The Shinto of Yoshida Kanetomo

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The Shinto of Yoshida KanetomoAuthor(s): Allan G. GrapardReviewed work(s):Source: Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Spring, 1992), pp. 27-58Published by: Sophia University

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The Shinto fYoshidaKanetomoALLAN G. GRAPARD

Heaven and Earthare thescripturesf Shinto;The Sun and the Moon are thedemonstrationhereof.AttributedoNakatomiKamatari.

IN the northeasternrea of Kyoto s a hill calledKagura-oka,Hill ofSacredDances'. In 859 FujiwaraYamakage#RLLR$built replicaof theKasuga Shrine theshrine edicated n Nara to theancestral nd tutelarykami of the Fujiwara house) at thewestern oot of the hill, and called itYoshidaShrine; hehill s thereforelso known s MtYoshida. Thehistoryfthathill s littleknown n spiteof itsdramaticmpacton theworldof shrinesand temples nd on the politico-religiousdeologyof premodernJapanesesociety.Duringthe atemedievalperiod,Yoshida Kanetomo f a member ftheUrabe hg sacerdotal ineage hatgovernedheYoshida Shrine, onceiveda combinatoryrandof Shinto' ofgreat mportance.n order o understandthatimportance, he historical ole of theUrabe divinersfromwhichtheYoshidalineageoriginated)nd of theNakatomi ri divinersfromwhich heFujiwarahouse originated)mustbe presentedn somepreliminary anner.TheUrabeDivinersAs recenttudies oth nJapan ndin theWest uggestwithncreasinguthori-ty,when maginingncientJapan t is proper o abandon the contemporaryrepresentatione haveof thegeopolitical rrangementfKorea andJapan slandmassesonwhichmost, f not all,historicallymportantvents ook place.Itmight,nstead,be better o envision heKoreanPeninsula ndtheJapaneseTHE AUTHORs AssociateProfessor f JapaneseReligiousHistory t the Universityf Cali-fornia,Santa Barbara. Initial researchfor thisarticlewas conducted n Kyoto and Tenri n1981-1982, nder he uspicesof theSocial ScienceResearchCouncil'spost-doctoral ellowshipprogram.The authorwishes o acknowledge he kindhelpin editing eceived romProfessorNeilMcMullin.1 The only studyby non-Japanese cholars s HeinrichDumoulin,Kamo Mabuchi: EinBeitrag urjapanischenReligions-und Geistesgeschichte,N Monograph8, 2 vols., 1943, nwhich here s a German ranslationf YoshidaKanetomo's Yuiitsu hintoMyoboyosha, n 1,pp. 179-235.


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28 Monumenta ipponica, 7:1Islands as a sea-world hathas been aptlynamedthe Thalassocracy f Wa.2This thalassocracy,f it ever reallyexisted,mighthave coveredat least thesouthern artofwhat s nowKorea, and the seacoastof what s nowwesternJapan.Howeverorganized tmayhavebeen n the firstenturies f thiscom-mon era,thatsea-worldwas, if we are to believeGariLedyard nd a numberof Japanese cholars,profoundly isturbed roundthe fourth enturyyaninvasionfrom heAsian continent. his invasionwas 'remembered'nJapanin the body of myths nd legends surrounding kinaga Tarashi Hime WAXM (Jingui ogo pJjtjS) and her son Homuda Wake giHfij (EmperorOjin'Lsq).3 In that radition, owever,Japan s depicted s conqueringheKoreanPeninsulaand notas havingbeeninvaded.Thalassocracy r not,travel n the sea-world onsistedmainlyn followingthe coasts and in island-hoppingn the Straits f Tsushima. t is notknownhow farnorthntheKoreanPeninsulathis ystemmayhaveextended uringthefirst enturies .D., butsomeportion fthe peninsulawas part ofit. Theislands n theStraits f Tsushimawere ncluded n it, and on the Japanese'sideof thestraits ll ofKyushu nd Shikokuwereencompassedbythose searoutes. t is possiblethatsome routes ed as farsouthas theRyuikyfuhain.The coast ofwesternJapanfrom himonoseki o Sado was also included, sis indicatedby artifacts f theearlycenturies f thecommonerayieldedbyarchaeological xcavations.This does notmeanthat herewas, at thetime,centralized overnment;ut theremighthave been a loose confederationf'kingdoms',which s describednChinesedocuments f thethird entury. nearlyeastern imitof that confederationwas markedby a north-southinedrawn betweenNaniwa (present-day saka) and Wakasa Bay. Ships couldtravelnorth longthis ineby followingheYodo River, heSetagawa, nd thewestern hore of Lake Biwa up to itsnorthernmostoint,Shiotsu,whencecargowas transportedy andtoWakasa Bay,or,as was probablymoreoftenthecase,in theotherdirection. romtheNara periodon,thisroutewascalledSazanamino MichiAo)A, 'Road oftheRipplingWaves',or Shiono Michi eA:, Salt Road'. As timepassed, thesea routesextended o the southof themouth of the Yodo River,wentaround theKii Peninsulato Ise, then eastalongthepacific oasttothe zu Peninsula ndthe zu Islands,and around heBoso Peninsulaall thewaynorth o theport of Kashima,which ppearstohave beenthe northeasternmostimitbythesixth enturyt the atest.As travelwas dangerous, afetywas ensuredbymagico-religiousractices,the most important f which was divination.No voyagewas undertakenwithout ssurancesthat the direction nd the day were favorable.Over a

2 The term halassocracyomesfrom heGreek thalassos, sea', and kratia, power'. It wasused for thefirst ime n thepresent ontextby Gari Ledyard n 'Galloping along withtheHorseriders',n jJs 1:2 (Spring1975), p. 230.3 Thosemythsnd legends ppear inKojiki. See Donald Philippi, r.,Kojiki, TokyoU.P.,1968,pp. 257-98.FortheNihongiversion fthese, eeW. G. Aston,tr.,Nihongi,Tuttle,1972,pp. 217-71. For Japanese tudiesof these egends, ee TsukaguchiYoshinobu rA, JinguKogo Densetsuno Kenkyu F Yogensha,Osaka, 1980.


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GRAPARD: The ShintoofYoshida Kanetomo 29periodof several enturies,iviners ustomarilyccompaniedravelersnboth andandsea, and wereheldresponsibleor heirprojections' n direc-tion,weather,ime, nd theoutcome f the ravel. hediviners ere loselyassociatedwith herulers, or heymadepredictionsnd offeredrojectionsregardingattles, uspicious ays nd sites, nd crop onditions. he oldesttechnique f divination as scapulimancy:iviners lacednearfire houlderbladesfrommale deeronwhich uestions adbeenengravedndinwhichholeshad beendrilled,nd nterpretedhe racksmade n them y heheat fthefire.t s believed hat his ype f divinationxistednJapan ongbeforethefourthentury,nd thatt was centerednthe astern art fthe sles.Amoreelaborate orm f divination, lastromancy,ntailed eading rackscaused byheatapplied o turtle lastrons. fter equestinghe namesofthe kami hat eft heir ncodedmarks n the bonesor shells, hedivinersinterpretedhosemarks ndpronounced racles.This technique riginatedinChina ndpassed o Japan ither irectlyrthroughorea.Althoughhereis evidence f scapulimancyn southern orea, there s no evidence fplastromancyhere, uttherere ndicationshat t was practicednJapan.Divinationan be understoodo be a set fgestureshat ccompanyertainspeech-acts,ince he ccentndivinationas on the xpressionf a decisionthat ook heform fdirection-directives.hispracticef divinationnvolveda dialectic etween atureanimal one or shell) ndculturethebelief hatmarks aused yheat re odes o be decipherednd nterpreted),ndbetweenthe isible ndthe nvisible:hediviners ere, s Michel oucault alled hem,'readers f theobscure'.4What s more, he diviners assed from ormal'visibilities'o structuredlegibilities':hey nterpretedatural orms ndtranslatedhem nto he ulturalormf anguage. ndeed, he ldestwritingsystemincluding syntax)fChina ppeared n divinationones.St seemsthat hebridge onnectinghese wo spectswasestablishedyfirendritual,for twasthroughhose hat he ct of passing rom bscuremarks omean-ingful tatementsccurred. hus,notonlywere hedivinersnstrumental,tleastnChina,nthe irthf hewritingystem,ut hey ere lsoresponsiblefor heevolutionf a particularttitudeoward anguage nd meaningndconcerninghepassage rommarks o meanings:heworldwas conceived ythem s therepositoryfnaturalmorphemeshat ame to be loaded withsemanticalue, s thebearers fmessageso be decoded.Thisentailedhebelief hat heworldndwordswere tructurednsomemysteriousut imilarway ndthat, herefore,heworldwas theobject ftotaldiscoveryhroughlanguage.Music was another imension f thephenomenon:ll classicalJapaneseextsmentionhe ole fmusicndivination,speciallyhe seofthekoto.Thediviners ere husooking or rinciplesforder, hichhey oundinritual,music, nd anguage.

Michel Foucault, The Order of Things,Vintage,New York, 1970, pp. 17-45.s See K. C. Chang, Art,Myth nd Ritual: The Path to PoliticalAuthorityn AncientChina,Harvard U.P., 1983, pp. 81-94.


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30 MonumentaNipponica,47:1As techniques fdivination volved n Japanorwere mported romChinaand Korea, groupsof specialistsmade their appearance. In all probabilitythese divinerswere selected ccording o socio-religious actors nd to theirknowledge f the sea routes nd suchcosmicphenomena s the winds ndthetides,weather atterns,nd the position nd movementsf stars nd planets.Thedivinerswere mportant igures,herefore,otonlybecausetheir ctivitiesand dutiesgavethem n intimate onnectionwith he rulerswhosedecisionsthey influenced,but also because they represented he cutting edge ofknowledgenboth science' and language.The worldof divination rovided significantymbolic ubstratumo theKasuga and Hachiman x cults, mongother racularcults, f onlybecausethe main divinersof classical Japan, the Urabe and Nakatomi sacerdotallineages, ameunder hegovernance f theFujiwarahouse,which ssuedfromthem.The human ncestor f theFujiwarahousewasa NakatomiKamatari4'ESO, 614-669.6The nameUrabe derivesfrom hetermsura,or uranai,H,whichmeansdivination,ndbeP1,professional orps'.TheUrabespecializedinplastromancynd,curiously,mayhaveappearedbefore heNakatomi,whospecialized n theolder techniqueof scapulimancy.Recent Japanesestudiesproposethat he Nakatomigrew utof theUrabe,cameto control hem, ndsymbolizedheir upremacy yclaiming hattheir ncestor,Ame-no-koyane-no-mikotoo'J:t-.MOp, was thepatriarch f scapulimancy,s they escribed

him nKojiki 7i.Because theUrabe specialized n divination yway of turtle hells,which,obviously, re taken from he sea, there s good reasonto suspect hattheywerepresentn themain slandsand harbors longthe sea routes onnectingJapanto the continent.ndeed,texts uch as theFudoki +?e indicate heirpresence all the way fromTsushima in the west to Kashima in the east.Scholarsusuallydistinguishetween hree oncentrationsfUrabediviners,nIki, Yamato, and Izu, but theydo not satisfactorilyxplainthe connectionsamongthe threebecause theyseemto overlookthepossibilityhatthe searouteswerehighly rganized nd historicallyignificant.t is possible, nfactprobable, that the Urabe divinerscame from the westerndistrict f themaritimerading ystem, nd thattheirrole increased n importance uringthelateKofunperiod fiftho seventh enturies). t appearsthat the Urabeestablishedthemselvesn the harbors along the coast from Tsushima toYamato, and thatthey ame to be centeredn Yamato whenpoliticalpower

