University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Sick days in the Konjaku monogatari-shū: healing and epidemics in late Heian Japan

(USC Thesis Other)

Sick days in the Konjaku monogatari-shū: healing and epidemics in late Heian Japan

PDF

Download

Open document

Flip pages

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content !
!
!
!
!
!
!
SICK DAYS IN THE KONJAKU MONOGATARI-SHŪ

!
HEALING AND EPIDEMICS IN LATE HEIAN JAPAN

!
!
!
!
by

!
Emily Rose Warren

!

!
!
A Thesis Presented to the

FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirement for the Degree

MASTER OF ARTS

(EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES)

!
!
!
!
December 2014

!
!
!
!
!
Copyright 2014

Emily Rose Warren

!
!
1
Abstract!
!
! The Konjaku monogatari-shū was composed at the end of the worst epidemiological
period in Premodern Japan. The setsuwa in the collection illustrate the myriad of healing
methods and the figures who applied them: doctors, priests, and onmyōdō masters. Despite the
variety of figures and healing methods, the setsuwa collection only offers ekijin (epidemic kami)
as an explanation for epidemics. This thesis explores the roles of various healers during the
Heian Period against the backdrop of epidemics, as well as the various portrayals of ekijin and
epidemic-related goryō (vengeful spirits) in the Konjaku monogatari-shū. !
!
2
Acknowledgments !
! This project would not have been possible without the guidance and support of my
thesis committee. Professor David Bialock, in addition to chairing my committee, taught me
Japanese literature, and always encouraged me to challenge sources and ask hard questions, as
well as accept that there might not be a clear answer. College, he told his students, is mostly
about teaching us what we do not know. It took many hours at my desk, studying plague gods
terrorizing baffled communities for me to understand this lesson. !
! Professor Satoko Shimazaki was a guiding light in the structuring this paper, which in
early drafts was an enthusiastic, but sprawling overview of a huge topic. Her thoughtful
suggestions served as lampposts for the final draft. Professor Shimazaki also taught me
Classical Japanese, which gave me the foundation for the translations in this paper. !
! Professor Joan Piggott taught me Japanese history. She helped me with this project in its
infancy, suggesting books and articles, and giving me opportunities to share my interest.
Professor Piggott taught me kambun, she taught me how to really read history, and she taught me
how to encourage others to pursue their passion through her example.!
! Finally, I would like to thank Mrs. Taeko Wu for teaching me Japanese and setting me on
this path. !
! I would also like to thank my parents for allowing me to follow this path. None of this
would have been possible without their love and support. This thesis is for them. !
3
Table of Contents !
Chapter One: The World of the Konjaku monogatari-shū and Heian Epidemics! ! 5!
Chapter Two: Healers: Doctors, Priests, and Onmyōdō Masters! ! ! ! 18! !
! Doctors in the Konjaku! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 18! !
! Buddhist Priests: Individualized and Mass Healing!! ! ! ! 26! !
! Onmyōdō Masters and Epidemic-Ending Ceremony in the Konjaku # # 35! !
Chapter Three: Ekijin in the Konjaku# # # # # # # # 40#
# A Genealogy of the Early Ekijin# # # # # # # 41#
# Nameless Gods and their Mounts! ! ! ! ! ! ! 47!
! Goryō and the Ban no Yoshio Ekijin# # # # # # # 54!
Conclusion: The Ambivalent Ekijin# # # # # # # # 60#
Bibliography and References!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 64 #
!
4
Chapter One: The World of the Konjaku monogatari-shū and Heian Epidemics!
! The Heian Period is known for its famous literature, such as The Tale of Genji and The
Pillow Book, and brilliant art, gardens, and architecture found in the many landmarks of Japan’s
classical capital. But, for most, the Heian Period is not known for its death toll, impromptu
graveyards, and epidemic ritual, despite the constant presence of widespread disease until well
into the Kamakura Period. This paper, in a small way, seeks to convey the Heian understanding
of the concept of the epidemic in one important story collection— the Konjaku monogatari-shū,
which scholars believe was compiled during the twelfth century. !
! The twelfth century is also notable for many viral epidemics, meaning that the Konjaku
monogatari-shū can portray these epidemics. Throughout the Konjaku monogatari-shū’s numerous
stories, called setsuwa, doctors, priests, and onmyōdō practitioners are all portrayed as important
figures in curing diseases. However, in setsuwa concerning epidemics, the death and destruction
is barely contained, if at all. Ekijin, or epidemic-causing kami, were a dangerous force present in
the imagination of the Konjaku monogatari-shū compiler and storytellers, revealing how ekijin
represented one fearsome facet of life at the end of the Heian Period. In this introduction, I will
discuss the epidemiological history of the Heian Period, followed by the background of the
Konjaku monogatari-shū to illustrate the context for the collection’s compilation. !
! Only a few of the epidemics that transformed Heian life are identifiable today, but even
understanding a few of the diseases allows a better grasp of the societal response. According to
William Wayne Farris, the 700-1050 period was an age of epidemics, beginning with the
smallpox epidemics of the eighth century and ending in the eleventh century as smallpox
turned endemic, killing less of the working population. Scholars debate the death toll during
this “Age of Plagues,” but the general consensus is that by undergoing such traumatic exposure,
5
the Japanese people built immunities to the diseases at a relatively early date. Given the
1
mutable nature of illness, scholars are hesitant to identify diseases anachronistically. However,
Farris and Hattori Toshirō have been able to identify several epidemics for this period,
specifically smallpox, measles, influenza, mumps, and dysentery. Of all these diseases, smallpox
was the most deadly. In the record, smallpox was referred to by one of two character
compounds: (mogasa, tōsō) and (imogasa, hōsō), if it was not just called an epidemic. !
! Provincial officials were tasked with reporting epidemics immediately, so a ritsuryō
scholar defined epidemics (ekishitsu) as occurring when the number of patients in an outbreak
“exceeded the total stricken in a normal year.” Entries in the official chronicles use this
definition, as well as the accepted legal term for epidemic, eki. Before 1200, epidemics killed
2
adults and children, ravaging the population and contributing to demographic stagnation. From
1050 onwards, smallpox appears to have been on the decline as a disease responsible for
childhood death. Mumps and measles remained constant threats. The twelfth century also saw
3
multiple outbreaks of influenza (gaibyō). Farris proposes that the severity of the epidemic was
6
Farris 1993, pp. 376-385. See also McNeil 1977, pp. 152-3. Piggott 1997, p. 252, disagrees with Farris’s
1
high mortality rates for the Nara Period, arguing that such monumental building projects would not have
been possible. In Farris 2009, pp. 38-9, Farris updates his position on the demography of the Heian
Period, arguing that there was a population increase during the latter half of the twelfth century because
many of the worst diseases turned endemic and primarily affected children.
Farris 1985, pp. 52-3.
2
Hattori 1955, pp. 199-201
3
connected with the cold and damp weather. It is also possible that the virus mutated into a
4
more deadly form because of climate change. !
5
! In Japan, this climate change resulted in an “age of famine” beginning in the twelfth
century. The catastrophes did not just lower grain supplies. Combined with endemic diseases
like smallpox affecting children, famines stunted population growth. Famine complicates
matters because symptoms of starvation can be confused with disease symptoms. Starvation
weakens immune systems and contributes to the spread of disease. !
! Poor sanitation in Kyoto made epidemics even worse. According to Takahashi Masaaki,
Kyoto’s residents produced almost five million gallons of sewage every year, which ended up in
the rivers and roadside ditches. Laws demanding the cleaning of these ditches were largely
ineffective; garbage and excrement heaped over in alleyways and roadsides where chamberpots
were dumped. Such were the places that children, the elderly, and the hopeless diseased were
6
abandoned in times of crisis.! !
! During this period, diseases were identified and treated in different ways. Medical
techniques were based on Taoist cosmology. Improvements in health during times of illness
7
Farris 2006, p. 28.
4
# The later Heian period also fell within what is known to climatologists as the Medieval Warm Period, 5
characterized by warm summers and winters, and drought. This climate change devastated societies,
such as the Maya, where severe drought wrecked cropland. Scholars view the drying of the Asian
steppeland as one of the factors that drove the Mongols from their homeland. See Batten 2009, pp. 40-6
and Farris 2006, pp. 32-33.
Takahashi 1990, pp. 1-5. Also, sewage in the aristocratic household is briefly described in Konjaku 30:1
6
when a scorned lover chases after his partner’s chamberpot.
would have depended on diet, general living conditions, and not residing in an “unhygienic
7
cesspool of bacteria.” The Konjaku monogatari-shū stories describing conditions of the diseased
8
and abandoned occurred during epidemics. However, diseases were not necessarily identified
as such; an illness might be attributed to a demon or explained by the presence of a kami.
Community censuses that might give a sense of life before and after epidemics are incomplete,
or more likely missing. For this reason, scholars have turned to diaries, novels, and setsuwa
collections to gain a better sense of Japanese society and disease. It is in this spirit that I will be
analyzing the medical establishment, healers, and epidemics and the corresponding deities in
the Konjaku monogatari-shū.#
# The Konjaku Monogatari-shū (hereafter Konjaku) is a collection of Buddhist and secular
stories compiled during the twelfth century. The Konjaku consists of three sections: the Tenjiku,
9
Shindan, and Honchō. The Tenjiku and Shindan setsuwa sections are five scrolls (maki) each. The
Honchō, which covers the setsuwa of Japan, is twenty-one scrolls long. This paper analyzes
setsuwa only in the Honchō. Three scrolls from the collection are missing (8, 18, and 21), thirteen
stories are fragmentary, and nineteen are missing altogether. !
8
Hattori Toshirō argues that peoples benefitted physically from the cultural and political change of the
7
Kamakura period. Specifically, Hattori credits the utilitarian warrior culture of the period. Clothing
changed, becoming more fit for activity and warmer or cooler as necessary. Diet changed as well. Houses
also prioritized ventilation, light, and heating. People in general lived longer, with the average lifespan
four years longer than during the Heian period; the average age of death for a tennō was 68. It is these
kinds of changes that make substantial improvements to Kamakura life, more so than premodern
medicinal developments. Immunities, diet, and improved housing make for a healthier people. See
Hattori 1964, pp. 1-31.
Farris 2006, p. 88.
8
A note on Konjaku editions: I have relied on three Konjaku anthologies for this research. Unless noted
9
otherwise in the footnotes, all translations are mine. In a few cases, I use the English translations of the
Honchō by Yoshiko Dykstra. For my own translations, I used the Shin Nihon koten bungaku taikei’s Konjaku
monogatari-shū series. I also used Haga Yaichi’s Kōshō Konjaku monogatari-shū in 3 volumes for reference
because the collection also contains excerpts from chronicles and other setsuwa anthologies, if the story
appears in other records.
! The Konjaku is not the only setsuwa anthology; the Nihon Ryōiki (787-824), Hokkegenki
(1041), Kohon Setsuwa-shū (ca. 1130), Uji-shūi (ca. 1200s), and Kojidan (ca. 1212-15) are also
examples, but even with its missing stories, the Konjaku is by far the largest. With 1040 setsuwa,
many of which overlap with other collections, Konjaku offers an opportunity to glimpse the
Heian imagination and folk memory. The world of the Konjaku is vast, occupied by aristocrats,
monks, ghosts, farmers, demons, gods — creatures great and terrible, and men and women
ordinary and extraordinary.!
! Given such variety, who compiled the Konjaku? “Almost all fundamental questions
about Konjaku, such as its date of compilation and compiler, have no definite answers,” says
Michelle Li. But that has not stopped scholars from developing theories. The most popular
10 11
theory of the Meiji period credited Heian aristocrat Minamoto no Takakuni (1004-77) with
writing down the stories of the Konjaku because of an anecdote from a 1659 edition of the Uji-
shūi where Takakuni asked passersby on the street to tell him stories. No matter their rank, the
story goes, Takakuni wrote their story down. However, the Meiji scholars were wrong —
Minamoto no Takakuni could not have compiled Konjaku for the simple reason that he could not
have been alive to see it. As historians determined at the turn of the twentieth century, Takakuni
died before Konjaku could have been completed. !
12
! Given the Konjaku’s massive size, scholars have argued that a committee compiled the
Konjaku, or possibly Buddhist monks working under a superior, and have argued in favor of
9
Li 2009, p. 17.
10
Ibid. See also Komine 2008, p. 5.
11
Maki Sachiko weighs into this debate with a surprising thesis, lending more legitimacy to the Uji
12
Temple theories. Maki does not argue that Minamoto no Takakuni was the author, but that the Konjaku
shares characteristics with other scholarly works of Uji Temple, specifically the Ishinpō. See Maki 1984, pp.
16-18.
certain aristocrats or temple abbots. Other scholars have considered the involvement of the
13
tennō in organizing the Konjaku, as it has characteristics of being an imperially sponsored
project. !
14
! Dating the Konjaku is a difficult problem too. Scholars posit 1120 as the Konjaku’s earliest
possible date because the last story chronologically could only have been added by 1120. The
1120 compilation places the Konjaku during the reign of Shirakawa-tennō. Without a known
15
compiler, dating the collection precisely is impossible; however, Komine Kazuaki, one of the
leading Konjaku scholars, argues that the collection was compiled during the period of rule by
insei, or retired tennō, possibly during Shirakawa’s reign. The Konjaku’s writing style also
16
provides some clues as to its origins. #
# If we look at the writing of the Konjaku, we can find a bridge between classical and later
styles of writing that suggests masculine authority. The Konjaku is written in kana-majiribun,
which uses kanji and katakana. For example: !
!
(29:1)!
Long ago, during the reign of the tennō, a thief broke into a West Market storehouse. !
!
! In the Konjaku, the katakana are much smaller than the kanji, which has led scholars to
view it as a form of senmyōgaki, or imperial-decree style. This style was primarily used for
imperial edicts and norito, or Shinto prayers. In this style, sentences are read and written in
10
Li 2009, p. 18.
13
Okada 1991, pp. 49-50.
14
The earliest extant copy of the Konjaku is the Suzuka Manuscript owned by Kyoto University, which
15
dates from the Kamakura period when it was assembled by Suzuka Tsuretane.
Komine 2008, pp. 6-13.
16
Japanese syntax, but traditional expressions are written in Chinese. The title Konjaku is the
17
Chinese reading of the story’s opening expression. Particles, as can be seen above, were added
in kana. Senmyōgaki was originally a form of kambun, with particles being marked by specific
kanji, and it appears in the record as the writing style for royal edicts and pronouncements.
18
Senmyōgaki was a precursor of wakan konkōbun, or the writing style that mixes kanji and
hiragana, which emerged during the Kamakura period. “Both the language and content of
Konjaku were considered masculine,” argues Michelle Li. “Since most Heian literature was
written by women or by men in the feminine orthographic style, hiragana, Konjaku could be seen
as helping to complete the picture in this way, too.” Also, the senmyōgaki style can be seen as
19
lending the setsuwa collection authority since it served as the writing style for royal edicts and
pronouncements. !
! The term setsuwa to refer to a type of short story did not appear until the modern
period. The word setsuwa itself first appeared in Enchin’s writings in the ninth century, and he
20
probably learned of them during his travels in China. Specifically, the Chinese word shuohua
referred to Buddhist parables. By the Song Dynasty (960-1279), shuohua meant oral storytelling
21
more generally. Komine has suggested that setsuwa developed to mean entertaining stories
outside of the Buddhist context by the Heian period.!
11
Komine 2008, pp. 7-9. See also Li 2009, p. 248.
17
Haruna 2006, pp. 164-6.
18
Li 2009, pp. 24-5.
19
Contemporaries did not refer to the stories of the Konjaku or Nihon Ryōiki as setsuwa. That was a term
20
ascribed to them during the 1880s and 1890s when Japanese scholars were building the concept of a
national literature (kokubungaku) and use the term setsuwa for a type of short story.
Li 2009, p. 15.
21
# Setsuwa are characterized by the special opening and closing phrases introduced earlier.
Interestingly enough, they generally follow a three-act structure. After a setsuwa opens with
“ima wa mukashi,” it immediately introduces its protagonist and setting — all characteristics of
the first act. At the end of the first act, something is out of the ordinary and a conflict arises. The
third act is the resolution, and it articulates the lesson or purpose of the story, which closes with
the standard phrase, “Thus it has been told and handed down.” Whether orality is implied or
explicit, setsuwa are supposed to have been told. In a literary culture that emphasizes the
22
written word, why did the compilers use these sorts of framing devices? Why does every story
in the Konjaku — over a thousand stories — open the exact same way with, “ima wa mukashi?” #
! To help understand the Konjaku’s purpose and ultimately how we can effectively use
these stories to analyze the Heian period, it is important to have an understanding of the
literary establishment at the time. Texts were the monopoly of families. Aristocratic scholars
used secret libraries, and knowledge of Chinese classics and commentaries passed through the
family as intellectual, and in turn, political authority. The legitimacy of texts was not a
popularity contest determined by the number of readers. It depended on the expertise of
scholarly families. Intellectual authority was also held by institutions, especially Buddhist
temples, who guarded formal canonical texts, sutras, rituals, and commentaries. !
! Setsuwa were an exception because the stories were not owned by a family or sect. In his
