Shinto and Japanese popularreligion: case studies of multi-variantpractice from Kyushu and Okinawa

J A M E S H U N T L E Y G R AY S O N

Abstract: The concept of multi-variant practices and beliefs as being character-istic of the shrines associated with Japanese popular religion is explored throughan examination of four shrines in Kyushu and Okinawa. None of these shrines,even those which are formally associated with the Association of Shinto Shrines,evinces the characteristics of Shinto practice which the Association claims istypical of Shinto. How are we to account for these differences? Insight is pro-vided through an examination of the original function and subsequent historyof these four non-mainstream shrines. Comparison of the history and practiceof these shrines with similar shrines in Korea illustrates the importance of re-searching both locally and comparatively to draw out the unique features of eachshrine. Before scholars can accept broad generalizations about popular Japanesereligious practice, or about Shinto, anthropological research in addition to his-torical and textual research should be carried out on the practices and traditionsof individual, local shrines. Examination of empirical data drawn from numerouscase studies will enable scholars to have a clearer idea of actual religious prac-tice in Japan, regional variations, and similarities and differences with practicesin neighbouring nations.

Keywords: Shinto, popular religion, Mikato Shrine, Hiki Shrine, TamayamaShrine, Tsukishiro-no-miya Shrine

Introduction

In the spring of 1999, I received a grant from the Japan Foundation Endow-ment Committee to conduct field research in Japan on certain shrines in ShimanePrefecture which, from their formal names, appeared to be dedicated to Koreanspirits. I also had the opportunity to examine a range of different shrines in threeother regions of Japan. As an anthropological researcher of Korean religions, thisfield work confirmed an impression which I had had for several years, namely,

Japan Forum 17(3) 2005: 347367 ISSN: 09555803 print/1469932X onlineCopyright C 2005 BAJS DOI: 10.1080/09555800500283885

348 Shinto and Japanese popular religion

that Shinto was a socio-political construction and not the coherent and distincttradition which has often been presented in standard works on world religions.From my field work, it seemed apparent that during the nineteenth century a highdegree of rationalization of local traditions had taken place to create a uniform tra-dition which had not actually been there before. In my previous article (Grayson2002), I was able to show that, contrary to the received image of Susa-no-o inthe Kojiki, Nihon shoki and scholarly work in general, historic and current mythstold about this figure in Shimane depict him not as an unruly, violent characterbut as a benevolent culture bearer, the bringer of civilization (the knowledge ofmetallurgy and afforestation techniques) to western Japan. Subsequent examina-tion of shrines in Miyazaki, Kagoshima and Okinawa Prefectures convinced methat there was a significant disjuncture between the presentation of the unifor-mity of Shinto practice and actual local practice. It further convinced me of themethodological importance of researching local traditions before drawing broadgeneralizations about the state of national practices. The conclusions drawn frommy research were broadly in line with current research about Japanese shrines.In their introduction to a collection of essays Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami(2000), the editors John Breen and Mark Teeuwen demonstrate on the one handhow Shinto superficially appears to be and to have been a homogeneous entityboth in contemporary Japan and throughout Japanese history. To illustrate thisfirst point, they refer to the ubiquity of Shinto shrines, the striking character ofthe costumes of the Shinto priests, the existence of a large organization, the JinjaHoncho (Association of Shinto Shrines), which regulates and co-ordinates themajority of Japanese shrines, the commonality and ubiquity of individual reli-gious practices, and the wide-spread presence of local, national and calendricalceremonies. They cite all of these features as indications of an apparent coherentand distinct religious tradition (Breen and Teeuwen 2000: 12).

However, in spite of all of these signs of unity and uniformity, they also pointout that there are anomalies. Referring to the apparently seamless connectionbetween the symbols of imperial and local rituals, the editors of the volume com-ment that, in spite of superficial appearances, there is little awareness on the partof the majority of Japanese about the nature of the rites that are focused on theimperial house. Breen and Teeuwen state that there is an anomaly between aself-consciously Shinto establishment and the national, not to say nationalis-tic, agenda professed by the majority of its members on the one hand, and localshrines and the practices and beliefs of ordinary Japanese who venerate there, onthe other (Breen and Teeuwen 2000: 3). In other words, there is not the coherentand distinct religious tradition which seems apparent upon first examination.

Breen and Teeuwen also cite another anomaly, namely, that between the statis-tics quoted for adherence to Shinto and the actual sense of belonging to sucha religious entity on the part of individual Japanese. Research has shown consis-tently that, in spite of the fact that many Japanese participate in a large number ofShinto rituals and festivals, they have no awareness that their practice constitutes

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something called Shinto, or that they themselves are Shintoist. They certainlydo not, themselves, profess affiliation to the Shinto religion. They go on to argue,however, that Shinto as a religious construction is not a recent creation, but canbe shown to have long historic roots (Breen and Teeuwen 2000: 13).

Nonetheless, there still remains in both foreign and Japanese popular conceptiona homogeneous religious practice called Shinto which the Jinja Honcho in apamphlet styled simply Shinto, written to explain the essence of Shinto to non-Japanese, describes in the following way:

Shinto is a general term for the activities of the Japanese people to worship allthe deities of heaven and earth, and its origin is as old as the history of theJapanese. It was towards the end of the 6th century when the Japanese wereconscious of these activities and called them Way of [the] Kami (the deity orthe deities). It coincides [with] the time when the 31st Emperor Yomei prayedbefore an image of Buddha [for] the first time as an emperor for [the] recoveryof his illness. Thus accepting Buddhism, a foreign religion, the Japanese realized[the] existence of a tradition of their own faith.

