Shinto-Buddhist Syncretism in Japan´s Early Modern Period - the Case of Yoshida Shinto

Research project P 13760 Yoshida Shinto Sepp LINHART 28.06.1999 This project is a contribution to one fundamental question in the research of Japanese Shinto: when did there emerge a self-image of Shinto as a religion? When and in which way did Shinto priests perceive of themselves as representatives of a distinct, independent, and comprehensive religious system? Traditionally Shinto has been regarded as such a system since times immemorial. Recent Japanese studies, however, have weakened this opinion. According to them, indigenous forms of Japanese religion were originally rather heterogeneous, regionally and even locally. Due to the example of Buddhism a process of unification and codification commenced. Thereby, Buddhist monks interfered into questions concerning the nature of Japanese deities (kami) and indigenous believes became part of a syncretistic system dominated by Buddhism. An independent Shinto theology was created only as a reaction to such developments in the Japanese Middle Ages (12. 16. cent.). In this process Yoshida Shinto performed a significant role. Founded by the shrine priest Yoshida Kanetomo Yoshida Shinto expounds a teaching which - for the first time in Shinto history -explicitly regards itself as a religious system distinct from Buddhism. Kami-centred believes thus became a ,way" of moral and practical behaviour. At the same time, this teaching was allegedly of great antiquity. Moreover it was regarded the basis of other teachings like Confucianism or Buddhism. Thus the Yoshida explained the overwhelming similarities between their Shinto and these teachings. By its own terms Yoshida Shinto therefore appears independent and fundamental, in its contents, however, it is still strongly influenced by Chinese and Buddhist thought. Yet it was a decisive step in the development of the now common notion that regards Shinto and Buddhism as two different religious systems. Since Yoshida Shinto has vanished almost completely, its importance can hardly be grasped today. Already by the end of the Edo-period (1600-1868), the Yoshida under the pressure of constant critique by more recent Shinto ideas renounced their teachings to a certain degree. After the Meiji restoration it was finally abolished by an official degree. In the first half of the Edo-period, however, Yoshida Shinto was apparently regarded as something like a Shinto orthodoxy and had a tremendous influence. How did it gain this status and which developments led to its eventual decline? These are the central questions of this project.

The so-called Yoshida Shinto, which is the focal point of this research project, originated in a period of overwhelming Buddhist influence on Japanese religious history. Yoshida Shinto testifies to this influence. More precisely, Yoshida Shinto can be portrayed as composed of elements taken from traditional worship of indigenous deities, as well as elements taken from esoteric Buddhism, Chinese cosmology and Yin-Yang doctrines. The project deals primarily with the question why it was precisely this ultimately syncretistic religious teaching that initiated a renaissance of indigenous deities and accompanying beliefs. As a first result we may state that in historical perspective Yoshida Shinto`s most crucial innovation was the promulgation of a distinct religious system under the name of "Shinto" ("way of the gods") which was most notably independent from Buddhism. In this connection, it cannot be overemphasized that such a "Shinto" (in the now familiar sense, that is, as an independent indigenous religion) did not exist in the common religious understanding of the time and had still had to be created. The result - Yoshida Shinto - may be indebted to other religions from a modern point of view but was in its time the only religious alternative to Buddhism. Moreover, it initiated a development that increasingy rejected "foreign" elements from the newly discovered indigenous "way." This development soon went far beyond the initial aims of Yoshida Shinto. In the end Yoshida Shinto itself became the object of xenophobia initiated by its own religious doctrine. The present research concentrates on the evaluation of Yoshida Shinto`s religious impact during the Edo Period (1600-1868). It is generally known that in spite of the above mentioned critique, which was limited mainly to intellectual circles, the Yoshida family successfully established themselves as the highest authority in Shinto matters. Most notably, they secured a kind of monopoly in the administration of lesser shrines throughout the entire country. It is still quite unclear, however, which competences were connected with this position, what circumstances led to the Yoshida`s eventual decline and how Yoshida Shinto influenced the notion of Shinto in general. These questions shall be further investigated in the course of this project.