Modernisation des temples bouddhiques et société locale : le Nanzō-in de Sasaguri

Abstract

This paper studies the modernization of a Buddhist temple, Nanzō-in located at Sasaguri town, Fukuoka prefecture in Kyūshū, and its socio-religious relationship with the local society. This temple belongs to the Shingon sect and is the first stop of the 88 pilgrimage sites, fudasho, replicas of the Shikoku Reijyō based upon Kōbō Daishi belief. According to legend, Sasaguri pilgrimage sites had been founded in 1835, and they flourished until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. According to the Meiji government's political order of the separation of Buddhism and deity belief, the socio-religious system of pilgrimage in Sasaguri had radically changed and gradually declined. Local people introduced the new idea of making requests to the headquarters of the Shingon sect located at Mt. Kōya. In 1898, Nanzō-in temple has migrated to Sasaguri and was afforded the supreme status of pilgrimage site. During the Meiji period, Nanzō-in was supported by local society and outsiders, including laborers of the coal-mining industry, so that this temple eventually passed through the process of modernization. The main topics of this paper are the history of temple, socio-economic background, the change in belief systems, the leadership of the main monk, and the transformation of the relationship between the temple and local society. Nanzō-in temple is a complicated religious site, comprising a main temple, Daishi-dō dedicated to the religious founder, small shrines, a large statue of Fudō-myōō and stone images of numerous bodhisattvas. We discuss radical changes in the temple's character from the supplication and prayer in this world to the appeasing of dead spirits in the other world. After the construction of the large bronze image of the 'Lying Buddha' in 1995, Nanzō-in transformed itself into a commercial temple and focused on conducting religious services for the storage hall of the bones of the dead, the nōkotsudō. This is a new business for the temple. Nanzō-in encompasses various believers from ascetics to pilgrims and is beginning to align itself with the 'Engaged Buddhism' movement. This study will highlight the 'invention of tradition' and modernization of Buddhism supported by the local society to establish the function of the temple's social capital. In conclusion, we discuss the negotiation of external and internal society and its inhabitants.