Places Apart: Buddhist Reclusion in Medieval Japan

This dissertation evaluates the impact of reclusive monks (tonseisō) on medieval Japanese Buddhism. It combines archival and archaeological evidence to analyze the relationship between recluses and local society. I argue that reclusion was a social activity that involved interaction with people of all walks of life. To support this argument, I focus on places of reclusion – called bessho, or “separate places” – as sites for both reclusive and social practice. I begin with a historiographical approach to bessho. Rather than a type of temple institution, bessho evoked rhetorical distance. As places distant from monasteries and cities, bessho afforded both isolation and opportunities for recluses to interact with people of various social backgrounds. Turning to three case studies, I first show how materials from votive burial deposits from Mount Kurama illustrate a vibrant community of local infantrymen who engaged in ritual burial alongside reclusive monks. I then turn to the example of the reclusive monk Sainen and his hermitage, Daihizanji, from which he ministered to and incorporated the interests of agricultural families in Hanase bessho. The final chapter examines the Ōhara bessho, a center for reclusive monks, woodsmen, and charcoal kiln workers that became a cradle for the interaction between Buddhist practice and economic production. These examples demonstrate how places of reclusion saw a negotiation of Buddhism with medieval social life. The conclusion discusses how these case studies compel a reinterpretation of the ways in which Buddhism became a religion for the medieval Japanese populace and raises some directions for future research.