TAOISM IN JAPAN: POSITIONS AND EVALUATIONS

Author(s): Livia Kohn

Source: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie , 1995, Vol. 8, Mémorial Anna Seidel : Religions
traditionnelles d'Asie orientale (Tome I) (1995), pp. 389-412
Published by: École française d’Extrême-Orient

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 TAOISM IN JAPAN: POSITIONS AND EVALUATIONS*

Livia KOHN

Considérant globalement les études taoïstes au Japon, on

peut classer les matériaux dits " taoïstes ", ainsi que leurs
interprétations, en trois catégories. Parmi ce qui est considéré
comme taoïste, citons : 1) des aspects génériques de la culture
chinoise fYijing, philosophie du yin-yang, calendriers); 2) les
premiers matériaux taoïstes (philosophie de Laozi et
Zhuangzi, croyance dans l'immortalité, techniques de
longévité et médecine); 3) des concepts et pratiques du
taoïsme religieux (divinités et cosmologie, rituels et symboles,
talismans et charmes).
Trois tendances se dessinent parmi les interprétations
des spécialistes japonais selon la relation du spécialiste vis-
à-vis du kokugaku et du shinto officiel : traditionnelle,
iconoclaste et neutre. Les trois tendances se distinguent par
des méthodes différentes de travail et abordent le taoïsme
dans des domaines bien particuliers de la culture japonaise.
Les représentants de la tendance neutre restent en dehors
du débat sur le shinto et se concentrent sur le taoïsme
intégré dans les sectes bouddhiques, la médecine
traditionnelle et d'autres domaines peu controversés de la
culture japonaise. Les chercheurs traditionalistes
perpétuent la tradition du kokugaku et se contentent le plus
souvent d'une simple étude philologique sur les éléments
taoïstes dans les textes de l'ancienne aristocratie japonaise
et les documents impériaux. Les iconoclastes, enfin,
éminemment représentés par les très nombreux travaux de
Fukunaga Mitsuji, rassemblent leurs matériaux dans
l'archéologie et le rituel et utilisent des méthodes plus
anthropologiques que philologiques. Si leur analyse est
critique, leur démarche tend à prouver que la plus grande
part du shinto ancien revient au taoïsme, au sens le plus
large. Quelle que soit la tendance, les travaux japonais sur
le taoïsme reflètent le plus souvent une forte influence du
milieu culturel de leurs auteurs.

* The research of which this paper is one result was made possible by a grant from the
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. I would like to take this opportunity to express
my appreciation for their generous support. I would also like to thank Hubert Durt and
George Hlawatsch for their helpful suggestions and criticism.

Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie 8 (1995) : 389-412.

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390 Livia Kohn

Introduction

The presence of Taoism in

Together with the massi
periods - as well as through
Taoism undoubtedly ente
consternation, however, is
transmitted and where and t
Part of the problem is o
question that has goaded J
(Fukui et al. 1983), is curre
anthologies, and referenc
1991), and has caused We
perplexity of the term (see
Taoism as a religion is a m
these were, in one way or a
Laozi ^ī1 and Zhuangzi ff
Chinese, Taoism includes p
the apocrypha, the doctrin
associated with divinatio
geomancy, dream-interp
Then, of course, there is
longevity and even immor
exercises, dietary practices
has its share of shamanis
1983,25; 1990, June 3).
Many of these things, wh
vital to the Taoist religion
heritage that were transmit
On the other hand, Taoism
religion. Based largely on B
monastic and lay institu
procedures, esoteric practic
Little of this, if not actua
Korea, there were no ordain
even a complete set of Taois
Nevertheless there were p

1 There was a place in ear

described as a guan in Niho
for Taoist monastery, scholars
was a Taoist institution, othe
al 1987b, 9.

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 Taoism in Japan: Positions and Evaluations 391

worldview that did not come in any other guise and yet exerted an impa
Japanese culture. The question of the presence and role of Taoism in Japan is
first of all a question of definition, then a question of degree. What have sch
proposed on the subject so far?

Articles in Western Languages

Western scholars have paid little attention to the problem, and those who
tend to deal with areas not inalienably Taoist, describing aspects of Chinese cul
that were only vaguely associated with Taoism.
Felicia Bock's work is a case in point. Known for her outstanding translatio
the Engi-shiki (Bock 1 970), she has also compiled a slim volume entitled Class
Learning and Taoist Practice in Early Japan (Bock 1985). The work discuss
Ommyõkan, the Bureau of Yin and Yang PäPIfIb, an important institution in
Japan that regulated the calendar and the ritual cycle. While associating
undoubtedly Chinese system specifically with Taoism, Bock forestalls any fu
inquiry into other areas of Taoist presence in Japan. She says,

Their [the Japanese] Taoist texts appear to be limited to the I-ching

treatises on the Five Forces and on astronomy-astrology. (1985, 16)

