The "Separate" Coexistence of Kami and Hotoke A Look at Yorishiro

NAKAMAK1 Hirochika

SH1NBUTSU SHUGO is often called a major ch a ra c te ris tic of Japanese re lig io n . Probably the most appropriate English tra n sla tio n fo r shinbutsu shugd would be "syncretism ." Numerous syncretic phenomena can indeed be found in Jap anese Buddhism or Shugend5, but it is nonetheless dangerous to classify a ll of Japanese re lig io n under this ru b ric (Hori 19 5, pp. 146-155). While the kami or Japanese "indigenous d e itie s /' did mix w ith the foreign Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, at the same time great e ffo rts were exerted to insure the separate id e n tity o f the native kami and the foreign deities, which were generally called hotoke. Viewed from this perspective, the hotoke must be re c ognized as rivals of the Japanese kami. Indigenous b e lie f in the kami (jm g i shinko) became the n a tiv is tic fa ith of Shinto when it was confronted w ith the u nive rsa listic fa ith o f Buddhism. In any case, the philosophy behind the d is tin c tio n between kami and hotoke in daily life has its roots in the reaction to foreign Buddhism. This paper w ill consider the "separate" coexistence of kami and hotoke through an exam ination o f the yorishiro, the symbolic m a teria l objects in which the kami se ttle . Takeda Choshu has described over one hundred such y o ri shiro (see Takeda 1959 p p .15 -182). The discussion here w ill, h opefully, reveal an im portant aspect o f the religious life of the Japanese people. The kami need yorishiro, and it is through these mate ria l objects th a t the people can communicate w ith the
T ra n s la te d by Nancy Ab elm ann, w i t h a d a p ta tio n s by the a u th o r, from " Y o r i s h i r o kami t o h o tok e no s u m i w a k e " Kdkan no genkei Ueda A ts u sh i, Tada M i c h i t a r o and Nakaoka Gisuke . eds T oky o , C h ik u m a Shob5, 1983 pp. 59-74.

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kami. The notion tha t kami are lodged in yo rish iro , however deeply rooted it might be in the minds of the Japanese, is not unique to Japan, fo r it is shared by all o f those people who live in the w orld o f animism. Those who believe in a "one and o nly," absolute God, see both n atu ra l and manmade objects as the work o f a single cre a to r, but those such as the Japanese, who hold anim istic religious beliefs, see these as the lodgings of the kami. The very existence o f the kami is embodied in the object. P ollutin g such objects in which the kami reside would be unthinkable to the Japanese. S im ilarly, these yorishiro must p eriod ica lly be the focus of ritu a l perform ance.1 The landscape which I am about to describe is not based on any sp ecific lo ca tion or scene; though it is a com posite, it is the type o f rural religious landscape th a t might be easily have been found anywhere in Japan, at least before the 1950s. D o so jin simple stone carvings that represent the kami who p ro te c t the road and tra v e le rs and kDshintD, stone carvings which are the yorishiro o f a threatening Taoist d iv in ity , stand on the periphery of the villag e . In the cen te r of the villag e , or on the top o f a small h ill, are found the densely wooded precincts of the local shrine, or jin ja . The kami like to lodge in unusually shaped rocks and trees as w e ll as in d irt mounds and grottoes. Space encircled by the kami, however, is overwhelm ing ly found in the home. During the New Y ear's holiday (shogatsu), the entrance to the home is decorated w ith kadomatsUj or evergreen branches which are the yorishiro of the New Y ear's kami; the kadonyudd^ a pair of standing logs w ith carved faces th a t act as a talisman against evil, also gleam out from the entrance. Kamifuda, or small pieces of paper representing the kami, are tig h tly a ffixe d above the doorway. Oniga wara, or tile s bearing the face of
J. Such r i t u a l p e rfo rm a n c e is described by the verb matsuru, and the word matsuri ( " c e le b r a t io n , " or " f e s t i v a l " ) is a d e r iv a t iv e o f this verb.

