Buried Scripture and the Interpretation of Ritual

Bibliographic Data

ID6044693
AuthorsJonathan Thumas (0000-0002-6091-2787, Harvard University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume32
Issue4
Pages585-599
Publication date2022-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCambridge Archaeological Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-7743 • E-ISSN: 1474-0540
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0959774322000038
OpenAlexW4212768032
LanguageEN
References cited23

Inference to religion and ritual does not require scripture. Since the early twentieth century, archaeologists have identified hundreds of deposits containing Buddhist scriptures, images and ritual objects throughout the Japanese archipelago, the majority dating to the late Heian period (794–1185 ce). Previous research suggests that scripture was the central feature of these deposits. This article argues that these deposits resulted from a range of highly variable contexts of religious and social practice, not limited to a focus on scripture. I survey early excavations and interpretations of sutra burial and then turn to two main case studies. These examples show that these deposits were complex assemblages that implicated diverse religious meanings, time frames and social actors. Scripture deposits can demonstrate how religious ritual illuminates, underwrites and interweaves variant scales of agency, time and social practice

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Archipelago · Buddhism · Epistemology · Sociology · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History · Japanese History and Culture · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Philosophy

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