1. Chiefly and shamanistlandscapes in Mongolia

2. Carp legends in JapanRemnants of a bygone mental

landscape?

2006!12"22#$%&15 '()*+,-./

2006!0110234$%5

6/789:;<=>?@34AB=CD*E/@34A

Chiefly and Shamanist Landscapesin Mongolia

Caroline Humphrey

Department of Social Anthropology in Cambridge University: !Co-founder of MIASA (the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit), director until 2001 FGProfessor of Asian Anthropology

She has carried out research in Siberia and Mongolia in theSoviet and post-Soviet periods, and has also worked in India,Nepal and China (Inner Mongolia and Manchuria).

Her research interests include shamanism; theories of ritual;socialist/ post-socialist economy and society; political forms;and the political imagination in East Asia.

About the author

Idea of ‘the landscape’

Western idea: Objectification of the land Contemplation of the land Take over / transform the land Closely related practices: painting, map-making,

song, and poetry

Mongolian idea: Interaction between the people and the land ‘In-habit’ the land

In this paper:Landscape =FGthe ways in which energies of entities are envisagedFGconcepts by which social agencies constitute the physical world

Landscape of

the chief or ruler

Landscape of

the shaman

Hidea of entities in nature with their own ‘majesty’ or ‘effectiveness’IJotions of energies-in-natureIKocial agencies by which powers are harnessed to human benefit

At least 2 different landscapes

Entities in natureH Fundamental Mongolian attitude towards the land

"#each entity has its own ‘majesty’ (sur) or ‘effectiveness’ (chadal)

LG power relationships between entities MGbetween natural entities NGbetween humans and FGresult: visible landscape natural entities e.g. Sun vs. Shade FGritualized actions

MGIndividual ! Land a man makes offerings to ‘his’ mountain (p.137)NGSocial group !GLand

Ritualized actions

Chiefssocial group: usually only menrituals: prayers, sacrifices,

offerings, beckoning ofspirits

Shamanssocial group: men and womenrituals: spirit presence through trance

2 IGpoints of view2 IGlandscapes

Every social group has:"#ChiefLGShaman(s)LGOthers with supernatural abilities (e.g. midwives, bone-setters, etc.)

Large-scale rituals

Small-scalerituals

Chiefly and Shamanist views/landscapesare NOT EXCLUSIVE

LATENT TENSION

Background to a latent conflict

Asymmetry between chiefs and shamans

Chief: Shaman:!#empowerment through !#empowerment: directly from genealogical descent the energies of the world (patrilines of males) (mostly women)! chief = social role !#shaman = ability!#aspiration to global power !#no such aspirations

if strong: if weak: repression of shamans people turn to shamans

emphasis of chiefly LS emphasis of shamanist LS e.g. Chinggis Khaan e.g. collapse of Soviet Union

OPeakness of Mongolian govt. OGresurgence of

shamanism in north andwestern Mongolia

Reiterative landscapes

different social groupsin

different historical circumstanceshave emphasized

one or other of the 2 views/landscapes

Reiteration of chiefly and shamanist landscapes

Chiefly landscape

"#mostly emphasized in central Mongolia"#vast region of treeless steppes

Shamanic landscape

"#mostly emphasized on the western, northern, and eastern peripheries" grassland interspersed withforests, mountains, great rivers and lakes

A common substratum of landscape concepts

"#Mongolian landscape is made up of ‘entities’e.g. the sky, planets, mountain, river, tree, …

animals: birds, fish, insects, humans, … artifacts: tools, guns, …

"#Every entity has a ‘supernatural’ quality(from a hazy idea of energy to clearly visualized and named spirits)

#"#The energies in nature should exist and reproducethemselves in harmonyOGpeople should exist in harmony with natureOGany unnecessary disturbance of nature must be avoided

The chiefly landscape (1)

Basic view in chiefly landscape:

humans H nomadic beings ( ! journey between camps is seen as an event outside the ordinary life)

"#ego-centered universe"#moving centre

! notion of verticalitycentre Iplacecentre Haction

example of a centre: hearth of the tent

sky = highest power

aim = reaching upwards making a link between earth and sky

creating a column of smoke from a fire

hearth of the tent = symbolical centre of the world

The chiefly landscape (2)

The chiefly landscape (3)

How does such a view create a landscape?What are the characteristics

of the chiefly landscapes?

M Place names

N Spirits

Q Site of worship and rituals

The chiefly landscape (4)

M Place names

"#Many different places have the same name but there are regions within which names are not repeated = RSomelandTGwithin which a group moves

"#Place names are descriptive (e.g. Black Spring, Rich Valley), often named after parts of the body, and centered on mountains (orientated to the south) e.g. northern side of a mountain OGNape, Spine

eastern and western sides OGCheek, Armpit southern side = front side OGForehead, Thigh, Liver mountains = center O Khan (chief, prince) rivers = depending on mountain OGGol (centre or aorta)

The chiefly landscape (5)

N Spirits

" anthropomorphic spirits called RUulersTGor RVastersT (ezen /ezed)

e.g. gazarin ezen (land master)

"#spirits are ranked Mountain masters = major ezed!!!!!"!many worshipped mountains

The chiefly landscape (6)

Q Site of worship and rituals

"#Mountain-top altar or oboo (also ovoo) cairn of stones built around central vertical pole people add stones or bundles of branches each land has a governing and protecting oboo

"#Seasonal rituals or dallaga circumambulation of the site Rbeckoning downTGof blessings sacrifice male group !Gwomen, foreigners and sometimes

shamans were excluded

The shamanic landscape (1)Basic view of the shamanic landscape:

