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Portraits of Chōgen: The Transformation of Buddhist art in Early Medieval Japan – By John M. Rosenfield

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Page 1: Portraits of Chōgen: The Transformation of Buddhist art in Early Medieval Japan – By John M. Rosenfield

RITES AND RITUALS OF KASHMIRI BRAHMINS.By Shashi Shekhar Toshkhani. New Delhi: Pentagon Press(for the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation),2010. Pp. 237. Cloth, $32.00.

Any book focusing on the religious life of the KashmiriPandit community is welcome. This understudied commu-nity was settled for more than a millennium in the Srinagarvalley but was forced to relocate en masse in the early1990s because of sectarian violence in and around Srina-gar. The Pandits have now completely dispersed to Jammu(about 300,000) or Delhi (about 100,000). Because of thepressures of modernity and globalization, the fact of relo-cation, the absence of authoritative religious figures, theretraining of priesthoods, and the shift away from primaryuse of Kashmiri, the earlier forms of Pandit ritual (andPandit identity) are beginning to disappear. Toshkhani, aliterary critic and poet, has not taken into account the his-torical and textual work of A. Sanderson or the cutting-edge parallel studies of A. Michaels in the KathmanduValley in Nepal. However, this book does well to recountmany of the important rituals themselves. Most of these arebased on the Laugaks·i Gr·hyasutra of the Kat·haka rescen-sion of the Black (Kr·s·n· a) Yajurveda and locally producedperformance manuals based on Laugaks·i. This itself isimportant to the study of domestic ritual in India becausethis text is rarely utilized elsewhere. Ritual drawn fromthese texts is supplemented by Tantric practice adaptedfrom the well-known Saiva schools of Kashmir propoundedin the eighth century and later by Abhinavagupta andmany others. Toshkhani describes in some detail the child-hood rites of passage (sam· skara), initiation into brahmani-cal practice (upanayana), marriage and funeral rites,obligatory daily ritual, fire (homa) and temple ritual (puja),important festivals (such as Mahasivaratrı), the use of cos-mograms (yantra and man· d· ala), and local variants of muralpainting and astrology, and discusses some of the other for-mative texts in the history of Pandit ritualism such as theNılamata Puran· a. This is an important volume for scholarsinterested in the history of Indian ritual praxis or thehistory of Kashmir and the Pandit community.

Frederick M. SmithUniversity of Iowa

East AsiaCONSTRUCTING CHINA’S JERUSALEM: CHRIS-TIANS, POWER, AND PLACE IN CONTEMPORARYWENZHOU. By Nanlai Cao. Contemporary Issues in Asiaand the Pacific Series. Stanford, CA: Stanford UniversityPress, 2011. Pp. xii + 216. $18.95.

Formerly a dissertation in the department of anthropol-ogy at Australia National University, this book is based onethnographic fieldwork in the Wenzhou region on the south-east coast of China from 2004 to 2006. The focus is theentrepreneurial “boss Christians” who, in the last thirty

years, have been at the vanguard both of Wenzhou’s transi-tion into the neoliberal market economy and of the evangeli-cal Christian revival that has transformed the religiouslandscape in this region. Cao delineates especially theagency of the Wenzhounese in the remaking of both Chris-tian and Chinese cultural identity while also observing howthese developments have perpetuated a patriarchal andpaternalistic form of religion consistent with the classicallyconservative Confucian tradition, and forged new forms ofclass hierarchies and stratifications between the haves andhave-nots in the urban arena and vis-à-vis rural migrationdynamics. As Jerusalem was the center of the first-centuryChristian movement, so also do contemporary WenzhouneseChristians understand themselves as being at the forefrontof the religious and economic transformation of China in apost-Maoist sociopolitical context. But traditional theoreticaldichotomies are dismantled in the process as these “bossChristians” not only have emerged as key players(“patrons”) in the local and national political economy butalso lead congregational networks that are neither formallyregistered nor part of the informal (“underground”) arena.The result is a fascinating glimpse into the “business” ofindigenous Chinese religion with significant implications foranthropological and socioeconomic studies of Christianity inthe late modern world.

