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" Crafting a Goddess: Divinization, Womanhood and Genre in Narratives of Empress Jingū "
Simpson, Emily Blythe
Rambelli, Fabio
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Latin Dissertation
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English
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| Record Number
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1052206
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TL51323
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| Main Entry
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Simpson, Emily Blythe
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| Title & Author
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Crafting a Goddess: Divinization, Womanhood and Genre in Narratives of Empress Jingū\ Simpson, Emily BlytheRambelli, Fabio
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| College
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University of California, Santa Barbara
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| Date
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2019
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Ph.D.
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2019
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| Note
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275 p.
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| Abstract
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According to numerous legends, Empress Jingū lived from 169-269 CE and was the consort and court shaman of Emperor Chūai. The gods, speaking through Jingū, instructed Chūai to conquer the Korean peninsula, but he rejected their counsel and died, after which Jingū assumed authority and raised a fleet to accomplish this task. Though heavily pregnant, she wore men’s armor, manifested several omens of divine aid and delayed childbirth until her return to Japan. Her conquest was successful, and she returned to give birth to the future Emperor Ōjin, quell the uprising of her stepsons, and rule until her own death almost seventy years later. Concerning this multivalent story, I ask: what textual mechanisms shaped Jingū into a goddess with a vibrant visual and material culture, worshipped by numerous cults and ultimately employed in modern nationalist propaganda? How was the reinvention of her legend and her deification accomplished and supported by diverse textual genres? “Crafting a Goddess: Divinization, Womanhood and Genre in the Narratives of Empress Jingū” considers these questions by examining the genres in which her legend was written, notable shifts in the story itself, and the various roles Jingū played. In particular, I suggest that the Jingū legend also unveils diverse strategies of divinization utilized in medieval and early modern Japan. Empress Jingū is divinized in multiple ways: as a local founder, as part of several divine triads (notably Hachiman, Sumiyoshi, and Awashima), and as a Buddhist deity. Thus, this project not only outlines modes of god-creation in Japanese religions, but also questions assumptions about the Shinto tradition and its notion of origins. In the first three chapters, I consider how imperial histories, where the earliest versions of the legend appeared, and subsequent genres of historical writing situate Jingū within the dynastic lineage as a power ruler and conqueror. While these histories do not divinize Jingū, they expound on and often problematize her role as a female shaman. Next, I look at Jingū as a founder in shrine and temple origin stories (Chapter 4). During her conquest journey, Jingū is held to have founded multiple shrines to the gods. Looking at institutions which treat Jingū as their founder, I unpack their origin stories not only to emphasize their connection to the empress, but also to incorporate Jingū as a tutelary goddess. I maintain that Jingū exemplifies the Shinto traditions which locate their origins in divine rather than human founders. In the second half of the dissertation, I shift from looking at Jingū through genre to considering her roles as mother and goddess. Jingū’s role as mother to the deity Hachiman in his incarnation as her son Ōjin (Chapter 5)) is crucial to the longevity of Jingū’s legend. The Hachiman cult grew substantially following the Mongol Invasions, and Jingū’s role as conqueror supported Hachiman as protector of Japan, while emphasizing Jingū as sacred mother and part of the Hachiman triad. Building on ideas of Jingū’s motherhood, certain women-centered cults, particularly the Awashima cult (Chapter 6) and katsurame guild (Chapter 7), began to emphasize her lengthened pregnancy and birth of a son as central to her legend, thus considering Jingū a childbirth deity.
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Folklore
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Gender studies
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Religion
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Rambelli, Fabio
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University of California, Santa Barbara
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