(Ueda n.d.: 2)

This statement may be taken to be the official view on the subject by the prin-cipal organization which co-ordinates the activities of the vast majority of Shintoshrines in Japan. In this document, the Shrine Association makes three claimsabout Shinto. First, the Association claims that those religious activities whichit classifies as Shinto have existed since time immemorial, that is since the be-ginning of the Japanese nation. Second, the Association claims that Shinto is aset of religious acts focused on the propitiation of the deities of the heavens andthe national land. Third, the Association claims that Shinto became a formalizedentity, that is a set of distinct and different religious practices, when the EmperorYomei (traditional dates, r. 5857) is said to have prayed to the Buddha for thefirst time in his role as sovereign. This third claim implies a close relationshipbetween the sovereign and Shinto, and that Shinto had existed as a homogeneousentity up until that time. These three claims taken together imply that Shinto wasa monolithic set of practices throughout the nation from time immemorial andthat it was the introduction of Buddhism which created a situation of religiousdiversity. However, the field research which I conducted on shrines in Kyushuand Okinawa indicated to me that the conceptions of local people and their ritualpractices do not conform to the official view espoused by the Shrine Associationto which their shrines belong. In this essay, I will reflect on observations drawnfrom my field work and compare them with observations of shrines in Korea inorder to clarify both our conceptions about popular Japanese religious practicesand the methodological approaches which we utilize in order to achieve this epis-temological goal.

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The Mikato and Hiki Shrines, Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu1

In the central, mountainous area of western Miyazaki Prefecture there are twoadjoining townships which are linked together through a common legendary cyclefocused on an annual rite dedicated to the founders of their villages. Nango-son( ), the furthest west of the two villages is the centre of the ritual complexand contains a number of sites associated with the legendary cycle. The centralshrine for the area, the Mikato Shrine ( ), is located in the village ofthe same name. To the south and east of Nango-son is the township of Kijo-cho( ) which possesses the second principal shrine of the area, the Hiki Shrine( )in the village of Kobudokoro ( ). In the twelfth month of the yearthe Shiwasu matsuri ( ) is held which commemorates the foundation of thevillages societies by recreating the initial journey made to the villages by theirrespective village founders. This village foundation ritual is significant becausethe founders of the villages are two Koreans, who are both royal and refugees. Asummary of the narrative of the legend is given below.

The Nango-son myth

Teika-o ( , King Teika) and his son Hukuchi-o ( , King Hukuchi),descendants of the royal house of Paekche, were living at the Japanese court.Because of intrigue at the court, the two noblemen had to flee, eventually makingtheir way to the Nango-son area for refuge. The father landed in Kyushu at Hyuga,while the son came ashore at Kamegahama. When Teika-o arrived in Nango-son,the leaders of the seven clans in the existing village accepted him as their chief.Likewise, when Hukuchi-o arrived in Kijo-cho he was accepted by the villagersas their village chief. At some point after this, warriors who had been sent out bythe court discovered the places where the Paekche nobles were hiding and therewas a great battle outside Nango-son in which Teika-o was killed. He was buriedat the battle site. Since that time, annual rites have been offered to Teika-o at hisgrave site.

Ritual sites in Nango-son

There are three ritual sites associated with this foundation myth, the Mikato Shrineitself, the Tsukano-haro or grave site of Teika-o, and the Otoshi Shrine which isdedicated to Teika-os wife. Of these three, the most important is the MikatoShrine which is described below.

The first thing which strikes the visitor to this remote village is its visible pros-perity. Wide, well-kept streets are lined with large, well-maintained homes andbuildings. To the right of the Mikato Shrine is a full-scale replica of the Shosointreasure house in Nara. Some twenty years ago, a large number of bronze mir-rors and other artefacts had been excavated from the site, and it was decided in

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1986 to develop the village as a tourist destination to bring in income and to pre-vent too many of the younger generation from leaving to go to urban areas suchas Miyazaki. To support the tourist industry a large village hall, a replica of theShosoin in Nara called the Nishi Shosoin (Western Shosoin) and a spa complexwere constructed. The shrine became a key element of the movement and its raisondetre. Consequently, the villages relationship to Korea became a key aspect of themovement and its advertisement. Posters advertising the village show a womandressed in Hanbok2 near a Korean-style pavilion atop a misty mountain and asksthe question, Is this Korea? The response is, No, its Nango-son! History, theexotic and natural resources are used to give an attractive ambience to what is avery remote village. According to local government officials, the movement hasbeen relatively successful in keeping and drawing back younger villagers, and hasattracted a large number of Korean tourists and other nationalities.

The large shrine itself is accessible via a series of steps lined with torii leading upfrom a lower plaza. The honden, or shrine proper, was encased some forty yearsago in an outer wooden structure to protect the small building from the elements.Unremarkable in layout, the Mikato Shrine has three features of particular interest a special miniature shrine on the lower level for the handicapped who cannotmake it up to the shrine precinct itself, a monument next to it commemoratingvillagers who died in the Sino-Japanese War of 189495 and, to the right of thehonden, a stele marking the alleged grave site of the seven clan elders who submittedto Teika-o when he came to Nango-son. These three features neatly encapsulatethe way in which the use of the shrine has changed over time. The special shrinefor the handicapped reflects the effect of the tourist industry; the war memorialreflects the focus on a centralized Shinto practice promoting nationalism andpatriotism; and the shrine itself along with the stele next to it reflect its originaluse for the veneration of Teika-o and the clan elders as the founders and tutelaryspirits of the village.

