Author: John D. (Page 11 of 202)

Cherry blossom heaven (Hirano)

April 4, 2021 / John D. / 2 Comments

Today being Easter Sunday inevitably leads to thoughts of death and rebirth, and Japan’s cherry blossom season is an annual reminder of nature’s power to renew itself. Of all Kyoto’s many shrines, none is so prominent at this time of celebration as Hirano Jinja, which is host to no fewer than 400 cherry trees of 50 different varieties.

Though not as famous as other shrines in the city, Hirano was actually one of Japan’s most prestigious shrines in Heian times (794-1186). It ranked no. 5 after Ise, the Kamo shrines (meaning Kamigamo and Shimogamo), Iwashimizu Hachimangu and Matsuoo Taisha. It was because of its prestige that aristocrats started donating cherry trees.

The different varieties of cherry bloom over a period of a month, but by Easter Sunday this year most had passed their peak.

The shrine holds a cherry blossom festival on April 10 each year, which used to be when the flowers were at a peak. This year the cherry blossom have bloomed ten days earlier than usual, causing concerns about climate change. (Some authorities even suggest it may be the earliest for over 1000 years.)

The beauty of the cherry blossom is inextricably linked with transience in the Japanese tradition, adding a note of melancholy to its appreciation. This was identified by the famous Nativist scholar Motoori Norinaga as mono no aware (the pathos of things), an aesthetic which underlies Japanese culture as a whole. It prompted him to compose a famous haiku:

If someone wonders
how to describe the spirit
of the Japanese,
say “mountain cherry blossoms,
glowing in the morning sun.” (Tr. David Bowles)

shikishima no yamatogokoro o hito towaba asahi ni niou yamazakura hana.

Covid-19 kept down the crowds this year, making for a leisurely atmosphere in which to admire the blossom. The red and white screen indicates celebration (red being the colour of blood, the life force, and white a symbol of purity).

The different varieties are clearly marked, this one being a yellow cherry.

The paths looked like streams of pink between the bordering rapeseed flowers (*nanohana*).

Fans of the boy band King&Prince have a dedicated *ema* site because the group has a member called Hirano. Another example of shrines appealing to the younger generation’s taste for manga and anime, etc.

The sign in the foreground, with English at the bottom, says “Do not sit on these steps,” and it is easy to see why.

Despite having to cater for non-Japanese these days, the shrine has made some effort to keep its signage traditional.

The shrine usually has a boisterous and packed section with drinks and picnicking, but the Coronavirus has changed that completely.

The shrine is not all about cherry trees, for one of its main objects of worship is an ancient sacred tree with offertory box and platform for circumambulation.

This machine dispenses bilingual fortune slips for a mere ¥100. Happily my fortune turned out to be “Excellent” (Daikichi).

But in the end it’s all about the cherry blossom and the seasonal round of death and resurrection. How will it be this time next year? Unfortunately my fortune slip didn”t say….

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For more about Hirano Jinja and cherry blossom, see this 2015 account. For cherry blossom celebrations in general, see here and here.

Birth of Japan (film)

March 30, 2021 / John D. / 0 Comments

Izanagi and Izanami stir the primordial stew to create a place on which to descend

Thanks to Green Shinto reader, Aaron Carson, for drawing our attention to a 1959 film of Japanese mythology which is available with English subtitles at https://archive.org/details/l35300610. Though the film is called The Three Treasures in English, it’s titled Nippon Tanjo in Japanese – Birth of Japan.

The film is over three hours, with an intermission roughly halfway, indicative of the blockbuster Hollywood style typical of its time. (The director, Hiroshi Inagaki , won an Oscar a few years before for Samurai: Musashi Miyamoto in 1954.) Starring in the film are Toshiro Mifune and Setsuko Hara.

For anyone familiar with or interested in Japanese mythology it’s an engrossing three hours, if only to see how the events in Kojiki and Nihon Shoki get interpreted. You can sense the Hollywood influence in the dramatic nature of the music, the epic scale, the set pieces, the bravado overacting, and the beautiful females. Perhaps the old fashioned nature is why it only rates 6.6 on IMDb.

