Authority and Competition: Shingon Buddhist Monastic Communities in Medieval Japanese Regional Society

In medieval Japan, the development of Shingon Buddhist monastic communities in regional society greatly depended on communication and religious support from centrally located Shingon monasteries such as Daigoji. However, little is known about associations or competitions among regional Shingon temples. This article focuses on Shingon Buddhist temples in Echizen Province, an important area in which Daigoji monks, such as Ryūgen and Genga, were active in transmitting the minutia of ritual practices. By analyzing documents and sacred teachings related to Takidanji, a Shingon Buddhist temple located in Mikuni Port, its disciple temples, and other Shingon Buddhist temples in the region, this article clarifies the interplay of these institutions in the late medieval period. The article argues that the features of Shingon Buddhist monastic communities in medieval Echizen were multipolar, consisting of Takidanji, Shōkaiji, and Sōjiji. The connection with Daigoji monks, in fact, brought about rivalry among these regional temples.

An Amenable Arrangement: The Unification of the Nichiren Sect in Sixteenth-Century Kyoto

In this article, I argue that the Nichiren sect in Kyoto was able to recover from its near destruction in 1536 and maintain its position in the capital through the violent sixteenth century by unifying its disparate and contentious lineages under a new governing body, the Council of Head Temples. Unknown until the discovery of its documents in 1982, the council allowed the sect, as a unit, to negotiate with warrior power. The council was the culmination of pro-unity forces in the sect, especially those who succeeded in convincing the two sides to stop fighting each other over the sect’s greatest doctrinal dispute. Previous scholarship has treated the Nichiren sect in the late sixteenth century as being at the mercy of powerful warriors. This article shows that the monks of the Nichiren sect were able to muster considerable resources and not only negoti-ate better treatment from the warriors but even drive warrior policy.

Faith as Authenticity: Kyoto’s Gion Festival in 2020

In 2020, the covid-19 pandemic necessitated the cancellation of public events throughout Japan. Kyoto’s Gion Festival was no exception. In an attempt to preserve what they regarded as the festival’s “true meaning,” different groups of actors involved in the Gion Festival came up with alternative ways of bringing the gods to the city. In this article, I trace the tensions that surfaced during the process of composing an alternative festival format. I also analyze media narratives that ex post presented the modified 2020 Gion Festival as a sincere expression of faith and prayer and as uniquely authentic to its “true meaning.” The alternative festival offers a striking example of ways that authenticity can be successfully constructed and projected in a time of crisis that challenges or otherwise alters the continuity of established practices and traditions.

The Dharma of Music: Gagaku and Buddhist Salvation in Medieval Japan

This article is a contribution to the rediscovery of the gagaku soundscape in medieval Japan with a special focus on instrumental music as part of the rep-ertoire of gagaku and bugaku, a subject that is mostly absent from research on the history of Japanese religions. The article outlines some of the ways in which professional musicians and music virtuosos among the aristocracy conceptualized gagaku and bugaku instrumental music in Buddhist terms between the eleventh and the sixteenth centuries. In addition to providing doctrinal justifications for artistic endeavors, they also contributed to the development of new ritual forms, such as bugaku hōyō and kangen kōshiki. This article explores influential Buddhist canonical ideas about music and shows how they were developed by musicians in medieval Japan.

The Human-Fish: Animality, Teratology, and Religion in Premodern Japan

This article focuses on the cultural valence of the human-fish (ningyo), a hybrid aquatic creature with a human face and a fish body, in premodern Japan from the eighth to the nineteenth century. Located at the intersection of religious, political, and scientific discourses, the ningyo becomes an exclusive observation point for better understanding the mechanisms of interweaving and mutual fertilization between apparently unrelated semantic fields such as those concerning deities, humans, and animals. Although heteromorphic bodies, here symbolized by the uncanny physicality of the ningyo, are usually dismissed as marginal elements within the broad panorama of relevant intel-lectual productions, this study problematizes this assumption and argues that hegemonic stances are constantly validated, or invalidated, according to their relationships with those on the fringes. Being an interstitial entity, that is, something that lives in the pleats of discourse, the ningyo is characterized by a continuous inclusion within networks of meaning and, at the same time, is doomed to perennial exclusion. This article sheds light on the hermeneutical dynamics that generate the exceptionality of the ningyo, and its never-ending role as a haunting mediator of reality.

Japanese Food Offerings

Food offerings are one of the most interesting aspects of Shinto rituals. Some involve an enormous variety of foodstuff and constitute extraordinary examples of food preparation and presentation. Many of these offerings are based on ancient sources and are prepared according to protocols established at the imperial court in the Muromachi period, if not earlier. This article explores some features of Shinto food offerings, with special focus on the Upper and Lower Kamo Shrines, Iwashimizu Hachimangū shrine, and the Grand Shrines of Ise, and proposes some theoretical perspectives on how to study them from the perspectives of gift giving, sacrifice, and taboo.