Rituals of Initiation and Consecration in Premodern Japan : : Power and Legitimacy in Kingship, Religion, and the Arts / / ed. by Or Porath, Fabio Rambelli.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus DeG Package 2022 Part 1
• MitwirkendeR: Abé, Ryūichi,; Castiglioni, Andrea,; Chihiro, Inose,; Dolce, Lucia,; Groner, Paul,; Ikuyo, Matsumoto,; Keisuke, Unno,; Klein, Susan Blakeley,; Krug, Adam C.,; Masahide, Mori,; Porath, Or,; Rambelli, Fabio,; Satoshi, Itō,; Steavu, Dominic,; Tsuyoshi, Kawasaki,; White, David Gordon,; Yasurō, Abe,; Yoshiyuki, Tomishima,
• HerausgeberIn: Porath, Or,; Rambelli, Fabio,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter, , [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Religion and Society , 87
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (XXIV, 505 p.)

In premodern Japan, legitimization of power and knowledge in various contexts was sanctioned by consecration rituals (kanjō) of Buddhist origin. This is the first book to address in a comprehensive way the multiple forms and aspects of these rituals also in relation to other Asian contexts.The multidisciplinary chapters in the book address the origins of these rituals in ancient Persia and India and their developments in China and Tibet, before discussing in depth their transformations in medieval Japan. In particular, kanjō rituals are examined from various perspectives: imperial ceremonies, Buddhist monastic rituals, vernacular religious forms (Shugendō mountain cults, Shinto lineages), rituals of bodily transformation involving sexual practice, and the performing arts: a history of these developments, descriptions of actual rituals, and reference to religious and intellectual arguments based on under-examined primary sources. No other book presents so many cases of kanjō in such depth and breadth.This book is relevant to readers interested in Buddhist studies, Japanese religions, the history of Japanese culture, and in the intersections between religious doctrines, rituals, legitimization, and performance.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of Illustrations and Image Credits -- Notes for the Reader -- List of Contributors -- Chapter One General Introduction: Rituals of Initiation and Consecration (kanjō) in Premodern Japan -- Part One: Origins and Developments on the Asian Mainland -- Chapter Two Reflections on the Royal Unction Waters -- Chapter Three The Origin and Transformations of Abhiṣeka in Indian Buddhism -- Chapter Four Birds of a Feather Bathe Together: Buddhist Consecration Rituals in Medieval China and their Relation to Daoism -- Chapter Five Three Chapters on Consecration from the Oḍiyāna Mahāmudrā Lineage -- Part Two: Imperial Consecration in Japan -- Chapter Six The First Royal Abhiṣeka in Japan: Kūkai’s Esoteric Buddhist Ordination for the Grand Emperor Heizei -- Chapter Seven Literary Secret Agents: Solving the Case of the Sokui Kanjō -- Chapter Eight New Interpretations of Sokui Kanjō in the Modern Period: The Enthronement Ceremonies of Emperors Meiji, Taishō, and Shōwa -- Part Three: Religious Developments of the Imperial Consecration -- Chapter Nine The Cultural History of Kanjō in Japan: The Integration of the Sacred and the Profane -- Chapter Ten “Tossing the Flower for the Sake of the Divinities”: Kechien Kanjō and the Medieval Japanese Cosmology -- Chapter Eleven Ritually Embodying the Lotus Sutra: An Interpretation of the Japanese Tendai Kurodani Lineage Consecrated Ordination (Kai Kanjō) -- Chapter Twelve The Abhiṣeka of the Yogin: Bodily Practices and the Interiorization of Ritual in Medieval Japan -- Chapter Thirteen The World of Shintō Kanjō, With a Focus on Ryōbu Shinto -- Chapter Fourteen The Consecration of Acolytes (Chigo Kanjō): Ritualizing Male-Male Sexuality in Medieval Tendai -- Chapter Fifteen Before the Appearance of Shugen Kanjō: Origin and History of a Forged Ritual -- Chapter Sixteen Buchū Kanjō: Secret Dharma Transmission in the Shugendō Mountain-Entry Ritual -- Part Four: Developments in the Arts -- Chapter Seventeen Kokin Kanjō: Rituals and Conceptualizations -- Chapter Eighteen The Consecration to the Art of the Biwa (Biwa Kanjō) -- Chapter Nineteen Shō kanjō: Music Education, Secret Melodies, and Imperial Politics -- Bibliography -- Index