dissertation on setsuwa and medieval literary culture, Thomas Howell argues that setsuwa, and
collections like Konjaku, “emerged because while written texts had paramount authority in
12
Komine 1986, pp. 4-5. Ikegami Jun’ichi states that the emphasis on spoken language and written
22
languages varies between the Tenriku, Shindan, and Honchō, as well as depending on the theme (or source)
of the setsuwa. For an in depth analysis of Konjaku stylistics and possible source materials for the setsuwa,
see Matsuo 1967, especially pp. 199-200.
determining the social order, people also perceived critical gaps in the textual record.” In other
23
words, setsuwa represent a supplementary text and another form of knowledge. !
! The difficulty that arises when trying to understand the purpose of setsuwa is that they
are neither Buddhist or secular. If all the stories in the Konjaku were Buddhist, the oral framing
devices make sense. We could see the stories as a development in proselytizing or sermonizing.
If all setsuwa were secular, they could be contrasted with fictional monogatari. Instead we are left
with a dizzying array of stories about people from all statuses and places, all framed by
expressions that emphasize the inherited nature of knowledge. This acknowledgment of
precedent in the framing devices — and the senmyōgaki style — legitimatizes the setsuwa, even
though the story might not be coming from an elite person or institution. !
! Howell states that the purpose of setsuwa is to describe the world. In Konjaku, the
24
majority of setsuwa are Buddhist in nature, but diverse, and there are many secular setsuwa.
Some setsuwa serve a specific interest, but the variety of setsuwa can make categorization seem
messy or impossible. Howell offers a simple answer, “setsuwa are general knowledge.” #
25
# If we accept that setsuwa are general knowledge meant to enrich understanding of the
Buddhist and secular world, setsuwa are a way to understand the Heian mindset or how things
were conceptualized. However, there are many problems with using setsuwa outside of
literature or religious studies. !
! The main problem is historicity. For example, consider a Konjaku setsuwa that tells the
founding of Hatsuse Temple, which describes how a tree washes ashore and curses multiple
13
Howell 2003, pp. 8-9.
23
# Howell 2003, p. 31. 24
# Ibid. 25
villages with epidemics before it is carved into a bodhisattva statue and pacified. It is entirely
possible that a log washed ashore after a flood, and that a man hacked wood off it. But it is not
possible that the log caused a house fire, an epidemic and mayhem wherever it was dumped. It
is possible that through the efforts of Genshō, Holy Man Tokudo carved a Kannon image that
contributed to the founding of Hatsuse Temple, but we cannot rely on an 1120 text — if we
accept 1120 — to describe an event from the eighth century. !
26
! However, we do know this setsuwa was a part of a collection assembled during the
Heian period, and that this story meant to impart a general worldview. We cannot rely on this
27
story to tell us about Genshō or the cause of epidemics, at least not as a sole source. But this
setsuwa tells us what people in the Heian period thought or remembered about this particular
story. If we look at other stories with a common theme, like another setsuwa where a tree causes
a curse (12:11), we understand that Japanese in the Heian Period believed that wood had power,
and if sacred timber was not treated properly, it could cause disease and other troubles. !!
! In this paper, I will explore Konjaku setsuwa that deal with disease in order to understand
how epidemics and healing were viewed around the Konjaku’s compilation. I will not be
arguing that the setsuwa are necessarily historical truth, but that they provide us with a certain
perspective from the time of the collection’s compilation. !
! At a glance, the Konjaku setsuwa seem to lend themselves best to religious studies, but
they serve as a supplement for the intellectual historian. A useful approach seems to be to
organize setsuwa thematically, supplement them with outside text, and to use them as evidence
for a worldview. For instance, Masato Mori used setsuwa to illustrate the relationship between
14
See Komine 2008, pp. 63-115, for historical opportunities and pitfalls in using Konjaku setsuwa as
26
historical sources.
Bathgate 2008, pp. 132-3.
27
the medieval understanding of the supernatural order by analyzing supernatural creatures’
interactions with Buddhism and authority. In her article on gender, Hitomi Tonomura draws
28
on setsuwa to understand medieval conceptions of the body, ownership, and rape. Numerous
29
other scholars have used setsuwa in these ways. !
! The Konjaku can be used to understand the Heian Period worldview on specific topics,
and this paper looks at the topic of illness. Many incidences of illness in the Honchō of the
Konjaku monogatari-shū can be organized into three categories based on their perceived cause:
medical, demonic, and karmic. By that I mean, if doctors used medication or Chinese
physiological theory to diagnose and cure a patient, the disease was medical. Demonic disease
was caused by dangerous spirits, oni (demons), and kami. Karmic disease was disease blamed
on a person’s actions in this life or previous lives. !
! Conceptions of illness during the Heian Period are fluid and incredibly complex. During
this period, people simultaneously believed in the power of native and foreign deities, drugs,
and the spiritual power of other humans. Peoples were just as likely to take a doctor’s advice on
medical matters as that of a priest, and frequently, the priest served as a doctor. In this paper, I
focus on the healing methods described in the Konjaku against the backdrop of Heian epidemics.
I will argue that despite the numerous healing methods and figures, epidemics were largely
blamed on epidemic-causing kami, or ekijin. !
! After this introductions, I analyze trends in setsuwa concerning healers and the methods
they used for individuals and the masses. The Konjaku contains three types of healers: doctors,
priests, and onmyōdō masters. Each type of healer had different methods at his disposal. For the
15
Mori 1982, pp. 147-70.
28
Tonomura 1994, pp. 129-154.
29
doctor, he could apply his knowledge of Chinese medicine, as well as his understanding of the
body and disease when treating individuals. Buddhist priests were knowledgable of continental
medical techniques as well, which they combined with Buddhist practices to heal a patient.
During epidemics, priests treated the sick and also conducted rituals designed to end epidemics
on a large scale. Priests shared this particular role with onmyōdō masters, who used a variety of
rites, exorcisms, and ritual to heal. Depending on the healer and methods, the sick could be
healed on an individual basis or en masse—both approaches crucial during epidemics. Doctors
as presented in the Konjaku are generally capable, but doctors do not appear in epidemic-related
setsuwa so much as healers in individual cases of disease, which this chapter explores. Priests
were involved with individualized healing, which I discuss in the context of kaji kitō, as well as
epidemic-ending rituals for the masses. Onmyōdō masters also entered the epidemic-stopping
fray with their only rituals. These three perspectives in Konjaku setsuwa are analyzed in the
context of Heian culture. !
! However, despite the large array of healing methods for individuals and the masses, the
plagues themselves were primarily blamed on epidemic-causing deities, which appear in
different forms in the Konjaku monogatari-shū. Chapter Three analyzes the origins and genealogy
of the oldest ekijin worshipped in the capital: Gozu Tennō, his wife, and their children. Although
these figures do not appear in the Konjaku directly, elements of ekijin worship remain, such as
connections between plague and crossroads, horses, and movement along bodies of water.
Elements of ekijin worship remained important even through the twelfth century. !
! Epidemics were not just caused by these mythological beings. Chapter Three also
explores epidemics attributed to the spirits of the deceased, especially those who were
politically powerful. In the Konjaku, a figure appears and declares himself an ekijin. This man
16
was Tomo no Yoshio, who was exiled after being convicted of conspiracy and burning down a
palace gate. Through the setsuwa and other Heian works, Tomo no Yoshio became a part of a
trend towards deceased political opponents being blamed for disaster. To pacify such disaster-
causing spirits, the court conducted rituals meant to pacify the spirits, as well as absolve the
ruling elites of wrongdoing. These large ceremonies were meant to end epidemics and other
calamities. In this way, the conception of epidemics caused by historical figures like Tomo no
Yoshio were unlike those caused by ekijin like Gozu Tennō, even if the diseases were the same.!
! This paper explores the variety of healers and epidemic causation written in the Konjaku,
which was compiled at the end of the worst epidemiological period in Japanese history. In such
desperate times, people applied various healing methods and called on various figures—human
and supernatural—to end plagues. The plagues themselves, however, were attributed to a
particular facet of disaster-causing kami. This intersection between healing methods and
causation is the complex conception of the epidemic that appears in the Konjaku monogatari-shū. !
! 17
Chapter Two: Healers: Doctors, Priests, and Onmyōdō Masters"
!
" The Konjaku presents different views of healing, which depended on the healer and the
patient. In this chapter, I will analyze the three main groups of healers presented in the Konjaku:
doctors, priests, and onmyōdō masters. Each of these types of healers used treatment methods
that could either heal an individual, or heal a large group at once. Doctors who used official
medical methods could handle one patient at a time. This view of doctors and patients
interacting on a case-by-case basis, I will argue, appears in the Konjaku. However, doctors are
not present in stories involving many sick people. That is to say, they are absent from setsuwa
involving epidemics. Instead, priests and onmyōdō masters treat patients during epidemics
because of the practical and spiritual limitations of doctors. As I will discuss in the latter two
sections, priests and onmyōdō masters were able to use spells, incantations, and ritual to heal
both individuals and the masses. Their appearances in the epidemic-related stories show their
importance as healers. "
The Doctors in the Konjaku !
!
! When looking for stories concerning illness, the modern researcher’s first idea might be
to look at setsuwa about doctors. After all, a doctor’s profession revolves around the sick, so
surely stories would give contemporary views on the sick and healing methods. In the Konjaku,
doctor-related setsuwa do present views on the ill and healing methods, but not in times of
crisis. Instead, doctors of the early medical establishments handle peculiar, individual cases,
such as a girl mating with a snake (24:9) or a woman struggling with a tapeworm (24:7). But in
setsuwa concerning epidemics, doctors are notably absent. Doctors are portrayed as capable, but
they answer to a limited clientele—the nobles of the capital and their special incidences of
disease. !
18
! That is not to say that doctors were not busy in times of epidemic. One might even argue
that the ritsuryō medical institutions were created in response to the epidemics afflicting the
citizens of the capitals. Official doctors prescribed treatments during the worst of the eighth
century smallpox epidemics, and doctors ran the facilities for dispensing medicine and housing
the sick. However, by the Konjaku’s compilation, such facilities were a distant memory. As the
ritsuryō state struggled to control revenue streams from estates (shōen), such facilities were
forced to close, and doctors took on a more individualized treatment role. Doctors appear in no
Konjaku setsuwa concerning epidemics, but there is no doubt that they visited the houses of
nobles suffering from smallpox and other contagious diseases. It is also important to remember
that doctors were not the only figures making house calls and healing disease. Priests and
onmyōji, called Yin-Yang masters in English, applied their spiritual powers to curing patients,
and by the Konjaku’s compilation, temple hospitals run by physician monks had replaced the
state medical institutions. !
! While doctors do not appear in setsuwa containing epidemics, the doctor-related setsuwa
still contain views of doctors and the diseased that developed in times of epidemic. Many of the
medical theories studied by doctors were studied by priests and onmyōji as well. It is possible
that the missing doctors in the epidemic-related setsuwa reflect the futility of medical practice in
times of plague by the time of the Konjaku’s compilation. Or perhaps doctors were viewed as
only serving elite individuals in the capital. !
30
! This view did not seem to exist with the founding of the state medical institutions and
bureaus in the eighth century. The ritsuryō state imported and adapted many laws and
structures from Tang China, including capital layout, bureaucratic structures, and laws. The
19
By the Kamakura Period, official doctors were only treating the elite of the capital. Even Yoritomo had
30
to send a request for a capital doctor to visit Kamakura to treat his toothache. See Sakai 1982, p. 99.
Taihō ritsuryo also included laws concerning medicine, physician training, and medical
establishments. Under these laws, the Nara aristocracy founded a Bureau of Medicine, the
Ishitsu-ryō, later called the Ten’yaku-ryō. At the same time, the Onmyō-ryō, known in English as
the Yin-Yang Bureau, was founded, which also dealt with disease and the handling of deities
that caused plague. The director of the Ten’yaku-ryō oversaw an assistant director, as well as
students and faculty in four departments: Masters of Acupuncture, Physiotherapy and Massage,
Exorcism, and Pharmacology. Medical students in each department, between thirteen and
sixteen years old, trained from four to seven years depending on their specialization, and their
certification exam questions were drawn from various established Chinese medical texts. Under
Shōmu Tennō’s Queen Consort Kōmyō (701-760), as a part of a Buddhist relief program, the
state also established the Hiden’in (hospice) and Seyakuin (pharmacy). In Nara, the facilities
31
were centered around Kōfukuji and served as refuges for the sick and destitute. During the
Heian Period, the Fujiwara built similar facilities in Kyoto.#
! Medical students would have been responsible for understanding the Five Elements Yin-
Yang theories (inyō gogyō), which served as the basis for medical understanding in the Heian
Period. These five elements (earth, fire, water, wood, and metal) were the make-up of the
universe, and the balance between these elements inside and outside the body resulted in
harmony. The body was believed to consist of muscle, bones, and entrails, which made up five
“storehouse organs” and “manor organs.” Doctors considered each one of the storehouse and
manor organs to be elemental, also corresponding to senses and colors. Organs and the
circulatory system were based on perceived parallels between the cosmos and the body. In this
32
20
Maruyama 1998, pp. 18-27.
31
Teramoto 1994, pp. 314-6.
32
way, the human body, like the cosmos, was tied to balances of the seasons and cosmic patterns.
Anatomical understanding was highly theorized. The height of medical theory compilation
33
occurred in 982, when Tanba Yasuyori (912-995) completed the Ishinpō (ca. 982), a thirty volume
text detailing everything from organ and viscera systems to immortality elixirs. !
34
! The Ten’yaku-ryō was under the supervision of the Kunaishō, the Ministry of the Royal !
Household, and it was responsible for everything from education, drug preparation, physician
supervision, and the care of the official herb garden for medical plants. The Ten’yaku-ryō also
35
assigned physicians to the provinces. Provincial governors reported that these physicians were
unqualified and of low quality. The most sophisticated medical treatment was reserved for
36
those living in Nara, and then Kyoto, but the Konjaku presents exceptions where doctors tended
those of more lowly status, as well as the nobility, giving a more complex view of medicine-
based healing.!
! ! This history of the early state medical establishment intersects with stories in the
Konjaku. Through these setsuwa, we see a generally positive view of the Ten’yaku-ryō’s doctors.
There are many healing stories in the Konjaku, but there are only five stories that specifically use
21
The first dissection in Japan was not performed until the eighteenth century. See Moriya 1978, p. 4. Also
33
see Lock 1980 for diagrams describing these Yin-Yang medical systems and how they corresponded to the
body, and Drott 2010, p. 255.
While analyzing the Song medical texts that finally made it to Japan, Andrew Goble notes that there
34
was not a consistent canon. Court physicians jealously guarded their secret cures and were slow to adopt
new methods, relying on the medical classic Ishinpo. But Buddhist monks, eager for new information
adapted, translated, and applied Song cures. Various monks travelled to China, recording in their
journals new cures from drugs, secret medicines, pills, and even tea. See Goble 2009, pp. 233-40. For a
comprehensive overview of important Heian and Kamakura medical texts, also see Goble 2011, pp. 1-24.
However, the Ten’yaku-ryō was not responsible for medical matters within the palace. That office was
35
called the Naiyakushi, and the physician appointed as director provided the tennō with medications. He
also tasted the prescriptions beforehand. See Hattori 1985, p. 27, and Maruyama 1998, pp. 42-3.
Teramoto 1994, pp. 319-24.
36
the title of doctor (ishi). Two of those stories refer to the Ten’yaku-ryō. In both of the Ten’yaku-ryō
stories, the patients are healed. Consider, for instance, Konjaku 24:8, where a beautiful
noblewoman visits a Ten’yaku-ryō doctor. The amorous doctor is accomplished, but hideous, and
the woman is desperate for help as she has some kind of genital infection. The doctor manages
to treat the infection with an ointment over the course of a week. Finally, the woman sneaks
37
away from the house. We see that the nobility, represented by this noblewoman, had ready
38
access to the doctors of the capital and that they were viewed as capable healers. !
! For a view of provincial doctors, we look to Konjaku 24:9, where a girl mates with a
snake and is “treated” by a provincial doctor. In this story we find ourselves away from the
capital. A young girl is attacked by a snake who “mates” with her, and her parents rush off to
get the provincial doctor because “in the province, there was an illustrious doctor” (kono kuni ni
yagotsu muki ishi ari). It is unclear whether this doctor is one of the Ten’yaku-ryō’s provincial
39
