University of Pittsburgh- Of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education
The Emperor of Japan as Deity (Kami)
Author(s): Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Ethnology, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Jul., 1991), pp. 199-215
Published by: University of Pittsburgh- Of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3773631 .
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THE
EMPEROR
OF
JAPAN
AS
University
DEITY
(KAMI)1
Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney
of Wisconsin,
Madison
of this article is to present a preliminary
of
interpretation
purpose
I
in
with
a
focus
historical
This
do
on
the Japanese
perspective.
imperial
system
and their changes
to the emperor
over time.
the cultural
meanings
assigned
of the emperor
most
of
the major characterization
Because
history has been
during
in the rice harvest
the
first
section
with
the imperial
the officiant
starts
rituals,
three
accession
rituals
when a
the
last
of
the
harvest
performed
ritual, onamesai,
The substantive
new
emperor
I then
is enthroned.
the Kojiki
structure
discuss
and the Nihonshoki--the
two
of
examine
the
the
meaning
underlying
myth-histories--to
of the cosmology
and polity of ancient
imperial
system in a broad context
was a shaman-cum-political
At that time, I argue,
the emperor
leader
Japan.
for his political
to ensure
a bountiful
whose
crop of rice was crucial
ability
witnessed
an almost
erosion
of the
Subsequent
periods
complete
legitimacy.
oldest
Japanese
and symbolic
economic,
political,
various
military
governments.
I examine
In the second section,
which is radically
from
different
bases
of the imperial
system
brought
about
by
the notion of kami (deity) in Japanese
religions,
of God in Judeo-Christian
the concept
tradition.
is crucial
Kami
for
the imperial
and
its historical
system
understanding
as well as the extended
of the imperial
resilience
which
transformations,
system
in the face of changing
and
without
survived
power.
meanings
any apparent
The time frame is from the beginning
of the imperial
it
system to the present;
is a symbolic
The risky decision
to consider
the entire
longue duree of the system.
of
and
make
was
made
because
the
Japan
question
history
sweeping
generalizations
I have chosen--how
and why the imperial
extensive
system has undergone
changes
and still persists
be adequately
dealt with by focusing
on a narrow
today--cannot
of the imperial
dimension
This article is not
period.
system in a given historical
a comprehensive
work on the Japanese
imperial
system per se, for which there is
a plethora
of primary
sources
as well as scholarly
in Japanese
and
interpretations
in other languages.
Nor is it a theoretical
work on religion
or kingship,
for which
additional
cross-cultural
as well as theoretical
I use the terms
studies are necessary.
and
neither
as
a
nation
nor
the Japanese
Japan
Japanese
Japan
loosely
throughout;
as a well-bounded
social
group
HISTORY
The Emperor
as Shaman
has existed
OF THE
in Early
throughout
IMPERIAL
history.
SYSTEM
History
Wet-rice
was introduced
to Japan around
B.C. 350, likely
from
agriculture
southern
and
in
from
northeastward
northern
three
spread
China,
Kyushu
successive
waves.
Almost
six centuries
after the introduction
of rice
elapsed
and
before
the
of
the
establishment
Yamato
The
state.
agriculture
imperial
system
199
ETHNOLOGY
200
state derives
the political-religious
founded
from
leadership
by the Yamato
on the basis of rice agriculture
established
centuries.
These
during the preceding
like the early emperors,
were magico-religious
early agrarian leaders,
leaders; i.e.,
whose
rested upon an ability
to
leaders,
shamans-cum-political
political
power
to ensure good crops.
solicit supernatural
powers
Thus, the annual harvest ritual
was in fact a ritual to legitimate
a local political
leader, ensure the leader's rebirth
and
his power
For this reason many scholars
rejuvenate
(Murakami
1977:4-6).
1988; Hora 1979, 1984; M. Inoue 1984; Miyata
1988:193-94,
(e.g., Akasaka
1989;
Murakami
the
1977, 1986; Okada 1970; Yamaori
1982) consider
1978; Yanagita
in rituals for the rice soul (inadama
first and foremost
as "the officiant
no
emperor
who ensures the blessing
of the deities for the new rice crop on behalf
shusaisha),"
of
the
These
scholars'
nature
of the
on the religious-ritual
emphasis
held even by Marxist
the exclusively
de-emphasizes
scholars,
kingship,
nature of the Japanese
political
kingship.
cum political
cum economic
The religious
nature of these agrarian
rituals of
the emperors,
in the concept
is clearly
leaders,
expressed
including
early
people.
Japanese
explicated
matsurigoto,
by Orikuchi
(1975a:160-61;
1975b:175-77;
1983:275-77),
which was the conceptual
basis of the political
system at the time, called ritsuryothe interpretation
sei. Advancing
and Ando Seiji, Orikuchi
by Mitsuya Shigematsu
that
the
of
in
use
the
term
matsuri
proposes
Japanese
early
(which
contemporary
means festivals
or ceremonies)
in three
means osukuni
no matsurigoto.
Written
characters
to
and
it
denotes
the country
where
eat, country,
representing
polity,
food for deities
is made (see also Ebersole
1989; Kitagawa
1987).
other rituals were added in later periods,
at the time of the
Although
especially
so-called
restoration
of the imperial
the core imperial
rituals
Meiji
system,
are all related
to rice harvesting.
The annual harvest
by the emperor
ritual of niinamesai
becomes
the onamesai
at the time of the accession
of a new
and is held as the last of three accession
the senso
emperor
rituals,
following
officiated
ritual (sokui
kenji togyo) and the accession
of imperial
rituals, see Nihiname
Kenkyukai
Ueda 1988; Yamamoto,
Sato et al. 1988:224-231;
(including
overviews
1988;
no rei), discussed
later (for
1955; Sakurai 1988; Tanaka
Yokota
1988).
Onamesai2
The imperial
harvest
after the folk harvest
ritual at the time,
ritual, modeled
over time with its earliest record dated to the reign of Seinei
developed
gradually
did
(480-484)
(Miura 1988:143).
Only after the imperial
system became established
the Sun Goddess
become
the
in
addressed
the
ritual
(Amaterasu)
deity
(saishin).
various
deities
of production
and reproduction
in the ritual
addressed
Earlier,
included
Takami Musubi and Miketsu Kami (Matsumae
Musubi
1977:97,
105-106);
no Kami (Murakami
1977:19).
