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22 pages, 414 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Appearance and Disappearance of Ryukyu: The Historical Views of Tō Teikan, Motoori Norinaga, and Ueda Akinari

by Mark Thomas McNally

Histories 2025, 5(3), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/histories5030032 - 24 Jul 2025

Viewed by 157

Two of the renowned figures of Edo-era Kokugaku (National Learning), Motoori Norinaga and Ueda Akinari, famously debated the merits of their scholarly approaches to Japanese antiquity during the latter half of the eighteenth century. Their intellectual dispute was the result of the radical conclusions reached by Tō Teikan in his Shōkōhatsu (An Outburst of Provocations; 1781) in which he argued that the Korean peninsula and China influenced ancient Japan, and that Japan’s first emperor, Jimmu, was from Ryukyu. While Akinari supported the notion of continental influence on ancient Japan, Norinaga did not, and while the former was mostly agnostic about Jimmu’s Ryukyuan roots, the latter opposed that as well. Norinaga, however, was not opposed to the idea of ancient ties between Ryukyu and Japan, an issue with which Akinari’s silence seemed to signify some degree of agreement. This commonality between these two intellectual giants demonstrated the extent to which Japanese intellectuals of the Edo period viewed the Ryukyu Kingdom (now Okinawa Prefecture) as occupying an ambivalent geopolitical space, in which it was neither fully foreign nor fully native. At the same time, Akinari’s historiographical approach to Japanese antiquity, which emerged in his debate with Norinaga, exerted an influence on nineteenth-century depictions of Ryukyu’s historical and cultural ties to Japan, chiefly Kyokutei Bakin’s Chinsetsu yumiharizuki (Fantastic Tales of the Moon Bow; 1811). Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Cultural History)

22 pages, 519 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“Cutting Up a Chicken with a Cow-Cleaver”—Confucianism as a Religion in Japan’s Courts of Law

by Ernils Larsson

Religions 2022, 13(3), 247; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13030247 - 12 Mar 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4093

Abstract

This paper explores the Naha Confucius Temple case, resolved by the Supreme Court in February 2021, in light of postwar decisions on Articles 20 and 89 of the Japanese constitution. Religion is a contested category in Japanese legislation, appearing both in the constitution and in laws regulating the freedoms and restrictions of legally registered religious organizations. While the organization behind the Confucius Temple in Naha was registered as a general corporate juridical person, the majority opinion sided with the plaintiffs’ argument that the free lease granted to the temple by the municipality of Naha constituted a violence of the ban on public sponsorship of religious institutions and activities. In order to reach their decision, the Supreme Court and the lower courts not only had to decide on whether Confucianism was a religion or not, but also on whether the organization behind the temple—a group dedicated to the history and memory of the Chinese immigrant community in Naha—should in fact be considered a religious organization. The outcome of the case is a good example of religion-making in courts of law, with a central institution of power employing notions of sui generis religion to regulate and define civil actors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Critical Approaches to 'Religion' in Japan: Case Studies and Redescriptions)

19 pages, 2392 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Strangers in the Sacred Grove: The Changing Meanings of Okinawan Utaki

by Aike P. Rots

Religions 2019, 10(5), 298; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10050298 - 28 Apr 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 10503

Abstract

This article discusses the changing significance of sacred groves (utaki) in contemporary Okinawa. Until recently, utaki were the domain of female ritual practitioners (kaminchu or noro), and men were not allowed to set foot in them. In many places, such taboos have faded away, if not disappeared altogether, and utaki have acquired new meanings in the context of mass tourism, heritage conservation, and environmental degradation. Although there are several studies of the ritual system of the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429–1879), little research has been conducted on the postwar and contemporary significance of utaki. This article begins by describing the current situation, using examples from the southeastern part of the island. It then identifies three main issues for the study of sacred groves in Okinawa today: the claim, made by leading Japanese scholars, that these are sites of primordial “nature worship”, supposedly similar to ancient Shinto; the recent popularization of utaki as sites of spiritual power, so-called “powerspots”, among tourists; and, finally, the emerging realization of their potential significance for biodiversity conservation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sacred Space and Place)

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