Although the original function of this shrine was similar to that of many villageshrines in Korea where the village or local clan founder is venerated, what makesthis shrine Korean is the recognition of the spirit who is worshipped here, aprince of the royal house of Paekche. Even though information about the shrinein printed materials state that both Teika-o and Izanagi, the male primal ancestorof the Japanese archipelago, are worshipped here, local people indicated that tothem it is only the Paekche prince whom they venerate (Nihon chimei daijiten 1967,1: 344). Indeed, some families claim that not only is Teika-o the tutelary spiritof the village, but also that he is the ancestor of their family. The addition ofIzanagi to the pantheon in the shrine took place during the early Meiji period,and at the same time the status of both the shrine and the prince was lowered inorder to make them conform to approved central Shinto practices. This strongsense of the Korean-ness of the shrine is indicated by anecdotal remarks fromlocal people that, during the Second World War, soldiers from Nango-son wereridiculed for worshipping a Korean spirit. In turn, in contemporary times this

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Korean connection has become a source of pride and was used to develop theareas economy.

The Hiki Shrine in Kijo-cho

South and east of Nango-son is the township of Kijo-cho with its Hiki Shrinededicated to Hukushi-o, the son of Teika-o. This large shrine is located withina grove of trees on flat ground and is accessible through a long avenue leadingup to the shrine. Larger than the Mikato Shrine, there is little to distinguish itfrom any other Shinto shrine. In spite of the fact that it is dedicated to Hukushi-o,the shrine lacks any of the ancillary items which distinguish the Mikato Shrinesuch as the stele commemorating the original clan ancestors. However, as with theMikato Shrine, the Hiki Shrine is said to be dedicated principally to two spirits,the Paekche prince and Susa-no-o (Nihon chimei daijiten 1967, 1: 147).3 Thus,this shrine, like the Mikato Shrine, is essentially a village tutelary shrine whichhad its character and status re-assigned during the early Meiji period to fit theideas of a centralized concept of Shinto, in this case by the addition of anotherspirit, Susa-no-o. These alterations changed the nature of the shrine from beinga local shrine celebrating a local rite into a nationally approved type of Shintoshrine.

Traditionally, the two communities of Nango-son and Kijo-cho have partic-ipated in the Shiwasu matsuri, but, aside from that ritual connection, the twoareas have had little active contact with each other. Kijo-cho has not developedits tourist industry by using the myth and perceived continental connections ashas Nango-son. Compared with its more northerly neighbour, Kijo-cho remainsa more rustic place in spite of its closer proximity to Miyazaki.4

Comments on shrines in Miyazaki Prefecture

The case of the Nango-son and Kijo-cho shrines raises a fundamental question.What makes a Shinto shrine Shinto? If, as the Jinja Honcho implies in its pam-phlet it is the worship of the gods of the Japanese land and sky, how can shrinesdedicated to two princes of a continental royal family be in any sense Shinto?Clearly these royal spirits have no connection with the Japanese imperial cult norare they indigenous spirits of the land. They are unmistakably foreign. In termsof their original function, the cult practised at these shrines is both tutelary andancestral, that is, local. The location of the two shrines dedicated to these twoforeign princes is close to key ritual areas associated with the very foundation ofthe Japanese state and its imperial house. The Miyazaki jinja in Miyazaki Cityis dedicated to the mythical first emperor Jimmu; the place where Teika-o cameashore is very close to the spot where Jimmu is said to have set sail with hisforces to conquer the main Japanese island; to the north and east of Nango-sonis a cave at Takahicho which is associated with the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu O-

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mikami, primal ancestress of the imperial house. Thus, these Korean shrinesare located in the very heart of the territory of Japanese imperial or Shintomythology.

Tamayama Shrine in Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu5

Just west of the city of Kagoshima, near the south-western coast of Kyushu, isthe township of Higashi Ichikicho, one of the centres of the Japanese craft potteryindustry. Again, as in Nango-son and Kijo-cho, the well-kept streets of the villagegive a strong air of prosperity. The villagers are descendants of Korean potterswho were brought to Kyushu in 1598 in the aftermath of the Japanese invasionof Korea under Toyotomi Hideyoshi (153698). This village is also the ances-tral home of the family of Marquis Togo Heihachiro (18481934), the Japaneseadmiral who defeated Russias Baltic Fleet in the Russo-Japanese War of 19045. The local government has made much of the craft pottery industry and thehot springs in the village, producing lavish brochures and guide maps to thevarious kilns and hot-spring bath houses. Recently, the Korean connection hasfigured strongly in the consciousness of the area and its tourist industry. The lo-cal government has employed a young Korean citizen to provide translation andtourist information services to visitors from the Republic of Korea. In Octoberand November 1998, the area hosted a festival to commemorate the 400th yearof the settlement of the village by the Korean potters. Beginning with the rit-ual lighting of a lamp in Namwon, South Cholla Province in Korea from wherethe potters originated, the flame was carried to Japan by a ship of the KoreanMerchant Marine Academy. Clearly planned to symbolize a new era in Korean-Japanese relations, the festival extended over several weeks and included presen-tations of music and dance, was linked to the annual pottery festival, and con-cluded with the ceremonial unveiling of a Korean (Silla period)-style stone pagodawith both the Korean and Japanese prime ministers in attendance. Even morethan Nango-son and Kijo-cho, this is an area which makes much of its Koreanconnections.

The Tamayama Shrine

Located up above the village on a hill slope is the village shrine, the Tamayama jinja( ). Following a long, snaking pathway, the precinct of the shrine is gainedby passing through four different torii. The final stretch is deeply wooded, givingonto a narrow, level area containing the basin for ritual ablutions, the temizuya,the haiden, the honden, a small pond and a stele commemorating the rebuildingof the shrine. The honden is unusual in that, although it follows the standardarchitectural form of a shrine building raised off the ground, it is impossible tosee through the pillars supporting the structure because the underneath side hasbeen blocked off with wooden panels. This is because the shrine has been builtover a sacred rock, the view of which is shielded from profane eyes.

