University of Hawaii Press Agents of World Renewal: The Rise of Yonaoshi Gods in Japan

This volume examines a category of Japanese divinities that centered on the concept of “world renewal” (yonaoshi). In the latter half of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), a number of entities, both natural and supernatural, came to be worshipped as “gods of world renewal.” These included disgruntled peasants who demanded their local governments repeal unfair taxation, government bureaucrats who implemented special fiscal measures to help the poor, and a giant subterranean catfish believed to cause earthquakes to punish the hoarding rich. In the modern period, yonaoshi gods took on more explicitly anti-authoritarian characteristics. During a major uprising in Saitama Prefecture in 1884, a yonaoshi god was invoked to deny the legitimacy of the Meiji regime, and in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the new religion Ōmoto predicted an apocalyptic end of the world presided over by a messianic yonaoshi god.Using a variety of local documents to analyze the veneration of yonaoshi gods, Takashi Miura looks beyond the traditional modality of research focused on religious professionals, their institutions, and their texts to illuminate the complexity of a lived religion as practiced in communities. He also problematizes the association frequently drawn between the concept of yonaoshi and millenarianism, demonstrating that yonaoshi gods served as divine rectifiers of specific economic injustices and only later, in the modern period and within the context of new religions such as Ōmoto, were fully millenarian interpretations developed. The scope of world renewal, in other words, changed over time.Agents of World Renewal approaches Japanese religion through the new analytical lens of yonaoshi gods and highlights the necessity of looking beyond the boundary often posited between the early modern and modern periods when researching religious discourses and concepts. Review By focusing on case studies ranging between the 1780s and the 1920s, [Miura] breaks through the usual periodization chosen by his predecessors who generally ended their studies in the 1870s. Rather than lengthy discussions of theoretical issues, the author makes extensive use of a vast array of primary sources ignored in the past, like popular songs, private diaries, or satirical woodblock prints. . . . On the whole, this study offers refreshing insights on a debate that (wrongly) seemed to be over. It reminds us of the necessity to consider, in their diversity, direct accounts of the actors involved, instead of developing hermetic theoretical frameworks beforehand and trying to find evidence that fits in.--Martin Nogueira Ramos, École française d'Extrême-Orient "Japanese Religions, 44:1 & 2 (2020)"Miura examines yonaoshi gods through specific case studies that often occurred outside the authority of religious professionals, so the extant historical sources are scattered. Hence the book draws upon a wide range of sources, including government records, popular media materials, personal letters, diaries, memoirs, and local histories to examine phenomena that have not typically been studied in-depth because the cases existed on the margins. The strength of Miura's study lies in his meticulous investigation of the various case studies and how he slowly builds detailed evidence into a compelling argument.--April D. Hughes, Boston University "Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 47:2 (2020)"Miura impressively marshals a plethora of historical sources to demonstrate the semantic and contextual scope of yonaoshi in the emic usage. . . . Miura provides us with a masterpiece of historical scholarship. The book belongs to the shelf of every scholar of Japanese religions and millenarianism.--Lukas Pokorny "Religious Studies Review, 47:1 (March 2021)"Miura's book--an insightful, carefully researched, and well-executed historical study of a class of Japanese divinities known as yonaoshi, or "world-renewing" gods--is unexpectedly resonan