Spirit/Medium: Critically Examining the Relationship between Animism and Animation

Thomas, Jolyon Baraka

doi:10.5040/9781350097124.ch-011

Cited by 4 publications

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“…Nevertheless, notions of Japan as a nation characterized by some sort of unique 'animism'today expressed in robot technology and popular culture, according to some that may offer alternative ways for conceptualizing human-nature relations continue to fascinate, and the association has been endorsed by leading anthropologists (Allison 2006;Robertson 2007). In fact, there are several methodological and ideological problems associated with the term 'animism', not least in the Japanese context (Thomas 2019;Wilkinson 2017). But even if we do accept the controversial premise that Shinto and Japanese Buddhism have some sort of underlying animistic worldview, the question still remains: how does such a worldview translate into concrete practices, and how do such practices contribute to solving environmental problems?…”

Section: Green Zen Green Shintomentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmentalism

ROTS¹

2021

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Japanese Religions

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In recent decades, religious traditions worldwide have been reinterpreted in the light of environmental concerns. Various scholars and religious actors have described Asian worship traditions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Hinduism as vestiges of 'holistic ecological wisdom' and 'ancient sustainability'in contrast to Abrahamic religions, which are often said to legitimize or even encourage exploitation of the natural environment (see White 1967). They have suggested that Asian traditions contain important resourcesphilosophical, practical, and physical -for overcoming today's global environmental crisis (e.g. Duara 2015;Smith 1972; Tucker & Berthrong 1998; Tucker & Williams 1997). As some critics have pointed out, such interpretations are often anachronistic and orientalist, and may be employed to support nationalist or other ideological agendas (Kalland 2002;Pedersen 1995). Although this critique is justified, there is no denying the fact that environmental concerns have contributed to the actual transformation of religious identities and practices. Today, religious leaders and laypeople throughout the world are expressing concerns with environmental issues. Some of them are making serious attempts to put these ideas into practice, ranging from mosque and church communities investing in alternative energy to temple and shrine communities actively resisting the destruction of local environments (e.g. Darlington 2012; Kent 2013).These global trends have exercised considerable impact upon Japanese religious organizations. Scholars and religious leaders in Japan have combined contemporary notions of Asian religions as 'holistic' and 'sustainable' with earlier modern ideas of Japan as a nation characterized by a unique attitude to nature. In popular discourse and nationalist scholarship, this spirit of 'harmonious co-existence with nature' is typically presented as a defining feature of 'the Japanese people' since times immemorial, which is said to have had a strong impact on aesthetic and religious traditions. In reality, this famous Japanese 'love of nature' is largely the product of Meiji-period nationalist mythmaking, and therefore not nearly as ancient or traditional as it is commonly imagined (see Kalland & Asquith 1997; Morris-Suzuki 1998: 35-59; Rots 2017b: 47-63). Moreover, the popularization of these ideas in Japan and abroad paradoxically coincided with the emergence of large-scale industrial pollution and environmental exploitation by Japanese state and corporate actors, domestically as well as abroad (Dauvergne 1997; Walker 2010). Nevertheless, although demonstrably at odds with reality, the perception of Japan as a 'green archipelago' possessing outstanding natural beauty, preserved throughout the centuries because of the Japanese people's unique love of nature, remains widespread. In recent decades,

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Section: Green Zen Green Shintomentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmentalism

ROTS¹

2021

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Japanese Religions

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“…Although there have been attempts to clarify the theoretical significance of Miyazaki's work in relation to climate change (Pan, 2020), scholarly exploration of his work from the viewpoint of animism is limited (see Jensen and Blok, 2013;Ogihara-Schuck, 2014;Thomas, 2019;Yoneyama, 2019Yoneyama, , 2020. This might be because it is difficult to deal with animism within the existing dominant paradigm of the social sciences, as I explore in detail below.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Miyazaki Hayao’s Animism and the Anthropocene

Yoneyama

2021

Theory, Culture & Society

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The need for a reconsideration of human-nature relationships has been widely recognized in the Anthropocene. It is difficult to rethink, however, because there is a crisis of imagination that is deeply entrenched within the fundamental premises of modernity. This article explores how ‘critical animism’ developed by Miyazaki Hayao of Studio Ghibli can address this paucity of imagination by providing alternative ways of knowing and being. ‘Critical animism’ emerged from the fusion of a critique of modernity with informal cultural heritage in Japan. It is a philosophy that perceives nature as a non-dualistic combination of the life-world and the spiritual-world, while also emphasizing the significance of place. Miyazaki’s critical animism challenges anthropocentrism, secularism, Eurocentrism, as well as dualism. It may be the ‘perfect story’ that could disrupt the existing paradigm, offering a promise to rethink human-nonhuman relationships and envisaging a new paradigm for the social sciences.

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“…Social-evolutionist models linger on, and narratives of Okinawan "ancient nature worship" still serve to subjugate the island's traditions under the banner of "Japanese tradition". The popular philosopher Umehara Takeshi (1925-2019, for instance, has declared that the prehistoric Japanese spirit of "animism" needs to be revitalized in order for environmental problems worldwide to be solved. If we want to find out what Jōmon-period animism looked like, he suggests, all we have to do is look at the worship traditions of Japan's indigenous peoples, who still live "in harmony with nature": the Ainu (the indigenous people of northern Japan) and the Okinawans (Umehara 1989, Umehara [1991] 1995.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Sadly, these scholars appear oblivious to the ideological subtexts underlying postwar Japanese discursive constructions of "animism", and to the lingering colonial power dynamics in which they operate. On this topic, see also (Thomas 2019). in recent years, and are used by the Association for Shinto Shrines (Jinja Honchō) to substantiate claims about Shinto as the foundational, essentially public ritual tradition on which Japanese society is built-claims which, among other things, are used to justify constitutional change, and are therefore of a profoundly political nature (Tanaka 2011;Rots 2017a).…”

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confidence: 99%

Strangers in the Sacred Grove: The Changing Meanings of Okinawan Utaki

Rots

2019

Religions

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This article discusses the changing significance of sacred groves (utaki) in contemporary Okinawa. Until recently, utaki were the domain of female ritual practitioners (kaminchu or noro), and men were not allowed to set foot in them. In many places, such taboos have faded away, if not disappeared altogether, and utaki have acquired new meanings in the context of mass tourism, heritage conservation, and environmental degradation. Although there are several studies of the ritual system of the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429–1879), little research has been conducted on the postwar and contemporary significance of utaki. This article begins by describing the current situation, using examples from the southeastern part of the island. It then identifies three main issues for the study of sacred groves in Okinawa today: the claim, made by leading Japanese scholars, that these are sites of primordial “nature worship”, supposedly similar to ancient Shinto; the recent popularization of utaki as sites of spiritual power, so-called “powerspots”, among tourists; and, finally, the emerging realization of their potential significance for biodiversity conservation.

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Spirit/Medium: Critically Examining the Relationship between Animism and Animation

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Environmentalism

Environmentalism

Miyazaki Hayao’s Animism and the Anthropocene

Strangers in the Sacred Grove: The Changing Meanings of Okinawan Utaki

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