"#the earth is seen in relation to the sky (heaven) female male mother father

fertility and nurturance

cults of caves O female cave-spirits"#idea of laterality ($ centrality)"#acknowledgement of movement" acknowledgement of variety of the world" infinite multiplicity of beings with power" world of the dead is not a state, but is simply somewhere%%else OGthe other world is this world, but we can not see it

The shamanic landscape (2)

M Mythological RVapsT

souls of the dead are somewhere in this worldthe real land is inhabited by remembered ancestors

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGWmythological RVapsT superimposed on real spacee.g. spirit of Lake Baikal

has 9 sons (rivers that empty into the lake) and 1 daughter (river which runs out of the lake)

N Explanation of the spirits

spirits I some abstract powerspirits H souls of the remarkable dead people H souls of the people who died in a strange way

H souls of deceased shamans

deceased shamans become collective masters of the land (if a group stays in 1 place) spirit-rulers of different places (if a group moves around)

shamanic genealogies and place of burial matter!(!Gelders and chiefs: burial sites are often unknown)

The shamanic landscape (3)

Q Burial sites of shamans

"#the shamanTK first burial site was avoided, because the soul was considered dangerous until transformed into a spirit

"#second burial = shamans bones are merged with a natural object (e.g. in a tree, beside a spring or a river) second burial site = RKeatTGof the spirit from which

it moves around and changes shape

The shamanic landscape (4)

Conclusion

"#connection between:topographies (physical landscape)descriptive terminologies for landscapespolitical structures

OG2 different kinds of ego in the world

"#chiefly vision and shamanic vision imply each other OG2 landscapes are always imposed on one another

Carp legends in Japan

Remnants of a bygone mentallandscape?

physical landscape of Japan&

landscape abundant in carp

"#very ‘old’ fish Cyprinidae = one of the oldest species of freshwater fish that can be found in Japan

"#‘familiar’ fish not only rivers and lakes, but also rice paddies

contemporary mental landscape = ?

meaning of carp for contemporary Japanese = ?!#decorative fish for ponds (nishikigoi)!#pet!#not-so-popular food source

OGto most people: carp is just a fishno special meaning seems to be attributed to carp

rich carp culture

Japan’s carp culturecarp streamers on Children’s Day, carp float in the Gion

festival, carp as a ‘festive’ food, carp as a ‘healing’ food, carptales and legends, etc.

reconstruction of a lost mental landscape

rich carp culture

carp was given a deeper meaning in the past

carp culture = remnant of a lost mental landscape

analysis of all facets of carp culture in Japan mightgive us a glimpse of the way carp was envisaged

partial reconstruction of that lost mental landscape

Carp tales and legends

"#oldest record of carp tale in XYZ[\]^ (first half of 12th century)GGGGGOGfight between a carp (=the master of Biwako)

and a shark that swam up the Setagawa river

"#fairly large number of tales featuring carp (list of 54 stories)

"#no carp tales in Hokkaido and Okinawa?

4 carp legends, 4 carp graves

1. Kurahashi-jinja (_`ab)

2. Jouzen-ji and Koizuka-dera (cdeBfge)

3. Ryuuhou-ji (hie)

4. Daichou-ji (j?e)

1. Kurahashi-jinja

"#unofficial name = koi-jinja (carp shrine)"#location: Shoumoto-chou, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka"#coverage of the carp tales:

former Kurahashi ‘estate’ (_`k)"#carp = taboo

"carp tales''MGCarp help Gyouki build a bridge during a flood''NGSusano rides a carp''QGCarp save ‘kami’ by moving it across the river''lGcarp save Susano from ‘bandits’ by forming a

bridge across the riverO'carp ‘helps’O'connection between

'''''''carp and Susano

2. Jouzen-ji and Koizuka-dera

"#Jouzen-ji: Kami-toba, Kyoto"#Koizuka-dera: Shimo-toba, Kyoto"#2 koi (') zuka"#originally located near a huge pond (jm)

"carp tales Mnhe master of the pond (jm) was a big carp who seized and ate innocent people, so the people killed it and buried it. N‘Lord Toba’ were 2 big carp who tried to hinder the fishing activities on the ‘lake’OGcarp hinders and kills people = fearsome being

3. Ryuuhou-ji

"#unofficial name = koi-dera (carp temple)"#location: Daitou-ku, Tokyo

"#carp taleAn unusually big carp was sweptdownstream from Shinobazu-ikeinto the Shinbori-gawa where itwas caught. One man used a sawon the carp and then threw itinto the pond of Ryuuhou-ji, butit died the next day. The mandied a little later of typhus.OGcarp kills = vengeful carp

4. Daichou-ji

"#location: Miyakojima-ku, Osaka###(original location: Fujita Museum of Art)"#originally located on the banks of Yodo-gawa

"carp taleIn 1668 a big carp with the markof a tomoe on it’s scales was caughtin the Yodo river and put ondisplay. After it died it was buriedon the grounds of the Daichou-jitemple. That carp was thereincarnation of a warrior who haddied during the big battle in 1615!OGspirit of deceased carp needs to be consoled: fear for vengeful carp

meaning of carp

"#carp graves seem to give expression to feelings of:

gratefulness towards a ‘helping’ being fear towards a ‘vengeful’ being

"#in most carp tales (especially when carp = o) carp are seen as beings that bring either happiness or unhappiness or both fortune misfortune

carp = two-sided being

Reconstruction of the mental landscape

two-sidedness of carpimplies:

carp was seen as a supernatural being

pqrstuBvwxyz{|}