“Fearful Respect”

Recently, I’ve read some discussions about the inappropriate depiction (in art or speech) of the kami in Shinto. Westerners tend to want to have a very close, friendly connection to Shinto kami, but this is rather odd–borderline disrespectful–from a Japanese point of view. I read an article in the Jinja Shinpou (3 June 2019) about this, so I thought I would translate it here for you.

Fearful Respect
by Suzue (Vocalist, and a shrine ritualist at Kono Hachimangu

When did it start, I wonder. Recently I can’t help but feel that the word “kami” has started to be used all over the place. You probably aren’t familiar with these expressions, but  “kami response”, “soon a kami!”, “kami level”, “to kami (something)”, “k4m1” are all phrases used to supposedly express the highest praise. However, something about them feels a bit cheap to me. The last phrase “k4m1” (ネ申す), by the way, uses net language to express the character “kami” (神) written side-wise, thus emphasising the meaning.

Thinking charitably, this is not the worst trend in the world. I want to consider this positive as a felt everyday connection to the kami as expressed in our contemporary language. But, including the feeling expressed in these phrases, I wonder if we modern people haven’t unconsciously started losing our sense of respect for those above us, started becoming slightly arrogant.

Fearful Respect. Is this not an innately human feeling? When faced with a deserving object, this sense of respect naturally bubbles up from within ourselves. Kami (神) is pronounced the same way as up (上, also read “kami”). When we focus on an existence higher than ourselves, it also clearly raises our own selves up. By understanding the self we have yet to accomplish, we enter into a position to learn.

The feeling of fearful respect is not something we learn from a teacher. It comes naturally from within: a sense of the awe-ful fostered within our hearts. Since I was raised at a shrine, perhaps I may have been able to naturally experience this feeling more easily. When my father placed his hands together before the shrine… when my mother offered her carefully steamed rice before the kamidana… when sunlight gently bathed me while I was lost in through by the window… every time when I gazed up at the trees of the shrine forest: These everyday things taught me a sense of fearful respect.

This is just my personal experience, but when I was in intermediate school, I had a chance to talk to an American, who was a Christian. He nonchalantly said, “God (kami-sama) is my friend.” I was really struck by this pronouncement. I felt it was quite novel, but at the same time it felt quite presumptuous. I was also surprised when I was in high school and one of my classmates said, “My mama and I get along so well, it is like we are best friends!”. I had never once felt like my mother was my best friend, and just couldn’t imagine it.

Also, a friend of mine who is a catholic priest told me this: “God (kami-sama) exists up in Heaven so high above us that we cannot reach Him. Thus it was for that reason that he sent Jesus down to this world for us.”

I imagine that people vary in the distance they feel to the kami. Near or far, only you yourself can truly know.

“I fearfully intrude…” (NB: a polite way of saying “excuse me” in Japanese). I love this phrase. I feel like people in Japan originally approached another person by pulling back a step, keeping a feeling of slight distance.

Faith is not an expression of rank or height. But actions like looking up or bowing down your head express a 3D sense along a vertical axis. A feeling of equality with everyone on the same step is also important, but I want to remember the importance of humility and respect too.

How to “choose” a kami

Standard kamidana, in an archery dojo

Recently, I saw a question about “how do you decide who to set up your kamidana for?” The poster mentioned there was not a lot of information on line, so I thought I would give a detailed answer here.

The standard kamidana has spots for three ofuda.

1. Center = the Jingu Taima
2. Right (facing the kamidana) = Local shrine’s ofuda
3. Left (facing the kamidana) = Another shrine’s ofuda to which you feel connected

1) The Jingu Taima
The Jingu Taima, also called the Ohtaima, is the Ofuda of the Ise Jingu. The kami enshrined at Ise Jingu are Amaterasu Ohmikami and Toyouke-no-kami, who are associated with the sun and with foodstuff. Since everybody needs the sun and foodstuff, everybody should have a Jingu Taima, or so the thinking goes. By the way, almost all shrines distribute the Jingu Taima, so you don’t need to visit the Ise Jingu in person to get this ofuda. That said, the Ise Jingu is a beautiful place, so I would recommend a visit if you are able.

