Shotoku: Ethnicity, Ritual, and Violence in the Japanese Buddhist Tradition
"This is an ambitious and richly interdisciplinary book that reexamines our sources on Prince Shotoku to trace the Prince's iconic image as cultural hero and royal Buddhist paragon in Japan's seventh and eighth centuries. Unwrapping Shotoku's multi-layered image provides critical clues to the multifaceted transition that spanned Japan's pre-Buddhist and Buddhist epochs. At the center of the process, Como locates Korean emigrés, especially those from Silla, whose grasp of the tools of literacy gave them key roles in the construction of kingship and mythmaking.Shotokuis a well-written book that anyone interested in Japan's history, culture, and religion will want to read." --Joan Piggott, Gordon L. Macdonald Professor & Director of the Project for Premodern Japan Studies, History Department, University of Southern California"This book vastly expands our understanding of ancient Japan and the role played by 'immigrants' in its formation. Michael Como's sleuthing in the historical record and his close readings of legends and myths enable him to trace the genealogies, intermarriages, locations, and functions of these communities. The evolving myths surrounding the figure of Shotoku Taishi constitute the centerpiece of this reconstruction. Pleasantly surprising mini-denouements of suspense-building interpretations invariably tie together beliefs and practices that have traditionally been labeled separately ('Shinto,' 'Buddhist,' 'Daoist'), as sharing roots in 'non-native' cultural soil. Como's focus on the immigrant connection and his firm and sure expository style cuts a clear path through and around the innumerable historical controversies that surround this fascinating period of Japanese history." --Herman Ooms, author ofImperial Politics and Symbolics in Ancient Japan"This is a very creative work that breaks new ground in understanding the historical sources of early Shinto and Buddhist traditions.  All students of Japanese religious and cultural history will find Como's insights invaluable." --Religious Studies Review"I would heartily recommend this study to anybody concerned with early Japanese history." --Journal of Japanese Studies