Abstract
I examine the changing profile of religious activity on Kōyasan, a mountain complex of Buddhist temples in Japan over the last three decades and especially since its UNESCO Inscription as part of a complex of sites on the Kii Peninsula in 2004. Kōyasan is placed in its historical and geographic context, framed against Tuan’s (Ann Assoc Am Geogr 93(4):878–881, 2003) concept of place as a “repository of the past.” These presentations stem from orthodox Buddhist scholastic, cosmological and contemplative concepts and mesh with Buddhist and popular millennial beliefs. Significant changes occurred during Japan’s modernization (1868 onwards) with further changes happening with post-war demographic shifts that continue to affect Japanese religions in general and Buddhism in particular The UNESCO Inscription has intensified a shift away from traditional religious motives to travelling to Kōyasan for touristic purposes. This chapter looks at the geographic data relating to the town of Kōyasan in relation to the central plains of the Kinai region with its ancient capitals, and to the Kii Peninsula. Important are the town’s 52 shukubō, temples where lay visitors may stay overnight. The Inscription for the UNESCO World Heritage program is analyzed, showing stereotypical understandings of Japanese religion and the involvement of government agencies. Other materials examined are old pilgrims’ maps as well as contemporary publicity materials. The cemetery at Oku no In, where the founder Kūkai is interred, is also described. Reader’s findings that Buddhism is in a state of serious financial and pastoral crisis are confirmed, despite the support of both commercial and government entities. Concerns are raised about renovation works and the provision of modern tourist facilities on the mountain, a situation not helped by scandals such as the mismanagement of Shingon Sect funds in spring 2013.
Place matters because among other things it is a repository of the past. (Yi-fu Tuan 2003: 878)
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Notes
- 1.
Established in Japan in the early ninth century, Shingon is one of the Japanese forms of Buddhism often referred to as Tantric or Vajrayāna Buddhism, since it originates in the tantra class of Indian religious literature in a process often referred to as the “Hinduization” of Buddhism. “Esoteric Buddhism” is increasingly being used in the scholarly literature. The most up-to-date scholarship is to be found in Orzech et al. (<CitationRef CitationID="CR22” >2010</Citation Ref>).
- 2.
One may distinguish two types of pilgrimage: procession to a particular site (mairi 参り, mōde 詣で, and sankei 参詣); and circumambulatory pilgrimage (meguri 巡り, junrei 巡礼, and sanpai 参拝).
- 3.
The phrase was used by Gregory Schopen, following Brown, in his detailed analysis of Kōyasan (Schopen <CitationRef CitationID="CR28” >1987</Citation Ref>; Brown <CitationRef CitationID="CR7” >1981</Citation Ref>). Emperors, shōgun, prominent samurai, daimyō, poets, artists, and religious figures from a thousand years and more are at rest in Kōyasan’s cemetery, Oku no In 奥の院.
- 4.
He is known throughout Japan as Kōbō Daishi 弘法大師, hence the term Daishi shinkō 大師信仰 “Daishi worship” to describe his cult; the phenomenon is dealt with extensively in Hinonishi (<CitationRef CitationID="CR10” >1988</Citation Ref>).
- 5.
These interpretations are found in publicity of all kinds, for example an exhibition of antique maps of Kōyasan held at its official museum, the Reihōkan, in 2005–2006 (www.reihokan.or.jp/tenrankai/list_tokubetsu/2005_12.html; retrieved 2012-10-15).
- 6.
Indeed, the latest Japanese nomination for UNESCO World Heritage Status, Hiraizumi 平泉 in north-east Japan (2011), was couched in precisely such terms: “Hiraizumi: Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land”. The Japanese title is more specific, describing the site as both a “Buddha-land” (bukkokudo 仏国土) and a “Pure Land” (jōdo), http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1277 and www.bunka.go.jp/bunkazai/shoukai/sekai_isan.html (both retrieved 2012-10-15; in English only a general description of the Agency’s work on the preservation and utilization of cultural properties is available).
- 7.
These include Londo (<CitationRef CitationID="CR14” >2002</Citation Ref>), Hinonishi (<CitationRef CitationID="CR11” >2002</Citation Ref>), and a recent PhD thesis on pilgrimage to Kōyasan in the eleventh to twelfth centuries (Lindsay <CitationRef CitationID="CR13” >2012</Citation Ref>).
- 8.
These figures are published on the town’s official website, www.town.koya.wakayama.jp/jinko.html (retrieved 2012-10-14).
- 9.
A causal connection would have to be corroborated by cross-reference to a number of other socio-religious and demographic factors but would not be inconsistent with other expressions of religious skepticism among the Japanese following that event.
- 10.
A case in point is the discovery of hot mineral water beneath Kōyasan, the rights to which were bought by the largest shukubō on the mountain, Fukuchiin 福智院. Since 2005 this has defined the temple, which now markets itself very successfully as “Kōyasan Onsen Fukuchiin”.
