Early Modern Japan

EARLY MODERN PEROID DOCUMENT GROUP 3 Reyna Burruel (Editor) Siera Knight Tim Salomon Nona Patrick The early modern period of Japan is a unique time in Japan's history. The period forged the power of words and physical actions together to create ideological meanings.

The following articles provide insights into understanding aspects of Japanese historical culture. Oliver Ansart's article "Rituals as Utopia: Ogyu Sorai's Theory of Authority" presents the belief that Confucianism (neo-Confucianism) structure was shifting in ideology; specifically in the way an individual used rituals and music to achieve a selfidentity through physical control of their human body and over material objects. Mary E. Berry's article "Was Early Modern Japan Culturally Integrated?" purposes the theory for the massive amounts of printed information from the Tokugawa Period as being influenced from China's print culture and created relationships to Buddhism, civil wars, and social/ political records considered necessary. Christopher Ives' article "The Mobilization of Doctrine: Buddhist Contributions to Imperial Ideology in Modern Japan" focuses on Shino reform, the surrounding questions over Buddhism, and adjusting ideology in doctrines in order to fit the needs of the people within the culture. Janine Sawada's article "Religious Conflict in Bakamatsu Japan" focuses on religious conflict as a way to achieve an enlighten state; in essence through the action of discourse the natural discovery is truth.

The articles about the early modern period included conflict, religious ideologies, and physical activities that people actively engaged in to express their identity which mirrored the formulation of Japan establishing its national identity before moving into the modern period.

[Siera Knight] Ansart, Oliver."Rituals as Utopia: Ogyu Sorai's Theory of Authority." Japanese Studies 29.1 (2009): 33-45.

In this article Ansart uses the early modern period of Japan to exemplify the shifting beliefs in Confucianism (neo-Confucianism), and the increased push for legalism during this era.

In this article, Ansart focuses on providing an insight to the neo-Confucius philosopher named Ogyu Sorai, and how his utopian beliefs became too irrational in an evolving society. Sorai believed that authority could be obtained through rituals which, in turn, could develop customs and habits. In his policy proposals, Sorai emphasized the theory of rituals in laws, institutions, and measures in order to control the physical body. This form of control ranged from gestures and possessions, to a person’s location (which meant having people placed somewhere in the country where they could not escape, which lead to the idea of closed communities where everyone monitored everyone else), rank and social status. He believed this use of control was useful, rather than the use of force, threat, or argumentation in order to achieve authority. He believed that by manipulating the body, only then could the condition of the heart be affected. Once the heart was affected, the real identity of the people would awaken.

According to Ansart's article Sorai emphasized the use of rituals and music because he believed that both could provide education without the use of words, and thus the belief that legalism would not be necessary. The use of words was considered useless and could not win over people. This was because the common man did not have the intellectual ability to use words as a way to fully cover complex subjects. Equally, the listeners did not have the capacity to understand such complexities. Also, “when one teaches by [explaining the] reason [of things], words merely multiply”. In short, attempts at verbal persuasions and explanations only lead to endless and unproductive arguments. Sorai added an economic factor in to rituals. Sorai was interested in clothing (kimonos) and materials in order to distinguish higher ranks. Here, he states his indifference to the common people.

He had government-ordered distribution since resources were scarce to begin with. The economy affects rituals in the sense that it can affect social order and behavior (people’s attitude, relations with others, and mentality).

In conclusion Sorai’s neo-Confucius philosophy did not fit the norms of neo-Confucius traditional beliefs. For instance, the neo-Confucius believed in the natural law, which recognizes nature, gods, and spirits as providers of principle and organization for man.

However, Sorai did not believe that anything outside the human race could provide any form of guidance to man. From the beginning, Sorai’s principles prove to be a failure.

First, Sorai’s rituals on trying to control the body are strict to the point of totalitarianism.