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a demon, which act as a talisman against e v il, and gohei, religious wands w ith streamers o f hemp and paper, are placed on the roof. The to ile t kami (benjo-gami) and w a te r kami (sujjm) dw ell in the to ile t and w e ll re sp e ctive ly.2 Outside the house there is fre q u e n tly s till another shrine, dedicated to the yashiki-gam i9 or the household kami. If we then step into the house, it is d iffic u lt to find places th a t do not have a kami. In the d irt-flo o re d doma3 dw ell the fire kami (kojin) and the oven kami (kamadogami), both o f which function to p ro te c t the house from the danger o f fire and to secure the p u rity o f the fire . Outside, in the barn, the yo rish iro o f the guardian deities o f the horses are enshrined. In the im a or "liv in g room," one w ill fin d the k3mid3a or "kami a lta r," as w e ll as two o f the gods of luck, Ebisu and Daikoku, and in the ta ta m ifloored zashiki (the most form al room in the house, used to e n te rta in guests) is the butsuda or "hotoke a l t a r , i n which Buddhist images and memorial tab le ts fo r the dead iihai) are kept. In the nandOj or "parents' bedroom," the nando-gami is symbolized during the New Y ear's season by two bales o f rice straw . The rice seeds in these bags w ill be used fo r planting in the la te spring. Shops managed by fam ilies are decorated w ith the clay fig ure o f a cat (manekineko) w ith a paw outstretched to in v ite business, and a ra ke -like bam boo representation o f a bear's paw (kumade) symbolizing good luck and the gathering in o f money and business. It is clear th a t the "space" in Japanese life is sur rounded by many yorishiro. What is v ita l to stress, how
2. In t r a d i t i o n a l Japanese homes the t o i l e t and b a th f a c i l i t i e s are sepa r a t e from each o t h e r and fr o m th e main b u ild in g . The w e ll is also lo c a te d s e p a ra te ly . The doma is p r i m a r i l y a room f o r in door a g r i c u l t u r a l w o rk , b u t in some cases i t is used in p a r t f o r k it c h e n a c t i v i t i e s , in w h ic h case the oven (kamado) is placed th e re . The word " h o t o k e " can r e f e r b o th to the d e it ie s o f th e Bu ddhist r e l i gion and t o th e deceased members o f th e household.
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ever, is th a t each yo rish iro has its own sp e cific space or place. The oven kami, fo r example, would never be found in the guest room, just as the ihai would never be placed in the kitchen. This is a system th a t ra re ly perm its te r rito ria l v io la tio n . The kami and hotoke, in other words, each have th e ir own place, and each has functions d is tin c tly independent o f one another. The sumiwake (lite ra lly the "liv in g d ivisio n ," or "liv in g separation") between the yorishiro o f the kami and hotoke is p arallel w ith the so-called "fu n c tio n a l separation 1 * or the "division o f labor" (Umesao and Tada, 1972) between the two. Kon W ajiro was the fir s t person to c a ll a tte n tio n to this spatial "liv in g separation 1 * or sumiwake, between kami and hotoke. An advocate o f an academic discipline called kogengakUj which took as its object of study the modern w orld (Kon 1958, pp. 3-20), Kon noted th a t in the farm houses in the A izu d is tric t the "kami w ith o u t a 'census re g is te r1 (w ith o u t a cle a rly specified o rig in ),,f such as the fire kami and the w a te r kami, are enshrined in the doma. In the w ooden-floored liv in g room, which is used d aily, however, one can find the nkami w ith a census re g is te r 1 1 such as fukujin (the kami of good fortune), bdssishin (the kami who prevents disaster), and the hotoke o f the butsudan. In the zashiki, Kon noted, there were n either kami nor hotoke. He pointed out th a t the d irt-flo o re d rooms can be traced to the p rim itiv e period, board-floored rooms to the Heian p e ri od, and ta ta m i-flo o re d rooms to the samurai period. I t is not d iffic u lt to find evidence th a t would contra d ic t K on fs theory, but it is nonetheless valuable to examine the fa c t tha t in Japanese homes there is a sumiwake be tween kami and hotoke, and th a t each is aware o f its own "tim e, place and lo ca tio n ." The Japanese have thus not mixed kami and hotoke tog e the r to the exte n t th a t is gen e ra lly claim ed, but have allocated to each o f them a dis tin c t tim e, place and occasion. From another perspective, this "division o f labor o f the d e itie s , or the sumiwake o f the kami and hotoke, can be seen as a "d ivision o f use" of the d eities by the people.
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What is the meaning o f this division o f labor or sumi wake? One e ffe c tiv e approach to this problem is an analy sis of the tim e, place and occasion a llo tte d the yorishiro of kami and hotoke. In this short paper I w ill use such a meth od to discuss permanent altars such as the kamidana and butsudan mentioned above, and w ill not discuss the tempo rary special sacred a lta rs used during the New Year season or obon, the fe s tiv a l o f the dead. A kamidana is an a lta r used fo r Shinto rite s in which kamifuda from shrines such as the Grand Shrine at Ise are placed. For the time being le t us tre a t the kamidana separately from the Ebisu and Daikoku altars. The butsudan was o rig in a lly an a lta r fo r the worship of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, but in re a lity these are general ly worshiped together w ith memorial tab le ts, which are the yorishiro of deceased people. This paper w ill stress the la t te r use o f the butsudan, and w ill concern its e lf w ith what Ishizuka Takatoshi has called "th e 'fro n t' kami" (ofnotegawa no kami, or those kami in the public part o f the house). I w ill not discuss the "back" kami (uragawa no kami), or those kami in the p riva te part o f the house, such as Ebisu, Daikoku, the oven kami or the nando-gami (see Ishizuka 1954 pp. 9-12). TRADITIO NAL HOMES Sugimoto Hisatsugu defines a tra d itio n a l home, or min/ca, as "a building o f the cu lture o f the common people, which is almost com pletely created from raw m aterials produced in the region and which has over many years adapted its e lf to its environm ent, and which has been c a re fu lly formed by years of accumulated in ve ntio n 1 ' (Sugimoto 1969b, p , 1). Japanese tra d itio n a l homes usually are understood to be those of the common people o f a g ric u ltu ra l, mountain and fishing villages (Sugimoto 1969b, p .47), although sometimes the homes o f c ity dw ellers and samurai are included in the category. Here, however, the term "tra d itio n a l home" w ill mean the residences o f the common people of an e arlie r generation.
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The kamidana is generally thought to be closely related in origin to the d is trib u tio n o f taima, or the kamifuda of the Ise Shrine, a p ra ctice which began when the religious organizers of the shrine started to tra vel throughout Japan to propagate the shrine. The o rig in al form o f the kamidana is thought to be the a lta r o f the Grand Shrine, and the kamidana is considered to be a custom dating from the Muromachi period (Hirayama 1948, pp. 48-49). In addition to these so-called kamidana there are sim ilar altars, such as those fo r Ebisu and K o jin (Hirayama 1948, p. 8). Butsudan, on the other handwhich are also called hako jibutsudd , or "box jibutsudo1 ' trace th e ir origins to the p riv a te household Buddhist temples (jibutsudo) o f the n o b ility o f the Heian period. The butsudan la te r came to be worshiped in a butsumaor a room set aside fo r Buddhist fam ily rite s . They were la te r moved to the zashiki, and then again to a corner o f the daily-used liv in g room (Hirayama 1948, pp. 62-63). The butsudan became not only an a lta r housing the p rin cip al Buddhist image and the image o f the founder o f the sect follow ed by the house, but more generally an a lta r centered on the worship o f hotoke. In other words, a butsudan is an a lta r fo r the worship o f the s p irits of the dead. During the middle ages and the early modern period the a c tiv itie s o f the religious organizers o f the Ise Shrine fa c ilita te d the establishment o f kamidana, but a fte r the turn o f the tw e n tie th century, the kamidana were promoted by the government (Ikado and Yoshida 1970, p. 170). Even the follo w ers o f one Pure Land Buddhist sect (Jodo Shinshu), who had o bstin a te ly resisted this policy, perform ed a Shinto ceremony at the kamidana when th e ir sons were called to war (Nakamaki 1975 p. 354). We can presume tha t this is the reason the preservation o f the kamidana was high in both urban areas and a g ric u ltu ra l villages u n til the end o f the war. In the postwar period, however, there has been no great increase in the number o f households w ith taima from the Ise Shrine, in spite o f the increase o f the number o f
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households in the country. N ational household figures in deed in d icate a sig n ifica n t decline of households w ith ta i ma, the percentage fa llin g from th irty -e ig h t (or 6,660,000 households) in 1955 to tw e nty-n in e (6,780,000 households) in 1965 (Ikado and Yoshida 1970, p. 151). The butsudan, however, which were o rig in a lly found only in the homes o f pow erful village leaders and main fam ily households (honke) are said to have gradually spread to branch fam ilies (bunke). This d iffu sio n , however, has not been uniform throughout the country. Postwar surveys have shown th a t some members o f the Pure and sect from the Hokuriku and Tohoku regions set up th e ir butsudan in a special room set aside fo r Buddhist worship, w hile others had only a box butsudan. The form er were p rim a rily largescale farm ers or main fam ily lineages, w hile the la tte r were usually small-scale farm ers or branch fam ilies (Hiraya ma 1959, p. 46). In the households which were developed during the set tlem ent o f Hokkaido a fte r the fvleiji R estoration, butsudan were considered necessary only when the pioneers needed a "home" fo r memorial tab le ts they had brought w ith them, or when fa m ily members died in Hokkaido. Even the Pure Land believers, who reserve th e ir butsudan fo r Amida Buddha and who are known fo r th e ir elaborate butsudan, had to make do w ith orange crates and oth e r m akeshift m aterials as butsudan. W ith increasing economic se cu rity, however, they were able to replace these w ith m anufactured butsu dan (Nakamaki 1975, p. 354). L e t us then examine how the kami and hotoke were once tre ate d in the rooms of the tra d itio n a l houses o f com mon people. Tables 1 and 2 present in form ation on the placement o f kaimidanai and butsudan in a number of homes based on flo o r plan drawings found in Sugimoto (1969b) and Kawashima (1973). For the purposes of the table I have divided the main building into five rooms: sleeping room, zashiki, liv in g room, doma, and storeroom. Since many rooms could be classified as e ith e r a bedroom or a zashiki, in these cases I assigned h a lf value to both possible classiJapanese Journal of Religious Studies 10/1 1 9 83 71

