Escaping its past: recasting the Grand Shrine of Ise
2010; Routledge; Volume: 11; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/14649373.2010.484175
ISSN1469-8447
Autores Tópico(s)Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
ResumoAbstract Abstract This essay examines how the Grand Shrine of Ise has successfully distanced itself from its prewar and wartime associations with Japanese imperialism and nationalism to become an untroubling site of Japanese cultural identity. Building on Jonathan Reynolds' essay which traces Ise's transformation to become a sign of Japanese aesthetics, this essay extends the examination of Ise's rehabilitation to two other trajectories. First, it examines SCAP's attempts to dismantle State Shintō and suggests that while Occupation authorities were successful in separating Shintō from the state, they left Ise Shrine uninterrogated, which allowed it to escape censure and continue into the postwar period relatively intact. The second trajectory is Japan's involvement in the preservation of World Heritage, which I suggest provides a new, international stage that furthers Ise Shrine's rehabilitation in entirely new ways. Keywords: Grand Shrine of Isecultural heritagecultural identityShintō Notes 1. The Yomiuri newspaper at the time called it an 'ominous sign indicating a renewed tie‐up between the state and state shintō' (cited in Scott‐Stokes 1979 Scott‐Stokes, Henry. 1979. 'Ohira worships at Tokyo Shrine where Tojo is newly honored'. New York Times, : A6 [Google Scholar]: A6). 2. This 'Yasukuni problem' has resulted in many scholarly and popular inquiries into the issue. These include: Takahashi (2005 Takahashi, Tetsuya. 2005. The Yasukuni Problem , Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō . [Google Scholar]), Nelson (2003 Nelson, John. 2003. 'Social memory as ritual practice: commemorating spirits of the military dead at Yasukuni Shinto Shrine'. Journal of Asian Studies, 62: 443–467. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), Harootunian (1999 Harootunian, Harry D. 1999. "'Memory, mourning and national morality: Yasukuni Shrine and the reunion of state and religion in post war Japan'". In Nation and Religion, Edited by: van der Veer, Peter and Lehmann, Hartmut. 140–166. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Most recently see Breen (2008 Breen, John, ed. 2008. Yasukuni, the War Dead and the Struggle for Japan's Past, New York: Columbia University Press. [Google Scholar]) and National Diet Library (2007 National Diet Library, ed. 2007. New Collection of Materials Related to the Yasukuni Problem , Tokyo: Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan . [Google Scholar]). 3. Yasukuni Shrine belonged to a category of special shrines dedicated to the war dead which included 'nation protecting shrines' (gōkoku jinja), it was also a part of the shrine hierarchy. Yasukuni was designated a 'special category imperial shrine' (bekkaku kanpei sha), which stood midway in the shrine hierarchy after the major, middle, and minor imperial (kanpei sha) and national shrines (kokuhei sha), but above the prefecture and village shrines (Hardacre 1989 Hardacre, Helen. 1989. Shintō and the State 1868–1988, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Sonoda and Hashimoto 2004 Sonoda, Minoru and Hashimoto, Masanobu. 2004. Dictionary of Shintō History , Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan . [Google Scholar]). 4. 'Nihonjin no "kokoro" no furusato ga kawaru koto naku koko ni arimasu.' This is the slogan that greets visitors to the Grand Shrine of Ise's website (http://www.isejingu.or.jp). 5. Other scholars have also argued this point. See for example Isozaki et al. (2005 Isozaki, Arata, Suzuki, Hiroyuki and Osamu, Ishiyama, eds. 2005. Criticism and Theory , Tokyo: Inakkusu Shuppan INAX . [Google Scholar]) and Isozaki (2006 Isozaki, Arata. 2006. Japan‐ness in Architecture, Cambridge: MIT Press. [Google Scholar]). 