Amos YongRegent University School of Divinity

JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY: HERMENEUTICS ONSCRIPTURE. By Jun’chi Isomae. Oakville, CT: EquinoxPublishing, 2010. Pp. 189. Paper, $32.95.

Known for his seminal work in the theory of religion andShinto studies (e.g., Kindai Nihon no shûkyô gensetsu to nokeifu [2003]), Isomae, in this long-awaited volume, offers aninvaluable study of the Kojiki and Nihonshoki (or Kiki). Hedeparts from the usual textually specific studies of theancient texts per se to focus on readers’ responses, askingwhy these ancient texts “have continued to be read over theages” and how different worlds of meaning over the centurieshave created new textual interpretations for disparate social,institutional, and political ends. Earlier versions of four chap-ters in the volume have originally appeared in MonumentaNipponica, the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, and soon. Unfortunately, a light editorial hand has allowed uneventranslations overall, which is particularly unwelcome giventhe author’s penchant for arcane literary theories and denseMarxist historiography. This can be very frustrating becauseIsomae’s discussion of textual hermeneutics, Shinto andmyth, canonicity, and myth and nationalism is often pro-foundly insightful. The introductory chapter, “Hermeneuticson the Theory of Sacred Texts and Nostalgia toward HistoricalOrigins,” is marred by an overly literal translation style thatmakes it especially hard to decipher. But wading through this,readers will be rewarded by chapter 1, “National History,Shinto and Myth: General Remarks on the History and Inter-pretation of the Kiki,” which offers a useful overview of the

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key postwar streams of interpretation of Japanese mythology.Chapter 4, “Myth and Rationality: Understanding God in theEarly-Modern and Modern Periods,” and chapter 5, “Mythand Nationalism: Motoori Norinaga’s Creation Myths,” are atreasure house of provocative ideas about the power of theKiki in Japanese politics, national memory, and identity.Despite its flaws, this book is essential for a nuanced under-standing of the complex ways the Kiki have been utilizedthroughout Japanese history, particularly with the rise ofState Shinto in the modern period.

Mark MacWilliamsSt. Lawrence University

NATURE’S EMBRACE: JAPAN’S AGING URBAN-ITES AND NEW DEATH RITES. By Satsuki Kawano.Honolulu: University of Hawai′i Press, 2010. Pp. ix + 220.Cloth, $47.00; paper, $27.00.

In this intriguing study, Kawano examines changingmortuary practices and shifting attitudes to end-of-lifechoices among Japan’s aging urbanites. Based on fieldworkconducted with one specific group, the Grave-Free PromotionSociety of Japan (GFPS), this study explores how the practiceof scattering ashes in natural sites is emerging as an alterna-tive to the more common practice of interring ashes in inher-ited multigenerational graves. Kawano argues that ashscattering represents one solution to the challenges posed bylimited space in ancestral graves and the uncertainty that inJapan’s postindustrial society, descendents will performappropriate memorial rituals. She also reasons that choosingto have one’s ashes scattered is a way of controlling how oneis memorialized. This practice is certainly the preferredchoice of the members of GFPS, but because this is the onlygroup she investigated, it is unclear how representative thesemembers are of the general aging population. Nonetheless,she places her study of GFPS within a valuable historicaloverview of modern Japanese mortuary and memorial prac-tices, and effectively argues that this group’s response tochallenges posed by post-World War II Japan’s shifting demo-graphics is but one method within a diverse history of how thedead are and choose to be commemorated.

Emily AndersonWashington State University

IMPERIAL POLITICS AND SYMBOLICS INANCIENT JAPAN: THE TENMU DYNASTY, 650-800.By Herman Ooms. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press,2009. Pp. 376. $50.00.

