Redefining the Gods: Politics and Survival in the Creation of Modern Kami

Interpretations of the gods change with each succeeding political transformation as ritualists redefine the objects of their worship in order to survive. In early seventeenth-century Japan, priests at sites of sacred power enshrined their deities as combinatory gods supportive of the Tokugawa regime...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Thal, Sarah 1966- (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Nanzan Institute [2002]
Dans: Japanese journal of religious studies
Année: 2002, Volume: 29, Numéro: 3/4, Pages: 379-404
Sujets non-standardisés:B Emperors
B Shrine Shinto
B Buddhism
B Deities
B Religious Studies
B Priests
B Purification rituals
B Nativism
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Résumé:Interpretations of the gods change with each succeeding political transformation as ritualists redefine the objects of their worship in order to survive. In early seventeenth-century Japan, priests at sites of sacred power enshrined their deities as combinatory gods supportive of the Tokugawa regime. In the face of the threats and opportunities of late 1867 to 1874, ritualists asserted and supported the exclusive legitimacy of the emperor by redefining the combinatory gods as imperial kami and stripping them of other associations. After the Meiji regime became securely established, however, many added back earlier associations to the gods to appeal to worshippers and ensure the continued survival of their institutions. Thus, priests of the Shinto shrines of Meiji-officiating at the hitherto combinatory worship sites of the Tokugawa era-reintroduced selected elements of that combinatory tradition under the auspices of the purportedly "pure, " exclusive Shinto of the imperial regime.
Contient:Enthalten in: Japanese journal of religious studies