The preparation
for thetnamesai
starts in the spring (February-April)
(Koshitsu
Bunka Kenkyukai
of two fields,
1988) when the location
yuki and suki, is chosen
Rice offered
the Onamesai
is grown in these fields
with
by divination.
during
utmost care to prevent contamination
Situated
toward the southeast
by impurities.
and the northwest
of Kyoto,
these fields symbolize
the entire nation.
respectively,
There
were
rituals
that the emperor
and the Japanese
purification
people
in preparation
for the November
The entire series of the
performed
ceremony.
onamesai
in November
lasted
four
days
during
the Heian
Period
and consisted
of
THE
EMPEROR
OF JAPAN
AS DEITY
201
eleven
details
the duration
and
segments
(Hida 1988:214; Kurabayashi
1988:37).
Although
of the ritual have undergone
consist
of the
many changes,
they basically
elements:
the rejuvenation
of the soul; offering
of the new crop of rice
following
to the deity; commensality
between
the emperor
and the deity;
by the new emperor
and commensality
that is, a feast with the emperor
as the host
among the humans,
Yoshino
1975b:239;
(Orikuchi
1986:13-20).
The
most
difficult
ritual
for
is the
mitamashizume
interpretation
(the
of the soul), which takes place the night before the public ceremony
rejuvenation
and continues
until dawn.
It is a strictly
private ritual during which the emperor
lies in the sacred bed (ohusuma)
placed on the sacred seat (madoko).
Meanwhile,
a court lady, sometimes
two of them (Miyata in Amino,
Ueno and Miyata 1988:52),
a ritual to receive
and renew the emperor's
perform
soul, which departs from his
Since the mitamashizume
is a secret ritual, there is little information
about
body.
what took place during
the ritual in the past.
Even today some refrain
from
it
discussing
openly.
There
are three
of interpretation.
the ritual
the
types
First,
rejuvenates
him to perform
the onamesai
the next day at the height
emperor's
soul, enabling
of spiritual
the
of a court lady
power (Murakami
Second,
1977:15-16).
presence
leads to an interpretation
that the emperor
in
sexual
intercourse
with her.
engages
A third interpretation
to
the
"onamesai
held
at
the
time
of
the
pertains
previous
to some scholars,
the deceased
emperor's
death, when, according
emperor's
corpse
is placed on the sacred seat and his soul enters the new emperor's
body during the
mitamashizume.
To understand
the mitamashizume,
the notion
of soul in ancient
is
Japan
essential.
to Orikuchi
the Japanese
believed
that the
According
(1975b: 189-90),
soul of a person or an object
waxed in the winter and waned in the spring.
It is
from the body.
For the person to continue
to live, another
soul
easily detached
must be attached
to the body (tamafuri)
later in history,
the
or, as conceptualized
soul must be recaptured
The mitamashizume
thus first of all
(tamashizume).
the emperor's
soul which
or have been ready to
rejuvenates
might have waned
leave his body.
The sexual act theory is not incompatible
with the soul rejuvenation
theory if we
take into account
that in ancient
and reproduction
were seen as
Japan production
identical
and both were conceptualized
in terms of a soul.
The term
processes
musubi referred
to the act of making
a knot (musubi)
with a string,
a twig, or a
of grass,
in order to encapsulate
a soul in a knot,
as described
piece
in the
and other literature
of the time.
the
a
Manybshu
cotton
During
mitamashizume,
knot is tied as a ritual act of capturing
the emperor's
soul which is ready to depart
his body (Matsumae
But the term musubi also meant reproduction
1977:96-97).
and production:
musu meant reproduction
and bi (-hi) meant production
or growth
the
sun
Matsumae
The interpretation
by
(Ebersole
that
1989:42,
56;
1977:96-97).
the emperor
with the court lady-cum-sacred
as a sexual
sleeps
act
lady simply
the notion
in ancient
grossly
misrepresents
intercourse
was
Japan when sexual
conterminous
with soul rejuvenation,
which in turn was the necessary
condition
for agricultural
reproduction.
The third theory,
advanced
the
originally
by Orikuchi
(1975b: 194), considers
to
be
characterized
Japanese
of what Orikuchi
emperor
singularly
by the possession
calls the imperial
soul.
to him, the onamesai
enables
the
According
ritually
soul departing
from
the previous
imperial
to
enter
the
new
emperor's
body
202
ETHNOLOGY
the soul's lineal transmission,
which is crucial to
emperor's
body, thereby
assuring
He is alleged to have remarked
the Japanese
that a new emperor
imperial
system.
in order for the latter's soul to
would bite into the corpse of the previous
emperor
enter him (Miyata
Orikuchi's
raises an
personal
interpretation
communication).
issue about
important
of the
transcendence
continuity
Ebersole
divine kingship
(see Feeley-Harnik
1985) by suggesting
individual
to guarantee
emperor's
biological
humanity
of the imperial
Similar interpretations
have been advanced
system.
(1989) and Yamaori
(1990a,
1990b).
the
the
by
the private
offers various
foods to the deity (the
ritual, the emperor
Following
shinsen or kyosen).
The most important
are
of the new rice crop
products
offerings
in
two
fields:
cooked
white
and black sake
the
sake
rice,
gruel,
grown
(shiroki)
in
sake
colored
with
ashes
later
black
Other
from
or,
plant
history,
sesame).
(made
include
Italian millet (awa),
cooked,
offerings
newly harvested,
and
stew
Bunka
soup,
fish,
fruits,
(oatsumono)
(Koshitsu
Murakami
These
are
offered
the
ritual,
1977:18).
1988:104-05;
during
food
dried
fresh
fish,
Kenkyukai
which lasts
than two hours, and are then consumed
together
by the deity and the emperor
The
Onamesai
concludes
with
an
elaborate
banquet in which the emperor
(naorai).
and the guests feast together
At the time of the onamesai
for the Showa
(utage).
more
the feast lasted for two days.
Emperor,
the meaning
of onamesai
On one level,
may be seen as a generalized
gift
in
of cosmic
a new crop of rice is offered
to the deities
scale, whereby
exchange
return for the original
seeds they gave to the first emperor.
The mode of exchange
the form
of commensality
takes
between
deities
and humans,
the
including
Given the symbolic
of rice as soul-cum-deity,
this is not a gift
emperor.
meaning
in any ordinary
sense of the term, but is an exchange
of one's own self.
exchange
On another level, with the symbolic
of agricultural
and human
equation
production
it enacts the cosmic cycle of production
and reproduction,
facilitated
reproduction,
semen.
by the flow of rice and (at least symbolically)
From the emperor's
the onamesai
is a vital personal and political
rite
perspective,
of passage
which
ensures
the renewal
of his soul, his office,
and, if we follow
Orikuchi,
Ebersole,
The Onamesai
and Yamaori,
and the Early
the imperial
system.