The Taoism she speaks about has little to do with the organized religion. In fact,
areas she mentions are all generic parts of the Chinese worldview and were transm
as part of administration and official state doctrine. Taoism as such does not appea
Byron Earhart goes one step further. In his anthology of Japanese reli
Earhart presents three different sections on Taoism in Japan. One of them rep
the fallacies of Felicia Bock. "Influence of Religious Taoism on Popular Be
(Section 1 5) is a mere recitation of taboo days and "the teachings of the Ommy
(Earhart 1974, 80-84). Another, "The Transformation of Religious Taoism in a
Religion" (Section 16), branches out a little further but still confuses Taoism
popular religion. It presents the deity Konjin, a baleful but mighty god who ro
prominence among Japanese peasantry in the nineteenth century, as a Taoist g
fact, however, the cult was taken over from Chinese popular religion and goes
to the Yin-Yang thinking of the calendar and ritual cycle (1974, 84-87).
Then, however, Earhart has a piece of genuine Taoist practice in Jap
"Religious Taoism in a Japanese Cult" (Section 14; 1974, 76-80) describe
Kõshin cult, whose doctrine goes back to Taoism, even if its practice to
entirely Buddhist. Kõshin is the fifty-seventh day of the sixty-day calendar c
On this day, the three death-bringing "worms" in the human body ascend to
administration of heaven and report on people's sins. With proper orders
above, the worms then return to the body and proceed to shorten people's li
making them sick and miserable. To prevent them from doing too much har

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 392 Livia Kohn

people stay awake during

can be traced back to four
the Heian period but the
kongõ ff the Blue-faced
since Kamakura times.

The Kõshin cult is the most obvious and best known instance of Taoism in Japan.
Accordingly it has been treated severally in English: by Dale Saunders (1960),
Kubo Noritada (1959), and the present author (Kohn 1993a). In all cases the studies
are based on the extensive research by Kubo (see below).
Another item of genuine Taoist practice in Japan is found in medical literature,
summarized in English by Sakade Yoshinobu (1989). Techniques of longevity and
immortality, originally inspired by Taoist religious practice, have been part of
Japanese medical works ever since Tamba no Yasuyori's fíž&JSííPi Ishimpõ
of 984. However, just as the Kõshin cult was coopted by Buddhism, so immortality
techniques became part of traditional health care. Taoism as a religion was
transformed and adapted.
This process of merging and adaptation, on the other hand, has to do with the
nature of Taoism itself and is not limited to Japan. Taoism has always existed in
symbiosis with both Chinese Buddhism and traditional medicine, a fact that makes
the religion so difficult to define but also allows for its transmission into different
cultural spheres. As regard to medicine in particular, physical longevity techniques
were part of the medical tradition even before the advent of Taoism as an organized
religion. This is documented in the "Gymnastics Chart" (see Despeux 1989) and in
sexual manuals found in tombs from the Qin and Han dynasties (see Harper 1987).
The Taoists later coopted the health practices, unwillingly at first (see Strickmann
1985), but eventually to such a degree that, by the Tang, Taoist masters often were
also leading physicians (see Engelhardt 1989).
Within medicine, on the other hand, Taoist techniques are found that lead
specifically toward immortality, a goal never included in purely medical practice
(see Akahori 1989). Coming form the same worldview and methodology, both
traditional Chinese medicine and Taoism have similar cures, techniques, and
prescriptions. But where medicine stops at the attainment of a personal harmony, an
equilibrium of self and nature, Taoism moves on to the transcendence of both self
and nature in immortality (see Kohn 1988).
It is thus not surprising that medical documents have some Taoist methods, while
Taoist texts contain medical techniques. Japanese physicians, eager to learn all they
could about Chinese health methods, included them in their scrutiny. Longevity and
even immortality techniques became part of the Japanese medical tradition.2

2 There are also some instances where citations of Taoist texts that were lost in China
survive in Japan. A good example is chapter 28 of the Ishimpõ Ü'L^ on sexual techniques.
See Ishihara and Levy 1968; Wile 1992.

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 Taoism in Japan: Positions and Evaluations 393

