English) (PDF)
- Kokugakuin University's Shinto Portal
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY (my presentation)
Aoki Akira 青木晃, ed. Tsurezuregusa: Hanpon eiri 版本絵 徒然草. Osaka: Izumi Shoin 和泉書院, 1981.
Anderson, Benedict ベネディクト・アンダーソン. Teihon sōzō no kyōdōtai: Nashonarizumu nokigen to ryūkō 定本 想像の共同体―ナショナリズムの起源と流行. Tokyo Shoseki Kōbō Hayayama 書籍工房早山, 2007.
Arisue Ken 有末賢. “Shūgōteki kioku to kojinteki kioku: Kioku no kyōyūsei to bōkyakusei wo megutte” 集合的記憶と個人的記憶 : 記憶の共有性と忘却性をめぐって. Hōgaku kenkyū: Hōritsu, seiji, shakai 法學研究：法律・政治・社会 89, no. 2 (2016): 19–40.
Ariyoshi Tamotsu 有吉保, ed. Tsurezuregusa shōmitsu saishiki Yamato ehon 徒然草 詳密彩色大和絵本. Tokyo: Bensei Shuppan 勉誠出版, 2006.
Chance, Linda H. 1997. Formless in Form: Kenkō, Tsurezuregusa, and the Rhetoric of Japanese Fragmentary Prose. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Chance, Linda H. 1997. “Constructing the Classic: Tsurezuregusa in Tokugawa Readings.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 117, no. 1 (Jan.–Mar.): 39–56.
Foucault, Michel. "What is an Author?" In Michel Foucault: Language, Counter-Memory, Practice, edited by Donald F. Bouchard. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1977.
Fujita Masakatsu 藤田正勝. Nihon bunka wo yomu: Itsutsu no kīwādo 日本文化をよむ 5つのキーワード. Tokyo: Iwanami Shinsho 岩波新書, 2018.
Geertz, Clifford C. ギアーツ. Bunka no kaishakugaku 文化の解釈学〈1〉 [The Interpretation of Cultures]. Tokyo: Iwanami Gendai Shinsho 岩波現代新書, 1987.
Gomi Fumihiko 五味文彦. Zōho Tsurezuregusa no rekishigaku 増補「徒然草」の歴史学. Tokyo: Kadokawa Gakugei Shuppan 角川学芸出版, 2014.
Hishikawa Moronobu菱川師宣. Yamato-e tsukushi 大和絵つくし. 1680.
Ichiko Teiji 市古貞次 and Miki Sumito 三木紀人. Tsurezuregusa (koten arubamu) 徒然草 (古典アルバム). Tokyo: Meji Shoin 明治書院, 1970.
Kanagawa Kenritsu Kanazawa Bunko 神奈川県立金沢文庫. Kanagawa Geijutsusai Tokubetsuten: Tsurezuregusa no emaki to hanpon 神奈川芸術祭特別展 徒然草の絵巻と版本. Yokohama 横浜: Kanagawa Kenritsu Kanazawa Bunko 神奈川県立金沢文庫, 1986.
Kanagawa Kenritsu Kanazawa Bunko 神奈川県立金沢文庫. Tokubetsuten Kenkō Hōshi toTsurezuregusa 特別展 兼好法師と徒然草. Yokohama 横浜: Kanagawa Kenritsu Kanazawa Bunko 神奈川県立金沢文庫, 2022.
Karasumaru Mitsuhiro-bon 烏丸光広本. Karasumaru Mitsuhiro 烏丸光広. Tsurezuregusa 徒然草. Location and Publisher Unknown. 1613.
Kawahira Toshifumi 川平敏文. Kenkō Hōshi no kyozō: Giden no kinseishi 兼好法師の虚像 偽伝の近世史. Tokyo: Heibonsha Sensho 平凡社選書, 2006.
Kawahira Toshifumi 川平敏文. Tsurezuregusa no jūnana seiki: Kinsei bungei shichō no keisei 徒然草の十七世紀ー近世文芸思潮の形成. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten 岩波書店, 2015.
Kawahira Toshifumi 川平敏文. Tsurezuregusa: Mujōkan wo koeta miryoku 徒然草 無常観を超えた魅力. Tokyo: Chūkō Shinsho 中公新書, 2020.
Keene, Donald, tr. Essays in Idleness. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967.
Kō Iku 黄昱. “Tsurezuregusa ni okeru kanseki juyō no hōhō: Dai nijūgo dan ‘tōri mono to iwaneba’ wo megutte” 『徒然草』における漢籍受容の方法 ―第二十五段「桃李もの言はねば」をめぐって―. Kokubungaku kenkyū shiryōkan kiyō 国文学研究資料館紀要 39 （March 2013）: 155–187.
Kubota Jun 久保田淳. Tsurezuregusa hikkei 徒然草必携. Tokyo: Gakutōsha 學燈社, 1987.
Kurata Toshiaki 蔵田敏明 and Watanabe Iwao 渡辺巌. Tsurezuregusa no Kyōto wo aruku: Kenkō Hōshi 徒然草の京都を歩く：兼好法師. Tokyo: Tankōsha 淡交社, 2005.
McKinney, Meredith, tr. Yoshida Kenkō and Kamo No Chōmei: Essays in Idleness and Hōjōki. New York: Penguin Classics, 2013.
Ogawa Takeo 小川剛生. Shinpan Tsurezuregusa gendaigoyaku tsuki 新版 徒然草 現代語訳付き. Tokyo: Kadokawa Sofia Bunko 角川ソフィア文庫, 2015.
Ogawa Takeo 小川剛生. Kenkō Hōshi: Tsurezuregusa ni kisarenakatta jijitsu 兼好法師—徒然草に記されなかった真実. Tokyo: Chūokōron Shinsha 中央公論新社, 2017.
Ogawa Takeo 小川剛生. Tsurezuregusa wo yominaosu 徒然草をよみなおす. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō 筑摩書房, 2020.
Ogino Ayako 荻野文子. NHK hyakufun de meicho bukkusu: Kenkō Hōshi Tsurezuregusa NHK「100分de名著」ブックス兼好法師 徒然草. Tokyo: NHK Shuppan NHK 出版, 2012.
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Shimauchi Yūko 島内裕子. Tsurezuregusa no hensen 徒然草の変遷. Tokyo: Perkikansha ペリカン社, 1992.
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