doctors. The doctor hurries to the girl who is still being violated by the snake, instructs that she
be hung upside-down, and then pours a mixture of boar hair, ashes, and hot water inside her.
The snake flees from the girl and is beaten to death. Snake’s eggs fall out of the girl as well. !
! This setsuwa suggests the limits of treatment. After the doctor treats the girl, she has a
relapse of sorts. Despite the medicinal potion, three years later she mates with a snake again.
“This time, she was not treated due to the belief that she must have had a karmic cause in her
22
It is difficult to identify illnesses in modern terminology, but I think it is worth mentioning that boils
37
around the genitals, especially in women, and swollen thighs are characteristic of a common
staphylococcal infection, forming due to uncleanliness and excessively wet conditions. Interestingly,
today staph infections are treated with anti-inflammatory agents, antibiotics, and ointments.
Unfortunately, we do not know what ingredients the doctor used in his ointment to treat the
noblewoman’s mystery infection.
SNKBT 4, pp. 396-9.
38
SNKBT 4, pp. 400-1.
39
previous life. However,” remarks the narrator, “the power and effect of the doctor and the
medicine were most marvelous.” The end of this setsuwa implies that the girl was somehow
40
complacent about mating with snakes, and her karmic connection with snakes was more
powerful than medicine, so there was no point in continuing treatment. When an illness could
not be cured by any means, it was believed to be karmic in nature (gobyō). !
41
! While the Konjaku may be said to categorize diseases as medicinal, karmic, and demonic,
this is an excellent example of the blurred lines between these categories. According to W.
Michael Kelsey, snakes appear in setsuwa as representations of native deities, showing “general
danger to the communal (agricultural) good,” as well as Buddhist views towards sexuality and
reincarnation in a baser state. From a Buddhist perspective, Bernard Faure notes that in
42
setsuwa, snakes often show a “weird attraction to women’s genitals.” Sexual relationships with
evil snakes being described can be seen as embodying the evil of sexual desire in women and
the resentment of men. So, the snake cannot be considered just as an animal requiring a
43
23
Dykstra 3, pp. 291-2.
40
Of all diseases associated with gobyō, karmic illness, leprosy is the most well-known. Kuroda Hideo has
41
used Konjaku setsuwa to further understanding of the medieval view on leprosy and marginalized groups.
Kuroda combines setsuwa with oaths, called kishōmon to analyze karmic illness. In times of unrest, ikki
groups had members swear to the gods that they would not betray their oath. These groups wrote
kishōmon, dissolved them in water and drank them. A frequent punishment mentioned in the kishōmon
was leprosy (raibyō), showing that Heian peoples generally believed the disease resulted from sin in one
lifetime. Kuroda then refers to stories involving beggars and lepers to show that although lepers were
suffering from a punishment, they occupied an unusual and sacred position in society, even though they
were the lowest of the hinin class. Several setsuwa in Konjaku show men punished for disrespecting
beggars and lepers that turned out to be deities in disguise. Konjaku does not show us the realities of the
spread of skin diseases — medieval peoples did not understand how the bacteria functioned — but the
Konjaku does offer a way for readers to understand one perspective of how leprosy was viewed by the
end of the Heian Period. See Kuroda 1986, pp. 233-58. For more on leprosy in English as described in
medical texts, see Goble 2011, pp. 67-88.
See Kelsey 1981, p. 100. Kelsey also notes that all stories involving snakes in the Konjaku also appear in
42
the Dai Nihon hokke genki, a setsuwa collection meant to inspire faith in the Lotus Sutra. Almost all stories
involve salvation through Buddhist practice.
Faure 2009, p. 318. See also Li 2009 for an analysis of snake-related setsuwa echoing these theories.
43
medical treatment, but also an embodiment of the woman’s lust in the story above. She had a
karmic connection, so she could not be healed by medical treatment.!
! The remaining setsuwa featuring a physician taking place in the capital, describes gifted
doctors, and therefore continues to illustrate a largely positive view. In Konjaku 24:10, the Priest
Choshu comes from China to the capital and uses cinnamon to make medicine for the monarch,
Murakami (r. 947-57). But Priest Choshu comments that doctors in Japan do not know how to
recognize and use cinnamon, despite its medicinal benefits. Cinnamon also appears as an
44
important medical ingredient in the Ishinpō. While we cannot be certain of the validity of Priest
45
Choshu’s assessment, the story casts Japan in a favorable light as Priest Choshu decides to live
in the capital and record the tennō’s prescription.!
! In Konjaku 24:7, all the staff of the Ten’yaku-ryō attend an outdoor feast when a poor
woman who is fat and swollen approaches the doctors. “It’s been five to six years since my body
became swollen like this,” says the woman. “I have wanted to see a doctor, but it has been
difficult for doctors to visit me in the countryside…” The senior doctor determines that the
46
woman is suffering from a tapeworm, and they yank the parasite from her body and wrap it
around a pillar. The doctor gives the woman further instructions and sends her on her way. In
his analysis of this setsuwa, Hattori observes that the doctors immediately diagnosed the woman
based on the swelling in her face. Tapeworms do not cause this, but anemia does, which is
24
It is difficult to determine the validity of this story given that cinnamon was imported to Japan for
44
medicinal purposes as early as 752. See Von Verschuer 2006, p. 12.
Tamba 1986, p. 108.
45
SNKBT 4, pp. 394-6.
46
associated with tapeworms. Hattori states that tapeworms are common in the record, and this
makes sense given the fast diagnosis. !
47
! This story again shows that the Heian view of the Ten’yaku-ryō was positive. The senior
doctor quickly diagnoses and cures the woman, even though she is of low status and interrupts
their party. This might seem to contradict the theory that doctors only treated the elites,
however, the woman seems to be an exceptional case as she has to trek all the way to the capital
and interrupt a gathering to be cured by an official doctor in the capital. !
! The setsuwa also implies that the skill of doctors was better in the “old times.” The last
line of the narrative reads, “People said that in old times, even among the lowly doctors, there
were skillful doctors who could heal,” (mukashi wa kono yō ni gerō ishi tomo no naka ni mo sara ni
kono yamai o naoshi masumasu monodono namu ari keruto) implying that the situation has changed
since the old times, or at least by the time of the Konjaku’s compilation. !
48
! Despite the few doctor-related setsuwa, the Konjaku presents a complex picture. Doctors
treated individuals of different backgrounds within the capital. The story involving the girl
presents a capable provincial doctor, but the story of the woman suffering from the tapeworm
reveals the limits of treatment in the provinces by doctors. In all of the doctor-related setsuwa,
the patients are cured, demonstrating their skill on individuals. However, it should be noted
that doctors do not appear in setsuwa where epidemics are mentioned. As I discuss below, those
25
Tapeworms, or subaku, appear in numerous records with the distinction of being one of the premodern
47
diseases recognizable under a modern medical term. According to the Shobyōgenkōron, there are nine
worms in the body of various lengths. The subaku animal in particular is one shaku long and has a white
body, thus its name, which grows in a person’s innards. The Shobyōgenkōron says that one can get subaku
from consuming white sake, beef cooked over mulberry branches, and raw chestnuts, milk, and fish. It
was believed that once the subaku was one shaku in length, the person would die. See Hattori 1955, pp.
19-27. Also, interestingly, in this Konjaku setsuwa the tapeworm is called a fū, or wind, implying that there
are many symptoms and causes.
SNKBT 4, p. 396.
48
who fell sick during epidemics in the Konjaku were actually treated by priests and onmyōdō
masters, not doctors. This presents an interesting view on the limits of medical treatment,
which, as I will argue, comes from the belief in spiritual causes of disease that were treated with
rituals. !
Buddhist Priests: Individualized and Mass Healing !
!
! The setsuwa concerning doctors reveal their skills and high regard. But there is a
nostalgia in the setsuwa towards the doctors. By the twelfth century, burdened by epidemics in
the capital and provinces and restricted by budget troubles at the court, centralized medical
institutions ended and Buddhist institutions bore the burden of running hospitals. Many
households simply abandoned the sick. Because of pollution taboos and limitations on official
doctors, priests played an important role in healing the sick and treating people during
epidemics, as I will illustrate in this section. First I will discuss setsuwa involving priests during
epidemics and the two general types of treatment at their disposal. Priests, like doctors, could
treat individuals with medicine and a variety of incantations or Buddhist healing practices.
Unlike doctors, they could perform powerful rituals designed to protect the nation, which were
especially relevant during epidemics as through such esoteric ritual, they could heal the masses.
I will analyze stories involving these two healing dynamics, which I believe shows the
importance of Buddhist priests during epidemics and explains why they appear in stories
concerning epidemics in the Konjaku, while doctors do not. !
! When addressing healers and the sick during the Heian Period, it is worth noting that
the abandonment of the diseased and disabled did not occur simply because of the decline of
medical institutions. Fear of pollution (kegare) would have resulted in removing the dying from
their homes and abandoning them in spaces where their pollution would not affect others.
26
Pollution could anger the kami, resulting in disorder, and it was to be avoided at all costs. Even
though birth, sickness, and death and other unavoidable acts produced pollution, ritual and
careful observation of protocol was necessary to avoid the side effects. According to Amino,
49
many of the sick and orphaned taken by the hospice systems became artisans and eventually
formed their own groups, no longer dependent on the state. But those with debilitating illness—
with no other recourse—would be abandoned at places such as riverbanks and roads because
pollution from death and disease was not considered communicable in such spaces. !
50
! Whether abandonment primarily occurred because of pollution, or was a side-effect of
the end of the hospice system, or most likely both, the fact remains that abandonment of the sick
was a socially acceptable recourse. Consequently, only people with special powers, such as
priests or onmyōdō masters could walk amongst the sick relatively unaffected. !
51
! Physician monks (sōi or isō) serving in temple hospitals incorporated medical knowledge
like that applied in the setsuwa concerning doctors, and they incorporated Buddhist scripture
and practices. Priest physicians remained well-informed of continental medical developments,
as well as theological applications that might give them an edge. Monks had been at the
52
forefront of continental knowledge, as they traveled back and forth between the continent and
their home temples, bringing rituals and medicines with them. Such knowledge and techniques
were used to heal individuals, as well as large groups. !
! The Konjaku contains many stories where Buddhist priests heal the sick, although here I
will focus on two. The first setsuwa, 12:35, describes a priest who treats a roadside beggar who
27
Bowring 2005, p. 39. See also Ohnuki-Tierney 1987, pp. 140-4.
49
Amino 2012, pp. 177-9.
50
Bialock 2007, pp. 103-5.
51
Drotts 2010, p. 252.
52
was abandoned during an epidemic by giving her food and reciting a sutra. Through other
setsuwa, the Konjaku shows that abandonment of the diseased was a common recourse. The
second setsuwa concerns a priests and a holy man treating a patient through a ritual called kaji
kitō. These setsuwa show the Buddhist practices used for healing: prayer, recitation, and ritual, as
well as respect for all human beings despite a diseased state. Unlike the individualized healing
occurring in the doctor-related setsuwa, Buddhist ritual could be used to heal individuals and
the masses depending on the rite, which meant that Buddhist practice was believed to end
epidemics if done properly. !
! It is against the backdrop of Heian epidemics that Konjaku 12:35 takes place, portraying
those that respect the sick as enlightened. In this setsuwa, which supposedly took place in the
latter half of the tenth century, the Priest Eijitsu is on the way to the palace to treat the tennō
when he sees a sick woman by the roadside. Nearly naked and sprawled on a straw mat, the
woman tells Eijitsu that she was driven from her home and abandoned because of the epidemic.
Instead of hurrying to the palace, Eijitsu chooses to chant part of the Hokkekyō and send one of
his attendants to buy her food. He chants a sutra, but she is not healed so much as comforted.
Afterwards Eijitsu goes to the palace and banishes the jaki—an evil presence like mononoke
which causes illness—that has possessed the tennō, healing him by reciting the Hokekkyō.!
! This setsuwa helps shed light how illness was conceived in the Heian Period. First, Eijitsu
approaches those of all backgrounds, from the roadside woman to the tennō. In the story,
Eijitsu’s powers are recognized to be greater than “efficacious temples and shrines,” as well as
the prayers of other priests. Even the necessity of a priest to treat the tennō is an interesting
feature. According to Bialock, the mid-Heian court became so concerned with pollution that the
28
tennō was not allowed as much of a role in polluted or spiritually dangerous circumstances.
53
However, a priest could act in both polluted spaces. Second, we see the portrayal of the
abandoned during epidemics. One could assume that Eijitsu represented an effort to aid the
sick, that the healthy of the capital could be trying to help the stricken by the road and
riversides. However, Eijitsu is clearly not the norm, but an enlightened priest as he treats the
abandoned and the tennō with the same courtesy. The palace secretary, agitated over the delay
in treating in the tennō, questions his actions when Eijitsu leaves to treat the roadside woman.
The nobles in this story see him as a powerful outsider capable of defeating disease, but not
someone to be kept close. So, Eijitsu could represent the Buddhist priests who helped the
abandoned during the epidemics. !
! Instances of abandoning the sick appear in the Konjaku, seeming to confirm that Eijitsu
tending to the homeless woman was an admirable exception performed by Buddhist priests in
the face of defilement and taboos. In Konjaku 26:20, when a girl falls ill during an epidemic, the
master of the house tries to keep her outside. Terrified that she will be eaten by a vicious dog
that roams the streets, the master prepares food for her and sends her away to a “distant
place” (tōki tokoro). When the master sends someone to visit the girl, they find her dead after
being attacked by dogs. Another story, 27:16, presents the dilemma of a woman with no
relatives who suddenly became ill in another person’s house. The master of the house left her in
a kariya, a temporarily prepared shack, or straw mat shelter, where she soon died alone. !
! Epidemics and the end of the Seyakuin and Hiden’in resulted in large numbers of the
dying in the streets. The sick may have been abandoned and left to die, but not all road and
riverside dwellers were dying of smallpox, measles, and influenza — not all diseases
29
Bialock 2007, p. 102.
53
immediately kill their victims. The roadsides, gateways, and riverbanks were home to those
suffering from debilitating illness and physical deformities.!
! Abandonment during epidemics seems to be the result when a person had no relatives
or resources. However, it was not inevitable for ill members of the aristocracy. In 19:10, the
palace secretary Munemasa’s wife falls ill during an epidemic, and Munemasa offers prayers for
her recovery. After several days, she dies. But eviction is mentioned nowhere in the story,
despite the pollutions and dirtiness associated with illness that explain abandonment in the
setsuwa above. Nonetheless, disgust with death appears in 19:10, as it the sight of his beloved
wife’s rotting corpse that drives Munemasa to take the tonsure. While some, like Munemasa,
54
took the tonsure to escape death, some Buddhist monks embraced the role that disease played
in their lives and became physician monks. Priests like Eijitsu served the populace when the
government was decentralized during the second half of the Heian Period, tending to those
stricken by epidemic disease, if anyone helped them at all. !
! Priests who helped the deformed and ill are common in the Konjaku, far more common
than official doctors. Given the limits of medicine, it should come as no surprise that healing
through ritual, sutra recitation, and exorcism feature the most prominently in Konjaku setsuwa.
There are numerous setsuwa describing priests performing healing rites and magical
incantations called kaji kitō, which included the recitation of Buddhist texts meant to summon
the Buddha’s power, reflecting Buddhism’s importance as a healing method.!
! According to Pamela Winfield, kaji kitō was characteristic of esoteric Buddhist practice,
popularized by Kūkai and widespread by the end of the Heian Period for dealing with
mononoke and other illness. Kūkai first brought the “hands-on healing technique” to Japan in
30
SKNBT 4, p. 144-46.
54
the ninth century, updating the previous dominant forms of healing that included those of the
55
Nakatomi and Imbe clan ritualists who specialized in purifying eki-akudoku, onmyōdō, and
56
Yakushi ritual—all used for widespread healing during epidemics. Kūkai imported sutras to
Japan that contained a number of cures, including one for blindness, hungry ghost exorcism,
and a “medicine” that would create happiness between mothers and their children—these were
individualized treatments. !
57
! Kūkai proposed that older exoteric cures worked, but that his new Shingon esoteric
cures worked better, arguing that Yakushi, the Medicine Buddha, drew on Dainichi, the Great
Sun Buddha, for greater power to heal. Kaji practices spread after Kūkai’s death, along with
58
his legend. Kūkai’s kaji practices were adopted by Shugendō monks, who claimed them as their
own because of Kūkai’s connection with wandering monks called hijiri. !! !
59
! Hijiri monk physicians increased during the Heian Period, especially during the ninth
century when the court allowed these unlicensed doctors to practice in the provinces, resulting