The film begins with Izanagi and Izanami creating Japan’s “eight islands”. There’s an Adam and Eve touch to the scene. The film then switches to the tale of the heroic Yamato Takeru, one of the sons of the emperor, and along the way there are flashbacks to cover the Amaterasu Rock Cave myth and the killing of the Orochi monster by Susanoo no mikoto.

Susanoo no mikoto giving his sister Amaterasu a whole lot of grief

Yamato hero
Yamato Takeru is a Japanese folk hero, noted for his bravery, who may have lived in the 2nd century. His tomb at Ise is known as the Mausoleum of the White Plover, which is how his spirit rose up from his body following his death. He was supposedly one of three sons of Emperor Keikō (12th in line from Emperor Jimmu).

Yamato Takeru’s relationship with his father is problematic and complicated by the intrigue of courtiers who wish to be rid of hm. He is sent first to Izumo, then to lead a campaign against Kumaso warriors in Kyushu, and as soon as he returns he is dispatched again to fight armies in the east.

The heroic status of Yamato Takeru rests on his military success in expanding the territory of the Yamato court. He subdued the unruly Kumaso warriors by disguising himself as a woman and killing them while they were drunk (not the only occasion in Japanese history when this trick was played). He confides in his aunt, high priestess of Ise, about the problems with his father, and she gives him the miraculous sword Kusanagi which Susanoo no mikoto had taken from the tale of the Orochi eight-headed monster.

The sword’s magical power is seen in a famous incident when he is able to cut away the burning grass of a fire set all around him by his enemies. However, when he leaves his sword behind, his adventures come to an end on the plains of Tagi, where he is stricken with illness. This has led to comparisons with Excalibur and the tale of King Arthur.

Yamato Takeru’s first meeting with the miko he later marries

Love story…
When Yamato Takeru falls in love and marries a princess called Oto Tachibana, there is the suggestion of a forbidden love. This comes to the fore when he is returning from a military campaign against the ‘barbarians’, and the ships bearing his retinue cross Tokyo Bay. A huge storm threatens to sink the ships and drown everyone. Desperate to save her husband, and convinced the kami are angry with her, Oto Tachibana sacrifices herself by jumping into the sea and is drowned, thereby saving the life of Yamato Takeru.

Court of the weaving goddess, Amaterasu Okami

Susanoo no mikoto takes the sword from the tail of the Orochi monster and wins the love of Kushinada-hime

Yamato Takeru is told on his return to go off and fight again

Surrounded by fire, Yamato Takeru resorts to magic provided by the Ise high priestess

Yamato Takeru’s boats enjoy the peace before the storm while crossing Tokyo Bay.

Exploring Shinto

March 25, 2021 / John D. / 0 Comments

This is a collection of sixteen wide-ranging papers, apparently on an ad hoc basis, written by some leading scholars in the field. Interestingly, individual chapters are available to be bought separately, and you can see the price listed below in the list of contents. Surprisingly, though, the summing up is available free, and this is included below in abridged form. Perhaps this format marks a new development in academic publishing which will soon become the new normal.

Below follow 1) Publisher’s blurb; 2) List of contents; 3) Editor’s Conclusion

Exploring Shinto

Edited by Michael Pye (Published by Equinox, 2020 : See here)

Publisher’s blurb…

Shinto permeates the religious landscape of Japan and is a major key to the understanding of Japanese culture and society. But what is it?

If ideological shortcuts are avoided there is no simple answer. Yet this book will guide students and general readers through many aspects of Shinto both today and in its history. It contains much information about sacred Shinto shrines and the divinities (the kami) which are the focus of devotion there. These numerous divinities have been viewed in different ways in the course of time, and contributions by specialists shed much light on the role played by Buddhism in this regard. Moreover, several fascinating religious movements or “sects” which share in the wider pattern of Shinto are also introduced and discussed. Oversimplified views may be challenged here, but the result is a volume in which “Shinto” is explored in a wide and illuminating perspective by an international team of scholars. It provides a refreshing and much-needed resource for all who are interested in the subject.

