Avery Morrow | The University of Tokyo (original) (raw)
Papers by Avery Morrow
Journal of World Buddhist Cultures, 2024
Ippen Shōnin (1234–1289) was a preacher of Pure Land Buddhism who traveled throughout the country... more Ippen Shōnin (1234–1289) was a preacher of Pure Land Buddhism who
traveled throughout the country offering tokens of rebirth in the Pure Land. Although he insisted that he had no personal power to guarantee good rebirth, the historical record seems ambiguous on this point. To analyze this, I first examine stories in the scroll Ippen hijiri-e attributing magical powers to Ippen. Ippen is sometimes described as if people saw him as a miracle worker, with descriptions of purple clouds and flowers falling from
the sky, but the Hijiri-e depicts this with a deceptive agnosticism, as if its authors were unclear to whom the miracles ought to be attributed. I then look at two caricature scrolls critical of Ippen which provide records of a man manipulating the people around him. Ippen’s ecstatic nembutsu dances are illustrated in an antagonistic way, and he is described as using his own urine as medicine, with the implication that he was defrauding his followers. These caricature scrolls were long considered irrelevant to Japanese scholarship on Ippen, until a radical outside interpretation forced scholars to consider
them seriously. Viewed together, the caricatures and the Hijiri-e present Japanese high society conflicted over Ippen’s legacy, unsure whether they had witnessed a madman or a god-man.
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 2020
In 2015, the researcher Imaishi Migiwa discovered a group of Ainu religious implements called ina... more In 2015, the researcher Imaishi Migiwa discovered a group of Ainu religious
implements called inaw イナウ in Shinto shrines in two coastal villages in
Ishikawa Prefecture, some thousand kilometers from Hokkaido. Upon close
examination, these nine inaw were recognized to have been brought to Honshu by a similar process that brought twenty-four inaw to Engakuji 円覚寺, a Shingon Buddhist temple on the west coast of Aomori Prefecture. These inaw were collected from multiple locations across the islands of Sakhalin and Hokkaido over the period of 1868 to 1888 by Wajin 和人 (non-Ainu Japanese) merchants doing regular business with the Ainu. While this period is known for the seizure of Ainu lands by Japan and Russia and the imposition of Western-style colonialism, the inaw viewed as a group of artifacts paint a very different picture.
Exploring Shinto, 2020
In Japanese religious studies, the Ōmoto and Tenrikyō groups are considered to be archetypical mi... more In Japanese religious studies, the Ōmoto and Tenrikyō groups are considered to be archetypical minshū shūkyō, "mass religions." While they were once thought to be the result of unmediated mystical experiences on the part of their founders that resisted state authority, it is now recognized that both Tenrikyō and Ōmoto developed their teachings and practices through cooperation and communication with Japanese social and legal institutions. Most notably, in prewar Japan, Tenrikyō worked hard to be accepted as a full-fledged Sect Shinto group, while Ōmoto eventually rejected Sect Shinto. However, in postwar Japan, Tenrikyō left the Sect Shinto organization, and Ōmoto voluntarily joined it. A close analysis of the history of these two groups reveals their tangled relationship with the concept of Shinto, which itself underwent major changes during the 20th century. (The terms of my contract with Equinox do not permit me to make the full text of this chapter available.)
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 2019
It is my contention that the way the phrase true heart "magokoro" is used in the Genji indicates ... more It is my contention that the way the phrase true heart "magokoro" is used in the Genji indicates a consistently expressed ideal relationship between men and women. In such an ideal relationship, one's thoughts and worries are not concealed from the other—indeed, they cannot be concealed. I further argue that true love in the Genji is achieved only insofar as two people can completely know each other's hearts. When two people become adept at reading each other's hearts in the Genji, they become linked in a mysterious bond which is the principal way in which characters develop and mature.
