Japanese Religions

"Japon dinleri”, Japonya’da ortaya çıkmış olan Şintoizm ile diğer ülkelerde doğup Japonya’da yayılmış olan Budizm, Konfüçyanizm, Hıristiyanlık ve İslâm gibi dinleri ifade etmektedir. Japonya’da “din” kavramından, daha çok, ülkeye dışarıdan gelen inançlar anlaşıldığından dolayı Japonlardan bazen “dinim yok” ifadesi duyulabilir. Bunun en temel sebebi ise Şintoizm’in, ülkenin milli kültürü olarak değerlendirilmesidir. Bir Japon’un, bayram kutlaması ve ibadet ettikten sonra Şinto mabedinden çıkıp da dininin olmadığını söylemesi bu yüzden normaldir. Hatta bundan dolayı bazı araştırmacılar, Japonları dinsiz olarak nitelendirebilmektedir. Ancak dinler tarihçileri, bir inancın din sayılabilmesi için bünyesinde var olması gereken kendine özgü inanç, ibadet, mabed, din adamları gibi unsurlar olduğundan Şintoizm’i bir din olarak kabul etmektedir.

Monkan (文觀; 1278–1357) was a Japanese Buddhist monk of the Shingon school (眞言宗), originally from Saidaiji (西大寺) temple. The name (azana [字]) Monkan is a combination of the “Mon” of Monju (文殊, Mañjuśrī) and the “Kan” of Kannon (觀音). He is also known as Shuon (殊音) and Kōshin (弘眞) (Quinter, 2015, 184). Until recently, Monkan has been mainly known, both in monas- tic sources and academic scholarship, as a power- hungry, extravagant character (especially in the medieval epic, Taiheiki [太平記]). He was even presented as a prominent figure of the so-called Tachikawa lineage (Tachikawa-ryū [立川流]), a sub- branch of Shingon known for its alleged dark and sexually charged rituals, a reputation that stems mainly from the Hōkyōshō (寶鏡鈔, Compendium of the precious mirror, 1374; T. 2454; trans., Vanden Broucke, 1992) by the Kōyasan monk Yūkai (宥快; 1345–1416). Recent discoveries have, however, forced a reassessment of both his role and his thought within the context of medieval Japan. It is probable that his dubious reputation was essentially a result of his closeness to the emperor Go-Daigo (後醍 醐; 1288–1339), who ended up the loser in the con- flict between the Northern and Southern imperial courts. Therefore, the relatively recent research on which the following account is based presents a pic- ture in sharp contrast to the image of Monkan given by Amino Yoshihiko (1986), in which he is depicted as a power-hungry monk who used a combination of his Saidaiji links with outcastes and his mastery of sexual rituals to gain the trust of Go-Daigo.

なぜジョンを「バプテスト」と呼ぶのですか？彼は「悔い改め」のために人々を水中で洗礼したからです。なぜイエスを「バプテスト」と呼ぶのですか？罪を克服し、死の地から私たちを救うだけでなく、彼は「罪の悔い改め」のために私たちに洗礼を施すようになったからです。死からよみがえった後、彼は弟子たちに水ではなく天使の霊でバプテスマを授けました（ヨハネ20:22）。イエスは、復活後の「霊の天使のバプテスマ」の使命を開始し、今日も続けています。初期の使徒たちはそれを理解し、世界中の人々にイエスを紹介し、彼らの「霊天使バプテスマ」を援助するために出かけました。

English title: "Where Religion and Politics Converge: The Case of the 'Election Shaman'". This article examines a shaman in the Tohoku region of Japan who came to specialize in political elections. Harnessing her supernatural powers, she was believed to be able to predict the outcome of elections. I argue that at the time she became a shaman the socio-political climate, in particular with reference to the merging of two villages, likely was an influencing factor toward her shamanic work.
Citation:「選挙と信仰の接点―『選挙カミサマ』と呼ばれる民間巫者を事例に―」『東北民俗』 第51輯, 2017年6月17日, 85-94.

Applied visual enquiry (AVE) is an arts-based methodology and theoretical frame which hypothesis that visual arts, in a myriad of forms, from mark-making and collage through model-making and drawing to realia and artefacts, possess an inherent proclivity for something other, something beyond the surface dimension, and beyond perhaps, their immediate or original intention or use. That is to infer that it is demonstrable that visual processes and visual artefacts have a propensity to be deployed in the pursuit of a secondary aim, an aim which, in many instances surmounts the original purpose of use. In this case, the Japanese votive tablet, e-ma (絵馬) was used as a means to engage the largely voiceless citizens of Belfast's 'Donegall Pass' with the theme of hope. This research demonstrates that in this role, e-ma proved to be an extremely potent tool for eliciting both visual and oral data. And that rather than being unidimensional in nature, this data was extremely varied and textural resulting in the discovery that they assist in producing visual data of three kinds and oral data of four. Examples of these data are presented in this research, along with contextual data consisting of cultural, historical, and social data of both a primary and secondary nature. Keywords Applied visual enquiry (AVE), e-ma, 絵馬, visual methods, qualitative data, Belfast This research was originially submitted as part of the thesis for the award of Ph.D. (School of Education, The Queen's University of Belfast, 2016)

This paper argues that the term 'syncretism' can be saved for analysis, despite its history of misuse and abuse. The argument is illustrated by applying the term to explain the different relationships of Buddhism to other religious traditions in Nepal and Japan.

