Tag: emperor worship

Emperor’s night with Amaterasu

November 11, 2019 / John D. / 0 Comments

Symbolic night with ‘goddess’ to wrap up emperor’s accession rites

By Elaine Lies TOKYO © (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019.
As published in Japan Today Nov 11, 2019

On Thursday evening, Emperor Naruhito will dress in pure white robes and be ushered into a dark wooden hall for his last major enthronement rite: spending the night with a “goddess.” Centered on Amaterasu Omikami, the sun goddess from whom conservatives believe the emperor has descended, the Daijosai is the most overtly religious ceremony of the emperor’s accession rituals after his father Akihito’s abdication.

Scholars and the government say it consists of a feast, rather than, as has been persistently rumored, conjugal relations with the goddess. Although Naruhito’s grandfather Hirohito, in whose name soldiers fought World War Two, was later stripped of his divinity, the ritual continues.

That has prompted anger – and lawsuits – from critics who say it smacks of the militaristic past and violates the constitutional separation of religion and state, as the government pays the cost of 2.7 billion yen.

WHAT HAPPENS?
At about 7 p.m., Naruhito enters a specially-built shrine compound by firelight, disappearing behind white curtains. In a dimly-lit room he kneels by piled straw mats draped in white, said to be a resting place for the goddess, as two shrine maidens bring in offerings of food, from rice to abalone, for Naruhito to use in filling 32 plates made from oak leaves.

Then he bows and prays for peace for the Japanese people before eating rice, millet and rice wine “with” the goddess.The entire ritual is repeated in another room, ending at about 3 a.m.

John Breen in 2011, researcher at Kyoto’s Nichibunken

Long a secret, the ceremony was re-enacted this year by NHK public television, an unprecedented move scholars say may have been a government initiative to dispel rumors.”There is a bed, there is a coverlet, and the emperor keeps his distance from it,” said John Breen of Kyoto’s International Research Center for Japanese Studies, adding that de-mystifying the ceremony could be a government defense.

“Kingmaking is a sacred business, it’s transforming a man or a woman into something other than a man or a woman,” he said, pointing to mystical elements in Britain’s coronation functions. “So the Japanese government’s denial that there’s anything mystical to it is bizarre, but the purpose is pretty clear – it’s to fend off accusations there’s something unconstitutional going on.”

HOW ANCIENT IS THE TRADITION?
Believed to have started in the 700s and observed for about 700 years, the ritual was then interrupted for nearly three centuries, a gap that Breen said led to the loss of much of its original meaning.

Although believed to have initially been one of the less important enthronement rites, the ceremony gained status and its current form from 1868, as Japan began to turn itself into a modern nation-state, unified under the emperor.

WHAT IS THE FUNDING CONTROVERSY?
At a news conference, the emperor’s younger brother, Crown Prince Akishino, wondered if it was “appropriate” to use public money, suggesting instead the private funds of the imperial family, which would necessitate a far smaller ceremony.

But Koichi Shin, the head of a group of 300 people suing the government to halt the ritual, and demand damages of 10,000 yen each for “pain and suffering”, says that would still not be satisfactory, as the private funds are still tax money.

With part of one lawsuit thrown out by the Supreme Court and another set for hearing after the rite, the court battle is mostly symbolic, as concern over nationalism and the emperor fades.

At then Emperor Akihito’s accession in 1990, protests were louder and bigger, including rocket attacks ahead of some of the rituals, while 1,700 people sued amid harsh media coverage.

“Emperor Hirohito was responsible for the war, but Akihito has done a lot to soften the family’s image,” said Shin, a 60-year-old office worker. “But I think showing these ceremonies on television solidifies the idea of the emperor as religion.”

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For those who wish to read in detail about the sacred space in Daijosai and its connection with Ise Jingu’s twenty year renewal, please see this article by Gunther Niitschke.

The emperor’s role

May 6, 2019 / John D. / 0 Comments

Emperor Naruhito at his ascension ceremony, receiving two of the three sacred regalia (the jewel and the sword)

Mainstream Shinto is based around the emperor system. In Japan, An Attempt at Interpretation (1904) Lafcadio Hearn wrote of its central role in unifying the nation, and from recent events surrounding the accession of Emperor Naruhito it is evident that the views Hearn put forward have hardly dated.