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Table

K a m id a n a S ource S u g im o t o K a w a s h im a T o ta l P e rce n t S o u rce : B edroom 0 0 0 0 S u g im o to

p la c e me n t by Im a 2 1 3 2 0 .0

room S to re 0 0 0 0 TOTAL 12 3 15 100

Z a s h ik i 9 2 11 7 3 .3 1969b;

Doma 1 0 1 6.1

K a w a s h i m a 19 7 3 . T a b le 2 by room Doma 0 0 0 0 S to re 0 0 0 0 TOTAL 28 27 55 9 9 .9

B u ts u d a n S ource Su g i mo to K a w a s h im a T o ta l P e rce n t S o u rce : fic a tio n s . B edroo m 0 .5 0 .5 1 1 .8 S u g im o to

p la c e m e n t Im a 4 4 8 1 4 .5

Z a s h ik i 2 3 .5 2 2 .5 46 8 3 .6

] 969b;

K a w a s h im a 1 9 7 3 .

The to ta l number of kamidana is extrem ely small com pared to the number of butsudan, because the kamidana are often placed between crossbeams on the ce ilin g between tw o rooms and the re fo re not recorded in a flo o r plan. In general, both kamidana and butsudan are hardly ever placed in the sleeping room or in the doma, and some seventy per cent o f the kamidana and eighty percent o f the butsudan are placed in the zashiki. The rate o f kamidana found in the liv in g room is somewhat higher than th a t o f butsudan. Tables 3 and 4 are based on flo o r plan drawings found in eight o f the nine volumes o f the Meigen Shob5 series on tra d itio n a l homes; I have om itted the inform ation on O kina wa because o f the unique style o f a rch ite ctu re and ritu a ls found on those islands. Each one o f these volumes has been
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Table

K a m id a n a R e g io n Ho k k a id o Tohoku K a n to Chub u Kin k i C hu g o k u Sh ik o k u Kyushu To ta l P e re e nt S ources: fu ji B e d ro om 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 .7 K o d e ra 1968;

by

ge o g r a p h i c a l r e g i o n Im a 2 9 12 1 3 1 2 0 30 2 5 .6 1968; 1969a; Doma 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1.7 Y a m a m o to Ts u r u f u j i S to re 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 et TOTAL 3 16 21 1 7 2k 32 13 117 9 9 .9 a l . 1971 Tsuru-

Z a s h ik i 1 5 9 0 h 23 30 11 83 7 0 .9 1 9 6 9 0 no S u g im o t o 19 7 7.

