Sacred Sites and the Dynamics of Identity

Local histories have long examined both the ties that bind communities together and the developments that make them distinct. As is evident in the term itself, "local" history takes as the most fundamental of these ties the connection of a group of people to a particular location. It is curious, therefore, that writers of local history have often taken this geographic connection for granted. There are clear political reasons for this narrative viewpoint: local governments of towns, districts and prefectures have sponsored many of these writing projects to cover the areas within their jurisdiction. But such politics of publishing have begged the question of how inhabitants of an area come to associate themselves not just with local units of administration but with the land itself. How do they define their communities in relation to the physical landscape, thereby locating themselves not only in geographical, but in social, political, and intellectual space as well? In Japanese history, this question holds particular relevance for the study of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The transition from the early modern bakuhan system to the modern nation-state has often seemed to imply the disappearance of distinctive, local identities into a single sense of nation. The most prominent printed images of each period reinforce this seeming dichotomy: Bashō's poetry, Jippensha Ikku's humorous travel tales, and Hiroshige's and Hokusai's prints of famous places depict vivid, vibrant local color before 1868, while afterward, national newspapers, books, and prints of the emperor draw attention to Tokyo and the imperial institution. Despite this image of centralization and homogenization, local histories have shown that many elites throughout the countryside retained and, in some cases, increased their influence under the new regime. Likewise, I contend here that people continued to use the famous sites that had distinguished their communities in the early modern period to maintain and create a variety of intellectual, social, and cultural communities well into the twentieth century. As individuals and groups defined themselves around these prominent places, they perpetuated the landmarks of early modern Japan as important foci around which to create new identities for themselves and their communities in the modern age. The study of landmarks in Japan almost inevitably leads to the study of sacred sites. Throughout Japanese history, notable mountains, caves, or springs have been identified as sites of sacred power: worshipers approached them with offerings, consecrated them with rituals, and publicized their miraculous powers in performances and in print. During the early modern period, this focus on powerful religious sites blossomed amidst growing prosperity, an increasingly commercial economy, and a prolific culture of print and performance to fuel a spectacular boom in pilgrimage and tourism by the early nineteenth century. In popular culture, the Bunka-Bunsei period (1804-1830) became an age of gods and miracles, inseparable from the famous sites in which those gods resided. Thus, people from every domain converged on pilgrimage centers such as Ise, Kompira, Zenkōji, or Mt. Fuji in search of miraculous benefits and pleasurable entertainments. Hundreds of thousands of visitors each year offered donations and purchased amulets at these places in the hope of securing the gods' protection for themselves, their families, and their businesses. Impressive miracle tales were retold, embellished, and set in print, advertising the power of certain deities and their shrines to heal blindness, prevent fire, multiply wealth, or prevent drowning. Pilgrimage traffic provided the livelihoods of souvenir sellers at the most popular destinations, and supported innkeepers and boat operators along travel routes