Correspondences, 2018
Past issues of Correspondences have sought to envision non-Western "esoteric" categories, but it ... more Past issues of Correspondences have sought to envision non-Western "esoteric" categories, but it remains an open question as to whether esotericism is a generic mode of thought, as opposed to a construction within intellectual history. I demonstrate some difficulties with identifying an esoteric category in modern Japanese culture, suggesting that the problem is one of discursive boundaries within the humanities. Accordingly, I examine boundary work by one of Japan's founding religious scholars. It appears that Anesaki Masaharu engaged in two types of boundary-making: disputation of the type of authority being used by religious groups, and criticism of concealment within the academic context. Comparing the latter behavior to Western esotericism, I find that it matches up most closely to a different concept of esotericism than that commonly used in this field.
Japanese Journal for the Study of Esotericism, 2018
The Hitsuki Shinji is a large work of automatic writing which has been used in various ways since... more The Hitsuki Shinji is a large work of automatic writing which has been used in various ways since the first sections of it were composed in 1944. Drawing on the spiritual visions of Swedenborg, it shows some resemblances to Western esotericism while maintaining an independent, Japan-centric message. I examine the major branches of interpretation of the text, showing that it was used to provide authority to a religious group, commune, and conspiracy theory during different periods of time, and I offer some thoughts on how these interpretations reflected the eras in which they flourished.
Female Leaders in New Religious Movements, 2017
In 1892 Deguchi Nao, an impoverished Japanese widow who had suffered for decades in an arranged m... more In 1892 Deguchi Nao, an impoverished Japanese widow who had suffered for decades in an arranged marriage with an alcoholic husband, began hearing voices and channeling spirits. She was told that the world was about to be destroyed for its disobedience to the divine beings called kami, that she had been chosen to be the medium of a kami named Ushitora no Konjin, that Konjin would try to save as many people as he could from the cataclysm and usher in a golden age, and that her little village of Ayabe would become the center of the world.
Journal of Daoist Studies, 2016
The paradoxical truth of the world is that we can only do the right thing when it is not *our* ri... more The paradoxical truth of the world is that we can only do the right thing when it is not *our* right thing. As he wanders idly between his fables, Zhuangzi playfully mocks human certainty and ideology through the theme of "getting thinged by things".
Innovative Research in Japanese Studies, 2014
Contemporary occult literature in Japan has been influenced by a number of texts claiming to date... more Contemporary occult literature in Japan has been influenced by a number of texts claiming to date from ancient times called koshi-koden. These texts, some of which have been circulating since the early modern period, speak of forgotten histories, venerable traditions, lost technologies, and sacred science. A number of them were written in unknown alphabets which are believed to have been handed down secretly from the primeval era, the so-called jindaimoji or “scripts of the divine age.” Koshi-koden fall outside the traditional Kokugaku and Shintō narratives of the history of Japanese nativist thought. By examining the more unique aspects of koshi-koden, we can discover an early break between the nationalist historiography of pre-1945 Japan and an esoteric, metaphysical nativism which shines a radically different light on Japan's ancient age.
Wittenberg University East Asian Studies Journal, 2011
This paper explores the ideology of religious studies with respect to early 20th century studies ... more This paper explores the ideology of religious studies with respect to early 20th century studies of Japan. Since 1945, “State Shintō” has been defined in academicliterature as a state religion which was enforced by the Japanese government froman undetermined date after the Meiji Restoration until it was disestablished by theAllied Occupation. In fact, the Japanese government took concrete steps to separatetheir patriotic ceremonies from religion. Our current definition of the term “State Shintō” was produced by the religious scholar D.C. Holtom.