6. Visitor numbers have been increasingly steadily over the last several years, up from 5.6 million in 2005 and 6.29 million in 2006 (Mie Prefectural Government 2001 Mie Prefectural Government. 2001. "'Ise Shrine visitor figures'". http://www.city.ise.mie.jp/www/contents/1148020473519/files/13kannkou.pdf., accessed 14 June 2009 [Google Scholar]). 7. On periodic building, see Inagaki (2006 Inagaki, Eizō. 2006. "'An architectural study of periodic building' ''". In Research into Architectural History , Edited by: Keisuke, Fujii. 298–328. Tokyo: Chuō Kōron Bijutsushuppan . [Google Scholar]), Shimizu (2005 Shimizu, Shigeatsu. 2005. "'The past in architecture' ''". In What is the Modern? , Edited by: Hiroyuki, Suzuki. 67–108. Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai . [Google Scholar]), Ota (1993 Ōta, Hirotarō. 'The establishment of the periodic rebuilding system' ''. The Grand Shrine of Ise: Symposium. Edited by: Shunpei, Ueyama. pp.259–290. Kyoto: Junbunshoin . [Google Scholar]). 8. Koyasu notes that Tenmu was the first emperor to use the term 'tennō' (emperor) where the character for 'ten' referenced Amaterasu. Isozaki calls this Tenmu's 'fabrication' (Isozaki 2006 Isozaki, Arata. 2006. Japan‐ness in Architecture, Cambridge: MIT Press. [Google Scholar]: 163). 9. Pilgrimage to Ise became known as the 'okage mairi', a pilgrimage of thanksgiving, and was a significant phenomenon and became popularly regarded as a journey that one should make at least once. See for example Yoshihara (2002 Yoshihara, Michimasa. 2002. Ise Pilgrimage in the Edo Period , Tokyo: Gakuyūsha . [Google Scholar]) and Shinjō (1984 Shinjō, Tsunezō. 1984. "'Ise pilgrimage in the medieval period' ''". In Research into the History of Kokuminseikatsu , Edited by: Tasaburō, Itō. 45–97. Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan . [Google Scholar]). 10. Hardacre gives a slightly different translation of this phrase: 'shrines as offering the rites of nation' (Hardacre 1989 Hardacre, Helen. 1989. Shintō and the State 1868–1988, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 97). 11. See Fukada (1900 Fukada, Chokujyō. 1900. Sketchbook for Primary School , Okayama: Saikinsha Shoten . [Google Scholar]), Meguro (1912 Meguro, Wasaburō. 1912. The Japanese Citizen's Reader , Tokyo: Chūryōgikai . [Google Scholar]), Nihon Shoseki (1904 Shoseki, Nihon, ed. 1904. Suggestions for Teaching Kokugo , Vol. 3, Tokyo: Nihon Shoseki . [Google Scholar]), Ikebe (1905 Ikebe, Yoshikata. 1905. Reader for Imperial Soldiers , Tokyo: Eiseido . [Google Scholar], 1913 Ikebe, Yoshikata. 1913. The Imperial Family , Tokyo: Hakubunkan . [Google Scholar]), Machida (1910 Machida, Yoshioki. 1910. A Condensed Account of the Grand Shrine of Ise , Osaka: Boshin Shōsho Fukyūkai . [Google Scholar]). 12. Hirohito wrote: 'At the time my first concern was the people, for if the existing conditions continued they would be destroyed. I would not be able to protect the people, my children. Secondly … if the enemy were to land in the vicinity of Ise Bay, the two shrines of Ise and Atsuta would fall immediately under enemy control. We would not have time to move the imperial treasures; we would not be able to protect them. If that were to happen, it would be difficult to preserve the national polity. Thus I decided that we must negotiate for peace even if I had to sacrifice my own life' (Irokawa 1995 Irokawa, Daikichi. 1995. The Age of Hirohito: In Search of Modern Japan, New York: Free Press. [Google Scholar]: 125–126). 13. With regards to the relationship between the imperial family and Shintō, the study writes: 'The whole history of Shintō has been intimately connected with members of the imperial family, real or mythological. In recent years, Japanese political philosophy has become so closely involved with the Shintō cult that today it can hardly be understood apart from its interconnection with Shintō' (CIE 1945c Civil Information and Education Section (1945c) 'Shinto – Staff Study', 3 December. General Headquarters/Supreme Commander for Allied Powers, Public Opinion and Sociological Research Division, General Subject File, 1945–52, Box number 5932, Folder 29 [Google Scholar]). 