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Living worship (生祀, Seishi) is worship of a living person in the East Asian cultural sphere, it is done with a Sheng Shrine [ja; zh] (Shengci, 生祠).[1] It is where or worship of a living person is performed. There are two types of enshrinement: enshrining the spirit of a living person who has made a significant contribution and enshrining one's own spirit.

Due to the usage by Wei Zhongxian they became seen as a sign of corruption and declined in China.[2] However the practice continued in Japan with the worship of the Emperor until 1945 and the end of State Shinto.[3]

Hiraga Gennai's birth shrine in Hiroshima Prefecture, Fukuyama City, Tomomachi.

Sheng shrines in China

When Former Han's Reunobu was the prime minister of Yan, he built his shrine between Yan and Qi and called it the "Reun Gong Shrine". Also, when Shiqing [zh] was the prime minister of Qi, the Qi people built the "Shiqing Shrine". This is the beginning of the birth shrine.[4]

In the Tang dynasty, there were certain restrictions on the construction of monuments and shrines by officials in office. According to the Tang Rulings and Ordinances, those who erected shrines or monuments without permission were subject to a penalty of one year of imprisonment.[5] The Tang Dynasty called it "the difficulty of building monuments and shrines on the first day.

In the Ming, peasants in Tengzhou built a shrine to commemorate Zhao Bangqing [zh], who was appointed to Yanjing for his clean politics. The shrine was built to commemorate him.

During the reign of the Tianqi Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, ruled the world by conducting his own politics, and those who flattered him or feared his authority were given a He made a living shrine for him. In May of the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Tianjing (1627), Lu Wanling, the prefect of the State Council, wrote: "Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn, and Chung-Hsien wrote the Essentials. In May of the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Tianjing, Lu Wanling, the prefect of the State Council, wrote that Confucius had written the "Spring and Autumn" and Chung-Hsien had written the "Essentials. In April of the 7th year of the reign of Emperor Tianjing, Yuan Chonghuan and Yan Mingtai [zh] of the Ministry of War made an appeal to the government to praise the merits and demerits of Wei Zhongxian and to establish a living shrine for him in both Qiantu.[6] After that, Wei Zhongxian's raw shrine was "all over the world", "the cost of each shrine was at most hundreds of thousands, at least tens of thousands", "stolen the people's fortune, invaded the public safe, and was cut down. There are countless trees. " When Huang Yun Yasushi made a statue and greeted the statue, he said, "Goto Sansho," and "leaded the general of Bunbu, lined up under the stairs, and worshiped as the beginning."

Wei Zhongxian has been strongly contemned into modern times for his behavior[7]

Gu Yanwu lamented, "In this generation, there is no official who does not build a living shrine. And within a few years of leaving office, he would destroy the statues and change their masters.[8]

Recently[when?] a person in China created their own Sheng shrine and stirred online controversy[7]

Living worship in Japan

Seishi carried out to worship one's own soul was to live a long life or become Kami (god) after death.

It is thought that this originated in the tradition that Okuninushi (chief god of Izumo in southern Honshu Island, Japan, and the central character in the important cycle of myths set in that region) worshipped his own Kushimitama (the wondrous, miraculous, or salubrious) and Sakimitama (the propitious) in Mount Miwa

The oldest case of someone worshipping their own soul was related to Haruhiko MATSUKI (824 - 924)in the Heian period when he was a Shinto priest of Geku (outer shrine) in Ise-jingu Shrine, he worshipped his soul included in stones or rocks in Obe, Watarai-gun, Ise in 923.

There is a case where Sadanobu MATSUDAIRA carried out Seishi for himself at Oshu Shirakawa-jo Castle in 1797 in the Edo period.

The number of Seishi increased in the Edo period, and this was probably due to the influence of Chinese thought.

In the Edo period, Yamazaki Ansai established rules for ritual procedures based on a ceremony style for Confucianism and worshipped his soul. The Seishi was carried out in his residence, Suika (Shidemasu)-Reisha Shrine in Kyoto in 1671. After that, Shintoists and scholars of Japanese classical literature in Hirata-ha school worshipped their own souls in accordance with their established ritual procedures.

Genchi KATO (1873-1965) is well-known for his research on Seishi. According to Kato, 60 to 70 Seishi were identified and the latest Seishi is the one for Chugi NISHI which was enshrined in August 1931 in Urakawa-cho, Hidaka Province, Hokkaido Prefecture.

Emperor Meiji's Seishi was built in Port of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture in 1876, and also in the site of Yahiko-jinja Shrine in Ono-mura, Kamiina-gun in 1893. The Seishi of Emperor Meiji and Empress Dowager Shoken was each built in two locations in 1887 and 1904, the Seishi of Emperor Taisho was built in Monbetsu-mura, Hidaka Province, Hokkaido Prefecture in 1911, the Seishi of Empress Teimei was built in Hirose-machi, Hiroshima Prefecture in 1913, and the Seishi of Prince Chichibunomiya and Prince Takamatsunomiya was each built in Doshin-machi, Himeji City in 1924. The Seishi of Emperor Showa was built on Mt. Yoshitsune, Honbetsu-cho, Tokachi Province, Hokkaido Prefecture in 1879, and the Seishi of Emperor Showa and Empress Kojun was each built in Hirose-machi, Hiroshima City in 1928.

References

  1. ^ "为关心民生疾苦而设的生祠，在明代起着什么样的作用？_政治_祭祀_陈天祥". www.sohu.com. Retrieved 2022-12-18.[dead link]
  2. ^ "生祠并非魏忠贤的专利-凤凰周刊" [Shengci is not Wei Zhongxian's invention]. www.ifengweekly.com. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  3. ^ Earhart, H. Byron (1974). Religion in the Japanese experience: sources and interpretations (3rd ed.). Encino, Calif.: Dickenson Pub. Co. ISBN 0822101041.
  4. ^ Zhao Yi, "The New New Ancestral Hall", Volume 32, "Ancestral Hall", "This is the beginning of the establishment of an ancestral hall.
  5. ^ The Tang Code, Volume 11 (The Law of Office)
  6. ^ "Ming Xi Zong Jizhu": "in April of the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Tianqi, the governor of Thistle Liaoning, Yan Mingtai, and the governor of Fuxing Yuan Chong Huan, praised the merits of Wei Zhongxian, and requested the construction of a shrine in front of Ning, giving the name Mao De." The government of the Liaoning Province has been inscribed in gold and stone, and there is no room for extra duties. The minister's single-mindedness in patrolling, strict warning of the battalion generals, do not dare to greed cowardly selfishness, do not dare to give away the hidden string, change the virtual into the real, into the real, easy timid into brave, to have today. Sustainability ancient internal minister who has the right!" ("Ming Xi Zong seven years of the Imperial Court of the Department of the Experiment" Tianqi six years in October)
  7. ^ a b 网易 (2020-12-14). "魏忠贤为自己生祠揭幕". www.163.com. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  8. ^ 《Nichi Chi Roku》 vol. 23 (Sheng Shi), p. 644.

See Also

Category:Shinto

Category:East Asian folk religion

Categories