in a new healing culture that spread throughout the archipelago. Hijiri performed exorcisms,
incantations, and other forms of kaji. But these sorts of kaji cures were only a small part of the
healing landscape. Kūkai’s medical methods and kaji added a new dimension to faith healing,
although on an individual level. Like the official doctors of the previous chapter, kaji healing
60
methods might have been used on individuals during times of epidemic. !
31
# Winfield 2005, p. 108. 55
Eki-akudoku is literally “epidemic’s evil poisons.” See Lock 1980, pp. 24-5.
56
Winfield 2005, pp. 116-7.
57
Winfield 2012, p. 129.
58
Winfield 2005, p. 119.
59
Also see Hattori 1955, pp. 37-41.
60
! The use of kaji to cure illness appears in many tales and records throughout the Heian
Period, including in the Konjaku collection. In Setsuwa 20:14, for instance, Enyū Tennō (r.
969-984) suffers from a longterm illness, which is caused by a mononoke. Many respected and
distinguished priests perform kaji, but none are able to cure him. In desperation, they summon a
holy man (seijin) of Kaguyama to heal the Tennō by performing kaji, and the holy man heals the
Tennō quickly. Puzzled, the priests continue to pray to the Five Great Vidya Rajas (Godaimyōō),
which were worshipped in Shingon esoteric practice to ward off malevolent spirits like
mononoke. Their praying exposes the holy man as a tengū worshipper. While the holy man
manages to heal the Tennō with his own kaji, because he is associated with impurities—such as
dogs and excrement—the shocked Tennō initially sentences him to death, only to show mercy
and banish him from the palace. This is but one example of kaji’s usage in the Konjaku
monogatari-shū to handle a malevolent spirit. !
! Kaji were frequently used to banish malevolent spirits, such as mononoke, which caused
illness. Mononoke are difficult to define, but they were a separate force formed from the spirits of
the living or the dead. Mononoke are beings that cannot be seen or heard. These unseen, unheard
forces of destruction were attributed to unfortunate happenings that could not be explained,
and they were known to manifest at services for the dead, and could be omens of good fortune
as well as bad. Mononoke were not limited to Buddhist priests. People prayed to the buddhas
and kami in order to handle mononoke, but mononoke management frequently fell to priests and
onmyōdō masters who performed kaji or comparable rituals. !
61
! What did a kaji consist of? In such ceremonies, priests would say “yorimashi” in a spell
which was meant to move the mononoke from its current location where it was causing trouble.
32
Bargen 1997, pp. 19-20.
61
Priests also said “utsubekihito” and “monotsuku mono” in mononoke-removing rituals. Priests
62
directed their prayers at mononoke that caused difficult childbirth and illness, instructing them in
the Buddhist law in hopes of guiding them to good acts. Special priests were always on duty at
the palace so that they could be immediately summoned in case a member of the royal family
fell ill. Then priests would perform kaji kitō, and if it was successful, the mononoke would leave
63
and the new deity would take its place. The success of the ritual depended on the deity
choosing the sick person, as well as a well-chosen vessel for the mononoke to move into, a
medium called a yorimashi. In The Pillow Book, a priest treats a sick girl in such a such a fashion
64
by exorcising the mononoke into a medium’s body. !
65
! However, while such rites might have been useful for treating an individual, ending
epidemics and death on a wide scale was handled by different rituals. Monks applied kaji to
patients, but in times of epidemic, the state would use realm-protecting rituals, especially those
involving Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine Buddha. !
! Yui Suzuki analyzes the growth and changing role of the Yakushi cult through the Nara
and Heian periods. In Medicine Master Buddha, Suzuki argues that the Yakushi cult went through
two phases. In the first phase, during the initial smallpox epidemics of the Nara period, Yakushi
was a deity for personal healing, and in the second phase, Yakushi ritual expanded to
encompass the nation. Older temples of the Kinai, especially the popular Tendai and Shingon
sects, often have Yakushi Nyorai as the center of worship because of their founding during
33
Hattori 1975, p. 46.
62
Tanaka 2006. Also see Morris 1983, pp. 326-7.
63
Frequently a person close to the sick was chosen to be the vessel for the removed mononoke, preferably a
64
woman or a servant, someone of more lowly status who spent time with the sick on a daily basis. See
Hattori 1975, pp. 46-7. See also Bargen 1997, pp. 15-6.
Morris 1983, pp. 260-1.
65
periods of epidemic. By the early ninth century, Yakushi Nyorai was also called upon to placate
vengeful calamity-causing spirits as a realm-protector. During the Heian Period, the cult spread,
evidenced by an explosive increase in the production of Yakushi images in the ninth and tenth
centuries. Hundreds of extant Heian-era Yakushi statues, an exceedingly high number
compared to surviving sculptures of other Buddhist deities, attest to his prominence as a healer
and queller of calamity in the present lifetime, as stated in the Yakushi Nyorai Hongan-kyō. #
66
# Although Buddhist deities, like Yakushi Nyorai, might be called upon to end epidemics,
they were not blamed for epidemics. A lack of virtue or faith in the Dharma was viewed as a
67
possible cause of epidemics. During the eighth century smallpox epidemics, Shōmu-tennō
blamed himself for the calamities befalling his realm, as if his lack of virtue as a ruler was the
cause. Joan Piggott argues that he built Tōdaiji and other temples as a way to stop the plague
and to project legitimacy during an unstable period. By the twelfth century, temples had
68
developed various forms of state theater to heal or calm the masses, such as readings of
particular sutra. In his paper on Yuima-e, Mikaël Bauer describes how temples, such as
Yamashinadera, read the episode where Yuima (Vimalakirti), a layperson known for his
eloquence and understanding of the Dharma, feigns illness so that he might discuss the Dharma
with those who come to visit him. In Setsuwa 12:3, when this passage is first read at
Yamashinadera, people are cured of illness. In the Konjaku, Buddhist practice is a method of
healing for individual rites, such as kaji kitō, and large ceremonies conducted by the state during
widespread disease, such as those conducted at temples to protect the nation. !
34
Suzuki 2012, pp. 65-101. Also see Abe 2000, pp. 160-2. Even when public display of “magico-religious
66
skills” were banned, the healing of the sick was explicitly permitted, showing the importance of such
practices.
Suzuki 2012, p. 5.
67
See Piggott 1987, pp. 49-5. Also see Farris 1985, p. 68.
68
Onmyōdō Masters and Epidemic-Ending Ceremony in the Konjaku#
! The use of large ceremony to combat epidemics appears in the Konjaku, and the setsuwa
reveals another facet of disease prevention: onmyōdo masters. Buddhist priests were not the only
figures conducting rituals designed to end epidemics, as onmyōdō masters, called onmyōji,
performed various rituals meant to banish forces causing calamity. Onmyōji also handled
individual cases of disease, conducting exorcisms and saying spells to heal patients. Compared
to doctor-related setsuwa, there are many more setsuwa in the Konjaku showing onmyōji.#
There are numerous examples—at least twenty—of onmyōdō practitioners exorcizing and
banishing demons in the Konjaku, some of which caused disease and mental illness. #
! According to Masuo Shin’ichirō, onmyōdō practitioners used elements of Yin-Yang
practice, folk religion, Taoism, and esoteric Buddhism to perform divination, astrological
analysis, omenology, and to create calendars for the court. The Nara and Heian periods were a
golden age for onmyōdō masters. Using a variety of religious and technical knowledge, onmyōdō
masters used divination to purify spaces or prevent disasters. Medicine, healing, and disasters
69
were frequently handled by onmyōji; mononoke also frequently fell under their jurisdiction, and
the epidemic-causing deities, ekijin.!
! In many instances, epidemics were caused by disaster deities, the facet of their epidemic-
causing power called ekijin. Defeating such entities required powerful priests and onmyōdō
masters performing esoteric ritual. The Konjaku offers an example of how Buddhist esoteric
practice might be used during an epidemic to heal many people at once with no predetermined
35
See Masuo 2013. The Onmyō-ryō was founded along with the Ten’yaku-ryō, and the first mention of the
69
Onmyō-ryō appears in the Nihon shoki when onmyōdō practitioners presented medicines and treasures to
the tennō.
cause. However, the practice was not conducted by a Buddhist priest, as might be expected, but
by an onmyōji, or Yin-Yang master. !
! For instance, in Setsuwa 14:44, Priest Yōshin of Mount Hiei travels through Harima and
stays in a town struck by an epidemic:!
! In this country, there was a great epidemic at Akashi’s port and a person in every family
was sick. Yōshin asked what everyone in this area was doing, and a person of the area said, “In
this area, recently there is not a person who is not sick, so we are having a festival (matsuri) to
stop the epidemic because an outside onmyōdō priest (hōshi onmyōji) told us to do such. So
70
everyone is hurrying to prepare for the festival.” !
71
!
! Suspicious of this onmyōdō master, Yōshin remains in the town to spy on the festival’s
ceremony believing that the villagers are being duped. But the man conducting the ceremony
turns out to be a genuine ritualist. Offerings of fruit, grain, and water are surrounded by
branches, and the rites for the Womb World and Diamond World mandalas are perfectly done.
When the ritual is completed, all the offerings are burned, and the citizens of the town report
that their fevers have at least gone down (although it does not say they were cured). The setsuwa
ends by saying that the holy man’s perfect ceremony for the cult of the two worlds stopped the
epidemic. !
! Onmyōdō masters were at the forefront of dangerous epidemic protection, which
explains why the epidemic is being countered by an onmyōji performing esoteric Buddhist
ritual. According to David Bialock, Okada Shōji, and Masuo Shin’ichirō, onmyōji became
responsible for dealing with defiled spaces, such as epidemic sites or places where corpses were
dumped, because these were points of “demonic infestation,” that came to be viewed as too
36
According to Shigeta Shin’ichi, not all onmyōji were officials approved by the Onmyō-ryō. There were
70
also hōshi onmyōji like that in this setsuwa, who had the appearance of a priest, but they had no official
status and there was no guarantee that they had control over the expected magical forces. See Shigeta
2013, p. 91. This would have explained Yōshin’s skepticism over the onmyōji’s abilities.
SKNBT 3, pp. 366-69.
71
defiled for shrine officials during the Heian Period. That is why onmyōji are involved with
epidemics in the Konjaku, along with priests. Onmyōji were also responsible for banishing
72
demons from dangerous spaces, such as crossroads, gateways, bridges, and rivers. They would
also perform rites to repel kami that caused epidemics. !
! Iwaki Ryūri attributes the rise in onmyōdō’s influence on the court to Ennin’s return from
China and his esoteric practices in 847. The rise in onmyōdō in turn contributed to more
widespread beliefs in mononoke. During the ninth century, Hattori notes, goryō-e start
73
appearing in the record, suggesting a connection between mononoke and goryō, another type of
wrathful spirit which caused disasters. (Goryō-e were rituals meant to pacify destructive spirits
74
and deities). However, healing rituals for dealing with mononoke and healing rituals for goryō
seem to have been different. Whereas goryō caused epidemics and disasters on a wide scale,
mononoke generally caused illness on a more personal, individual level. When mononoke were
connected with disease, they were seen as a force returning things to the state before an
interpersonal conflict through the use of a medium. When mononoke induced hysteria occurred,
the possessed was given a way to change their circumstances when they might be unable
otherwise. !
75
! Hattori believes there is a difference in power between mononoke and goryō. Both were
blamed for disasters. However, whereas goryō were blamed for multiple troubles, mononoke
were generally blamed for a single happening. According to Hattori, mononoke developed as
37
See Bialock 2007, p. 223. Also see Masuo 2013, p. 39.
72
See Iwaki 1959.
73
# Hattori 1975, p. 43. 74
Bargen 1997, pp. 22-3. Also see McCullough 1973, p. 94. When a disease could not be identified, it was
75
blamed on a mononoke and then the rites performed on the sick were meant to induce a state expressing
hysterical possession.
manifestations of an onryō’s tatari, or a vengeful spirit’s wrath. A mononoke could be considered
one facet of an entity. Hattori notes that mononoke could cause epidemics, but epidemics were
mostly blamed on goryō, or the vengeful spirits of kami or the powerful dead. !
76
! Up to this point, the Konjaku setsuwa have given us a general picture of healers during
times of epidemic. While the setsuwa portrayed the Ten’yaku-ryō and its doctors as highly
capable in case-by-case episodes. The doctors treat patients from all walks of life from within an
institution primarily based in the capital, as shown in the story where the woman suffers from
the tapeworm, and the story where the noblewoman hurries away from her amorous doctor
once her genital infection is healed. As would be expected, doctors were actively involved in
investigating new treatment methods, as shown in the setsuwa explaining the introduction of
cinnamon to Japan. !
! But despite the positive portrayal, the doctors vanish entirely in setsuwa involving
epidemics. There are various historical factors for this shift as well, such as taboos against illness
and death pollution, and the fall of the centralized medical establishment. During epidemic
setsuwa, priests and onmyōdō experts play a more important role than doctors. Priests and
Onmyōdō masters were versed in the same healing systems as doctors. They also had the
spiritual energy needed to handle those stricken, by performing kaji kitō and other rites and
incantations, and in the case of the mandala cult in 14:44, they had the power to end an
epidemic. Spiritual energy and esoteric ritual was more important given the enemy—mononoke,
goryō, and disaster-causing deities, such as ekijin. #
38
Ibid.
76
# The Konjaku presents multiple examples of ekijin through which we can explore how the
Heian people believed epidemics occurred. In the next chapter, I will discuss the various forms
these epidemic kami appeared and how they are portrayed in the Konjaku. 39
Chapter Three: Ekijin in the Konjaku#
!
# In the previous chapters, I showed how some Konjaku stories illustrated the conditions of
the capital and society during epidemics, as well as the limits of healers and their various
methods of treatment. Those setsuwa, however, do not address causes of epidemics. In this
section, we will see that epidemic causation is explained by the presence of ekijin. !
! Ekijin is a blanket term used by scholars to refer to deities with the character for
epidemics in their names—they are deities responsible for causing epidemics. Ekijin ( ) take
many names, including ekigami ( ), ekibyōjin ( ), ekibyōgami ( ), yakubyōkami ( ) and yakujin ( ), as well as gyōekijin ( ). In his analysis of the ekijin terms used in
77
the Konjaku, Wanagi Azusa stated that many of ekijin name variations only appear in onmyōdō
texts, but there are many terms. #
78
# The Konjaku contains three setsuwa that explicitly mention ekijin. Compared to other
religious figures, this may not seem like much; Kannon appears over a hundred times, Amida
eighty-eight times, Miroku twenty-five times, Yakushi almost a dozen, and Jizō rescues mere
mortals forty-seven times. There are more setsuwa with kitsune and tengū. But, the ekijin setsuwa
provide a rare glimpse into the understanding of epidemics at the end of the Heian Period. The
epidemic deity’s definitions changed to reflect the religious and cultural landscape, and in
Konjaku setsuwa represent the complex transformations ekijin underwent over the course of the
Nara and Heian Periods. This chapter first analyzes ekijin of significance, then examines
elements of early ekijin cults in the Konjaku setsuwa, such as horses, boats, and water.#
40
See Ooshima 1985, pp. 1-15. This chapter will not address epidemic demons (ekiki, ) or kijin ( )
77
which also cause epidemics and disease. I will focus solely on ekijin as they have the most prominent
presence as epidemic-creators in the Konjaku.
See Wanagi 2007.
78
! The ekijin setsuwa in question are primarily 13:34 and 27:11. Another mentions ekijin in
passing. The first ekijin setsuwa, 13:34, contains a nameless ekijin who that might be considered
an amalgamation of cultic practices starting in the Asuka-Nara Period. The second setsuwa
contains a vengeful spirit of a famous nobleman. In this chapter, I will discuss early ekijin to lay
the groundwork for an analysis of our nameless Konjaku ekijin. In this section, I rely on several
analysis of ekijin and Gion in English and Japanese. Neil McMullin’s articles on ekijin and the
Gion cult remain the most in-depth study we have in English tracing the history of epidemic-
causing deities. Michael Como compliments this research with his analysis of horses and the
arrival of plague deities from the Korean peninsula. Both scholars rely on the research of Shiga
Takeshi, who wrote an article updating the studies of Yasaka Shrine scholar Kubota Osamu. I
rely on these Japanese scholars’ research to give a more thorough background on the ekijin cults.
By understanding which elements of the ekijin cultic practice remained in the Konjaku stories, I
believe we can better understand the Heian conception of the epidemic. In the Konjaku stories,
mythological ekijin are supplanted by nameless roaming deities on horseback, showing the
merging of various cultural elements from the formation of the early ekijin to the complexity of a
deity’s salvation. !
!
A Genealogy of the Early Ekijin"
!
! The earliest Japanese representations of epidemic-causing deities appear in the Bingo
fudoki , a record detailing the legends and topography of Bingo province compiled during the
79
eighth century. It tells the story of a plague deity called Mutōjin, the village he ravaged with
41
The earliest extant copy of the Bingo fudoki is this excerpt, which appears in the Shaku Nihongi written
79
by Urabe no Kanekata during the Kamakura Period. Urabe no Kanekata was describing the E no Kuma
no Kuni Yashiro ( ). Nakamura 2006, pp. 218-21, discusses themes of the Bingo fudoki Somin
Shōrai story which appear in other fudoki, such as deities seeking lodging amongst the poor and death to
those rejecting the deity.
plague, and the girl he saved. In the Bingo fudoki story, Mutōjin is traveling to the visit the