6 On Kamatari's life and the factthat his cult was connected o divination, ee Allan G.Grapard, 'Japan's Ignored Cultural Revolution: The Separation of Shinto and BuddhistDivinities shimbutsubunri) and a Case Study: Tonomine', in History of Religions,3:3(February1984),pp. 240-65. See also my TheProtocol of the Gods: A Study of theKasugaCult inJapaneseHistory,Universityf CaliforniaPress,forthcoming.7 On thetopic of the Urabe and Nakatomisacerdotal ineages, ee Inoue Tatsuo #4KLE,Kodai Oken to Shukyoteki emin -T?{t k 'VR:, Kashiwa,1980, nd NagatomiHisae 7J O e X, inShint.shiRonso X KokushoKankokai, 1984, pp. 86-116. See also Yokota Ken'ichi MtFH-, Nihon Kodai Shinwa toShizokuDensho FtA&NV=E Hanawa, 1982, pp. 221-302.


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GRAPARD: The Shinto of Yoshida Kanetomo 31moved nland o that ite ome ime fter he vents fthe ate-fourthentury.In theYamatoregion, heUrabe, onfirmingheir ncientonnections iththe rulers, ecured ighpositionsn the officeshatwere hargedwith heorganizationfthe ituals or he mergingourt,ust stheNakatomi idbyvirtue f their onnections ith heMononobe t. TheUrabe hen ollowedtheexpeditionsy which heeastern arts f the slandswerepacified,ndtook responsibilityorperformingituals hatwerededicatedo already x-isting ami r to thekami hat ymbolizedhe egitimacyf thenewrulers.It s not ertain hen henameUrabewas firstsed.Sompi-bunmyaku4fNrstates hat certain katsu-Omitf ofTsushimaearned hewayofdivination, asteredhe rt fplastromancy,ndwasgrantedhenameUrabeby Emperor huiai+A.8 The namewas given o or takenby specialistsfdivination hodidnot have to be related y blood; it was not before hefifthenturyhat lood ineages ook mportance,t whichime hey egan ofunctions indicatorsf one's relation ith he mperialineage nd when,therefore,ncestorworship ecamepoliticallyolored nd lineages uji Ak)appeared. he kamiworshippedytheUrabe nthe slands f Tsushima ndIki werenot, originally,ncestral ivinities;ctually, heirnames ndicatefunction ore han rigin. hetwo hrinesdministeredy heUrabe nTsu-shimawere alledNorito f'Jj1ndFutonorito5RaIA,ermshat eferirectlyto giving irectives/directions,hichwas therole of the diviners.n otherwords, hesekami symbolize he act of predictingheoutcome f humanactivitiesnd of natural unctions.The shrineshat ame obe claimedater s ancestralredifferentnes.TheUrabe ncestralhrinenTsushimas dedicatedo the un; tsname,AmateruWER[@,ust erelatedo the olarkamiAmaterasu , the ymbolf theimperialineage.Another rabe ncestralhrines locatedn ki; t s namedTsukiyomi E, and s dedicated o themoon.Althoughhenames f theseshrinesmaybe associated imply ith stronomyndastrology,heyre n-dicative f relation etweenheUrabe nd he mperialineage, hichs sym-bolized y he un nd hemoon, ndthereforeheymighte more ecenthanbelieved. utthose hrinesmayhavebeenrenamedfterheUrabe ecuredpositionntheYamato ourt. nan nterestingtudy agatomi isae recentlysuggestedheopposite;namely, hat thenewlynstalled mperor implyusurpedrom hose ivinersheworshipfthe un ndofthemoon, nd eftthem modicum f sacerdotaluthoritynhisbehalf.9 agatomi otes hatasmanysfifty-threefthe107 hrinesnwesternapanistednEngishikiP are ocated nthe slands fTsushima nd ki:twenty-ninenTsushima,and wenty-fourn ki.Many fthose hrinesre ocatedn ites hat re odaynamed Urabevillages';there re ten uchvillagesnTsushima,wherenineteensacerdotal ineages laimdescent rom heUrabe of old. Manyrites erformedat thoseshrines re still onnected o divination, s thefollowing uggests.The shrines nd kami related to the Urabe in those islandsfall intothe

8 Quoted in Inoue, p. 137. 9 Nagatomi,pp. 91 & 102.


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32 MonumentaNipponica,47:1following ategories.First, naturally, ome the kami related to seafaring:Watatsumi pWNJ, umiyoshi t, Shikishima ,, Shikoshima A, Shiga,', and Koroku-MU. econd are the kami of Heaven: Takutsutama ,Amanomoroha TiJ, Amateru,Ohiderit L U Amanokami P, TendOTK', andTakamitama C Third re thekamiof sacredmountains:Mitake{h&k, take tk, ShirotakeOk, HitakeME, and Takenokami30;[email protected] thunderkami: Ikazuchi-no-mikoto P, and Ikazuchi $. Fifth re kamirelated o divination: utonorito,Norito, nd Kushimachi , And sixthare the kami ofboundaries:Sae-no-kamiAt and Senkami s. All thesekami are related o each other nd form single oherentwhole. For example,thesea kami,whose shrines re ocated nearthe shore, re related o travel, opurification,nd also to thunder,which s often ssociatedwith ainand fire.The thunderkami of Tsushima were called ryujin L-Vdragon gods) in themedievalperiod,whichmight elp explainwhy he dragongod was so impor-tant ntheKasuga cult during he medievalperiod. Villageswereprotected ythe kami of boundaries,whichmarked he nner nd outerrealms fsecurity.The sacred mountains re important, or they were (and are) the sites ofresidence f kami of Heaven, which are related o the sun. A major rite nTsushima onsists f waiting or he un himachi 4); people climb hemoun-tains t thetime fthefirst all of the rooster t the summer olstice, nd thendeport hemselvesn dance, song, and drink. n thatrite an be seen the mainstructure f themyth hat relates he emergence f Amaterasufrom he cavewhere he was hidden.The Futonorito hrine f Tsushimawas replicated n theYamato area, nearthe sonokamiShrine,during he Asuka period. t was again replicatedntheNara capital during he Nara period; and again in Kyoto during he Heianperiod. 0TheTsukiyomi hrine f kiwas also replicatednKyoto, nd still x-ists oday, nthewestern artof thecity, s a subshrine ftheMatsuo Shrine.The Tsukiyomi hrinemusthave playeda significantole nthe iturgy fthecourt,forthe courtgranted fferingsnd thesecond rank ntheyear859. Itwas then hat heYoshida Shrinewas created nd putunder hecontrol f theUrabesacerdotal ineage. twas also inthat ame year hat hemajorrituals fKasugawererestructuredo reflectheir mperial onnection.Meanwhile,namovethatreflected new distinction etween hecenter ndtheperiphery,heoriginalTsukiyomi hrine n Iki was granted mere fifth ank.DuringtheHeian periodthe sacerdotal ineageof the Matsuo Shrine laimed hat katsu-omi wasnotonly hefirst ftheUrabe,butalso the ancestor ftheNakatomiand theFujiwarahouses.This claimwas repeated y Yoshida Kanetomo nthefifteenthentury. en-jin Hongi tPIgd states hatTakami-musubi-no-mikototR i gaveordersthatin case of an attackon Japan, thirty-twoami representings manycommunitieswereto defend t."1Amongthese kamiwereAme-no-koyane-

10 Inoue, pp. 129 & 196. 11 Cited in Inoue, p. 131.


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GRAPARD: The Shinto of Yoshida Kanetomo 33no-mikoto nd the sun and moon kami of Tsushimaand Iki. According odocumentswritteny the Tsushimachieftains, owever, katsu-omis said tobe descendedfromAme-no-koyane-no-mikoto;hismight ndicate hat hosedocumentswerecomposedafter heUrabehad been put under he control ftheNakatomi,whichmight orrespond oughlyo thetime hemythology asrecorded.In conclusion, t seems that in very earlytimes the Urabe andNakatomi sacerdotal ineages xisted n thewestern artof the sles, and thattheybecame closelyassociatedduring he sixthor seventh enturywhentheYamatocourt volved n centralJapan.TheUrabe were lso presentnthe zuIslands, although heydo not appear in records f thatarea before he year746. And, finally, heUrabe and Nakatomisacerdotal ineagesalso settledinKashimaand Katori, n the province fHitachi.The Urabediviners layedan importantole during he Heian period;according o Engishiki, memberof the Urabe lineagewas to accompany ll embassiesbound forChina. Suchconnectionsbetweenthe Urabe, the Nakatomi, and the Fujiwara lineagesneed to be made at thispoint because they vidence geopolitical phereofinfluenceo which ittle rno attention as been paid in thepast,and becausethey ameto form majorhistoricalnd liturgicalraditionhathas leftdeepmarkson the religioushistory f Japan.The YoshidaShrineThe Yoshida Shrinewasbuiltby FujiwaraYamakage n 859 ontheplain at thewestern oot of Mt Yoshida, and faced south. The status f theshrine ndtheranking f tskamiwere levated n987, after ne ofYamakage'sdescendantsbecametheconsortof Emperor chijo -4. The shrinewas listed n 1081asone of theTwenty-Twohrine-Temple ultiplexeshatwere ponsored ythegovernment,nd was granted statesfor tssupport.12TheYoshida Shrinewas controlled y theUrabe sacerdotal ineagefrom tsinceptionn 859 up to 1868, the timeof the dissociation f kamifrom heirBuddhist ounterparts,lthough hatcontrol s difficulto tracewith nycer-taintybeforethe Kamakura period. Accordingto theUrabe tradition, heshrinewas a scholarly enter n whichspecificnterpretationsf mythologyand ritualswereelaborated and transmitted.he Urabe lineageestablishedfirmlyts connectionwith he Fujiwarahouse,theNakatomi, ndthe mperiallineage hroughtsstudies nd lectures nNihongi ndKojiki atthecourt, ndthrough he performancef rituals hatwereroutinelyequested nd paid forby members f the imperial ineageand the Fujiwara house. Although heUrabe lineagewas one of the esser ineages n theJingikanTTA ('Office fthe Kami of Heaven and Earth'), it came to play a major role in the ritualworldbecause tcontrolled arious hrines,mostnotablyYoshidaShrine, hatweredirectlyelated othe mperialineage nd totheFujiwarahouse. Indeed,

12 See AllanG. Grapard, Institution, itual, nd Ideology:The Twenty-Twohrine-TempleMultiplexes f Heian Japan', in History f Religions,27:3 (1988), pp. 246-69; and 'ReligiousPracticesn theHeian Period', in The CambridgeHistory f Japan: TheHeian Period, npress.


