The Cultic World of the Blind Monks: Benzaiten, Jūzenji, and Shukujin
In: Journal of Religion in JapanSearch for other papers by Bernard Faure in
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Abstract
This paper examines the complex institutional and symbolic network that developed during the medieval period, bringing together people, places, institutions, myths, legends, rituals, and deities. It focuses on the relationships between the goddess of musical arts and eloquence Benzaiten, the Hie Shrine deity Jūzenji, and itinerant performers such as the blind monks (mōsō) and the biwa hōshi, who were instrumental in bringing together traditional Buddhist teachings and the performing arts (geinō). The paper argues that these relationships formed part of a broader semantic and symbolic field, at the center of which was the Protean figure of the shukujin (whose name can mean “astral god” and “god of destiny,” but also “god of the shuku”—outcasts groups and settlements). It shows how the latter was eventually identified by the Nō playwright Konparu Zenchiku (1405-1468), in his seminal work Meishukushū, with the figure of Okina, the divine old man that is widely regarded as the symbol of Nō theater. With the slow decline of the blind monks and the growing aestheticism of Nō, however, the vital connection between esoteric Buddhism, local religious traditions, and the performing arts eventually unraveled.
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1
Hattori (2009: esp. 27-108); Yamamoto (1998); and Meishukushū (1974). Zenchiku identifies Okina with the shukujin in his Meishukushū (1974: 403). The identity between Okina and Matarajin was first emphasized by Komatsu Kazuhiko (Komatsu 1985), but it has been questioned more recently by Amano Fumio (Amano 1995). See also Pinnington (1994), Nakazawa (2003), Matsuoka Shinpei (2005), Matsuoka Tomoyuki (2005), and Takahashi (2006). The term shukujin designated at first a category of medieval deities, but it seems that, with Konparu Zenchiku (and perhaps others), it came to designate a specific, individualized god, identified in the present case with Okina, the ancestor deity. Whenever the distinction is possible, I capitalize the name to indicate that it refers to that individual deity.
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5
On Uga Benzaiten, see Nanami (1986); and Ludvik (2007).
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6
See Fritsch (1996); and Hyōdō (1989: 159-183). On the Tōdōza, see Nihon shomin shiryō shūsei 17 (1972: 231); see also Matisoff (1973: 43 ff.).
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7
On Semimaru, see Matisoff (1973) and Fritsch (1996: 148); on Amayo and Komiya, see Fritsch (1996: 116-130).
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The Cultic World of the Blind Monks: Benzaiten, Jūzenji, and Shukujin
In: Journal of Religion in JapanSearch for other papers by Bernard Faure in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This paper examines the complex institutional and symbolic network that developed during the medieval period, bringing together people, places, institutions, myths, legends, rituals, and deities. It focuses on the relationships between the goddess of musical arts and eloquence Benzaiten, the Hie Shrine deity Jūzenji, and itinerant performers such as the blind monks (mōsō) and the biwa hōshi, who were instrumental in bringing together traditional Buddhist teachings and the performing arts (geinō). The paper argues that these relationships formed part of a broader semantic and symbolic field, at the center of which was the Protean figure of the shukujin (whose name can mean “astral god” and “god of destiny,” but also “god of the shuku”—outcasts groups and settlements). It shows how the latter was eventually identified by the Nō playwright Konparu Zenchiku (1405-1468), in his seminal work Meishukushū, with the figure of Okina, the divine old man that is widely regarded as the symbol of Nō theater. With the slow decline of the blind monks and the growing aestheticism of Nō, however, the vital connection between esoteric Buddhism, local religious traditions, and the performing arts eventually unraveled.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
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| Abstract Views | 715 | 138 | 20 |
| Full Text Views | 370 | 13 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 406 | 31 | 1 |