Writings
Unlike
the Malinowskian
claim that myths provide
a charter for action, and the
of rituals, Saigo (1984) and others argue that the two earliest writings
performance
of Japan--the
dated 712 A.D.,
and the Nihonshoki,
dated 725 A.D.-Kojiki,
an attempt
to validate
the existing
harvest
rituals at the court ex post
represent
Since the crucial
have extensively
scholars
part of the ritual is private,
facto.
relied
to decipher
the meaning
A
of the imperial
ritual.
upon these writings
difficult
since these oral myth-histories
were
systematic
comparison
is, however,
over a long time and contain
elements.
put in writing
many different
Although
at the order from Tenmu
they were compiled
(r.672-686),
they were not special
sets of myths
created
for this purpose
alone; instead,
they were selected
(cf.
Vansina
from existing
schemes
1985:190-92)
myths which share basic cosmological
such as the theme
of "the stranger
who reside
outside
one's
deity" (marebito)
settlement
and, if well-disposed,
brings gifts, such as rice seeds, to humans
(see
Ohnuki-Tierney
1987).
THE
EMPEROR
OF JAPAN
AS DEITY
203
In the episode
the imperial
harvest ritual.
seem to parallel
myth episodes
referred
to as "the heavenly
cave" (ameno
the Sun Goddess,
iwaya),
in a building
isolates
or cave because
her younger
herself
Omikami,
brother has off ended her with his def iling behavior.
Myriad deities gather noisily
in front of the cave, laughing
A shamaness-deity,
and en-gaging in merry making.
in front
Ameno
Uzume
no Mikoto,
semi-nude
of the cave,
dances
causing
Two
popularly
Amaterasu
in front of the
The deities
laughter.
hang a mirror from a branch
tell
in front of the
and
Amaterasu
a
to
that
there
is
her
building
deity superior
in
she
comes
her
the
out
and
mistakes
own
mirror for the
Curious,
building.
image
With
her
from
the
universe
is
superior
deity.
seclusion,
emergence
again bright
with the sun.
This episode
is often
as a symbolic
enactment
of the death and
interpreted
uproarious
of the Sun Goddess
rebirth
Orikuchi
1975b: 198),
subsequent
(Saigo
1984:82-87;
which in turn is seen to correspond
to what happens
to the emperor's
soul during
Like
in
the mitamashizume.
in the ritual goes
Amaterasu
the myth, the emperor
while his soul, detached
into seclusion
and ready to depart from his body, returns
and
is rejuvenated.
the behavior
of the court
the
Likewise,
lady
during
is seen to parallel
mitamashizume
in
the dancing
Uzume
mo Mikoto
by Ameno
front of the building
where Amaterasu
is secluded
Murakami
(Matsumae
1977:119;
1977:15-16).
The second
seen to correspond
with the imperial
ritual is the
harvest
episode
In this well-known
tenson korin.
the Sun Goddess
sends her grandson
episode,
no Mikoto)
to earth to govern it. He is described
in the
as being wrapped
(Ninigi
the same term used for the bedding
madoko
in which
the emperor
is
ohusuma,
In this ritual, the emperor then re-enacts
his
wrapped
during the mitamashizume.3
descent
from heaven
as the grandson
of the Sun Goddess.
Not only are there parallels
between
the "onamesai and the episodes
in these
the myth-histories
are replete
with references
to rice as deities.
myth-histories,
is clearly
identified
as a
Thus, the soul of rice grain (ina dama or ina-damashii)
called
Ukano
Kami.
There
are
various
versions
of
the
of
this
deity (kami),
origin
in
in
one
the
is
an
of
the
brother
who,
deity
version,
Kojiki,
Susano-o,
offspring
of the Sun Goddess
and a notorious
in the
terrible,
and, in another
enfant
is
born
when
Izanami
and
the
creators
of
the
Nihonshoki,
Izanagi,
Japanese
fainted
from starvation
after the creation
of Oyasu no Kuni
universe,
immediately
et al. 1967:90; see also Itoh 1979:162-63;
(Sakamoto
Obayashi
1973:8.)
Most important,
when the Sun Goddess
sent her grandson
to earth, she gave him
the original
rice grains which the Sun Goddess
had grown in two fields in Heaven
from the seeds of the five types of grains (gokoku)
which she had
(Takamagahara)
received
from Ukemochi
no Kami,
the deity in charge
of food (Kurano
and
Takeda
Thanks
to the original
seeds given to him by
1958; Murakami
1977:13).
the grandson
transforms
a wilderness
into a country
with heavy ears
Amaterasu,
of rice stalks (mizuho)
and abundant
grains of the five types (gokoku).
Unlike
other creation
the Japanese
version
is not about
myths of the universe,
the creation
of the universe
but about the transformation
of wilderness
(ashihara
no nakatsu
no kuni) into a cultivated
land with abundant
rice. This came at the
command
of (according
to the Kojiki)
the Sun Goddess
whose
as
descendants,
rule the country
at the rice harvest rituals (Saigo 1984:15emperors,
by officiating
29; Kawasoe
1980:86).
The
creation
of the myth
was especially
important,
since
204
ETHNOLOGY
rice agriculture
was introduced
from the continent,
yet was adopted as the defining
of Japanese
culture.
feature
as kokurei (the soul of grains,
not exclusively
Note that the deities
identified
the gender of
called attention
to a parallel between
rice) are all female.
Yanagita
the tenth
and a ritual at the parturition
hut.
First recorded
during
grain deities
and observed
century
today in some parts of Japan, during the ritual rice grains are
in the parturition
to conclude
that the birth of
hut.
This led Yanagita
to be identical
were once thought
(see Yanagita
grains and the birth of humans
which again suggests
the equation
of production
with
1981, 1982; Itoh 1979,1988),
scattered
reproduction.
The Imperial
political
emperors,
History
the eighth
the imperial
century,
system
the
to
its
former
power.
thereafter,
During
regain
the
often
could
and Tokugawa
emperors
periods
(1603-1868)
for financial
and
the imperial
onamesai,
rituals, even the most important
reasons.
Between
1466 and 1687, that is, during
the reign of nine
its
zenith
onamesai
was
reached
Having
soon
disintegrated
Medieval
(1185-1603)
not hold
in Subsequent
System
no
during
never
held,
and
at other
times
held
on
a reduced
scale
(Hashimoto
1988).
Fundamental
changes
in the imperial
with
took
the Meiji
place
system
of the imperial
What is often
seen today as the essential
system.
of the Japanese
in the
imperial
system is a result of the Meiji "inventions"
and Ranger
sense historians
emphasize
today (Hobsbawm
1983; Lowenthal
1985).
when Western monarchies
were inventing
their own traditions,
the
Paradoxically,
restoration
character
leaders
modeled
the British,
their monarchy
after them, especially
while
to their effort
as the "restoration
of the imperial
referring
system of the Ancient
What actually
took place was the establishment
of an
period" (kodai osei fukko).
that differed
from the Ancient
imperial
system
radically
system in at least three
This transformation
was effectively
carried
out through
the
significant
ways.