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34 MonumentaNipponica,47:1theUrabelineage plit ntoseveral ranchesn thecourseof history,ndtheseKyoto branchescontrolledthe Hirano, Umenomiya,and Awata Shrines,whichkeptclose connectionswiththe Urabe branch at the Yoshida Shrine.Whentheheadof theYoshidabranchhadno heir,he adopteda son from neof the branches f the Urabe at the other hrines, nd vice-versa. he Urabelineagewas headed by theHirano branch up to the Muromachiperiod,bywhichtimetheYoshida branchbecamedominant.Thus, theUrabe lineagewas, togetherwith the Shirakawa, Imbe, Nakatomi, and othersacerdotallineages, pillarof therealmof shrines nd of their raditionsn Kyoto,andthese raditionswereformalized uring he medievalperiod and evolved ntowhat we now call Shinto.SeveralmembersftheUrabe ineage tandout ntheyetpoorlyunderstoodhistory f sacerdotal ineages.One of themwas Hiramaro 9g,, 806-881,who distinguishedimselfnd was calledto serve t thecourt;he was sent oChina,and was deckedwith itles ythetimehedied. Hiramaro,who was alsothe head-priest f theHirano Shrine n Kyoto, is regardedby theYoshidabranchof theUrabe lineageas its founder. n 1273 Kanebumi*iZ, anothermember f the Urabelineage,composedKojikiUragaki , the oldestknown ommentarynKojiki, ndgave ectures nNihongitthecourt.Sup-porting he positionof Kofukuji,the Fujiwara temple n Nara, he arguedagainstthe establishmentf Pure Land Buddhism and foughtparticularlyagainstthe notion of 'declineof the Law' (mappo His son Kanekata*i' composedShakuNihongi FH ft, the summa of the Urabe sacerdotallineage'sknowledge n thetopic at thetime.3AlthoughKanebumi and Kanekata weremembers f the Hirano Shrinebranchof the Urabe, the Yoshida branchwas also active.Perhapsthemostfamousof itsmemberss theliterary igureUrabe Kenko 1V k (YoshidaKenko),1283?-1350?, he uthor fTsurezuregusat_ ('Notes n dleness').14Kenko's relatively nknownbrotherJihenZ (some scholarsbelievethathe was adopted) appears to have been an important iguren Kamakuracombinatoryystems, ut there s scantbiographical nformationn him.15According o HonchoKosoden,Jihen tudiedTendai Buddhism t theYo-kawa Compound at Mt Hiei, at a time whenEnryakujiwas developing tscombinatoryystemwiththe Hie Shrines.16 ihen's hinkingoncerninghecombinations etweenkami and buddhas owed muchto thatculticcenter,whose influences apparent hroughouthe development f Yoshida. In thelatterpartof his life Jihen eems to have devotedhimself argely o those

13 In Kuroita KatsumiMWE, ed., Kokushi Taikei . Yoshikawa, 1923, Volume 8.14 See Donald Keene, tr., Essays in Idleness, Columbia U.P., 1967.15 Jihen s discussed n Kubota Osamu Xf,- ChuseiShintoshi oKenkyiu P~t!VlP5, ShintoshiGakkai, 1959, pp. 396-428.16 On the Hie/Hiei shrine-temple ultiplex, ee Allan G. Grapard, LinguisticCubism:ASingularity f Pluralism n theSanno Cult', in JapaneseJournal f ReligiousStudies,14:2-3(1987), pp. 211-34; the rticle ffers detaileddiscussion f one aspectof the ult nd providesbibliographyf the mainworkswrittenn Japaneseon thetopic.


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GRAPARD: The ShintoofYoshida Kanetomo 35systemsfcombinations,ormost f hiswritingseal with hose ystemsndare critical f them.Of theseworks,onlyKogorui Yoshui?, partsofTenchiJingiChin'yoki . Toyoashihara himpu Waki WF1J-qR5ffW,ndfive f theoriginal enfascicles fSendaiKuji Hongi Gengi j14W*fAA areextant; thers,uch s Shinkairon ' havebeen ost.17Jihenamentedhe tate f ffairsntheBuddhistineages fhisday, nd n-spired y dream n around 330, n which hekami ncouragedim o studytheir eachings,e eftMtHiei. He wanted o reformransmissionsithinhelineages f MtHiei, and to restorehe tructuref the mperial overnmentto whathe thought as its original nd correct orm.Uncertainimes ndtheperceivedhreat f Mongol nvasions ad causedrenewednterestnthedefinitionf governmentnd in interpretationsfhistory.n that ontextthe ombinationsetweenhrinesndtemples ere mportant,fonly ecausethey ncouragedsearch or n ultimateivine ntityhat ouldbe called ponto protect he mperial overnment.he Hie system, hich laimed hat tscombinatoryivinentityannO ET was such nentity,ompetedgainstseandotherombinatoryulticenters,uch s Iwashimizu achimangui,nthatsearch. onsequently,ihen ecided o travel o Ise to studytscombinatorysystem: e befriendedmemberf theWatarai sacerdotalineage f se,and found ertainommonalitiesithhe eachingsehad receivednKyoto.Both ineages qually everedujiHongi Hs*fE nd both tudied ojiki ndNihongi.Jihen ame o be heavilynfluencedy sethought,nd authored reatisesthat layed ome ole nthemedieval ormulationf Shinto s an ndependentsystemolored ypolitical nd historicalhought.n that ystem,istory asnot omuch lucid nvestigationf hepast s a specificormfprophecy:hesystem'smphasis n theorigins f Japanwas both challengeo thepreoc-cupationwith tiology ound n Buddhistultic enters,nd a foundationorShinto's efinitionfJapan s an entityhatdid notdepend n buddhas rbodhisattvasorts onstitution,resentrfuture. ihen'siews nthemattercanbetraced o hisreactionso theworld f he Chroniclers'kike 2) ofMtHiei. 8Hiswritingseflecthe deology f theUrabe acerdotal orld, f thecombinatoryystem fHie-Hiei, nd of theWatarai ombinatoryealm fIsei19

17 OsumiKazuo 51P,fnt,Chusei Shintoron 1t4AM.N,wanami, 1977,pp. 375-78.18 Kuroda Toshio MfHtt, 'Kenmitsu ukkyoni okeruRekishi shiki' LA, inChiusei hakai to kko Ikki 4tt? - - t, Yoshikawa,1985.Mytranslation fthisarticle ppears in George J. Tanabe & Willa J. Tanabe, ed., The Lotus Sutra in JapaneseCulture,University f Hawaii Press, 1990,pp. 143-58.19Forstudies f WataraiShinto, ee Oyama Kojun ykUj11[R, himbutsu oshoshi LRinsen,1975,pp. 210-385, andtwo worksbyMurayama huiichiLiW- : Honji Suijaku tLh: Yoshikawa, 1974,pp. 322-48,and Shimbutsu huigo hicho IBM,Heirakuji,Kyoto,1957,pp. 215-32. See also Kuroda Toshio & Hazuuchi KenjiVNH&, 'Ise Shintono Seiritsu oKirisuto-kyo' L - J h , in KawasakiTsuneyuki11JfJL Sasahara Kazuo 4)t; M, ed., Shakyoshi , Yamakawa, 1980, pp. 256-80,andKubota, pp. 1-138. See alsoEndo Masafumi `YCEii, 'Ise Shinto: Trajectories f Discourseson Time', Master'sthesis,Department f ReligiousStudies,University f California, anta Barbara, 1990.


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36 MonumentaNipponica,47:1Jihen'smost mportantontributionas his notion hat ll nature s en-dowedwith divine haracter, hich e calledkami-natureshinseiMt1I).hisbeliefspart f n mmanentistystemhat choes henotion funiversalud-dha-natureropoundedyTendai hilosophy.utJihenmade decisivehiftfrom hat heory y laiminghat ven uddhasndbodhisattvasere ndow-ed with ami-nature,nd that o perceivehismysteryasthemysticchieve-ment arexcellence. ccordingo Jihen's iew,history as therenditionfthewillof kami,which ervadesheworld fbuddhas nd bodhisattvas.nterms sed n Jihen'simes, he eignfthe ourtobo3Ef)was equivalentothe ombineddeologicalrameworkf hrine-templeultiplexesbuppo L),but, his ime,with superiorosition ccordedo thekami.20 nd whowasbetter lacedto concretizehewillofthekami han heir escendants?oJihen'smind, nly he mperialourt ouldbe the egitimateuler. his swhyhis workswere ntenselyolitical: e composed oyoashiharahimpuWakifor he pouse fEmperor o-Daigoust fter heKemmu estoration,334,whichformed he political ackground f theproductionf combinatoryideologiesn themedievalge. Most schools hatproduced hose deologiestookthe ideoftheSouthern ourtduring heNambokuchoynasticrisis,1336-1392,ndprovidedtwith rationalef egitimacyroundednassocia-tions etween ami nd buddhas.This characterizedhemainphilosophicaland ritual enets f all cultic enters elatedo theFujiwarahouseandthe

imperialineage.t willbe recalled hatKitabatake hikafusa 1EiL , 1293-1354,composed his JinnoShotokiV1EijfKL in 1339.21This was in markedcontrasto thepolitical ole of some Zen institutionshat ided with heshogunate:heGozansystem as establishedn 1342.22Transmissions:heSecrecyactorMostBuddhistchools eveloped omplexransmissionineagesnwhich heirteachingsf a secret aturewere ransmittedrally. hese raltransmissionswere alledkuden f{A,uketsu k,or hiden , termshatwere aken romesoteric uddhismndthus lloweddeologicaltatementso become art ndparcelof the cultic enters' olitical ctivity. his tendencyoon spreadbeyond hemajormultiplexes,nd the emphasis n lineage nd secrecybecame he verwhelmingharacteristicfthe ransmissionfknowledgeur-ingthemedieval eriod. t was notonlythe ineages f esotericismhattransmittedheir nowledgeecretly,or he en ineagesnd he ariousacer-dotal ineageslsodid so.Secrecynd socialorganizationppear n the urfaceo besurprisingom-panions.Nonetheless,ecrecys fundamentallyied othe pread nduse ofknowledgend nformation,swell stopowerndpatternsf uthorityuch

20 KurodaToshio, Obo to Buppo I'- kfLM,Hazakan, Kyoto,1983, ndJisha eiryoku #4?M7j, Iwanami,1980.21 See Paul Varley, r.,A Chronicle f Gods and Sovereigns, olumbiaU.P., 1980.22 See Martin Collcutt,Five Mountains: TheRinzai Zen Monastic nstitutionn MedievalJapan,HarvardU.P., 1981.