N iu d a n i

196 6;

196 8; S u g i m o t o

T able

B u ts u d a n R e g io n H ok k a id o Tohoku K a n to Ch u b u Kin k i Chugoku S h ik o k u Kyush u To ta l P e rce n t S ources: * fu ji

Japanese

by

g e o g r a p h ic a l re g io n Im a 0 16 18 4 1 2 3 9 53 1 5 .9 1968; 1969a; Doma 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Y a ma mo to Ts u r u f u j i S to re 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .3 et TOTAL 10 60 49 17 36 54 64 43 333 100 a l. 1971; T suru-

B edroom 0 2 .5 3.5 0 0 1 1 1 9 2 .7 K o d e ra 1968;

Z a s h ik i 10 4 0 .5 27 .5 13 35 51 60 33 270 8 1 .1

1969;

0 no 1 9 7 7.

N iu d a n i

S u g i mo to

196 6;

1960? S u g im o t o
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prepared by a d iffe re n t person and there is hence a good deal of v a ria tio n in the q u a lity o f the individual books, but it is nonetheless a useful source fo r determ ining general trends throughout Japan. The eight volumes used include some 333 flo o r plans which indicate the presence of butsudan and 117 which show kamidana. In cases where there were two kamidana I included only the major one; I also excluded a ll unclear data. The averages found in Tables 3 and 4, it w ill be seen, are sim ilar to those found in Tables 1 and 2. Some eighty percent of the butsudan are in the zashiki, sixteen percent in the liv in g room, and a small number are in the sleeping room. There is, however, no example o f a butsudan found in the doma. By way of co ntra st, some seventy percent of the kami dana are located in the zashiki, and tw e n ty -fiv e percent in the liv in g room. There are also some exceptional cases in which the kamidana have been placed in the bedrooms and doma. R egionally, we find th a t in the Kyushu, Chubu, Kanto and Tohoku regions the percentage o f butsudan in the liv in g room is com paratively high (from tw e n ty to th ir ty fiv e percent), w hile this number is quite low (from two to fiv e percent) in the K in k iChugoku and Shikoku regions. There is also a strikin g d iffe re n ce in the placement o f the kamidana between western and eastern Japan. In the Chu goku, Shikoku and Kyushu regions the kamidana are over whelm ingly found in the zashiki, whereas in the K anto and Tohoku regions they are most fre qu e ntly found in the livin g room. I f this apparent geographical d iffe re n ce is indeed a fa c t, it should be studied fu rth e r. We have so fa r examined the various room placements o f the kamidana and the butsudan, but it is also necessary to examine the religious ceremonies conducted in the main building o f the home (o oya). In the eight volumes on which Tables 3 and 4 are based the re are fo rty examples of a kamidana having been placed in the same room as a butsudan. Translated in to simple s ta tis tic s , this amounts to only tw e lve percent (fo rty o f three hundred th irty -th re e
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cases). We must, however, seriously consider the possibility th a t many kamidana have been le f t out of the flo o r plan drawings. T h irty -fo u r percent of the to ta l number of kami dana have been placed in the same room as a butsudan (fo rty o f one hundred seventeen cases). T ra d itio n a l Japa nese homes usually possess both a kamidana and a butsudan, and it is thus lik e ly tha t the percentage o f times they would be found in the same room is probably close to the above fig ure o f th irty -fo u r percent. In other words, the kamidana and the butsudan w ill be found in the same place in only about one-fourth to oneth ird o f tra d itio n a l Japanese homes. There would appear, however, to be very few cases in which kami and hotoke have been enshrined in the same a lta r. We must recognize the fa c t tha t in nearly every case the kami and hotoke dw ell separately* This separation, however, is not d is tin c t in the Kanto region, and the reasons fo r this need to be pursued. It is also essential to consider the d is tin c t living p atterns of the kami and hotoke from the perspective of social fu n ctio n . Needless to say, the butsudan has fu n ctio n ed p rim a rily as a religious a lta r fo r ceremonies fo r the dead. Since the ancestor's yorishiro is usually worshiped in the main house, it is necessary fo r the main house to main tain space fo r the perform ance of Buddhist memorial ser vices. The household's kamidana, on the other hand, has almost no relationship to re la tive s and lineage members beyond the nuclear fam ily (Takeda 1976, pp, 35-36).5 A t the local level there are the ko and miyaza, groups of believers which conduct the local Shinto rite s, and the homes of the common people are used fo r such ceremonies and fo r housing special local yorishiro on a ro ta tin g basis. In these cases, however, scrolls are hung in the tokonoma (M alcoveM ) in the za shiki and no a tte n tio n is paid to the households kamidana. Consequently, w hile the kamidana
5. There are cases, ho w e v e r, in w h ic h the u ji- g a m i, or p a tro n d e it y of the lo c a l co m m u n it y, is in co rp o r a te d in th e kamidana.

