Imperial Politics and Symbolics in Ancient Japan: The Tenmu Dynasty, 650-800

9 Spirits

9 SPIRITS Prince Nagaya is selfishly studying the Left Way for private gain, and seeks to overthrow the state. —729/2/10. Shoku Nihongi A dry moat shall be dug around Prince Sawara’s tomb, so that there shall be no overflow of pollution. —792/7/17. Nihon kiryaku Ōtomo Yakamochi, poet and compiler of the Manyōshū and onetime general in campaigns against the Emishi, died just before Fujiwara Tanetsugu’s murder on 785/9/23 at the hands of some Ōtomo, an uji with a long-standing enmity against the Fujiwara. The record suggests that he may have been involved, although marginally, in both Nakamaro’s and Naramaro’srebellions—accusationsthatcannotbeverified.AsanŌtomo, Yakamochi was considered to have been in cahoots with the plotters. He wasposthumouslyreducedtocommonerstatus,andhischildrenwerebanished .Worse,hiscorpsewasleft to rot for over twentydaysbefore receiving a burial—a sure formula to produce a disgruntled spirit. Yet Yakamochi did not have an afterlife as a vengeful spirit, probably because “people” did not judge him to fit the role. Others, however, did become vengeful spirits. Most famous among them was Crown Prince Sawara, not a Fujiwara favorite either, whose “suicide” followed Ōtomo’s death within days. The killings in the royal circles that accompanied the shift away from Tenmu’s line (Emperor Junnin, Emperor Kōnin’s empress-consort Inoue and their son Crown Prince Osabe, and Crown Prince Sawara, Kanmu’s brother) continued to make history after the victims were buried or cremated . They kept haunting Kanmu personally for a long time, especially Sawara’s suicide/murder. RevengeoftheLivingDead Immediately after Sawara’s death, Kanmu sent messengers to the tombs of Tenji,Tenmu,andShōmutoannouncethatSawarahadbeendeposed.This preventive strike to ward off rebuke from the political spiritual world, done spirits | 225 in an official, public manner, had precedents in his own life. On 777/12/28, after Kanmu (then Crown Prince Yamabe and forty years old) had been ill for three days, it was decided to upgrade his stepmother Empress-consort Inoue’s grave by assigning a guard to it, more a measure of protection, however , than a promotion. Inoue, it will be recalled, had been eliminated by Kanmu’s father, Emperor Kōnin, two years earlier. On 778/3/20, Yamabe was sick again, and once more three days later it was decided that this time the ghost of deposed and killed Emperor Junnin mighthavebeenbehindtheillness.Junnin’sgravewasupgradedtotherank of imperial tomb and providedwitha permanent guard.On790/i3/10 Kanmu ’s empress died, a mere three months after his mother had passed away, prompting him to proclaim a general amnesty a week later. The same year healsoassignedapermanentguardtoSawara’stumulusinAwajiwho,however , must have been negligent in his duty, as it turned out two years later. At least that was the message from a divination of 792/6/10 after Crown Prince Ate had been sick for a long time. Sawara had cursed the one who had taken his place. One may wonder how the supernatural sources of these earthly misfortunes came to be identified. The answer to this question is twofold. On the one hand, as sometimes mentioned in passing in the record, yin-yang specialists were instrumental in diagnosing causes and prescribing solutions. On the other hand, as to be discussed later in more detail, general public discontent and critique of court policies or economic distress may have guided the diviners, like shamans taking their clues from their audience, toward famous innocent victims of murderous court imbroglios. AfterthefingerwaspointedatSawara,theprinceofficialinchargeofimperial tombs was dispatched to Awaji to make amends to Sawara’s spirit for the tomb guard’s negligence. The idea behind posting a permanent guard was not only to provide an honor guard, but also and perhaps mainly in this case to keep Sawara’s spirit in his tomb. Some spirits of the dead were dangerousandhadtobecontained,itwasbelieved.Thus,topreventcurses from recurring and to remedy the human fallibility of guards, a dry moat wasdugatthefootofthetumulus,sothat“thereshallbenooverflowofpollution .”1 Pollution, as became overwhelmingly clear throughout the Heian period, was not believed to cross fabricated boundaries.2 Yet wronged spirits cannot be trusted to forget the past that easily. On 797/5/20, two monks were dispatched to recite sutras at the grave as repentance for sins and atonement (sha) to Sawara’s spirit (rei).3 Offerings were sent again on 799/2/15 for the same purpose.4 On 800/7/23, a more drastic measure of rehabilitation was taken. Sawara was given the title Emperor [18.227.24.209] Project MUSE (2024-04-19 07...