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GRAPARD: The Shintoof Yoshida Kanetomo 37as master-discipleelationships nd theformulation r manufacturef truth.Japanesemedieval ocietywas structuredn houses ie *) withinwhich cer-tain type f knowledgewas ealously kept nd transmittedhrough series finitiations.Just s therewere sub-houses nd branches f houses,therewerealso 'branches' ha (j) and 'streams' ryu AL)f specific nowledgend techni-ques thatoriginated rom mainstream. nowledgewas couched na difficultlanguage to ensurethat t would not be easily understoodby non-initiates;transmittedlowly,t was layered ike thesecret ransmissionshatwerehand-ed down nthemultiplexes. hose who wanted o acquire a specific nowledgehad to be adoptedby a lineage hatpossessed t and to which bsolute oyaltywas sworn.As a result, he worldof knowledgewas secretive nd fragmented.And yet twas richbecause of ts combinatoryature nd history,nd becauseit belonged to therealm of mysteries nd mystic chievement: o become amasternany typeof knowledgewenthandin hand with piritual ealization.In medievalJapan, he perfection f knowledgewas necessarilyheperfectionof a 'way' (do ).23The practice of transmitting nowledge ecretly r through nitiation sgenerallyelieved o have originatedn esoteric uddhism. t seems,however,to have predated he establishmentf theseforms f BuddhismnJapanandtohaveexisted lready t an institutionalevel n shrines. videncefor his iesin the fact hatboththe knowledge f mythologydoctrine) nd also thetech-niques of ritual practice)were transmittedssentiallywithin helineagesofsacerdotalhouses; thiswas true f the mbe,Nakatomi, hirakawa, nd Urabelineages, nd of theothermainritualistsf classicalJapan.There s, of course,no doubtthatwhen ssociationswere stablished etween he kami of specificshrines nd the Buddhistdeities f theirneighboringemples, uddhist ecrettransmissionsnfluenced he transmissionsf sacerdotalhousesboth n formand in content.During the Heian period the contentsof those Buddhisttransmissions ergedwith he contents f non-Buddhist acerdotal ransmis-sions.Thisprocessgave birth o the medieval ulture f Shinto-Buddhistom-binations, efinedhosecombinationsn form nd substance, ndspread hemthrough ociety long the structures f house and lineage. Certaintypesofknowledgend ritualmodes were heexclusive ossession f sacerdotalhousesand temple ineages which lso becamehouses as soon as monks,usuallyofaristocratic irth, eganto transmit heirknowledge o their truedisciples',that s, theirnatural ons). The overwhelming ajority f thetexts roducedbythemultiplexesuring hemedievalperiod re either refaced r concludedwithstatements egarding he degreeof secrecyof the materialcontainedtherein.Those statementsre usuallyfollowedbyremindershat nterpreta-tions n depth hould notbe discussedor taught ightly.Theknowledgeransmittednsuch a mannerwasinsome casespower; n allcases t was a prizedpossession, nd it came to be sold. This economicpractice

23 For a perceptive tudy f the conceptof Way in the medieval eriod, ee KonishiJun'ichi+J'nIr-Michi:Chiusei o Rinen : rt i2,, odansha, 975.


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38 MonumentaNipponica,47:1pervadedthe world of culture the iemoto *Tr system) nd the realmofreligious ransmissions:ne could, during heMuromachiperiod and later,buysecret ransmissionsr answers'toZen koan,for xample.The commer-cializationof secrecy nd the ensuingtransformationf knowledge nto apublicsecret nd a commodity ad a consequence: tdestroyedhe practice ftheslow attainmentf perfection,he notionof Way,and thespiritualityflearning. herewas,however, nother ide tothecoin.The practice f secrecyand the insistence n orthopraxis hataccompanied t hampered he spreadanddevelopmentf deas; when, herefore,hewallsofsecrecywerebreachedthroughommercialization,herewas a positive ffectn thedisseminationfknowledge. hat effect as slow tomanifesttself, owever, or he ocialunitof the house and lineage,the social arenasof secrecy, id notdisappear.UrabeKanetoyo 1 seems ohavebeen the nitiatorfsecret ransmis-sionsofcombinatorymattersn Yoshida inthemiddleofthe fourteenthen-tury.He is theauthorofMiyajiHiji Kuden -gs4fPnfy 'Oral Transmissionsof the SecretRituals of the Shrine'), a textthat remained ecretwithinhislineage.Kanetoyo'ssonKanehiro e datesunknown,went venfurther.n1398he decidedto place in front f theYoshida Shrinecopies of Nihongi,Kogo Shui, Engishiki, nd the textsof divination sed at thetimeof ritesrequestedby the state. This practiceparallels that of chantingBuddhistscripturesn front f the kami,but it had a newdimension;namely, hosetextsbecame sacred and were incorporatedntothe 'Cult of the Book', abibliocracy f sortsthatprevailedat thattime. Kanehirogave lectures nmythologyt thecourtofEmperorGo-KameyamaX and achieved uchworldlyuccess hat n 1375he decidedto givehischildrenhe nameYoshida,thus forming new branch within he Urabe lineage.That branchregardedthe above-mentioned iramaroas its ancestor.From that point in history,Yoshida was thename takenby themain priests f the Urabe lineage n theYoshida Shrine, nd thisremained o up to 1868.Manyscriptures ritten yYoshida Kanetomo in the late fifteenthenturywere attributedater toKanehiro,which ndicates hatKanehiro's successors aw himas a pivotalfiguren the evolutionof theYoshida Shrine.Towardtheend of his lifeheturned o Buddhism, ook a masterfrom heJi~4 lineage,and remainednJinkoji (the inguji tIW of the Yoshida Shrine)withhisspouseto theendof hisdays,chanting he nvocation o theBuddhaAmida.Although hiswas thetypical ife-cyclenJapan tthe ime,Kanehiro's on,Kanena , dates unknown,did not understandhis father'sbehaviorandreproached im for t,butto no avail. Fromthat imeon, thepositionoftheYoshidapriestsn the realmofsacerdotal ineagesbecame ncreasinglympor-tant;Kanenais oftenmentionedn records f thetime ndvisitedmany ulticcenters, iving ecommendationsnregard o ritual nd othermatters.n 1441,forexample,eminentYoshida priestsvisited Tonomine,the shrine-templemultiplex edicated o the humanancestor f theFujiwarahouse.


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GRAPARD: The Shintoof Yoshida Kanetomo 39Politico-religioushinkersuchas Kitabatake hikafusa,he author f

Jinno hotoki,nd chijoKanera 1402-1481,he uthor ftreatiseson historynd iterature,rovidedystematicxpressionsf the ocio-cosmicrationale hatwas to become hemain deological ision f the ourt uringthe ntiretyfthe atemedieval eriod.An nfluentialemberfthe ujiwarahouse,Kanerawasthefatherf Jinson 4, 1430-1508, howasthe bbot ftheDaijo-inmonzeki-*F:v of KOfukujinda contemporaryfYoshidaKanetomo. anera's ather,chijoTsunetsugu*P, 1358-1418, ad beengivennstructionn NihongiyUrabeKanehiro,ndalthoughanera imselfwaswell ware f the heories ftheUrabe ineage, eremainedtronglyn-fluencedyBuddhism.he vision f the tate roposed y acerdotalousessurroundingheFujiwara ousemanifestedtself nmanyevels f Japaneseculture, romperspectivesn sacred geographyo economic nd socialorganization;t is illuminatedn medievaliterature, hich s repletewithconceptsirectlyaken rom he ssociationsetweenami nd buddhashatweregeared o support particular ationale f legitimacy.iteraturehatsupportedhese otions ndpopularizedhebeliefnthe acrednessf Japanaccording o ideological enets aken from he cultic enterswas activelydeveloped uring he medieval eriod. mportantexts f thatgenre re:Kasuga GongenGenki H t%Rkw,ompletedn 1309;24 hasekishucomposed y Mujui E, d. 1312;25 eiranshuiyoshu an immensecompendiumf popularreligions transmittedy the kike Chroniclers'lineages fMt Hiei,whichwas completedn 1347 yKoshui ;26 Shintoshu1tFIt,which ppearedn 1358;27 and ShindaiKuketsu If-nr' (also calledNihonShoki KuketsuE caff 'iR), omposed y ImbeMasamichiUfIEHAin 1367.The sacerdotal ouses ompiledhe ransmissionsf theirineages, hichtended o remain ecret ndto be passeddown nlywithinhoseineages:hatis theworldof Shintoron.28t the sametime,variousmultiplexesrotepopularhistoriesf their ult ites: hat s theengitL literature.n thesewritingsdeological enetsf the ransmissionsf sacerdotal ouses urfacedjustwhen hose ites ecamehe bject fpilgrimages,nd hereforeeededorepresenthemselves,o themselves,n a differentanner,ndto then nformthepilgrimsnd devoteesf thevisionshey estedn.29

24 Noma Seiroku1f',\, ed., Kasuga Gongen Genki-eU H - Kadokawa, 1963.A translation f this document s given n Royall Tyler, The Miraclesof theKasuga Deity,ColumbiaU.P., 1990.25 Watanabe TsunayaA ed., Shasekishiu Iwanami,1966.26 In Taisho Daizokyo !E)if, LXXVI, 2410, pp. 503-880.27 Kondo Hiroshi iRL, ed., Shintoshu @L6, Kadokawa, 1968.28 On the topicof medievalShintotreatises, ee Chusei Shintoron, nd Ishida Ryoichi Ewa-, ed., ShintoShiso-shu * Chikuma, 1970, pp. 3-37.29 See, among others,Sakurai Tokutaro 1-#tfitt et al., JishaEngi Iwanami,1975.