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Plate 1 Tamayama Shrine, Ichikicho, Kagoshima Prefecture: panels located beneath the veranda of the honden block the view of the sacredrock located within the shrine (photo: author).

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The legend of the shrine and its history

My informant, Ms Araki Sumi, said that some time after the first Korean settlershad come to the area (in 1598), they noticed a beam of light falling on a large rockon the upper slopes of the hill above the village. Then, hearing sounds comingfrom the same place, the villagers went to investigate what was happening. Theysaw that the sounds were coming from the large rock which was shaking or movingabout on the ground. The villagers said to themselves that Tangun ( ), thefounder of the Korean nation, had come down to earth on that rock and was stilllooking after them in their exile in Japan. Consequently, the villagers began toworship Tangun at that spot, and later built a shrine dedicated to him.

The current shrine building is designed to prevent anyone from actually seeingthe sacred rock. However, Ms Araki stated that she had actually seen it dur-ing the course of a ceremony. She said that there are two sets of doors throughwhich access is gained into the inner sanctum of the shrine. The rock emergesinto the inner room through a hole which has been cut into the floor. On thewall of the inner sanctum is hung a picture of a tiger, with his tail raised up.The tiger is the messenger of Tangun in his guise as San-sin ( ), the rulerof all the mountains of Korea. In Korean shrines dedicated to the MountainGod (Tangun), he is depicted in paintings as a bearded old man, seated on atiger.

The first shrine building is believed to have been built in 1603. This structurewas much smaller than the current shrine and was oriented towards the East ChinaSea, in the direction of the Korean peninsula. In 1917, the building was rebuiltand re-oriented so that it faced the village. This was done because the villagershad said that they wanted Tangun to face towards them. The status of the shrinehas been demoted over the years. Some 250 years ago, the Shimazu family, lordsof Satsuma domain, erected a torii in which the shrine is referred to as a jingu( ), the highest level of shrine at the time. However, a torii erected in 1942refers to it only as a jinja. This demotion of their shrine was said to have greatlydistressed the villagers. The shrine had to be rebuilt in the mid-1980s in the wakeof a devastating typhoon.

Although the dedication of the Tamayama Shrine to Tangun is quite clear,Ms Araki reported that at some point during the early Meiji period, governmentofficials placed two statues to Susa-no-o and Ninigi-no mikoto6 at the base ofthe rock. The villagers were then told that the spirits enshrined were these twospirits and not Tangun. However, Ms Araki stated emphatically that, althoughthe villagers had conformed outwardly, they all had said in their hearts that thespirit enshrined there was Tangun. Ms Araki commented that the villagers hadcontempt for this attempt to distort or pervert their local shrine practices. Rejec-tion of the Shintoization or Japanization of their shrine was also indicated byMs Arakis attitude towards the temizuya at the entrance to the shrine precinct,which she referred to derogatorily as being in a Japanese style.7

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Before entering the wooded path leading up to the shrine precinct, there is asmall area marked off with a concrete railing and a small concrete torii whichis oriented away from the shrine itself in the direction of the Kirishima Shrineon Mt Takachihomine. Constructed in 1941, this spot was created so that theworshippers to the shrine could worship Ninigi-no mikoto who is enshrinedat the Kirishima Shrine. This is also the same general location of the cave inwhich Amaterasu O-mikami hid herself to escape from her brother Susa-no-o.The view is now totally obscured by a grove of trees which has grown up in theinterval.

Comments on the Tamayama Shrine

In what sense can this shrine be called a Shinto shrine? Although the spirit en-shrined here is a local tutelary spirit, the protector of the village, he is the veryfounder of the Korean nation, the grandson of the Ruler of Heaven, the son of theRulers son and a transformed bear-woman. Tangun is intimately connected withthe origins of the Korean people and the Korean state. The settlers who came heresaw that this great spirit had not abandoned them in their exile but had remainedwith them to protect them. Later government attempts to unify religious practicedid not alter the villagers attitudes towards the enshrined spirit. Putting new stat-ues in the shrine, indoctrinating them about the spirits enshrined there, demotingthe shrines status, and erecting a subsidiary precinct to orient worshippers in thedirection of a major shrine dedicated to one of the newly enshrined Shinto spiritsdid not change the attitudes of the villagers; on the contrary, it only enhanced theirsense of the uniqueness of their practices, their sense of being different. More-over, their sense of disdain for Japanization extends even towards the currentexternal features of the shrine itself. These attitudes have persisted in spite of thefact that the villagers are culturally Japanese. None of them speaks Korean, andthey all have Japanese-style names. They, however, perceive themselves as havinga different tradition, an identity which is reflected in the rites conducted at theTamayama Shrine.

Tsukishiro-no-miya Shrine, Okinawa Prefecture8

The village of Sashiki-cho ( ) is located along the lower shore of BadenHarbour in the south east of Okinawa Island. Somewhat further on, and aroundpast the headland on which the village of Chinen-son ( ) is set, is the mostsacred ritual place on Okinawa, the Seefa utaki ( ). Passing through thevillage of Sashiki-cho, ones eye is immediately arrested by an enormous concretetorii by the roadside through which a long, winding unpaved road leads up to asmall car park. On the south side of the car park is a steep stairway proceeding yethigher up to an impressive Shinto shrine. This shrine is the Tsukishiro-no-miya( ), dedicated to King Sho Hashi ( , r.14211439), the first king of a

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united Kingdom of the Ryukyus and founder of the First Sho Dynasty (142169).On the site of Sho Hashis home or castle, an Okinawan shrine to his memory hadbeen erected. In the early 1930s, the Japanese government replaced this shrinewith the impressive structure now on the site.