daughter of the deity of the south sea. When night falls along his route, he asks for lodging the
homes of two brothers. The first brother, who is wealthy, turns Mutōjin away. But the other,
poorer brother, Somin Shōrai gives Mutōjin a place to stay for the night. Mutōjin leaves and
years pass. When Mutōjin returns to the village with his children, the Hachiōji who are also
plague deities, he gives Somin Shōrai a chi-no-wa, a woven ring of miscanthus. The chi-no-wa
will protect the holder from disease, he tells Somin Shōrai. Somin Shōrai’s daughter takes the
chi-no-wa, and when the next plague devastates the village, she is the only one to survive. !
80
! This legend features three of the most important early Japanese ekijin that we know of:
Mutōjin (the Mutō Deity); Hachiōji (the Eight Royal Children); and the daughter of the Dragon
King of the South Sea. This legend exists in various forms with different explanations for the
behavior of ekijin. Although this early ekijin tale does not appear in the Konjaku monogatari-shū,
traces of early ekijin cults remain in late-Heian setsuwa. These include roads, children, horses,
water, and dragons. !
! We can consider Mutōjin at the top of our family tree; his origins are unclear, although
the general consensus is that he is a deity originally from the Korean Peninsula. Shiga Takeshi
81
suggests that Mutōjin’s name could be connected with the mudang shaman, a typically female
shaman of the Korean peninsula, or vice-versa. Mutō is believed to be the same as mudang,
which can also mean a sacred space. When a mudang shaman went into a trance, it was believed
that he or she could identify what caused an illness. Places with names like “muto” and “muta”
42
Akimoto 1958, pp. 488-90.
80
Shiga Takeshi states that there is no Chinese connection, but there is an indirect one. The later kagura
81
tradition attributes the creation of the chi-no-wa ritual to Shōki ( )(C. Zhōng Kuí) and Mutōjin-Gozu
Tennō, as if they were the same being. For more on the Gozu Tennō kagura performance, see Groemer
2010, p. 270.
all sit on the backside of a specific type of typographical feature called trapezoidal hills. Such
hills were associated with death and disease, and deities were believed to reside at the top.
Mutōjin was believed to reside at the top of such a trapezoidal hill, which in Japanese is called a
soshimori. !
82
! There are various reasons why the soshimori topography might be connected with death
and disease. There are many deity mountain legends in the early Korean shamanistic tradition,
but perhaps the most relevant and oldest tale tells of a magical queen who leaves her holy
mountain and marries, having eight girls who disperse to the eight roads. In another story, this
mountain queen marries and has eight sons. Shiga proposes that these legends merged in
Japan. Another less fantastic component might be that corpses were abandoned on the fringes
83
of cities and villages, or the diseased might have been driven into the mountains to care for
themselves until they died. Lingering in such places would probably result in infection,
84
although it would be seen as the wrath of the dead. The designation of soshimori as a sacred
space could be a form of spirit pacification in the corpse dumping grounds at the foot of
mountains, or the worship of the ambivalent Mutōjin could have been a way to explain and
counteract disease through ritual. Mostly likely smallpox and other pathogens first entered the
Korean peninsula via the Tang army during the wars of unification in the late seventh century.
The population of the Korean peninsula was not dense enough for diseases, like smallpox, to
become endemic, as communities were repeatedly ravaged by epidemics affecting working
43
Shiga 1981, p. 151.
82
Shiga 1981, p. 150.
83
Glassman 2012, p. 167.
84
Farris 2009, pp. 47-48.
85
adults instead of just children or the elderly. Consequently, a disease deity like Mutōjin
85
developed. !
! Another important ekijin who is associated with Mutōjin is Gozu Tennō. The link
between Gozu Tennō and Mutōjin is the soshimori typography. Gozu Tennō means “Bull-head
Heavenly King,” and soshimori means “bull-head mountain/hill.” Kubota Osamu acknowledges
the difficulty in understanding the connecting point between Mutōjin and Gozu Tennō, but in
the Indian tradition, the bull-headed deity guards the Jetavana Grove (gion shoja) where the
historical Buddha gave many of his sermons. Such a connection would explain Gozu Tennō’s
presence at the Gion complex in the Heian capital, which enshrined Yakushi and important
ekijin. Possibly Gozu Tennō originated in northern India or Tibet, where was he a deity
86
associated with a bull-head mountain, whose cult later reached China and Korea. The Hata, a
maritime people from Koguryō, who migrated to the Inland Sea area, practiced a Gozu Tennō
cult, so Shiga thinks they were its originators in Japan. !
87
! The Bingo fudoki makes it clear that Somin Shōrai’s daughter is not involved with
Mutōjin beyond the obligation he owed the household. According to Shiga Takeshi, there is no
explanation as to why Somin Shōrai dies and his daughter survives. However, I believe the
daughter’s survival alludes to the female dominated mudang tradition, which might have been
transplanted to Bingo, as Shiga argues in his analysis of early ekijin-related shrines. In any
88
event, Somin Shōrai’s daughter has no place in this divine family tree. !
44
Kubota 1974, pp. 48-9.
86
Shiga 1981, p. 164.
87
It is useful to note that women generally have stronger immune systems than men and are more likely
88
to overcome viral and bacterial infections. This might have lent women greater spiritual authority in the
early epidemic and disease-preventing cults. See Furman 2013, pp. 869-874.
! But why would all these ekijin be worshipped at the Gion complex in the Heian capital?
Previously, we discussed the role of medical establishment during the epidemics of the Heian
Period; the nightmare of earlier epidemics was alive and well in the imagination of the Konjaku
compilers. These various ekijin probably rose to prominence with the arrival of smallpox,
culminating in their worship at the Gion complex. !
89
! Another woman in the story to consider is Mutōjin’s spouse, the Dragon King of the
South Sea’s daughter. She goes unnamed in the Bingo fudoki, but in other legends is
Kushiinadahime, or Bari-hime, Bari no Uneme, and Barime no Miya. Kushiinadahime first
90
appears in the Kojiki (712), where she is rescued by Susanoo and becomes his wife. She is
91
connected with rituals in Bingo province where waters from sacred wells are sprinkled on the
heads of children to protect them from disease. Kushiinadahime is the amalgamation of various
water and disease deities, eventually becoming the wife of Mutōjin and giving birth to his eight
children. !
92
! Kushiinadahime and Mutōjin had eight children, called the Hachiōji ( or ).
In the Bingo fudoki, they return with their father to the village to spread the epidemic, killing
45
During the fifteenth century, Gozu Tennō was regarded as the main deity at the Gion complex, and
89
commentaries united Gozu Tennō with another disaster deity, Susanoo. Syncretism between the deities,
including Yakushi Nyorai, were a feature of medieval honji suijaku (the forms of deities and their local
traces) and shinbutsu shūgō (the combination of local deities and the buddhas), as shown in the
Muromachi Period text, the Hoki naiden. For more on the coalescence of these deities, see Saitō 2012, p.
284-6. For more on this syncretic paradigm, especially before the fourteenth century, see Teeuween 2003,
pp. 26-31.
Bari means “reject,” “expel” or “drive-out,” and hime means “princess.” One tradition associated with
90
Bari Hime describes how a king gave birth to sixth daughters, and when he received his seventh
daughter, he was so frustrated that he named her Bari Hime and threw her into the ocean. Bari Hime was
rescued by the Buddha and eventually married a Taoist hermit. She had magical powers that could revive
the dead with mystical water and cure snake bites. See Shiga 1981, p. 169.
Mori Mizue, “Kushiinadahime” in The Encyclopedia of Shinto online.
91
McMullin 1986, p. 279.
92
everyone except for Shōmin Shōrai’s daughter. The reason that children might appear as ekijin is
because children and the elderly are most susceptible to disease. During epidemics, children
were more likely to die than adults, and endemic diseases still primarily kill children.
93
Smallpox was no exception to this trend, which might explain why these child deities are
associated with epidemics. Furthermore, if we look back to Mutōjin’s origins, we recall those
94
tales of the mountain queen’s eight children taking to the roads, so there is probably a Korean
connection to the Hachiōji as well. Meanwhile another possible connection are ceremonies
involving eight mudang shamans. Neil McMullin attributes the arrival of the Hachiōji cult in
95
the Japanese islands to the Koma, a Korean family from Silla who migrated during the Pre-Nara
or early in the Nara Period. !
96
! The Hachiōji are also associated with the sae no kami (dōsojin, ), a broader
collection of deities responsible for causing and preventing diseases. Like the Hachiōji, the sae
no kami determined health at crossroads, intersections, and ancient highways. According to
Kojima Yoshiyuki, the sae no kami cult is one of the oldest and most widespread in the Japanese
islands. He attributes the origin of the cult to the legend of Izanami and Izanagi. When Izanagi
97
46
For more on smallpox’s effect on children during the Heian period, see Hattori 1975, pp. 87-9.
93
Shiga 1981, p. 151, and McMullin 1988, p. 280, refer to an episode from the reign of Suiko Tennō which
94
explains that smallpox was brought to Japan from Korea. A boat washed up on Japanese shores
containing three children and three adults. The three adults were ekijin who died from the disease that the
children had. The children warned the Japanese that smallpox would spread to Japan. Then they
demanded food, potatoes to be exact. As fascinating as the story is, the earliest version exists from the
Edo Period in the tenth scroll of the Sansai zu-e ( ), far removed from Suiko Tennō’s time. The
story implies that those who died during an epidemic turned into ekijin, and that children became
ekijin.There is possibly a connection between their demand for potatoes (imo) and one of the names for
smallpox (imogasa), although the characters are different.
Shiga 1981, p. 150.
95
McMullin 1986, p. 280.
96
Kojima 1962, p. 15.
97
flees Yomi no saka after sealing his wife Izanami inside, he pulls down a boulder, transforming it
into a sae no kami and creating a border between the world of the dead and the living.
98
Similarly, sae no kami statues appear in pairs on the roadside. Perhaps they originally designated
borders where corpses were left, or the sae no kami were a manifestation of diseases moving up
and down the ancient highways. By the late eleventh century, the origin and nature of the funato
sae no kami was unclear. In the Fusō ryakki, the Tendai monk Noen describes roads at Kyōto’s
entrances having statues of male and female kami, called funato no kami and goryō. Children
gathered at the statues and offered paper, incense, and flowers, but Noen remarks that he does
not know what sort of kami they are. !
99
! So it was normal for villages and cities to erect sae no kami at crossroads and other
liminal spaces, such as waterways. Unfortunately, few old sae no kami statues survive because
the wooden and straw statues decomposed or communities burned them annually. Like the
100
Mutōjin triad discussed above, which was associated with mountain spaces where corpses were
left, sae no kami marked liminal spaces that frequently became impromptu graveyards during
times of epidemic. Similarly, these spaces were not just spiritually polluted, but also unhygienic
and dangerous to one’s health. !
Nameless Gods and their Mounts"
! So, we finally arrive at our Konjaku setsuwa, 13:34, which combines elements of these
members of our twisted family tree. I have translated the setsuwa below in order to present all
components of the story first:!
47
Philippi 1968, p. 65. Philippi does not agree with this interpretation, which he attributes to Matsumura
98
Takeo. See Matsumura 1954 (vol. 2), p. 466-73. Kojima Yoshiyuki seems to agree with Matsumura’s
interpretation as the boulder alluding to sae no kami practices.
Glassman 2012, p. 168.
99
Ibid, p. 169.
100
! A long time ago, a priest lived at Shitenōji. He was called Dōkō. He recited the Hokkekyō
and followed the Buddhist path. Often he would make pilgrimage to Kumano to perform
summer austerities. However, on one occasion he left Kumano and while he was returning to
his temple through the Province of Kii along the coast of the Minabe District, night fell. So, in
this area he slept beside the trunk of a large tree. In the middle of the night, twenty or thirty
men on horseback rode to the spot beside the tree. I wonder who they are, thought Dōkō, as one of
the men said, “Is the old man beneath this tree?” !
! From beneath Dōkō’s tree, someone answered, “I am here.” !
! Dōkō heard this and was shocked. There is someone else beneath this tree, he thought, and
again the man riding the horse spoke, saying “Hurry up and come with us.” Again, someone
beneath the tree answered, “I cannot go with you tonight. The reason is that my mount’s legs
are broken and it is impossible to ride, so tomorrow I will mend his legs, or there is the
possibility that I should ride another horse. I am an old man and I cannot come along on foot.”
Dōkō heard the men on horseback leave. !
! At daybreak, Dōkō found the events of the night strange and scary, so he searched
around the tree and could not find anyone. There was just the statue of a sae no kami. The statue
looked very old and decayed, as if many years had passed. There was a male statue, but no
female one. In front of the statue was an ema, a tablet with a horse painted on it. The area on the
legs was cracked. Dōkō saw this, and thought, Last night, this sae no kami was the one who spoke.
The more Dōkō thought about it, the weirder the situation became, and he repaired the area of
the broken ema horse’s legs with string and placed it as it had originally been. I will watch closely
this evening, thought Dōkō, and he remained there for the day beneath the tree. Just as night fell,
like the previous night many men on horseback came. The sae no kami left on his horse, going
with the others. !
! As day broke, Dōkō heard the sae no kami return; an old man of many years came back.
He did not know who the old man was. The old man said to Dōkō, “Holy Priest, yesterday you
healed my horse’s legs, and I was able to perform my duty (okina kono kuji o tsutometsu). How
can I return the favor? The many men on horseback are gyōyakujin who take me with them.
101
When we travel in the country, of course they make me lead the way. It is terrible, and if I refuse
to go with them, they beat me and berate me. This is truly unbearable. If possible, I think I
would relinquish this inferior deity state and attain a higher and virtuous being. Holy Priest, I
would achieve this through your power.” !
! “What you have said is wondrous, but it is not within my power,” answered Dōkō. The
sae no kami said to Dōkō, “Holy Priest, if you stay here beneath this tree for three days and recite
the Hokkekyō. Through the sutra’s power I will instantly shed this state of suffering and be
reborn in a pleasant place.” Then the sae no kami disappeared. !
! Dōkō did as the sae no kami instructed, and for three days and three nights he stayed at
that place and recited the Hokkekyō with all his heart. On the fourth day, the old man from before
came. He bowed to Dōkō, saying, “Holy Priest, because of your compassionate act, I will
relinquish this state and attain a superior state. I will be reborn in the mountain of Fudaraku,
and become as those who serve Kannon and attain the rank of bodhisattva. This occurred
entirely because you recited the sutra for me. Holy Priest, if you wish to know whether this is all
true or not, make a small boat out of sticks and place my wooden statue inside and set the boat
adrift in the ocean.” Then the old man vanished. !
48
Gyōyakujin ( ) is yet another word for ekijin.
101
! After this occurred, Dōkō followed his instructions and made a boat out of sticks, placed
the statue of the sae no kami inside, and went to the ocean where he set the boat adrift. When he
placed it in the water, although there was no wind or waves, the boat of sticks zoomed south.
Dōkō saw this, and with tears in his eyes, he watched until he could not see the boat anymore,
paid his respects, and returned to his home temple. !
! There was an old man in that district. This old man dreamt of the sae no kami beneath
that tree. The sae no kami had the form of a bodhisattva, and surrounded by light and music, the
sae no kami ascended southwards. Dōkō heard about this man’s dream and completely believed
it, and he returned to his home temple to recite the sutra with zeal.!
! Dōkō told this story and everyone who listened valued it, so it was said. !
102
!
! In this setsuwa the sae no kami reveals several traits attributed to the deity by the end of
the Heian Period. One of the notable traits of the sae no kami and ekijin is their horses. The sae no
kami beneath the tree needs his horse because he is old, but the other ekijin use horses too. Only
once are the ekijin explicitly connected with epidemics, when they are called gyōyakujin, but
every other time they are described as beings on horseback. The association of disease with
beings on horseback seems to date to the pre-Nara. According to Michael Como, prominent
kinship groups, such as the Hata, were closely associated with the training and raising of
horses. Besides this early kinship connection, it is easy to see why horses and ekijin were tied
103
together. Horses were vehicles for humans who carried viruses. A rider would dismount and
infect one person or several, then the disease would destroy the community. By the end of the
seventh century, road-building spurred kinship groups to provide horses to the court. Mobility
equated with wealth as goods and knowledge—and dangerous microbes—moved between the
groups and places. This network came at a cost, as previously relatively isolated communities
with limited disease resistance became infected when riders came into town. Desperate for an
explanation for the deaths, people blamed and sought to pacify horse-riding deities. !
49
SNKBT 3, pp. 256-58.
102
Como 2007, p. 400.
103
! While highways were not the only reason disease spread, they certainly sped up the
process. “Increased travel over the roadways of Japan, in turn, led to greater contact with
formerly distant regions and their gods,” summarizes Michael Como, “angry spirits and disease
deities were, in turn, assumed to bring diseases in their wake.” In the Konjaku setsuwa above,
104
the local sae no kami explains that he is guiding the other ekijin about the province, possibly
because the foreign deities do not know the roadways as well. !
! The setsuwa also implies that without a horse, the ekijin were stranded. The sae no kami
