Thread by @bryandaniellowe

Of course an exception doesn't prove a rule, but it does complicate it. But since you brought up Amaterasu as the "MAJOR" example, let's look at her. Perhaps you'd be surprised how transnational of a deity she is. An impromptu just out of bed 🧵+ citations.

https://twitter.com/Indologyteacher/status/1415209202323234816

First, Amaterasu in #JapaneseMythology:Como shows how her story draws from continental ideas of weaving deities, immortality, spirit-pacification, etc. and challenges nativist views of her origins, pointing out the role of Koraen immigrants in shaping her. uhpress.hawaii.edu/immigrant-gods…

In the medieval period, the predominant lens that Amaterasu was understood in was Buddhist. We can see this is in a large number of sources (examples to follow). A great and easy-to-read Japanese introduction is Satō Hiro'o's アマテラスの変貌 : 中世神仏交渉史の視座 .

Now for some specific examples. In the Shasekishū, it is Amaterasu who creates the world "guided by a seal of the Great Sun Buddha" and "profoundly supports the Three Treasures." She is portrayed as a protector of Buddhism. sunypress.edu/p-753-sand-and…

But she was also thought to be the manifestation of an impressive number of Buddhist deities. Perhaps most prominently and famously, she was seen as a manifestation of Dainichi (Mahāvairocana). This works because Dainichi is written as "Great Sun." bloomsbury.com/us/social-hist…

But this is not all. She also appeared as the "flesh-eating" Dakini, "Aizen Myō'ō (Rāgarāja, the King of Lust)," and perhaps most surprisingly King Enma, the god of the underworld. The primary framework for understanding her for centuries was Buddhist. routledge.com/Buddhas-and-Ka…

Moving from the medieval period Yamazaki Ansai and others understood her as a Confucian sage in the Tokugawa period. For him, she shows that "Shinto and Confucianism match perfectly." Helen Hardacre's book has an excellent chapter on this. global.oup.com/academic/produ…

One might think that this ended with modernity, but in 1899, Takayama Chogyū argued Amaterasu and the Japanese people came from the south. This sparked a comparative turn in mythology studies tied closely to the empire. See Hirafuji. austriaca.at/0xc1aa5576%200…

Over the course of Japan's 20th-century expansion, they built new shrines abroad. Who was the most commonly enshrined god? Amaterasu, of course. In fact, one could argue that Amaterasu was most transnational in the modern era! nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/3002

This continues today with Shinto converts in North America and elsewhere. I'm still learning about this, but we thankfully have a top-notch scholar working on this very issue of globalization of Shinto today: @KaitlynUgoretz. I'm sure her research will tell us more.

So no the exception does not prove the rule. But it's pretty clear that there's nothing exceptional about Amaterasu's transnational character: it's evident in her origins, blossoms in the medieval period, and continues to develop in new ways in the early modern and modern period.

If there's not a single period in Amaterasu's history when she wasn't transnational and if she is the quintessential Shinto deity, it does raise the question of whether we can ever treat Shinto as a purely indigenous religion. I suspect we'd miss a whole lot by doing so.

I should stress that this isn't to say that there's nothing "Japanese" about Shinto (though I honestly have no idea what the concept "Japanese" means and I teach about Japan for a living...). But it is to say that we miss a whole lot when we fail to frame Shinto as transnational.

Time for a run, shower, breakfast, and caffeine.

Realized I forgot the link to the publisher for the Satō book. Here it is in paperback: pub.hozokan.co.jp/book/b521806.h…

I should also include Itō Satoshi's massive book on medieval Buddhist ideas of Amaterasu, which won one of Japan's most prestigious awards. (I confess I've only read parts). This isn't some weird N. American idea. It's mainstream Japanese scholarship. pub.hozokan.co.jp/book/b522437.h…

Anna Andreeva has a nice review if you don't want to read all 700+ pages (it's a pretty dense book). jstor.org/stable/44167516