Jingu Kogo "Ema" in Southwestern Japan: Reflections and Anticipations of the "Seikanron" Debate in the Late Tokugawa and Early Meiji Period

Abstract

Preliminary investigation suggests that ema (votive paintings) featuring a fourth-century legendary empress (Jingū Kōgō) of Japan as their subject were used by local elites in southwestern Japan in the nineteenth century to justify the need for overseas expansion - in particular the need for an invasion of Korea. Jingū Kōgō ema exhibit two basic motifs, both of which allude to her alleged invasion of Korea. From ema surveys in Yamaguchi Prefecture and Fukuoka Prefecture the A. has discovered that a geographical and temporal correlation emerges from the distribution of these ema. He contends that the prevalence of different motifs in these areas, and the dating suggest that local elites were using Jingū Kōgō ema as an iconographic text to discuss and comment on the advisability/feasibility of invading Korea (seikanron). This spillover of political themes into religious artifacts is an interesting and potentially very fruitful area of study that has received inadequate attention.