Setsuyōshū content: Cosmology in the Edo period _ A while ago I wrote an Eitai Setsuyō Mujinzō , the same as was used in the introduction.

In this installment we will look at the content of a double page at the beginning of the Eitai Setsuyō Mujinzō which gives information about some cosmological beliefs in the Edo period. I am not saying that this represents the dominant cosmological world view of the period, but the fact that it appears within such a popular work as the Eitai Setsuyō Mujinzō makes it worth it to have a closer look. Below the image I will provide the complete translation along with some comments. I can't say that I'm satisfied with my translation, it doesn't read very well and I struggled to find good translations for some of the terms. If you have any suggestions that would improve the translations, please tell me in the comments.

A while ago I wrote an introduction to the setsuyōshū 節用集 genre and promised to write more detailed posts about the various content of such books. This is the first post in what I hope to become a running series of sorts. As will be the case for most of these posts, the majority of the examples used will come from the, the same as was used in the introduction.In this installment we will look at the content of a double page at the beginning of thewhich gives information about some cosmological beliefs in the Edo period. I am not saying that this represents the dominant cosmological world view of the period, but the fact that it appears within such a popular work as themakes it worth it to have a closer look. Below the image I will provide the complete translation along with some comments. I can't say that I'm satisfied with my translation, it doesn't read very well and I struggled to find good translations for some of the terms. If you have any suggestions that would improve the translations, please tell me in the comments. _ Translation:



The Heaven is yang. It is positioned above us and it covers everything. It is the virtue of the father. The Earth is yin. It is positioned below us and everything rides on top of it. It is the way of the mother. Furthermore, yin and yang intertwine and give birth to the five elements. The essence [of the five elements] circulates in Heaven and conducts the four seasons. The form covers Earth and gives birth to the human as well as birds, beasts, fish, insects, grass and trees. Therefore we call Heaven and Earth the Great Father and Mother. Because the human is born from this great essence of the five elements, it is said to be the spirit of all things. Therefore it is said that abiding by the Heavenly Father and the Earthly Mother is an act of filial piety. Obeying the Sun Emperor and the Moon Empress is said to be loyalty. Truly because man derives his nature from Heaven and Earth, there is no thing within Heaven and Earth that is not also within man. Because Heaven is round, the head of man is also round. Because Heaven has the sun and the moon, man has two eyes. In heaven there are constellations, in man there are teeth and nails. In Heaven there are wind and rain, in man there are happiness and anger. In Heaven there is thunder, in man there is voice. In Heaven there are both yin and yang, so in man there are both man and woman. In Heaven there are four seasons, so man has four limbs. In Heaven there are fire and cold, so in man there are fever and cold. In Heaven there are day and night, so man rises and goes to bed. In Heaven there is the pentatonic scale, so in man there are the five viscera. In Heaven there is the (Chinese) chromatic scale (六律. Usually a scale with twelve tones, but sometimes referred to as six as here), so in man there are the six internal organs. In Heaven there are the ten calendar signs, man has ten fingers. In Heaven there are the twelve zodiac signs, so in man there is the ten toes of the feet and the penis and the scrotum. Since the woman does not have this [penis and scrotum], it is the placenta and the uterus [instead]. Because there are twelve months in a year, man has twelve large joints. Since there are 360 days in a year, man has 360 bones. Or, because of the shape of Earth, man is shaped with legs. Because there are twelve rivers on Earth, man has twelve veins. Like Earth has tall mountains, man has shoulders and knees. Earth has underground rivers, man has streams of life energy and blood. On earth there is grass and trees, man has hair and muscles. The Earth has sand and small stones, man has bones and meat. Other than that, of all the things between Heaven and Earth, there is nothing that can be said to not also be in man. Also when talking about Mt.Sumeru, which is explained in Buddhist sutras, representations of its parts are all contained within the body. Just like at the top of Mt. Sumeru there is Tōriten, man has his skull. Mt. Sumerus Round Tree of Growth is the hair that grows on the round head of man. Taishaku, or his castle, is the eyebrows of man. This is the origin of the expression "Opening the eyebrow of happiness". The Hall of the Fine Dharma is the Buddha mind inside all humans. In the four heavenly directions of Mt. Sumeru, the Four Heavenly Kings, Jikoku, Zōjō, Kōmoku and Tamon reside. Firstly, Kōmoku is the two eyes. Tamon is the ears. Zōjō is the nose. The mouth is a country in itself because it eats all the food, so therefore it is Jikoku. The nine mountains of Sumeru are the nine parts of the body: the shoulders, the elbows, the breasts, the stomach, the genitals, the knees, the back, the hip and the buttocks. The Eight Seas is the flow of the eight consciousnesses of the mind. The four continents are the four limbs. Moreover, the Poem of Sumeru says that the north is yellow, it points to the color of the night of Kōkoku. Like it [the poem] says that the east is white, it points to the glowing color of the dawn in the east. Like it says that the south is blue, it points to the bright and blue sky of noon. Like it talks of the deep red of the west, it points to the red shadow of the setting sun. This is just like the day and night of this world. Sumeru is the sun; it rises in the Eastern Mountain, sets in the Western Mountain and is resurrected again in the east at daybreak. Also man is born in the yang of the east and dies in the yin of the west, and slowly returns to the east where he is resurrected. Upon seeing this, people are in awe of the preciousness of this and have to study the Way of Heaven and follow the Truth of Earth.



