Seichoku no Michi

Yoshimi Kōwa and His View on Ritual and Politics

Abstract

The Owari Ōkunitama Shrine conducted several Shinto ceremonies with the purpose of driving evil spirits out. One of those was the naoi ceremony, carried out until the Kanpō era (1741-1744) and which resulted in several episodes of chaos and bloodshed. To cope with this problem, the Owari domain consulted with a specialist called Yoshimi Kōwa (1673-1761).

Yoshimi is well known for his peculiar type of kokushi kanchō-shugi, a syncretic principle that combined an analysis of Shinto based on historical documents and ancient customs with real political events. This principle ultimately facilitated a junction between Shinto and Buddhist beliefs. However, in the Naoi Mondō (Dialogues on Purging Ceremonies), Yoshimi Kōwa criticizes the syncretic rites mixing Buddhism and Shinto, calling them “questionable worship” (inshi), responsible for inflicting hardship and privations on the people.

This paper investigates his Naoi Mondō, focusing mainly on the idea of “the way of sincerity” (seichoku no michi), one of his most essential theories. This paper shows that Yoshimi's ideas on “sincerity” (seichoku) were one of the first cases of a text by this author discussing political ritual, and will serve as basis for his later considerations on Shinto.