Preliminaries
Preface and Acknowledgements vii-viii Michael Pye FREE

1 Concepts and Viewpoints
1. What is Shinto? 3-33 Michael Pye £17.50 2.
2 Essentialism in Early Shinto Studies 34-56 Gaétan Rappo £17. 50
3 On Writing the History of Shinto 57-75 Marcus Teeuwen £17.50

2 Exploring Borderlands of Shinto
4. Medieval Tendai Buddhist Views of Kami 79-103 Yeonjoo Park £17.50
5. Conceptions of Kami in the Writings of Tendai Monk Jien 104-120 Vladlena Fedianiya £17.50
6. Buddhist-Shinto Syncretization at the Medieval Suwa Shrine
121-135 Iwasawa Tomoko £17.50
7. Underground Buddhism at the Ise Shrines 136-150 D. M. Moerman £17.50
8. Shinto Spaces and Shinbutsu Interaction in the Noh 151-172 Dunja Jelesijevic £17.50
9. Buddhist-style Pilgrimage with Shinto Meanings 173-185 Michael Pye £17.50
10. Why does Shin Buddhism Reject the Worship of the Kami? 186-198 Robert Rhodes £17.50
11. Multiple Divinities in Shin Buddhist Temples 199-217 Markus Ruesch £17.50
12. Responsive Reflections on Buddhism and Shinto 218-227 Katja Triplett £17.50

3 The Puzzle and Fascination of Sect Shinto
13. Sect Shinto and the Case of Ooyashirokyo 231-249 Michael Pye £17.50
14. Meiji Government Policy, Sect Shinto and Fusokyo Shishino Fumio £17.50
15. Introducing the Faith of Shinshukyo 260-267 Yoshimura Masanori £17.50
16. Tenrikyo and Omotokyo in the Context of Kyoha Shinto 268-303 Avery Morrow £17.50

Postscript
17. A Postscript on Shinto Diversity 305-307 Michael Pye FREE

End Matter Index 308-327 Michael Pye FREE

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A postscript on Shinto diversity
Michael Pye

Shinto is often presented, especially but not
only by its exponents, as a single coherent religion with distinct
and regular characteristics. But whether we probe into its complex
history or attempt to make a synchronic cross-section at any
one period, including the present, such coherence is very difficult
to pin down. The central section of our book illustrates this very
well. The difficulty arises partly because the various schools of
Japanese Buddhism, not all considered above, had differing modes
of interaction with Shinto shrines, Shinto divinities and the many
other forms of religious activity which simply crossed boundaries.
Another major complication is provided by the popularity of
mountain cults and the activities of the mountain ascetics (yamabushi
山伏), whose traditions and teachings frequently crossed any
putative borders between major traditions

Now one might have expected that successive attempts to assert
a central authority in what may very loosely be called the Shinto
world, whether based on Ise Shrine or on the Yoshida Shrine in
Kyoto, would have created greater coherence. But the magnetic
pull of other major shrines such as Izumo, Kasuga, Suwa, Atsuta,
Konpira, Sumiyoshi and so on, and the development of sub-shrines
which could be revered away from their main holy sites worked
against this. Moreover, networks or chains of special shrine cults
developed for particularly popular divinities such as Hachiman,
Tenjin (Michizane), Inari or Ebisu, and these followed dynamics
of their own, with important regional centres flourishing down to
the present day.

One might also imagine that when Shinto was heavily politicized
and ideologized in the wake of the Meiji Restoration, central
authority would create new unity. To some extent this was true,
but at the same time this very intention led to the splitting away
of several enthusiastic groups that were defined as “religious” in a
sense supposedly current in the western world. This was, broadly
speaking, the genesis of Sect Shintō, as seen in the third part of
this volume, and its effects have remained down to the present.
The leaders of Shinto sects are quite clear today, as earlier, that
their groups are mostly intended to be Shinto-oriented in character,
which is certainly not the case for all of Japan’s numerous new
religious movements.