From the car park a set of steps leads up to a level area in front of which is alarge concrete torii. To the left-hand side is a temizuya, a basin for ritual ablutions.Through the torii and up at the head of the next long set of steps is the haiden.However, the shrine complex has a curiously abandoned feeling. On examination,the temizuya is seen to be filled with rubbish as if it were a litter bin.

In the bush to the right-hand side of the path is a largish rude stone altarsurrounded on three sides by stones. Going up the stairway and entering thehaiden, there is a view through to the honden. The precinct around the honden,roped off by a low set of chains, is full of weeds and grass and does not appearto be tended regularly. There is a well-worn path through the precinct leading toa rude altar which has been set up in the bushes to the left-hand side of the rearof the honden. This altar is made of nine concrete breeze blocks arranged in threerows, three blocks deep. On the altar are some libations of water and liquor inclear plastic cups. The honden, although apparently having a new door placed init, appears to be unused. Immediately in front of the door is a carved stone altarwith offerings on it. Off to the left- and right-hand sides of the shrines veranda aretwo smaller altars made of concrete breeze blocks. A broom, to sweep the area,lies to the left of the left-hand altar. On the ground, to the left-hand side of thefront of the honden is a small, triangular-shaped stone which has an inscription onit declaring that the spirit worshipped here is (in Okinawan) Yu nu nushi, Kuninu nushi ( , Ruler of the World, Ruler of the Nation).

Comments on the Tsukishiro-no-miya

After the annexation of the Kingdom of the Ryukyus by Japan in 1879, the king-dom was made a prefecture of Japan, and the Japanese government pursued a pol-icy of assimilation including the harmonization of religious practices in OkinawaPrefecture with Shinto. As part of this policy, the prefectural Bureau of Shrinesattempted to amalgamate local cultic practices by incorporating the Ryukyuandeities into the Shinto pantheon. In 1909, the government tried to establish a cen-tral shrine for Okinawan Shinto at Nami-no-ue by the harbour in Naha. Therewas a notable lack of local interest in this project, which did not come to fruitionuntil 1923. At this shrine, the first Ryukyuan king, King Shuten (purported datesr. 1181237), and his alleged Japanese father Minamoto Tametomo were ven-erated along with kings Sho En (r. 14706), Sho Nei (15891621) and Sho Tai(r. 184879) of the Second Sho dynasty (14691879). Sho En was the founderof the dynasty. Sho Nei surrendered to the Shimazu clan, lords of Satsuma, andentered into a quasi-vassal relationship with them. Sho Tai was the last King of theRyukyus and was sent into exile by the Japanese when they annexed the islands.

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Plate 2 Tsukishiro-no-miya Shrine, Okinawa: the honden as seen from the haiden. Note the threesmall altars in front of the shrine door, the rock on the ground to the left side of the shrine with an

engraved inscription and the general atmosphere of neglect (photo: author).

The connection with King Shuten and Tametomo was particularly important tothe Shintoization project because Tametomo was a seventh-generation memberof the Minamoto clan through the lineage of the Emperor Seiwa (r. 85876).Using this link, it could be alleged that the Okinawan royal family was in fact a

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Plate 3 Tsukishiro-no-miya Shrine, Okinawa: rude, Okinawan shrine located to the left rear of the honden (photo: author).

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branch of the Japanese imperial house, thus justifying the Shintoization of re-ligious practices and, more broadly, the Japanese annexation of Okinawa. After1931, as an extension of this policy, Shinto shrines were erected in front of localshrines throughout the Ryukyus (Kerr 1958: 4512; Summers 1994: 70, 7882).

The shrine at the Tsukishiro-no-miya site is an excellent example of the usewhich was made of local shrines to conform to the centralistic policies of StateShinto. Here, a local shrine was linked into the broader practices of Shinto forthe purposes of assimilating Okinawans into the general Japanese population of theempire. Moreover, this shrine, because of its links with the Ryukyuan royal myth,could be made to fit in neatly with the Japanese imperial myth, thus providing amytho-ideological basis for the annexation of the kingdom.9

However, the subtle rejection by the Okinawans of this project is quite plain.The length of time which it took actually to construct the central shrine is onehistorical indication of this fact. What has happened at the Tsukishiro-no-miyais even more striking. The Shinto parts of this shrine (the formal structures)in effect have been completely abandoned. What could be more telling than theuse of the temizuya as a litter bin. Even more striking, however, is the way inwhich local practice has reclaimed the site. At the time of my visit, there were fiveseparate altars, three of which were in front of the honden itself, as if reclaimingthat building. There is also a dedicatory stone to a spirit which is venerated locally.

Shrines in Korea and Japan: three points of comparison

Having examined four case studies of Shinto shrines in different regions of Japan,we may pose a broad question about Japanese popular religious practice: What isShinto? For the Jinja Honcho it is the religious practices of the Japanese from timeimmemorial. Likewise, any examination of textbooks on world religions would in-dicate that something called Shinto is recognized as being a religion on the orderof Christianity or Buddhism, as if it were a similarly organized entity with coherentdoctrines and uniform practices. The shrines which we have examined in thesecase studies do not fit easily into the four-fold categorization of Shinto which theShrine Association would have us believe exists imperial Shinto, shrine Shinto,sect Shinto and folk Shinto. The shrines on Kyushu which we have examinedbelong to the Shrine Association, yet the spirits venerated there are not Japanese.Before the end of the Second World War, residents of the village of Nango-son andKijo-cho were ridiculed for worshipping Korean spirits that is, a non-Japanesespirit was seen to be a non-Shinto spirit. In the Meiji period, the TamayamaShrine, because it venerated a non-native spirit, was re-organized so that properJapanese spirits were enshrined there. Although the local people rejected thisintervention in their local practices, it is clear that officials of the reforming Meijigovernment saw that their shrine was not a proper Shinto shrine. The shrine atthe Tsukishiro-no-miya site was never a Shinto shrine in any sense because it wasa shrine in another national tradition, yet it was Shintoized, a process which

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has been visibly rejected in modern times. Local people in their own way havereclaimed this shrine for themselves.

