Conflict between Shugendō and the New Religions of Bakumatsu Japan

Abstract

The subject of this essay is the conflict that arose during the Bakumatsu period (mid-nineteenth century) between Shugendō and three newly emerging religious associations: Kurozumikyō, Tenrikyō, and Konkōkyō. It examines the background of Shugendō in the Tokugawa period, its practices and rituals, and then discusses the points of conflict with the New Religions, namely healing rituals and constructions of gender. The study concludes that the conflicts grew not only out of competition for followers and their material resources, but also from fundamentally irreconcilable rationales for religious practice and equally basic dzfferences in constructions of gender, concepts of the person, and theology. CR - Copyright © 1994 Nanzan University