Konkōkyō Religious Ideas in the Writings of Ogawa Yōko

This article discusses the relationship between the writings of fiction author Ogawa Yōko and the Konkōkyō sect of Shinto. It describes Ogawa’s religious upbringing at a Konkōkyō shrine and the religion’s beliefs in order to explain elements of her fiction. While a consideration of Konkōkyō is not necessary to enjoy Ogawa’s writings, it offers an important way of interpreting her work. Most published critics have focused on common themes of postmodern literature to categorize her writings such as depictions of dilapidation and moral degeneration. In contrast, this article builds on the research in this area of literary critic Yamazaki Makiko, who argues that according to Konkōkyō, the greatest spiritual realizations may occur at times of strife and in situations typically judged as degenerate and immoral. I argue that since the publication of Yamazaki’s research, Konkōkyō-related motifs have become increasingly central to Ogawa’s stories, which corresponds to her own statements about the changing focus of her later writings

Art · Categorization · Epistemology · Focus (optics · Literature · Order (exchange · Postmodernism · Sociology · Japanese History and Culture · Philosophy

• Creating State Shinto

  Helen Hardacre•Journal of Japanese Studies•1986

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