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Reinventing the Past: Antiquarianism in East Asian Art and Visual Culture—Part 2 |
< Back Court Ceremonies, Imperial Power, and Gomizunoo as Cakravartin Elizabeth Lillehoj DePaul University The Narrative Handscrolls of Annual Rites and Ceremonies of the Court (Nenjû gyôji emaki) reveals the significance of ritual observances at the imperial court in pre-modern Japan. Among other things, the handscrolls reveal how Esoteric Buddhism was deployed at the palace to serve as a defense of imperial power, and how, in the seventeenth-century, Emperor Gomizunoo (1596-1680; r. 1611-29) recognized the value of that defense in his campaign to restore imperial prestige during an era of warrior rule. An illustrated calendar of events, the Scrolls of Annual Rites and Ceremonies speaks to an ancient belief that rituals conducted by the emperor are essential to maintaining harmony in the world. The original set of scrolls was painted in the twelfth century on imperial order, but no longer survives. What do survive are seventeenth-century copies of part of the original set, produced again on imperial order. In 1626, Gomizunoo called on the painter Sumiyoshi Jokei (1599-1670), asking him to take the original set of Scrolls of Annual Rites and Ceremonies from the palace collection and make a copy. This was just one of many artistic projects initiated by Gomizunoo, who actively participated in religious and cultural affairs. Despite the fact that emperors had long since lost the right to rule as sovereigns and the Tokugawa shoguns held the reins of power as leaders of the Edo military government, many people still viewed the emperor with awe. In a key way, the Tokugawa depended on the emperor, as only he could bestow upon a designated Tokugawa heir the exalted title of shogun. Thus, it was the emperor who granted legitimacy to Tokugawa rule. Yet, even as the court was enmeshed in a bakufu campaign for legitimacy, the emperors managed to enhance their own inherited prestige. One central duty of the emperor in pre-modern Japan was to oversee ritual activities. As early as the tenth century, imperial ceremonies had been integrated into a systematically-conceived calendar meant to ensure prosperity in the land. A number of the ceremonies were based on ancient native celebrations, while others derived from Buddhist religious practice or Chinese court observance. In the twelfth century, over three hundred ceremonies were conducted annually at the Japanese court; however, by the fifteenth century that number had dropped off dramatically, reduced almost by half. I will focus on one illustration--from the end of the sixth polychrome scroll in the Sumiyoshi copy of the Scrolls of Annual Rites and Ceremonies—picturing the “Imperial Rite of the Second Seven Days of the New Year” (goshichinichi mishuhô, also mishihô), the most secret and potent of the Shingon Esoteric Buddhist services at the Japanese court. A key purpose of the mishuhô was to validate the emperor’s role as a Buddhist king (cakravartin), the ideal and virtuous ruler who aims to bring all beings to enlightenment. The mishuhô was conducted at the Shingon’in of the palace, in conjunction with recitations and sermons on the Golden Light Sutra (Konkômyô saishôô kyô; Sk: Suvarņa-prabhāsa-sûtra), a text considered essential for protecting virtuous rulers and preserving the nation. Since the early eighth century, the Golden Light Sutra had been the focus of Buddhist New Year’s ceremonies at court, which included prayers for the well being of the emperor, peace in the land, and a plentiful harvest. The annual service came to be augmented by the mishuhô owing to the efforts of Kûkai (774-835), who had introduced Esoteric Buddhism from China. Kûkai lobbied for the construction of Shingon’in, the first permanent Buddhist hall on palace grounds, and conducted the first mishuhô there in 835. Kûkai argued that Buddhist rites then being practiced were inadequate to ensure the protection of the nation, but the mishuhô would complete the job by demonstrating that the Golden Light Sutra held the power of the wish-granting jewel (cintāmaņi), which could eliminate all variety of problems. Kûkai conceived of the mishuhô as a rite to empower the monarch, one part of his plan to make Esoteric Buddhism a support for imperial rule. Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that concurrent with the decline in imperial fortunes after the twelfth century, the mishuhô fell into disuse. In the early seventeenth century, however, an interest in reviving this esoteric ritual arose at the Shingon center on Mount Kôya. Then, in 1623, Gomizunoo revived the mishuhô at court, with the cooperation of Gien (1558-1626), abbot of the Kyoto Shingon temple of Daigoji. Gomizunoo’s efforts to revive the mishuhô--like his plans to restore other rites that had not been performed at the palace in centuries and his initiative to have Sumiyoshi Jokei copy the illustrations of those rites--demonstrate his commitment to preserving the vaunted status of the old imperial court. |
