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Manyoshu (Part Two)

December 19, 2011 / John D. / 0 Comments

A previous posting noted how the eighth-century poetry compilation, Manyoshu is permeated with a proto-Shinto sentiment. I’ve now come across another article on the subject by Furukawa Teishi. It’s entitled ‘The Tradition of Sei-mei-shin’ and was included in the Proceedings of the Second International Confererence on Shinto Studies published in 1955.

Furukawa’s article comes up with an interesting statistic. The words kiyoshi (clean) and sayakeshi (refreshing) occur about a hundred times… a ratio of once to every forty poems or so. In addition, there are terms like akirakeku (bright, clear) and sayakani (clear, clean). It reflects an aesthetic of purity, by which beauty is associated with a lustrous quality. (Interesting, isn’t it, how kirei in Japanese means both clean and beautiful.)

In Manyoshu such words are generally applied to nature, but they occasionally take on a moral overtone:

Polish it like a double-edged sword,
Make it ever bright – the name
Borne through ages, clean and without spot!

Misogi (cold water purification) also features, used with the obvious intention of marrying the external cleansing to a pure heart. Furukawa provides an example, though no explanation is given for the rather puzzling nature of the verse. What’s with the poet’s wife exactly?

Clean precious riverbed
In it do I purify myself
For my wife’s sake

(tamakuze no/kiyoku kahara mi/misogi shite/iware inochi wa/imo ga tame koso)

Furukawa finishes his article by taking up the notion of seimei (cleanliness) and the sei-mei-shin (clean bright heart) in Japanese culture. He sees these qualities as central, leading to a favouring in cultural terms of harmony, sincerity and obedience. This is expressed above all in bushido, the samurai code, where bravery and purity of soul is allied to makoto (sincerity, integrity) derived from Confucianism. In Manyoshu poetry, then, lie the seeds of the samurai spirit.

Polish your sword: polish your heart!

Waterfall misogi (takigyo)

December 17, 2011 / John D. / 0 Comments

It seems there’s a boom in mountain asceticism. This month’s Kansai Scene had a piece on experiencing shugendo (see here). This morning Japan Today writes of a three-day programme on Mount Mitake, about an hour from Tokyo by train. Cold water austerity doesn’t come in more dramatic form than under a mountain waterfall.

Attempting to meditate while being deluged in freezing water!

The programme is run by Seizan-so Lodge near the Musashi-Mitake shrine and consists of rising before dawn, hiking in the mountains, semi-fasting and meditating while standing under a mountain waterfall – if you can bear it.

The Japan Today piece is an experiential account by Hiroko Yoda, an experienced trail runner. “Hashimoto-sensei leads me and several others in our training,” she writes. “As we stride through the crisp mountain breezes he advises us to think of them as the breath of mountain gods. It helps cut the cold, and the greens of the forest give way to beautiful reds and yellows as we work our way up the peak.”

The highlight comes with a nighttime misogi. “A thick fog covered everything in what would have been a whiteout if it hadn’t been pitch black. Sensei led the way with a flashlight. The forest around us seemed alive. We heard a flying squirrel cry out.

When I stepped under the falls, I was shocked to find it feeling almost warm! Perhaps I’d gotten used to it over the course of my “training.” I called out the chant Sensei had taught us, a plea to the gods of purification: “HARAEDO NO OKAMI!!! HARAEDO NO OKAMI!!!”

The revivifying nature of the cold water has a striking effect: “I was so pumped up afterwards, I felt downright superhuman. Able to leap tall waterfalls and crush rocks with my bare hands. Talk about a natural high.”

Standing in a freezing mountain stream may not be everyone’s idea of fun, but there will be a lot of people mired in a mundane life who are yearning for a spiritual high. Why not stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, gird your loins and give it a go!

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For the full account in Japan Today, see here.

The three-day programme is run by Seizan-so Lodge (Japanese skills essential), 43 Mitake-san, Ome City, Tokyo. Tel: (0428) 78 8798. Japanese website and prices: http://www.seizan.gr.jp/syugyou.htm Further information in English at this website: http://templelodging.com/spot/03kanto/mitake005.html

Experiencing shugendo (mountain asceticism)

December 14, 2011 / John D. / 2 Comments

There’s a short article on shugendo in this month’s Kansai Scene, which can be read online here. It’s of particular interest because it describes an opportunity for foreigners to experience this Shinto-Buddhist blend of mountain asceticism for themselves.