Seen from the reflection of Taoist elements in Japan, Taoism emerge

phenomenon of three distinct types. It is first a part of Chinese traditional thi
in general, a philosophy that is represented in Yin/Yang thought and Y
divination. This should not be called Taoism at all. Its heavy impact on Japan is
of the overall import of Chinese culture.
Next it is a more specific complex of ideas, including the ancient Ta
philosophy of Laozi and Zhuangzi, concepts and myths of immortality
medical practices leading to long life. This part we might, for the sak
distinction in this presentation, call proto-Taoist. Most of its aspects go back
before the first organized Taoist movement under Zhang Daoling in the s
century C.E. and only later developed to form an important aspect of Ta
They, too, were part of Chinese culture in general and transmitted to J
bringing with them a sense of Taoism.
Third, Taoism is an organized religion that developed in the Chinese m
ages. This includes ancient philosophy and immortality in a ritualized and com
transformed way. The three worms of the Köshin cult, for example, were a pu
medical phenomenon in the Later Han, but with the development of rel
Taoism grew into demonic officials of the celestial administration. Certain se
aspects of this kind of Taoism have exerted an influence on Japanese religion
which the Köshin cult is the most obvious example.
An article that takes up the problem of the definition of Taoism in this cont
Kubo Noritada's study of the Chinese kitchen-god belief in Okinawa (Kubo 19
The stove god is male in China and female in Okinawa. The Chinese cult is ha
mostly by men; the Okinawan worship is the task of women. The belief that
stove god ascends to heaven at New Year's to report on the family's beha
universal in China but selective in Okinawa. All this shows, says Kubo, a thor
mixture, if not actually confusion, of the Chinese kitchen god belief with indig
Okinawan fire-god worship (1974, 111).
Beyond the differences in cult and culture, the study also indicates th
Chinese religious beliefs, and therefore Taoism, spread beyond China. Kubo a
the question of what exactly Taoism is. Is it an ethnic religion, inherently C
and thus bound to a Chinese cultural environment? Or is it a universal religi
which addresses primarily the individual and is thus flexible in its social setting
The question, as Kubo points out, is crucial not only to analyzing form
Taoism beyond China but also to understanding religious Taoism as such
102). The study of kitchen-god worship leads him to conclude that Taoism as
organized religion was not transmitted and did not gain a foothold in Okinaw
the other hand, there are distinctly Chinese beliefs that made an impact on th
culture and shaped its religious life. He thus proposes to distinguish between
dissemination of a belief and that of a fully organized religion (1974, 115), a
that is well applicable to the situation of Taoism in Japan.

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394 Livia Kohn

The most recent and mos

Japan more critically is A
the West, 1950-1990" (Seid
early transmission of Taoi
on Japanese culture and t
two levels and kinds of tr
histories and archaeology,
and the court ritual; and a
Buddhist texts and practi
the Northern Dipper and t
Anna Seidel indicates the
clearly between different
beyond the study of gene
immortals' myths and f
difficult texts that might c
Another point Anna Seide
and thus also Taoist, influ
political implications. The
Positions taken among Ja
more than just scholarly o

Japanese Studies

The elevation of Shintõ to

myth of Japanese uniquen
Dale 1986). Geared to supp
world, the system of Stat
"divine imperial state" (s
beyond recognition and m
nearly impossible (see Har
This strong ideology, bui
forms in contemporary J

Virtually all Japanese Sh

academic lineage from th
approach is decidedly ap
central to the studies by
Japanese historians and
other hand, tend to view
the people in Shintõ ideo
and democratic social m

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 Taoism in Japan: Positions and Evaluations 395

Following a similar pattern of polarization, one can discern three positions o

role of Taoism in Japan: traditional, iconoclastic, and neutral. The traditional
apologetic attitude concentrates on the transmission of elements that we have
proto-Taoist, philosophy and immortality ideas, among the aristocrats in
Japan. It conforms to traditional patterns by never questioning the sour
critically evaluating the exact role Taoist elements played in early Japan.
The iconoclastic position, on the extreme other end, sees even - or ma
especially - such crucial key elements of Japanese identity as the Tenno syst
and the origin myths as shaped by Taoism. It concentrates largely on the tra
of religious Taoism, is critical of the texts, and makes use of archaeolo
sources. The Tenno here appears as the Japanese adaptation of a Taoist go
immortal. Japanese uniqueness is seriously undermined by proving the fo
origin of its holiest feature.
The neutral stance, finally, accepts the presence of Taoist elements, both prot
religious, within Japanese religious and cultural life and proposes a clea
succinct analysis. At the same time, it stays away from sensitive areas
concentrates on Taoist elements within a Buddhist, medical, or popular environm

The Neutral Position

Anything far removed from official ideology, such as sectarian Budd

practice, is neutral to the Shintò debate. Thus, not surprisingly, the most prof
and detailed scholarship on Taoism in Japan has been done in this area, which
also the best documented in English articles.
The Kõshin phenomenon is a case in point. Entirely irrelevant to state ideo
Kõshin goes back to a clearly Taoist practice and has, adapted by secta
Buddhism, played a minor if steady role in Japanese religious life since the
period. Kubo Noritada in particular studied it extensively and has published f
books on the subject.
First is his Kõshin shinkõ (The Kõshin Cult) of 1956, preceded by artic
various scholarly journals (Kubo 1955, 1955a, 1956a).3 The work desc
presents Kõshin practice in Japan, analyzes its structure and social implication
discusses the background of the phenomenon in religious Taoism.
In 1961, Kubo published his Kõshin shinkõ no kenkyü (Studies on the K
Cult) of more than 1,000 pages. This includes more concrete examples o
practice throughout Japan, more details on its Taoist and Tantric backgrounds
studies of the various texts associated with the cult. It has two appendi
chronological list of all mentions of Kõshin meetings in Japanese histor
literature from 724 to 1874, and reprints of various Kõshin engi Iiis (local re