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has a fa m ilia l fun ctio n, it also has the religious fun ctio n of endowing space w ith p u rity , sa n ctity and se curity, and it would appear tha t the la tte r fun ctio n is more prominent. MODERN UR AN DWELLINGS There is p ra c tic a lly no tra d itio n a l Japanese home w ith o u t a butsudan. We o f course w ill find butsudan in the house of the fa m ily successor (sl^zoku setal }9 but they are also found in newly established households (sOsetsu setai) th a t have been recognized as a separate e n tity because o f th e ir re li gious practices. For example, i f Amida Buddha is worshiped in the home o f a branch fam ily which belongs to the Pure Land sect, th a t home w ill be recognized as its own e n tity , as the s ta rt o f a new "household." The n uclearization o f the fam ily, however, has brought w ith it a great increase in the number o f new ly established households which possess n e ith e r kamidana nor butsudan excluding, o f course, those households where there is par tic u la rly strong religious co nviction , A butsudan is p rim a ri ly an inconvenience fo r nuclear fam ilies Living in urban housing developments and condominiums. Any thought of having even a tra d itio n a l alcove fo r flow ers or a rtis tic hangings in a ,!2DKI! (tw o bedrooms and a dining ro o m /k it chen) flo o r plan are abandoned in the planning stages; needless to say, it would be impossible to think o f setting aside a room fo r Buddhist rite s. S ituations arise, however, even in newly established households, when kamidana and butsudan become necessary items. The death of a close re la tiv e , such as one s spouse, fo r example, or the tearing down o f the house o f one's b irth , present im portant reasons fo r entering new religious groups (shinshukyl^) such as Soka Gakkai. We must also not ignore the handling o f taima. O fte n the problem o f th e ir placement is easily solved by clearing a sacred space fo r them above a bedroom dresser or re frig e ra to r. There seems to be a tendency to place memorial tablets above the dres ser and the kamifuda above the re frig e ra to r. The fa m ily tha t has grown more pious w ill in stall a
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board shelf above the lin te l which functions as a religious a lta r. If the fam ily were to become even more devoted, they would conduct religious ceremonies and purchase a butsudan; in these cases small ones which are w ell suited fo r housing development apartments are the most popular. Im m ediately a fte r the war Hirayama T oshijiro asserted th a t the "box butsudan," which are often placed on a table w ith memorial tablets in c ity homes and newly established households, should rig h tfu lly be considered as fu ll-fle d g e d butsudan (Hirayama 1948 p. 64). Small c ity homes do not have the space fo r observing religious ceremonies such as those conducted in tra d itio n a l homes. Thus ceremonies are often conducted in meeting halls, public halls, temples and shrines, and special ceremo nial occasion centers. R ecently the custom of placing one's memorial tablets in a special storage space in a temple designated fo r such tablets, or in a special temple building designated fo r the cremated bones of the deceased has been taking root. What K u rita Yasuyuki has called the "e xte rn a liza tio n of the function of the household" fundam entally applies even to religious ceremonies (K u rita 1977, pp. 693-694). data concerning the placement of kamidana and butsudan have u n fo rtu n a te ly been introduced only to a lim ited e xte n t. Most of the re lia b le data in this fie ld have been compiled by sociologists. Morioka K iyom i, fo r exam ple, studied an a g ricu ltu ra l village in Yamanashi P re fe c ture, an in d u stria l zone in Tokyo, and a residential area of Tokyo during the period 1965-68 (M orioka 1975a, pp. 97112),6 According to his in form a tion , n in e ty -fiv e percent of the households in the village (n in e ty-tw o households) had kamidana and n in e ty-tw o percent had butsudan, but the fig ures are low er fo r the Tokyo business zone of 103 house holds, where sixty-one percent had kamidana and sixty-n in e
6. The reader m ig h t also wish to consult (M o r io k a 1975b). M o r io k a 's English p u b lic a t io n

Japanese

Journal

of

Religious

Studies

10/119 83

77

NAKAMAKI

Hirochika

percent butsudan. The residential area of 100 households shows a sharp decline w ith fo rty -th re e percent possessing kamidana and fo rty _ fiv e butsudan. F u rth e r, the possession rate fo r nuclear fam ilies is lo w er than th a t fo r extended fam ilies. This tendency is p a rtic u la rly remarkable in the Tokyo residential area, where s ix ty -fiv e percent of the extended fam ilies own kamidana as opposed to th irty -e ig h t percent of the nuclear fam ilies; the rate fo r butsudan is one hundred percent fo r extended fam ilies and th irty -o n e percent fo r nuclear fam ilies. Takahashi Hiroko, who surveyed a regional c ity of 775 households in Shizuoka P re fe ctu re , found a sig n ifica n t d if ference in the rate o f kamidana and butsudan possession between the homes of fam ily successors and newly estab lished homes. Seventy-tw o percent of the successors1 homes possessed kamidana, as opposed to 58.8 percent of the new ly established homes. Butsudan were found in 88.2 percent of the successors1 homes, and in only 54.2 percent of the newly established homes. We find th a t the ra te of butsudan possession increases w ith the age o f the household mem bers, while this tendency is not so marked fo r kamidana. On a d iffe re n t level, the rate o f possession of kamidana is much greater (71.7 percent) in the homes of people who own th e ir own businesses than it is in the homes of blue and w h ite co lla r workers (58,5 percent). There is no conspicuous d iffe re n ce , however, between the possession rates of butsudan in these two groups (Takahashi 1975, pp. 37-52). The fo llo w in g conclusions have been drawn from such research results. A ccording to M orioka, kamidana preserva tion is closely linked to the degree of involvem ent in com m unity life . M orioka also notes that the rate of v is ita tio n to the local shrine re fle c ts the tendencies of people to have kamidana (M orioka 1975a, pp. 172-173). Takahashi holds th a t the high possession rate of kami dana in households which own th e ir own businesses re fle c ts the th is -w o rld ly prayers fo r p ro fit and gain engaged in by such fam ilies (Takahashi 1975, p.44). W ith regard to the
70 Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1 0 / 1 1 9 83