Book Reviews by Avery Morrow
Correspondences, 2022
In 1979, in the midst of the Iranian Revolution, the polymath comparative philosopher Izutsu Tosh... more In 1979, in the midst of the Iranian Revolution, the polymath comparative
philosopher Izutsu Toshihiko (1914–1993) fled his post at the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy and returned to his native Japan. Reinstalled to a chair at his alma mater, Keio University, he made a final turn from Islamic
philosophy towards Japan’s own philosophical tradition. In this final and most mature articulation of Izutsu’s thought, language is produced in Buddhist terms by “linguistic storehouse consciousness” (gengo-arayashiki), and therefore the meanings of language are all temporary and contingent, just like the states of existence and mind produced by dependent arising.
Journal of Religion in Japan, 2022
Hashisako Mizuho's Ninshin, shussan o meguru supirichuaritī is a brief monograph setting out a co... more Hashisako Mizuho's Ninshin, shussan o meguru supirichuaritī is a brief monograph setting out a compelling interpretation of 21st century women's spirituality in Japan. In Japan, the term "spirituality" is used in a way similar to how "New Age" is used in the West, but broader in scope. "Spirituality" is said to avoid the suspicions associated with invoking specific religions and maintain a comfortable level of ambiguity and secularism. 1 Readership of spirituality content, and participation in the "spiritual marketplace" of goods and services, is overwhelmingly dominated by women, and Hashisako sheds light on how some trends within the spiritual marketplace are changing women's perceptions of their own bodies.
Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, 2022
From the 1620s until the 1860s, Christianity was a mysterious banned sect in Japan, known to the ... more From the 1620s until the 1860s, Christianity was a mysterious banned sect in Japan, known to the common people chiefly as something they had to denounce and abhor. Most people had to affiliate themselves with a Buddhist temple to prove their disavowal of this unknown foreign religion; some had to swear oaths, and in the former Christian hotspot of Nagasaki, people were called regularly to local administrative offices to trample on images of Christ and Mary, called fumie. For one group of peasants in the 1820s, though, Christianity became a source of magical power. For the first time in English, Christian Sorcerers on Trial tells their stories, filtered through confessions to their prosecutors exacted under torture, as well the way their underground circle became rumor and legend in Edo salons.
Reading Religion, 2018
(see link)
Reading Religion, 2016
Religious scholars have questioned the utility of “religion” as an objective category since the d... more Religious scholars have questioned the utility of “religion” as an objective category since the days of Wilfred Cantwell Smith, but since the turn of the 21st century this practical consideration for accurate language choices has evolved into a large social constructionist project known as either “critical theory of religion” or “critical religion,” with Japan being a chief case study of the power-based construction of the religious category ...
electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, Jul 2014
Review of Jaffe, Eric (2014) "A Curious Madness: An American Combat Psychiatrist, a Japanese War ... more Review of Jaffe, Eric (2014) "A Curious Madness: An American Combat Psychiatrist, a Japanese War Crimes Suspect, and an Unsolved Mystery from World War II".
Talks by Avery Morrow
This paper explores the problem of academic neutrality and ideology with regards to 20th century ... more This paper explores the problem of academic neutrality and ideology with regards to 20th century Japan. Since 1945, “State Shintō” has been defined in academic literature as a state religion which was enforced by the Japanese government from an undetermined date after the Meiji Restoration until it was disestablished by the Allied Occupation. In fact, the Japanese government took concrete steps to separate their patriotic ceremonies from religion. Our current definition of the term “State Shintō” was produced by the religious scholar D.C. Holtom.
Volumes by Avery Morrow
Past issues of Correspondences have sought to envision non-Western "esoteric" categories, but it ... more Past issues of Correspondences have sought to envision non-Western "esoteric" categories, but it remains an open question as to whether esotericism is a generic mode of thought, as opposed to a construction within intellectual history. I demonstrate some difficulties with identifying an esoteric category in modern Japanese culture, suggesting that the problem is one of discursive boundaries within the humanities. Accordingly, I examine boundary work by one of Japan's founding religious scholars. It appears that Anesaki Masaharu engaged in two types of boundary-making: disputation of the type of authority being used by religious groups, and criticism of concealment within the academic context. Comparing the latter behavior to Western esotericism, I find that it matches up most closely to a different concept of esotericism than that commonly used in this field.