3 For characters of authors' names and titles, see the bibliography.

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 396 Livia Kohn

on the origin of the cult),

The first of these appe
Kõshin shinkõ no kenkyü
Records). This version inc
overall and more explanato
Kubo 's fourth book on t
Kõshin practice as undert
(respectively located off t
The volume is entitled Kõ
Cult: The Islands). Again,
organization of the beliefs
The fifth and last volume
on Kõshin and Popular Cu
present author. It seems t
cult with other Japanese p
Beyond these books, info
of its Tantric connection
Kõshin , published by t
Tõkyõ. The latter contain
techniques, Tantric Buddh
Kõshin-related stone inscr
Similarly serious, if less
on Japanese medical work
addition, some dispassiona
(Hirohata 1965; Yanagisa
1965). Both deities entere
the Dipper in particular b
Masuo 1991; Grapard 199

The Traditional Position

This continues the attitudes and methods of Kokugaku National Learning,

which laid the foundation for State Shintõ before the Meiji Restoration. Kokugaku
scholars identified similarities between ancient Japanese and Chinese texts, but
either brushed them aside or turned around the direction of influence. Their ultimate
purpose was to prove the truth of the imperial myth.4
In terms of Taoism in Japan, the work by Hirata Atsutane łEHMJiL (1775-1843)

4 An irony of history in this context is that the exacting philological methods as well as
the urge to go back to the most original sources, through which Kokugaku scholars pursued
the greater glory of Shintõ, were originally adapted from Neo-Confucian scholarship of the
Ming and Qing. See Hammitzsch 1936, 2.

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 Taoism in Japan : Positions and Evaluations 397

is of special interest. He was an eager follower, if never a personal studen

Motoori Norinaga ÍCÂ and strove hard to elucidate the culture of ancient Japa
in its pure form. Not only the last major Shintõ thinker before the Meiji Restora
Hirata was also an outstanding sinologist. He spent his youth reading Chinese t
and had at first no great enthusiasm for the ancient books of Japan (Hammit
1936, 9), but later put his Chinese expertise to extensive use.
His most Taoist-inspired work is the Sekken taikoden (Ancient
Traditions of the Red Province). The book remained unfinished at his death and
consists of three rolls, today published in volume six of his collected works (163
pages; Hirata 1912-19). The "Red Province" in the title refers to China, indicating
the overall outlook of the work. It examines passages taken from the Chronicles
with the help of Chinese, and in particular Taoist, sources. Hirata establishes their
links in terms of similar themes, plots, personal and geographical names. He uses
the Daode jing Huainanzi iftiíŤ, Liezi and Heguanzi HISŤ of
philosophical Taoism; the Shanhai jing Li] íftS, Shuijing zhu zKi&iì, Shuyi ji SU
E, Sanwu liji HÄßSS, Zhenzhong ji ttŤIS, and Lüshi chunqiu on
Chinese mythology (proto-Taoism); as well as the Laozi zhongjing
Shizhou ji and Han Wudi neizhuan SÏÂ'SrrtfiÎ of religious Taoist origin. In
addition, he cites apocryphal texts of the Han dynasty, which were also forerunners
of religious Taoist texts (Fukunaga 1978a, 94-95 and 1982, 27-29).5
In his evaluation of the materials, however, Hirata reverses the historical
sequence and direction of transmission. All Chinese documents he cites, so he
claims, are secondary to originally Japanese sources and ideas, the transmission
went from Japan to China, and all occurrences of similar information in Chinese
texts are fragmented and altered. This twist of scholarly ingenuity takes the
traditional position to an extreme. At the same time it is a useful example of where
uncritical philology can lead.
Scholars today, especially Naba, Matsuda and Shimode, do not go that far. They
recognize the historical facts of transmission from China to Japan and accept the basic
presence of Taoism in Japan. Nevertheless some still take the accounts of the
Chronicles as unquestioned truth and occasionally go back to Motoori Norinaga for
interpretation of specific terms and ideas. Their methods are primarily philological,
preparing lists of passages from the Chronicles and other early Japanese sources that
contain Taoist terms and relating them to Chinese texts. However, while doing so they
never stop to never ask what kind of Taoism, of what period or provenance, they face,
nor what impact it had on Japan, how important it was, or what exact role it played.
The picture they paint is deceiving. From their reading and presentation of the
sources it seems that concepts and myths of immortality were pervasive in Japan
from as early as the first century C.E. and mixed easily with native Japanese ideas.
This may or may not have been the case, but the fact remains that the Chronicles