explains that he will have to mend his horse’s legs before he can return to spreading plague.
Early ekijin ritual involved shattering horse legs. During the Nara Period, clay horses were used
in rituals to prevent epidemics. Because horses carried diseased riders, Mizuno Masayoshi
states that ritualists snapped the legs off clay horses. Many such clay horses have been
discovered with their legs snapped off in old ditches and streams—spaces connected with
ekijin. Streams and ditches are also studded with pots bearing the faces of ekijin. The diseased
105
blew into the pot, and the pot was dumped in a stream or river in the hope that the waters
would wash away the ekijin. Archaeologists have dated such artifacts to the Nara and early
Heian periods. Such tools appeared in Heian onmyōdō ritual called harae, according to Bialock
and Masuō. !
106
! Live horses were also sacrificed to ekijin in the hopes that the spirit horses would carry
the ekijin far away, and horse rituals and highway-opening rituals were conducted about the
50
Como 2007, p. 401.
104
Mizuno 1983, pp. 23-43.
105
See Masuo 2013, p. 39. Originally this ritual was performed by the Council on Shrine Affairs (Jingikan),
106
but harae came to be performed by onmyōdō masters. Bialock, referring to Okada Shōji, argues that the
harae came to be performed by onmyōji because they could practice in defiled spaces while the shrine
ritualists worked in more pure spaces. See Bialock 2007, pp. 221-2.
same time. William Wayne Farris argues that such ekijin artifacts of the ritsuryō state,
107
combined with the written record, mark the beginning of Japan’s age of microparasitism, and
the Japanese islands’ response to the 650-900 East Asian pandemic when smallpox moved
through the Korean peninsula and through the Japanese islands. By the mid-Heian Period, as
108
Bialock describes, such disease rituals grew in scope for the realm. In one Yin-Yang ritual, the
tennō would fill a large doll with his breath and then launch it into a flowing river, which was
believed to wash away defilements. This ritual was performed at various locations, serving to
wash away the defilements of watersheds throughout Japan. !
109
! In the setsuwa, Dōkō builds a small boat and launches it into the water, thereby allowing
the sae no kami salvation from its wretched state. During the Heian Period, the practice of
launching boats towards Fudaraku also emerged. According to Takuya Hino, the tenth and
eleventh centuries, devoted practitioners sealed themselves in a small space on a boat, which
was launched south, like the vessel for the sae no kami. Practitioners hoped to reach Fudaraku,
the paradise of the Bodhisattva Kannon. The sae no kami is probably alluding to this practice. !
110
! I believe we can also read into the launching of ship containing the sae no kami’s statue
beyond the obvious message of Buddhist salvation. Onmyōji performed purification rituals to
banish ekijin where straw and wooden dolls—not unlike the setsuwa’s sae no kami statue—were
51
Como 2007, p. 402.
107
See Farris 2009, pp. 41-47. He also elaborates on other kinds of ekijin artifacts archaeologists have
108
uncovered. Nara people created hitogata, dolls for bearing marks of injuries and traits of the diseased.
Exorcists decorated the dolls to absorb the patient’s affliction.
Bialock 2007, pp. 221-2.
109
Takuya 2012, p. 1050.
110
placed in boats and pushed out to sea. The cultic practice of launching boats to quell
111
epidemics was common throughout East and Southeast Asia, with festivals for epidemic gods
and demons followed by either burning or launching the boat containing the deity. Variations
112
on kami being placed in boats or purified occurred during the ritualistic movement of a deity,
called shinkōsai ( ) of the Heian Period, such as the washing of the Gion omikoshi ( ),
or nagashi-bina ( ), dolls that are placed in little straw boats on the third day of the third
month. Such rituals involving the launching of ships to purify a space were performed
113
throughout the Heian Period by onmyōdō masters. !
114
! It is clear that elements of early ekijin worship remained in the late Heian imagination,
and were represented in the Konjaku monogatari-shū stories. Another mention of ekijin occurs in
the Konjaku, showing elements of early ekijin worship but not naming deities. For example, in
setsuwa 20:18, a woman falls seriously ill (mi ni omoki yamai o uketari), and in order to aid her
52
Such practices were not limited to the kami and ekijin during times of epidemic, however. In The Tale of
111
Genji, when Genji suffers from guilt and sorrow in Suma, a friend tells him to seek purification by
performing a Yin-Yang ritual. Genji does the ritual, placing a doll into a boat and floating it away. The
Yin-Yang ritual goes awry though as a storm rages on the beach, and Genji is convinced that he has
attracted the attentions of the Dragon King. See Tyler 2002, p. 254.
Katz 2003, pp. 158-9.
112
Nishitsunoi 1958, p. 562.
113
The Dragon King does not appear in the setsuwa-concerning sae no kami, but his presence is revealed in
114
another fashion. The setsuwa in the Konjaku are organized thematically, and I believe it is no coincidence
that the preceding setsuwa describes how a dragon sacrifices himself to bring rain to the realm, and a
priest founds Ryūkaiji, Ryūōji, and Ryūtenji in the dragon’s honor, while continuing to recite the Hokkekyō
for the dragon’s salvation. In the epidemic mythology, the Dragon King appears as the father-in-law of
the powerful ekijin Mutōjin (see above), living beneath the ocean where the ships are launched to be
purified and summoning rain capable of purification. Besides these numerous connections, there is also a
Yin-Yang intersection; Como explains that dragons and horses were paired together in ritual and
decoration because they were believed to balance each other cosmologically. There has been a great deal
of research concerning the connection between dragons, water, and disease, but I believe it is important to
note that dragons appear to be agents of healing through water, while horses were agents of plague. For
more on dragons, see Bialock 2003 and 2007, and Como 2007.
recovery, she has a banquet laid out to the left and right of her gate to entertain the ekijin (ekijin o
makanaite). However, her efforts are in vain—at first—and an oni from King Enma comes to fetch
her. !
115
! The offering of food at crossroads and gateways was another feature of ekijin worship,
although not for a specific deity. Another setsuwa in the same section actually references Gozu
Tennō, albeit indirectly. In 20:15, a man under the tatari (curse) of a hitogami (human-turned-
kami) sacrifices a bull every year to appease the hitogami. After seven years of sacrificing bulls,
he falls seriously ill (mi ni omoki yamai o ukete), and doctors and onmyōdō masters fail to save him.
He then decides to release animals, and when he is is brought to Hell (jigoku) by bull-headed
people, the released animals rescue him. Spared of illness (mi ni yamai mukushi) he lived into his
90s. Como has already stated that horses were once sacrificed to end and prevent epidemics,
116
and given the horse’s connection to ekijin, the sacrificial connection makes sense. !
! These setsuwa show the presence of nameless sae no kami and ekijin. Sae no kami and ekijin
were still forces to be reckoned in the late Heian Period. It seems that old ekijin of the
mythological sort like Mutōjin had lost much of their prominence, even at major cultic sites like
Gion. As shown in this chapter, the Konjaku monogatari-shū emphasizes this unnamed ekijin who
is caught in a difficult position. Even the more rowdy ekijin that the old sae no kami serves go
unnamed. These roaming ekijin relied on horses and roads to spread plague, which, as shown,
arose from a culture connecting horses with epidemics. Like nameless traders and messengers,
travellers from other villagers, these figures bring dangerous diseases and leave disasters in
their wake. !
53
SNKBT 4, pp. 264-66.
115
SNKBT 4, pp. 255-58.
116
Goryō and the Ban no Yoshio Ekijin"
!
! However, not all ekijin in the Konjaku are nameless. In this section, I discuss an ekijin who
might even have been well known and how his infamy led to his accountability for disasters.
The ekijin previously discussed found themselves either supplanted by or combined with goryō
ritual, which were meant to placate the powerful deceased. When a elite member of the nobility
died either by exile or political intrigue, people came to associate subsequent disasters—
epidemics—with these nobles’ revenge from the grave. Worshipped and placated, sometimes by
the same men who planned their demise, such kami were propitiated in goryō ritual at Gion and
other locations in the capital. First I want to briefly touch upon the background of goryō, as well
as holding the deceased accountable for disasters. Then I will illustrate how the Konjaku reflects
and perpetuates the belief that epidemics could be caused by the infamous deceased. !
! The term goryō first appears in the Nihon sandai jitsuroku in an entry for 863, when the
court held a Goryō-e or Goryō ceremony at the palace because of an epidemic. Precautions had
already been taken at the palace against the epidemic, with purification rituals performed at
gateways, and now the court planned rituals to protect the realm. Such rituals combined
Buddhist esoteric practices with local cultic practice. According to Ooms, all of the goryō
blamed for the epidemic were spirits that had been falsely charged and received the death
penalty for plotting against the throne, and they were believed to be spreading disease. The
117
Goryō had caused many deaths, most recently through an influenza epidemic. Goryō-e were not
solemn affairs. Monks lectured on or recited sutras, offered food and flowers, and the court
54
Ooms 2009, pp. 232-34 and Kuroda 1996, pp. 323-26. Also see Maruyama 1996, p. 78. Maruyama states
117
that it is clear that they have become disease-causing deities (enkon rei to nari).
provided child dancers—which may have alluded to children’s connection to epidemics . There
were wrestlers and horseback riding, and equestrian archery contests for all to attend. !
118
! So at this point we can categorize three types of ekijin. One is almost mythological, like
Mutōjin or the Hachiōji in the previous chapter, who appear in texts like the Bingo fudoki, or
feature prominently in texts like the medieval Gozu Tennō Engi. The second, like the nameless
gyōyakujin forcing the sae no kami to lead them along the provincial roads, is a general sort of
epidemic-causing kami. The third is the manifestation of a powerful deceased who become a
disaster-causing kami, or specifically an ekijin if they cause epidemics. While we can only find
traces of the first sort of ekijin in the Konjaku, we can find concrete examples of the second and
third types. !
! For instance, in Setsuwa 27:11, a notable political figure who died after a conspiracy
returns to the world as an ekijin. I have translated the setsuwa below:!
! A long time ago, all throughout the realm people were suffering from a coughing
disease, and there was not a single person of high or low stature who was not lying in bed ill.
During this time, after everyone had finished their work for the day, a man working in the
kitchens of a household left the household. At the gate, he saw a man in red robes and a cap of
high rank, an awe-inspiring presence. The cook did not know who the man was, but he looked
to be of high rank, so the cook bowed. !
! “Do you know who I am?” asked the man. !
! The cook answered that he did not. !
! The man said, “I am Tomo no Yoshio of this country of old. I was exiled to Izu and died
soon after. I became a gyōyakurugyōjin. I was subject to severe punishment for my crimes
119
against the court, but still I am greatly indebted to the court from when I served there. I am
greatly indepted to the country. Therefore, when plague erupted throughout the land this year
and people should have all died from the plague, but I turned it into a cough. And that is why
55
Specifically, the first goryō-e in 863 was held for six goryō. The first was Prince Sawara, who died in exile
118
after accusations of plotting against Kanmu-tennō. The second was Kanmu’s son, Prince Iyo, and the
third, his mother, who were both forced to drink poison after accusations of treason. The fifth goryō was
Fujiwara Nakanari, accused of conspiring to return a former tennō to power. Then there was Funya
Miyatamaro who had died in exile after being convicted of conspiracy. Every single one of these goryō
had been blamed for epidemics after the individuals’ death. See Ooms 2009, pp. 232-34.
Another word for ekijin meaning kami of widespread plague ( ).
119
there has been ceaseless coughing throughout the country. I have been standing here to tell you
this. Do not be afraid.” When he finished speaking, Ban Dainagon (Tomo no Yoshio)
disappeared. !
! The cook was frightened and told everyone the story when he returned home. After that,
everyone knew that Ban Dainagon had become a gyōyakurugyōjin. Of all the people in the realm,
he told a cook about it. He must have had his reasons. !
! This is the story that was told and passed down. !
120
!
! This setsuwa is the sequel to a well-known story. Tomo no Yoshio (809-868) was
renowned as an ambitious and intelligent courtier who rose through the ranks (from sixth to
third rank over twenty years) and achieving a place on the Daijōkan (The Council of State). He
ascended to the position of major counselor, dainagon, in 864. In 866, the Ōtenmon, the central
gate of the palace, burned down. According to Nagano Jōichi, the act was most certainly arson
because of the structure of the gate—it would not have been simple to burn down. Tomo no
121
Yoshio convinced the Minister of the Right, Fujiwara no Yoshimi, that the Minister of the Left,
Minamoto no Makoto, committed the arson. When word of Minamoto no Makoto’s impending
arrest reached the Senior Court Minister, Fujiwara no Yoshifusa, he put a stop to the accusation.
Arson was a serious crime resulting in the death penalty, and Fujiwara no Yoshifusa was not
convinced that Minamoto no Makoto burned down the Ōtenmon or had reason to do so. He
convinced the tennō of Minamoto no Makoto’s innocence. Five months later after an
investigation, Tomo no Yoshio was blamed for the arson, because of a conspiracy to steal
Makoto no Minamoto’s position. It is impossible to know whether or not Tomo no Yoshio
committed the arson, but he was convicted, and instead of executing him, the tennō had him
56
SNKBT 5, pp. 46-8.
120
Nagano 2004, pp. 74-5.
121
Nagano 2004, pp. 77-94. Also see Shively and McCullough 1999 , p. 415.
122
exiled to Izu in consideration of his service to the royal family. Tomo no Yoshio died in exile
122
less than two years later. !
123
! Tomo no Yoshio’s story is pieced together through entries in the Nihon sandai jitsuroku
(901) and the Uji-shūi monogatari (ca. 1221), with emphasis on the Sandai jitsuroku account given
that it is closer to the events in question. A story in the Uji-shūi monogatari also describes Tomo
no Yoshio’s rise and fall. His background does not appear in the Konjaku at all, perhaps
implying that the Ōtenmon incident was common knowledge. In the Konjaku setsuwa, Ban
Dainagon simply refers to his crimes and his debt to the court. !
! In his analysis of the Ban Dainagon ekotoba (late 12th century) depicting the Ōtenmon
incident, Matsuo Kenji states that upheaval at the end of the Heian Period resulted in a renewed
interest in oppositional political figures. Rebellious upheavals produced spirits that needed to
be calmed, and the most famous of these were the hassho goryō, eight goryō made up of the
original six listed in the Sandai jitsuroku goryō-e plus Prince Inoue and Kibi no Makibi. “We can
124
stipulate,” states Kuroda, “that mere death is not enough to create a goryō; rather, the particular
circumstances of the death give rise to emotions in the spirit that determine its fundamental
attributes.” !
125
57
For a brief account in English, see Borgen 1986, pp. 62-7. Borgen analyzes the Ōtenmon incident in the
123
context of Sugawara Michizane’s early manhood. Michizane’s mother was of the Tomo family, possibly
related to Tomo no Yoshio. The incident distressed the family greatly, as Michizane’s father sided with
Yoshifusa on the ruling against Tomo no Yoshio and his allies, despite close connections with the Tomo
and Kii members who were accused. Sugawara was twenty-two at the time and was greatly upset by the
events.
Matsuo 2001, p. 105.
124
Kuroda 1996, p. 325.
125
! Tomo no Yoshio’s story was preserved through setsuwa and emaki. Apparently upheavals
also reminded the Heian people of old menaces that needed to be placated. Within his analysis
of mysterious figures in the ekotoba, Matsuo states that because Tomo no Yoshio’s regret for his
actions is written in the scroll, Tomo no Yoshio became more forgivable. Thus, such sentiments
reveal the narration’s placative role by rewriting history with a more sympathetic view towards
the goryō. !
126
! Goryō came to serve a political function; originally local and folk rituals, and a way for
the populace to express sympathy with the banished as well as discontent with the ruling elite,
goryō were co-opted by the court and ruling elites to control the populace as well as the disaster-
causing deities. I am unable to find evidence of any goryō-e dedicated to Tomo no Yoshio.
However, the Konjaku setsuwa does serve a placative role in the same way as does the Ban
Dainagon ekotoba. Ban Dainagon acknowledges his debt to the court, as well as his crimes; such
is the reason he downgraded the epidemic from a deadly disaster to a coughing disease. The
hope for such downgrading must have been on the minds of those conducting a Goryō-e for
such malevolent forces. !
! This chapter has sought to show that ekijin were not conceptualized as a single sort of
being, but multifaceted, and there were many kinds of ekijin that evolved and influenced each
other. As epidemics struck the capital and surrounding regions, Heian people developed
different conceptions of the epidemic, which were embodied by the ekijin. In some cases, these
ekijin were nameless roamers on horseback, like the sae no kami and his companions, who appear
in the Konjaku. In other cases, ekijin were famous figures back from the dead with a vengeance. I
58
Matsuo 2001, p. 108.
126
believe this variety of conceptions resulted in a variety of healing methods and ceremony, as
reflected in the second chapter on healers and their methods. 59
Conclusion: The Ambivalent Ekijin#
!
! Although Ban Dainagon and Mutōjin are quite different—one a mythological kami from
the Korean peninsula, the other a historical arsonist turned kami—they both reflect an
ambivalence common in ekijin. Ban Dainagon does not stop the epidemic entirely, but simply
makes it less deadly, a sort of petty revenge. Mutōjin returns the favor for Somin Shōrai by
saving the life of his daughter, but he and the Hachiōji kill everyone else, Somin Shōrai included
with no explanation. Given the ambivalence of the deities in question, one might ask how and
