"Dansreligionen i japansk immigrantmiljö på Hawai'i. Via helbrägdagörare och Jodu shinshu-präster till nationalistisk millennarism".
(English summary: The Dancing Religion in a Japanese-Hawaiian Immigrant Environment). Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1996. 311 pp.
Är det någon här, som vet mer om dansreligionen?
http://web.abo.fi/comprel/temenos/temeno32/rev_land.htm
Form and identity of the Dancing religion
Tina Hamrin emphasizes Buddhist elements of the Dancing religion and correspondingly de-emphasizes the Shinto elements in it. Its mantra "Namu Myoho Renge Kyo" - Hail to the Glorious Sutra of the Lotus Law - traces its origin to Nichiren Buddhism; and the so-called "muga" (non-self) dance also reminds one of Buddhist spirituality: no personal identity. Other scholars would, however, like the Japanese scholar Murakami Shigeyoshi classify the religion as "syncretist Shinto". Personally I side with the latter classification. Anyhow, the religion is ambiguous in this respect. I will therefore venture another dimension of classification of the Dancing Religion. Could it be called a "temporary religion"? The religion has today a nominal membership of 400,000; certainly an indication of vitality. But, the vitality is decreasing. The faith flourished, as has been clearly demonstrated, in postwar Japan and even in Hawaii for a number of years. Its rituals mediated self-consciousness and empowerment after the Japanese crisis post 1945 - connected with the charismatic personality of Ogamisama (Sayo Kitamura). All these facts are shown and illustrated by Tina Hamrin. But Ogamisama is not around any longer. The identity crisis of 1945 is in the distant past. Is the role of the dancing religon finished as well?
I am inclined to take such a point of view. The weak identity of the religion - neither Buddhist nor Shinto - becomes a liability in the absence of the founder. To this is added a special feature: The Dancing Religion is exclusive in its salvatory claims. As long as the founder was still vitally present, the exclusivity could be upheld. But in her absence, the salvatory exclusivity becomes a problem in a Buddhist-Shinto context. Why, then, not classify the Dancing Religion as a temporary expression of a Japanese, folk-religious stream of religiosity? It can be seen as a passing expression of a fundamental religiosity which takes on a new shape in new situations. Its identity is therefore "Japanese Folk Religiosity", but overtaken by other living charismatic personalities when the founder passed away. The story of the Dancing Religion in Hawai'i, particularly in Kona, seems to support this interpretation of its form and identity as a passing one.
The role of the dance
The description of the non-ego dance in the dissertation offers a most subtle reading experience. The section "prayer-meeting with dance", p. 189, provides an example. Observation and empathy are here brought to a well concerted unity. The dance is at the same time interpreted as (a) healing (helbrägdagörande p. 201); (b) expression of a new realness (p. 195); (c) an alternative state of mind (p. 191). With a term borrowed from the Swedish psychologist of religion Hjalmar Sunden, she also claims that (d) a new system of reference is given here (p. 197). An interesting perspective, namely that the conception of "dance as organizing memorized experiences" is given as an additional feature, can be traced back to research done by the psychologist of religion Anton Geels (p. 195).
Tina Hamrin also provides comparative perspectives here, relating the experiences of the Dancing Religion to those offered in Christian groups such as Quakers, Pentecostals and the Alliance Mission ( p. 191 ff).
The comparative perspective leads to an interesting but difficult question when Tina Hamrin wants to identify and absolutize the "alternative state of mind" observed in the non-ego dance with corresponding "states" found in cults of other religious bodies. She says: "The absolute reality appeared during the rituals. The relative reality of the believer's daily life was coloured by problems, social, physical and psychic. But in the formalized ritual disease was transformed into an asset ... ritual was ... a means to attain a goal: the alternative state of mind" (p. 198).
These are interesting perspectives, but one question emerges: what are our criteria for comparing and concluding the essential identity in the various alternative "states of mind"? Could the "alternative state of mind" differ from one religion or rite to another? Is the state of mind basically the same in Zen and in the Dancing Religion? Is the same experience provided by the Alliance Mission and the Dancing Religion?