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40 MonumentaNipponica, 47:1This world of literary,olitical,philosophical, nd ritualproductions hatcharacterizedhemedieval eriodrested n a number f assumptions oncern-ing the nature of the socio-cosmicorganizationof Japan. Some of theseassumptionswere of a classical nature, perhaps because many of the landpossessions of cultic centersgrantedby the classical state were being takenaway during hefourteenthentury.n 1340 he hogunate rohibited arriorsfrom aking verthe cultic enters' states.But themedievalworldwas also insearch of an adequate definitionf the divine, nd this t producedwith hecombinedvocabulary f Shinto and Buddhism, o whichrenewed nterpreta-tions of Taoism and Confucianismwere added. The vernacular anguage,whichhad been exclusivelyeserved or poetry nd, perhaps,for sacerdotal

lineages,becameacceptable nthe realmof philosophical nd religious uest.This s evident n theworldof cultic enters; hus exts,writtenn Chinesemix-ed withJapanese' kana-majiri ambun t _Z), eflectedntheiringuisticstructure heassociationsbetweenkami and buddhas and bodhisattvas-thekami symbolized he native vernacular) radition,while the buddhas andbodhisattvassymbolizedthe importedcultural discourse that had beentransmittednChinese.But it became clear n some circles hat he divine ndits manifestation s a political discourse belonged no more to a Shinto(Japanese) nterpretationhan to a Buddhist foreign) ne, and that tmightbe essentiallyombinative, r that t might venbe beyond anguage. n thissearchtheorganization f multiplexes longthe inesof their pheres f in-fluence,whichweregrounded n specific erritoriesnd specific ineages,wasan obstacle. The searchwas also restrictedo certain reas or to certain eoplebecause of the secrecy actor.That is why each multiplex roduced ts owntheoretical nd practical ystems, nd this s one of the basic reasonsforthebirth f the Yoshida system.YoshidaKanetomo,Enemy f theKami'Yoshida Kanetomo, son of Kanena, was born in 1434and died in 1511. Inspiteofthecentralityf thatfigurenthe Japanesemedievalworld nd inthehistoryfthe Japanese raditionngeneral, here re no studies fhim ndhisthoughtnEnglish.30nJapan,Demura Katsuaki oncentratesis brief ut ex-cellent tudies ntexts nd ritesnorder o improve n thebasicresearch one

30 Most manuscripts f theYoshida lineage re preserved oday n a special collection f theTenriUniversityibrary; herest s keptby theSendai University ibrarynd by descendants ftheYoshida lineage n Tokyo. Although have perusedmostof themanydocuments n Tenri,have not found ny document roviding systematicimetable orKanetomo's activities. haveseen neither heSendai Collectionnor the privateYoshida documentsn Tokyo.31 See the followingworksby Demura Katsuakifft4UWHA:uiitsu hintoGyojiShidaiP -iAq:RE, Gendai Shisosha, 1980; on the date of authorship f theMyobo Yoshu7,YuiitsuShinto Myobo Yoshu no Seiritsukini tsuite', - @Zt%ci-2 'C, in Shintoshi

Kenkyu! 20:2 (1972), pp. 36-59; 'Yoshida Shintono Seiritsu' EFPiO&iz, inShintoshiKenkyu7,1:5 (1973), pp. 23-59; on ritual, ee 'RokkonShojo Oharaeno Seiritsu itsuite' iF v 'C, in Geirin , 24:4 (1974), pp. 184-205; Mishina Harae noSeiritsuni tsuite' tfl@c Z 'C, inKogakkan Ronso F=X,PMgA,:3 (1975), Ise, pp. 46-


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42 MonumentaNipponica,47:1dhism.He claimedthatthistradition ad been transmittedxclusively ithinhis own ineage,generationfter enerationince heageof thekami, ndthatthetimehad cometoreveal tto theworld. n factKanetomo reated n entiredoctrinalndritual ystem,ttributedis own writingsohisforefathers,nd,on the basis of thosewritings,rectednew shrines n Mt Yoshida. He leftthereconstructionfthemoreancientYoshida Shrine o a laterdate, forhewas less interestedn continuinghe sacerdotaldutiesof his lineage,whichconsisted nworshippingheKasuga kami,thanhe was benton creating isown system o whichhe gave precedence vertheYoshida Shrine,which, twill be recalled, s the Kasuga Shrineof Kyoto. Indeed, Yoshida seemstohavebecomeforKanetomono morethana sub-shrinefhisowncultcenter.

Kanetomodid not originallyive in the shrinehouses on thegroundsofYoshida; instead,heresidedna house nMuromachineartheresidence ftheshogun.According ovariousdocuments, isMuromachi esidence ontaineda 'cultsite' saijo [sho] W [-fy]), hich s seenas theprecursorfhis ater on-structions,nd atwhichhe worshippedhevariouskamiof theentire ountry.Kanetomomovedthat ult ite ndhis residence oMtYoshida after heOninWar, and dedicatedhis energies o the creationof his doctrine.He neededmoney obuild thenew shrines, nd in 1478 heproposedthat hegovernmentlevy tax on all movements yperformersf thearts ntoand outofKyoto,andthat hisrevenue e given o him. tisnot knownwhetherhegovernmentapprovedhisrequest, ut t seems hat t didnot,andthat hefundsKanetomoneeded camefrom nother ource. n anycase, hemoved around1480 to thefoot of Mt Yoshida, to whichhe transferredhe 'cult site' of his formerresidencen theMuromachiquarter.The precincts f theshrines herewerethenredefinedo includethe area bounded by ImadegawaAvenue on thenorth, heKamo Riveron thewest,KonoeAvenueon thesouth, ndthefootofMtYoshida on theeast.TheYoshida Shrinehadnot beenrebuilt s ofthatdate.A certainNoritanewAJL,member ftheNakamikadovt1wrhouse thathadbeen created by Michinaga's descendants s a sub-branch f the northernbranch f theFujiwarahouse, ivednearKanetomo'sresidence.Noritane sedto worship heKasugakami tYoshida; as longas theKasugashrineswerenotrebuilt,he worshipped heiremblem shintai Pft) in Kanetomo's personalshrine nd cameto knowhimquitewell.One day n 1481hecomplained hattemple, hinryui-in,uiltbyKanetomoforhis ordainedson Kugo, had beenerectedpartly n land thatbelongedto him. The conflictwas settledwhenKanetomooffered oritane n oral transmissiononcerningheproperwayofworshippinghekami;Noritanewrote nhisdiary hathewas overcomewithJoy.35

Havingfailed n hisoriginalfund-raisingffort,anetomo approached hepowerful nd richpeople of his timewith hesuggestionhat theyhelphimrebuild hepast,of whichhe claimedhimself obe the ole caretaker.t was in35 Fukuyama,p. 56.


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GRAPARD: The Shintoof Yoshida Kanetomo 43this ontexthatn1484HinoTomiko rantedim ,000kammontorebuildthe ult ite s it was n thebeginning.'anetomolsosuccessfullyequested200kammonrom esugi usasada i thegovernorfEchigo,norderto rebuildheYoshida hrine. e then et o that ask ndrequestedhe ourtto provide imwith ix portal nscriptionsrittenytheemperor imself;heclaimedhat here adbeen precedentor his n theremote astwhenthe emperors immund Saga wrote uch inscriptions,hich,he said,weredestroyeduring heOninWar. EmperorGo-Tsuchimikadorotetherequestednscriptions,husgranting kind of imprimaturo Kane-tomo's activities. anetomo hen designed nd erected uildings orhisrituals,ompletinghem round 484 r 1485.HinoTomiko isitedhem tNewYear's n 1485, ndfourmonthsater henew ultic itewasattractingcrowds.In 1487 heOuter hrinef sewas destroyedyfirendthere asa rumorthat ts hintai adbeenburned. he court rderedn officialnspectionfIse, and suggestedhatKanetomo e appointednspector;hesacerdotalhouses f sebalked t this uggestion,o someonelsewas sent.Meanwhile,however,anetomoeportedecretlyo the mperorna numberfextraor-dinaryvents. or nstance,nenight,s galeswere lowing,ainwasfallingfuriouslynd thunder ascrashing,ighttreaks f black louds ettledvertheYoshida cultic ite nd tworaysof light escended. s Kanetomowaspreparingo offer orship, 'numinous bject' fellbetweenhe shrines.Kanetomo icked t up, andidentifiedt as the hintai f the Outer hrineof se. A fewdays ater, s a radiancelluminatedheYoshidaShrinen themiddle f thenight,here ell rom heheavensnotherbject,which ane-tomodulydentifieds the hintai fthe nner hrine f Ise. He tookthemto the Seiryodenf the mperial alace,whereheemperornspectedhem,andhe then sked he overeignowrite statemento theeffecthat heseobjectswere trulyhe hintai f se'. The emperorhen rdered im oplacethese bjects n theYoshida Shrine nd to renderhem fittingult forpeaceunderHeavenand for herestorationf imperial ower.'Kanetomothus ucceededngaininghe onfidencef the mperialouse, ndwasabletogiveGo-Tsuchimikadotransmissionf Shinto' n 1489.Whennews f those ventspread, eoplebecamendignant;akamikadoNoritane, orone,wrote o themostprominent emberf theShirakawasacerdotalineage, adatomi , asking hat omethinge done. Bythen,however,he mperialtatemento the effecthat he hintai ad flownoYoshidahad alreadybeenissued,and it was thereforempossibleo doanythingbout hematteror twouldhave mountedo callinghe mperorliar.As can be magined,he acerdotalouses f sewere reatlyggravated,andrequestedhatKanetomo's amebe struckrom is ineage.ButKane-tomowaswellprotected;e remainednhispositionnd his shrinesrewnimportance.e evenbegan o addtohis signaturen officialocumentshetitle hinto h-jo iqAR , 'Superiorf Shinto', term angerouslylose o


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44 MonumentaNipponica,47:1Jingikan hoeyjo,positionthenheldbytheShirakawa ineage.Kanetomo'sfamebegan to spreadthroughouthe country, venthoughthe sacerdotallineagesof Ise succeeded n forbiddingheparticipationftheUrabe lineageintheyearlymissionof imperial fferingso Ise.ThenewcultsitebuiltbyKanetomoon Mt Yoshidawas describedndetailbya Nanzenjimonk,Keijo Shuirinf PA,whovisitedt n 1490.Bythat imethesitehad thesame appearanceas ithas today,apartfrom omebuildingsdestroyedn 1868.ThemoreancientYoshida Shrinewas, finally,ebuiltwithmaterialsfrom heoriginalKasuga Shrineof Nara, whichbecameavailableafter heperiodicreconstructionn 1487.36 hisworkwas completedn 1493.In 1500 a firedestroyed bout two thousandresidencesn Kyoto. Naka-mikadoNoritaneand the kampaku,Ichijo Fuyura , thenmovedtothefootof Mt Yoshida, and Kanetomobecameevencloserto themembersof the court. A memberof the Nakamikado house marriedKanetomo'sdaughter, nd thisultimately roughtKanetomocourtier's ank;his grand-son, Kanemitsu *, becamea courtiern 1527.The shogun Ashikaga Yoshizumi (Yoshitaka) tItJfiIRAfij) visitedtheYoshida shrinesn 1500,talkedwithKanetomo,and asked himto performdivination o find utwhetherhearmy f the capitalwouldbe victoriousnthewar against hedaimyo. twillbe recalled hat heUrabelineage ustoma-rilyperformed ivinations orthecourt,and thatthespirit f thetimeswassuffused ith fear and a belief n thesupernatural. he statueof NakatomiKamatari, located at Tonomine, cracked a numberof times duringthefifteenthentury,nd divination oncerninghemeaning fthisphenomenonwas regularly erformedn Kyoto.In his lateryearsKanetomopreparedhis eldest on for ransmissionfthesecret eachings, ut the son died prematurelyn 1499.He therefore ad totransmithedoctrine o his secondson, Kanenaga who,as a child,hadbeen adoptedbytheHiranoShrine ineage.Thiscauseda dispute verfiliationin theadministrationftheHiranoShrine, nd in 1509Kanetomocutall tieswithKanenagaand evenerasedhisnamefrom he ineageoftransmission. tthat point the shogunatesided with the Hirano Shrineand orderedthatKanenaga be its nexthead-priest.Kanetomodied two yearslater, eavingthe matter f the transmission f his lineagestill unresolved. n 1517 theshogunate orcedKanenagaand Kanetomo'sgrandson,Kanemitsu, o recon-cile theirdifferences.he disputewas thensettled, ut in 1525,Kanemitsu,upsetovera domesticmatter bout whichwe have no information,ethishouseon fire.

