Withered Wood and Dead Ashes—Making Sense of the Sacred Bodies of Kamatari at Tōnomine

Abstract

The portrait statue of Fujiwara Kamatari (614–669) enshrined at Tōnomine is well known for its agency and mantic powers. Known to crack whenever the stability of the clan was under threat, the icon was carefully observed and cared for. However, not one but two portrait statues of the Fujiwara ancestor existed at Tōnomine in the Heian period, until one was destroyed in the infamous 1208 attack by armed supporters of Kinpusen. This article proposes first to investigate the relationship between these two icons, to show how their dynamic interaction is at the source of the cracking episodes that came to define Kamatari’s cult in later centuries. Then, by looking at the ways in which members of the Fujiwara clan reflected on the nature of the remains of the statue lost in 1208 and on the role of the extant one, it draws attention to how the ritualization of Kamatari’s statue was also couched in Confucian ideas and practices.