The history of these four shrines over the past century and a half has been astruggle to accommodate to a process of standardization driven by the nationalisticneeds of the Meiji regime as it strove to create a modern state. These shrinesclearly were seen not to be Shinto, and had to be made Shinto. Yet for the localpeople, these shrines never lost their initial character as local shrines dedicated tolocally important figures.

In its pamphlet Shinto, the Shrine Association makes the point that at the coreof the Shinto tradition are the practices of imperial Shinto and shrine Shinto.Although recognizing variation in specific practice among the 80,000 or so shrinesregistered with it, the Shrine Association asserts that a life lived in reverence tothe kami is characterized by three features gratitude for blessings, helpfulness toothers and a harmonious acknowledgement of the will of the emperor (Ueda n.d.:910). A statement such as this represents an attempt to create a unified entity outof some very disparate elements. The actual unity of shrine practices and beliefs isarguably less uniform than the practice and theology of loosely organized Christianbodies such as the Congregational churches where local practice and theologyare supposed to predominate. More importantly, as Breen and Teeuwen havesuggested, it is highly unlikely that the average participant in local shrine ritualshas any sense of consciously promoting the imperial system, or of being part ofsome greater religious entity, as suggested by the Shrine Associations pamphlet.

A comparison at this point with the religious scene in Korea would be in-structive. The first striking thing about Korean folk religion in comparison withShinto is that it has no name. It is commonly called shamanism, but it is erro-neous to refer to Korean folk religious practices by this term, because not only dothe activities of the shaman not incorporate all of the folk religious practices ofKorea, but also they do not even constitute the predominant form of folk religiouspractice. Specialized terms created by scholars are not any more satisfying thanshamanism. Korean folk religion is known variously as musok ( ), musok-kyo ( ), mingan sinang ( ) and other terms, but all are descriptiveterms and none is completely satisfactory. This should not be surprising. A diag-nostic characteristic of a folk religion is that it is nameless because it representsthe accumulation of local practice over a long period of time. Beliefs, values andpractices which may be similar from place to place in a region or within a nationmay be taken to be similarities within a broad cultural tradition. These similari-ties by themselves, however, do not constitute a formal, institutionalized religiousorganization.10

The reason why Korean folk religion, or elements of it, was not moulded bythe elite into a formalized nativistic religious tradition was that, following theofficial adoption of Buddhism and Confucianism in the early sixth century, theKorean elite saw themselves as creating and maintaining a thoroughly continentalcivilization which was similar in character, practice and standards to China. Folk

362 Shinto and Japanese popular religion

traditions, particularly the shamanistic elements which were seen to be supersti-tious, were suppressed. For example, the first king to adopt Buddhism in Sillatook as his reign name Pophung ( , r.513539), which translates the San-skrit term Cakravart raja, The King Who Turns the Wheel of the Law. Sucha reign style indicated the thorough acceptance of continental (Chinese) civi-lization including Buddhism. All subsequent Korean elites took the same viewtowards nativistic traditions and looked on native religious traditions in particu-lar as being umsa ( , immoral rites).11 Japanese elites clearly took a differentview. The encounter with Buddhism and continental civilization in ancient Japanled to the creation of a parallel, nativistic religious tradition, promoted by his-tories such as the Kojiki and Nihon shoki, which confirmed the distinctivenessof Japanese religious and political traditions. It is too lengthy a story to discusshere, but suffice it to say that this different approach to the encounter with con-tinental civilization created a concept of nativism which could be used at appro-priate times to support the imperial institution, national distinctiveness and thestate. Thus, it is no surprise that State Shinto emerged (re-emerged?) at theend of the nineteenth century during Japans encounter with European industrialcivilization.

The second observation to make in comparing Shinto and Korean folk religion isthe character of shrines and shrine practice. Korean popular religion consists verybroadly of two main strands local shrine practices and the activities of individualshamans. The majority of non-shamanic ritual practice in Korea centres on villageor clan shrines. That is, folk religious practice is focused on the veneration andpropitiation of spirits who are the founders of a particular clan or village, or both.The spirits venerated in these shrines are tutelary spirits who are worshipped forlocal reasons. The shrines in Miyazaki and Kagoshima Prefectures thus are verysimilar in origin and local practice to these Korean shrines. Not that the Japaneseshrines are Korean, but rather that both sets of shrines have a similar originand function within the local society. In the case of the shrines in both Miyazakiand Kagoshima, similarities in the architecture of shrine buildings and in ritualpractice where not attributable to deliberate government re-shaping may beattributed simply to local, regional or national culture. Korean shrines represent awide range of local practice displaying certain broad cultural similarities. One mayspeculate that the religious scene in the Japanese archipelago may have had thissame diversity of practice and lack of uniformity before the process of Shintoizationbegan in ancient Japan.