36 Like the se Shrine, heKasuga Shrinewasperiodicallyebuilt. t was commonforvarioussub-shrinesr localworthieso buy materials f the hrine hathadremainedngood conditionto add them oexistinghrines r to serve s a basis fornewconstructions,bviously oenhancethestatusof thebuildings.


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GRAPARD: The Shinto of Yoshida Kanetomo 45Kanetomo'sMainWorkItis notknownxactly henKanetomowrote ismainwork,YuiitsuhintoMyoboYoshu t--!V ('Essentials fTerminologyndDoctrine fYuiitsu hinto'),but t is clear hathismain heoriesmusthaveexisted y1471,fordocumentsssued round hat imementionecret ransmissionsbelongingo his 'exoteric' octrine. he Myobo Yoshu s, at firstight,obscure, ut twasoneofthemostmportantombinatoryreatisesomposedduringhemedievaleriod. t s onlywhen onnectinghe deascontainednthat ext o theritual ndpoliticalworld f thetime hatwecanachieveprivilegedantage oint romwhich oconsiderherealm f deasandprac-tices fthefifteenthentury.

The Myobo Yoshu s importantorthisand otherreasons.First, heYoshidasystemecame n orthodoxyumorthopraxyf sortsduring heTokugawa eriod. econd, basiccontentionfthatworksthat othBud-dhism nd Confucianismre second-handersionsf 'Shinto'. The mainresult fthis ecretlyransmittedontentionasthat hevarious ami fthepantheon ere olonger een smanifestationsfbuddhasndbodhisattvas,but,rather,s their rigins. hiscontentionuddenlyeflatedll claims orlegitimacynthepart fBuddhisms anexplanationftheworld. anetomostatedhat uddhism asthefruitfthe reat eligiousree fAsia, hat on-fucianismndTaoismwere tsbranchesndleaves, ndthat hintowas itsroot.He attributedhis heoryoShotoku aishi, lthoughnfact thadbeena Chineseheoryince heTangdynastyndhadbeenresurrectedyJihenntheUrabe ineageinJapan, aoismwasreplacedyShinto). anetomo venclaimed hatShingonwas theShintoof India. This contention ustbeunderstoodnthecontext ftheKasugacult'sbelief hatJapan is' India.37This annot eexplainednlesswerecognizehatfShinto-Buddhistelationswere roundedna metaphoricalystem,anetomo'sShinto'wasgroundedinaninabilityodifferentiatemetaphorromnidentity-relation.Kanetomo ent ogreatengthsocreate ritualystemhat epresentedsthe true'Shinto fJapan s ithad been ransmittedithin is ineage. hiscouldnothavebeenpossiblewithouthefollowinglements.irst, he ecrecyoftransmission,hichllowed netofabricateoctrinesndpassthem n asageless eachingsulytransmittedrommaster o disciple. econd,Kane-tomo's ontentionhatShinto'wascomposedftwoparts: neexotericndthe other soteric. he exoteric artwas madeup ofthevarious eachingsandpracticesoundnKojiki ndNihongi. heesotericart,which anetomoconsideredobethemarrowf Shinto', ad been ecretlyransmittedithinhis ineage ince he imewhenhe ncestralndtutelaryami fthe ujiwarahousedescendedopacifyheworld.Kanetomouggestedhat heLordofthePolar StarhadtransmittedhatShinto' oAme-no-koyane-no-mikoto,ho,inturn,ransmittedtto theUrabe ineage.

37 See RobertE. Morrell, Passage to India Denied', in MN 37:2, (1982), pp. 179-200.


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46 MonumentaNipponica,47:1Kanetomodecided o reveal hese eachings ecauseof thedecliningtateofaffairsnthecountry,nd thushewas a sortofmillenarianistarking acktoan ideal past (therepresentationfwhichhe himselfmanufactured). uringa ritualassembly t theKitano multiplexn 1481,he claimedpublicly hatbuddhas and bodhisattvaswerehypostases f kami and not vice versa. Inthisrespect ewas following ihen's heories, n thebasis ofwhich herealmofshrines ad cometo view tselfn a differentight: thad begun o searchforitsoriginal dentity, hichwas believedby sacerdotalhousesto have existedpriorto the introduction f Buddhismand otherteachings o Japan. Thename Shinto' was given o thisnewidentity.38The Muromachiperiod s markedbymany tructuralhanges n Japanese

culture nd society.An essential spectofthese hanges s thetransformationof ritualmorphology, topicthathas yet o be thoroughlynvestigated. anyof those changeswere claimedto be part of a return o classical and pureforms, ut in facttheywereeither ntirely ew,or were transformationsfritualsborrowedfromBuddhist soteric ineages.Yoshida remains n anom-aly nthe culturalhistoryf Japanbecauseofits fanciful laims.And yetnotonlydid ithave a tremendousmpacton the evolution f ritualpractices ndon the history f Shinto,butitwas also responsible, uring heEdo period,for the mood that culminated n the subordination f Buddhism, n theglorificationf Shinto as the essence of Japan, and in Shinto's manifoldpoliticaluses. That mood was fiercely ationalist. t remainsto be seenwhetherhesedevelopmentswerethenatural outcomeof themedievalcon-ceptionof poweras a subsetofthe relations etween eligion nd politics, rsimply grosslynflated orm hereof. he success ofYoshida in subsequentcenturiesmoves one to espousethefirst ypothesis.39Kanetomo'sviews re representativef several rends hatdeeplymbuedhisage: a fusion freligious nd political uthority,ccompaniedbyattemptsorewrite istory;n ever-growing alaise aintingherapport etween uddhistandnon-Buddhistnstitutions,deas, andpractices,which ccompaniedmulti-pletheories f association; nostalgic esire o return o a putative olden gethatpredated he ntroductionfBuddhism ndtheformulationftheCodes,and whichwas accompaniedbya searchfor Japaneseness'; nd, finally,noverwhelmingse of secrecy ccompanyingn insistence n lineage. t mayhave beenthat these trends rose quitenaturallymongthe aristocracyhathad lost controlover the country nd was lookingforsolace in nostalgicrecollectionsf its grandpast. Butthisexplanationeavessome central ues-tions unanswered; hesequestions rerelated o the epistemologicalealmofmedievalJapanat large, ndto a questthathas hauntedJapanover nd againin itshistory, amely, he quest forcultural dentitynd the searchforanultimate ssenceofthings.

38 See Kuroda Toshio, 'Shinto n theHistory fJapaneseReligions', nJJs, :1 (1981), pp.1-21.39 See HermanOoms, Tokugawa deology,PrincetonU.P., 1985.


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GRAPARD: The Shinto of Yoshida Kanetomo 47These questions cannot be addressedhere, but they an be formulatednsome detail.New forms f socio-political rder n Japanwere lwaysaccom-panied byeffortso reformulatehe history f the country, or hewriting fhistorywas based on philosophicalspeculationsconcerning he nature ofpower nd the foundations f its egitimacy.he reason whyreligiousnstitu-tions were nvolved n this processwas twofold:first, eligious nd politicalauthority ere o intimatelyelated hatreligiousnstitutions ere t the ametimehighly olitical, nd political nstitutions erereligious; nd second, thecentralritesof the political and religious nstitutions ere also intimatelyrelated, f not completelymerged, nd thisgoes a long way to explainwhyrituals hangedwhenthe social orderdid. Mythologywas intensely olitical,

and rituals eflectedhe belief hatthecountrywas a symbolic ealm ffectedbyritualbehavior.It is not possibleto come to termswiththese ssues if religion s studiedindependentlyrom itual nd politics, nd unlessthevocabularywithwhichthose issues are addressed s altereddramatically. ranslating he term hu-as 'lineage' rather han sect' opens up a fundamental imension therwisehidden: teachings nd ritualswerea matter f transmission,ut theydid notnecessarilyorrespond o each other. That is, certainritualsdid not alwaysand exclusively ccompany certain eachings, nd vice versa. For instance,a Shingonform f ritualcould be transmittedn non-Shingon r evennon-Buddhist ineages,and become orthopraxyherein.The Yuiitsu brand of'Shinto' is a primeexampleof that phenomenon, ut it was notunique, asis clearin the case of the ritesof enthronementf theemperor.Those riteswere Japanese nterpretationsf Confucianand Taoist elementsmarkedbyindigenous griculturalites, uttheywere mpactedbyShingonritualformsso profoundlyhat the sacerdotal ineagesof the Kamakuraand Muromachiperiodswere unawareof the fact. Evidenceof Shingon's nfluences foundin medieval nterpretationsf the GrandPurification ite of theNakatomi,and in representationsf emperors uchas Go-Daigo, who received sotericanointings kanjo Nip) withthe double purposeof enhancingbothhis im-perialauthoritynd also the legitimacy nd power of specific hrine-templemultiplexeshatsupportedhis cause.Another dimension of this phenomenon needs to be underscored.Legitimacy asgroundedn ritualforms; s Kanetomounderstoodo well,tobecome the ritualguarantor f political egitimacy as to possesspowerandstatus, lthoughnot rank. That was what Kanetomosaw as the sacreddutyof his lineage,and in a sense he was notwrong,fortheconnection etweentheimperial ineageand various sacerdotalhouses was a matter f extremeimportanceo all concerned, nd this matter ad ritual,political, nd socialdimensions.Kanetomo wanted to establishhis ritual lineage as the soleunadulterated orm fchingokokka WX ('protection fthestate') rituals,but he could do so only by affirminghe Shinto-ness' f originallyhingonrites, nd byclaiming hatthe emblems f Ise, theguarantors f the mperial