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at

Yorishiro

butsudan, both scholars consider the death o f a close re la tiv e , p a rtic u la rly a spouse, as a religious turning point (M orioka 1975a, p . llD ; Takahashi 1975p .48). The data show tha t the c ity successors1 homes have a s ig n ific a n tly higher rate o f butsudan possession than do newly established homes. It has also been shown, however, th a t the butsudan possession ra te is high in extended fam i lies w ith widows, regardless of w hether the home is tha t of a successor or has been newly established (M orioka 1975a, p. 111). The same tendency can be seen in the e xte n t of p a rtic ip a tio n in the obon ceremonies (M orioka 1975a, p. 173). A nother re a lity which has been recognized is the c o l lapse of the p a tria rch a l fam ily system in ancestral religious services. The p a te rn a listic concept of ancestral worship in which the e te rn ity of the household is considered a ll impor ta n t has notably weakened. B ila te ra l religious services, which focus on the close re la tive s on both the paternal and m aternal sides and which have as th e ir ce n tra l theme "re c o lle c tio n l, and "rem iniscence1 ' have become prom inent. Kom oto M itsugi has discussed a s h ift from the h is to ri cal "genealogical concept of ancestor w orship" to a "re la tio n a l concept o f ancestor worship" in which marriage and c h ild b irth are considered as cru cia l turning points in regard to the handling o f c ity cemeteries (Kom oto 1978, pp. 52-65). As both M orioka K iyom i and R .J. Smith have pointed out, the worship o f photographs and the b ila te ra l ancestral worship of the ReiyGkai and its offshoots can be considered trends of the "re la tio n a l1 concept of ancestor worship (M orioka 1975a p. 112 p. 114; Smith 1974, pp. 126-127). JAPANESE DESCENDANTS IN HAWAII Here I would like to e x tra c t the p a rtic u la ritie s o f the sa cred space in the homes of Japanese Americans through a comparison o f th e ir dwellings w ith tra d itio n a l Japanese homes. The data have been drawn from research on religion conducted in Hawaii in 1977 and 1979. F irs t we w ill look a t a survey based on questionnaires,
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 10/119 83 79

NAKAMAKI

Hirochika

focusing on Oahu Island, which was carried out in 1979 (Yanagawa and M orioka 1979, p. 83). This survey found th a t 228 o f 479 households (48.8 percent) owned a butsudan. This means tha t about one h alf o f the homes have a butsu dan, but the preservation ra te is much low er fo r those homes com m itted to C h ris tia n ity , Tensho K o ta i Jingu Kyo, and Tenri K yo. This is because the style o f livin g in such fam ilies is to a large e xte n t prescribed by religious doc trin e . Houses com m itted to C h ris tia n ity , Tensho K o ta i Jin gG K yo, and Soka Gakkai show an exceedingly low posses sion ra te o f kamidana. This is also related to religious doc trin e . These figures also re fle c t the fa c t tha t Shinto prac tices were discouraged by a uth oritie s during the war. The d is trib u tio n o f taima and kamifuda can be regarded as a clue to the preservation ra te o f kamidana. For exam ple, f if t y to sixty percent o f the fam ilies o f Japanese des cent have a taim a from the Hawaii Izumo Shrine in Oahu, w hile only tw e nty percent of the C hristian households and th ir ty - fiv e percent of the u n a ffilia te d households have such taim a (Sanada 1981, pp. 36-37). Table 5 is a com pilation o f the data from the houses I surveyed in 1979. As my survey did not include homes from Tensho K o ta i Jingu K yo, Tenri Kyo or C h ris tia n ity , it shows a butsudan in every home. There are very few exam ples o f the butsudan being placed in Western style "p a r lors," such as the liv in g room or the guest room, but tw o thirds o f them are in the bedroom. This is in sharp contrast w ith tra d itio n a l Japanese homes, where the bedroom is used fo r this purpose only in exceptional cases. We should also note th a t the butsudan are o fte n set up in Japanese style rooms. The kamidanaon the other hand, are fre q u e n tly set up in the p arlor, but there are also cases in which the bedroom or a Japanese style room is used. Two o f the homes in this survey did not have a kamidana. L et us now consider the significance o f religious sect a ffilia tio n and generation. At both the individual and fam i ly level o f the Japanese Americans in Hawaii, p lu ral r e li gious a ffilia tio n is a general phenomenon. W ithin the same
80 J a p r r e e Journal of Religious Studies 10 / 1 1 9 83

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at

Yorishiro

T a b le K a m id a n a F a m ily A B C D E F G H I J Sect u, w V, w V, w u v w u ,w ,x t V,z U,Z U,2 u ,v , w ,y Code: N o te s ; u: J o do Shu; z: S h in s h u ; Shugen A - I liv e v: on one and

5 H a w a ii G e n e ra tio n

B u ts u d a n in

B u ts u d a n J a p a n e s e room B e d ro o m S ma ll p a rlo r B edroom B edroom B ed ro o m B ed ro o m Japanese B e d ro o m B e d ro o m P a rlo r (2) roo m ,

K a m id a n a Ja p a ne se ro o m None B ig p a rlo r Pa rlo r Pa rlo r Bedroom Not known Not known Not know n None

un k n o w n u n k n o wn unknow n

S o to ; Oahu;

w:

S h in g o n ; J on th e

x:

T e n d a i;

y:

Jo do

H o n s h ii. fa m ily of K a u a i. Houses member firs t (is s e i) g e n

F a m ilie s

G y H, and e ra tio n .

