Creating Modern Japanese Subjects: Morning Rituals from Norito to News and Weather
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Creating the Japanese Subject
3. The Ritual
4. The Morning Prayer Ritual
4.1. Numbered Ritual Topics
- 0.
- Prefatory purification
- 1.
- The imperial residence (home of the living kami)
- 2.
- Tatsuta shrine’s divine wind kami (who provides divine purification)
- 3.
- The three creator kami (kami from the beginning of time)
- 4.
- Amaterasu, the sun kami, and all the kami of heaven
- 5.
- Tsukiyomi, the moon kami, and all earthly kami, and also all the kami of the underworld
- 6.
- Ninigi, the imperial grandchild (sent from heaven to rule earth)
- 7.
- Jimmu (the first emperor and grandchild of Ninigi) and all the subsequent emperors
- 8.
- Ise shrines (Imperial family shrines)
- 9.
- Three shrines for kami who pacified the earth for Ninigi
- 10.
- Izumo Taisha—Ôkuninushi (main earth deity and his shrine)
- 11.
- Three shrines for Ôkuninushi and related Izumo deities
- 12.
- Two shrines for Sukunabikona and Ônamuchi (kami of medicine and technology)
- 13.
- The shrine for Iwanagahime (representing longevity)
- 14.
- Atsuta Jingu (shrine for imperial regalia)
- 15.
- Principle shrine of the worshiper’s province
- 16.
- The shrine for the worshiper’s ubusuna kami (tutelary kami)
- 17.
- The house kamidana (altar for the deities)
- 18.
- Plea to Izanagi (creator deity) for purification
- 19.
- Sae no kami (kami of obstacles)
- 20.
- Seven generations of heavenly kami
- 21.
- Ame no uzume (kami representing descent to earth)
- 22.
- House protector kami
- 23.
- Harvest protector kami
- 24.
- Cooking stove kami
- 25.
- Well kami
- 26.
- Lavatory kami
- 27.
- Kami for ancient studies
- 28.
- Ancestors as kami
4.2. General Strategies: Sequential Movements
4.3. General Strategies: Descending Movements
4.4. Sentence Level Tactics: Troping
5. Conclusions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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- 2This conflict between giri and ninjô, duty and personal desire, has been the starting point for dramatic narrative in traditional Japanese literature and theater for centuries.
- 3This is of course a simplified explanation of O-Shin; however, a more detailed description would show much deeper connections to Japanese conceptions of themselves and their nation. O-Shin was the most popular series with a consistent TV rating of over 50% of the Japanese viewing audience. It holds the record high rating for a single episode reaching over 60% of the morning audience, and it has been translated and viewed by audiences all over the world.
- 4Hirata Atsutane’s (1776–1843) importance to the Western academy has fluctuated, but at times he has been recognized as a restoration Shinto fanatic whose writings were one of the most important sources for the Japanese nationalist rhetoric that led to the tragedies of the Pacific War. He is usually given a prominent position in the early modern Japanese movement called kokugaku. Kokugaku is often rendered “national learning” in English, which is a direct translation of the two Chinese ideographs of which it is composed. However, it is sometimes translated as “nativism” as discussed in historical treatments of 19th-century American “native” reaction to more recent immigrants from Europe. In essence, in its Japanese form it was a movement aimed at recovering an original Japanese culture free from foreign influence.
- 5Hirata, of course, also claimed that the ritual worked miraculously or magically, that is, in a more traditional religious fashion, as it was intended as a worship service for the various Japanese gods (kami) included within the text.
- 6The specific definition of ritual used herein is “work done at the behest of and under instruction from spirits, gods, or powers, and it is work that has efficacy in its performance” ([6], p. vii).
- 9“Hence, ritual acts must be understood within a semantic framework whereby the significance of an action is dependent upon its place and relationship within a context of all other ways of acting: what it echoes, what it inverts, what it alludes to, what it denies.” ([2], p. 220).
- 10According to Hirata, a proper Japanese person worships only Japanese kami, and not Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, or any gods brought to Japan as part of a foreign religious system of worship. Hirata devoted works to debunking the historicity of Buddhist claims, and also in those works described a theory whereby people should rightly follow religious teaching that grow out of their own native soils. Therefore the very fact that a religion originated in China or India made it unsuitable for the Japanese people [15,16].
- 11Symbols can also be important parts of religious exchanges in a “spiritual” economy [18].
- 12Motoori Norinaga (1733–1801) is by many accounts the greatest nativist scholar in Japanese history and the most admired by Hirata.
- 13Tama means either a human spirit, a nature spirit, and when used honorifically can also designate a kami.
- 14An extremely simplified but useful explanation of the sequential structure of Japanese ritual as a subcategory of Asian ritual is first: purification followed by invitations, offerings of food, entertainment, praise, or some combination of those hospitality elements. The ensuing ritual developments usually entail prayers, requests for assistance, and promises of future worship, loyalty or activity on behalf of the deity being communicated with. Lastly, there are concluding acts of send-off and goodbye [23].
- 15There are two sets of tutelary kami: clan kami, ujigami, and local jurisdictional kami, ubusuna kami. One relationship is genetically determined while the other is geographically determined. These sometimes are overlapped in practice for social or political purposes.
- 16For detailed explanation of individual kami in English I suggest the use of Kokugakuin University’s website which includes an Encyclopedia of Shinto [24].
- 17Tamadasuki is an extended monograph written by Hirata that can be understood as hundreds of pages of detailed explanation of the mythical narratives summarized by this morning prayer ritual [25].
- 18Ame no uzume’s shamanic credentials come from the story of a ritual dance she performed that assisted in drawing out the sun goddess when she had retreated into a rock cave denying sunlight to the world.
- 19This kami reports to his superiors on the merits of the family at the end of every year, which results in a new decision on future apportionment of longevity.
- 20Ancient histories point to the use of female mediums called miko who became temporary vessels for spirits. The chinkonsai ritual was used to pacify or recall a departing spirit and typically would strengthen the spirit of the sitting/living emperor.
- 21For information in English on the use of child mediums by Japanese esoteric ritual specialists see the M. Strickmann chapter entitled “The Genealogy of Spirit Possession” [26]. Hirata had extensive encounters with child mediums [5,7,9]. For specific Japanese examples in Japanese I recommend Sakô [28].
- 22Powerful voices in post-war America were for the total eradication of the Shinto religion ([29] p. 196).
- 23This is the common beginning to any explanation why the Japanese are different from the rest of peoples of the world.
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Hansen, W. Creating Modern Japanese Subjects: Morning Rituals from Norito to News and Weather. Religions 2016, 7, 28. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7030028
Hansen W. Creating Modern Japanese Subjects: Morning Rituals from Norito to News and Weather. Religions. 2016; 7(3):28. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7030028
Chicago/Turabian StyleHansen, Wilburn. 2016. "Creating Modern Japanese Subjects: Morning Rituals from Norito to News and Weather" Religions 7, no. 3: 28. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7030028
APA StyleHansen, W. (2016). Creating Modern Japanese Subjects: Morning Rituals from Norito to News and Weather. Religions, 7(3), 28. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7030028