2) Your Local Shrine’s Ofuda
In Japan, each locality has a shrine that serves to protect that area. This shrine is called the areas chinju-sha. Usually, the name of the shrine is merely “Town’s-name Jinja”. Thus This shrine’s ofuda should go in the number two spot, because this is the kami watching over your everyday life and keeping the community safe. However, this is a bit difficult for most people living outside of Japan, since there are very few shrines overseas. Thus in that case, I would recommend an ofuda from one of the overseas shrines in Hawaii, the American mainland, Brazil, or Taiwan.

3) An ofuda from another shrine
Sometimes, people feel a special connection to a certain shrine/kami. Perhaps they are a student devotedly studying to get into their dream university, and thus pray to Tenmangu for academic success. Or perhaps they run a small restaurant, and rely on Inari-san to help keep the business in the black. Or maybe they had a moving experience while at an Ishizuchi shrine, and thus want to venerate Ishizuchi at home. In these sorts of cases, that ofuda would be placed in the third spot. By the way, this sort of shrine is called a Sukei-sha, which means it is a shrine that gathers reverence not only from its local area, but from people across the world.

Finally, if your kamidana does not have three spots for ofuda, or if you are using an ofuda stand, you can still have more than one ofuda in your kamidana. What you can do is simply layer the ofuda on top of one another, with the Jingu Taima on top. This is perfectly acceptable and a good idea for people who don’t have a lot of room in their house.

 

 

Hierarchy of Kami

A life-size float figure of Amaterasu, crowned with a sundisk and carrying a mirror and a sun wand.

The other day I was asked why different shrines venerate different kami-sama, and why they aren’t ranked in the same hierarchy of importance.

Most Sect Shinto (Kyoha Shinto) have a single or group of kami that they venerate above all others, but in shrine Shinto (Jinja Shinto), the kami-sama are not ranked in any hierarchy of importance. Objectively, all kami-sama are equally important, but depending on your own position, you might personally revere some kami-sama more than others.

Let me give an analogy. On Mother’s Day, I sent a present to my mother, but not to my Auntie, nor to my sister. However, my cousin gave a present to my Auntie, and my nephew to my sister. And neither of them gave a present to my mother. Why? My mother, Auntie, and sister are all equally mothers, so why don’t we all give all of them presents? The reason, of course, is because while they are all mothers, only my mother is MY mother. I revere my mother more than my auntie and sister, not because they aren’t equal, but because of my specific connection to her.

It is the same with kami-sama. I might have particular reverence for my local kami-sama, but that doesn’t make it objectively more important than other kami-sama. Only more important to me and my community.

So, the reason shrines venerate different kami-sama is because local situations different. For example, many shrines near the ocean venerate Kotohira, because Kotohira is a fishing/ocean kami. But a mountain shrine wouldn’t venerate Kotohira, because it doesn’t have anything to do with the ocean. Likewise, there are many Shinto shrines dedicated to Kato Kiyomasa in Kyushu, because he was a great daimyo who historically lived there. But there are very few shrines to Kato in Honshu, because that place has no strong connection to him.

Imperial Legitimacy

I was asked the other day about the ancient Shinto myths that give the Imperial House legitimacy. The general story is that the imperial house traces its legitimacy back to Amaterasu’s grandson, Ninigi-no-mikoto, who was given domain over the earth. But was the earth in Amaterasu’s right to give? Didn’t it belong to her brother, Susanoo? And if so, then is the imperial house not legitimate?

Susanoo is the brother to Amaterasu, and the myths say that Susanoo (a Dionysian kami) was given domain over the earth and Amaterasu (an Apollonian kami) over heaven. However, Susanoo’s descendent (Princess Himetataraisuzu) marries Amaterasu’s descendent (Emperor Jinmu) and they become the first imperial rulers of Japan. In other words, the imperial house draws its legitimacy from both Susanoo (representing the Kunitsu kami or Izumo kami) and Amaterasu (representing the Amatsu kami or Yamato kami). So this myth suggests a union between the two tribes of kami.

Of course, there are many versions of the ancient myths and only a few of them were actually written down, so it is impossible to know if one version is correct and the other is wrong from an objective point of view.

Pacifying Kami

Sugawara no Michizane

Recently, I was asked about how a historically wrathful kami can now be considered benevolent. There are actually many cases of this happening. In particular, these sorts of kami are called goryou 御霊.