I in c lu d e

household, fo r example, the parents m ight be Buddhist and the children C h ristia n ; there are also C h ristia n households which m aintain memorial tablets, as w e ll as individuals who are members o f both temples and shrines. Homes G H, and J, which have membership in more than one Buddhist sect, each have two butsudan. House G has one butsudan o f the S5to sect that is used fo r worship ing the dead, and one butsudan from the Shugen Honshu sect that is used fo r prayer. House H places its butsudan fo r rite s fo r the dead in the Japanese style room, and its butsudan fo r prayer in the bedroom. In House J, the butsu dan fo r ceremonies fo r the dead and the butsudan fo r K5b5 Daishithe founder of the Shingon sect, are placed togeth er in the parlor. In some cases, p o rtra its o f the main deity
Japanese J o u r n a l of Religious Studies 10/1 19 8 3 81

NAKAMAKI

Hirochika

and o f the founder o f the sect have been placed together in the butsudan. In the case o f House A, fo r example, Am i da Buddha and Kobo Daishi are worshiped, and House D worships Shakamuni Buddha; Amida Buddha; Dogen Zenji, the founder o f the Soto sect; Keizan Zenji o f the Soto sect, and Kobo Daishi. A ll ten homes have an older, fir s t generation Japanese Am erican (an issei, or person who was born in Japan and m igrated to Am erica) in residence. In houses where firs t generation Japanese Americans are liv in g w ith th e ir second generation descendants, there is a tendency fo r the butsu dan to be forced into the fir s t generation individuaPs bed room. Houses , E, and F are examples o f this, but the butsudan o f House E had o rig in a lly been placed in the par lo r. In those cases where the butsudan has not been "se n t 1 to the bedroom o f the fir s t generation person, it is usually placed in a very p riva te space, such as a Japanese style room (House A), or a small p a rlo r (House C). The fam ily com position o f houses G, H, and I is unclear, but in the case of the worship o f a p riva te tu te la ry kami, we can see a tendency fo r the religious a lta r to be placed in the bed room. A ccording to a Shingon priest in Honolulu, fo r exam ple, as few as ten percent o f the homes worship the butsu dan in the p arlor; during the house blessing ceremony (a unique religious ceremony o f Japanese descendants in Ha w a ii th a t is conducted on moving in to a new home, this is p a rtic u la rly influenced by Hawaiian indigenous practices) however, the butsudan is tem po ra rily taken from the bed room and moved to the parlor. THE LOGIC OF THE SUMIWAKE OF K A M I AND HOTOKE The Japanese kami and hotoke, in compliance w ith th e ir fu n ctio n a l principles, generally preserve sumiwake. In the case of a tra d itio n a l home, fo r example, the ko jin is in the doma, the kamidana is in the liv in g room, the hotoke is in the zashiki, and the nando-gami is in the nando. In this way kami and hotoke coexist w hile continuing to live separately w ith in defined spaces.
82 Japanese Journal of Religious Studi es 1 0 / 1 1 9 8 3

Look

at

Y or i s h i ro

We seldom fin d the nando and doma deities in modern c ity dw ellings, but the taima and memorial tab le ts are o f ten placed above the re frig e ra to r and the dresser, respec tiv e ly . The possession rate of kamidana and butsudan has, however, dropped considerably compared w ith tra d itio n a l homes. In the homes o f Japanese-Americans in Hawaii the religious sect and generation o f the fam ily members are im portant fa cto rs of yorishiro possession and placement, but even in this group, we find th a t the logic o f sumiwake o f kami and hotoke has not been abandoned: kamidana are found in the p arlor, butsudan in the bedroom. The lo g ic o f this sumiwake is the prin cip le o f "separate coexistence." Kami and hotoke each secure th e ir own "share" o f space, and this is a logic which thus m aintains a h o lis tic s ta b ility . This lo g ic is fundam entally d iffe re n t from th a t of b e lie f in a "one and o n ly," absolute God, which dis allows a ll other god-like beings. One m ight ca ll this logic prim itive," but it is a logic o f balance which is deeply rooted in an anim istic conception of the w orld. For both modern Japanese as w e ll as Japanese Americans in H aw aii the sense o f balance between the separation and coexistence of the kami and hotoke has not been com pletely lost.
Glossary

l ? s.

A m i d a

ber\jo-gami b^saishin bunke dan m a

Daikoku

l u

l . a e ,

o s

l l

- l li h s l

sh

j 5 g

D5cen Z e n s h i doma d o so jin E b i s u fukuiin g o h e i hako jdbutsucfO

l = r s

s l s

1.

f z a D

l l a n a

]1 sh

Japanese

J o u r n a l of

Religious

Studies

10/1198 3

83

N A K A M A K I H iro c h ik a kogengaku k o jin K o s h i n koshinto k u m a d e manekineko m in k a m iy a za nando ;^ o b o n omotegawa no kami *( om oya oniga wara R e i y u k a i shinbutsu shugD shinshukyD shogatsu Shugen H o n s h u Soka G a k k a i so setsu s e t a l S oto S h u sozoku s e t a i s a y i n sum iw a k e t a im a T e n r i k y o Tensho K o t a i Jingu K y o tokonoma qjigami u ra g a w a no kami yashiki-gami yorishiro zashiki

Reierences

Sei to zoku no ZcattS [The c o n f l i c t b e tw e en the sacred and t h e p ro fane]. T oky o : Heibonsha. H i r a y a m a Toshijiro Kam id ana to butsudan Buddha a lt a rs ] . Shinn 3 2/2: 201-232. 1959 Ie no kami t o mura no kami [Household gods and v illa g e gods]. Nihon minzokugaku tai^&i [Com p e n d iu m of Japanese f o lk lo r e ] , V o l . 8. Tokyo: Heibonsha.
H ori Ichiro

1975

Ikado F u ji o

and Y o s h i d a M its u k u n i

1970

Nipponjin no shuky^i [ T h e Japanese people]. K y o t o : Tankosh a.

eds. r e l ig io n

of

the

I s h iz u k a Takatoshi

Nandogami wo meguru mondai [Proble ms c o n c e rn in g bedroom d e it ie s ], Nihon minzokugaku 2/2:9- i_

K a w a s h im a Ch uj i

1973

Horoblyuku minka: Madori, /c3z5, n a i b t / - - [D is appearin g farm houses: F lo o r plans, s t r u c tu re s and c o n t e n t s ] . Tokyo: Shufu t o Seika tsu Sha.