Following the disestablishment of Shinto as a state religion at the end of World War II, a good proportion of shrines are associated under the Jinja Honchō 神社本庁 (usual English name: The Association of Shinto Shrines), and there is regular evidence of central guidance and policy signposting at shrines. In wide evidence is an instruction on precisely how to
pray when visiting a shrine, a matter about which casual visitors
are not always clear. Yet, overall, the diversity among the shrines
and their various networks persists. There is even some recognized
diversity of practice over the forms of prayer just mentioned, for
example regarding the number of handclaps. It may therefore be
said that Shinto is “particularistic” in two senses. First it is mainly
located within one ethnic perspective, the Japanese, even if not
all Japanese people are beholden to it. It is not a “universal” or
“world” religion. Second, however, it is particularistic in its plurality
even within that ethnos itself. This is in fact what lends it such
great variety and its own special fascination. Diversity in the world
of Shinto gives it a rather wide attraction among the populace of
Japan and contributes to its social resilience.

Myth and Deity (Kamata Toji)

March 23, 2021 / John D. / 2 Comments

Book review of Myth and Deity in Japan (2009) by Kamata Toji (tr Gaynor Sekimori)

For followers of Green Shinto, this is very nearly the perfect book!

First of all, it is written by a leading scholar and practitioner (emeritus professor of Kyoto University). It positions Shinto as an East Asian religion, not an indigenous religion. It is firmly in support of syncretism, viewing the marriage of Shinto with Buddhism as integral to Japan’s spirituality. It acknowledges the vital input of shamanism and Confucianism. And it takes a very critical attitude to the Meiji reforms, which artificially split Shinto from Buddhism, led to the banning of Shugendo, destroyed local diversity, and replaced kami worship with emperor worship. The damage done by the Meiji ideologues continues to the present day, but as an alternative the book promotes the spirituality of everyday Japanese, as outlined by twentieth century folklorists referred to as Neo-Nativists (about whom more below).

So what makes the book less than perfect? The answer lies in the hard to digest middle chapters, where the reader is overloaded with unnecessary historical detail. Here one has to bear in mind that the book was written for educated Japanese, who would be expected to be familiar with the names and movements.

Chapter One introduces the notion of what a combinatory religion involves, and Chapter Two describes what happened when Buddhism arrived and mixed with the native kami. So far, so good. However, in Chapter Three and Chapter Four, the narrative goes into a lengthy explanation of developments during the Heian and Medieval Periods. This is not easy reading, nor is it helped by some clunky language more suited to a scholarly work (indeed, the book sometimes reads as if it has been pieced together from academic papers).

Chapter Five, which investigates Nativism in late Edo times, injects greater relevance by investigating the influence of leading figures on the religious reforms of Meiji times. This includes a useful overview of the work of the influential oddball, Hirata Atsutane (1776-1843). Whereas his more famous predecessor Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801) focussed on this world, Hirata investigated the spirit world including tengu and yokai. In other words Motoori looked to mono no aware, Hirata to mononoke (the pathos of worldy transience in the case of the former, as opposed to the vengeful spirits of the latter). However, it was Hirata’s ‘Japan first’ message that was the decisive element in shaping Restoration Shinto, which later segued into State Shinto and the ideology of WW2.

Kamata is particularly good at depicting the confused meanderings of the Meiji government as it sought a new religious order to bolster the emerging nation. It resulted not only in the banning of Shugendo as superstitious, but also the outlawing of Folk Shinto. It showed just how far removed from ordinary people’s religion the politicians had become. The assertion that Shinto be used as a tool of state meant that it was not classified as a religion, and this resulted in such absurdities as the Shinto shrine of Izumo Taisha being regarded as a vehicle for state rites while the Shinto sect of Izumo-kyo which honoured the same kami was seen as a religion.

Chapter Six not only brings us right up to date but puts forward a surprising agenda for the future, quite different from that of current orthodoxy. It is based on what is called Neo-Nativism, featuring two key figures, the founder of folklore studies, Yanagita Kunio (1875-1962) and the more literary minded Orikuchi Shinobu (1887-1953). Between them they promoted folk studies based on common people’s beliefs. This bottom-up approach differed radically from the top-down approach of the Meiji government.

Orikuchi Shinobu, folklorist, linguist, novelist and poet.

