Prof. Dr. Christoph Kleine

In previous studies, I have focused on explicit concepts of differentiation in medieval Japan, particularly the old Buddhist distinction between “the ruler’s law” (ōbō) and “the Buddha’s law” (buppō) which served as an organising principle and a conceptual means to legitimise the dual rule of “secular” and “religious” institutions in medieval Japan. These two laws or orders were deemed interdependent yet clearly distinct. Whereas “the ruler’s law” was held responsible for inner-worldly affairs (seken; skt. laukika) “the Buddha’s law” was primarily and ultimately concerned with things that transcend the world (shusseken; skt. lokottara). Although this binary distinction between two societal spheres may well be regarded as an important factor in making the Japanese ready for the Western “religious-secular-divide” (Beyer) it is probably too schematic, theoretical, and elitist to be taken as a reflection or representation of social reality. Therefore, I will analyse historical discourses in more detail with a view to finding more implicit, easily overlooked distinctions between actions and actors, fields of action, cultural spheres, value systems, life orders, discourses, institutions, etc., which may be seen as harbingers or precursors of the “religious-secular-divide.” For this purpose, I will carefully read a great number of texts written during the so-called Kamakura Period (1185–1333). Most importantly I want to go beyond reading doctrinal works and search for implicit or explicit taxonomies, classification systems, and knowledge systems in texts belonging to different genres, such as edifying narratives, war epics, courtly literature, historiography, diaries, travelogues, temple histories, etc. Special attention will be paid to strategies, means and responsibilities for particular social functions such as the construction of reality and the “naturalisation” of social conditions, the legitimisation of authority, and coping with contingency. In doing so, I hope not only to produce valuable historical data but also gain a better understanding of how emic discourses in medieval Japan created and reflected conceptual as well as social demarcations which may have been favourable for the adoption of Western concepts of secularity in the 19th century. Also, by applying and testing the theoretical concept of “multiple secularities” within a pre-modern non-Western semantic framing, the project will contribute – hopefully – to a refinement of the concept itself as well as to its operationalisation.