The most famous example is that of Sugawara no Michizane, who is also known as Tenjin-sama. Tenjin-sama was a noble who lived during the Heian period. He was falsely accused of treachery and exiled to a distant land. Shortly after his death, many disasters began to occur in Kyoto and it was determined that it was caused by his vengeful spirit.

The Emperor apologized to Tenjin-sama’s spirit by pardoning him, raising his court rank, and building Shinto shrines for him: first as his grave (Dazaifu Tenmangu 太宰府天満宮) and then in Kyoto (Kitano Tenmangu 北野天満宮). Through this, Tenjin-sama’s spirit was pacified. Tenjin-sama was known as a very brilliant scholar and poet, so once pacified, he started helping students and poets excel at their arts. Thus even today many students will go to pray at his shrine for academic success.

There is another separate, but similar sounding idea also found in Shinto. There is the idea that kami-sama  have two sides of their spirit: the aramitama 荒魂 (“rough spirit”) and the nigimitama 和魂 (“calm spirit”). However, this isn’t a divide between “evil” and “good” sides, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Rather, it is more like the difference between “Dionysian” and “Apollonian” spirits, and both are integral to a whole person. Sometimes, a shrine will revere only the aramitama of a kami-sama, while a different shrine will enshrine only the nigimitama of the same kami-sama.

Shinto Norito

A request that often comes up in Shinto groups overseas is for “prayers”, often addressed to a certain kami such as “Amaterasu”. This is a bit of a difficult request. Norito are written in beautiful antique Japanese for each specific occasion by the ritualist himself, so the average person doesn’t really have the skill to write norito. However, there are some set norito that are recommended for your everyday person at home. These are all taken from the 祝詞必携 (A Norito Vade Mecum). First is the Harai Kotoba, which is recited first for purification purposes:

Kakemaku mo kashikoki, izanagi no ohokami,
tsukushi no himuka no tachibana no wodo no ahagihara ni,
misogi harahe tamahishi toki ni nari maseru harahedo no ohokami-tachi,
moromoro no magagoto,
tsumi kagare aramu woba harahe tamahi,
kiyome tamahe to mawosu koto wo,
kikoshimese to,
kashikomi mo mawosu

This norito can be abbreviated to the Ryaku Haishi:

Harahi tamahi,
kiyome tamahi,
mamori tamahi,
sakihahe tamahe

Then, a norito called the Kamidana Haishi can be recited. It prays for peace and safety for your house and world:

Kore no kamudoko ni masu,
kakemaku mo kashikoki  Amaterasu Ohokami,
ubusuna no ohokami-tachi no ohomahe wo worogami matsurite
kashikomi kashikomi mo mawosaku,
ohokami-tachi no hiroki atsuki mimegumi wo katajikenami maturi,
takaki tafutoki miwoshihe no manimani,
nahoki tadashiki magokoro mochite,
makoto no michi ni tagafu koto naku ohimotsu waza ni hagemashime tamahi,
ihekado takaku misukoyaka ni,
yo no tame hito no tame tsukusashime tamahe to,
kashikomi kashikomi mo mawosu

Finally, a note about pronunciation. The modern pronunciation of Japanese differs from the historical method. Originally, this older pronunciation was preserved in the spelling, but the US Occupation imposed a simplified spelling system upon Japan. However Shinto shrines tend to maintain not only the old spelling, but also the old pronunciation. I’ve used the old spelling here in the romanisation here.

A History of Hokkaido Jingu Shrine

Leaf Hunting at Hokkaido Jingu’s Park

I did a quite translation/summary of the history of Hokkaido Jingu shrine, mostly so I could use it for my own reference. However, I thought my blog readers might find it interesting as well.

Preludes
There were many plans raised for building a major shrine in the Sapporo area. The chief preist of Hakodate Hachimangu shrine, KIKUCHI Shigekata (菊池重賢) got permission early on from the Yoshida house (who at that time managed shrine affairs) to establish a Hachimangu shrine in Sapporo to serve as the Protector of Ishikari region. Due the the change in government, this plan never saw the light, but Kikuchi would later become the first acting preist of Sapporo Jinja.

The Kaitakushi magistrate, SAGARA Masakatsu (相良正勝), also formulated a plan to establish “First Shrines” in each of Hokkaido’s 11 prefectures, with the one is Sapporo serving in the position of first among equals. This plan, too, was never enacted.