One of the chief features of Shintoization in the Meiji period was the needto impose a uniformity of practice on all shrines in Japan. We have noted, forexample, how government officials attempted to alter the spirits worshipped atthe Tamayama Shrine so that it became a proper Shinto shrine, how a lo-cal shrine was made to conform to a centrally determined pattern. There areshrines in Korea, however, which are clearly not Korean, such as the Tong-myo( ) and the Waryong-myo ( ) in Seoul. The Tong-myo was erected on a

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grand scale in 1602 at the command of the Ming Emperor Shen-tsung ( , r.15671619) in commemoration of the lives of Chinese soldiers who died in thedefence of Korea following the invasion by the forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshiin the 1590s. The architectural style of the building, the interior layout of theshrine and the deity Kuan Yu ( , God of War) who is worshipped here areall Chinese. It is also quite clear that there has been no attempt by the gov-ernment to Koreanize this shrine, nor has any stigma attached to people whovenerated there. In fact, if anything, one might say that the shrine had a cer-tain prestige because it symbolized the continental cultural unity of China andKorea. Three other similar shrines Nam-myo ( , 1599), Pung-myo ( ,1883) and So-myo ( , 1902) were erected in Seoul, and similar shrinesdedicated to Kuan Yu were erected in other parts of the country (ChungboSae kuksa sajon 1983: 137, 286, 382, 547, 618; Clark and Grayson 1986:100, 277).

On the slopes of Nam-san mountain in the southern part of old Seoul is theWaryong-myo. Built at an uncertain date in the Choson period (13921910), it isdedicated to an associate of Kuan Yu. It also is a Chinese-style shrine, originallypractising a cult of a martial spirit. Unlike the shrines dedicated to Kuan Yu whichhave a quasi-governmental status, this shrine is a private foundation. There arefour principal sub-shrines here, one of which is dedicated to Tangun, founderof the Korean nation (Clark and Grayson 1986: 1424). Thus, the Waryong-myo incorporates Chinese cults as well as a Korean cult and represents a naturaldevelopment in local shrine practice through the addition of other spirits to bevenerated there. These Chinese shrines in Korea indicate that in the absence of astate-supported nativistic religion, and, in spite of centuries of official denigrationof the native traditions, foreign cults such as the ones mentioned above haveflourished in Korea. This is different from the experience of non-standard shrinesin Japan.

A third point of comparison between Shinto and Korean religious experienceis the process of imposing Shinto on nations where it is not an indigenous tra-dition. We have seen how it was the official policy of the central governmentin the Meiji period to harmonise Ryukyuan and Japanese religious traditionsby linking State Shinto and various local cultic practices in the Ryukyus. Aprime example was the attempt to link the royal Sho family and the Japaneseimperial house at the Tsukishiro-no-miya Shrine. The contempt with whichthe Shinto parts are treated today is a strong indication of the rejection ofthis attempt to obliterate local practice and local meaning. Even more instruc-tive for the understanding of the assertion of local practice is the reclamationof the shrine through the erection of five shrines conforming to local culticpractice.

There is a parallel here with Korea as well. By the end of the colonial occupationin 1945, there were 1,133 State Shinto shrines in Korea, including the principalshrine for the nation, the Chosen jingu. Created for the purpose of imposing

364 Shinto and Japanese popular religion

uniformity throughout Japans imperial possession and to instil and maintain asense of patriotism within the local populace, such shrines were always seen as aprime symbol of imperial domination. For example, following Japans capitulationto Allied forces on 15 August, 1945, the shrine in the northern city of Pyongyangwas destroyed that night (Vos 1977: 2234). The author Richard H. Kim, in hisautobiographical novel Lost Names, provides a vivid account of how hated theseshrines were, and the frenetic way in which the shrine in his village was destroyed(Kim 1988 [1970]: 16070). There is a further parallel between Okinawa andKorea. The Chosen jingu was built on the mid-slopes of Nam-san facing towardsthe central royal palace in the northern part of the old city, the Kyongbok-kung.The building has been so thoroughly obliterated that there are no traces of it left.However, on the site of the shrine a memorial and museum have been erected toAn Chunggun (18791910), the nationalist who assassinated the former Resident-General in Korea, Ito Hirobumi (18381909). In this way, Korean nationalismreclaimed space which had been claimed by Japanese nationalism in a Shintoguise.

The rejection of Shintoization in Okinawa and Korea in a curious way demon-strates a central point made by the Shrine Association in its pamphlet that Shintois the worship and veneration by the Japanese of the spirits of the Japanese land.Shinto is a local religion, a religion local to Japan and not capable of genuineexport or transmission to another nation. A created, nativitistic tradition suchas Shinto thus becomes closely associated with the ideology of the political es-tablishment, as the Shrine Associations pamphlet makes quite clear, and whenimposed in an occupied country is perceived to be a symbol of oppression and theloss of nationhood.

Conclusion

What can we conclude from these field-work observations about popular Japanesereligious practice, and what implications do these conclusions have for our re-search methodology about the beliefs and practices associated with shrines inJapan? Breen and Teeuwen state that they:

propose a [concept of the] multiplicity of Ways of the Kami, each grown outof different historical and social circumstances, and each with its own ritual andtheological agenda. Such an approach promises not only to open our eyes toaspects of kami cults and Shinto traditions that have previously been ignored,but also to throw new light on the rituals, beliefs and ideas of such cults andtraditions that have been studied only through the lens of the . . . notion thatthey, ultimately, formed part of a single Way of the Kami.