At the end of the book, it is Orikuchi Shinobu in particular who takes centre stage, with no fewer than ten pages devoted to his life and work. Orikuchi had an interest in words and incantations, particularly with regard to pacifying the spirits of the dead and fostering rebirth. To this end he investigated performing arts and festivals, areas in which Kamata Toji himself actively participates (he plays the stone flute and writes Shinto songs). Moreover there is a suggestion that as a man who excelled in many fields, Orikuchi represents the cultural essence of Japan. Not only is he celebrated for his folklore work, but he is also in the words of Kamata, “a surprisingly good novelist, perhaps among the finest Japan has produced” (p. 143). That is some endorsement, and the championing of such a figure is an intriguing way to end a book that seeks to defend pre-Meiji Nativism and promote as a force for peace the spirituality of ordinary Japanese.

Some key quotations –

• About syncreticism: “The idea of kami-buddha combination (shinbutsu shugo) is at the core of Japanese spirituality.” (p.vii).

*About the Meiji Restoration: “It was a religious reformation from above that was highly inconsistent with people’s personal ideas about the kami and the buddhas.” (p. 124) “People”s fundamental understanding of kami did not essentially change as a result, but great changes came about institutionally.” (p.125)

* Shrine merger law of 1906: ‘a great mistake’ (p. 132).”The shrine consolidation policy led to the decline of local culture, disrupted community life, and ultimately destabilized the very foundations of Japanese society.” (p.132)

* Meiji Shinto: “In stipulating that the emperor was divine and came from an unbroken imperial line, the Meiji Constitution created a distinctive Japanese state system that grafted a Prussian model of absolute monarchy onto the ancient ritsuryo-type system, in the process setting up a chimerical absolute monarchy.” (p.131) (According to Greek mythology, the chimera was a grotesque creature made up of many parts.”) (p. 130)

* Buddhism and Shinto: [Buddhism] is basically humanistic, in comparison to Shinto, which born from the plainest of origins, means living with awe of nature, sensitive to the beauty, harmony, and sacred energy within it.” (p.180)

* The future: “A new kami-buddha combination – a new coworking between Shinto and Buddhism – may be necessary.” (p.181) “Searching for a common human base and bringing it to life represent, I believe, the future of spirituality and the spiritual movement.” (p.181)

About the author (The following is taken from Zen 2.0)

Born in Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture. Was interested in Mythology since age of 10. Started poetry at age 17, and became interested in Shinto, Buddhism, Confucianism, and other local folk beliefs.

He has climbed Hiei Mountain 560 times as a practitioner of Shugendo. Credit withdrawal from his doctorate at Graduate school of Kokugakuin Faculty of Letters, majoring in Shinto, and credit withdrawal from doctorate from Graduate school of Okayama University Medicine Department Graduate School of Social Environmental and Life Science. Currently, specially appointed professor of Grief-care institute and Sophia University, Honorary professor at Kyoto University, and visiting professor at the Open University of Japan. Representative Honorary Director of NPO Tokyo Freedom University. Representative Director of the Institute of Emei Yojo Culture Training(emei-japan.net), Chairman of Kyoto Traditional Culture Forest (Dento Bunka no Mori) Promotion Council, Philosopher in religion, folklore, Japanese thought history, comparative civilization. Doctor (literature, Tsukuba University). Plays the traditional stone flue, side flute, and conch horn. Shinto Song writer, Poet.

Covid crisis

March 21, 2021 / John D. / 0 Comments

The following is adapted from a Japan Times article, which can be accessed here, written by Alex K.T. Martin and dated March 20, 2021. It shows how the crisis is hitting the revenue of both shrines and temples, and the need for new ways of raising revenue.

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In Japan, where there are more temples and shrines than convenience stores, the Covid situation is financially straining Buddhist and Shinto institutions that rely on donations from parishioners. Already burdened by a shrinking and aging population, the pandemic has prompted a reckoning among monks and priests about how to survive in a future where mass infections are a real threat.

“The virus is having a major impact on religious institutions in Japan, with ceremonies being curtailed and funeral rituals being simplified,” says Hidenori Ukai, a journalist and chief priest at Shogakuji temple in Kyoto. Ukai estimates that total revenue for Japan’s temples fell to around ¥270 billion in 2020 compared to ¥530 billion in 2015. If the pandemic continues, he says, the figure could decline further to ¥230 billion this year.

