The Seasons
Although it would be hard to prove that the Japanese are more absorbed with the seasons than other cultures, the distinctiveness of the seasons as they are born, mature, and die continues to the present day to be a primary subject for the literary and visual arts in Japan. There is a greater level of emotionalism attached to the concept of "seasons" in Japan than there is in the West. This is perhaps because of the harmony and regularity of the seasons or because of pervasive Shinto beliefs, which imbue the seasons with personalities. Because the seasons continue with unending regularity they express the earthly processes of birth, maturation and death. The early forms of the Shinto religion embraced various cults that were closely associated with the worship of natural forces. These forces are called kamiÉ Motoori Norinaga, (1730-1801), an interpreter of Shinto wrote: "It is hardly necessary to say that (kami) includes human beings. It also includes such objects as birds, beasts, trees, plants, seas, mountains. . . which possessed superior power".
Kami are not awesome deities but are a part of the living reality of the earth, and ritual interaction with them gave the Japanese access to the vitality of the earth. Even after Buddhism and Confucianism became established religious practices in Japan, worship of kami continued and nearly all Buddhist temples also have a small Shinto shrine located within the temple precincts. It would appear that the Japanese rely on the Shinto kami for benefits and blessings in this life and the Buddhist divinities for salvation in the afterlife.
During the mid-sixth century Japan transformed itself from a confederacy of clans into a unified monarchy. Chinese court rituals were combined with indigenous Shinto practices to create a calendar of seasonal observances. A wealth of descriptions and images of the flowers, birds and natural phenomena specific to that season identified each season.2 Courtiers drew upon this repository of seasonal images and emblems in their creation of painting and poetry. They made excursions to the countryside, visited shrines and temples, viewed cherry blossoms at Yoshino, and made journeys to the northeast for viewing of fall colors.
In 905 the Kokinshu, an anthology of ancient and then-modern poetry was collected by the scholars of the Heian court in order to enhance the reign and glory of the sitting emperor. Seasonal poems made up the first six of the twenty books of the Kokinshu. Four books, two each, are devoted to spring and autumn. Two books, one each, are devoted to winter and summer. In the preface to the collection of the Kokinshu, Ki no Tsurayuki wrote about the circumstances under which the Kokinshu poets expressed themselves. These sentiments are also reflected in the composition of ukiyoe:
. . . When they saw the blossoms fall on a spring morning, or heard the leaves fall of (sic.) an autumn evening; or when they sighed to see the drifts of snow and ripples reflected in their mirrors increase with each passing year; or when they were startled into realizing the brevity of life on noticing dew on the grass or foam on the water; . . . .
The Kokinshu was compiled during the mid-Heian period. In Japan this period represents the classical past from which the Japanese have traditionally received guidance and inspiration. This rich tradition of seasonal images is present in the genre of ukiyoe prints where renditions of the seasons portray the "spirit" of nature and of women communicating with that spirit. These seasonal prints are representative of traditional attitudes in Japan prior to westernization.
|
Elaborate Court Ritual Developed Around the Lunar Months
|