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Sinitsyn A., Gabitova A. The Koshin Day as a Traditional Japanese Holiday, Its Rituals, Attributes and Deities

A. Sinitsyn
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0001-7392-1837
E-mail: asin@kunstkamera.ru 

A. Gabitova
St. Petersburg State University
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0009-0008-4838-9824
E-mail: arina.gabitova@mail.ru

 

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ABSTRACT. This article examines the Japanese calendar holiday, the Koshin Day, its accompanying rituals and accessories, and the images and functions of deities, demonic beings, and associated animals. The Koshin cult has a complex syncretic nature. It combines features borrowed from various philosophical and religious systems: Shinto, esoteric (tantric) Buddhism, Japanese Taoism (Ommyodo), Confucianism, Hinduism, and Japanese folk superstitions. This cult left a significant mark on traditional Japanese culture and has survived to the present day. However, it has largely lost the former nationwide popularity during the Edo period. The monuments of this cult erected in that epoch, the Koshinto steles, continue to be revered as cult artifacts and maintain their relevance. At the same time, the Koshinto rituals have gone a long way in formation and transformation, turning into one of many calendar temple holidays with purely benevolent semi-profane symbols and paraphernalia aimed at gaining health, longevity, prosperity, wealth, and fulfillment of innermost desires. The deities of the Koshin Day are presented by a group of characters: “divine monkey” Masaru, “the three monkeys” sanzaru, archaic Shinto deities of fertility Saruda-biko and Okuninushi-no-mikoto, merged with the deities of Japanese tantric Buddhism (vidyarajas and vajra-yakshas). As a result, an image of the central syncretic deity of the Koshin cult, Shomen-kongo, was formed, distinguished by expressive and variable iconography.

 

KEYWORDS: Koshin cult, calendar holiday, jikkan-junishi system, “three worms”, sacred monkey deity, “the three monkeys”, Saruda-biko, Okuninushi-nomikoto, esoteric Buddhism, Shomen Kongo

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8600-2023-4(22)-237-260
УДК 394.2(=521)

 

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