Finally, the eventual founder of Hokkaido Jingu, Shima Yoshitake, originally suggested that Abe no Hirafu (阿倍比羅夫), an ancient general famous for his settlement of barbarian lands, be enshrined instead of Okunitama at the shrine. But this idea was turned down.

Bring the Kami
On 21 September 1869, the Meiji emperor ordered that a kami for protecting Hokkaido be enshrined. This kami was called the kaitaku sanjin, and was an amalgation of Okunitama, Onamuchi, and Sukunabikona. The Chinza rite was attended by Lord Higashikuse, the Head of Development, and 23 others. The head of the Jingikan (Jingihaku), Nakayama Tadayasu (中山忠能) performed the rite and the three-faced mirror was entrusted to Lord Higashikuse.

Officials of the Hokkaido Development Commission sailed on the British ship Terusu from Shinagawa to Hakodate. Lord Higashikuse was appointed to reside at Hakodate, the busy port city on the south shore of Hokkaido. However,  the main government for the island needed a more central location. Therefore, Lord Higashikuse entrusted the sacred mirror to Shima Yoshitake, who was appointed to reside at Sapporo in Ishikari. Magistrate Shima carried the mirror on his very body. He arrived at Zenibako in October, after the arduous journey through Raiden, Iwanai, and Yochi areas. There he resided until the Sapporo government building had been completed, after which he moved to Sapporo on 3 December.

Founding Hokkaido Jingu
In May 1870, Magistrate Shima had a temporary shrine constructed on the banks of Soseigawa River. The kami, who had been temporary enshrined in the government office, was moved to their larger–if still temporary–home by the river. From this period, the shrine became popularly known as Hokkaido’s “First Shrine” (一宮). This shrine was probably located at block North 5, East 1, but some say it was located on the other side of the street at North 6.

Souyama Seitarou, who had lived in Hokkaido since 1857 and set up an Izumo shrine in Ishikari , helped Magistrate Shima find a good place to locate Hokkaido Jingu permanently. They decided on Maruyama, a hill to the West of the city that was surrounded by mountains on three sides and open on the other. Magistrate Shima planned a really awesome shrine, but the central government was like, “Hold on, way too expensive!!” This overspending meant Magistrate Shima went through his entire budget of 60,000 ryou in only 3 month. This led to Shima’s dismissal from the post of magistrate.

However, Lord Higashikuse continued with Shima’s plan to permanently estbalished Hokkaido Jingu at Maruyama. A temprary shrine in the Kamakura-style was built, and on 4 June 1871, Hokkaido Jingu was given the rank of kokuhei shosha by the central government. It was also treated as a chokusai (imperial patronised) shrine, due to the Meiji Emperor’s personal involvement in ordering its foundation.

Later History
The first chief priest appointed to serve at Hokkaido Jingu never made it to Sapporo, so Kikuchi Shigekata mentioned above was the acting first priest. He also served as a Jingikan official for the Development Commission. Locating the shrine at the somewhat distant Maruyama made it difficult for people to visit the shrine. Funds for maintaining the shrine were always short, and the government could not afford to build proper roads to it. This made the position of priest there quite an unpopular posting. The shrine asked for permission to distribute ofuda in order to raise funds, but the central government refused to allow this until 1900.

In 1872, Hokkaido Jingu’s rank was raised to kanpei shosha. This removed the shrine from the Development Commission and placed it under the central government’s authority. At first, the shrine’s main festival was on 1 September, but in 1872, the festival was changed in 12 June. Lord Kuroda (黒田清隆), then the Head of Development, announced that all Hokkaido residents should take that day off work and either visit the shrine in person or give yohai reverence from afar. Today, Hokkaido Jingu’s festival day is called the Sapporo Festival and Sapporo public schools take half a day off under the guise of it being a “Local Culture Day”. Also some business in Sapporo take the day off too.

In 1889, the rebuilding of the Ise shrines occured. The main building of  the Outer Shrine of Ise was recycled as a new main building for Hokkaido Jingu. In 1893, Hokkaido Jingu’s rank was raised to kanpei chuusha, and then finally in 1899 it was raised to the highest rank, kanpei taisha. A branch of Institute for the Study of Ancient Classics was also established at Hokkaido Jingu during the Great Promulgation Campaign.

