Becoming God
Deification from Antiquity to the Present
Lecture 7: The Japanese Emperor
Dr. Nickolas P. Roubekas
University of Vienna
Email: nickolas.roubekas@univie.ac.at
Kami
Starting from the End
The Humanity Declaration
( Ningen-sengen)
“...The ties between Us and Our
people have always stood upon mutual
trust and affection. They do not
depend upon mere legends and myths.
They are not predicated on the false
conception that the Emperor is divine,
and that the Japanese people are
superior to other races and fated to rule
the world.”
Emperor Hirohito (1 Jan 1946)
What Did Hirohito Denounce?
Akitsukami ( )
Tennō ( )
The Past as a Charter: (But) Which Past?
Kojiki (“Record of Ancient Matters” [711-712 CE])
Nihongi (“Chronicles of Japan” [c. 720 CE])
Kogoshūi (806-807)
Combination of myth, legend, & history
(All) trace the origins of the Japanese empire to the
primordial action of the kami (great ancestral deities)
They sent to earth from heaven the grandson of the sungoddess,
Amaterasu-ō-mikami, charging him with the
conquest of the realm and promising him that the
imperial succession would continue unbroken and
prosperous, co-eternal with heaven and earth.
The Origins of the Divine Emperor: Jinmu
Kojiki & Nihongi: the first emperor
Reigned: 660-585 BCE
Great-grandson of Ninigi no Mikoto
Blood line of Amaterasu
Establishing Lineage
When the celestial grandson, Ninigi no Mikoto, descended upon earth,
his celestial grandparent, Amaterasu, spake saying “I give the country
of Toyoashiwara [Reed-plain-fair-rice-ear] to my child to rule over,”
and she gave him some of the [rice] ears which grew in her sacred
garden. The celestial grandson descended from heaven to the palace of
Takachiho in Hiuga, first planted the seed of paddy, and ate the new
rice. This was the origin of Daijo [sic]. […] The celebration of the
Daijo in the commencement of each reign is a ceremony which
symbolises the fact that a new sovereign rules over this country, and that
he received investiture from the celestial grandparent. It is therefore the
gravest affair, which concerns the State. On the day of the Hare of the
present month [eleventh month, fourth year of Meiji (1871)], His
Majesty sacrifices to the gods of heaven and earth and on the day of the
Dragon, seated on his throne, he partakes of a banquet of the new rice
and bestows [rice and rice wine] on his officers and ministers.
[Meiji government’s official notice of the 1871 daijōsai]
What’s the Meiji Restoration?
1868 Political Revolution (Meiji period, 1968-1912)
Coup in Kyoto
Final demise of the Tokugawa shogunate
(military government)
Returned control of Japan to direct
imperial rule under Meiji
Major political, economic, and social
change
Modernization and Westernization of
Japan
Daijōsai Rite under the Meiji
The most dramatic claim for the emperor’s divine
descent made by the new regime
It cast the emperor as a filial sovereign since he
offers rice to his divine ancestor as a way of
recompensing her blessings
Sealed the Emperor’s relationship, and that of his
successors, with the sun-goddess and was a vital
moment in the modern articulation of the myth of
the emperor’s descent from that goddess
An Example of the Rite’s Function
“This is a great rite performed once in each imperial
reign … Ever since their birth several thousand years ago,
our people have been ruled by a sovereign. To this day
the line of sovereigns remains without change. Such
examples are surely rare in foreign countries … The radical
reforms which began four years ago are now complete,
thus enabling this daijōsai to take place.”
Foreign Minister Soejima Taneomi (under Meiji)
Ascension to the throne: The case of Akihito (1989)
Jan 7, 1989
Senso rite: Receiving the Imperial Regalia
Nov 12, 1990
Sokui rite: Public proclamation of a new Emperor on the throne
158 nation-representatives; 100,000 people participating in Tokio
“...observe the Constitution of Japan and discharge my duties as symbol
of the state and the unity of the people.”
The Controversial Rite: Daijōsai
Locale:
Daijōkyū, or Shrine of Great Tasting, temporarily erected in the
grounds of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
The shrine comprised three main structures: the Kairyū Hall; the
Yuki Pavilion; the Suki Pavilion.
Structure:
A. Night of November 22: the emperor dressed in the garment known
as ame-no-hagoromo (“the heavenly robe of feathers”)
B. Ppurified himself in the hot waters of the Kairyū Hall before
proceeding to the Yuki Pavilion.
C. He took chopsticks and offered rice and other fruits of the land and
sea to the sun-goddess before partaking of them himself.
D. Repeated the procedure at the Suki Pavilion.
E. He emerged at dawn the next day, his transformation from crown
prince into emperor now complete
Structure
Reactions in a ‘secular’ milieu
Questions of constitutionality and contested meaning of the daijōsai
Kagoshima prefectural governor’s use of public moneys to attend
the daijōsai in November 1990
A group of Kagoshima citizens claimed that the participation
breached both Article 20 and Article 99, which obligates public
officials to uphold the Constitution.
Sought compensation from the government.
Kagoshima district court judge acknowledged the Shinto religious
dimension to the daijōsai but absolved the governor of guilt in
October 1992.
Rationale: Applied what is known as the “object and effect
standard”, according to which
The governor’s “object” in attending the daijōsai was not religiously
significant; what motivated him was a desire to celebrate the
emperor’s enthronement.
Imperial Projection
1868 onwards
• National holiday celebrating the emperor’s birthday
• National holiday celebrating the legendary accession of the
Emperor Jimmu in 660 BCE,
• The Empire Festival celebrating the inception of rule over the
nation by the sun-goddess’s imperial descendants
• Triumphal military reviews
• The imperial funerals and weddings
• The great imperial progressions throughout the nation’s
provinces
Why React?
Traditionally understood:
The Emperor acted as the great representative of the
people before the kami by the act of presenting food and
by the partaking thereof himself, entering into an intimacy
of communion with spiritual powers.
He was viewed as becoming the very repository of the
sacred Rice Spirit.
Thus: the sacred living kami, responsible for the entire
welfare of his people.
The Living Kami (?)
• Why claim divinity?
• Who benefits?
• Who claims it? Why?
• What kind of reception? By whom?
• How myth works as paradigm?
What can we learn?
• Are humans gods?
• If so, how?
• What is a god in this cultural milieu?
• How is a rite transformative?
• Rites of Passage
Rites of
passage
Arnold van Gennep
(1873-1957)
Rites of Passage
Rites of Passage – The Threefold Scheme
a) Separation: between the participant and the world; the person is
detached from the roles and obligations associated until then with their
lives.
b) Liminality: Latin limen = threshold. The participants are expected to
cross a threshold, which marks the boundary between the world leaving
behind and the social world for which they are getting prepared for by the
ritual itself. Can be a physical threshold = people walk over a step or line
on the ground; make a jump over a barrier; walk through a door.
c) Incorporation: indicates the new role that the participants are to take
on. They are welcomed back from liminality as new persons; they may be
welcomed by their new peers, or be expected to stand amongst them; they
may receive a new title or name.
Next: Captain Cook