Meiji
in 1889 of the Koshitsu
of the Imperial
promulgation
Tenpan (Manual
Household)
and the Dai Nihon Teikoku Kenpo (Constitution
of Imperial
Japan).
1 of the new constitution
3 of Chapter
issued in 1889 declared
that
First, Article
the emperor
was sacred and may not be intruded
The
upon (okasu bekarazu).
was defined
as arahitogami
emperor
(Manifest
1985:41,
142-143,
Deity)
(Gluck
or Visible
the term and concept
of
219-220),
Deity (Harootunian
1988).
Although
Manifest
was
Deity appeared
during the Ancient
period when the imperial
system
at its zenith (Kitagawa
1990: 138), the notion at the time was still a Japanese
sense
of a kami (discussed
The Manifest
of the Meiji,
was
below).
Deity
however,
different
and much closer to "Almighty
God" in the Judeo-Christian
altogether
tradition.
The transformation
of the meaning
of the emperor
was the way the
leaders
fashioned
their own imperial
after the Western
Meiji
system
monarchy
model.
were essentially
human beings endowed
with
emperors
Early Japanese
shamans;
to communicate
with deities,
but not themselves
deities.
power
extraordinary
Their religious
and spiritual
rested on power that had to be periodically
authority
the imperial
rituals.
The emperor
therefore
was divine only
rejuvenated
through
in a conditional
sense.
With the Meiji reformulation,
the emperor
at least
became,
the Manifest
a bona fide deity.4
nominally,
Deity,
THE
EMPEROR
OF JAPAN
AS DEITY
205
11
the emperor
the Meiji constitution
Article
power.
Second,
military
assigned
1 designates
the emperor
as commander-in-chief
of the
of Chapter
(daigensui)
were referred
to as the imperial
force (kogun).
The
army and the navy, which
in portraits
in military
decorated
with chevrons
for his
appeared
uniform,
emperor
of stars, navy medals
of cherry
and the
rank, army medals
blossoms,
military
crest symbolizing
the imperial
court. His military-cum-political
power
paulownia
of his religious
ceased to be a corollary
power as it was during the Ancient
period.
A third innovation
was to stipulate
the Japanese
people as the emperor's
subjects.
the Manual of the Imperial
the "one label for
For this purpose,
Household
adopted
the identity
of the people with
the reign of each emperor"
policy so as to establish
The notion that the emperor
is the controller
of time was
the reigning
emperor.
with each new emperor.
from China, where the name of an era changed
introduced
to Japan,
this system
soon became
and was
After
its introduction
proforma
Even after its revival in 1664, the practice
after the Ancient
discontinued
period.
if there
the name of an era was often
was an
was often
changed
violated;
event (Murakami
and the Japanese
to use the
continued
1977:122-23)
inauspicious
which operated
on a twelve-year
of who
zodiac calendar
system,
cycle irrespective
was.
The one name under one imperial
the emperor
was
adopted
system
by the
after
initial
was
reluctance,
and,
accepted
quite eagerly
Meiji government
by the
the
of
refer
to
well
themselves
as
as to
Thus, using
birth, people
people.
year
"the Meiji person (Meiji no nigen)," "Taisho person," "Showa
others as, for example,
an era.
In fact,
these
or, "I am a first digit
Showa,"
person,"
subdividing
identifications
are used as if birth in a particular
era or its subdivision
assigns a
certain
to all those born during those years.
personality
If the designation
of an era served
to unite the people,
the invention
of a
and
national
a
national
anthem
were
other
means
to
achieve
the
same goal.
flag
to popular
belief
within
and outside
of Japan, the rising sun flag was
Contrary
as the national
chosen
it had been used by
formally
flag only in 1870, although
various
those both supporting
and opposing
the
groups,
including,
ironically,
before
the Meiji
restoration.
The people
showed
little
government
Shogunate
interest in the national flag and some even staged protests (Murakami
1977:127-29).
The national
anthem
is even more of an invention,
in
originating
by a suggestion
1869 by William
Director
of the British
Band then stationed
in
Fenton,
Army
in 1880 in a song that later became
and resulting
the national
Yokohama,
anthem,
the Kimigayo.
This nonetheless
was not formally
identified
as the national
anthem
until the 1930s (Murakami
The 16-petal
was also
1977:128-131).
chrysanthemum
as the imperial
emblem
and not before.
adopted
officially
during the Meiji,
The transformation
of the emperor
involved
the clever use of a new technology,
which
the invisible
transformed
far removed
from the
photography,
emperor,
in the past, to a visible,
the
people
powerful
figure.
Insightfully
interpreting
of the emperor,"
Taki (1990) analyzes
how the
complex
process of "the visualization
the Meiji Emperor,
first through brocade paintings
and
Meiji leaders "constructed"
then a series of photographs
whose use and distribution
were carefully
monitored.
the visualization
of the emperor
was perhaps
a subtle
and thus quite
Indeed,
effective
mechanism
to manipulate
his imperial
image.
The Meiji ordinances
the beginning
of indoctrinating
the ideology
of
signaled
the imperial
executed
created
formalized
system,
effectively
through
newly
such as the constitution,
shrines
and schools,
as well as through
an
apparatus
informal
means of visualizing
the Manifest
The new imperial
Deity.
system thus
206
ETHNOLOGY
created
remained
intact
for
the
next
70 years,
until
the
end
of
World
War II
(Murakami
1977:69).
the emperor
in reality the actors and
became nominally
quite powerful,
Although
their governments
who brought
forth these changes
held all the power.
As Gluck
"Ministerial
decisions
would pass through imperial hands for the
(1985:43)
remarks,
sanction
of legitimacy,
like the scroll, unchanged."
remaining,
the death of Meiji,
Taisho reigned
for a short time (1912-1926)
succeeded
who took over the throne in 1926.
The accession
by Showa,
After
and
the
beginning
in
defeat
national
onamesai
for
of "the dark
1945.
The
and was
ceremony
to signal
the
Showa
reached
of splendor,
heights
only
ages" for Japan; its entry into World War II and ultimate
announcement
of Japan's
surrender
over
by the emperor
radio
was unprecedented.
The Allied
a memo
issued
on December
the
powers
15, 1945,
forbidding
to
have
with
financial
Japanese
government
Shintoism,
any relationship
including
aid to Shinto shrines.