Journal of World Buddhist Cultures, 2024
Ippen Shōnin (1234–1289) was a preacher of Pure Land Buddhism who traveled throughout the country... more Ippen Shōnin (1234–1289) was a preacher of Pure Land Buddhism who
traveled throughout the country offering tokens of rebirth in the Pure Land. Although he insisted that he had no personal power to guarantee good rebirth, the historical record seems ambiguous on this point. To analyze this, I first examine stories in the scroll Ippen hijiri-e attributing magical powers to Ippen. Ippen is sometimes described as if people saw him as a miracle worker, with descriptions of purple clouds and flowers falling from
the sky, but the Hijiri-e depicts this with a deceptive agnosticism, as if its authors were unclear to whom the miracles ought to be attributed. I then look at two caricature scrolls critical of Ippen which provide records of a man manipulating the people around him. Ippen’s ecstatic nembutsu dances are illustrated in an antagonistic way, and he is described as using his own urine as medicine, with the implication that he was defrauding his followers. These caricature scrolls were long considered irrelevant to Japanese scholarship on Ippen, until a radical outside interpretation forced scholars to consider
them seriously. Viewed together, the caricatures and the Hijiri-e present Japanese high society conflicted over Ippen’s legacy, unsure whether they had witnessed a madman or a god-man.
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 2020
In 2015, the researcher Imaishi Migiwa discovered a group of Ainu religious implements called ina... more In 2015, the researcher Imaishi Migiwa discovered a group of Ainu religious
implements called inaw イナウ in Shinto shrines in two coastal villages in
Ishikawa Prefecture, some thousand kilometers from Hokkaido. Upon close
examination, these nine inaw were recognized to have been brought to Honshu by a similar process that brought twenty-four inaw to Engakuji 円覚寺, a Shingon Buddhist temple on the west coast of Aomori Prefecture. These inaw were collected from multiple locations across the islands of Sakhalin and Hokkaido over the period of 1868 to 1888 by Wajin 和人 (non-Ainu Japanese) merchants doing regular business with the Ainu. While this period is known for the seizure of Ainu lands by Japan and Russia and the imposition of Western-style colonialism, the inaw viewed as a group of artifacts paint a very different picture.
Exploring Shinto, 2020
In Japanese religious studies, the Ōmoto and Tenrikyō groups are considered to be archetypical mi... more In Japanese religious studies, the Ōmoto and Tenrikyō groups are considered to be archetypical minshū shūkyō, "mass religions." While they were once thought to be the result of unmediated mystical experiences on the part of their founders that resisted state authority, it is now recognized that both Tenrikyō and Ōmoto developed their teachings and practices through cooperation and communication with Japanese social and legal institutions. Most notably, in prewar Japan, Tenrikyō worked hard to be accepted as a full-fledged Sect Shinto group, while Ōmoto eventually rejected Sect Shinto. However, in postwar Japan, Tenrikyō left the Sect Shinto organization, and Ōmoto voluntarily joined it. A close analysis of the history of these two groups reveals their tangled relationship with the concept of Shinto, which itself underwent major changes during the 20th century. (The terms of my contract with Equinox do not permit me to make the full text of this chapter available.)
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 2019
It is my contention that the way the phrase true heart "magokoro" is used in the Genji indicates ... more It is my contention that the way the phrase true heart "magokoro" is used in the Genji indicates a consistently expressed ideal relationship between men and women. In such an ideal relationship, one's thoughts and worries are not concealed from the other—indeed, they cannot be concealed. I further argue that true love in the Genji is achieved only insofar as two people can completely know each other's hearts. When two people become adept at reading each other's hearts in the Genji, they become linked in a mysterious bond which is the principal way in which characters develop and mature.