why Heian people believed these deities could be controlled. Indeed, the variety of healing
methods and rituals—a fraction of which have been discussed here—suggests a dynamic and
developing healing culture dedicated to manipulating the disastrous forces that killed so many. !
! I believe it is important to analyze the Heian understanding of epidemics simply in
order to understand the actions of players, historical and literary, in the face of disaster. While I
was researching the ruling elite during the age of Shirakawa, I was struck by a minor episode
concerning the death of Prince Atsufumi. All the abstractions and inconsistencies in epidemic-
related setsuwa took on a new meaning when encountering the names of people at Court who
died, probably in the same epidemic. Prince Atsufumi took on a new meaning as well, first,
because it was so tragic, as the death of a child is, and second, because it showed how people
believed smallpox could be controlled. This episode is not described in the Konjaku, so I ask the
reader to indulge me a little with the following narrative. !
! Prince Atsufumi was born in special circumstances. According to G. Cameron Hurst,
social unrest and royal succession were Shirakawa’s primary concerns, with succession being
the most important. Retaining control and keeping power from the sekkanke as well as his
60
brother Prince Sanehito, meant having a male heir. In 1074, Fujiwara no Kenshi entered the
127
back palace where she gave birth to a prince, Atsufumi. !
! At the time, the success of the birth was said to have occurred because of prayers and
services offered at Onjōji by the kōsō Raigō. Following Atsufumi’s birth, Fujiwara no Kenshi was
made kōgō and Shirakawa’s next child, who would be known as Ikuhōmon’in, was considered
most beloved by Shirakawa. However, his firstborn son, Prince Atsufumi, died at four years old
of smallpox. The epidemic had been raging in the capital, and smallpox killed him like it did
many young children. But unlike many other children, Atsufumi was the firstborn of the tennō. !
! According to Mikawa, because the child was expected to be tennō despite the succession
issues, which made his death especially painful. Atsufumi’s death was attributed to a toy cursed
by Raigō. After Atsufumi was born, Raigō had asked Shirakawa for permission to ascend the
pulpit and take the precepts at Onjōji. Shirakawa refused. In revenge, a kurabe uma no omocha, a
horse toy was given to the prince. Contemporaries attributed the smallpox to the curse on the
128
horse toy. It is no coincidence that the object which spread the epidemic to Atsufumi was a
horse, a symbol of epidemic in ekijin cults. !
! Unrest appeared in the capital in the form of these jisha conflicts when jisha demanded
assistance with shōen holdings or appointments. The armored monks protesting Gion’s
129
stewardship would be a precursor to the nasty conflict between Onjōji and Enryakuji, which
began in 1035, and escalated to open fighting in the capital. In 1081, Enryakuji monks and
61
For more on the succession politics of Shirakawa, see Hurst 1976, p. 132-5; Mikawa 2003, p. 43-74; and
127
Adolphson 2000, pp. 80-88.
Mikawa 2003, pp. 44-5.
128
Hurst 1976, pp. 126-9.
129
laymen burned down Onjōji. Shirakawa could not give Raigo the Onjōji position he desired in
130
the religous-political climate, and as a result, Atsufumi’s smallpox death was attributed to
Raigō’s vengeance against Shirakawa. This vengeance was embodied by a simply horse toy
alluding to ekijin, which people believed contained smallpox. Without knowing the context of
ekijin’s connections to horses, Atsufumi’s death appears to focus on a cursed toy, not the larger,
more frightening epidemical symbolism in a gift to a little boy. !
! The young prince’s death was not the only smallpox-related death at that time.
Shirakawa’s brother, Crown Prince Sanehito, died of smallpox at age fifteen, allowing
Shirakawa’s second son, Prince Taruhito and the future Horikawa Tennō to be named crown
prince when he abdicated. Shirakawa himself was remarkably healthy, and he lived to be 77
years old with only digestive ailments mentioned in the record. Hattori remarks that it is
believed he died of food poisoning. However, he would live to see his beloved daughter die
131
of a feverish illness, as well as the death of Kenshi. But Shirakawa’s avoidance of the epidemic
enabled his long reign and unprecedented power as an insei.!
! By understanding how Shirakawa and his contemporaries conceived epidemics and
diseases, these deaths take on new meaning. Despite conducting rituals, epidemics could kill
the mighty and the lowly. Despite having a powerful monk conduct services, a monk could
change his mind and use an epidemic to harm a prince. !
! One frequently gets the sense that Heian people did not understand their ekijin and the
forces behind epidemics half as well as they would have liked. This paper has been an
exploration of how people understood something baffling: epidemics and control of disease.
62
Shively and McCullough 1999 , pp. 492-3.
130
Hattori 1975, pp. 148-50.
131
There have been many gaps and inconsistencies, even within one narrative, like the Konjaku. In
the first section, I explored the role of doctors in setsuwa, particularly in epidemics. The Konjaku
illustrates the skill of the doctors of old who can save their patients, and yet, when citizens fell
sick in epidemics, they were cast from their homes where they fled to the roadsides and
riverbanks to die. Next, I addressed the roles of priests and onmyōji, who wielded spiritual
powers against epidemics. Priests and onmyōdō masters performed the rituals—such as goryō-e,
kaji kitō, and other esoteric rites—in order to heal their patients and the masses, but when faced
with widespread death and despair during epidemics, we can see limits on their abilities even
in setsuwa that frequently portray the miraculous. !
! Even the ekijin are various and difficult to pin down. As discussed, the Konjaku presented
two types of ekijin: the unnamed sae no kami and his plague-causing tormenters, and the
infamous once human ekijin, Ban Dainagon. These types reflected elements of earlier ekijin
worship and mythological ekijin. The Konjaku presents a dizzying array of responses to ekijin
and illness, from exorcism and elixirs, festivals, and even the medicinal values of cinnamon.
However, in setsuwa showing epidemics, people respond to devastation by either giving up and
retreating to the borders, allowing specialists to perform ritual that seems to have only a slight
chance of succeeding.!
! Such a bleak setting reflected the realities of the Heian Period. While goryō-e held great
importance as disaster-preventing ritual, such would do little to stop the abandonment of the
sick, wrest medical secrets from families serving the court, or lessen the disease-prone
circumstances of the premodern capital. The ambivalence of ekijin, and the inability to prevent
their destructive effects, reflect an acknowledgement of the world beyond the control of
humans, a world at the whim of the kami and buddhas. 63
Bibliography and References"
!
Primary Source References!
SNKBT!
Shin nihon koten bungaku taikei. , “Konjaku monogatari-shū,” . 3
volumes (35-37). Ikegami Jun’ichi , Komine Kazuaki , Mori Masato ,
eds. Iwanami Shoten, 1993. !
!
Dykstra!
Yoshiko Dykstra. The Konjaku Tales: The Japan Section, 3 volumes. Osaka: Kansai Gaidai
University, 1998. !
!
Akimoto 1958!
Nihon koten bungaku taikei. . “Bingo fudoki,” , vol. 2. Akimoto
Kichirō, ed. . Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1958.!
!
Secondary Sources!
Abe 2000!
Abe Ryūichi. The Weaving of Mantra: Kūkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse.
Columbia University Press, 2000.!
!
Adolphson 2000!
Mikael S. Adolphson. The Gates of Power: Monks, Courtiers, and Warriors in Premodern Japan.
University of Hawai’i Press, 2000. !
!
Amino 2012!
Amino Yoshihiko. Rethinking Japanese History. Center for Japanese Studies, The University of
Michigan, 2012. !
!
Bargen 1997!
Doris Bargen. A Woman’s Weapon: Spirit Possession in The Tale of Genji. University of Hawai’i
Press, 1997.!
!
Bathgate 2008!
Michael Bathgate, “Strangers in the Distance: Pilgrims, Marvels, and the Mapping of the
Medieval World.” Essays in Medieval Studies, vol. 25 (2008), pp. 129-44.!
!
Batten 2009!
Bruce Batten. “Climate Change in Japanese History and Prehistory.” Occasional Papers in Japanese
Studies. Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University, No. 2009-01
(2009), pp. 1-77. !
!
!
!
64
Bauer 2011!
Mikaël Bauer. “The Yuima-e as Theater of the State.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 38
(2011), pp. 161-179. !
!
Bialock 2003!
David Bialock. “Outcasts, Emperorship, and Dragon Cults in The Tale of the Heike.” Cahiers
d’Extreme-Asie 13 (2002-2003), pp. 227-310.!
!
Bialock 2007!
David Bialock. Eccentric Spaces, Hidden Histories. Stanford University Press, 2007.!
!
Borgen 1986!
Robert Borgen. Sugawara no Michizane and the Early Heian Court. Harvard University Press, 1986.!
!
Como 2007!
Michael Como. “Horses, Dragons, and Disease in Nara Japan.” Japanese Journal of Religious
Studies, Vol. 34 (2007), pp. 393-415.!
!
Drott 2010!
Edward R. Drott. “Gods, Buddhas, and Organs: Buddhist Physicians and Theories of Longevity
in Early Medieval Japan.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 37 (2010), pp. 247-273.!
!
Farris 2006!
William Wayne Farris. Japan’s Medieval Populations. University of Hawai’i Press, 2006.!
!
Farris 2009!
William Wayne Farris. Daily Life and Demographics in Ancient Japan. The University of Michigan
Center for Japanese Studies, 2009.!
!
Farris 1993!
William Wayne Farris, “Diseases of the Premodern Period in Japan,” The Cambridge World
History of Human Disease, vol. 6, Kenneth F. Kiple, ed. Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp.
372-5.!
!
Faure 2003 !
Bernard Faure. The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender. Princeton University Press,
2003. !
!
Furnman 2013!
David Furman, “Systems analysis of sex differences reveals an immunosuppressive role for
testosterone in the response to influenza vaccination,” in Proceeding of the National Academy of
Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 111, No. 2 (2013), pp. 869-874.!
!
Glassman 2012!
Hank Glassman. The Face of Jizō: Image and Cult in Medieval Japanese Buddhism. University of
Hawai’i Press, 2012.!
65
!
Goble 2009!
Andrew Edmund Goble, “Kajiwara Shozen and the Medical Silk Road: Chinese and Arabic
Influences on Early Medieval Japanese Medicine,” in Tools of Culture. University of Michigan
Association for Asian Studies, 2009, pp. 233-40.!
!
Goble 2011!
Andrew Edmund Goble. Confluences of Medicine in Medieval Japan. University of Hawai’i Press,
2011. !
!
Gerald Groemer, “Sacred dance at Sensoji: the development of a tradition” in Asian Ethnology,
69.2 (Fall 2010), pp. 265-292.!
!
Haruna 2006!
Haruna Hiroaki . Bunji to kodai Nihon , vol. 5. Yoshikawa Kōbunkan,
2006. !
!
Hattori 1955!
Hattori Toshirō . Heian jidai igakushi no kenkyū . Yoshikawa
Kōbunkan, 1955.!
!
Hattori 1964!
Hattori Toshirō . Kamakura jidai igakushi no kenyū . Yoshikawa
Kōbunkan, 1964. !
!
Hattori 1975!
Hattori Toshirō . Ochō kizoku no byōjō shindan . Yoshikawa
Kōbunkan, 1975.!
!
Hattori 1985!
Hattori Toshirō . Igaku . Kondō Shuppansha, 1985. !
!
Howell 2003!
Thomas Raymond Howell Jr. “Setsuwa, Knowledge, and the Culture of Reading and Writing in
Medieval Japan.” Dissertation, Proquest, 2003. !
!
Hurst 1976!
Cameron G Hurst. Insei. Columbia University Press, 1976. !
!
Iwaki 1959!
Iwaki Ryūri . “Onryō shinkō no hassei” . Kokushi ronshū , vol. 1.
Dokushikai, 1959. !
!
66
Katz 1995!
Paul R. Katz. Demon Hordes and Burning Boats: The Cult of Marshal Wen in Late Imperial Chekiang.
State University of New York Press, 1995. !
!
Kelsey 1981!
W. Michael Kelsey. “Salvation of the Snake, the Snake of Salvation: Buddhist-Shinto Conflict
and Resolution.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 8, no. 1-2. (1981), pp. 83-113. !
!
Kojima 1962!
Kojima Yoshiyuki . “Izanaki-Izanami no kon’in” . Shūkyō
kenkyū, vol. 35, No 4 (1962), pp. 171-81. !
!
Komine 2008!
Komine Kazuaki . Konjaku monogatari-shū o yomu . Yoshikawa
Kōbunkan, 2008. !
!
Kubota 1974!
Kubota Osamu . Yasaka jinja no kenkyū . Kyoto: Shintō-shi Kenkyū
Sōsho, 1974.!
!
Kuroda 1986!
Kuroda Hideo . “Chūse minshū no hifu kankaku to kyōfu” . Kyōkai no chūsei: shōchō no chūsei : . Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankyoku,
1986. !
!
Kuroda 1981!
Kuroda Toshio. “Shinto in the History of Japanese religion,” James C. Dobbins and Suzanne
Gay, trans., Journal of Japanese Studies, vol. 7 (Winter, 1981), pp. 1-21. !
!
Kuroda 1996!
Kuroda Toshio. “The World of Spirit Pacification,” Alan Grapard, trans., Japanese Journal of
Religious Studies, vol. 23, (1996), pp. 321-51. !
!
Li 2009!
Michelle Li. Ambiguous Bodies: Reading the Grotesque in Japanese Setsuwa Tales. Stanford
University Press, 2009. !
!
Lock 1980!
Margaret M. Lock. East Asian Medicine in Urban Japan. University of California Press, 1980.!
!
Maki 1984!
Maki Sachiko . Konjaku monogatari to ijutsu to jujutsu . Chikuchi
Shokan, 1984. !
67
!
Masuo 2001!
Masuo Kenji. “Explaining the Mystery of the Ban Dainagon Ekotoba.” Japanese Journal of
Religious Studies, vol. 28. (Spring 2001), pp. 103-31. !
!
Masuo 2013!
Masuo Shin’ichirō. “Chinese Religion and the Formation of Onmyōdō.” Japanese Journal of
Religious Studies, vol. 40 (2013), pp. 19-43. !
!
McNeil 1977!
William McNeill. Plagues and Peoples. London: Anchor Publishing, 1977.!
!
Mikawa 2003!
Mikawa Kei . Shirakawa-tennō: chūsei o hiraita teiō . Nihon
Hōsō Shuppansha, 2003.!
!
Mizuno 1983!
Mizuno Masayoshi . “Uma, uma, uma: sono katari no kōkogaku,” - . Bunkazai gakuhō, Vol. 2, March (1983), pp. 23-43. #
!
McCullough 1973!
William McCullough. “Spirit Possession in the Heian Period,” Studies on Japanese Culture, vol. 1.
The Japan P .E.N. Club (1973), pp. 91-98.!
!
McMullin 1986!
Neil McMullin. “On Placating the Gods and Pacifying the Populace: The Case of the Gion Goryō
Cult.” History of Religions, vol. 27, Issue 2/3 (1986), pp. 161-184. !
!
McMullin 1987!
Neil McMullin. “The Enryaku-ji and the Gion Shrine-Temple Complex in the Mid-Heian
Period.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 14, (1987), pp. 161-84.!
!
Murayama 1996!
Murayama Shūichi . Tenjin goryō shinkō . Hanawa Shobō, 1996.!
!
Maruyama 1998!
Maruyama Yumiko . Nihon kodai no iryō seido . Rekishigaku
Sōsho, 1998. !
!
Matsumura 1954!
Matsumura Takeo . Nihon shinwa no kenkyū . Baifūkan, 1954.!
!
!
68
Mori 1982!
Masato Mori, “Konjaku Monogatari-shū: Supernatural Creatures and Order,” Japanese Journal of
Religious Studies, vol. 9 (1982), pp. 147-70. !
!
Mori 1994!
Mori Mizue, “Kushiinadahime” in The Encyclopedia of Shinto online. Accessed March 20, 2014.
This online translation is the entirety of the Shintō jiten, Institute of Japanese Culture and
Classics ed., (Tokyo: Kobundo, 1994).!
!
Moriya 1978!
Moriya Katsuhisa . Kyō ishi no rekishi . Kodansha, 1978.!
!
Morris 1991!
Ivan Morris. The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. Columbia University Press, 1991.!
!
Nagano 2004!
Nagano Jōichi . Otenmon enjō Ban Dainagon . Bensei Shuppan, 2004. !
!
Nakamura 2006!
Nakamura Hirotoshi Fudoki tanbō jiten . Tōkyōdō Shuppan, 2006. !
!
Nichiren 2013!
Nichiren. “The Two Kinds of Illness,” in The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin. Soka Gakkai, trans.,
2013. Accessed online March 1, 2014. !
!
Nishitsunoi 1990!
Nishitsunoi Masayoshi . Minzoku geino . Gyosei Shohan, 1990.!
!
Nishiyama 2004!
Nishiyama Ryohei . Toshi Heiankyo . Kyoto: Kyoto Daigaku Gakujutsu
Shuppansha, 2004.!
!
Ohnuki-Tierney 1987!
Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney. The Monkey as Mirror. Princeton University Press, 1987. !
!
Okada 1991!
Richard H. Okada. Figures of Resistance: Language Poetry, and Narrating in the Tale of the Genji and
Other Mid-Heian Texts. Duke University Press, 1991.!
!
Okada 2000!
Okada Seishi . Kyō no yashiro . Hanawa Shobō. 2000.!
!
!
69
Ooms 2009!
Herman Ooms. Imperial Politics and Symbolics in Ancient Japan. University of Hawai’i Press, 2009.!
!
Ooshima 1985!
Ooshima Tatehiko . Ekijin to sono shūhen . Iwasaki Bijutsusha, 1985. !
!
Philippi 1968!
Donald Philippi. Kojiki. University of Tokyo Press, 1968.!
!
Sakai 1982!
Sakai Shizu . Nihon no iryōshi . Shoseki Kabushikigaisha, 1982.!
!
Shiga 1981!
Shiga Takeshi “Nihon ni okeru ekijin shinkō no seisei” . Shintō-
shi Kenkyū, vol. 29, No. 3 (1981), pp. 149-175. !
!
Shigeta 2013!
Shigeta Shin’ichi. “A Portrait of Abe no Seimei” in Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 40
(2013), pp. 77-97. !
!
Shively and McCullough 1999!
Donald H. Shively, William H. McCullough, ed. The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2: Heian
Japan. University of Cambridge Press, 1999. !
!
Suzuki 2011!
Suzuki Yui. Medicine Master Buddha: The Iconic Worship of Yakushi in Heian Japan. Leiden: Brill,
2011. !
!
Takahashi 1990!
Takahashi Masaaki . “Yogore no Kyoto, goryō-e, bushi” .
Atarashii rekishigaku no tame ni, no. 199 (July 1990), pp. 1-13. !
!
Takuya 2012!
Takuya Hino. “Ocean of Suffering, Boat of Compassion: A Study of the Fudaraku Tokai and
Urashima in Anecdotal (Setsuwa) Literature.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, vol. 80
(2012), pp. 1049-1076.!
!
Tamba 1986!
Yasuyori Tamba. The Essentials of Medicine in Ancient China and Japan, Part One, Emil C. H. Hsia,
Ilza Veith, and Robert H. Geertsma, trans. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1986.!
!
Tanaka 2006!
Tanaka Takako. “Understanding Mononoke Over the Ages,” translated for Japan Echo, Vol. 33,
No. 5, (October 2006). Accessed online May 1, 2014. #
70
!
!
Tatsukawa 1984!
Tatsukawa Shōji . Yamai to ningen no bunkashi . Shinchō Sensho, 1984. !
!
Teramoto 1994!
John Teramoto. “The Yamai no Soshi: A Critical Reevaluation of its Importance to Japanese
Secular Painting of the Twelfth Century.” Dissertation, Proquest, 1994. !
!
Tonomura 1994!
Hitomi Tonomura, “Black Hair and Red Trousers: Gendering the Flesh in Medieval Japan,” The
American Historical Review, vol. 99 (1994), pp. 129-154.!
!
Tyler 2002!
Murasaki Shikibu. The Tale of Genji. Royall Tyler, trans. New York: Penguin, 2002. !
!
Von Verschuer 2006!
Charlotte von Verschuer. Across the Perilous Sea: Japanese Trade with China and Korea from the
Seventh to the Sixteenth Centuries. East Asia Program Cornell University, 2006. !
!
Wakita 1964!
Wakita Haruko. “Chūsei no Gion-e.” Geino-shi kenkyū, Issue 4 (1964), pp. 11-28.!
!
Wakita 1997!
Wakita Haruko. “Fêtes et communautés urbaines dans le Japon médiéval: La fête de Gion à
Kyôto.” Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales. 52e Anné, No. 5 (1997), pp. 1039-1056.!
!
Wanagi 2007!
Wanagi Azusa . “Gyōyakurugyōjin kangae” . Tsukuba Daigaku
Heikebukai Ronshū (March 31, 2007), pp. 75-84. !
!
Winfield 2005!
Pamela Winfield. “Kaji Healing and Esoteric Empowerment.” Japanese Journal of Religious
Studies, vol. 32 (2005), pp. 107-130. !
!
Winfield 2012!
Pamela Winfield. “Esoteric Images of Light and Life at Osaka Kokubunji, Japan,” Southeast
Review of Asian Studies, vol. 34 (2012), pp. 128-52.!
!!
! !
!
!
71

