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Blurring the Boundary between Play and Ritual: Sugoroku Boards as Portable Cosmos in Japanese Religion

Yuan, Jingyi
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin163023273917632

Abstract Details

2021, BA, Oberlin College, East Asian Studies.
This thesis examines two Japanese board games, both called sugoroku 双六, from a religious studies perspective. Although bearing the same name, ban-sugoroku 盤双六 and e-sugoroku 絵双六 have long been studied separately because of their different origins, eras, layouts and rules. However, an examination of visual and textual evidence such as illustrated handscrolls and encyclopedic sources demonstrates that the two games are strikingly similar: both games carry cosmological meanings, and their religious functions are closely tied to the process of playing. I propose that the inextricable nature of ritual and play exhibited in both games enabled them to serve for laypersons as accessible alternatives to mandalas and other contemporaneous religious objects that were often used by Buddhist priests. I argue that the games served as portable liminal space that enabled exchanges between the supernatural realm and the ordinary world, therefore making highly specialized religious knowledge and practices tangible to the laypeople. Although scholars have begun to recognize important similarities between ritual and play, few have studied specific games through the lens of religious rituals. Challenging the widely held misconception that play is for children and rituals are for adults, my thesis on sugoroku redefines the boundaries between ritual and play and the sacred and the secular. 盤双六も絵双六も日本の盤上遊戯である。どちらも「双六」と呼ばれているにもかかわらず、両者を分けて研究される傾向がある。盤双六と絵双六は、起源をはじめ、小道具や材料、ルール、流行していた時代など、異なる点が多いということは異論を挟む余地がない。ただし、絵巻、古記録、古辞典などの史料によると、盤双六と絵双六は宇宙論的な意味を持っており、それらの宗教的な役割は遊ぶことと密接に関連している点で共通している。本稿では、両方のゲームで示された儀礼と遊びの不可分な性質により、同時期の儀礼で僧侶によってよく使用された物の代用として在家の者が使われたと指摘する。両方とも境界的(liminal)な空間として異界とのコミュニケーションを可能にさせ、仏教儀礼の専門知識を在家の者に使用できるようになったと推測している。先行研究では、儀礼と遊びは近似していることが明らかになっている。しかし、具体的な宗教の儀礼と特定の遊戯を比べた研究はほとんどない。本稿では、遊びは子供向けであり、儀礼は大人向けだという広く受け入れられている考え方に疑問を投げかけ、儀礼と遊ぶこと、また宗教と世俗の境界を再定義する。
Andrew Macomber (Advisor)
Hsiu-Chuang Deppman (Committee Member)
Bonnie Cheng (Committee Member)
Sheila Miyoshi Jager (Committee Chair)
83 p.
Asian Studies
Sugoroku; Board games; Cosmology; Buddhism; Exorcism; Pure Land; Karma and chance; Ritual and play; Everyday religion

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Yuan, J. (2021). Blurring the Boundary between Play and Ritual: Sugoroku Boards as Portable Cosmos in Japanese Religion [Undergraduate thesis, Oberlin College]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin163023273917632

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Yuan, Jingyi. Blurring the Boundary between Play and Ritual: Sugoroku Boards as Portable Cosmos in Japanese Religion. 2021. Oberlin College, Undergraduate thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin163023273917632.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Yuan, Jingyi. "Blurring the Boundary between Play and Ritual: Sugoroku Boards as Portable Cosmos in Japanese Religion." Undergraduate thesis, Oberlin College, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin163023273917632

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

oberlin163023273917632
374
© 2021, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Blurring the Boundary between Play and Ritual: Sugoroku Boards as Portable Cosmos in Japanese Religion by Jingyi Yuan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Oberlin College Honors Theses and OhioLINK.