- 11.
Kii Sanchi no Reijō to Sankeimichi 紀伊山地の霊場と参詣道; ref. point 33.836944 [N 33 50 13] 135.776389 [E 135 46 35] (Hongū, Kumano); ref. no. 1142; http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1142 (retrieved 2012-10-15); see UNESCO document 28COM 14B.28, 28 June–7 July 2004.
- 12.
Essential reading would include the special issue of the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies dedicated to pilgrimage, containing both specific articles on the Yoshino–Ōmine–Kumano route and key studies on pilgrimage in Japan (Reader and Swanson <CitationRef CitationID="CR27” >1997</Citation Ref>).
- 13.
A comprehensive thematic and bibliographic survey of geography and environment in Japanese religions has been provided by Ambros (<CitationRef CitationID="CR1” >2006</Citation Ref>).
- 14.
These two aspects of religious travel—the pilgrim’s and the tourist’s, the devout and the ludic—have long been noted in other contexts (Morinis <CitationRef CitationID="CR18” >1981</Citation Ref>, <CitationRef CitationID="CR19” >1992</Citation Ref>).
- 15.
The Tokugawa period (1603–1868) for example saw a dramatic increase in pilgrimages, the ludic—even antinomian—element of which increased as the Tokugawa regime lost its grip on power and hence its control over people’s movements. While the system never really achieved uniformity or full control over the movement of the populace, the intent was clear and its restrictions had to be negotiated (Vaporis <CitationRef CitationID="CR33” >1994</Citation Ref>).
- 16.
The best introduction to Shinto is by Breen and Teeuwen (<CitationRef CitationID="CR5” >2010</Citation Ref>); more detailed studies are to be found in their earlier volume, Breen and Teeuwen (<CitationRef CitationID="CR4” >2000</Citation Ref>); for a discussion of the role of space and the nature of kami, see Nelson (<CitationRef CitationID="CR21” >2000</Citation Ref>), ch. 3. The Agency for Cultural Affairs is the official English name of the government office, Bunkachō 文化庁.
- 17.
The decline is not merely a consequence of the Aum attacks on the Tokyo subway system in 1995, as it is often presented, though that incident was a significant factor; cf. the slump in the population of Kōyachō, noted above.
- 18.
The Shikoku pilgrimage is one of Japan’s most famous and has long-standing connections to Kōyasan, although the way in which the sect has drawn Shikoku pilgrims to worship on Kōyasan, is a modern development (Reader <CitationRef CitationID="CR24” >2005</Citation Ref>: 14, 108–111).
- 19.
See www.sekaiisan-wakayama.jp/index.html; www.bunka.go.jp/bunkashingikai/sekaibunkaisan/singi_kekka/besshi_8.html (both retrieved 2012-10-15). Despite the statement on the Kii World Heritage web-site, inscription-related activity has been put on hold since 2008, due perhaps to the fact that China, Korea and Japan, in mutual competition, were considering submitting a disproportionate number of sites for UNESCO inscription.
- 20.
Hinonishi (<CitationRef CitationID="CR9” >1983–8</Citation Ref>) is the prime resource for maps of Kōyasan. Guelberg (2009) has a useful online resource hosted at Waseda University (Tokyo), taken from Hinonishi’s compendium, which gives a representative selection of maps from the early eighteenth century (www.f.waseda.jp/guelberg/halle2009/japomain.htm; retrieved 2012-10-14).
- 21.
See the map from 1734 at www.f.waseda.jp/guelberg/halle2009/e_iri_annai/annai.htm (retrieved 2012-10-14). Such maps generally contain quite a number of items in the more widely understood phonetic kana syllabary rather than the traditional Chinese characters.
- 22.
This and other traditional maps show the Middle Gate (Chūmon 中門), the traditional entrance to the garan until it was destroyed in 1843. It is now under re-construction (as of April 2012) in anticipation of the thousand-year anniversary of the founding of Kōyasan (www.koyasan.or.jp/feature/news/110603.html; retrieved 2012-10-07). This may be seen as another example of considerable funds being used for monumental purposes (understandable in itself and part of the authorities’ obligations under the World Heritage status), while the pastoral demographic is in decline.
- 23.
Tachibana (<CitationRef CitationID="CR30” >1813</Citation Ref>); the traditional Japanese way of reading a manuscript or illustration is from right to left, i.e. east to west in this picture. However, in this case pilgrims would have approached the complex from the west end of the town, arriving at the Grand Gate (Daimon 大門) and proceeding through the various sites of worship to the mausoleum.
- 24.
The spatial and religious relations between Amano Jinja and Kōyasan have been discussed by Wada Akio 和多昭夫 (<CitationRef CitationID="CR34” >1965</Citation Ref>; reprinted in Takagi and Wada 1982).
- 25.