Shugendo dates back some 1300 years, and was founded by the legendary seventh-century En no Gyoja (En the Ascetic). Practitioners, popularly known as yamabushi (literally, those who lie in the mountains), head into the hills to scale cliffs, fast, sleep in caves, stand under icy mountain streams, recite sutras and perform other rituals.

The rigorous activities are designed to heighten awareness and further spiritual development, so that practitioners come down from the mountain enhanced by the experience and able to help their community. The idea is that by getting ‘high’ one gets closer to the spirit world. It’s also a form of rebirth, for after leaving the everyday world the ego is broken down and forced to ‘die’, leading the way to a new and better self.

Two foreigners here seen doing cold water austerity on Mt Inunaki (Kansai Scene Dec. 2011 edition)

As a mountain lover, I’ve always found shugendo the most appealing of spiritual exercises – except for the bit where you get dangled over the edge of a cliff ! In her article, however, Bonnie Carpenter treats it in remarkably matter of fact manner.

At the top, Yoshida-san asked for participants for a more severe part of the training. Strapping on a thick white braided rope that encircled both shoulders, a novice prostrated himself flat on a rocky precipice overlooking the gorge, leaning as far out as he could possibly go. The assistant priest held up the novice’s back legs while the main priest holding the rope demanded, “Have you been good to your father and mother? Have you been working hard?” The novice responded with a nervous “Yes!” as he dangled precariously over the steep hills below. The intent was to put the supplicant under extreme physical and mental conditions, thus insuring a more honest response.

An intimidating cave opening, offering the possibility of returning to the womb and being reborn

On this occasion it seems the dangling over the cliff is voluntary. For Japanese who practise shugendo I believe it’s not. When I joined an outing myself, I made sure that there were no cliffs to be negotiated but still found myself panicking nonetheless at the prospect of entering a cave through a frighteningly narrow crack. As a claustrophobic, even enlightenment was not enticing enough for me to enter, and I had to join in the chanting of the Heart Sutra from outside the cave!

Shugendo was banned by the Meiji government as superstitious, but was revived after WW2 and made a strong come-back. Nonetheless it’s no longer the force it once was and opportunities to join are not easy to come by. Some of the groups used to be very secretive, and women were not allowed on several of the sacred mountains. Only in recent years has the religion become more open, and this opportunity advertised by the Kansai Scene is a rare opportunity for foreigners in Japan to be able to experience the tradition. I heartily recommend it.

To try Shugendo, contact Inunaki-san Shipporyuji Temple at 072-459-7101/7043 or online in Japanese at the URL below. Reservations are required.
The site offers training every third Sunday from March through November for groups of 20 or more for ¥2,000 per person. Smaller groups can be accommodated by consulting with the temple.
Japanese ability is necessary, though you can bring your own translator.
www.inunakisan.com
www.kankou-izumisano.jp

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For full details about shugendo, see Mark Schumacher’s online dictionary here. There’s also a useful site by a French practitioner who has established a base in Europe… http://www.shugendo.fr/en For ice-bathing misogi (cold water austerity) in Austria, see this youtube video. For an excellent NHK video introducing Shugendo at Dewa Sanzan, see https://vimeo.com/196561540

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Parade of yamabushi playing conch-horns

When not in the mountains, shugendo practitioners can be seen at temples (Shingon or Tendai) to which they are attached and where they often feature in fire festivals.

“Sickening Age-uma shinji”

December 12, 2011 / John D. / 5 Comments

The animal welfare society to which I belong (JAWS) has an article in its latest newsletter which contains details of a shocking Shinto event involving cruelty to horses. It calls into question the whole ethos of Shinto as a religion that purports to care about nature.

The horse as sacred mount

The annual rite known as Ageuma shinji takes place in Mie Prefecture at the Inabe and Tado shrines, in April and May respectively. As such it stands alongside other horse events at Shinto shrines, such as the more well-known Yabusame (video) and Kasagake (article). Put on for the entertainment of the kami, the rituals involve an element of divination. In this case it has to do with the size of the harvest.