After the war, in 1964, Emperor Meiji was enshrined in a second seat, and the old name of the shrine (Sapporo Jinja) was renewed to Hokkaido Jingu. Also, in 1974 an arsonist burned down several imporant shrine buildings (the honden, norito-den, and inner haiden), but they were reconstructed 1978.

Rule by Time 1

 

The Japanese-built public broadcasting tower in Taichu Park, Taiwan.

Before the advent of precise clocks and wage labour, people had a very different sense of time. Time was measured loosely by the celestial cycles, rather than precisely by the second. When Japan modernized, it also needed to indoctrinate its people into measuring time by the very minute. It worked very well, and even today Japan is known for being a very punctual country (unlike, I should comment, Hawaii!) Anyway, the scholar Hara Takeshi analyses how the Japanese government promoted precise time measurement across the empire and I found it quite interesting. This piece is probably too academic to be of much interest to the average person, but I am posting it here anyways.

 

Introduction
This work, “Kashika sareta Tekoku” (Visualizing the Empire) has mostly been concerned with “Rule by sight” (視覚的支配), focusing on the visits of the Emperors to the rural provinces. Being able to see the Emperor in person, especially after the change from Taisho to Showa emperor was an important form of governance. From 1937 when the Sino-Japanese war started, big army exercises and the emperor’s visits to the periphery were stopped, so a different kind of rule was needed. It is true that even during this wartime period the emperor and the imperial family often appeared before citizen representatives in Tokyo more than ever, but this was limited in space. So a different kind of governance, which I call “rule by time” (時間支配) began to be often used.

Rule by time occurred on national holidays and memorial days across the entire Japanese sphere including Manchuria, and consisted of everyone for a single moment organized by a radio announcement or a siren, doing yohai, having a moment of silence, or shouting banzai in the direction of the Tokyo palace, Yasukuni Jinja, Ise Jinguu etc. In Manchuria it was often directed toward the Manchurian palace, or the Kenkoku Chuureibyou. Rule by time occurred during the Emperor’s rural visits by train since the Meiji period, and during the great rites of the of the Taisho and Showa period, but it was only with Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro that it included the colonies and Manchuria and was used in place of rule by sight. In the case of saying “banzai”, the object is usually the emperor etc. and in the case of yohai you face to wear that is such as the Kashikodokoro in the palace or Yasukuni Jinja etc. But with rule by time, it is the timing rather than the geographical direction which is especially important.

Since there really isn’t any research on rule by time yet save 成田龍一 touching on it in Korea, this appendix will look at rule by time first in the Japanese empire, and then in Manchuria. It will then discuss how people reacted to rule by time and finally reexamine the Jeweled Recording.

1. The Gap of 1937

The first instance of rule by time in modern Japan was in November 1915 for the Taisho emperor’s Great Rite, the “Shikishi-den no gi”. At 3:30pm 10 November on Standard Western [Japanese] time, everyone including Taiwan cried Banzai three times along with the Prime Minister. In 1928, the same thing happened for the Showa emperor’s Great Rite. In 1933 on the crown prince’s birthday (Akihito), at 11:15am 29 December, a siren rang in 19 places in Tokyo and everyone did banzai.

However, these were not as important as the rule by sight practices. As discussed previously in the book, there was a shift from imperial trips to the distant colonies to closer more important cities due to the lack of a crown prince in the Showa period. [Akihito was born in 1933.] So chances for having a space for “君民一体” increased, but also got closer to the centre.

By the way, with the start of the Sino-Japanese war in July 1937, the Army Exercises which allowed the emperor to visit the periphery every October or November were halted, meaning chances for rule by sight further decreased. It was only at a few places like the Army school and Tama tumulus. Also his Tokyo appearances also underwent a big change. Here is political scholar 坂本孝治郎 on it:

The emperor’s public appearances, both secular and military such as the Cherry Blossom Viewing and Military Memorial Day events stopped in 1937.

So the emperor stopped having Military Memorial events, but started visiting Yasukuni at the equinoxes, which shows the change from prewar to wartime periods. On 1 October 1937, different time zones were abolished and the home islands, the colonies, and Manchuria all ran on Central [Japanese] time. This came include the entire Japanese Co-prosperity Sphere.

