New Article in JJRS -- Changing the Calendar

[Ross Bender]

The new issue of Japanese Journal of Religious Studies is now available on the web at:

http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/publications/jjrs/jjrs_cumulative_list.htm#latestissue

It includes my article "Changing the Calendar: Royal Political Theology and the Suppression of the Tachibana Naramaro Conspiracy of 757."

http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/publications/jjrs/pdf/846.pdf


Ross Bender
http://rossbender.org

[Greve Gabi]

Thanks for the link, Ross.

Here is one sentence that I found interesting (page 228)

On the night of the twenty-ninth of the sixth month, they met in the
garden of the Dajōkan,
drank salt water and swore an oath,

Does the salt water have a special function? Purification?
Is it mentioned in other passages too ?

Just curious.

Gabi from Okayama
http://washokufood.blogspot.com/

[Ross Bender]

This ritual is mentioned only in the edict translated in the article (757.7.12), and in Azumahito's confession in the Shoku Nihongi entry for 7.4 to which it refers. I haven't found it elsewhere in Shoku Nihongi. When I first came across it I immediately thought of the questions you ask -- it sounded like a sumo ritual -- but I haven't found anything since.

But the questions of the economic and ritual functions of salt in ancient Japan are intriguing. When I googled "salt" on your blog I noticed you have quite a lot of answers already. I was particularly interested in the entry on Shiogama Shrine, with its "Shiotsuchi no oji no kami" and the story of the Chinese emperor with 3000 concubines.

Ross Bender

--
You are subscribed to PMJS: Premodern Japanese Studies.
To post to the list, send email to pm...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe, send email to pmjs+uns...@googlegroups.com
Visit the PMJS web site at www.pmjs.org
Contact the group administrator at edi...@pmjs.org

--
Ross Bender
http://rossbender.org

[Greve Gabi]

Thanks a lot, Ross,

I will also keep my eyes open on the salt connections.

Gabi

> This ritual is mentioned only in the edict translated in the article
> (757.7.12), and in Azumahito's confession in the Shoku Nihongi entry for 7.4
> to which it refers. I haven't found it elsewhere in Shoku Nihongi. When I
> first came across it I immediately thought of the questions you ask -- it
> sounded like a sumo ritual -- but I haven't found anything since.
>
> But the questions of the economic and ritual functions of salt in ancient
> Japan are intriguing. When I googled "salt" on your blog I noticed you have
> quite a lot of answers already. I was particularly interested in the entry
> on Shiogama Shrine, with its "Shiotsuchi no oji no kami" and the story of
> the Chinese emperor with 3000 concubines.
>
> Ross Bender
>
>>