A Year in Seventeenth-Century Kyoto

Viac o knihe

Before the twentieth century, Japanese religious and cultural life was deeply influenced by various annual ceremonies, festivals, and customs known as nenju gyoji. These included Shinto festivals with all-night dances and Buddhist practices honoring deities through solemn rituals and lively dances. Temples also hosted fairs showcasing holy objects and artwork, while numerous celebrations occurred in the homes of nobility, military elites, and commoners. Kyoto, the cultural capital since the eighth century, was central to these events, which spread throughout the country, shaping religious, artistic, and everyday life. By the seventeenth century, the public sought better understanding of nenju gyoji, leading to the publication of guidebooks and almanacs for urban residents. This volume presents translations of two such publications, with introductory chapters discussing Japanese concepts of time and space in relation to these celebrations and how they were chronicled from early times to the seventeenth century. The final chapters provide annotated translations of seventeenth-century writings that detail the dates, locations, meanings, and histories of many Kyoto events. These works, one historical and the other ethnographic, reveal not only when and where observances occurred but also the significance attributed to them by their authors, accompanied by numerous illustrations depicting the events in Kyoto.