A New History of Shinto 1st (first) Edition by Breen, John, Teeuwen, Mark [2010]

Blackwell Brief Histories of Religion

by John Breen

Excellent Book

Genres: History, Japan, Religion, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Asia

Paperback

First published April 13, 2007

Reviews

[Adam]

Breen's New History is more book than I needed it to be, and also doesn't quite cover the things I was most interested in. Nonetheless, it's a well-written book and covers Shinto from a critical and deconstructive approach I appreciate. Breen's thesis is that Shinto as it was until recently understood--as the indigenous religion of Japan, which has been adulterated through exposure to Confucian, Buddhist, and other ideas from Korea and China and even India--is a narrative spun intentionally by elites in the creation of the modern imperial regime. That is, Shinto's contemporary form was born in the same wave of ethno-nationalist folklore studies that birthed the nation-state. In retrospect this is unsurprising--arguably the most dramatic and empowered iteration of that process I know if is Nazism, and it's probably no coincidence that the peak of Imperial Shinto came during World War 2.

There's a bit of squishy business here. Breen argues that Shinto per se didn't exist before it was violently disentangled from Buddhism by the Meiji government. This makes sense, insofar as the extensive presence of Buddhist icons and concepts in "shinto" shrines illustrates almost a thousand years of pluralistic engagement and overlap. But the mere fact that the Meiji government was able to conceive of them as distinct entities--and Breen gives no indication that they were "wrong" or arbitrary in their identification of Buddhist elements--suggests that there was some truth to this distinction. More importantly, it suggests that there was a Shinto (if not a simple or unitary one) in Japan before it was layered and muddled with continental ideas. This is maybe reading it unfairly, but it definitely feels like he's trying to destroy a notion of ethno-cultural purity by discrediting it rather than reframing it as a positive process.

The main reason I found this framing annoying was because it led him to largely ignore the "indigenous Shinto" before Buddhist and Confucian influences as a fiction, and that was of course the part I was more interested in learning about--Imperial Shinto feels blandly political and largely disinterested in place, ecology, story, etc except as a tool for authority. Maybe there aren't great sources on early Shinto or maybe he just wants to make a point about how the Shinto that exists today is ultimately a new hybrid beast that doesn't honestly reflect that indigenous folklore in any meaningful way, and that's fair. But it seems more of a conscious exclusion to focus on Shinto as an institutional conservative force associated with right-wing ideologies today, when presumably there's still a lot of quirky local stuff going on that could be talked about.

Anyway, that question aside, Breen's writing is remarkably brisk and clear. It's just about a lot of esoteric stuff, full of new Japanese terms that overload the working memory and make the eyes glaze over if you're not invested in that level of detail. So I skimmed/skipped through a lot of the meat. The intro and conclusion are quite nice reads though. Just not really what I was looking for (which is not surprising--this is more a history than a mythology book, obviously) but it fills in some useful context.

The other bit I found interesting is that Breen casually dismisses Shinto's reputation as an "ecological" religion as a "fantasy," something that has been attributed to it recently in international perception but not something Shinto priests have historically been cognizant of. He does point out that there is a modern movement among priests managing shrine forests to live up to this new narrative, which is neat. This feels like a question worth a lot more investigation than this off-hand dismissal--surely Shinto is bound up with Japan's complex history of environmental damage and management abroad and on the islands themselves, but I guess that's for another book.

[Olia · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this study John Breen suggest an alternative reading of the Shinto history (though actually soome other scientist before also put the term "Shinto" aside... like Grapard and others...) but still what is intersting is the historical approach to the study. Breen takes 1 myth, one sight (Mount Hie) and one ritual - and study its history: appearance and development, analyzing the changes and the reasons for these changes. Thus much of the book is "exploring the dynamic processes by which kami, shrines, rites, and myths became Shinto."

The book, although scientific, has got a nice style and quite easy and interesting to read.