Reiki practitioners commonly claim to channel a power called reiki that is capable of physical, mental, and spiritual healing. Prior scholarship has assumed that the concept of reiki has remained similar from Reiki’s founding in 1922 Japan to the present day, when it is practiced worldwide. This article presents a genealogy of reiki from Reiki’s early days in Japan to its adaptations for the Japanese American community of Hawai‘i in the 1930s and for white Americans in the postwar decades, and its return to Japan in the 1980s. It shows that, over time, reiki became understood as “energy,” in part as an appeal to scientific authority, and as “universal,” in the dual sense that it pervades the cosmos and is accessible to all people. In the back-translation of “universal energy” into Japanese, this double meaning of “universal” in English was lost but, as “universe energy” (uchū enerugii), took on new, extraterrestrial connotations.

Text je úvodným predstavením pôvodného japonského náboženstva šintó a jeho božstiev. Taktiež približuje základné podoby japonských božstiev kami a spôsob komunikácie medzi ľuďmi a kami. V závere textu je predstavený šamanský rituál z kroniky Kodžiki (712), ktorý vhodne ilustruje staroveké rituálne praktiky.
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The text is an introduction of Shintó, the indigenous religion of Japan, and its deities. Also, it presents different forms of the kami deities and means of communication between people and the kami. At the end of the text, a shamanic ritual from the Chronicle Kojiki (712) illustrates the ancient religious practices.

Text sa zaoberá teóriou náboženského synkretizmu (jap. hondži suidžaku), ktorú predstavuje na príklade maľby dvoch šintó božstiev menom Kasuga a Sumijoši. Maľbu si objednal buddhistický mních školy Kegon menom Mjóe Šónin, ktorému sa v sne zjavilo božstvo Kasuga. Tento text si kladie otázku, ako bolo možné, že buddhistický mních si nechal namaľovať šintó božstvá, ktoré sa následne stali hlavným objektom uctievania v danom buddhistickom chráme. Sledovaním okolností Mjóeho aktivít spojených s touto maľbou text predkladá príklad synergickej náboženskej reality medzi šintó a buddhizmom, ktorá bola charakteristickou črtou japonskej stredovekej religiozity.
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The paper deals with the honji suijaku theory of Shinto–Buddhist syncretism illustrated upon the example of a painting of two Shinto deities, Kasuga and Sumiyoshi. The painting was summoned by a monk of the Buddhist Kegon school named Myoe Shonin, who had had two revelatory encounters with the Kasuga deity. This paper comes forth with the question of how it was possible for a Buddhist monk to have a Shinto deity painting revered as the main object of worship in a Buddhist temple. By means of tracing the intentions and circumstances behind Myoe's activities, it considers one particular example of the Shinto–Buddhist syncretism, a characteristic feature of medieval Japanese religion.

Text sa zaoberá japonskými Siedmimi bôžikmi šťastia, ktoré sú božstvami vychádzajúcimi z rôznych náboženských tradícií. V súvislosti s nimi tiež prevláda viera, že majú schopnosť prinášať ľuďom šťastie, blahobyt a dlhovekosť. Článok uvádza čitateľa do prostredia horskej dediny Šimofukuzawa v prefektúre Jamanaši a jej novoročných osláv, ktorých prostredníctvom budú predstavené náboženské tradície súčasných Japoncov.
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The current text deals with the Japanese Seven Gods of Fortune, the shichifukujin, deities of a combinatory nature that are believed to bring luck, prosperity and longevity to those who venerate them. The primary emphasis of this article is to introduce the seven lucky gods as part of a New Year ritual in the mountain village of Shimofukuzawa in rural Japan, addressing, therefore, the issue of contemporary Japanese folk religion.

Text sa zaoberá japonskými Siedmimi bôžikmi šťastia, ktoré sú božstvami vychádzajúcimi z rôznych náboženských tradícií. V súvislosti s nimi tiež prevláda viera, že majú schopnosť prinášať ľuďom šťastie, blahobyt a dlhovekosť. Článok uvádza čitateľa do prostredia horskej dediny Šimofukuzawa v prefektúre Jamanaši a jej novoročných osláv, ktorých prostredníctvom budú predstavené náboženské tradície súčasných Japoncov.
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The current text deals with the Japanese Seven Gods of Fortune, the shichifukujin, deities of a combinatory nature that are believed to bring luck, prosperity and longevity to those who venerate them. The primary emphasis of this article is to introduce the seven lucky gods as part of a New Year ritual in the mountain village of Shimofukuzawa in rural Japan, addressing, therefore, the issue of contemporary Japanese folk religion.