Ooms, an authority on Japan’s early Tokugawa period(1570-1680), seeks to disabuse modern minds of the notionthat “Shinto, upheld by many as Japan’s indigenous religion,presumably reaches seamlessly from the ancient past toJapan’s present.” He argues correctly that many features of“Shinto” were actually constructed by the seventh-centuryemperor Temmu. Ooms is on less solid ground, however, incontending that Temmu reconfigured the court’s legitima-tion system by adapting Taoist elements from China. During

the mid-sixth century, Buddhism had been championed atthe Yamato court by the parvenu Soga clan, who sought tousurp the power of clans associated with the indigenoustraditions. By 592, the Soga managed to place their own ruleron the throne—the empress Suiko—firmly establishing Bud-dhism at the court. But after 673, Temmu strove diligently,and successfully, to reverse his predecessors’ China-oriented reforms and to redefine court authority by revivingpre-Buddhist court religious traditions (such as the daijo-saienthronement rite) and by strengthening links with the Iseshrine. It was under Temmu that the name of Amaterasufirst appears in a contemporary historical record. Temmu’smodifications were an attempt to restore the political reali-ties of pre-Buddhist Japan. But little in Temmu’s modifica-tions were identifiably Taoist. The data that Ooms adduces as“Taoist” are often just elements of medieval Chinese culturethat non-Taoists (of that period and later) misconstrued asTaoist. Future studies of this material should be more fullygrounded in the facts of Six-Dynasties/Tang Taoism.

Russell KirklandUniversity of Georgia

HERO AND DEITY: TRAN HUNG DAO AND THERESURGENCE OF POPULAR RELIGION INVIETNAM. By Pham Quynh Phuong. Chiang Mai, Thailand:Mekong Press, 2009. Pp. xi + 227. THB 625, $25.00.

Worshiped at public temples, pilgrimage sites, andprivate shrines, the thirteenth-century martial figure knownas Saint Tran (Tran Hung Dao) is the object of nationalistpride among Vietnamese from all walks of life. He is remem-bered for twice defeating Mongol invaders, venerated as acultural and national hero, and worshiped as a divine pro-tector against malevolent spirits that bring disease and mis-fortune. Once derided and suppressed as “superstitious,” theworship of Saint Tran is now celebrated as a source ofnational identity and unity, essential to state building. Thisvolume is one of the most convincing, penetrating, and sen-sitive analyses to come out of the recent spate of scholarshipon contemporary Vietnamese popular religion and medium-ship traditions. Based on ethnographic work conducted innorthern Vietnam—mainly Hanoi—the study is rich with localdetail, telling vignettes, and the voices of not only mediumsbut also their devotees and clients. The author deftly situatesher study within multiple contexts, locating the cult withinthe discourse of national identity and unity, the implicationsof the academic production of knowledge about popular reli-gion, contestation over local sacred sites related to the saint,and the everyday lives of a range of devotees, male andfemale, from high-ranking officials to ordinary workers. Thisvolume will prove to be essential reading for scholars inter-ested in Vietnamese religions, the contemporary religiousresurgence in Southeast Asia, popular religion and statebuilding, the phenomenon of female mediumship in Asianreligions, and the interface of religion and economic reform.

Cuong T. MaiUniversity of Vermont

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PORTRAITS OF CHOGEN: THE TRANSFORMA-TION OF BUDDHIST ART IN EARLY MEDIEVALJAPAN. By John M. Rosenfield. Japanese Visual CultureSeries, vol. 1. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2011. Pp. 296; 162 plates, 2maps. $132.00.

In this beautifully produced book, Rosenfield, HarvardUniversity professor emeritus of Japanese art, has written asuperb account of the state of Japanese Buddhism at a pivotalmoment in time, through the lens of S. Chogen (1121-1206),the monk who led the restoration of Japanese Buddhism’sgreatest national symbol, the temple complex of Todaiji inNara, which was destroyed in a ruthless civil war in 1180.Although few of the products of Chogen’s efforts at Todaijihave survived, Rosenfield interweaves documentary sourcesand extant imagery to bring this tumultuous age to life. Inthe process, he explicates how renewed contacts with Chinathen played a critical role in the faith’s transmission, impact-ing both developments within Japanese Buddhism and itsrelated material culture. His chapters address wide-rangingtopics including reasons for the unusual architectural styleadopted for the restored Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall) atTodaiji, the renewed realism in painted and sculpted icons,the history of East Asian portraiture generally and priestportraiture in particular, and the uses of Buddhist ritualobjects. Rosenfield explores the complex interpersonaldynamics that shaped Buddhism’s reception in Japanthrough a discussion of Chogen’s relations with monks ofother sects, esteemed lineages of Buddhist sculptors, politi-cians, and lay patrons. This excellent book is a rarity in thatRosenfield’s clear writing and careful explanations makethis complex topic accessible to nonspecialists while concur-rently, his use of diverse primary sources, includingChogen’s own memoir (translated in an appendix), distin-guishes it as an invaluable resource for specialists as well.