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48 MonumentaNipponica,47:1lineage,had flown o his shrines.Thus, ritesthathe claimedto have beentransmitted ithout hangefrom heage of thegods were n factcomposedpartly f Shingonrituals, artly fTaoist practices, nd partly f Confucianrituals. Kanetomo subsequentlyrevealed to the world 'Shinto' mudraT(Shingon itualhand-formations),Shinto'dharaniShingon otent ormulas),'Shinto' mysteriesf the body, speech,and the mind, Shinto' goma Frituals, Shinto' mandalas, and 'Shinto' altarson whichessentiallyhingontypesof ritualswere performednd to whichKanetomoadded Taoist ritualforms nd Confucian nterpretations.hus his Shinto' was, like therestofthe Japanese radition, combinatory orld.The claimthatShingonriteswereessentiallyShinto'was partof an effortto rewrite istory, ut it was also grounded n a belief hat Shingonwas theShinto of India. This belief was probably self-evidento people whoseliveshad beenprofoundlynfluencedver thecenturies yShingonpractices,and whose religiosity as an eminentlyombinatory henomenon. ndeed,Kanetomobelievedthatthe place of Hinduismvis-a-visBuddhism n Indiawas similar o thepositionof Shintovis-'a-vis uddhism n Japan.Kanetomo'sdesire o strengthenheauthorityfthe mperialineagewas anefforto influence istory.t shouldbe emphasized,however, hathe didnotwishfor newsociety;hewas obsessed olelywith heconservationfwhathebelievedweretraditional atterns,withthe crystallizationf classical socialforms, nd with he Japaneseness f things.Combinatoryhoughhissystemmayhavebeen, twaspresentedgainst background fxenophobia nd per-vaded byan oppressive eeling f insecurity.Wherever e turned,Kanetomosawonly hreats othe exture fsociety s ithadbeen deallypresentedohimduringhis education.His experience f the Onin War was crucialto thedevelopmentf his deology.Somethirtyears fter isdeath, hePortugueselandedinKyushu, xacerbatingven more the nsular nsecurity.ContentsftheMyoboYoshuYuiitsuhintoMyoboYoshu hedsan unusual ight n Japan's atemedievalperiod. t is generallyhoughthatKanetomowrote hework roundthetimeof thecreation f the Taigenkyu tMg, themain shrine fhissystem,n 1485.ButKanetomo composedsecret ransmissionsrior o 1485,and thefirst iveregulationsf hisShintowerealready nexistence y 1471. Thushis doctrinewas formed, nd someof his transmissionsad takenplace, prior o 1485.Composed nthe raditional orm fquestions nd answers efitting aster-discipletransmissions,heMyobo)Yoshu emainedhidden from hegeneralpublicand was passed amongthe heads of shrine ineagesup until1868. Itcontainsdefinitionsf the varioustrends f associationsbetweenkamiandbuddhas and bodhisattvas s Kanetomounderstood hem,an exposition fhis doctrine, nd his interpretationf theritualworld n whichhe lived. Itconcludeswithregulationso be observedbyall initiatesn histradition.


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GRAPARD: The ShintoofYoshida Kanetomo 49

r > -' 5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--------

Yoshida Collection42/5 , TenriUniversityibrary.The altarfortheperformancef Yuiitsuritual.Computer-assistedenditionfhand-drawnopy.


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50 MonumentaNipponica, 47:1The first art f thework resents anetomo's nderstandingf what hetermShinto'meant nhis time.He proposes hreemajorforms f Shinto.First,Honjaku-engihinto 4A{KE4FA consisting f the oral, oftensecret,transmissionsf various acerdotalineages. he second ype s Ryobu-shugoShintoA1W>Na!V.,ombinationsetweenhrinesndtemples;lternately,ecalls that typeShidaishi hoi w.%Pm, 'The Shintoof the Four GreatMasters',thesebeingSaicho Ri, Kuikai i%, EnninF3C,and EnchinFHS, owhommany exts escribingombinatoryystems ere ttributeduring hemedieval eriod.Kanetomoallsthe hird ypeGempon-sogenhinto ItcNVIVA,onsistingf transmissionshathe asserts ad been handeddownsince imes mmemorialithin is own ineage.Naturally,anetomo's empon-sogenhinto elonged o the irstategoryof transmissionsthose f theHonjaku-engiype)within acerdotal ouses,buthecouldnot ay o.Overall, isdescriptionfthe ituationnhis imewasaccurate,or here ere t east womajor rendsntheworld fcombinationsat that ime, ne emphasizinghe uperiorityf buddhas nd originatingntemples, ndthe other tressinghesuperiorityf thekami ndoriginatingin shrines.The secondpartof theMyobo Yoshupresents systematicxpositionfKanetomo'shinto. t beginswith he laim hat rue, nadulteratedhintosproperly adeup of two ypes f doctrine:xotericnd esoteric. obody n

Japan t the timewouldhave found his trange,orthe worldwas ruledin arge artbythe combinationf esotericnd exotericineages'kenmitsutaiseiWv$IJ). The cultural orldwas n fact ervaded y hose istinctions:a text lwayshad a surfacenterpretationnda depth nterpretation,s didstatues, ituals, oems, nd songs.Kanetomo hen stablisheshe cripturalevidence or hose istinctions:xoterichintos basedon three ooksofmy-thologynd history,nd esoterichinto s basedonthreecripturesevealedbytheLord of thePolar Star o Ame-no-koyane-no-mikoto,nd, hence, otheUrabe ineage.Kanetomoouldhavebeen ntenselyolitical y claimingthat hese cripturesalled for newsocio-politicalra,andhe couldhavebeenmoremillenarianistad he realized hatmillenarianovementsad oc-curred everal imesnChinaunder he nspirationfTaoism ndBuddhism.Suchmovementsid not akeplace nJapan eforeheEdo period.nstead,hesimplytates hat he lassical rder, ccordingo whichhe mperorad aquasi-divinetatus, ught o bepreserved.verybodygreedwith im.Eventhe hogunwouldnever ave laimedatthe ime) statusqualto that ftheemperor;hiswasespeciallyo as regardsheAshikaga ouse,which everedthe ourt.WhatKanetomo ailed o understands that xaltedtatus oesnotmeanactualpower. t was not before heSengoku eriod hat ocalrulersdeifiedhemselvesefore heir wndeath, reciselyccordingo thedoctrineof Yoshida hinto; nd twasnotbefore heEdo period hat eligiousiguresbegan o see the hoguns a divine ntity anifestnearth.40After is presentationf the three criptures,anetomo efinespecific


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GRAPARD: The Shinto of Yoshida Kanetomo 51

V_ A Riu implA

all apectsof n rycetudalmpembegntsgofitsuSim.Knto. uefra

correspondenceso explicate herelations e claimed o exist mong ll aspects40 Regarding he factthat the deification f livingpersons volvedalongYoshida lines, seeKato Genchi tnAU, Hongo Seishino Kenkyu $tfI11POFW,Isseido, 1932, and Ooms,Tokugawadeology.


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52 MonumentaNipponica, 47:1oftheuniverse; e was possessed ywhatMichel oucault alled he pistemeofresemblance,ccordingo which he ormal istinctionshatwemake odaybetweenlasses fobjectswere gnoredn favor f n all-encompassingystemof similitude,onvenience,nd dentity,nd n which he oncept f samenesskept eaffirmingtself.4' husKanetomo ombines aoist lements ithShin-to' and Buddhisterms nthebasis of perceived orphologicalimilarities:thetwo essential ases oftheuniverseYin and Yang) correspondedo theyukiMcAnd suki4?Xpavilionsf the acred recinctsn which he mperialenthronementitualsreperformed,ndfurtherorrespondedo the woman-dalasof esoteric uddhism. e proposes hat heuniverseadbeen et nmo-tionbya divine tteranceasedon the ound a]; this llowshim oproposethat number fwordshat ppearednthe iturgyf shrines ere acred ndcorrespondedo the mysteryf speechpropoundedy esoteric uddhism.Thus Kanetomo evelops practice f meditationn sounds, specially nthe ound a],which ecalls the apex of language,hemind-groundfallphenomena',ndwhich e sees as thematrix f thekana syllabary. e de-clares hat oetrys theform f anguage hats closest odivine tterances,andhe wasthus ollowingtraditionopularizedn the arlymedieval eriodandaccordingo which oetry as of divine ssence.Inthenext ection ftheMyobo Yoshu,Kanetomo xplainst considerablelengthhe sotericmeaningf theformulamujoreiho hinto ajiM?41rPihI14,whichame obeused nmostYoshidaritualsnd onamulets. e pro-poses hat he ermmujohere orrespondsotheTaoist erm hatndicateshePurple loud ituatedt the onfinesfthe niverse,ndthis eassimilatesotheHighHeavenly lain takamagahara,he esidencef hekami fHeaven).Accordingo Kanetomo,he term eiho,which n fact orrespondso theTaoist erming-pao,eferso the ssential nergyf matter. e furtherx-plicateshe erm yproposinghattcorrespondso the en reasuresndthethree egalia hat ymbolizehe egitimacyf the mperialineage.Kanetomoexplainshe ermhinto s a compoundn whichhefirsterm eferso theheart-minds somethinghatpervadesheentire niverse, hile he econdterm ught o be interpretedccordingo thetriple istinctionf 'form,substance,ndaspect', classical istinctionelongingo esotericuddhism.ThisallowedKanetomo o offer simple osmographyasedentirelyn theepistemefresemblancend dentity.inally, e nterpretshe erm aji nasurprisingay: he erm elongso esoteric uddhism,ut hepracticesndcreeds hat ame to be associatedwith t in Japanwere o integratedhatKanetomo id nothesitateo propose hat he wordwas also a divine t-terance,nother rimeval honetic ibrationhatguaranteedivinefficacy,protection,nd grace.He furtherdentifieshis ermwith he nameof theKatoriKajitori) hrine, ecause hephoneticimilarityf the wowords l-lowedhim o declare hat hefirst unctionfdivine fficacyastohelp he

41 Foucault,especiallyChapter2.


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GRAPARD: The Shinto ofYoshida Kanetomo 53emperorogovern,ndthat his fficacyasguaranteedy hekamiworship-ped nKatorind nthe econd hrine fKasuga ndYoshida.Kanetomo henbrieflyabbles n the deation-OnlyhilosophyfKofukuji yproposing,withoutny xplanation,hat llaspects fHeaven, arth, ndMankind reproducts f deation,which anetomoquateswith ami.In the nextsectionof theMyobo Yoshu,Kanetomo nsists n theimpor-tance fritual, nthemportancefetiquettetthe ourt,ndonthe entrali-tyofprotocol,which e definess the proper xpressionfthecult o thekami'. He thendeals brieflywiththe relationsbetween hethree eachings(Confucianism,Taoism, and Buddhism)and withhistory;he expoundstheaforementionedtree heory' nd proposes hatwhereas xoteric octrinesview he buddhas s manifestationsf the kami, heesoteric octrinesx-pound hat hebuddhas rehypostasesfthekami.To groundhevalidityandtransmissionf this sotericoctrine, anetomo iscusses arious evelsofsecrecy. e insistshathis formf Shintosuniqueyuiitsu),nvirtuefthefact hat here s oneruler nd nottwo,that heres onlyonelineage(theUrabe ineage,which,nthe ourse fhistoryook henamesNakatomiandFujiwara), ndthatJapan s a sacred and withoutqualintheworld.TheMyoboYoshu oncludeswith hebasic regulationsfthisnew ancientShinto'.In theMyobo Yoshu,Kanetomo id nothesitateo includeransmissionsthathehadreceived romther ranchesfShinto: or xample,ormulasfpurificationransmittedyShirakawa adatomi, heheadoftheJingikannhis ime,ndothers.Many fKanetomo's ractices ere ites fpurification;for nstance, neconsistednthepurificationfthetwoeyes representingAmaterasundTsukiyomi),hichwaseffectedytouchinghe yeswithhehands folded in specificmudras while breathingwas controlled. One re-cognizes n this rite combination f the Shinto' emphasison purification,Taoist techniquesforswallowing he energy f the moon and the sun, andelements fBuddhistmeditation. hesewere ccompaniedbythechanting fdharani,whichKanetomo callednorito.Kanetomo'sShrineof SymbolsKanetomo esigned everal uildingss the ites or heperformancef his'Shinto'rituals.Onlyone of thosebuildings emains oday; that s theTaigenkyui'Palace of theGreatFoundation'),whichbestrepresentshesymbolismfhissystem.TheTaigenkyu,ow National reasure,s a thatch-roofedctagonalon-structionlanked,nthenorthide,by nhexagonaloom, o that he hrineisorientedna north-southxis. t sset nthe enter f courtyardurround-ed by shrines edicated o all thekami nshrinednthewhole ountry,henumberf which3,132) orrespondsothat f thekami isted nEngishiki.The crossbeamschigi f-t)of theTaigenkyuire cutdifferentlyrom he


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54 MonumentaNipponica,47:1

Fukuyamaoshio,Chz7sei oJinjaKenchiku,hibund6,977.Taigenkyti, front view.

