Sacralizing the Playful Secular: The Deity of <i>Karuta</i>-Gambling at the Nose Kannon Hall in Sannohe, Aomori

In a faraway apple orchard in Sannohe, a small town in Japan’s Aomori Prefecture, a <i>zushi</i> miniature wooden shrine at the Nose Kannon Hall caught the media’s attention with its unique adornment—the <i>karuta</i> playing cards with European-inspired abstract designs in b...

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Main Author: Mew Lingjun Jiang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-02-01
Series:Arts
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/13/1/27
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author Mew Lingjun Jiang
author_facet Mew Lingjun Jiang
author_sort Mew Lingjun Jiang
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description In a faraway apple orchard in Sannohe, a small town in Japan’s Aomori Prefecture, a <i>zushi</i> miniature wooden shrine at the Nose Kannon Hall caught the media’s attention with its unique adornment—the <i>karuta</i> playing cards with European-inspired abstract designs in bold red and black colors that were used during the early modern period for pastime and gambling. Because of this decoration, the Nose Kannon Hall is known by locals as the <i>Karuta</i> Hall, and the <i>zushi</i> that enshrines the Buddhist deity Bodhisattva Shō-Kanzeon is also believed to be the home of <i>bakuchi no kamisama</i> “the kami deity of gambling”. Little is known about the nature of devotion to this <i>bakuchi no kamisama</i> or how the playing cards that were used for frivolous games came to be sacralized as items worthy to be used as decoration of a Buddhist shrine. This article considers the slippage between prayer and play in the regional Buddhist devotion by focusing on the Nose Kannon Hall, which presided at a key intersection along the northern trade route where the local community and outside visitors, such as pilgrims and traders, converged, especially during the Edo period (1603–1868). Marshaling historical records, televised interviews, and images provided by the town officials and guardian family of Nose Kannon Hall, I argue that the use of <i>karuta</i> playing cards on the miniature shrine at Nose Kannon Hall epitomizes a kind of localized early modern Shinto–Buddhist syncretism at the margins of the urban culture that is simultaneously devotional and tongue-in-cheek sacrilegious in a quintessentially Edo-esque way.
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spelling doaj.art-4650d0e8f14b42fb9502c2dfe2e264642024-02-23T15:06:54ZengMDPI AGArts2076-07522024-02-011312710.3390/arts13010027Sacralizing the Playful Secular: The Deity of <i>Karuta</i>-Gambling at the Nose Kannon Hall in Sannohe, AomoriMew Lingjun Jiang0Department of the History of Art and Architecture, College of Design, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USAIn a faraway apple orchard in Sannohe, a small town in Japan’s Aomori Prefecture, a <i>zushi</i> miniature wooden shrine at the Nose Kannon Hall caught the media’s attention with its unique adornment—the <i>karuta</i> playing cards with European-inspired abstract designs in bold red and black colors that were used during the early modern period for pastime and gambling. Because of this decoration, the Nose Kannon Hall is known by locals as the <i>Karuta</i> Hall, and the <i>zushi</i> that enshrines the Buddhist deity Bodhisattva Shō-Kanzeon is also believed to be the home of <i>bakuchi no kamisama</i> “the kami deity of gambling”. Little is known about the nature of devotion to this <i>bakuchi no kamisama</i> or how the playing cards that were used for frivolous games came to be sacralized as items worthy to be used as decoration of a Buddhist shrine. This article considers the slippage between prayer and play in the regional Buddhist devotion by focusing on the Nose Kannon Hall, which presided at a key intersection along the northern trade route where the local community and outside visitors, such as pilgrims and traders, converged, especially during the Edo period (1603–1868). Marshaling historical records, televised interviews, and images provided by the town officials and guardian family of Nose Kannon Hall, I argue that the use of <i>karuta</i> playing cards on the miniature shrine at Nose Kannon Hall epitomizes a kind of localized early modern Shinto–Buddhist syncretism at the margins of the urban culture that is simultaneously devotional and tongue-in-cheek sacrilegious in a quintessentially Edo-esque way.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/13/1/27Shinto–Buddhist syncretism<i>karuta</i>Japanese playing cardsgambling in Japan<i>kami</i>localization
spellingShingle Mew Lingjun Jiang
Sacralizing the Playful Secular: The Deity of <i>Karuta</i>-Gambling at the Nose Kannon Hall in Sannohe, Aomori
Arts
Shinto–Buddhist syncretism
<i>karuta</i>
Japanese playing cards
gambling in Japan
<i>kami</i>
localization
title Sacralizing the Playful Secular: The Deity of <i>Karuta</i>-Gambling at the Nose Kannon Hall in Sannohe, Aomori
title_full Sacralizing the Playful Secular: The Deity of <i>Karuta</i>-Gambling at the Nose Kannon Hall in Sannohe, Aomori
title_fullStr Sacralizing the Playful Secular: The Deity of <i>Karuta</i>-Gambling at the Nose Kannon Hall in Sannohe, Aomori
title_full_unstemmed Sacralizing the Playful Secular: The Deity of <i>Karuta</i>-Gambling at the Nose Kannon Hall in Sannohe, Aomori
title_short Sacralizing the Playful Secular: The Deity of <i>Karuta</i>-Gambling at the Nose Kannon Hall in Sannohe, Aomori
title_sort sacralizing the playful secular the deity of i karuta i gambling at the nose kannon hall in sannohe aomori
topic Shinto–Buddhist syncretism
<i>karuta</i>
Japanese playing cards
gambling in Japan
<i>kami</i>
localization
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/13/1/27
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