Ansart considers it more like a utopia of authority, and explains how a utopia has never been successfully achieved in known history. Nevertheless, Ansart does not say it is impossible, and leaves the subject open-ended by saying how the mind, and how it connects to the body, is too mysterious and complicated too conclude. Second, once Dazai

Shundai (Sorai’s closest student) develops an interest for a particularly attractive woman, he grasps onto a new principle that focused more on behavior rather than feelings and state of mind. Third, by this time, society was beginning to accept rules and norms over customs and traditions. Fourth, the increased mobility of travel and visitors made it impossible for Sorai to establish a closed-off, monitoring community where everyone would know each other. Identical to what is seen in the readings, neo-Confucianism has evolved and branched, and strong state authority develops. The founder of neo-Confucianism was Mencius (371-289 B.C.). He believed mankind to be naturally good, and emphasized education as a way to obtain it. However, his successor, Xun Zi (300-230 B.C.), believed mankind to be evil, and legalism (an intense, totalitarian-like form of state authority that forced laws and obedience) was needed in order to keep man in place. By the time the Tokugawa period arrives, philosophical leaders began to add, subtract, and blend philosophies/religions according to what they considered ideal. For instance, in Religions of Japan in Practice, the Shingaku sect religion shapes neo-Confucian into a practical and understandable philosophy that the commoners can easily adapt to. In comparison, Sorai seems to take the idea that man is good in nature ideal (Mencius), but must be approached and conducted through a form of totalitarianism (Xun Zi). In the Nanzan guide, state authority is described as being heavily emphasized, though in a religious and anti-Christian sense.

[Reyna Burruel] Berry, Mary Elizabeth."Was Early Modern Japan Culturally Integrated?" Modern Asian Studies 31.3 (1997): 547-581.

In this article Mary E. Berry presents the thesis "The integration of systems tends to accelerate the separation of people" (549). The article focuses on convergence/divergence within the Japanese society in the early modern period known as the Tokugawa Period.

Berry uses printed information from the Tokugawa Period as resources for the social and political formation that occurred in Japan believing that the printing industry was reflecting a cultural relevance. Essentially, the lists, maps, religious attendance records, financial obligations, directories, military service, family names, and stories (about people real or fictional) had a part in Japanese culture. The printing industry promoted literacy, education, documentation, new markets, new employment, and made information a commodity. The printing was bringing people together sharing information and a literary skill, but people used the printing differently depending on their agendas.

In conclusion Mary E. Berry purposes a theory for the massive amount of printed material that came from the Tokugawa Period and profiles events that shaped Japan's history. In the end the theme of convergence/divergence with Japan's culture was not proven. The relevance of the information was assigned to social and political concerns involving the military, politics, religion, economy, business, and agriculture. Berry thesis tried to link the

foreign influence of China, Japan's civil wars, Toyomi Hideyoshi's governing practices, printing, Buddhism, and Japan's homogenous society classification to exemplify the theory of things naturally grouping together will naturally pull apart to be distinctive. Berry is looking at the historical information from a distance in which the natural instinct is to draw relations between known facts to develop a possible conclusion. The first is that China is known to be a print culture and Japan was influenced by the Chinese wood block printing techniques and by the Kanji writing system. The technique and methodologies are the same but the differences lie in the usage. The second is listing generalized subjects together and then separating into categories such as agriculture or Buddhist religious sects. Third is that Japanese people that have been termed homogeneous, but diverge for individuality through art, poetry, entertainment, acting styles, and beliefs. The early modern period of Japan has ample information in which to formulate possible reasons for tends the Japanese culture followed and Mary E. Berry formed a plausible theory for the printing of information that took place in Japan.

[Nona Patrick] Ives, Christopher."The Mobilization of Doctrine: Buddhist Contributions to Imperial Ideology in Modern Japan."

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1.2 (1999):83-106.

In this article The Mobilization of Doctrine, Buddhist Contribution to Imperial Ideology in Modern Japan was written by Christopher Ives. Ives received his bachelors of arts from Williams College and his master and doctorates degrees from Claremont Graduate School.

He is the department chair of Religious Studies at Stonehill College and his primary focus in on modern Zen ethics. Ives has published book chapters and articles in the Journal of Buddhist Ethics, the Eastern Buddhist, the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, and also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Buddhist Ethics. The article outlines the accusations and arguments made in 1939, during the Shōwa period (December 25, 1926 to January 7, 1989), when Miyai Kanerjirō attacked Shin Buddhists in the Tokyo newspaper, The Chūgai Nippō. According to Ives, Miyai was a part of the Shinto Reform Association and portrayed Buddhism in the article as an alien tradition that renounced worship of the “heavenly (Japanese) ancestors” and questioned whether Buddhism was in accord with Japanese spirit or not.