5 For more on the relation of the apocrypha to religious Taoism, see Seidel 1983.

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398 Livia Kohn

represent Japanese thinkin

the legitimation of imper
Han-dynasty type, are use
do with Taoism as a religio
formed an integral part o
the Tang t in particular
entered Japan not as sp
indication of the presen
borderline phenomenon -
surrounding its proper
traditional position.
Typical signs of Taoism c
land, meetings of empero
disappearance of corpses
through the sky. In all ca
undoubtedly Taoist backg
legitimation. The case of t
The key passage in ancien
OS, is in Nihonshoki 6 un
Tennõ (70 C.E.). On the 14t

the Emperor died in t

Winter, the 12th month
in Suga-hara.
The next year, Spring,
from the Eternal Land,
eight sticks and eight bu

The envoy, who has gone

Majesty, learns that the em

Receiving the Celestial C

Afar I went to a remote
Ten thousand ri I crossed
Distantly I passed over t
This Eternal Land

Is no other than the mysterious realm of gods and immortals,

To which ordinary mortals cannot attain.
Therefore in going thither and returning,
Ten years have naturally passed.
Beyond my expectations, I braved alone the towering billows,
Turning my way again towards my own land.
Thus, trusting in the spirits of the Emperors,

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 Taoism in Japan: Positions and Evaluations 399

I hardly accomplished my return.

But now the Emperor is dead,
I am unable to report my mission.
Though I should remain alive,
What more would it avail me?

Then turning his face towards the misasagi of the Emperor, he wept aloud,
and so of himself he died. (Aston 1956, 1: 186-87)

The eternal land, as it is described here, indeed bears a close resemblance to the
paradises of Taoist immortals as they have been known from Han times onward.
Located on the isles surrounding Penglai 3Ë ^ in the eastern sea or on the heights of
Mount Kunlun in the western mountains, they are invariably far away from
human habitation, "many ten thousand //." Surrounded by a stream of "weak water,"
i.e., water so weak it will not even float a feather, the paradises rise up to majestic
heights and are crowned with golden towers, jeweled palaces, and trees that grow
marvelous fruits.6

Japanese scholars identify the eternal land as the abode of the immortals, located
beyond the common dimensions of space and time. However, far from being merely
a Taoist motif, some Japanese texts also link it with yomi the land of the dead.
Motoori Norinaga distinguished three meanings of the eternal land: eternal
darkness, i.e., the long night, the time when the sun goddess was hiding in the cave;
permanence, i.e., a state of unchanging nature, where everything stays as it is; and
the distant land of no-death. He saw the third as basic among the three, the most
originally Japanese, the other two being secondary and due to later Chinese
influence. Modern scholars disagree and plead for a higher importance of
immortality beliefs without, however, analyzing the sources or defining the Taoist
background (Shimode 1953, 56).7
While the description of the eternal land clearly echoes ancient Taoist ideas, the
presence of the term in other Japanese sources widens the scope of interpretation.
More than that, the envoy's task to bring back some of the immortals' delights to the
emperor is reminiscent of the search early Chinese emperors undertook for the elixir
of immortality as well as of the tribute they received from far-off foreign shores.8

6 See the description of Mount Kunlun in the Shizhou ji (Smith 1990) and in Du
Guangting's ͱt¥;1I biography of the Queen Mother of the West (Cahill 1993). For an
analysis, see Loewe 1979; Sofukawa 1981. A similar description of the eternal land, strongly
reminiscent of Chinese visions, is also found in the Shoku nihongi. See Nakamura 1983, 7-8;
1990, June 17.
7 Similar discussions are also contained in Shimode 1968 and 1972.
8 See especially the biography of the Emperor Wu of the Han iHī^iĪr (140-86 B.C.E.). He
was both a seeker for immortality and the ruler of an enormously widespread empire. His
Neizhuan ňft or "esoteric biography," in particular, recounts the travels the courtier and
jester Dongfang Shuo undertook on his behalf. See Schipper 1965; Smith 1992.

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400 Livia Kohn

Seen in this context, the tale

form of imperial legitimation
monarch to whom even imm
envoy thinks nothing of trav
dies when he finds his effo
impact on Japanese culture,
willingly adopted by the cour
The same holds true for th
Yuriaki, a story where the l

The god attended on the

Kume. At this time the p
1956, 1: 341-42; see Naba

It also applies to the tale of

court with divine approva
1983, 13), as well as to the
death (Aston 1956, 1: 210-
1983, 10-11).
The traditional position al
visit to the dragon king's p
monogatari" , in which a
(see Shimode 1955), among i
Yang system and its imp
204-52), the forms and deve
88), as well as the office
arts" (Shimode 1972, 253-94
Again, while all these have
Taoism nor the biases of th
Japanese culture and religi
An analysis does not take p
are never doubted, the uniq
Still, philology has its u
scholarship, and extreme p
dynamics of opposites, the
to foster an aggressively ic
position make ample use
Ironical though it may be
reawakening of the inheren
1936, 24), in trying to
predominance in the world,
helped to undermine some o