14. The full text of Ashizu's essay, 'A personal opinion on the changes to the shrine system' is reproduced in Jinja Shinpōsha (1971 Jinja Shinpōsha. 1971. The Shintō Directive and Postwar Shintō , Tokyo: Jinja Shinpōsha . [Google Scholar]: 244–252). 15. The text of the Shintō Directive can be found in Hardacre (1989 Hardacre, Helen. 1989. Shintō and the State 1868–1988, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 167–170). 16. The text of the Rescript is reproduced in New York Times (1946 1946. 'Text of Hirohito New Year Rescript'. New York Times, : 15 [Google Scholar]: 15). 17. The Association's mission includes the 'revival of the Shintō religion that was unfairly suppressed by the "Shintō Directive"' and lists among its activities the encouragement of 'reverence of the Grand Shrine of Ise and distribution of its amulets' (Association of Shintō Shrines 2009 Association of Shintō Shrines. 2009. "'Main activities' ''". http://www.jinjahoncho.or.jp/info/02.html, accessed 1 September 2009 [Google Scholar]). 18. This led one assessment of the Shintō Directive to label it a 'gyaku en', an 'irony of fate' in which a 'negative thing' produced a relatively positive outcome (Jinja Shinpōsha 1971 Jinja Shinpōsha. 1971. The Shintō Directive and Postwar Shintō , Tokyo: Jinja Shinpōsha . [Google Scholar]: 91). 19. Koyasu and Arata Isozaki also trace Ise's ideological power to this same moment of construction in the seventh century, but they are careful to insist that the Meiji state's version of the family state system included new ideological and institutional innovations, even as it was calling on existing codes and notions associated with Ise. This important detail is largely absent from Kawazoe's analysis. 20. Which he does when he writes: 'In a sense then, it is true that Ise Shrine did in fact become a shrine that institutionally spurred Japanese citizen onto war even if the shrine itself did not do this' (Kawazoe 2007 Kawazoe, Noboru. 2007. The Grand Shrine of Ise: The Shrine of the Forest and Peace , Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō . [Google Scholar]: 19, emphasis added). 21. From a prewar high of more than 800,000 visitors in the late 1930s, visitor numbers plunged to bottom out at less than 100,000 in 1945 (Mie Prefectural Government 2001 Mie Prefectural Government. 2001. "'Ise Shrine visitor figures'". http://www.city.ise.mie.jp/www/contents/1148020473519/files/13kannkou.pdf., accessed 14 June 2009 [Google Scholar]). Fujitani and Naoki found that only 83,000 people visited Ise Shrine in 1947 (Fujitani and Naoki 1960 Fujitani, Toshio and Naoki, Kōjirō. 1960. The Grand Shrine of Ise , Kyoto: Sanichi Shobō . [Google Scholar]: 206). By 1949, however, visitor numbers had recovered to about 500,000. 22. The 60th rebuilding in 1973 produced no fewer than six monographs on the event, and the 61st saw at least 12 volumes directly related to it. A search of the database of printed materials maintained by Japan's National Institute of Informatics (kokuritsu jyōhōgaku kenkyū jyo) with the keyword 'Ise jingū' lists a total of 717 items, out of which 603 were published since 1970. In the period 1951–1970, only 50 items are listed. 23. Ise Shrine's 62nd periodic rebuilding is scheduled to take place in 2013, and the National Museum of History in Tokyo hosted an exhibition in conjunction with it in the summer of 2009. Part of this event was a lecture series, in which one of the lectures was titled 'Ise Shrine and Japanese People: The Connection of Life and Blood.' 24. These included initiatives to promote Japanese culture through films, art exhibitions, and donations of books about Japan to foreign libraries, and have been augmented by an extensive program of sending Japanese technical and education specialists to other countries, the promotion of Japanese language study through both the dispatch of teachers overseas and language programs. 