From the beginning
of the occupation,
the Allied
powers
to have the emperor
intended
his
and
his
declare
as a human:
deny
divinity
identity
a plan suggested
D.C. Holtom,
who authored
a book (Holtom
by a Shinto scholar,
1972 [1928]) about the enthronement
ceremonies
of Showa (Murakami
1977:195).
made
the
"Human
announcement
on New Year's Day in
emperor
Emperor"
1946: a strange
declaration
indeed
to many Japanese
who had always thought
of
as
as
we
will
The
see
later.
the
became
of
the
emperors
humans,
emperor
symbol
of any executive
From May 24 of 1946 to 1954, "the
state,
stripped
power.
The
emperor
(shocho tennof
spent 165 days, traversing
23,000
km, visiting
of
as
"the emperor
for the masses
parts
Japan
(taishu
tenno) in order,
to Murakami
to weaken
the increasing
to the
according
(1977:196-97),
opposition
imperial
system.
The new constitution,
forces and issued in 1946,
imposed
by the occupational
declared
the separation
of state and religion
20 and 89), which brought
(Articles
in the Japanese
For the first time in
revolutionary
changes
imperial
system.
symbolic
various
rituals
became
was no longer
the
imperial
history,
private
rituals; the emperor
officiant
of rituals for the social group he represented,
the Japanese.
In 1957, the
new Manual
for the Imperial
Household
was issued.
4 specified
Article
that the
crown prince immediately
succeeds
the emperor
death during
upon the emperor's
an accession
ritual (sokui no rei). References
to the two other accession
rituals, the
senso and the onamesai,
in the old Imperial
Manual
were deleted.
Thus, these
rituals technically
became
concerns
of the imperial
not the government
or
family,
the people (Murakami
1977:201).
these changes
seem clear on the surface,
the
Although
forces completely
the concept
of deity (kami)
ignored
culture.
it has never been clear
Japanese
Therefore,
and thus to be separate
from the state.
The
religious
for the first time, the
great deal of confusion
because,
actions of the occupational
or the nature of religion
in
what was to be considered
death of Showa created
a
to be implemented
changes
for what they in fact meant.
had to be confronted
by the new constitution
For example,
while the funeral
and the accession
ritual
November
held on November
12, 1990, and the onamesai,
(sokui no rei), held on
23, 1990, caused much
over their religious
nature (and consequently
their appropriateness
as
controversy
state functions),
was taken when,
after Showa's
hardly
any notice
immediately
Akihito
the "three imperial
from the Prime Minister.
treasures"
death,
accepted
The ritual (kenji togyo and part of the senso ceremony)
was originally
in
included
THE
EMPEROR
OF JAPAN
AS DEITY
207
and is very religious
in that the three imperial
handed down
treasures
are the most important
of native Shintoism.
symbols
that the Allied forces
prompted
by ihe death of Showa indicates
of the war imposed
at the conclusion
new regulations
drawn from the framework
of religion
of a Western conception
that meant little to the Japanese,
who then must
the onamesai
to a new emperor
The confusion
interpret
them.
INTERPRETATION
OF THE
IMPERIAL
SYSTEM
the sin of what postmodernists
I suggest some ways
call totalizing,
Fully realizing
for how the Japanese
the emperor.
He has always been multivocal
understood
in
that there
are various
which
different
social
and
Japanese
ways
by
groups
I propose
individuals
to him.5
that the notion of kami (deity)
assigned
meanings
in Japanese
is crucial
for understanding
the imperial
religions
system,
especially
from
the perspective
of ordinary
characterization
persistent
the soul of rice; and all imperial
The
never
retained
rituals
were
its own
people.
in rituals for
of the emperor
is as the officiant
rituals relate to rice.
While the imperial
system
ever since the Ancient
and the imperial
period,
power
the symbolism
of rice remained
viable
performed,
intermittently
their own rituals and cosmology.
with the folk through
The agrarian
cosmology,
soon after the fall of the ancient imperial
adopted
system by the successive
military
was successively
into an agrarian
developed
governments,
Meanwhile,
ideology.
the imperial
lost even its conceptual
its relationship
to the
system
foundation;
of rice, which has taken at least semi-independent
historical
courses.
symbolism
are unaware
of the connection
between
rice and
Japanese
Many contemporary
the imperial
was ill and television
system.
Only when the Showa Emperor
reported
that he had asked about the rice crop, did many young Japanese
learn for the first
time that the emperor
and rice were linked.
Until the mass media started to discuss
only
the daijosai
even older people hardly recognized
the term, let alone the
(onamesai),
content
of the ritual.
no Japanese
that the emperor's
rice
Probably
today believe
harvest rituals ensure a good rice crop. Some individuals
oppose both the imperial
of foreign
rice. Even for these people,
rice remains
a
system and the importation
for a post-industrial
has little economic
metaphor
Japan whose rice agriculture
value (Ohnuki-Tierney
n.d.).
The fact that the imperial
nor on a rice
system rested neither on rice agriculture
diet may provide
us only a partial explanation
for the resilience
of the imperial
in the face of changing
modes of production
and changing
system
dietary habits.
To further
understand
what .the emperors
meant to the Japanese,
I now turn to the
notion of kami.
Japanese
The Emperor
as Kami
the topsy-turvy
transformations
of the imperial
Throughout
system, the meaning
of the emperor
has undergone
several changes: from a shaman-farmer,
to the kami
in absentia
to the Manifest/Visible
during the Tokugawa
period,
Deity during the
reduction
to a symbolic
Meiji period,
emperor
(Shocho Tenno) at the end of World
War II, and, finally,
"an emperor
for the masses" (Taishu
The changing
Tennd).
nature of the emperor
reflects
the changes
made for the designation.
According
to Murakami
in order to stress the religious
nature of the headship
of the
(1977:10),
208
ETHNOLOGY
the term Zkimi (great kimi),
which
had
the mid-seventh
during
century,
was replaced
used to refer
to the head of the Yamato
state,
by tenno
The
where
a term taken from China
it had a religious
meaning.
(emperor),
when
was again changed
to the Confucian
term tenshi (Son of Heaven)
designation
was adopted
Neo-Confucianism
by the Tokugawa
(Kitagawa
1990:157),
shogunate
only to revert back to tenno.
as a deity
is the emperor's
constant
What remains
history
identity
throughout
nation
been
view the kami is responsible
sense.
The way the Japanese
(kami) in the Japanese
and yet
has undergone
such dramatic
for the way the imperial
system
changes
The
of kami
is crucial,
notion
to an
survived.
therefore,
(deity/deities)
of the imperial
system.
understanding
Although
kami
usually
I use it here to refer to all the
deities,
in Taoism.
even deities
The
originating
which many of
between
various religions,
refers
to Shinto
buddhas
and
supernaturals,
including
do not make a clear
Japanese
distinction
them
espouse
simultaneously
(Ohnuki-Tierney
1984:145-55).
the kami
have
been
human
and super-human,
both
Throughout
history,
fluid
and
of
and
a
the
sacred
complex
application
profane
opposition.
requiring
In Japanese
both deities and humans have dual characters
and powers:
cosmology,
and destructive,
etc. (for details,
see Ohnuki-Tierney
good and evil, constructive
in
Ozawa
that
and
humans
emphasizes
Japanese
1987:130-40).