Yoshino is a long-standing topos in Japanese literature. One of Japan’s best-loved writers, the peripatetic monk-poet Saigyō 西行 (1118–90), used Yoshino as one of his long-term bases—Kōyasan was another, due to his indebtedness to Kūkai. These places and the landscapes that constituted them, have long been woven into society’s perception of itself, something which is brought out in a number of ways in the UNESCO inscription.
- 26.
This map seems to have enjoyed wide circulation: this and similar maps were re-carved and expanded and also seem to have attracted the attention of Westerners living or travelling in Japan at that time of transition and modernization. Apart from Tachibana’s map mentioned above, a copy of a similarly composed work by Itō Ryūzan (surname first, in accordance with Japanese custom) is held in the British Museum (1894,0510,0.10AN590443); a further version is held in the C. V. Starr East Asian Library, University of California at Berkeley, illustrated in Proser (2010: pl. 42).
- 27.
Interestingly, too, the word “spiritual” occurs in the heading, not as a normal Japanese word but as a transcription of the English. This sits strangely alongside the word o-susume, “our recommendation [for you, the customer]”, which is often used to introduce special offers in stores and restaurants. This is typical of the clearly commercial techniques utilized in much of the marketing material for Japanese religious centers and activities.
- 28.
This custom originates in the Tokugawa period, when pilgrims were required to furnish evidence that they had in fact completed the journey for which the authorities had given permission; see Reader <CitationRef CitationID="CR24” >(2005</Citation Ref>: 22–23) for a succinct explanation and further sources; Vaporis (<CitationRef CitationID="CR33” >1994</Citation Ref>: chs. 4 to 6) has detailed information on the context in which pilgrims travelled in the Tokugawa period.
- 29.
This is conceivably exacerbated by the fact that foreign visitors are usually in Japan on tight schedules and can ill-afford the full day it would take to make the detour of this and the related sites on the Stone Marker Path. The priest had no precise figures for visitors but was adamant that the Inscription had made a difference.
- 30.
This “Bird’s Eye View”, a reproduction of which is given by Tarui (http://kouyasiki.sakura.ne.jp/oldmap/detail/map-17.html; retrieved 2012-10-15), was probably made for the Go-onki celebrations of that year.
- 31.
There were also routes around the mountain itself that enabled women to visit the mausoleum of Kōbō Daishi; Jison’in was important for women who did not have the opportunity even to make the journey up the mountain.
- 32.
Oku means “distant” or “furthest reach” and in such contexts as Kōyasan indicates a distant site which is referred to by a cult in the pertinent centre; an oku no in (Buddhist) or oku no miya 奥の宮 (Shinto) would thus refer to a subsidiary precinct at a significant distance from the main temple or shrine. See Grapard (<CitationRef CitationID="CR8” >1982</Citation Ref>: 199–200), referring to Kageyama Haruki.
- 33.
On the 1681 map this is shown simply as the Tenshi Misasagi 天子陵, the newer name reflecting the changes in the imperial cult that occurred during the Meiji Restoration (1868).
- 34.
The company publishes a wealth of information on its website, e.g. on its history, see www.nankai.co.jp/traffic/museum/muse/ji0001.html (retrieved 2012-10-14; in Japanese).
- 35.
It was, for example, being showcased in the New York Times’ business section in 1994 (www.nytimes.com/1994/08/05/business/worldbusiness/05iht-airport.html (retrieved 2012-10-14)).
- 36.
20 July–25 September 2011; the catalogue, in which Nantetsu is named as the only commercial supporter, is a prime example of the high-quality work that goes into the production of books and events that celebrate Japan’s cultural heritage (Tokyo National Museum et al. 2011); www.tnm.jp/modules/ (retrieved 2012-10-15).
- 37.
Surname given second, as per his web-site, http://kouyasiki.sakura.ne.jp/profile/index.html (retrieved 2012-10-14). This site also contains high-quality scans of pilgrim’s maps from 1732 to 1934, the last one shows the new railway to the top of Kōyasan quite prominently.
- 38.
There are two stone steles (c.150 cm high) donated by the founding president of the company widely known as Panasonic (Matsushita 松下) in the central garan: one stele was a personal gift and one was erected on behalf of his company. Panasonic has a prominent company memorial in Oku no In but these steles, on the eastern approach to the Grand Pagoda, stand side by side with a number of others donated by prominent figures in the industrial build-up to the Pacific War.
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Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Ian Reader (Lancaster University), Joachim Gentz (Edinburgh University), and Rosina Buckland (National Museums of Scotland) for their constructive comments; and Hill Williamson and Kevin Maclean (Central Library, Edinburgh) for access to Koyasan-related materials and the photography for Fig. 26.2, respectively.
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Astley, I. (2015). Space, Time and Heritage on a Japanese Sacred Site: The Religious Geography of Kōyasan. In: Brunn, S. (eds) The Changing World Religion Map. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9376-6_26
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