Correspondences, 2018
Past issues of Correspondences have sought to envision non-Western "esoteric" categories, but it ... more Past issues of Correspondences have sought to envision non-Western "esoteric" categories, but it remains an open question as to whether esotericism is a generic mode of thought, as opposed to a construction within intellectual history. I demonstrate some difficulties with identifying an esoteric category in modern Japanese culture, suggesting that the problem is one of discursive boundaries within the humanities. Accordingly, I examine boundary work by one of Japan's founding religious scholars. It appears that Anesaki Masaharu engaged in two types of boundary-making: disputation of the type of authority being used by religious groups, and criticism of concealment within the academic context. Comparing the latter behavior to Western esotericism, I find that it matches up most closely to a different concept of esotericism than that commonly used in this field.
Japanese Journal for the Study of Esotericism, 2018
The Hitsuki Shinji is a large work of automatic writing which has been used in various ways since... more The Hitsuki Shinji is a large work of automatic writing which has been used in various ways since the first sections of it were composed in 1944. Drawing on the spiritual visions of Swedenborg, it shows some resemblances to Western esotericism while maintaining an independent, Japan-centric message. I examine the major branches of interpretation of the text, showing that it was used to provide authority to a religious group, commune, and conspiracy theory during different periods of time, and I offer some thoughts on how these interpretations reflected the eras in which they flourished.
Female Leaders in New Religious Movements, 2017
In 1892 Deguchi Nao, an impoverished Japanese widow who had suffered for decades in an arranged m... more In 1892 Deguchi Nao, an impoverished Japanese widow who had suffered for decades in an arranged marriage with an alcoholic husband, began hearing voices and channeling spirits. She was told that the world was about to be destroyed for its disobedience to the divine beings called kami, that she had been chosen to be the medium of a kami named Ushitora no Konjin, that Konjin would try to save as many people as he could from the cataclysm and usher in a golden age, and that her little village of Ayabe would become the center of the world.
Journal of Daoist Studies, 2016
The paradoxical truth of the world is that we can only do the right thing when it is not *our* ri... more The paradoxical truth of the world is that we can only do the right thing when it is not *our* right thing. As he wanders idly between his fables, Zhuangzi playfully mocks human certainty and ideology through the theme of "getting thinged by things".
Innovative Research in Japanese Studies, 2014
Contemporary occult literature in Japan has been influenced by a number of texts claiming to date... more Contemporary occult literature in Japan has been influenced by a number of texts claiming to date from ancient times called koshi-koden. These texts, some of which have been circulating since the early modern period, speak of forgotten histories, venerable traditions, lost technologies, and sacred science. A number of them were written in unknown alphabets which are believed to have been handed down secretly from the primeval era, the so-called jindaimoji or “scripts of the divine age.” Koshi-koden fall outside the traditional Kokugaku and Shintō narratives of the history of Japanese nativist thought. By examining the more unique aspects of koshi-koden, we can discover an early break between the nationalist historiography of pre-1945 Japan and an esoteric, metaphysical nativism which shines a radically different light on Japan's ancient age.
Wittenberg University East Asian Studies Journal, 2011
This paper explores the ideology of religious studies with respect to early 20th century studies ... more This paper explores the ideology of religious studies with respect to early 20th century studies of Japan. Since 1945, “State Shintō” has been defined in academicliterature as a state religion which was enforced by the Japanese government froman undetermined date after the Meiji Restoration until it was disestablished by theAllied Occupation. In fact, the Japanese government took concrete steps to separatetheir patriotic ceremonies from religion. Our current definition of the term “State Shintō” was produced by the religious scholar D.C. Holtom.