Patricia J. GrahamUniversity of Kansas

THE CONSTANT AND CHANGING FACES OF THEGODDESS: GODDESS TRADITIONS OF ASIA. Editedby Deepak Shimkhada and Phyllis K. Herman. New Castle,UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008. Pp. xi + 294.$79.99.

This edited volume collects selected papers given at a2005 conference on goddess traditions of Asia. Like someconference anthologies, this volume has an overly ambitioushistorical and geographic coverage and lacks an overarchingmethodological and theoretical direction. The studies take avariety of disciplinary approaches, ranging from sociologyand anthropology to religious studies and history, and theyrange in scope from Korea, India, and Vietnam to China andHong Kong. The goddesses covered include Mago of Korea;Buddhist dakinis; Hindu goddesses such as Bharat Ma, Sita,Durga, Lakshmi, Kali, Saraswati, and Goma; and the ChineseMazu and various incarnations of Guanyin in Chinese Bud-dhism. Unfortunately, the editors fail to offer cross-culturalinsights beyond generic and problematic references to “the

divine feminine” or “the Goddess.” Neither the editors norany of the authors offer a definition of the frequently invokedcategory “the Goddess” and so miss the chance to explore theinterpretive and analytical implications of this unquestionedcategory, especially the tendency to slip all too easily intonormative claims and ideological heavy-handedness. Thechapters that do make significant contributions are too fewand all too brief. Nevertheless, the strength of this editedvolume tends to be in the study of the goddess traditions ofHinduism and popular Chinese religions. For this reason,scholars specializing in the latter two areas should be awareof this volume, but it would not be suitable as a text for eitheran undergraduate- or graduate-level course.

Cuong T. MaiUniversity of Vermont

THE UNENCUMBERED SPIRIT: REFLECTIONS OFA CHINESE SAGE. By Hung Ying-ming. Translated byWilliam Scott Wilson. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2009.Pp. 224. $19.95.

This book is a rarity: it serves 1) as a “coffee-table book”for anyone interested in “Eastern Thought”; 2) as a “supple-mental text” for students in courses on Asian Thought orReligion; and 3) as an enhancement of scholars’ appreciationof the near-universal acceptance of the mutual validity of“The Three Teachings” (i.e., Confucianism, Taoism, and Bud-dhism) in Late Imperial China. Wilson translates a workcalled Ts’ai-ken t’an (Caigentan, “Vegetable Roots Dis-course”) composed ca. 1590 by a Chinese literatus herenamed Hung Yung-ming (Hong Yongming), otherwiseknown as Hung Tzu-ch’eng (Hong Zicheng). Wilson says thatwhile the Ts’ai-ken t’an “was briefly enjoyed in China,” it“achieved its greatest popularity in Japan, where it was firstprinted in 1822,” and bases his translation on a Japaneseversion (pronounced Saikontan). It comprises 357 parallel-prose verses on living in simplicity, rooted in life’s eternalverities. The first segment deals “with the art of living insociety, the second . . . more with man’s solitude and con-templation of nature.” Wilson suggests that to late-imperialliterati like Hung, “sagehood was no longer an unattainableideal”: as the eleventh-century Confucian theorists ChouTun-i (Zhou Dunyi) and Chang Tsai (Zhang Zai) had main-tained, “sagehood was now understood to be the formation ofone body with Heaven and Earth and all things.” Scholarsmight have wished for mention of pertinent scholarlystudies or previous English translations. But for studentsand general readers alike, this contribution is certainlyworthwhile.

Russell KirklandUniversity of Georgia

BuddhismBUDDHAYANA: LIVING BUDDHISM. By Anil Goone-wardene. London: Continuum, 2010. Pp. 298. $27.95.

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