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Faith in Mount Fuji - The Rise of Independent Religion in Early Modern Japan (Hardcover)
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Faith in Mount Fuji - The Rise of Independent Religion in Early Modern Japan (Hardcover)
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Even a fleeting glimpse of Mount Fuji's snow-capped peak emerging
from the clouds in the distance evokes the reverence it has
commanded in Japan from ancient times. Long considered sacred,
during the medieval era the mountain evolved from a venue for
solitary ascetics into a well-regulated pilgrimage site. With the
onset of the Tokugawa period, the nature of devotion to Mount Fuji
underwent a dramatic change. Working people from nearby Edo (now
Tokyo) began climbing the mountain in increasing numbers and
worshipping its deity on their own terms, leading to a widespread
network of devotional associations known as Fujik?i. In Faith in
Mount Fuji Janine Sawada asserts that the rise of the Fuji movement
epitomizes a broad transformation in popular religion that took
place in early modern Japan. Drawing on existing practices and
values, artisans and merchants generated new forms of religious
life outside the confines of the sectarian establishment. Sawada
highlights the importance of independent thinking in these
grassroots phenomena, making a compelling case that the new Fuji
devotees carved out enclaves for subtle opposition to the status
quo within the restrictive parameters of the Tokugawa order. The
founding members effectively reinterpreted materials such as
pilgrimage maps, talismans, and prayer formulae, laying the
groundwork for the articulation of a set of remarkable teachings by
Jikigy?i Miroku (1671-1733), an oil peddler who became one of the
group's leading ascetic practitioners. His writings fostered a
vision of Mount Fuji as a compassionate parental deity who mandated
a new world of economic justice and fairness in social and gender
relations. The book concludes with a thought-provoking assessment
of Jikigy?i's suicide on the mountain as an act of commitment to
world salvation that drew on established ascetic practice even as
it conveyed political dissent. Faith in Mount Fuji is a pioneering
work that contains a wealth of in-depth analysis and original
interpretation. It will open up new avenues of discussion among
students of Japanese religions and intellectual history, and supply
rich food for thought to readers interested in global perspectives
on issues of religion and society, ritual culture, new religions,
and asceticism.
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