(1987)
religion
a continuum
and that the notion of hitogami
is
(human-deity)
in Japanese
it has undergone
historical
cosmology,
although
significant
In this continuum,
are humans with extraordinary
shamans
supernatural
changes.
with deities,
power to communicate
thereby
being able to solicit their power for
the benefit
of humans.
As in the case of early emperors,
shamans must prove their
deities
constitute
central
such as the ability
to produce
supernatural
ability,
good rice crops, in order to
maintain
their legitimacy.
But the kami too is required
to prove its power,
as we
will see below.
In the fluid
of the Japanese,
humans,
cosmology
including
and deities
do not constitute
clear-cut
shamans,
categories.
In the relationship
between
deities and humans,
deities have always been at the
mercy of human manipulation.
Throughout
history, the Japanese have aggressively
and reshaped
their pantheon;
functions
to
shaped
they assign certain
(goriyaku)
such as business
success or the healing of certain illnesses,
or assigned
them
deities,
new functions
or discard
them altogether
when they find them not efficacious
or
no longer useful.
The smallpox
was retained
after the smallpox
deity, for example,
vaccine
was developed
an expansion
of its functions
to contagious
only through
in general.
diseases
The deity for boils and growths
became
popular
enormously
the people
added
cancer
treatment
to its repertoire
(Ohnuki-Tierney
used to say that magicians
the supernatural
1984:153).
Anthropologists
manipulate
while religious
such as monks and priests,
specialists,
supplicate.
By this naive
the Japanese
have been magicians
who cajoled
and threatened
the
distinction,
deities
to do their bidding.
and
But, after all, the kami can and will exercise
power over humans,
favorably
For this reason a great fuss was made over the removal
otherwise.
of a torii gate
to a shrine)
with the construction
in Tokyo;
of Narita Airport
the
(the gateway
feared that removing
the gate might invite the wrath of deities.
Japanese
As with a deity, the various military
in different
historical
governments
periods
and reassigned
various meanings
to the emperor,
as described
assigned
previously.
The ability of these historical
actors to move the emperor
up and down the scale
when
THE
of
was
humanity-divinity
culture.
the kami
possible
EMPEROR
because
of
OF JAPAN
the
fluid
AS DEITY
conception
of
209
kami
in
Japanese
Since
are like humans,
too have been
human
to most
emperors
some
and continue
to believe
that they are special
though
thought
there have been many folktales
to the
Throughout
history
pointing
of the emperors.
For example,
as a crown
Sakuramachi
prince,
(r.
a taste for soba (noodles
made of buck wheat).
After becoming
acquired
1735-47)
of the rice crops), he could no longer eat other
emperor
(and the official
guardian
to rice. Nor could he receive moxibustion--the
grains, which were inferior
healing
that uses lighted cones of artemisia
technique
placed on certain spots of the body-no foreign
because
objects could touch his "crystal body" (Miyata
1989). The story
relates his great pleasure
when he abdicated
the throne and could eat noodles to his
heart's
content
and have moxibustion
administered
to his body (Tsumura
1970
in
Its
no
uncertain
is
that
a
is
an
human
moral,
terms,
prince
[1917]:615).
ordinary
Japanese,
humans.
humanness
and
that
a prince
who
becomes
an emperor
can
also
revert
back
to an ordinary
human.
The Japanese
of individual
as humans did not change when
perception
emperors
leaders
transformed
the
into
the
Manifest
The Meiji
Meiji
emperor
Deity.
who were proud of being born during that period, talked about him quite
Japanese,
in human terms.
Men emulated
the emperor
a Kaiser mustache
fondly
by wearing
like
the Meiji
standard
joke
and gossiped
about his liking for women
of all ages.
A
the people
well-known
to have been
among
Taisho,
concerning
was that he rolled up a document
that a minister
handed him, put
feeble,
mentally
it against
his eye like a telescope,
and looked
around.
To avoid
further
the crown prince, Showa, took over his father's official
embarrassment,
functions.
A conspicuous
of humanity
to Showa
is the image
of the
example
assigned
Emperor's,
as a serious biologist,
emperor
leaders and mass
eagerly propagated
by the political
media throughout
his life.
an image in accordance
with
They wished to promote
the country's
modernization
for the Japanese
in Western science
effort,
epitomized
and
from
the perspective
of native
Shintoism
and even
technology.
Surely,
the emperor's
would
Buddhism,
have been an intensive
gaze into a microscope
examination
of nature deities,
an interpretation
which did not cross anyone's
mind.
A story also circulated
about Showa who ate noodles
for the first time when he
travelled
As in the story about
throughout
Japan in the 1950s and liked them.
the theme is the irony of the prohibition
for emperors
Sakuramachi,
against eating
non-rice
as humans
indeed cherish
as food.
grains, which emperors
The Japanese
on television
the condition
of Showa's health during
daily watched
his last months
in late 1988 and early 1989.
His blood pressure,
pulse rate, and
other
details
were
broadcast
The Japanese
are generally
fond of
day and night.
minor
in
fluctuations
the
condition
of
one's
talking
body (see Ohnukiand to that extent such detailed
Tierney
1984:51-74)
to
reports were not peculiar
the emperor,
of the emperor's
except that such public disclosure
intimate
condition
was felt inappropriate.
blood transfusions
were reported
as well.
Repeated
His
several
times by blood rumored
to have come from
"royal blood" was replaced
event of the exchange
young defense
of royal blood
army men. Yet, this dramatic
for commoner
blood
did not receive
much
attention--a
clear
of the
sign
of the human emperor.
recognition
like the kami, have superhuman
Still, the emperors,
powers.
Having
usurped
and economic
political
the military
power from the emperors,
seem
governments
about
210
ETHNOLOGY
to have
an uneasy
held
traditionally
Even
adopted.
and
ambivalent
attitude
toward
the symbolic/religious
On the one hand, their lack of support for the
by them.
rituals during
the Medieval
and Early Modern
of imperial
periods
performance
that they did not rely on the emperor's
a
power to guarantee
symbolic
suggests
of rice,
which
was important
for the agrarian
ideology
they had
good yield
power
held
and ex-emperor
of emperors
by the
daring was the banishing
and Juntoku(r.
Go-Toba(r.
1210-1221),
1155-1158),
1184-98),
1990:144,
Emperor
147,
150).