End of translation



_ Among the various setsuyōshū I have looked at so far the Eitai Setsuyō Mujinzō is the only one that contains this kind of text. It does, however, fit very into one of the two categories of information that, according to Yokoyama Toshio, appears in most setsuyōshū .The first category deals with man's position in the universe, while the second deals with instructions of proper civility. (Yokoyama 2006:45) Most setsuyōshū starts with showing man's position in the world with a map of the world before going further and further down the scale with showing maps of Japan, and then cities. The Eitai Setsuyō Mujinzō just starts the scale one step higher than the others, namely the cosmos itself. Five elements diagram One of the most interesting things in this text is how comfortably it refers to various religious doctrines within the same worldview. First there is the ying yang and five elements philosophy 陰陽五行思想 of Daoism (or onmyōdō 陰陽道 as it is called in Japan). Secondly, there are the Confucian elements of filial piety ( kō 孝) and loyalty ( chū 忠). And last, the text refers to the Buddhist cosmology of Mt. Sumeru and its Four Heavenly Kings. That different religious doctrines can live and thrive under the same sky is quite common in Japan and in East Asia in general. Therefore, it is not so strange that we find all of these doctrines within the same pages. But where is Shinto? Shinto is often referred to as the indigenous religion of Japan, so shouldn't we expect to find it here as well? One possible answer is that the text might be a translation of a Chinese text. And since there is no Shinto in China, they wouldn't mention Shinto in such a text either. If the text is indeed Japanese, the answer is likely to be that they did not talk about "Shinto" the way the Japanese people do today. Shinto as we know it today is to a great extent a modern invention. If you are interested in finding out more about this, I recommend picking up the book A New History of Shinto by John Breen and Mark Teeuwen.

On the border surrounding the text there are four figures. These are the Four Heavenly Kings ( shitennō 四天王). These four gods have their roots in Indian cosmology and were transmitted to Japan through Buddhism. They are believed to be the guardians of the four continents that surround Mt. Sumeru ( shumisen 須弥山) in the four cardinal direction. Among these four ( Jikokuten 持国天, Zōchōten 増長天, Kōmokuten 広目天, Tamonten 多聞天) it is only Tamonten , also called Bishamonten 毘沙門天, that is worshiped outside of the group. These four gods are often displayed standing on top of small demons called jaki 邪鬼, symbolizing their protective power. This can be seen in the pictures below from the Todaiji in Nara.

Jikokuten Zōchōten Kōmokuten Tamonten There is a lot more that could be said about this text, but I think this post is already long enough, so I will leave it for the time being. I hope you found it interesting.

Sources and recommended reading:



Breen, John, and Mark Teeuwen. A New History of Shinto . Chichester: Wiley- Blackwell, 2010.

Shunichi, Sekine. Butsuson no jiten: sōdai naru bukkyō uchū no hotoke tachi. Tokyo: Gakken, 1997

Yokoyama, Toshio. "Even a Sardine's Head Becomes Holy: The Role of Household Encyclopedias in Sustaining Civilisation in Pre-Industrial Japan." In SANSAI: An Environmental Journal for the Global Community, 41-57, 2006.