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Abstract/Sommario: Imaginations of hell appeared in Japanese culture beginning from the classical period. Numerous characterizations of damnation in the Buddhist canon set out threats combined with moral instruction. They describe judgement and retribution as occurring in actual places, precisely located in Buddhist cosmologies, and the experience of punishment as physical. The same sources describe hell as provisional

Abstract/Sommario: Fuji, a national symbol that had long been a destination for pilgrims and an inspiration to writers and artists was the centre of the struggle between the Allied Occupation Forces and Nationalist groups. Sengen Shrine was established in the early 9. century near its current location at the southwest base of Fuji to mollify the volcano's deity, alternately known as Sengen Daibosatsu or Asama Daimyojin. As Sengen shrine worked on securing support from above, Fuji became an increasingly ...; [Leggi tutto...] Fuji, a national symbol that had long been a destination for pilgrims and an inspiration to writers and artists was the centre of the struggle between the Allied Occupation Forces and Nationalist groups. Sengen Shrine was established in the early 9. century near its current location at the southwest base of Fuji to mollify the volcano's deity, alternately known as Sengen Daibosatsu or Asama Daimyojin. As Sengen shrine worked on securing support from above, Fuji became an increasingly popular object of veneration: growing numbers of commoners formed confraternities to worship the sacred mountain. In 19. century there were hills (fujizuka) - some natural, other constructed by the believers - that served as surrogate objects of worship for Fuji. Led by figures known as sensatsu, confraternities worshipped Fuji in their homes and local Fujizuka, but their ultimate act of reverence was to climb the volcano itself: the pilgrims had to pass through nine stations before reaching the peak. The pilgrimage traffic was an economic as well as religious phenomenon, with not only the Sengen shrine but also villagers profiting from it. The Tokugawa period witnessed a sharp increase in pilgrimages traffic and in literary and artistic representations of the mountain, including Hokusai's icones. After Meiji Restoration, the work to build an emperor-centred nation integrated Fuji into this effort to foster a national consciousness. Fuji's nationalization entailed its Shintoization. Buddhist rituals and beliefs that had formed an integral part of Fuji worship for centuries were disavowed. Sengen shrine was purged of Buddhist influence as well, Buddhist statues were removed in 1874. In the following years Fuji was transformed into a site for secular recreation, but it did not lose its religious character. In 1871 the Meiji regime declared that shrines were public, not private, institutions, whose primary function was to perform "rites of the state".