Matsuoka Hideaki is an anthropologist and a professor currently teaching in the International Studies Department, Shukutoku University.
關鍵詞
landscape; sacred place; Mt. Fuji; Japanese new religion; self-cultivation
摘要
The sacred place is significant since it reflects important doctrinal features of the religion. Some Japanese new religions have built huge sacred places that feature natural settings that support their emphasis on nature. Shūyōdan Hōseikai (Association for Self-cultivation and Sincerity), a religion founded in 1941 in Tokyo, has constructed such a sacred place. Kamisato or God’s Home, occupies twenty-five acres on the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture and commands a view of Suruga Bay and Mt. Fuji. An examination of Kamisato, which can be considered a tapestry of both traditional and innovative elements in Japanese religiosity in terms of spatial structure, reveals two aspects of Shūyōdan Hōseikai: One, as a selfcultivation group that encourages its members to reflect themselves by confronting the sea and mountain and; two, as a religion that regards its founder as a transcendental being.