“At the same time, religion offers solace during uncertain times. Once the situation stabilizes, I think we will see worshippers return en masse,” he says. “In the meanwhile, there are new, unique initiatives being rolled out that are changing the way people worship.”

The slump in tourism and the rise of stay-at-home requests have also hit the coffers of the nation’s approximately 81,000 Shinto shrines that primarily rely on cash offering from visitors and ceremonial fees as sources of income. It has also prompted worshippers to seek out alternative means to pay their respect to institutions.

At Kashima Shrine in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, priests have revived an ancient tradition for the first time in 90 years after parishioners asked the shrine to devise a way for them to offer prayers remotely.

Starting this year, a representative known as an oshi has been chosen to visit the shrine on the first of every month to pray on behalf of worshippers.

“The ritual is recorded on video and uploaded to a streaming platform for participants to watch,” says Tomonori Niikura, a spokesperson for the shrine. Those wishing to take part in the service can submit an application with monetary offerings starting at ¥7,000.

Kashima Shrine in Ibaraki Prefecture revived an old tradition for the first time in 90 years in which a representative known as oshi deliver prayers to the shrine on behalf of worshippers. | COURTESY OF KASHIMA SHRINE

Tadashi Matsunobu, a director of the local tourism association whose ancestors were oshi, was selected to assume the role.

“My grandfather used to be an oshi until the early Showa Era (1926-89), when the practice disappeared,” he says. Oshi were essentially missionaries for the shrine that traveled to spread faith and deliver ofuda paper talismans to households.

“I gladly accepted the offer and have been trying my best to convey the wishes of parishioners to the gods,” he says.

With communal gatherings frowned upon, many shrines and temples have been devising ways to appeal to worshippers spending more time at their homes.

Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, for example, accepts online applications for prayers and sells protective amulets and other goods — including face masks and even confectionery — on its website. Enzoji temple in Saitama began airing YouTube clips of comic rakugo raconteur performances and yoga lessons filmed at the temple.

Yumiko Waguri, chief editor of Wagense, a Buddhist quarterly magazine | HIROYUKI TAKAURA

Yumiko Waguri, the chief editor of “Wagense,” a Buddhist quarterly magazine, says the pandemic has seen temples and shrines finding new ways to meet the spiritual and emotional needs of people in the confines of their dwellings.

Her magazine has been featuring stories on how to appreciate Buddhist teachings at home while incorporating some of its practices in daily routines.“Sales of our magazine grew since we focused on the concept of ouchi (home),” she says.

An organization called Terakoya Buddha, for example, hosts online Zoom meetings everyday at 7 a.m. in which monks lead viewers through a 20-minute session involving meditation and mindfulness.

“Those who want to discuss specific issues can chat with the priests to seek advice,” Waguri says.

Meanwhile, temples in graying, rural communities are trying to help older, digitally unsure parishioners who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, she says.

“I know a temple in Shimane Prefecture that lends tablets to older households and offers to set them up so that people can join online services to avoid crowds,” she says.

And while technological innovations are bridging the social distance in an era of self-isolation, Waguri says traditional rituals associated with death are also being forced to change.

Tomonobu Narita, head priest of Zenryoji temple in Yokohama | HIROYUKI TAKAURA

Zen priest Soo Iwayama launched a meditation service called Flying Monk that is available online. | COURTESY OF SOO IWAYAMA

The mystery of Oiwa (Pt 5)

March 19, 2021 / John D. / 4 Comments

Postscript, and good news!

Since writing about Oiwa Jinja in June 2015, reports have come in that the shrine has been tidied up. So with the promise of spring in the air, Green Shinto set out to take a look. We can report that, yes, indeed, there has been a considerable amount of cleaning and repairing. Who by?

There were a couple of elderly locals visiting at the same time, so we made enquiries and one of them replied that it was done by the owners of the otsuka small shrines, many of whom live in Osaka. I cannot be certain about that, but it seems entirely plausible that someone managed to organise family descendants of the original donors into making a collective effort to rescue the shrine.