Horses have a special place in Shinto as mounts of the kami, able to move between this world and that of the spirit, as detailed in a previous blog entry.

At the Tado and Inabe Shrines however horses are forced up steep slopes and made to jump over a wall. If they slide back or refuse, they are pushed, pulled and coerced against their will. The idea is that if the horse succeeds, there will be an abundant harvest.

The conditions are such that they would be banned at any international event. According to the JAWS representative, Dr. Koichi Aoki, it is a shocking spectacle, cheered on by jubilant onlookers.

In recent years the event has been monitored by animal rights observers. In 2008 a horse crashed into the wall and broke its nasal bone at the Inabe shrine. At the Tado shrine a terrified horse failed to surmount the wall and ran in terror through the crowd, seriously injuring five people.

In 2009 a horse broke its foreleg at Inabe Shrine, and at Tado shrine video evidence was collected of men using violence on a horse before the event to stimulate it to greater effort.

In 2010 a horse fell before the slope and died after breaking a vertebra in its neck. The same year the Kuwana police, under pressure, launched an investigation into animal cruelty. Papers were sent to the public prosecutor’s office and charges followed.

Green Shinto has no hesitation in condemning cruelty to animals as an utter disgrace. A religion that has cultivated horses as messengers of the kami is here guilty of preserving a tradition that endangers horses. The wall-jumping is in defiance of international standards, contradicts all attempts to turn Shinto into a universal religion concerned with the protection of nature, and makes a complete mockery of the notion of living in harmony with our fellow creatures. It is, quite simply, sickening!

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Information for this entry is taken from the JAWS newsletter no. 78 (Autumn, 2011). The London-based charity can be contacted at jawsuk@jawsuk.org.uk, or see the website http://www.jawsuk.org.uk/

A Japanese video of the event can be seen here together with further details, where it is reported that five people were arrested and face animal cruelty charges. In defense of the rite, traditionalists maintain that the cruelty is justified on the absurd grounds that because it’s been done for centuries it is somehow okay!

Horses at the Kasagake event at Kamigamo Jinja, where the animals are treated with the respect they deserve

Sakaki

December 12, 2011 / John D. / 1 Comment

The sakaki branch is common in Shintō ceremonies. It’s used on altars, and it’s used as an offering to the kami. It’s used too as a vehicle into which the kami descends, and as a wand for purification. Performers hold sprigs in ritual dance, and it’s sometimes affixed to buildings or torii to signify the sacred quality. What is it exactly, and why should it be so sacred?

Sakaki pinned to a torii at Ise

Sakaki’s Latin name is Cleyera japonica, a member of the tea family oddly enough, though it has little to do with tea. I’ve never tried brewing it, but something tells me it wouldn’t taste very good!

Plants with point-tipped leaves, such as pines and thorns, were once believed to be the landing point for spirits, and this was no doubt how the association with the sakaki arose. Its evergreen nature, like the Christmas fir tree, must have appealed to ancients as a symbol of nature’s vitality and kami immortality.

Officially the reason for sakaki’s sacred nature is because of its role in mythology. When Amaterasu, the sun goddess, hid in the Rock Cave, a tree was decorated with jewels, swords and mirror as part of the grand festival to lure her out. It worked, and ever since the event has acted as a template for Shinto ceremonies and festivals.

There are two linguistic theories about the origin of the name. One derives from the tree’s evergreen nature, such that it is always thriving (sakaeru). Another sees it as originating as a ‘border tree’ (sakai), used to mark off sacred ground. The two theories are not mutually exclusive of course, since the reason for choosing the tree as a marker could be because it was always thriving – even in winter. This would place it in the same category as the evergreen trees of pagan worship in Europe.

All hail the sakaki – a symbol of nature’s ability to thrive! Even now, as we approach the midwinter solstice, it stands proud and green, a reminder of the new growth to come… with temperatures plunging and days shortening, it may be hard to believe, but one fine day nature will renew itself and the world will be green once again.

