The Protocol of the Gods

by Grapard, Allan G.

• ISBN13: 9780520070974
• ISBN10: 0520070976
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1992-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr on Demand

Summary

The Protocol of the Gods is a pioneering study of the history of relations between Japanese native institutions (Shinto shrines) and imported Buddhist institutions (Buddhist temples). Using the Kasuga Shinto shrine and the Kofukuji Buddhist temple, one of the oldest and largest of the shrine-temple complexes, Allan Grapard characterizes what he calls the combinatory character of pre-modern Japanese religiosity. He argues that Shintoism and Buddhism should not be studied in isolation, as hitherto supposed. Rather, a study of the individual and shared characteristics of their respective origins, evolutions, structures, and practices can serve as a model for understanding the pre-modern Japanese religious experience. Spanning the years from a period before historical records to the forcible separation of the Kasuga-Kofukuji complex by the Meiji government in 1868, Grapard presents a wealth of little-known material. He includes translations of rare texts and provides new, accessible translations of familiar documents.

Table of Contents

List of Maps, Figures, Diagrams, and Tables
Acknowledgments
A Note on Japanese Names and Terms
Introduction	p. 1
The Study of Japanese Cultic Centers	p. 3
A Morphology of Cultural Systems	p. 11
Organization of the Book	p. 13
The Creation of the Ceremonial Center	p. 15
The Ceremonial Center	p. 19
The Ujidera Phenomenon	p. 20
The Creation of the Kasuga Shrine	p. 25
Enigmatic Identities	p. 29
The Organization of the Shrine	p. 44
The Creation of the Kofukuji	p. 48
Ceremonies and Ritual Assemblies of the Multiplex	p. 57
Ideation - Only at the Kofukuji	p. 64
Constructs of the Mind	p. 68
Kasuga Daimyojin: Protector Or Ruler?	p. 71
The Jinguji Phenomenon	p. 72
Associations between Kami and Buddhas/Bodhisattvas	p. 74
The Kasuga Associations	p. 82
Kasuga Daimyojin	p. 93
From Ceremonial Center to Sacred City	p. 97
The Medieval Organization of the Kasuga Shrine	p. 100
The Medieval Organization of the Kofukuji	p. 106
Economic Considerations	p. 114
Governance and Police	p. 116
Protocol: The Sociocosmic Organon	p. 119
The Procedural Imperative	p. 119
The Territorial Imperative	p. 123
The Sacred Tree: Growth of Ritualized Violence	p. 137
The Price of Time Renewed	p. 141
The Ritual Imperative: Rites of the Sacred City	p. 148
Echoes of Camphorated Maritime Music	p. 151
The Kasuga Grand Rite	p. 155
The On-matsuri: A Provincial Matter	p. 157
Aesthetics and Ethics: Pleasurable Visions	p. 167
Daijo-in Jisha Zojiki: The World of the Monzeki	p. 171
The Experience of Transcendence in Kasuga	p. 186
The Sacred Space of the Shrine	p. 187
Sociocosmic Inscription in Space	p. 197
Orientation of Human Beings in Space	p. 200
Kasuga, a Cosmology Embodied in Nature	p. 202
Buddhist Cosmography and Cosmology	p. 203
Buddha Land	p. 206
The Combinatory Process	p. 208
Pure Land and Sacred Province	p. 216
The Experience of Time in Kasuga	p. 219
Space, Time, Ritual, and Performance	p. 227
Ideation - Only, and a Few Other Things	p. 229
From Cult to Cultural Revolution	p. 237
A Benevolent Ancestor	p. 237
Political Expediences	p. 241
Early Marks of Dissociation	p. 244
1868: The Year of Cultural Transvestitism	p. 249
Is Kasuga a Model for All Japanese Multiplexes?	p. 256
Notes	p. 259
Bibliography	p. 279
Index	p. 287
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.