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 Taoism in Japan: Positions and Evaluations 401

The Iconoclastic Position

Most recent Japanese studies on Taoism in Japan tend to dismantle ancient

myths. Taoism is not only present, it is decisive. Even the core of the ancient
worldview, the Tennõ system, is but a development of originally Taoist ideas. Taoist
influence pervades old Japan - overlooked and ignored, explained away and
apologized due to political reasons.
The prime mover of the iconoclastic position within Japan, whose work is
accordingly controversial around the country, is Fukunaga Mitsuji. Born in northern
Kyüshü in 1918, he graduated from Kyoto University in 1942 and was immediately
drafted into the army. Until the end of the war he was deployed on the Chinese
mainland, from where he was repatriated in 1947. A teaching career followed,
mostly in Kyõto, and since 1974 at the Institute for Research in Humanities.
Fukunaga is one of Japan's senior and best known sinologists. His life's work
deals with the religious thought of Laozi and Zhuangzi in ancient and medieval
China (see Knaul 1985). He is the senior Zhuangzi scholar in the world today, and
his translation of the text has served as the basis for Burton Watson's rendition into
English (Fukunaga 1978b; Watson 1968). He is also an outstanding expert on
religious Taoism and has done some unequalled studies of Taoist symbols and ideas,
in some cases linking them convincingly with parallel phenomena in Japan
(Fukunaga 1973 and 1987a: 1-70).9
The war brought him toward a more religious and personally meaningful
understanding of the Zhuangzi that guided his research in this area (Fukunaga
1978b, postscript; Knaul 1985, 71). Similarly it also raised the problem of his
identity as a Japanese. He began to ask questions about the imperial system and its
history. What kind of people is this, fighting a bloody war under a god? How did
this system come to be politically constituted? What are its antecedents? What
ultimately is this all about? (Fukunaga 1982, 4)
Such questions inspired his extensive studies of the role Taoism played in
shaping early Japanese culture and especially the Tennõ system. He tried to see the
ideology of State Shinto and its historical roots in their true perspective, reduce the
myth of Japanese uniqueness to its bare bones, and eventually do away with it
altogether. Fukunaga sees himself as a successor of Hirata Atsutane in terms of
sinological scholarship and of Tsuda Sõkichi (1873-1961) in regard to
the critical analysis of Japanese history. He began his venture into the contentious
arena of Japanese history by engaging in a dialogue with Ueyama Shunpei and
Ueda Masaaki, his colleagues at Kyõto University. Gradually he convinced Ueda of
his views, inspiring him to write on the Korean impact on Japan (Ueda 1986) and
on the role of Taoism in this context (Ueda 1989).

9 For an exemplary study of kokuho , "National treasure," a religious and political term
valid throughout East Asia, see also Seidel 1981 .

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 402 Livia Kohn

Fukunaga's first book

tennõsei (Taoism and the
three scholars plus record
the Japanese imperial i
mabito MA (Fukunaga,
nature of ancient Japanes
and the Tennõ system and
round-table discussion inc
the Immortals," "Shrine
Tennõ System."
His next book, Dõkyõ t
consists of eighteen short
more on the Tennõ syst
notes on specific points o
the twelve ranks establish
the Heian; images of imm
texts; the reception of Lao
The book is a compendiu
seems to carefully make
apparently haphazardly
Individual authors and art
and Edo reception - they
larger picture, is not yet cl
The first and so far be
appeared first in his Dõ
1985). Divided into six c
Fukunaga's scholarship. It deals with Kõbõ daishi's understanding of
Chinese culture (see also Nakamura 1990, 26 August); the developmental
chronology of Chinese "religious philosophy" (shükyö tetsugaku the key
concepts of Lao-Zhuang and Taoist thought; the analysis of the Tennõ system;
questions of methodology; and the textual analysis of Japanese origin myths in
relation to religious Taoist texts unavailable to Hirata Atsutane.
The key to Fukunaga's understanding is his periodization. Chinese religious
worldview, according to him, developed in four stages. From the Shang to the
Warring States period or third century B.C.E., shamanism or the "way of the
ghosts" ( guidao ÄÄ) dominated Chinese thinking. This corresponds to animism or
spiritism, the primitive cosmology of interaction between all living and natural
forces of the universe (see Douglas 1967).
Second, from the third century B.C.E. to the third century C.E., the Chinese
underwent a phase of shendao ttil, "the way of the gods." This is the original