Radios were important for this rule by time. Seven broadcasting stations were built in Japan from Hokkaido to Kumamoto and also in the colonies and Manchuria. People were really buying radios, with 3.24 million having a radio contract by September 1937. In the same month, Prime Minister Konoe started the 国民精神総動員運動 to mobilize people for the war effort invoking the Kokutai. As a part of this movement, “timeliness” was promoted as a virtue and radio media and siren use really increased. [This brings to mind the use of the Sapporo Clock Tower.]

On Meiji-setsu 3 November 1937 was the first rule by time that was national in scope and unrelated to the imperial Great Rites. Let’s quote the Tokyo Mainichi Shinbun on 24 October 1937:

The Ministries of Home Affairs and Culture as a part of the 国民精神総動員 plan, has decided on a “国民奉祝の時間”. At celebrations, at work, at school, and at home, all citizens should do a 宮城遙拝 at 9am. Factories will blow their whistles or sirens and temples will rings their bells to have a “奉祝の時間”.

So while celebrations on the Meji-setsu holiday had always been held, but for the first time palace yohai occurred. Different from the Great Rite time, this did not include shouting banzai. In Korea on 30 October in the government newsletter was this announcement:

At 9am there will be a “Kokumin Houshuku no Jikan” and everyone will do a palace yohai at the same time, with the radio, whistles, sirens, or bronze bells giving the signal.

This Korean newsletter was probably only seen by officials, but in Tokyo it was quite a site: “This year all the sirens, whistles, temple bells rang, the buses and streetcars stopped, and everyone stopped in their path to have a moment of silence for the imperial virtue and military power at schools, workshops etc. and to do yohai towards Meiji Jingu and the palace.” (Yomiuri Shinbun 1937 Nov. 4 evening edition)

On that day, the emperor had a rite at palace sanctuaries that started at 10am. According to the newspaper, at 9am even the emperor stopped for a moment of silence and yohai to the kashikodokoro. So different from rule by sight, there was no “ruler”, but it was the imperial treasures that were at the focus. I want to talk about this more later.

After this Meiji-setsu in 1937, rule by time became more important and included the colonies and Manchuria, even if rule by sight was still carried out a little in Tokyo.

(To be Continued…)

A Woman’s Place

 

Ruth Goodman and Alex Langlands

Feminism is a popular topic in society, although I generally don’t consider myself a modern feminist. My main issue with modern feminism is it seems to take the same negative view of “women’s work” as misogynistic chauvinists. I, being a woman myself, of course don’t think women are any lessor than men. But I do truly wish that the (usually unpaid) work of women was recognized for its value Money is not the only indicator of “value” and perhaps not even the most accurate. Anyway, here is a selection from the book “Victorian Farm” by the historian Ruth Goodman, which I find agreeable.

 

Historians have long characterized the Victorian period as one in which many (especially middle-class) women retreated, with active encouragement from their menfolk, form the outside world of paid work, back into the home and domesticity. But this view can lead us into a misogynistic way of looking at the evidence.  Throughout the Victorian period, women do unpaid work within the household. Wages become increasingly (not exclusively) a male phenomenon. But the ‘retreat’ of women into the home is a phrase that is loaded with value judgements. It implies that the cut and thrust and hardship of life are in the paid workplace, that the domestic space was one of idleness and a lesser contribution. Yet there is no doubt that the widespread adoption of coal as our major fuel source significantly increased the amount of work needed to keep a home and family clean and fed. In towns, especially, the domestic burden was rising.

Perhaps one could say with equal justification, therefore, that men ‘retreated’ from the domestic space to work in factories where the hours were shorter and the work less heavy than that done by their stalwart wives. Some people at the time thought so. The magazine, Punch, for example, published a cartoon, shortly after the legal reduction of factory hours, showing a man at a table enjoying his supper while his wife was scrubbing he floor with the caption ’16 hours so far and I ain’t finished yet’. Social mores required women not the mention the housework the did, yet, even for middle-class women with a servant to help, the sheer volume of work to be done meant that they worked very hard. We have perhaps been fooled by their polite reticence into imagining that they were idle. It is pure prejudice to see this hard-working domestic contribution as somehow lesser and intellectually poor. It required brains, skill and ingenuity to run a Victorian household. (Victorian Farm: Rediscovering Forgotten Skills, p180-181)