In 1956 Jinja Honcho (Association of Shrines) agreed on a kind of mission statement. It was put together for Shinto to have some equivalent to the Lord’s Prayer in Christianity, and it is recited before official ceremonies. Known as Keishin seikatsu no kōryō (General charactersistics of a life lived in reverence of the kami), it is described by the Kokugakuin encyclopedia as ‘a standardized doctrinal document’. It consists of the following main points:

1) To be grateful to the kami and ancestors, applying oneself to rituals with whole-hearted sincerity
2) To contribute to others through service without thought of self-promotion
3) To bind oneself in harmonious acknowledgement of the will of the emperor

The role of the emperor is thus of vital interest to anyone sympathetic to Shinto, and there has been debate in its leading circles about the significance of the emperor being a national ‘symbol’ as the Constitution of Japan puts it. Should the emperor be engaged in what might be seen as secular activities, or should he concentrate on his private role as semi-divine head priest?

Emperor Akihito in priestly garb on his way to announce his abdication to the Sun Goddess

The following piece by John Breen dealing with these issues is extracted from a longer article on the subject entitled ‘Abdication, Succession and Japan’s Imperial Future: An Emperor’s Dilemma’. Please note that the paragraphing is mine, and that the original article for the Asia-Pacific Journal, updated May 5, 2019, is annotated, referenced and contains the Japanese kanji for names. (Click here should you wish to see it.)

What is interesting is the reaction of ultra-conservative groups, the self-appointed guardians of Japan’s imperial legacy. The most vociferous among them today is Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference; hereafter NK). This is a powerful group, whose board features many Shinto religious leaders. The chief priests of the Ise Shrines, the Yasukuni Shrine, and the Meiji Shrine are among them. But NK matters because Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and the majority of his cabinet are members.

How did NK respond to the emperor’s address? NK was swift to deny press reports that it was “vigorously opposed” to abdication, but statements by key NK members suggested otherwise. The most articulate among them was Kobori Keiichirō emeritus professor of Tokyo University and incumbent NK Vice-Chairman… Kobori blamed the American makers of the “anti-kokutai Constitution” for creating confusion about the emperor’s role.

Other NK members were less measured. Murata Haruki authored an extraordinary opinion piece in the journal Seiron October 2017. His critique of Emperor Akihito makes for fascinating reading. Murata saw the emperor’s wish to abdicate as symptomatic of his failure to appreciate the unique nature of Japanese emperorship. The emperor cannot refer to himself as an individual, as he did in the broadcast, since he is semi-divine; he has no need for popular approval, since he is neither politician nor performer, but descendant of the Sun Goddess; and he has no business appearing on TV to address the people; it is his ancestors – the Sun Goddess and the first emperor Jinmu above all – whom he should be addressing.

Nippon Kaigi is, in fact, divided over the abdication issue, but it is clear that what matters to Kobori, Murata and their fellows is not the person of the reigning emperor, nor the Constitution, but the unbroken imperial line that began, so they believe, with the Sun Goddess. Emperor Akihito’s words and actions constituted a threat to their view of emperorship. Clearly, if an emperor can change the rules of succession on a whim, the myth becomes untenable.

What then would they and their allies have had the emperor do? On the specific issue of succession, they wanted him to hand the burdensome tasks over to a regent, and stay put. As a general principle, emperors should abstain from the sort of public service in which Emperor Akihito found meaning. They should instead remain within the walls of the palace, perform their acts “in matters of state,” and otherwise devote themselves to prayer.

The NK position… is that “symbol of the State” means precisely the emperor’s performance of prayer at the shrine-complex within the Tokyo palace. The complex in question, built in 1888, … comprises three sites. There is a central shrine for the Sun Goddess (the kashikodokoro) , which is flanked by the kōreiden, a shrine dedicated to the imperial ancestors (the spirits, that is, of all deceased emperors since the time of the mythical Emperor Jinmu), and by a shrine for the myriad gods of heaven and earth (the shinden). It is worth noting in passing that the rites which Akihito and his father before him performed at the shrine-complex since 1945 are precisely those of prewar Japan; they differ only in that they are private, and no longer public, events.

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For more about Nippon Kaigi, please see here or here.

The new emperor has expressed his intention to follow in his father’s footsteps and steer towards a liberal interpretation of his role as ‘symbol of the State’.