10 Similar topics are also discussed, though less iconoclastically, in Nakamura 1990.

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 Taoism in Japan: Positions and Evaluations 403

pattern for Japanese Shintõ, both in conceptualization and terminology. The

Shinto itself, to be sure, occurs first in the commentary to the Yijing , unde
hexagram guan tt, "contemplation" (Wilhelm 1950, 486). Cosmological forces l
yin and yang and the supreme deity of the Tao or heaven replaced the demon
ghosts of the dead. Shamanistic exorcism gave way to formal, positive ritual.
Third, from the third to sixth centuries C.E., zhendao ÄÄ flourished, "the
of realization." This indicates the mystical teachings of Dark Learning
religious Taoism, the cultivation of inner nature and the practice of meditati
Buddhism entered China during this phase and added its own varian
introspection and mystical attainment.
The last stage, then, from the sixth century onward, Fukunaga calls shengda
il or "the way of the sage." This is characterized by the presence of large, form
organized religious institutions, the synthesis of Buddhism and Taoism, and t
religious ideal of the salvation of all beings (Fukunaga 1980; 1985, 37).
While these phases are clearly distinguished, the arrival of a new period doe
mean the complete dissolution of earlier patterns. Therefore, while Taoism
introduced to Japan during the third and fourth Chinese phases, it still brought m
earlier ideas along. The Chinese form of shamanism was then linked with the n
animism of Japan. Shendao was transformed into Shintõ and became the orig
form of Japanese higher religion, including the understanding of the gods in the
chapters of the Chronicles .
The "way of realization," the mystical vision of religious Taoism, in due co
became the root of the Tennö system. It is responsible for the ideal of the Jap
emperor as a mixture between the Taoist deity Tianhuang (= Tennõ), the Cele
Sovereign and supreme ruler of heaven, and the zhenren ( mabito ), the "realize
or fully developed immortal of the Taoist religion. Last, but not least, the "way
sage" entered Japan in the guise of organized sectarian Buddhism. It brought it
specific Taoist elements, practices of exorcism and healing, as well as deities, su
the god of Mount Tai and the Northern Dipper. Providing textual, archaeologica
systematic evidence, Fukunaga undermines the earlier, traditional position and
the fundamental roots of Japanese culture particularly in Taoism.
The following volume, Dõkyõ to kodai Nihon (Taoism and Ancient Ja
1987), again contains isolated essays on specific issues. It consists of altog
fourteen pieces, seven longer and seven shorter ones. Among the brief notes o
than ten pages, there are more textual analyses of the myths in the Chronic
report on a visit to Maoshan (the center of Highest Clarity Taoism), a stu
an ancient Japanese sword, and two notes on Shintõ shrines. The longer artic
include a systematic presentation of his views on the Tennõ system, a regional
on the relation of Japan and Jiangnan (south China), work on Taoist infl
during the Asuka period, reflections on Taoism in the life and thinking of Õ
Yasumaro 8 (the author of the Chronicles , d. 723), as well as two more

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404 Livia Kohn

strictly sinological essays

A third volume publishe
Japan), a cooperative wo
Takahashi Tõru who are
bulk of the book assembl
and is followed by a discu
text goes back to a series
between January 1986 an
Most contributions are g
photographs, ranging f
including Kyoto and the
dolls, protective talismans
The work as a whole giv
materials indicative of th
artifacts, sculpture and st
Fukunaga takes yet anoth
higashi Ajia : Chügoku, C
1989). It contains eleven ar
assembled under his guida
Culture (Higashi Ajia kiso bunka kenkyükai Moving
beyond philology, scholars here examine the ritual activities
representations central to Japanese religious life in respect to Taoist i
Izumi Takeshi ÄÄ, for example, presents the archaeological eviden
dolls in Japan. Small figurines made from metal or wood, such doll
the ditches of ancient palaces throughout the country (Fukunag
Kaneko Hiroyuki ánŤlSŽ, furnishes an interpretation. The dolls
unlike scapegoats in ancient Israel, to take on human sickness an
were thrown into flowing water, humanity was purified of its sins
parallel practice is known from China, where similar dolls have been
early as the second century B.C.E. Here, however, they were buried
not thrown into ditches. Taoist texts add to the understanding of th
they describe the different uses of dolls made of various materials (1
Maeda Ryõichi flííES Ä- ' " contributes along the same lines. He dis
nine characters, used in Shugendõ tf Sr fi practice and first found i
(Book of the Master Who Embraces Simplicity; 17.6a), a Ta
alchemy, magic, and immortality of the early fourth century. The
byõtosha kai jinretsu zaizen ÍÊÂIH ft BÍ, which means lite
down, soldiers and fighters, and line up before me!" Arranged in a
vertical and four horizontal characters, the spell, a powerful protect
is depicted as a network of lines:

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 Taoism in Japan: Positions and Evaluations 405

2 4 6 8

m (#) («) m
i m

3 (|ļ)

s m

im

9 (m)

Shugen
also ce
purifi
auspic
( Baopu
Anoth
"Swift
talisma
traced
ritual
The vo
titles
Toru; 1
shrine
Keiich
the En
Fukun
to a n
anthro
textua
impro
with t
highly
iconoc
contin
the rol