Someone had provided fresh bibs for the komainu. A jar of saké too.

The Haiden had been completely cleaned up and furnishings provided.

Some of the otsuka were looking in much better shape than before.

Even the ‘misogi’ are was looking good, which must please Fudo Myoo

Torii and a fox guardian placed in front of the Big Rock, main object of worship.

Koiwa, The Little Rock, had been given a smart new surround

It is now much easier to see the detail in the torii. Here at the base of one of Domoto Insho’s creations is the figure of Bishamonten, a Buddhist guardian.

The parents of artist Domoto Insho, who died aged 70 and 95 respectively

Meanwhile the nearby Kyoto Trail has been ‘beautified’ by clearing away trees to open up the landscaped views – of solar panels!

Forest bathing (academic)

March 3, 2021 / John D. / 2 Comments

The following is couched in academic terms but is highly relevant to the purpose of Green Shinto as it concerns sacred trees, spirituality and the environment. It is a call for papers for a workshop to be held in France, and its conclusion is worth noting: “in order to preserve the forest, it must be made a resource for well-being, biodiversity, resourcing, utopia, spirituality perceived as useful by humanity.”

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Asie-Sorbonne Workshop: The Tree that Hides the Forest

by Christine Vial Kayser

The aim of this workshop is to initiate a reflection on the dynamics of the relationship to the forest – and, beyond that, to nature – in Asia, its cultural and universal, physiological and emotional determinants. We start from the example of the Japanese practice of immersion in a forest called Shinrin-yoku or “forest bath” (or sylvotherapy), a practice born in Japan in the 1980s, following the same studies of the benefits of “green” landscapes developed in the United States (Wilson 1984). These studies focus on the physical or psychological benefits but do not question possible non-physiological or psychological causes: cultural (imaginary of the tree), mnemonic and emotional causes, nor do they have a comparative perspective.

In Asia the practice could have animist (Knight 2009) or even Buddhist roots. They may take form within the concept of qi (ki) or vital energy shared between man and nature as well as the specific perception of trees in Asian philosophy (Bao et al. 2016; Escande 2011; Alban & Berwick 2004). Won Sop et al. highlight the traditional Korean combination of wood, stone and water to explain the health benefits of ‘forest baths’ in Korea (Won Sop et al. 2010). The representation of the Yakshini also testifies to the role of the tree as a source of life, sometimes ambivalent, in the Indian tradition, where certain species of trees are still considered sacred today. Such representations can be found in Europe before the revolution of modernity, or in the 19th century in European Romanticism (Harrison 1992) or in American transcendentalism (Egerton 2011).

The workshop will therefore examine in Asia in general, and in a comparative dimension with the West, the subjective representation, “for oneself”, of the forest that is formed during the experience, how this interferes with the representation of the forest “in itself”, as an external and autonomous object. We will ask whether the representation of trees in arts and culture sheds light on what happens during immersion in the forest: what is the role of previous images, whether literary, visual, taken from the world of art, visual culture, religious representations; traditional or contemporary (video games, multimedia installations). Indeed, the public’s fascination for these immersive practices in the forest is accompanied by the same thirst for immersive digital practices, as shown by the installation of the Japanese collective Team Lab (Tokyo) whose installations at the Mori Museum or in heritage forest locations (A Forest where gods live at Mifuneyama Rakuen Park) will soon be exhibited in Amsterdam (Huw 2020). This suggests that these installations, by certain aspects (interactivity, sense of “flow”) are perceived as “magical” (Jeon 2019).

The need for silence during the practice of “forest bathing”, presented by practitioners of the discipline as a way to listen to the mind-body relationship, is perhaps a way of being in contact with these imaginary elements. Decorating a tree in a ritual, immersing oneself in a video installation (despite its ambiguities) also. Conversely, the perception of the tree as a trunk to be felled extinguishes this plural dimension. It is also possible that the impression of unity between the inner world and the environment may have repairing properties of the Lacanian “fragmented body”, through sensitive experience (Kono 2011).