Reiwa – a new era

April 6, 2019 / John D. / 0 Comments

Announcement of the new era’s name

An informative piece below on the naming of the new era, which will start from the ascension of the next emperor on May 1, 2019. This is extracted from a longer piece by the curator of Japanese art at Cleveland Museum, Sinead Vilbar.

Until the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the names of eras changed fairly frequently in order to signal a fresh start after some disaster or tumultuous event. Beginning with Meiji, however, it has become the custom for one imperial reign to be given one era name.

It’s worth noting here too that plum blossom, about which the term Reiwa was taken, used to be a favourite of the Japanese court before cherry blossom was adopted in the later Heian period. The reason for the change was the greater brevity of the cherry, and also to promote Japanese identity as different from the Chinese (from whom the cult of plum blossom was originally taken).

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On Monday, April 1, Japan announced the name of its new era: Reiwa (令和). When the new Japanese emperor ascends to the throne on May 1, the current era, Heisei (平成), ends and the Reiwa era begins. Heisei is said to mean “achieving peace” and is the name of the era associated with the currently reigning emperor, who took the throne in 1989. He is the first emperor in 200 years to abdicate and will do so on April 30.

Manyoshu, a selection in English

Historically, Japanese era names changed at critical junctures in an emperor’s reign, often to bring a sense of renewal. Now the era name remains the same for the entire reign. In the past, era names were selected from classical Chinese literature. For the first time, the era name has been chosen from classical Japanese literature, specifically the Man’yōshū (A Collection of Myriad Leaves), the oldest existing anthology of Japanese poetry, containing some 4,500 poems on numerous themes by more than 350 known authors.

“It is now the choice month of early spring, the weather is fine, the wind is soft. The plum blossom opens…” — Japanese literature scholar Mack Horton’s translation of part of the preface to the fifth book of the Man’yōshū (A Collection of Myriad Leaves)

Reiwa was taken from the preface of the fifth book of the anthology, which contains poems dating from the year 815 and beyond. The section’s theme centers on the plum flower (also called an apricot flower). According to Japanese literature scholar Mack Horton, the preface reads in translation, “It is now the choice month of early spring, the weather is fine, the wind is soft. The plum blossom opens.” “Choice month” is reigetsu (令月), or the second month of the year, and “soft wind” is kaze odayaka (風和). Another way to translate this is, “in this auspicious early spring month, the air is clean and the breeze is gentle [hatsuharu no reigetsu ni shite kiyoku kaze yawaragi].”

Otomo no Tabito composing his poem

The first character of reigetsu and the second character of kaze odayaka or kaze yawaragi (also read wa) were combined to form Reiwa, which has been given a variety of English glosses but is generally said to connote “pursuing harmony.” The content of the preface draws upon welcoming remarks made by the courtier Otomo no Tabito (655–731) at a gathering he hosted in 730 at his residence in Dazaifu (in contemporary Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu).

Guests composed and sang their own poems as they admired the plum blossoms flowering in the garden. Otomo is said to have suggested, “with the sky serving as a canopy and the ground as a carpet, we are sitting relaxed and close together and exchanging sake cups. Let us make this ume (plum) garden the subject of the poems we compose.”

Dazaifu is also the site of a famous shrine dedicated to the kami Tenman Tenjin, the posthumously deified spirit of the courtier Sugawara no Michizane (845–903).

Mark Teeuwen on Ise Jingu

June 12, 2018 / John D. / 4 Comments

The main shrine at Ise, known as Naiku

Leading Shinto scholar Mark Teeuwen, has written several influential books on matters related to Japan’s indigenous faith. He’s known in particular for disputing the idea that there was such a thing as ‘Shinto’ in Japan’s ancient past, but that it was a later construct. His new publication, A Social History of the Ise Shrines, co-written with John Breen, has proved ground-breaking in terms of English language works on the subject. It was a great delight therefore to hear him talk last Sunday on the changes Ise has been through in its long history.