[Cath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uma leitura útil. Gosto de como o livro é bem sincero ao tratar de como certas questões do xinto foram decisões arbitrárias de certos períodos - e de como por ser mais um conjunto de práticas chamadas de ‘xinto’ para se distinguir do budismo, existem poucos princípios inquestionáveis ou verdadeira uniformidade. Foi interessante saber como o xinto foi manipulado pra se encaixar nas agendas políticas de certas figuras, e como mesmo hoje isso continua; foi uma boa ressalva trazer como atualmente ainda existem fortes conexões entre xintoismo e a extrema direita japonesa, por exemplo. Eu gosto de como muito do xintoismo aparentemente vem de práticas locais e é muito regional no geral. Certas partes foram muito maçantes, porque estudar xinto invariavelmente traz muito de história do Japão - tópico que eu não tenho muita familiaridade - mas era necessário pra trazer o contexto de certos tópicos. Não posso negar que foi útil pra o que eu queria e interessante em alguns momentos. Não é meu livro favorito do mundo todo mas é surpreendentemente sensato. Foi ok.

[Alberto Vacca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ho trovato questa “indagine” molto interessante. È un approccio all’argomento sicuramente differente dal modo solito di intendere “la via dei kami”; che elude il tentativo di trovare un’origine precisa ed immutabile a un concetto, quello di “Shinto”, di per se vago e sfuggente. I due autori suggeriscono una diversa interpretazione per una “sensibilità” che al contrario ha saputo mutare nel corso della storia adattandosi ai diversi bisogni, necessità e umori della società.

Da ‘profano’ dico che mi sembra un “discorso che fila”.

[Greta · Rating 3 out of 5]

il libro è molto interessante. è stato piacevole studiarlo per l'esame, ma credo sia leggermente dispersivo in alcuni punti e prolisso in altri. personalmente avrei preferito che i capitoli fossero ordinati in maniera diversa, proprio per seguire una linea più temporale degli avvenimenti.

[S.P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shinto is heralded as the indigenous religion of Japan - worshiping of the Sun Goddess and her descendants (e.g. an unbroken line of emperors). Of course it is much more complicated that that, and Breen goes about unpicking the details and the history of what has become Shinto.

After a review of the known history, Breen then concentrates on three specific manifestations of Shinto through specific examples: the history of the Hie shrine, The 'Cave' myth of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, and the ritual of Daijosai - the rite of imperial accession.

Breen also helpfully summaries the book in the conclusion, on the last page...


"Shinto is not a “tradition” of the kind that has been likened to a great river, flowing of its own accord through the plains of history while nurturing Japan’s culture and giving meaning to its past, present, and future. There is nothing either natural or inevitable about the spates of invention that have resulted in Shinto as we know it today. Our account of Shinto’s history differs fundamentally from the Shinto establishment’s emic understanding that kami shrines, myths, and rituals are, of their very essence, aspects of Shinto, and have always been so. We stress, rather, the agency of individual actors at every turn. Shinto, in our view, appears not as the unchanging core of Japan’s national essence, but rather as the unpredictable outcome of an erratic history."


While this book is entirely devoted to the history of the development of Shinto, one can't help but draw parallels with what could have happened if Christianity had not came along in the West. Indeed what can't help wonder how Christianity has been affected by the similar pressures which made Shinto a 'state religion' - the political, competition with other belief systems, how Christianity may have been molded by its environment.

[Arianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not an introductory book on Shinto, but it is also very different from a simple explanatory essay. It is very critical of its subject, and approaches Shinto in a, as the title suggests, "new way". I liked how it made me reflect on my own perception of other religions and how I was able to learn about Japan history throught the "Shinto lense".
Great read, recommended to whoever has an interest in world cultures and religions.

[Mike Huff · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have read about or already know some of the basis about Shinto, this is good history with an interesting structure - looking at the development of Shinto with a detailed examination of space of the shrine, the tale of Amaterasu in the cave, and the rite of imperial accession.

And Goodreads has the title wrong - it's *A New History of Shinto.*

[Jessica Zu · Rating 5 out of 5]

TREATING Shinto as a derivative of Shrines, myths, and rituals--the concrete social realities, this is a totally ingenious way to understanding the history of Japanese relations, shintonization as the process of superscribing meaning onto social practices ...
fascinating!

[Ale · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting look on Shinto, its development and relationship to the society and political world in Japan. Estremely interesting the part in chapter 6 about NAS