Tourists in Paradise: Writing the Pure Land in Medieval Japanese Fiction

Late-medieval Japanese fiction contains numerous accounts of lay and monastic travelers to the Pure Land and other extra-human realms. In many cases, the "tourists" are granted guided tours, after which they are returned to the mundane world in order to tell of their unusual experiences. T...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJapanese journal of religious studies Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 269 - 296
Main Author Kimbrough, R. Keller
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Japanese
Published Nagoya Nanzan Institute of Religion and Culture 01.11.2006
Nanzan University
Subjects
Asian literature
Beliefs
Bodhisattva
Buddhism
Colloquial language
Fiction
Hell
Japanese language
Middle Ages
Narratives
Palaces
Paradise
Priests
Rebirth
Religious studies
Subjectivity
Tourism
Travel
Japan
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Summary:Late-medieval Japanese fiction contains numerous accounts of lay and monastic travelers to the Pure Land and other extra-human realms. In many cases, the "tourists" are granted guided tours, after which they are returned to the mundane world in order to tell of their unusual experiences. This article explores several of these stories from around the sixteenth century, including, most prominently, Fuji no hitoana sōshi, Tengu no dairi, and a section of Seiganji engi. I discuss the plots and conventions of these and other narratives, most of which appear to be based upon earlier oral tales employed in preaching and fund-raising, in order to illuminate their implications for our understanding of Pure Land-oriented Buddhism in late-medieval Japan. I also seek to demonstrate the diversity and subjectivity of Pure Land religious experience, and the sometimes startling gap between orthodox doctrinal and popular vernacular representations of Pure Land practices and beliefs.
ISSN:0304-1042
DOI:10.18874/jjrs.33.2.2006.269-296