The Shift of Kotodama

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The Shift of Kotodama The quality of kotodama in pre-modern Japanese poetry and prose, whether religious or secular, is tenuously held by modern scholars as having import over reader’s interpretations. Skeptics such as Roy Miller claim the “kotodama cult” is a modern fetishization that amalgamates a wide range of core beliefs in order to form a coherent narrative (140). While this analysis is valid to a point, it fails to consider the wide range of inherent kotodama usage in pre-modern Japanese texts, whether by name or not. Kotodama is not, however, a stable and sustained term throughout the course of Japanese history. Throughout the Asuka, Nara and Heian periods, kotodama as ‘the power of words,’ was influenced by the continuous religious turmoil between Kami worship or Shintōism and styles of Buddhism, in particular Vajrayana and Mahayana influenced Shingon and Tendai Buddhism. These religious clashes, owing to the syncretic nature of religion in Japan, shifted the concept of kotodama from an extroverted, supernatural and deity focused term to an introverted, personal betterment oriented usage. This shift is shown and exemplified through the examination of texts ranging from specific episodes from the Kojiki and Man’yōshū, especially the kōroshinin no uta and spirit pacification texts, to Buddhist didactic and syncretic setsuwa. The origins of kotodama lay in the primary Shintō text of the Kojiki. In the course of the creation myths laid out in the Kojiki, Susano-o swears an oath to Amaterasu that they shall have children together (Shirane 27). This oath, an ukei, is a pledge that deigns to show the character of the individual. If it is broken, the individual’s character is marred forever. If it is kept, he/she can be trusted. As an element of truth or destiny, this oath emerges as the precursor to kotodama. The power of these words, like that of the
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