Series | Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies
Edited book | Itineraries of an Anthropologist
Chapter | The Localisation of Kumano Gongen Cult and Mountain Beliefs: From engi to kagura
The Localisation of Kumano Gongen Cult and Mountain Beliefs: From engi to kagura
Abstract
This paper discusses the Kumano Gongen cult, which played an important role for Japanese religious beliefs and mountain beliefs. The first part is the analysis of the engi of Kumano in comparison with that of Hikosan in medieval times. The second part focuses on the localisation of Kumano Gongen cult tracing and explaining the shift from engi to kagura in medieval and modern times. This paper analyses the contents of the Kumano Gongen gosuijaku engi focusing on three themes: 1) mountain beliefs found in engi narratives; 2) the concept of kami; and 3) the diffusion and localisation of religious concepts about Kirime no Ōji, showing how the shift from Gongen to Ōji occurred.
Published Oct. 18, 2021 | Language: en
Keywords Engi • Mountain beliefs • Pilgrimage • Kagura • Shugendō • Ritual • Kumano
Copyright © 2021 Masataka Suzuki. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-527-8/005