25. In 1987, MOFA noted that: 'Working to overcome the insularity in the Japanese economy and society will obviously have considerable ramifications throughout society, and it may be that this process will entail considerable short‐term sacrifices in some cases. However, accepting other people, products, and values is not only a Japanese responsibility in the international community but may also be said to be an indispensable prerequisite to the economic and social revitalization of Japan and hence to ensuring our medium‐ and long‐term prosperity and to be an important contributing factor in improving the quality of Japanese life and enabling us to realize our rightful place in the international community' (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan 1987 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. 1987. Diplomatic Bluebook 1987 http://www.mofa.go.jp/POLICY/other/bluebook/1987/1987-contents.htm, accessed 20 June 2009 [Google Scholar]). 26. As of 2005, the Japanese government has contributed almost US$48 million to the Fund, financing projects on 31 sites, in 24 countries. While Japan is not the only country to deposit this kind of fund with UNESCO, the Japan Funds‐in‐Trust outstrip the others by a large margin. 27. For example, Tanaka Migaku writes: 'In these last 20 years since UNESCO's General Assembly adopted the World Heritage Convention, the Europeanized (yōroppa ryū) understanding, and safeguarding of world heritage has been the dominant current' (Tanaka 1995 Tanaka, Migaku. 1995. 'The Nara conference and the authenticity of cultural heritage' ''. Cultural Properties Monthly , 377: 10–12. [Google Scholar]: 11). 28. For a detailed summary of the institutional process leading to the conference, see Masuda (1995 Masuda, Kanefusa. 1995. 'The road from to the Nara Conference on World Cultural Heritage' ''. Cultural Properties Monthly , 377: 13–19. [Google Scholar]). 29. Ise Shrine's layout has not been constant through time. In the Inner Shrine (Naiku) today, the main hall is forward of the two treasure halls (hōden), but it has not always been this way. Tokugawa period plans of the Inner Shrine show that the treasure halls flanked the main hall on the same line. For a history of Ise's periodic rebuilding, see Fukuyama (1976 Fukuyama, Toshio. 1976. Architecture and History of the Grand Shrine of Ise , Nagaokakyō: Nihon Shiryō Kankōkai . [Google Scholar]), Inagaki (2006 Inagaki, Eizō. 2006. "'An architectural study of periodic building' ''". In Research into Architectural History , Edited by: Keisuke, Fujii. 298–328. Tokyo: Chuō Kōron Bijutsushuppan . [Google Scholar]) and Isozaki (2006 Isozaki, Arata. 2006. Japan‐ness in Architecture, Cambridge: MIT Press. [Google Scholar]). 30. A point UNESCO's Director‐General Matsuura Koichiro underscored in his opening remarks at the conference: 'The interest of Japan in cultural heritage protection is long‐standing and has taken different forms, nationally and internationally. At the international level, Japan is an ardent supporter of efforts far and wide to safeguard world heritage in all its forms. At the same time, there is a strong commitment within the country to protect Japan's own cultural heritage' (UNESCO 2006 UNESCO, ed. Proceedings of the International Conference on the Safeguarding of Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage: Towards an Integrated Approach – Nara, Japan – 2004. Paris: UNESCO. [Google Scholar]: 24). 31. The forum's primary focus was utaki, defined as 'places considered to have a sacred atmosphere' which is a part of intangible heritage that is still alive today, amid everyday life all over Okinawa (Yamamoto and Fujimoto 2004 Yamamoto, Masako and Fujimoto, Mari, eds. 2004. Utaki in Okinawa and Sacred Spaces in Asia: Community Development and Cultural Heritage, Tokyo: Japan Foundation. [Google Scholar]).
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