(r. 1318-1339)
(Kitagawa
with numerous
elaborates
instances
how the de facto military
more
shoguns;Sutoku(r.
and the Go-Daigo
(1990)
Kitagawa
leaders held power over emperors.
to recognize
leaders seemed
On the other hand, some military
human
or secular
At the height
their own strictly
power.
the limitation
of
of
the
Fujiwara
the greatest of the Regents,
expressed
Michinaga
(966-1027),
Fujiwara
oligarchy,
"Great as are our power and prestige,
nevertheless
his sentiments:
they are those of
of the Throne"
for we derive
them from the majesty
the Sovereign,
(Sansom
the special power of the emperor
not only acknowledged
Later shoguns
1958:157).
This was precisely
because
of doubts in
but actively
sought divine power as well.
in becoming
successful
their own mind whether
emperors.
they could be entirely
none
For example,
of rice.
Likewise,
their
heads
blasphemous
were kami.
dared
some
(Miyata,
presence.
take
over
attended
personal
Clearly,
the role of officiant
the imperial
rituals
communication),
knew
shoguns
they
in the rituals
for the soul
hoods (zukin)
wearing
as admission
of
perhaps
were
not
the emperors
over
their
who
these warriors'
of the power of kami
Dramatic
instances
revealing
recognition
when they demanded
their own apotheosis.
occurred
Thus, Toyotomi
Hideyoshi,
in uniting Japan for the first time, asked
the military
leader who in 1590 succeeded
court to deify him as Toyokuni
His life as a deity was
the imperial
Daimyojin.
short-lived
and his descendants
were
unable to enjoy his divine status.
Upon his
the
clan
defeated
and
death,
asked, or more
Tokugawa
Toyotomi
Ieyasu,
the
the
ordered
court
to
imperial
appropriately,
deny
divinity
previously
granted
to Hideyoshi.
of all shoguns,
Furthermore,
Tokugawa
Ieyasu, the most powerful
in his will asked the imperial
him as Tosho
court to deify
and his
Daigongen
became
the
bulwark
of
for
the
next
250
power
divinity
Shogunate
years (Inoue
his rival,
1967a; 1967b:258-59).
From the perspective
of power,
of beings in the universe
the hierarchy
consists
in ascending
of humans,
If we assume this
and deities
order.
shaman-emperors,
as permanent
and linear, then the orders by Hideyoshi
and Ieyasu to the
hierarchy
to deify them constitute
of this hierarchy.
an inversion
It means that
emperors
these humans
bestowed
to
the extraordinary
upon the emperor
power
willfully
create deities
out of mere humans,
feat.
the
quite an extraordinary
Likewise,
human
of the imperial
architects
the Meiji
period
system
during
assigned
themselves--mere
humans--the
to create
a bona fide deity
out of an
power
On the other hand, such inversions
in
of the hierarchy
are embedded
emperor.
where the hierarchy
of beings is neither fixed nor linear.
Japanese
religions
Thus,
in Japanese
an ordinary
human can assign divinity
even to a toothpick
religion,
(Miyata
1975).
These individual
instances
the dynamic
characterization
of the kami
expressing
in Japanese
are paralleled
with which
the Japanese
religion
by fluidity
adopted
various
When Buddhism
was introduced
from India via China
foreign
religions.
THE
and Korea,
But "most
it was
EMPEROR
OF JAPAN
AS DEITY
211
the imperial
eagerly
by the elites, including
family.
Japan at that time [the sixth and the seventh
centuries]
of the Buddha
as just another
kami" (Kitagawa
probably
thought
1990:136).
the Japanese
tried to reconcile
the two religions,
that the
Officially,
by claiming
of the buddhas
kami are manifestations
and bodhisattvas,
a theory known as honji
people
embraced
in
With equal ease, the Tokugawa
Japanese,
suijaku.
Neo-Confucianism
with its emphasis
on natural
the elites,
adopted
especially
law and the Way of Heaven
from the perspective
of Western
as it may be
concocted
Shinto' which was to be
religions,
"'non-religious
adhered
of
his
or
her personal
subject,
regardless
'religious'
I
affiliation"
As
elaborated
elsewhere
(Kitagawa
1990:161).
(Ohnuki-Tierney
most Japanese
both Buddhist
and Shintoist
1984),
today are at least nominally
and
without
conviction.6
To
understand
personal
simultaneously
usually
Japanese
is to abandon
the false dichotomies
of magic/religion
and primitive/
religiosity
civilized
How else could one explain
the prof usion of what I call "urban
(modern).
(Kitagawa
1990).
Astonishing
the Meiji government
to by every Japanese
Japanese
magic" among educated
today?
If the Japanese
have shown a fluid attitude
toward individual
deities
toward individual
so
did
religious
systems,
they toward both individual
as well
as
emperors
neither
the
From the perspective
and the imperial
of the Japanese
system.
folk,
nor
the
if
is divine,
the term implies
an ascription
of
emperor
imperial
system
absolute
to the kingship.
reminds
us that divine
divinity
Feeley-Harnik
(1985:276)
in the imagination
has existed
of anthropologists,
and not in
kingship
mostly
African
and other kingships.
The Japanese
offers
an
case, like many others,
of Zaire.
Their king too was a shaman,
the
parallel to the Kuba kingship
uncanny
medium
of the spirit,
who only later, around
1750, declared
spirit status as the
1978: esp. 207-208).
power of kings had increased
(Vansina
Without
the dynamics
and fluidity
of the notion
of kami and
considering
in Japanese
we fall short of understanding
the
supernatural
power
culture,
historical
been like
transformations
of the imperial
The emperor,
as a kami, has
system.
an empty vessel, whose content
can be assigned
and reassigned
meaning
actors.
the actors are constrained
by historical
Nonetheless,
by the received
wisdom
of the imperial
of meaning
in Japanese
system and the broader structure
in which the imperial
culture
system is situated.
SUMMARY
The Japanese
imperial
system is often portrayed
a linear
and absolute
with
Amaterasu
hierarchy
the divine kings, occupying
the apex
descendants,
has been promoted
since the end of the nineteenth
of Japan, but was almost completely
governments
War II.
Outside
of Japan
this view
seems
to
as a tradition
characterized
by
at the top and her direct
of Japanese
This view
society.
successive
century
by
military
eliminated
at the end of World
to be held
continue
as the
of the emperor.
Japanese
contemporary
perception
In sharp contrast,
the above discussion
tells us that the emperor
and the imperial
have undergone
often
as a result
of traditions
system
many
transformations,
invented
The emperor
in ancient
by successive
military
governments.
Japan was
a shaman whose power was simultaneously
and
On
religious,
economic,
political.
behalf of the agrarian population,
he ritually solicited
to
ensure
supernatural
power
bountiful
rice crops.