Computer-assistedenditionnotto scale) of originaldrawings.norm: n the frontsouthern ide),the extremitiesre cuthorizontallyo sym-bolize theYang aspectof theuniverse,ndintheback (northernide)they recut verticallyo symbolize he Yin aspect. The katsuogity, whichstandhorizontallycross the summit f theroof,are also arrangedn a symbolicmanner.There re three roups f three oundbeamsto the outh thenumberthree nd the circle reYang emblems), nd twogroupsoftwosquarebeamsto the north thenumber wo and thesquareare Yin emblems).In the middleof the summit f the roof stands decoration hatmarks hecenter f the shrine nd symbolizesheyatanokagami .'R_o?AWirror,ne ofthe mperial egalia.The decorations embedded n-aseven-petalledotusandthisreceives ainwater,whichflows hrough hole inthe roofand downthecentral ertical eam of the shrine.This beam is set n an octagonalbase onwhich n octagonalwheel s placedvertically,nd thebase standson a bed ofblackpebbleswhosenumber, ,132,correspondso thenumber f kamimen-tioned nEngishiki.hus,themainshrine f theYoshida systemwasdesignedto symbolize he cosmos as it was describednclassicalChineseand Japaneseterms.The symbolismf thepebbles ndicatesKanetomo'sdesire o unify ll


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GRAPARD: The Shintoof Yoshida Kanetomo 55

Fukuyama,Chuseino JinjaKenchiku.Taigenkyui,rontutview.theshrines f Japan,and to positYoshida as themost mportantne in thecountry.The panel inscriptions nder the roof in the front nd back ofthebuildingwere written yEmperorGo-Tsuchimikado nd Hino Tomiko,spouse of the shogunAshikagaYoshimasa. The hexagonalextension n thenorthernideofthebuildinghousesa roomwhere heofficiatingitualistat.The mainshrine atesare neveropenedtoday,even at thetimeof the unarNew Year rites.Slightlyn front fthe main shrine, n each sideof themain door,aretwotrees: o the westa bamboo tree, nd to theeasta sakaki.At the back oftheshrine ompoundis an elevated area on which used to standeightshrinesdedicatedto the kamithatsymbolize heJingikan; hesewere torndownin1871. To the eastof the shrine ompounds, n the woods, is a sacredpinetreesurroundedya stonefence; t s saidthat t wasplanted ver boxcontainingthe umbilical ordof EmperorMeiji. Yoshida's twoother itualbuildings, fwhich newas dedicated o theSources ndtheother otheFoundations,werealso destroyedn 1871.No plansordrawings fthesebuildings reavailable,butrepresentationsf the altarsthat werebuilttherein re.


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56 MonumentaNipponica,47:1After anetomoA cultdedicatedto Kanetomowas established, t an unknowndate, on MtYoshidaina small hrine hat till tands t theendof a stone tairwayeadingto the top ofthehill;he is worshipped here s Shinryuiaimyojin*AUBPA4('DivineDragonGreatKami'). Muchresearch emains obe conducted eforea cleardescriptionftheYoshida cultic enter uring heEdo periodcan beoffered.t is known hat heYoshida lineagebeganto grant icenses o shrinepriestsn theTenshoera, 1573-1591, nd thatthereweretwentyhrines ndnine templesat Yoshida in 1711. In 1665, the shogunate ssued a decree(shoshanegikannushi atto ?S A) thatall shrines,with heexcep-tionof Ise, theTwenty-Twohrines, nd somemajorshrines uchas Atsuta,Katori,Kashima,and Suwa, shouldsend their riests o Yoshidatobe licens-ed. As a result, ytheend of theEdo periodtheYoshida lineagecontrolled198,000priests.There s no informationn the nature f thatcontrol, r onthevast administrativeystemhatmusthavebeencreated tYoshida,but t sclearthatthecontrolwas nottotal.The Confucian ndNeo-Confucian cholars f theEdo periodrealized hatKanetomo'ssystem epresentedhedecadenceof combinatoryystems;hus,history adto be rewrittennceagain.TheNeo-Confucian cholarsproducedtheepistemologicalhift hatallowedtheJapaneseto getfreeof thenever-endingprisonof resemblancen whichKanetomo ived.Kanetomohad calledfora rediscoveryf the Japaneseness f things;hiscompatriots ollowedhisadviceand, in theprocess,rejectedmostof his claims.Indeed,a number fscholarswhoreadKanetomo'sworks uickly enouncedhisviews.Thefirstoseehow blatantly alse hoseviewswerewas HayashiRazan 41*0j, 1583-1657,a Confucian scholarwho counseledTokugawa Ieyasu fJII1* and calledKanetomo Japan's great iarand enemy f thekami'. The policyof secrecyhad meant,during heKamakura and Muromachiperiods,thatknowledgewas not publiclydebatable, and thattherewereno safeguards o preventheresies; oshidaKanetomo'stheoriesrethebestexample fa tendencyoneawry.Burdened s he waswith he tremendousaskof attemptingo discernrightfromwrong n the realmof history nd of religioustransmissions,HayashiRazan was fierce,lthough orrect,nhis attacks n Kanetomo.Buthe also createdhis own brandof 'Shinto', equallyclaiming o return o anoriginal urity,nd equallyfailing o do so. Razan seems ohavetoneddownhis attacks gainstYoshida as he grewolder. Indeed,the Yoshida branchoftheUrabe lineageregained ome composureduring he ate seventeenthen-tury. t attemptedo takecontrol f thecultsof deificationfgreatpoliticalleaders, ndsucceededndevising grand ult oToyotomiHideyoshim3-forwhichtheHokoku Shrine n Kyotowas establishedn 1598.Kanetomo,trueto the ancientconnections etween heUrabe and the egendsof JinguiKogo's putative onquestofKorea, authored document etailing hatcon-questbythefiercewomanwarrior.He claimedthatthedocumentwas basedon an oral transmission iven to him by Ashikaga Yoshimitsuhimself.


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GRAPARD: The Shintoof Yoshida Kanetomo 57

Fukuyama,Chusei no Jinja Kenchiku.Taigenkyui,eenfrombove.

Perhaps heYoshida ineage ad some nfluencen Hideyoshi's ecision oinvadeKorea n 1596.WhenTokugawa eyasudiedtheYoshida ineage ooksteps o try ogaincontrol f thecult hatwouldbe creatednhishonor. tbuilt sumptuousshrine nMtKuno,but tsattempt ailedwhenTenkaiTRimanagedoputthat cultunder hecontrol f the SannOcombinatoryystemn Nikko.Thereafteroshidanolonger ontrolledapan'smajor ults fdeificationfpoliticaleaders, nd it specializednsteadn licensing riests f secondary


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58 MonumentaNipponica, 47:1shrines, nd indeifying few ocal leaderswhile heywere till live.A numberof priestswho received hehigherdegreesof secret ransmissiont Yoshidacreated heir wnbrandsof Shinto'.YoshikawaKoretariJFI'[E,1616-1694,is perhaps hemost mportantxample.SponsoredbyHoshinaMasayukigf4iEiB,Tokugawa Iemitsu'syounger rother, e became an advisor n Shinto otheshogunate, efinedheYoshida doctrine,nd taughtYamazakiAnsai LLi.SWW,618-1682,who foundedthe school called Suika Shinto FNI a. ThustheYoshidaanomaly ontinued ohavesome nfluenceuring heEdo period,andat a deep evel tcontinued oshape nsubtleways hepremodern orldof'Shinto'. The cultural wakening hatoccurredntheMuromachi eriodboremuch fruit, hemost important f which was the development f NativistStudies kokugaku ), an impossible earchforpurity hatgreatlymarkedthe pirit f theEdo period nd theevolution fJapanese ulture.Kanetomo'srole nthe formationf that rend annotbe ignored.But thedirectmpact ftheYoshida brand of Shintogradually ubsided o the pointthat,by theendoftheEdo period, ts nfluencewas virtually il.Seeing his ituation, oshida Ryogi F AX, he eaderof the ineage tthetimedecided n 1867to purify hedoctrine f his lineage and 'return o thereally rue and pureAncientWay.' He asked thecourt forfunds o build aschoolandreceived thousandpieces ofsilver, s wellas three housandkokufromheShimazuhouse ofSatsuma. With hatfunding e built large chool,calledShingakkanVfr, onthewesternide ofMt Yoshida. The dissociationsof Shinto and Buddhistdivinities, owever, ccurred n thefollowing ear,and all Buddhist emples elonging o theYoshida lineageweredestroyed,sweresome of theshrines n Mt Yoshida. The head of the ineagemovedtoTokyo and settled herewith Europeantitle fnobility. he Shingakkanwasdestroyednd was replacedby a high choolwhich, nturn,was replacedbyKyoto mperialUniversityn 1897.

Today the Yoshida Shrine consistsof two parts: the Yoshida (Kasuga)Shrine,which s runby priests nder hecontrol f theJinjaHoncho ?4zFi*,andtheTaigenkyui,rotected y thegovernmentor tshistorical nd architec-turalvalue. Few people visit heshrine, lthough t thetimeof theSetsubunfestivalmarking hevernalequinox,Yoshida changesdrastically: hrongs fpeoplecome tovisitKanetomo'sTaigenkyuihrine nd collect mulets,whicharepurified yfire n one of the most famousSetsubunrites f Japan.Theauthor'sannotated ranslation f Yoshida Kanetomo's Yuiitsu ShintoMyobo Yoshul willbepublished n the ummer ssue.

The Shinto of Yoshida Kanetomo

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