(Breen and Teeuwen 2000: 8)

The view propounded by Breen and Teeuwen above takes into account the factthat ultimately all religious traditions start locally, and that, in order to study the

James Huntley Grayson 365

indigenous religious traditions of Japan, one has to move beyond the artificialconstruct of a single, unvarying, overarching tradition. The case studies which Ihave presented of research conducted in Kyushu are not Japanese or Shinto inthe definition given by the Shrine Association to which they belong. They are localshrines, and must be examined from that point of view at least initially. In noother way could we understand the curious role which these shrines have played inthe sense of local belongingness, of local identity. As Breen and Teeuwen pointedout earlier, people who offer veneration at these shrines do not have a sense ofbelonging to some greater tradition, such as Shinto. These shrines are Japanesebecause they are part of the fabric of religious life in the Japanese archipelago.They are Shinto only in the sense that they were made to belong to a largerentity in the past, and currently belong to an association which propounds adoctrine of national religious uniformity. Indeed, local people have rejected thisShinto identity when it was imposed on them. This is most clearly seen in thecases of Okinawa and Korea where the attempt to impose an alien system wasrejected in clear but different ways. Shinto as a tradition local to Japan couldnot be transmitted or imposed on another nation because of its associations withJapans empire and political establishment.

Consideration of the situation of shrine worship in Korea emphasizes the im-portance of researching beyond the local level, and also comparatively. The lackof an artificially created, state-sponsored nativistic tradition and a modern na-tional shrine association means that shrines in Korea must be studied locally andcomparatively to discover the regional and national patterns in practice and be-lief. The fact that foreign cultic traditions could be left relatively unaltered notKoreanized offers an interesting comparison with the Shintoization of theMeiji era. Consequently, it would seem to me that the approach of understandinglocal traditions without utilizing the baggage of a unifying national tradition is aconceptually and methodologically excellent way forward to conduct research onshrines in Japan. However, one important aspect of a later stage in such research,unnecessary in Korea, must be the consideration of how the concept of Shintohas influenced the practice of shrine worship in local communities. We may wantto research locally, and comparatively, but we cannot ignore the influence of theconcept of Shinto over the centuries. Shinto may not be a homogeneous reli-gious tradition, but it is an interesting case example of the relationship betweenreligious practice and the state.

University of Sheffield

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Graham Healey and Nicholas Tranter of the Centre for Japanese Studies of theSchool of East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield for help in translating and interpretingJapanese terms, as well as Ms Hokama Komako, a post-graduate research student in the samedepartment for help with Okinawan terms. Any errors are my responsibility.

366 Shinto and Japanese popular religion

Notes

1. Unless otherwise stated, all information in this section on the shrines in Miyazaki-ken is drawnfrom my field notes taken on 7 April 1999. I was assisted by Professor Choe Intaek, a Koreannational and anthropologist who was teaching at that time at Miyazaki Metropolitan Universityin Miyazaki City, who both translated for me and provided me with supplementary information.Professor Choe has made a special study of these shrines.

2. The general term for traditional Korean clothing. Womens clothes, consisting of a separatebodice and skirt, are called chima chogori.

3. I have shown elsewhere that, at least in the case of south-western Japan, Susa-no-o must beconsidered to be a culture bearer who came from Korea. See Grayson (2002).

4. South of Miyazaki City is the town of Tano ( ) which also has a foundation myth involvinga Paekche prince. The town tried unsuccessfully to utilize this connection for its tourist andcommercial development.

5. All information in this section, unless otherwise noted, is based upon my field notes takenon 8 April 1999. My informant was a woman aged over 60, Ms Araki Sumi, a descendant ofthe original settlers of the village and a member of a committee responsible for the upkeep ofthe Tamayama shrine. Translation was provided by Ms Chae Sugyong, a young citizen of theRepublic of Korea employed by the township government to provide translation and touristassistance to visitors from the ROK.

6. These two spirits, major figures in the Shinto pantheon, are respectively the brother of the SunGoddess Amaterasu O-mikami and her grandson who was the direct ancestor of the imperialfamily.

7. This is curious because village shrines in Korea do not have basins for ritual ablutions, a factwhich Ms Araki may not have known.

8. All information in this section, unless otherwise referenced, is taken from my field notes of1 April 1999.

9. A similar argument was made at the time when Japan annexed Korea into its empire in 1910.The Director of Foreign Affairs for the Government-General of Chosen, at a meeting of theRoyal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch, on 4 March 1911, argued that Koreans and Japanese werethe same race of people and that the annexation was nothing more than the rejoining of thesetwo long-separated branches of a common stock (Komatsu 1912: 112).

10. There is an umbrella organization of shamans in the Republic of Korea called the Korean Feder-ation of Associations for Victory over Communism and Respect for Beliefs (Tae Han sunggongkyongsin yonhap-hoe ). The title reflects the highly anti-communist ethosof late twentieth-century southern Korea. The organization was founded in 1970 and now claimsa membership of 40,000 in 215 branches. Although the training of young shamans is part of thework of the Federation, it is a much looser group than the Shrine Association in Japan. For thework of this group, see Guillemoz (1998: 7389). Also, this group does not encompass shrines(other than those associated with a particular shaman) and there is no equivalent organizationfor all of the shrines in Korea, although there are local village associations, and clan associationswhich maintain clan shrines.

11. Choe Malli ( , fl. 141444), a counsellor of state at the time of the creation of the Koreanalphabet, petitioned King Sejong in 1444 against its adoption because its use would removeKorea from the realm of civilization. Only such peoples as the Mongolians, Tanguts, Jurchen,Japanese, and Tibetans have their own writings. But this is a matter which involves the barbariansand is unworthy of our concern (see Lee 1993, 1: 51920). The Korean alphabet is now a primesymbol of Korean nationalism. For a discussion of the attitudes of Confucian officials towardsBuddhism and local traditions, see Deuchler (1992: 1756).

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James Huntley Grayson is Professor of Modern Korean Studies in the School of East AsianStudies at the University of Sheffield. An anthropologist, his main research interests are in ancientand modern Korean religion, particularly folk religion and Christianity, and Korean oral folklore.His research uses comparative examples from Japan and China.