Sakaki offering in a plastic bottle to mark a sacred statue

Sakaki decorating a mikoshi at a festival

Nonomiya Shrine (Kyoto)

December 11, 2011 / John D. / 1 Comment

Queueing up at dusk at Nonomiya Shrine

Those of us who live in Kyoto are spoilt. As soon as the glorious autumn colour light-ups finish, we get the Hanatouro light-up in Arashiyama. The area was once a pleasure-ground for the Heian aristocracy, when boats plied languidly across the river carrying performers of dance and music for nobles who drank saké, composed poems and dangled their long sleeves in the cooling water.

Last night I took a stroll around the area at dusk, to admire the expensive light effects. It happened to coincide with the full moon lunar eclipse, when the best efforts of mankind were dwarfed by the celestial lightshow on high as the moon was turned golden by the eerie shadowing and unshadowing. You can’t compete with magic like that!

Nonetheless Nonomiya and its approaches had a magic of their own, standing out in clear relief against the looming darkness. The small shrine dates back to the seventh century and is noted for its ancient style of torii, with bare logs covered in bark. In the grounds you can find a moss garden and a shrine to a deity of easy delivery (Shirafuku Inari).

Lovers of the Heian era, like myself, have a special place in their hearts for the shrine, for Lady Rokujo came here with her daughter in the tenth chapter of The Tale of Genji. The daughter had been appointed as the Ise virgin (Saigu), and the custom was for the young princess to stay for a year at the shrine to purify herself. It was here, at this sacred spot, that Genji came to take his leave of Lady Rokujo whose jealousy had caused the death of his wife. It’s an illicit meeting in a place of purification, and highly charged.

Genji offers Rokujo a sprig of sakaki, pushing it through the fencing in provocative manner. ‘With heart unchanging as this evergreen,/This sacred tree, I enter the sacred gate,’ he says. In this way Murasaki Shikibu skilfully turns Shinto’s holy symbol into a tool of seduction.

Bamboo light-up around Nonomiya: even an iphone was alive to its beauty

The chief association of Nonomiya, however, is with sadness and parting, for the young princesses who came here for purification had to take leave of their family when departing for Ise, never to meet again. (The system was abolished in the fourteenth century.) The custom was for the father to give her a comb, a symbolic token of farewell, then an imperial procession would accompany her on the five-day journey. A festival every year recreates the scene, leading from the shrine down to the famous Togetsukyo Bridge where the princess would have crossed over to her new life.

Okochi Sanso in daylight: imagine the magic by night

For the Hanatouro event, the path to Nonomiya through a bamboo grove is beautifully illuminated, and from the shrine one can make one’s way up to Okochi Sanso (the villa of the actor Okochi Denjiro) where for the price of Y700 you can enter the most exquisite fairyland.

The Hanatouro light-up continues till Dec 18, from 5.00 to 8.30 each day. Highly recommended for anyone in the Kyoto area, though try to make it a week day as the weekends get very crowded. There’s five km of walkway with open air lanterns, student performances, spectacular flower arrangements, five temples, the Rakushisha hut where Basho stayed, and bamboo bliss with Nonomiya too. Prayers for success in exams or a good love connection are particularly favoured. Head for the shrine this week, and you too may feel illuminated!

The six shrines of Ou

December 10, 2011 / John D. / 4 Comments

Ou, what a relief

Susanoo slaying the eight-headed serpent

Ancient Izumo is a land of legends, associated with Susanoo and the slaying of the eight-headed monster (Yamata no Orochi). it’s also said to be the burial place of the mythological Izanami, who together with her spouse-brother Izanagi, created Japan. She was supposedly buried on Mt Hiba (near modern day Yasugi city), and when out of grief Izanagi visited her dead body, he was chased out by the Japanese equivalent of the Furies. Izanami is so closely associated with the area, that some say the name of Izumo is a nod in her direction.

Within the ancient province of Izumo lay the district of Ou, in which the city of Matsue now stands. Its peculiar name supposedly derives from the Land-Pulling Myth, in which a kami enlarged the province by pulling over some extra pieces of land from Korea. He marked the end of his exertions by striking a rod into the ground and letting out a long ‘Ou’ in relief.