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The Konjaku monogatari-shū was composed at the end of the worst epidemiological period in Premodern Japan. The setsuwa in the collection illustrate the myriad of healing methods and the figures who applied them: doctors, priests, and onmyōdō masters. Despite the variety of figures and healing methods, the setsuwa collection only offers ekijin (epidemic kami) as an explanation for epidemics. This thesis explores the roles of various healers during the Heian Period against the backdrop of epidemics, as well as the various portrayals of ekijin and epidemic-related goryō (vengeful spirits) in the Konjaku monogatari-shū.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

The Heian origins of Japan's high cuisine, 794-1185

PDF

Late medieval Japan's Seto Inland seascape: shipping, sailors, and seafaring

PDF

Exploring late Ming Taizhou philosophies within Ueda Akinari’s Ugetsu monogatari: a comparative study of two contemporaneous “heresies” in early modern Japanese and late imperial Chinese intellec...

PDF

The lady of the eighth ward: political, economic, and military power of nyoin during the twelfth century, Japan

PDF

Property and inheritance rights of women in twelfth‐ and thirteenth‐century Japan

PDF

Tools of authority: the Saionji family and courtier society in early medieval Japan

PDF

Making the realm, transforming the people: foreign subjects in seventh- through ninth-century Japan

PDF

Hysteria in Lourdes and miracles at the Salpêtrière: the intersection of faith and medical discourse in late nineteenth-century French literature

PDF

The space of Japanese science fiction: illustration, subculture, and the body in SF Magazine

PDF

Investigating the production and perception of reduced speech: a cross-linguistic look at articulatory coproduction and compensation for coarticulation

PDF

Loneliness in Japanese media: empathizing with hidden outcasts in a stagnant society

PDF

Reclaiming the book-object: appropriated texts in 21st century poetry

PDF

Making the modern scholar-priest: Buddhist universities and clerical education reform in Meiji Japan

PDF

In defense of “prose”; and, Concrete flag

PDF

Using Landsat and a Bayesian hard classifier to study forest change in the Salmon Creek Watershed area from 1972–2013

PDF

The geobiology of fluvial, lacustrine, and marginal marine carbonate microbialites (Pleistocene, Miocene, and Late Triassic) and their environmental significance

PDF

The distribution of B-vitamins in two contrasting aquatic systems, and implications for their ecological and biogeochemical roles

Asset Metadata

Creator Warren, Emily Rose (author)

Core Title Sick days in the Konjaku monogatari-shū: healing and epidemics in late Heian Japan

School College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program East Asian Languages and Cultures

Publication Date 10/07/2014

Defense Date 10/07/2014

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Buddhism,Demons,disease,Doctors,ekijin,Emily,epidemics,gods,Healing,Heian,illness,kami,Konjaku,Medicine,OAI-PMH Harvest,onmyōdō,Outcasts,plague,setsuwa,Shintoism,smallpox,Warren,yin-yang

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Bialock, David T. (committee chair), Piggott, Joan R. (committee member), Shimazaki, Satoko (committee member)

Creator Email ewarren@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-488549

Unique identifier UC11287828

Identifier etd-WarrenEmil-3005.pdf (filename),usctheses-c3-488549 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-WarrenEmil-3005.pdf

Dmrecord 488549

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Warren, Emily Rose

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA