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- Title
'Water and Waves': The Syncretic Honji Suijaku Paradigm in Zeami's Yōrō.
- Authors
Houwen, Andrew
- Abstract
In their introduction to Buddhas and Kami in Japan: Honji Suijaku as a Combinatory Paradigm, Mark Teeuwen and Fabio Rambelli observe that, while 'Japanese religion is often categorised under the twin headings Buddhism and Shinto,' the latter 'hardly existed as an autonomous cultic system' because Shinto kami were defined as 'traces (suijaku) or local emanations of Buddhist divinities,' the '"original ground" (honji) from which the powers of the kami derived' (1 and 15). As they explain, this paradigm was 'refined into a key analytical tool by the Tiantai patriarch Zhiyi (538-97)' (15). Tiantai Buddhism was then introduced to Japan via Saichō (767-822) and the honji suijaku paradigm became the dominant 'cultic system' in Japan (5). In describing this system, Teeuwen and Rambelli prefer the term 'combinatory' to 'syncretic,' associating the latter with interaction between two or more 'pure' religious traditions. This is not, however, an association inherent in the term 'syncretic.' Following the precedent of studies that discuss honji suijaku such as that of Yeonjoo Park, this article interprets 'syncretism' as encompassing the possibility that each of the interacting 'entities' already consists of a complex network of beliefs and practices from multiple cultural sources. In its wide-ranging examination of texts evidencing the usage of the honji suijaku paradigm in Japanese culture, Teeuwen and Rambelli's edited collection only briefly touches on nō theater, with three passing references in Irit Averbruch's discussion of kagura, a performance tradition said to have inspired nō. Previous studies of religious elements in nō have tended to focus on its relation to particular religious or philosophical traditions such as Buddhism, Shinto, and Confucianism, rather than examining it primarily as an important expression of the syncretic honji suijaku paradigm (Tyler 1987; Thornhill; Mathews). Tyler cautions against using nō to understand the honji suijaku paradigm: nō libretti are, he claims, not reliable for understanding 'religious and ritual experience' because they 'display a great deal of artifice' (1987:139). That may reflect a too schematic idea of 'artifice.' Dunja Jelesijevic, in contrast, sees in nō a 'particularly appropriate' expression of 'interaction between buddhas, bodhisattvas and the kami' (151). Here I shall explore in more detail the role of honji suijaku in the treatises and plays of the greatest nō playwright, Zeami Motokiyo.
- Subjects
BUDDHISTS; RELIGIOUS identity; MOTOKIYO, Zeami
- Publication
Japan Mission Journal, 2021, Vol 75, Issue 4, p234
- ISSN
1344-7297
- Publication type
Article