K o d e r a Heikichi

1969

HokkaidD no min/ca [F a rm T oky o : M eig en Shobo.

houses

of

H o k k a id o ] .

84

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 10/1 1983

A Look a t Y o ris h iro

Komoto Mitsugi

1978

Toshi

k a z o ku ni ok e ru senzo saishi kan [T h e c o n c e pt o f a n ce sto r worship among urban f a m i l i e s ] . Gendai shukyd e no shikaku 52-65.

K o n W a j i r o

1958
K urita

3 u k y o no hensen [ H is t o r y o f houses]. zokugaku taikei 6: 3-20. T okyo: Heibonsha.

Nihon min

Yasuyuki

1977

Busshitsu bunka ka ra m it a gen da i k a t e i [T h e modern Japanese f a m il y seen th ro u g h m a t e r ia l

cu ltu re]. K o k u iits u M in zokugaku Hakubutsukan h D k o k u 2 / h 6^3-701.

M o r i o k a K i y o m i 1975a Gendai shakai

kenkyu

1975b
Nakamaki

no mdnshu to shukyd [P e o p le and re lig io n in c o n t e m p o ra r y s o c i e t y ] . T okyo: Hy5ronsha. Religion in changing Japanese society, T o k y o U n iv e r s it y of T o k y o Press.

Hirochika

1975

Hokkaido k a it a k u m in no shukyo is h ik i [ T h e re lig io u s consciousness o f th e Hokkaido p i o n e e r s ] . In

Masutani Fumio ed .Gendai seishdnen no shukyo

is / li/ d [T h e re lig io u s consciousness o f c o n t e m p o r a ry y o u t h ] , 3 7-363. T o k y o : Suzuki Shuppan.
Niudani A k ira i

1968

Chubu chiho no minka [F a r m Chubu r e g io n ] . T okyo: M eigen Shobo. TDhoku chiho no minka [F a r m T 5hoku r e g i o n ] . T okyo: M eigen Shobo.

religion

houses

of

the

O N 0 Y o s h ijir o

1968

houses o f

the

Sanaoa Takaaki

1981

Kona n i okeru n ik k e i shukyo t o n ik k e ijin no shuky5 k iz o k u

[ T h e
and religious

a f n l i a t i o n s o f th e Ja p a ne s e -A m e ric a n s in K o n a ] . Yanagawa K e i i c h i and M o r io k a K iy o m i, eds., Hawaii nikkeJJin shakai to Nihon s h u k v ^ D a p a n e s e - A m e ric a n s o c ie t y and Japanese re lig io n in H a w a i i ] , 2 ^ -^ 5 . Tokyo: T o d a i Sh ukyogaku K e n k yu s h it s u .
S mith, R o b e r t
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St anford Stanford

S u g i m o t o H i s a t s u g u

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1969b 1977

Kinki chih?5 no minka ! [Farm houses of the Kinki r e g io n ] . T okyo; M eigen Shob5. Nihon no minka no kenkyu U [S tu d ie s o f Japanese fa rm h ouses]. K y o t o : M in e r u v a Shobo. Kyushu chihd no minka [ F a rm houses o f the Kyushu r e g i o n ] . T okyo: M eigen ShobS.

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85

N A K A M A K I H iro c h ik a
T a k a h a s h i Hiroko _

1975

Ka zo ku k e i t a i t o senzo saishi [F a m ily form and ancestor worship]. Kazoku kenkyu n enp S 37-52.
K a m i no hyosho to saijo [Divine symbols and ritual s p ace s] . In Nihon minzokugaku taikei 8: 157-182.

T a k e d a C h o s h u
19 5 9

1976

Nihonjin no 'ie' to shukyS

households and r e l i g i o n ] .

[Japanese T okyo: Hyoronsha.

TS U R U F UJ I S h i k a t a d a

Chugoku cluho no minka i [F a rm houses o f the Chugoku r e g io n ] . Tokyo: Meigen Shobo. 19 6 8 Shikoku chihS no minka [Farm houses of the Shikoku r e g i o n ] . T okyo: M eigen Shobo. U m e s a o T a d a o and Tada M i c h i t a r S eds. 1972 Nihon bunka to s e k a i [Japanese c u lt u r e and th e w o r l d ] . T okyo : Kodansha. 1966
Yamamoto K a t s u m i

et

al., eds.

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KantO chiAiS no minka [F a r m K a n t o r e g i o n ] . T okyo: Meigen Shob5.

a n d M o r i o k a Kiyomi

houses o f

the

Y a n a g a w a Keiichi

e d s .

1979

Hawai nikkei shukyd no tenkai to genkyD [T h e deve lo pm e n t and p re sent s it u a t io n o f the r e lig io n o f Japanese descendents in H a w a i i ] . T okyo: T od a i Shukyogaku K e n k yu s h it s u .

86

Japanese Jo u rn a l o f R e lig io u s S tudies 10/1 1983