The Dutch scholar Mark Teeuwen, currently professor at the University of Oslo

First some interesting statistics. The Ise complex comprises 125 shrines. There are 120 priests (nearly ten times more than at other major shrines) and 500 auxiliary staff. The shrine owns forests as far away as Kyushu, has four museums as well as offices, educational facilities and residences, in addition to which it hosts facilities to produce rice, salt, timber etc. In short, this is a major enterprise, which moreover is committed to a twenty-year rebuilding cycle estimated to cost 57 billion yen. Small wonder that it needs substantial income, for since the end of World War Two it has been stripped of state support. It comes as little surprise then to learn that the Association of Ise Worshippers is headed by the ex-president of Toyota and that the top ranks are filled with big business magnates.Visitors to Ise may think it’s all about trees and wood, but money is a major concern!

The twenty year rebuilding cycle brings with it renewed focus and a surge of tourism. A comparison of 1993 and 2013 is instructive in this respect. Given that 9 million visitors in 2014 descended on a town of only 130,000, the management of shrine visitors and tourism is a consideration for local residents, and in 1993 much attention was given to a new motorway to the area. At the same time there were protests and even bombs against the imperial trappings and reenforcement of state ties. These were much more evident in 2013, when prime minister Shinzo Abe and eight of his cabinet ministers attended the sengyo no gi rite, in which the sacred mirror of Amaterasu is transferred from the old shrine to the new. The last time a prime minister had attended was in 1929 during the time of State Shinto, yet this won almost no attention in the mass media or from the populace at large. One wonders if it reflects political apathy, or perhaps it is simply an illustration of the drift to the right which has happened under Abe.

A Jinja Honcho campaign to go and worship at Ise

Standard descriptions of Ise like to suggest it has always been supreme and a centre of imperial worship. Mark T. however showed that this was far from the truth, and he identified six major historical periods with quite different values and business models. The shrine dates back to the late seventh century when an angry deity named Amateru (sic) disrupted the imperial household and was ejected, ending up at Ise. Mark T. believes that at this time the deity was male, and that it was only under the influence of Empress Jito (r.686-697) that the deity was feminised by Kojiki mythologisers in her honour (there are parallels between Amaterasu’s son and grandson with those of Jito).

During its subsequent history Ise took many guises. It came as a surprise to learn that at one time it was the seat of Enma, lord of the underworld, and indulgences were sold so as to avoid going to hell. At another time it was closely associated with the samurai (the court made pilgrimages to Kumano instead). Shop councils and inn keepers promoted the pilgrimage business through prayer masters called oshi, and the millions of Edo-era pilgrims who headed for the Outer Shrine were concerned with enjoyment and praying for agricultural success. There was little if any awareness of the emperor at the time, for the Tokugawa were all-powerful (and Ieyasu deified). Only with the development of the Kokugaku movement in the later Edo Period was there a revival in sentiment for the emperor.

It was the Meiji Period which brought major changes to Ise. The era is associated now with ‘the invention of tradition’, and Ise provides a striking example as it was transformed into the ancestral shrine of the emperor and given primacy in religious terms. For a start the oshi business, which had long sustained Ise, was banned. Hereditary priests were ousted and appointees installed. Fences were put up and shrines rearranged in a more rational and imperial manner. The Outer Shrine, for example whose deity was Amenonakanushi, lord of creation, was recast as sanctuary of a food deity serving Amaterasu,

Part of the rebranding was to have the emperor make personal visits to Ise as his ancestral shrine and Emperor Meiji is said to have visited four times. Far from following tradition, he was in fact starting a new ‘tradition’ for no emperor had ever visited the shrine before (Empress Jito in the eighth century is said in the Kojiki to have visited ‘Ise Province’). At the same time throughout Japan shrines were amalgamated, mirrors added, and imperial ancestors installed as kami to replace the old gods. In this way Ise came to take its present form as head of an emperor-centred ideology, and despite the change from nationalised institution to private after WW2, essentially nothing has changed. Still today most of the resources of the Association of Shrines (Jinja Honcho) go into supporting Ise’s primacy, even to the extent of passing on money from poorer shrines (some close to bankrupt).

There is no dogma in Shinto, noted Mark, though Jinja Honcho has one clear dogma: Ise is supreme.

Mark (right) putting over a point in his fact-filled overview of Ise’s many historical guises

In contrast to the solemnity nowadays, Edo-era pilgrims were bent on enjoying themselves and even took pets along, if this officially sanctioned picture is to be believed. The humorous saying, ‘You should take advantage of the Ise pilgrimage to drop in at Ise too’ shows that other matters held priority.