“Can You Hear the Great Sound of the Holy Footsteps?” The 650th Grand Death Anniversary of Gasan Jōseki

Abstract

AbstractElaborate memorial services commemorating the death anniversaries of founders or eminent monks of major Buddhist schools are traditionally conducted at 50-year intervals. By performing rituals, clerics and lay devotees remember the founding figures of their school and repay the benevolence they have received. These occasions are also times when clerics engage in revitalization activities, such as rebuilding temple halls or publishing texts on the life and teaching of the monk whose death anniversary they commemorate. This chapter studies the 650th grand death anniversary of Gasan Jōseki (1276-1366), the second abbot of the head temple Sōjiji, which was commemorated in 2015. I analyze how Sōtō clerics remembered Gasan and his role in their school. What groups of people were involved in the commemorations? What elements were adopted from previous death anniversaries, and what elements were new? By exploring these themes, I argue that grand death anniversaries are not only times of remembrance but also provide an opportunity to create a thriving future for a particular Buddhist school or branch by reestablishing an iconic figure and its temple in the collective memory of the group. I further suggest that by performing rituals and hosting a wide range of events, Sōjiji confirmed itself as a center in the collective memory of the Sōtō school and inscribed itself in the landscape of Yokohama. Thus, the memory and the sacred space reinforce each other.