Suwa Shrine (Nagasaki)

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The Suwa Shrine, Meiji period

The Suwa Shrine ( Japanese 鎮西 大 社 諏 訪 神社 , Chinzei-Taisha Suwa-jinja ; popularly also Osuwasan ) is a Shinto shrine in the Japanese city ​​of Nagasaki . It was built in the last phase of the Namban trade in 1625.

history

Plans to build the shrine began in 1614, the same year that the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu pushed the suppression of Christianity in Japan to an extreme, banning the Christian religion with an edict and expelling Christians and foreigners from the country. This policy was directed against the growing influence of the Jesuit missions that had spread from heavily in tandem with the Portuguese traders from the port and trading city of Nagasaki (about 750,000 believers in 1605) and as a threat to the Tokugawa shogunate- were understood as the rural population converted to Christianity showed a tendency to rise up against the secular authorities. In implementing its anti-Christian policies, the Shogunate not only used military and police measures, but also promoted and supported other religions, such as Buddhism and Shinto , which were much more loyal to the Japanese central government.

The first high priest of the shrine was the Shugendo priest Aoki Kensei (青木 賢 清), who had made a name for himself through a detailed report to the Shogunate about the destruction of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines by Christian rebels since 1567. He had also been instrumental in building the shrine, but did not receive the rank of Shinto priest until 1625 (in the tradition of Yoshida Shinto )

The shrine was rather unsuccessful in the first decade of its existence and did not enjoy large numbers of visitors. This changed around 1633/34 when the first edicts of the shogunate were issued to close Japan . These not only placed the free entry and exit of the Japanese under draconian penalties and restricted trade with foreign countries (only Dutch and Chinese) to the island of Dejima off Nagasaki, but also obliged the local population of the city to be members of the shrine to be registered by the municipality.

The Shogunate also established the Okunchi-Matsuri ( see below ). This autumn festival should also impress the Chinese and Dutch foreigners, which is why the art of Nō theater, understood as essentially Japanese, has been the core of the festivities since 1638 , although many Chinese influences were also included in the course of the festival. With the exception of the Chinese dragon dance ( ja-odori ), the latter was withdrawn from the Meiji Restoration and the propagation of State Shinto .

For example, thanks to its massive government support as the center of religious life in Nagasaki during the Edo period, the shrine thrived relatively well, barring a few natural disasters and a fire in 1856.

It was only in the post-war period that the shrine broke away from its dependence on the Japanese government. Due to the fact that he had survived the atomic bombing on Nagasaki completely unscathed (in contrast to the Urakami Cathedral in the north, for example ), he was able to reintegrate into the religious life of the city relatively quickly.

Okunchi-Matsuri

The Okunchi-Matsuri (also O-suwa-Matsuri or Nagasaki-Kunchi) takes place from October 7th to 9th every year. It is one of the three largest and most famous matsuri in Japan.

The dances of the festival (Hono-Odori) are traditionally organized by 11 out of 77 districts (Odori-chō), which alternate in a rhythm of seven years. The dances at the shrine begin on the morning of October 7th, then the mikoshi of Suwa Shrine and neighboring shrines are carried through the city, while the dances are repeated in front of further shrines and finally the seat of the governor of Nagasaki Prefecture . The Mikoshi finally stay for one day in o-tabisho in the Ohato district.

literature

  • John K. Nelson: A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine . University of Washington Press 1996, ISBN 0295974990 .

Web links

Coordinates: 32 ° 45 '15.78 "  N , 129 ° 52' 54.36"  O