A Study of Kyara in Japanese Religious Landscape: Shu Kyo Asobi at Kanda Myo Jin and Ryo Ho Ji Temple

Abstract

Kyara is a ubiquitous, multi-functional category of mascots in Japan, embraced and consumed by people of all walks of life. Although an element of Japanese popular culture, they are also infused in certain religious spaces. This study investigates the reasons behind the infusion of kyara in certain religious spaces in Japan, and examines the impact it has on the practice of religion in those spaces. The literature on kyara is concentrated on its functionality, possible origin and probable reason for consumption and the major reasons stated behind kyaras amalgamation in religious spaces include consumption, globalization and secularization only. With the help of textual analysis and ethnographic research, this study tries to investigate other possible explanations of the incorporation of kyara into religious spaces. This could be the long existing tradition of Japanese religion that combines secular elements of play and entertainment with that of the sacred elements of religion, and diminishes the sharp contrast between the two. This aspect shows that such a conflation is not just a desperate measure taken by religious spaces because of the constraints of a contemporary society weighed down by the forces of consumerism and secularization but also a continuation of a tradition especially from the Edo era in a regularly renovating fashion. The study further investigates the impact in the practice of religion in those religious spaces where kyara is infused. In doing so, it utilizes shu kyo asobi (playful religion) as a theoretical framework and applies it in the case study of Kanda Myo jin in Kanda, Tokyo, and Ryo ho ji temple in Hachioji, Tokyo. The result is the determination of religion being re-created in these spaces. Religion in these spaces is practiced in a diversified and renewed way, thus opposing the secularization theory that suggests a diminishing role of religion in contemporary society.