In medieval times six of the area’s most prestigious shrines were formed into a pilgrimage group called the Ou Rokusha (Six shrines of Ou). Walking round the six shrines was popular in the Edo period for those looking to earn spiritual merit while taking a break from their usual routine. I’m not sure how long it took the hearty souls, but in a rented car it took me a little over half a day. Since it’s said the merit you earn is proportionate to the effort put in, i doubt I earned very much!

Entrance to Rokusho Shrine

The Ou Rokusha Mairi
Here are the six shrines. The first two are close together and definitely recommended. They’re not far from Matsue, one of Japan’s most attractive cities, and perfect for a short outing. The two shrines are both unique and charming in their own way.

1) Yaegaki Jinja (a Susanoo shrine). It’s said to stand on the wedding home of Susanoo and his bride, Princess Kushinada. It’s notable for its fertility symbols and an ancient pond which Kushinada used as a mirror and which is now used for fortune telling. For a full report, click here.

2) Kumaso Jinja (an Izanami shrine). The shrine is most notable for its striking architecture, which represents the oldest known example of the Izumo style. It’s a twenty-minute walk from Yaegaki and stands in a clearing up a steep step of stairs. The most atmospheric of shrines. it is in many ways the perfect example of how Shinto consecrates the spirit of place.

An unusual feature in the Kumaso precincts marks an opening in the hillside which once sheltered people taking refuge from persecution

Hearn was here! The sole noticeboard at the Kumaso Shrine notes his visit in 1891.

Kumaso Jinja's distinctive architecture leading up to the honden main sanctuary where the kami resides

3) Rokusho Jinja (dedicated to six different kami, including the fractious Amaterasu-Susanoo siblings) Now a modest shrine in a small village, Rokusho once stood at the heart of the Izumo administrative machine. Behind the shrine is a field showing the site of huge tax-collecting buildings dating from the eighth century.

Steps leading to Manai Jinja

4) Manai Jinja (an Izanagi shrine). An unattended shrine up steep steps, which is associated with a waterfall on the hill behind. I had the feeling there was more to this shrine than meets the eye, for it is mentioned in the Izumo fudoki (chronicles written c. 733), but as yet I’ve been unable to find out much about it.

5) Kumano Taisha (a Susanoo shrine). The biggest of the six shrines, with tourist buses lined up and a tourist hotel set by the entrance. It was once not only the ichinomiya (top shrine) of Izumo, but is said to have been even more popular than the famed Izumo Taisha. It has claims to be the site of the wedding between Susanoo and Princess Kushinada. It’s also said to be the shrine were fire was first made for the gods, significant since Izanami was burnt to death while giving birth to the fire deity. But why on earth is it called Kumano Taisha, since the area of Kumano lies on the other side of the country altogether?

Kumano Taisha with its characteristic Izumo-style rice rope

I asked one of the priests about the name, and he told me that it used to be assumed that people from Kumano had brought their faith with them and set up shrine here. But recently there’s a new theory that people from Izumo had gone to Kumano, and then come back and set up a shrine in honour of the region. Presumably the ancient kingdoms of Izumo and Kumano were allied in ancient times, both of them overcome eventually by the emerging Yamato state. First Emperor Jimmu made his legendary march across the Kii peninsula, defeating the Kumano tribes he met on the way. Later Yamato was successful in pressuring the Izumo king into submitting.

6) Iya Jinja (an Izanami shrine). Last of the six shrines I visited, appropriately, was the one known as Shrine of the Dead. it lies not far from a boulder with which Izanagi blocked up the entrance to the Land of Yomi where the putrefying Izanami lay buried. The boulder looks curiously ineffective, which is no doubt why hungry spirits continue to filter into this world.

The boulder with which Izanagi blocked up the entrance to Yomi and Izanami's tomb

There’s an eerie atmosphere at Iya Shrine, furthered by a reticent priest who appeared intent on not shedding any light on the shrine traditions. The shrine is mentioned in the Nihon shoki of 720 and I’d heard that the unusual banners to one side might represent something to do with Susanoo’s dragon. ‘Tabun,’ was all I could get out of the priest. Maybe he had a point: he who knows does not speak; he who speaks does not know, said the ancient sage. Mystery lies at the core of Shinto, and a sense of awe, reverence and wonder. Enough said!