11 For
discuss
survey
12 The
relation to Taoism. See Takahashi 1 99 1 .

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 406 Livia Kohn

Conclusion

Among studies on Taoism in Japan there are three fundamental positions, based
ultimately on their relation to Kokugaku and State Shintõ: traditional, iconoclastic,
and neutral. The three accordingly work with different methods and look at Taoism
in different areas of Japanese culture. Where traditional scholars concentrate on
evidence of Taoism among the writings of early Japanese aristocrats and imperial
documents, those of an iconoclastic persuasion find their materials in archaeology
and ritual and use more anthropological than philological methods. Representatives
of the neutral stance, in addition, focus on Taoism within sectarian Buddhism,
traditional medicine, and other less controversial areas of Japanese culture.
The latter especially have been working steadily and with great acumen since the
1950s. They have succeeded in showing patterns of transmission and cultural
adaptation, and especially Kubo Noritada was the first to raise the important issue
of a definition of Taoism in this context. Their work is also the most accessible in
Western languages .
The traditional position has the longest history and is the most problematic. While
presenting textual evidence for the presence of Taoist elements in ancient Japan,
scholars of this persuasion never ask what exactly the nature of Taoism was in China
nor do they examine Japanese sources critically. In many ways they continue a
Kokugaku-inspired learning that should have been obsolete since Tsuda Sõkichi.
It is no accident that traditional views are most commonly presented by Japanese
historians of the older generation, while the other positions are taken primarily by
sinologists and younger Japanese historians. At the same time it is regrettable that
Western Japanologists have followed the traditional scholars' lead and so far ignored
newer work. Still, the traditional position has proved necessary and useful in its
philological background work, on which new research could build constructively.
The iconoclastic position, represented primarily by Fukunaga Mitsuji, is most
important today. Its representatives not only unearth new materials on Taoism in
Japan, they also use different methodologies and remain fundamentally critical in
their analyses.
At the same time, a certain caution is recommended. The iconoclastic position,
coming explicitly from the background of State Shintõ criticism, has its own axe to
grind. Despite its obviously fascinating presentations and interpretations, there are
numerous instances where a skeptical reading of the material is necessary. How
much does it really tell us about Taoism in Japan if we know that the word for
"Shintõ" first occurred in the Yijingl How serious is the fact that the first literary
mention of the word "Tennõ" is in immediate relation to the word mabito , "realized
one," - in the formal title of Emperor Temmu (673-685) in Nihonshoki 28 (Aston
1956, II: 301)? Are the three or five or eight gods, who emerge first in the creation
myths, really related to Taoist sets of deities - or might there not be an independent
tradition using similar numerical patterns? Is it really necessary to speak of "Taoist"

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 Taoism in Japan: Positions and Evaluations 407

influence, when almost all Chinese passages cited on a given topic come from
Taoist texts? What is the Taoism transmitted? Is it Taoism at all?

Questions like these will continue to be raised and gradually answered as subtle
and careful research proceeds. For the time being, the iconoclastic position is
certainly the most challenging and offers most fascination. Still, its claim, as Anna
Seidel has it, that there was a "pervasive influence of the Taoist religion on Japanese
culture" (1990, 304) will yet have to be proven.
Seeing the evidence presented so far with more detached eyes and looking at the
overall picture of both Taoism and Japanese religion, let alone culture, there is
ultimately very little of Taoism, both religious and otherwise, that has made its way
into Japan. And vice versa, there is very little central and "pervasive" in Japan that
can be traced back to bonafide Taoist influence.

Looking back in the other direction, Taoism as a religion, when seen in its
appearances in Japan, emerges as an interesting mixture of an ethnic and universal
creed. It is ethnic in that it is only transmitted in the context of Chinese culture and
probably also entered Japan largely through immigrants - Korean and Chinese. It is
universal in that even in medieval China people could and did convert from Taoism
to Buddhism and vice versa, or gave up certain shamanistic practices for either.
There is nothing doctrinal in Taoism that says one has be a Chinese or born in a
Chinese environment to become a follower. At the same time it is intimately linked
to Chinese culture and language. Still, language and culture have never stood in the
way of religious transmission. Why, then, was Taoism not more fully adapted into
Japan, as it was into Korea? Was it too similar to Buddhism in doctrine and
organization? Were there not enough Taoist believers among immigrants and
returning students? Or was the religion suppressed due to political needs?
The overall picture of Taoism in Japan is therefore still largely unexplored. It
requires much further research and attention. The three contentious positions
outlined above will gradually have to give way to a more detached scholarly debate.
As of now, we can gratefully say farewell to the traditional attitude and bid the
polemical claim to Japanese uniqueness good-bye. We can watch the lines followed
by scholars of the iconoclastic position with great fascination, but have to be careful
with trusting them too far because they too are geared toward a specific interest.
The work done on neutral ground, finally, we can rely on without reserve, regretting
only that it does not address some of the most urgent issues on the agenda.

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 408 Livia Kohn

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