Reading the Miraculous Powers of Japanese Poetry: Spells, Truth Acts, and a Medieval Buddhist Poetics of the Supernatural
The supernatural powers of Japanese poetry are widely documented in the literature of Heian and medieval Japan. Twentieth-century scholars have tended to follow Orikuchi Shinobu in interpreting and discussing miraculous verses in terms of ancient (arguably pre-Buddhist and pre-historical) beliefs in...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Nanzan Institute
[2005]
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| In: |
Japanese journal of religious studies
Year: 2005, Volume: 32, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-33 |
| Further subjects: | B
Rainmaking rituals
B Medieval poetry B Buddhism B Deities B Religious Studies B Priests B Anthologies B Poetry B Drought B Syllables |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The supernatural powers of Japanese poetry are widely documented in the literature of Heian and medieval Japan. Twentieth-century scholars have tended to follow Orikuchi Shinobu in interpreting and discussing miraculous verses in terms of ancient (arguably pre-Buddhist and pre-historical) beliefs in kotodama 言霊, "the magic spirit power of special words"' In this paper, I argue for the application of a more contemporaneous hermeneutical approach to the miraculous poem-stories of late-Heian and medieval Japan: thirteenthcentury Japanese "dharani theory," according to which Japanese poetry is capable of supernatural effects because, as the dharani of Japan, it contains "reason" or "truth" (kotowari) in a semantic superabundance. In the first section of this article I discuss "dharani theory" as it is articulated in a number of Kamakura-and Muromachi-period sources; in the second, I apply that theory to several Heian and medieval rainmaking poem-tales; and in the third, I argue for a possible connection between the magico-religious technology of Indian "Truth Acts" (saccakiriyā, satyakriyā), imported to Japan in various sutras and sutra commentaries, and some of the miraculous poems of the lateHeian and medieval periods. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Japanese journal of religious studies
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