According to Ives forty-five Buddhist from varying importance responded to the attack in a special issue of the journal Chūō Bukkyō. The Buddhists countered with historical and doctrinal arguments as well as cited historical patterns of Buddhist support for the “(Japanese) state”, the Japanese emperor and especially used the term “unity of the

emperor’s law and the Buddha’s law (85)” in their arguments. One argument was that the requiting of blessings in Buddhism “nourished such element of Japanese spirit as loyalty to the ruler and love of country, reverence toward gods and worship of ancestors, and love of morality, peace and nature (96).” This kind of argument is made in each of the forty-five Buddhist essays according to Ives. An additional argument was the connections between buddhas and one kami or as Ives writes, “Buddhist doctrine and an imperial ideology (97).” It is highlighted that there was an imperial notion of an unbroken dynastic lineage from Amaterasu (a sun goddess and one of the principal Shinto deities) to the current emperor, thus the emperor was considered a “living kami (99).” Thus, Japanese Buddhism recognizes and reveries the emperor.

In conclusion Ives closes by stating that the Buddhist authors of the Chūō Bukkyō issue “plugged Buddhism into the core of the imperial ideology (100).” He also states that the Buddhist writers either “ignored transcendent or Universalist elements of Buddhism or gave those elements a parochial reading (101).” Ives concludes with a thought that the Chūō Bukkyō writers were “continuing a long tradition of cooperation between Buddhist institutions and the Japanese sate, a tradition of cooperation that had engendered over the centuries (103).” In my opinion, this is a good article for arguments in how Buddhism has adapted through the years to the Japanese state and how Buddhism is related to the Japanese spirit. The Chūō Bukkyō writers demonstrated how Japanese Buddhism has a tradition of cooperation and that one of Buddhism’s main characteristics is the ability to fuse with other things, either for survival or to maintain harmony.

[Tim Salomon] Sawada, Janine Anderson."Religious Conflict in Bakamatsu Japan." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 21. 2-3 (1994): 211-230.

In This article Janine Sawada begins the article attempting to define “religious conflict.”

Sawada foreshadows future topics in the article by asking the question, “When issues of institutional power, politics, or economics are truly central to the conflict when doctrinal and ritual factors are in fact “marginal” should we still consider the dispute 'religious'?

Sawada introduces the literary record of conflict between Confucianism and Buddhism which started in China. This conflict carried over to Japan and as Neo-Confucianism became more prominent among Japanese aristocrats a growing dissent fostered among the ruling class. Confucian scholars became more vocal in their criticisms of Buddhism and few Buddhists produced strong counter arguments against Confucian criticisms. Sawada introduces Imakita Kosen, a Rinzai Zen Master that produced a definitive work, and the Zenkan Ichiran, which served to reverse the wave of anti-Buddhist sentiment among the ruling class. The Zenkan Ichiran was written in response to the works of Confucian scholar

Higashi Takusha, an advisor to Kikkwa Tsunemasa Lord of Iwakuni province. The Zenkan Ichiran builds its defense by developing the ideas expressed in 30 key Confucian passages in Zen terms. Kosen essentially argues that Confucianism and Buddhism are the same based on the grounds that both are systems that teach a method of personal development for the purpose of attaining some higher universal truth. Sawada submits that Kosen's attempt to harmonize the conflicting ideas of Buddhism and Confucianism is the typified Japanese approach to solve interreligious conflict.

According to Sawada the underlying idea that allows Kosen to elaborate on the idea of commonality between Buddhism and Confucianism is notion that the enlightened state or mind transcends the boundaries of religious paradigms. Essentially, that all forms of religion eventually lead to the same enlightened state and are merely means to the same end. Kosen refers to the enlightened state as the “Great Way” which is only accessible through the mind. Although Kosen argues for the free exchange of ideas between Confucianism and Buddhism as a way of complementing one another to access the “Great Way,” he paints Buddhist rituals as a superior way to attaining enlightenment. Confucian practices are limited in application and Zen rituals are a more complete way to practice rituals such as meditation because it is not as bound as in Confucian practice.

In conclusion this biased presentation may have been founded in political and financial fear or as a roundabout attack on Takusha, the dominal Confucian advisor. Buddhist fears of being viewed as irrelevant and superfluous may have stemmed from the growing influence of Confucian ideals had in shaping Japanese politics and the ruling class. Sawada argues that the Zenkan Ichiran is a Buddhist call to arms to preemptively strike at Confucian criticism by establishing a commonality integrating Confucian idea into Buddhist practice in an effort to contemporize Buddhism and preserve its state funded patronage. Sawada's article contributes the underlying roots of the harmonizing nature of Japanese religion. The view that ultimate truth transcends the barriers of human institutions and all religious ritual lead to truth.