The Activities and Rhetoric of Shinto Shrines during the Late Tokugawa Era: The Case of Kanda Tenjin Shrine in Kai Province

Abstract

This paper deals with traditional shinto priest (shake 社家) organization, particularly how and why individual shrines attempted to free themselves from that organization, in the Kuninaka 国中 region of Kai 甲斐 Province, in order to investigate how shrine briests conceived their position within early nineteenth century Japanese society. There were a total of 160 medium and small sizd shrines in the Kuninaka region (including Yamanashi, Yatsushiro and Koma districts, but excluding the Kawauchi territory), whose shake consisted of two priests each. These shake were organized under the Fuchu Hachiman 府中八幡 Shrine, the guardian shrine of Kofu 甲府 castle, into a prayer rotation system by which shake would alternate by taking shifts of two nights and two days in continuous prayer for the country's safety, etc.. The shake organized into this system opposed the Fuchu Hachiman Shrine, which had established its superiority over this organization during the early eighteenth century, and during the early nineteenth century made attempts to secede from the system. In this paper, the author concentrates on such efforts made by the Kanda Tenjin 菅田天神 Shrine in Kami Ozo Village, Yamanashi-Gun. The Kanda Tenjin Shrine was the traditional holder of the Takeda 武田 family's cultural treasure known as the "Tatenashi Yoroi" (shieldless suit of armor) worn by the famous marksman Shinra Saburo Yoshimitsu (1045-1127). The author relates that in 1793, on the occasion of the shogun's inspection of this treasure, the head priest of this shrine became involved in widespread economic activities and attempted to confirm his family's legacy as the shrine's leader. The author then turns to the events happening on the provincial scale, investigating from the standpoint of disputes over Shinto ritual how social status and group affiliation according to religious registries (shumon ninbetsu-cho 宗門人別帳) were confirmed and the problem of honorific titles accompanying official appointments. The author also takes up the questions of the reasoning presented by shake for seceding from the prayer rotation system and the hollowing out of traditional institutions that confirmed shrine family status. The author sheds light on the process and background to these secession activities, by which shake within the rotation system refuted the claim of the Fuchu Hachiman Shrine to its traditional superiority over them. The author concludes that such activities and ideas were by no means unique to Kai Province, but represented phenomena arising throughout late Tokugawa era society. In this sense, we can regard the hollowing out of the prayer rotation system as a positive historical development.