Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Introduction: Cities and religion in JapanA visitor to Japan would immediately notice the omnipresence of religious buildings and statues of Buddhas and gods scattered around Japanese cities (Rüpke 2021).Temples and shrines are everywhere, from large complexes occupying extensive portions of land including forests to smaller local Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines supported by parishioners, to minuscule shrines and stones depicting deities dotting roadsides and footpaths, to protective shrines around markets and on the roof of major buildings (Reader 1991, 52).Unsurprisingly cities have appeared in the study of religion in Japan, but very few studies have focused explicitly on the relationship between urbanity and religion, especially regarding modern and contemporary Japan.In order to contribute to the discussion on religion and urbanity and its reciprocal formations, after a short overview of religion and urban centers in Japan, this paper will focus on a city located in Nara prefecture called Tenri and how its establishment relates to the narratives and visions of a religious group called Tenrikyō, established in mid-nineteenth century.In particular, it highlights how spatial concepts central to Tenrikyō's cosmological vision interacted with the urban, mutually transforming and impacting each other.This paper argues that in Tenri city the urban and the religious views of Tenrikyō co-created a vision of the future based on the idea of both a prosperous new city and a prosperous joyous future for the religious organization.Therefore, by focusing on a specific case study and on a relatively short timeframe, this paper shows how both spatial and temporal aspects co-constitute the reciprocal formation of the religious and the urban.In other words, Tenrikyō and Tenri city grew (and declined) together both spatially, as Tenrikyō's practices and presence impacted the formation of the city, and temporally, with Tenrikyō's visions of past, present and future interlacing those of the city.The arrival of Buddhism in the sixth century had a significant impact on the Japanese landscape it settled in and it radically transformed it.The ancient capital cities, such as Naniwa, Fujiwarekyō, Heijōkyō (later Nara), Nagaokakyō and Heiankyō (later Kyoto), were designed on the Chinese model and represented significant new developments to sustain a growing urban population.¹Markets were created, while large palaces and Buddhist temples displayed "power and wealth of theretofore unimaginable scope" (Breen and Teeuwen 2000, 69).Temple-shrines complexes, often surrounded by protected sacred forests, also transformed the 'natural' landscape of cities (Rots 2017).
Source: Archiv für Religionsgeschichte
Author: Erica Baffelli
Institution: University of Manchester
Language: German
Topic: Religious Tourism and Spaces
Subfield: Geography, Planning and Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,163
OpenAlex ID: W4386771128