Enduring Identities is an attempt to understand the continuing
relevance of Shinto to the cultural identity of contemporary
Japanese. The enduring significance of this ancient yet innovative
religion is evidenced each year by the millions of Japanese who
visit its shrines. They might come merely seeking a park-like
setting or to make a request of the shrine's deities, asking for a
marriage partner, a baby, or success at school or work; or they
might come to give thanks for benefits received through the
intercession of deities or to legitimate and sacralize civic and
political activities. Through an investigation of one of Japan's
most important and venerated Shinto shrines, Kamo Wake Ikazuchi
Jinja (more commonly Kamigamo Jinja), the book addresses what
appears through Western and some Asian eyes to be an exotic and
incongruous blend of superstition and reason as well as a
photogenic juxtaposition of present and past. Combining theoretical
sophistication with extensive fieldwork and a deep knowledge of
Japan, John Nelson documents and interprets the ancient Kyoto
shrine's yearly cycle of rituals and festivals, its sanctified
landscapes, and the people who make it viable. At local and
regional levels, Kamigamo Shrine's ritual traditions (such as the
famous Hollyhock Festival) and the strategies for their
perpetuation and implementation provide points of departure for
issues that anthropologists, historians, and scholars of religion
will recognize as central to their disciplines. These include the
formation of social memory, the role of individual agency within
institutional politics, religious practice and performance, the
shaping of sacred space and place, ethnic versus cultural identity,
and the politics of historical representation and cultural
nationalism. Nelson links these themes through a detailed
ethnography about a significant place and institution, which until
now has been largely closed to both Japanese and foreign scholars.
In contrast to conventional notions of ideology and institutions,
he shows how a religious tradition's lack of centralized dogma,
charismatic leaders, and sacred texts promotes rather than hinders
a broad-based public participation with a variety of institutional
agendas, most of which have very little to do with belief. He
concludes that it is this structural flexibility, coupled with
ample economic, human, and cultural resources, that nurtures a
reworking of multiple identities--all of which resonate with the
past, fully engage the present, and, with care, will endure well
into the future.
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