The objective is to understand, through a multidisciplinary cultural approach, the dynamics of the relationship to trees in Asia, and how cultural approaches can, possibly, contribute to the protection of trees and biodiversity. We postulate that in a “post-anthropocene”, ecological perspective, it is necessary to “re-enchant” the tree and the forest (as Bruno Latour suggests; Où suis-je, 2021; Face à Gaïa, 2015). Seeing the forest as a living space, an “Umwelt” of which we are only a part, and not as a “world” in which man shapes his habitat. Such a reversal of perspective, implied in the Japanese concept of satoyama, is itself a (re)construction (Indrawan et al. 2014) and can be critically approached, underlining its ambiguities (Rots 2014; Knight 2010). Indeed, it appears that for humans nature is always perceived as a resource (Descola 2005). We propose to explore the idea that in order to preserve the forest, it must be made a resource for well-being, biodiversity, resourcing, utopia, spirituality perceived as useful by humanity. For that the sensory and imaginative approach to nature must be associated with the dominant mechanistic-rationalist approach (Beau 2020).

These different aspects will be questioned in a comparative and in a critical perspective, eschewing essentialism, and possibly showing the limits of this hypothesis in the face of competing competition between nature and man.

For those participants who wish, an immersion experience guided by a professional of Shinrin Yoku will be proposed in the forest of Fontainebleau (fee required).

Practical details

The workshop will take place in person and by videoconference at INHA, unless the pandemic still prohibits all meetings. Communications will be in French and English.

Proposals in the form of an abstract of 300 to 500 words must be received by April 30 at contact@asie-sorbonne.fr. Successful participants will be notified by May 30. A publication of a selection of the contributions is planned.

Bibliography

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– Bao Y., Yang T., Lin X. and al. (2016), Aesthetic Preferences for Eastern and Western Traditional Visual Art: Identity Matters, Frontiers in Psychology, Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01596. OA

– Beau F. (2020, 14 Sept.) Une esthétique du soin environnemental pour cultiver la légèreté, in A. Foiret, « Art et écologie : des croisements fertiles? », Plastik, n° 9. http://plastik.univ-paris1.fr/quest-ce-que-lart-apporte-a-lecologie/

– Descola P. (2005) ; Par-delà nature et culture, Paris, Gallimard.

– Egerton F. (2011), History of Ecological Sciences, Part 39: Henry David Thoreau, Ecologist, Bulletin of ecological society of America. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9623-92.3.251

– Escande Y. (2011), L’arbre en Chine, in J. Pigeaud, L’arbre ou la raison des arbres, PUR.

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– Huw O. (2020, sept.), Europe is getting a teamLab art space, and it’s going to be mindblowing, Time Out. Online: https://www.timeout.com/news/europe-is-getting-a-teamlab-art-space-and-i…

– Knight C. (2009, dec.), “Between the profane and the spirit worlds: the conceptualisation of uplands and mountains in Japanese and Maori folklore”. New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 11, n°2.

– Knight C. (2010), The concept of satoyama and its role in the contemporary discourse on nature conservation in Japan, Asian Studies Review, 34(4), 421 (December 2010)
– Indrawan M., Yabe M., Nomura H., Harrison R. (2014, March). Deconstructing satoyama – The socio-ecological landscape in Japan (science direct) show that satoyama is cultural social construct, Ecological Engineering, vol. 64, pp. 77-84.

– Jeon M., Fiebrink R., Edmond E., Herath D. (2019, Nov.). From rituals to magic: Interactive art and HCI of the past, present, and future, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (131):108-119.

– Kono T. (2011). Ecological Self: Body and Affordances, Kyoto, Nakanishiya publisher (in Japanese).

– Rots A. (2014). Does Shinto offer a viable model for environmental sustainability? Excerpts from author’s PhD. Online Academia.

– Wilson E. (1984). Biophilia. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.

– Won Sop S., Poung Sik Y., Rhi Wha Y., and Chang Seob S. (2010, Jan.). Forest experience and psychological health benefits: the state of the art and future prospect in Korea, Environ Health Prev Med; 15(1): 38–47. Doi: 10.1007/s12199-009-0114-9Contact Info:

Exploring Shinto

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