Rüsch, Markus

Secret Spaces for Amida: Their Functions in Rituals and Their Doctrinal Backgrounds

2024 · Cahiers d'Extreme-Asie 32 · 95–130.

Aspects of Lived Religion in Late Medieval and Early Modern Japan / Aspects de la religion vécue dans le Japon de la fin du Moyen Âge et de l’époque prémoderne, ed. by Gaétan RAPPO, Martin NOGUEIRA RAMOS, SUZUKI Kenkō

This article focuses on the Edo period (1603–1868), a period of great dynamism for many underground religious groups. While some lasted for a short time or ceased their activities when the authorities stopped outlawing them, others still exist today. It is no exaggeration to say that the True Pure Land sect is, in theory, the sect in Japan that is most alien to esoteric teachings. Nevertheless, Japan’s history is replete with religious movements observing secret forms of nenbutsu linked, to some degree, with this sect. The three groups studied here are known by scholars as Kakure Nenbutsu, Kakushi Nenbutsu, and Kayakabe. The article aims to reflect on the constitution of secret spaces and their role in the ritual lives of these groups. The analyses show that depending on the external factors motivating the concealment of religious observance, the cultic spaces are structured differently and have distinct uses. It also reveals that the organisation of the groups echoes the doctrinal discourses of Nishi Honganji, associated in particular with the sangō wakuran (“the confusion [concerning ] the three [types of ] acting”). This dispute occurred in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

 

Link zur Verlagsseite: https://publications.efeo.fr/en/livres/1014_cahiers-d-extreme-asie-32-2023