Abstract
Japanese mountain religions have attracted geographers, historians, folklorists, and scientists of religion. Geographers have often focused their studies on towns at the foots of sacred mountains and on identifying the geographic areas of cults. While those studies have emphasized the aspect of propagandists, they have conducted little analysis of the acceptors of such religions. Those studies also did not examine the relation between cults and the regions in which their acceptors lived.
This study examines the cult of Mt. Mitsumine, a sacred mountain in Chichibu county, Musashi province (currently Saitama prefecture). The cult of Mitsumine spread in the Kanto and Koshin districts after the middle of the 18th century. This diffusion was possible because the cult was gradually established in the Chichibu region in the period between the mid-17 th to the early 18th century. This study, therefore, examines how the cult was accepted in this region in the mid-18th century. It also elucidates cult practices in relation to other folk beliefs through records from the 19th century.
The establishment of the cult resulted from socioeconomic changes in the mid-17 th to the early 18th century. In Otaki Village, at the foot of Mt. Mitsumine, forests were cleared to ship the timber to Edo in the mid-17 th century. When merchants in cities, notably Edo, began to demand a large amount of timber from this area, the villagers felt the need to exercise control by assigning the amount to be felled by the village. While each settlement in Otaki used to have its own shrine, the villagers desired the deity of Mt. Mitsumine to play the role of uniting the whole village. The deity was regarded as a mountain god who controlled the felling. When Nikko-Hoin became a Mitsumine priest in 1720, the villagers supported him by donating money, agricultural products, and labor. They also helped to establish small shrines (massha).
Records from the 19th century indicate that the cult of Mitsumine had already established a firm position among the various folk beliefs by that period. Mitsumine shrine sent its staff to parishioners several times a year to offer blessings. The parishioners, in turn, donated money to support the shrine. Such practices, which began in the period of Nikko-Hoin, were conducted not only by villages but also by individual households.
The development of forestry after the 17th century made it possible for the Otaki residents to give more donations to Mitsumine shrine. The advancement of forestry also fostered the solidarity of the villagers with Mitsumine shrine as their core. A similar tendency was also observed in the Chichibu region in general with its development of sericulture. These economic and social changes thus contributed to the further geographic expansion of the cult.
By examining acceptors of the cult in relation to regional socioeconomic conditions, this study has demonstrated the significance of the geographic foundation of beliefs.