Correspondences, 2022
In 1979, in the midst of the Iranian Revolution, the polymath comparative philosopher Izutsu Tosh... more In 1979, in the midst of the Iranian Revolution, the polymath comparative
philosopher Izutsu Toshihiko (1914–1993) fled his post at the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy and returned to his native Japan. Reinstalled to a chair at his alma mater, Keio University, he made a final turn from Islamic
philosophy towards Japan’s own philosophical tradition. In this final and most mature articulation of Izutsu’s thought, language is produced in Buddhist terms by “linguistic storehouse consciousness” (gengo-arayashiki), and therefore the meanings of language are all temporary and contingent, just like the states of existence and mind produced by dependent arising.
Journal of Religion in Japan, 2022
Hashisako Mizuho's Ninshin, shussan o meguru supirichuaritī is a brief monograph setting out a co... more Hashisako Mizuho's Ninshin, shussan o meguru supirichuaritī is a brief monograph setting out a compelling interpretation of 21st century women's spirituality in Japan. In Japan, the term "spirituality" is used in a way similar to how "New Age" is used in the West, but broader in scope. "Spirituality" is said to avoid the suspicions associated with invoking specific religions and maintain a comfortable level of ambiguity and secularism. 1 Readership of spirituality content, and participation in the "spiritual marketplace" of goods and services, is overwhelmingly dominated by women, and Hashisako sheds light on how some trends within the spiritual marketplace are changing women's perceptions of their own bodies.
Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, 2022
From the 1620s until the 1860s, Christianity was a mysterious banned sect in Japan, known to the ... more From the 1620s until the 1860s, Christianity was a mysterious banned sect in Japan, known to the common people chiefly as something they had to denounce and abhor. Most people had to affiliate themselves with a Buddhist temple to prove their disavowal of this unknown foreign religion; some had to swear oaths, and in the former Christian hotspot of Nagasaki, people were called regularly to local administrative offices to trample on images of Christ and Mary, called fumie. For one group of peasants in the 1820s, though, Christianity became a source of magical power. For the first time in English, Christian Sorcerers on Trial tells their stories, filtered through confessions to their prosecutors exacted under torture, as well the way their underground circle became rumor and legend in Edo salons.
Reading Religion, 2018
(see link)
Reading Religion, 2016
Religious scholars have questioned the utility of “religion” as an objective category since the d... more Religious scholars have questioned the utility of “religion” as an objective category since the days of Wilfred Cantwell Smith, but since the turn of the 21st century this practical consideration for accurate language choices has evolved into a large social constructionist project known as either “critical theory of religion” or “critical religion,” with Japan being a chief case study of the power-based construction of the religious category ...
electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, Jul 2014
Review of Jaffe, Eric (2014) "A Curious Madness: An American Combat Psychiatrist, a Japanese War ... more Review of Jaffe, Eric (2014) "A Curious Madness: An American Combat Psychiatrist, a Japanese War Crimes Suspect, and an Unsolved Mystery from World War II".
This paper explores the problem of academic neutrality and ideology with regards to 20th century ... more This paper explores the problem of academic neutrality and ideology with regards to 20th century Japan. Since 1945, “State Shintō” has been defined in academic literature as a state religion which was enforced by the Japanese government from an undetermined date after the Meiji Restoration until it was disestablished by the Allied Occupation. In fact, the Japanese government took concrete steps to separate their patriotic ceremonies from religion. Our current definition of the term “State Shintō” was produced by the religious scholar D.C. Holtom.
Past issues of Correspondences have sought to envision non-Western "esoteric" categories, but it ... more Past issues of Correspondences have sought to envision non-Western "esoteric" categories, but it remains an open question as to whether esotericism is a generic mode of thought, as opposed to a construction within intellectual history. I demonstrate some difficulties with identifying an esoteric category in modern Japanese culture, suggesting that the problem is one of discursive boundaries within the humanities. Accordingly, I examine boundary work by one of Japan's founding religious scholars. It appears that Anesaki Masaharu engaged in two types of boundary-making: disputation of the type of authority being used by religious groups, and criticism of concealment within the academic context. Comparing the latter behavior to Western esotericism, I find that it matches up most closely to a different concept of esotericism than that commonly used in this field.