Generic Religion and Western-Centricity

This “world religions” infographic is so interesting because it clearly demonstrates the Western-centricity of our modern taxonomy of “religion”. First we have the large pie chart on the left. It’s outer circle gives a rather disparate group of large categories. Most of these are vague geographic categories (East Asian, Eastern, African Diasporic, Iranian), but “Abrahamic” gets its own category. This implies “Abrahamic” is a category of the same level as “East Asian”. However, “European” or “Germanic” etc. would be more appropriate category. Thus Abrahamic religions are united into one category while that same unity is denied other parts of the world. Furthermore, the very diverse indigenous traditions from (non-literate) peoples across the globe all get lumped into the single category of “Primal Indigenous”.

Moving into the middling circles of the pie chart, we have these large categories of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc. And as subcategories of each of this large religions, we have different denominations such as “Unitarian Christianity” or “Shia Islam”. Yet looking over to East Asia, we have “Japanese religions”, “Vietnamese religions”, “Chinese religions”. So again, we have the false equivalency of Western religious systems with geographic designations. Strangely, Buddhism does not count as a Japanese religious sect at all, despite the unique form of Buddhism that developed in Japan and had a deep influence upon of Buddhism was understood in the West. In other words, so-called “original” Buddhism “re-discovered” by Westerners is privileged over the actual Buddhist practices of people in China, Japan, and South-East Asia.

To the left of the pie chart, there are various symbols of religions scaled to size relative to the number of followers of each religion. This brings up another problem: how does one define a “follower” of a religion. For the two largest, Christianity and Islam, these religions require a confession of faith, so it is relatively easy. But what about Judaism? Are you Jewish only if you confess you are Jewish on surveys? Or are you Jewish by birth or by ethnicity? No doubt this infographic used data based on self-reported adherence to religion. But then look at the example of Japan. Majority of Japanese people self-identify as atheists or non-religious on surveys, but a majority also participate in Buddhist/Shinto ritual. Do we count them as followers of Buddhism or Shinto? Even the idea of being a “follower” of religion is not indigenous to many countries.

Moving away from the pie chart, we have a world map (with of course Europe positioned in the center) that shoes most the world dominated by “Abrahamic” religions. Of course, China is coloured “Chinese religions” and Japan is coloured “Japanese religions”. Strangely, no nations seems to be coloured Buddhism. So this map reproduces the issues of categories some religions by geography and some by historical roots, which I pointed out above. This causes the visual map to overemphasize the unity of “Abrahamic religions” and underemphasize the similarities between Asian religious practices.

Underneath the map is a prohibited foods graphic. Actually I have never seen something like this before and think it is quite clever. It does, however, position eating restrictions as a defining characteristic of generic “religion”.

The last chart in the lower righthand corner is the most obviously problematic section of the graphic. It lists nine of the religions along with their founder, sacred text, and “-theistic” type. Christianity naturally comes first, because of it is model for generic religion. The problem with this chart, is it positions these three characteristics (based on how Christianity has defined itself) as essential aspects to =all= religions, which is frankly untrue. It leads to people thinking that a certain book or person is essential to a religion, when in practice that book/person was little esteemed by actually practitioners of the religion/tradition. For example, classical texts like the Tao Te Ching have little relevance to the actual practice of Chinese (folk) Taoism. Furthermore, this chart lists both Lao-tzu and Confucius as the founders of “Chinese religion”, but only lists the Tao Te Ching (not the Analects of Confucius, arguably a far more influential book) as its “sacred text”. Not the mention the Analects are more similar to a political philosophy treatise like Machiavelli’s “The Prince”, than the literal word of God like the Koran. Although not listed on this chart, this same issue arises with Shinto.

So in conclusion, this chart demonstrates 1) how Western ideas about religion are treated as the template for generic religion and applied to non-Western so-called religions, and 2) how “Abrahamic” religions are given special treatment as “religion”, while other traditions tend to be defined geographically. I realize its easy to criticise, but difficult to suggest a solution to the problem of “religion”. Yet I would suggest that we try to use indigenous forms of categorization more often. And finally, when we do use Western categories upon non-Western cultures, we make it clear that these are ill-fitting forms used only for the sake of explanation, and not actual universal categories.