The harvest
ritual expressed
the symbolic
equivalence
212
ETHNOLOGY
between
food
and human reproduction.
This
consumption,
production,
agricultural
is
found
as
Levi-Strauss
equivalence
among many peoples,
pointed
(1969:e.g.269)
out with the material
from the Tupari,
in
and Cashibo
Mundurucu,
Calingang,
in whose languages
South America,
the same verb means to copulate
and to eat.
In subsequent
the political
Japanese
history,
military
usurped
power
governments
of
the
rice symbolism,
the basis of the ancient
Furthermore,
system.
has developed
from that of the imperial
semi-independently
it has lost its foundations
system.
developed
Although
during the Ancient
period,
it has survived
for a long time.
to say that the imperial
Yet, it is erroneous
system has enthusiastic
support
by
the Japanese
To the contrary,
most contemporary
are apathetic
today.
Japanese
about the imperial
Some of my Japanese
went about their
system.
colleagues
some attending
New Year's parties,
the mourning
for
business,
during
period
Showa.
to the ski slopes.
Some attack the imperial
Young people flocked
system,
and overtly (see Ohnuki-Tierney
Others were truly sorry about his
covertly
1990).
imperial
imperial
system,
death
for
others
felt
various
some because
death is to be mourned,
and
reasons;
anyone's
the emperor
had experienced
turbulent
sorry because
years.
Although
the political
ultra right follows
the line created
which
by the Meiji government,
the divinity
of the emperor,
it is a very small minority.
Most Japanese
emphasizes
are indifferent
to the imperial
Their attitude
toward the emperors
is akin
system.
to their attitude
toward the kami',
so long as the kami do not exercise
they do not concern
their power.
themselves
with
the kami
EPILOGUE
It is an outrageous
with an undercurrent
of Orientalism,
to
misunderstanding,
the
as
and
the
as God,
Japanese
portray
perceived
having
"worshipped"
emperor
as a British
Ian Buruma,
did in a recent New York Times Magazine
journalist,
article that featured
a two-page
of a few Japanese
to the ground
picture
bowing
in front of the imperial
The term kami as embodied
in the emperors
is
palace.
Buruma's
to portray rising
hardly what the English
term, God, suggests.
attempt
in Japan
militarism
this imagery
is an irresponsible
and misleading
through
of contemporary
As I completed
this writing,
representation
the war
Japanese.
with
I cannot
resist juxtaposing
Buruma's
with
contention
the
Iraq ended.
accusation
that the same Japanese
are not military
to send ground forces
enough
to Saudi Arabia,
thus ducking
the moral responsibility
of a world economic
power.
It was the American
Forces that stripped
the Japanese
Occupational
military,
only
to reinstate
it under the name of Defense
Force when the threat of the cold war-that monstrous
construction
which gave an excuse for very many aggressions--was
seen to be intensifying.
It is worth reflecting
upon the double ironies of history:
"it was an irony of history that Western colonial
control of much of Asia, some of
which went back four centuries,
was ended by an Asian nation that had emulated
the Western colonial
that
powers.
Perhaps it was an even greater irony of history
the imperial
which
had been mercilessly
and utilized
throne,
manipulated
by
various ruling forces in Japan since 1868, turned out to be the only viable authority
that could surrender
the huge body of armed forces at the end of World War II"
As Carol Gluck, during a television
interview
after the death
(Kitagawa
1990:165).
of Showa Emperor,
remarked
the
or
the imperial
perceptively,
blaming
emperor
is merely an attempt to shift the responsibility
system for militarism
for World War
THE
II, which should
the military.
be shared
EMPEROR
by all Japanese,
including
OF JAPAN
AS DEITY
the emperor,
213
but especially
NOTES
1. Jan Vansina offered invaluable written comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Robert Bellah's
encouragement led me to develop the discussion on kami. Aidan SouthalPs comments from comparative
perspective were helpful. Leonard Plotnicov extended generous support and substantial comments as
a colleague. I am thankful to all. This article is not a defense of the imperial system or a polemic
regarding its future. Nor do I seek to ignore where the responsibility of aggression may lay in the past
and, more importantly, in the future. Indeed, there is justification for voicing my views on these
matters. During World War II, as a fifth grader, machine gun bullets fired from a diving plane sped
inches from me as I jumped into a ditch. This paper is dedicated to my mother who, instead of going
to the air raid shelter, searched for me during the raid, and to my maternal grandmother whose sons,
lost in the war, would have given her comfort in her later years.
2. The term daijosai is more popular at present, while onamesai is an older pronunciation. A more
proper pronunciation was oname matsuri (reading all the characters in kun) or onie matsuri (see Bock
1990:27). For descriptions of the onamesai in English, see Bock 1990; Ellwood 1973; Holtom 1972.
3. In the main text (honbun) and Sections 4 and 6 of Book 1 of the Nihonshoki, it is Takami Musubi,
rather than Amaterasu, who sends to earth Ho no Ninigi (Ninigi no Mikoto), the heavenly grandson,
wrapped in the madoko ohusuma (sacred bedding) (Matsumae 1977:95-96).
4. To enforce this new doctrine, the Meiji government systematieally reorganized some 170,000 shrines
to be directly under the control of the Imperial Household. Furthermore, rituals at local shrines and on
national holidays were co-ordinated with the imperial rituals (Murakami 1977:132-140).
The
government issued an ordinance prohibiting Buddhistic practices such as gong ringing or reciting sutras;
instead, the people were told to pray to the Shinto deities (Murakami 1977:68-69).
Imperial rituals also underwent significant changes under the Meiji ordinance. With the adoption of
the Gregorian Calendar, the date for the niinamesai was fixed on November 23, rather than the
traditional date in the lunar calendar. While the onamesai had always been held in Kyoto, for Emperor
Meiji it was moved to Tokyo to signal the new era at a new capital. The government allowed people to
make offerings during the onamesai, a custom hitherto allowed only for the annual harvest ritual of
niinamesai. Also, the emperor's wife became involved for the first time. Reflecting the Meiji leaders'
desire to situate Japan in the international scene, the government held a party the day after the
'onamesai. inviting foreign amassadors, although the emperor was not present.
5. Only since the 1950s have some historians and political scientists turned their attention to how the
Japanese people perceive the emperors and the imperial system. For the Meiji period, see Irokawa (1968,
1970).
6. This phenomenon has been debated by scholars; Eisenstadt (n.d.) explains it in terms of his scheme
of Axial vs. non-Axial religions; Kitagawa (1990) describes it as "eclectic," others as "multilayered," while
still others see that various religions have been "fused" (for details, see Ohnuki-Tierney
1984:145-49).
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