出版社:文芸社 著者:大野靖志 定価:1,680円
• Contents
Far Reaching Influence of Hakke Shinto into Modern Times
In the fall of 1866, during the final year of the Feudal Edo Government, the last head instructor of the Hakke Shinto school, Mr. Seishichiro Takahama, was ordered by the Emeror Komei to leave Kyoto and go to a safe place to keep his family line and the traditions of Hakke Shinto safe. By that time, the Shirakawa Hakuo family had become the symbol of authority over Hakke Shinto as a sect, but the actual successor of the traditions of Hakke Shinto information was being passed down by the head instructors.
By 1868 with the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, the Shirakawa Hakuo family was forbidden from continuing to use the honorific “O” with their surname and the head of the Haku(o) family was conferred the title of Viscount under the new government system. The next head of the family had no children of his own, and after the nullification of an attempted adoption, the Shirakawa Hakuo family bloodline ended.
As for the fate of the ex-instructor, Seishichiro Takahama had succeeded in blending into rural anonymity in southern Japan on the islands of Shikoku and Kyushu. He was able to survive the great political upheaval that ended the long era of feudal governance of Japan. Sometime after the establishment of the Meiji government, he established the, “Society of Zoke Sanshin Shinden,” with the purpose of properly transmitting Hakke Shinto among the members of the society. It was in this way that the religious rites of the Imperial household were first made to be known among the people after nearly 1000 years of privation. Eventually, Takahama taught the religious precepts of Hakke Shinto at the Mita Hachiman Shrine in Shiba, Tokyo and his followers there formed an association named, “Takahama Tokushin Kai.” Dr. Kenji Nanasawa has documented some of the records of Takahama’s teachings that were kept at the Shrine, and it was there that he came to meet some of the elders of the association who had personally studied with Mr. Takahama. He taught mainly through waka poetry when meeting the general public and a book of his poems entitled “Saniwa” (Intermediary) was published from the records found at the Mita Hachiman Shrine. The overall theme of these poems pertains to instruction regarding healthy ways of living.
Nanasawa learned that the knowledge regarding the secret rituals of Hakke Shinto had been passed on to Takahama’s granddaughter, Shinko Nakamura. Shinko was related to Takahama on her mother’s side of the family, and her father Tadamasa Miyauchi was the founder of the, “Wagaku Kyojusho” (a school for the study of traditional religious observances). Shinko Nakamura continued in her career to teach many followers of Hakke Shinto. According to Nanasawa:
Under the social climate of the campaign to boycott Buddhist temples and images of Buddha in the early Meiji era, there was also a nationwide movement to revive the Shinto Shrines based on the teachings of Hakke Shinto. Amongst the plans towards this effort was the construction of great shrines to be dedicated to the three creation Gods and the God of Amaterasu. However, the plan was not realized, as the government officials were led to believe that Takahama had died.
Although the direct relationship to the Imperial family ended and the great shrines were not built, Hakke Shinto had already influenced the future of Shinto worship and practices as well as the national identity of Japan. The leaders of many new schools that now comprise Sectarian Shinto arose from the end of the Tokugawa Feudal Period to the dawn of the Meiji era had studied at the Hakke Shinto school. For example, the Head Priests of Misogi-kyo and Konkyo-kyo Shinto sects, Masakane Inoue and Bunjiro Kawate respectively, both had studied Hakke Shinto. Also, Chikaatsu Honda the author of the book “Spirit Studies,” had a close personal relationship with Takahama and Hakke Shinto. And the final example that bridges to more recent times is that the charismatic founder of Oomoto Shinto, Onisaburo Deguchi, accredited his studies of that book and his studies with Honda for leading his own spiritual awakening.
The exact reasons why Seishichiro Takahama was not allowed to be recalled to the Meiji Imperial Court are unknown, but it was perhaps destined that the direct relationship with Imperial authority and Hakke Shinto ceased at this time in history. The establishment of Japan as a nation-state was a shocking and violent process as the nation of Japan emerged from nearly 200 years of virtual isolation from the outside world. Throughout the opening of Japan to foreign markets and foreign cultural influence, a struggle over domestic political authority and the overall guidance of Japan on the world stage has ensued. As the nationalistic identity of Japan arose in the late 19th century, the social current also began to change. Starting with boycotts of Buddhist practice and symbolism, an advocacy of Shinto as a national religion also fomented. As discussed in chapter 1, one of the most important Hakke Shinto rituals Misogi no Harai (Rite of Clearing and Purification) is performed with the intension to clarify Kotodama for everyone. The rise of nationalism especially during the 20th century has been an era that held high the spirit of exclusion, division, and the exaltation of war, this is not the spirit of of Hakke Shinto.