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Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method
Open accessAbstract
The study of religion in early modern (Tokugawa) Japan has failed to keep pace with the study of religion in the periods that preceded and followed it. What has been lacking particularly are explorations of religious praxis. The present study proposes a novel approach to this subject with its critical focus on the Tokugawa calendar and its almanac commentaries. Calendars, and their multiple prescriptions for particular types of action and non-action, informed as they are by the cosmic wisdom of yin yang (onmyō) and five-phases-of-matter thinking (gogyō shisō), offer unique insights into precisely the neglected field of religious practice. This study sets out to decode the calendar and explore the ways in which it determined religious practice in early modern Japan. It discloses the centrality of the worship of stellar kami.
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TL;DR
Breen argues that Tokugawa calendars and almanac commentaries, decoded through yin-yang, five-phase, and sexagenary systems, open a neglected window onto early modern Japanese religious practice centered on stellar and planetary kami and directional/temporal taboos. Using an 1864 Kyoto calendar and 19th-century almanacs, he shows how calendrical knowledge circulated widely and shaped cults such as Daishōgun and Kōshin, while leaving actual observance to further research.
Key findings
- The opening pages of a Bunkyū 4 (1864) Kyoto calendar are dominated by spatial concerns: the benevolent Toshitokujin and malevolent Konjin, the nyoi hōju jewels, and eight kami including Taisai (north), Daishōgun (west), and Daion (northwest). Taisai is the spirit of Jupiter/wood, so woodcutting is taboo; Daishōgun is a second Venus manifestation with a three-year western taboo; Daion is Saturn/earth and generally benevolent, though giving birth facing her northwest direction is dangerous; offending Konjin, the Venus/metal kami, is said to cost one’s own life and those of six family members.
- Temporal decoding relies on the sexagenary cycle, ten stems and twelve branches, twenty-eight lunar lodges, and twelve stellar coincidences. For Bunkyū 4’s first month, the text identifies hi no e tora, the western i lodge (17th of 28, inauspicious for marriage and building but not cloth cutting), and the first day as the 26th chō lodge, when sowing and sericulture are taboo; the first three days are labeled nozoku, mitsu, and taira, each with its own prescriptions.
- Calendrical knowledge moved from court yin-yang specialists and the Tsuchimikado family to a broad audience from the late 17th to early 18th centuries. The Wakan sansai zue (1712), Japan’s first encyclopedia, had 105 volumes divided into 81 books and was compiled by Terajima Ryōan; later single-volume zassho almanacs, such as the 1840s Tenpō shinsen eitai daizassho manreki taisei (about 300 pages, in Japanese with furigana), made this knowledge widely accessible. By the 19th century, an estimated 4.5 million calendars were printed annually for a population of about 30 million, and most urban and rural households likely had access to a calendar or almanac.
- Two promoted cults receive attention: Daishōgun, with shrines across Japan and a Kyoto Daishōgun hachi shrine dating from the 8th century, whose Tokugawa register listed a Kansai network later eliminated in the 1868 Meiji Restoration; and Kōshin, the metal-monkey sexagenary phase, worshipped through Sarutahiko or Shōmen kongō and marked by Kōshintō stones. Late Tokugawa almanacs reject the Daoist three-worms theory, calling it a parable urging people to stay awake and abstain from sex, since bodily fluids, especially semen, are polluting.
Methods
- The study is a preliminary historical and interpretive decoding of Tokugawa calendars and almanac commentaries, using yin-yang, five-phase, sexagenary, lunar-lodge, and stellar-coincidence systems to read spatial and temporal prescriptions.
- Primary sources include a Bunkyū 4 (1864) Kyoto calendar printed by the Furuya family, the Wakan sansai zue (1712), and the Tenpō shinsen eitai daizassho manreki taisei (1840s, consulted in a British Library copy), with almanac sections used to explain calendar symbols and taboos.
- Analysis is close reading of calendar diagrams, captions, and almanac sections, plus discussion of distribution evidence and two cult examples; no quantitative behavioral data or systematic survey is presented.
Limitations
- The paper states it is preliminary and postpones a full exploration of whether people actually observed the taboos to a later article; it presumes calendars and almanacs played a vital role until more detailed research shows otherwise.
- It states that local research is needed to determine the precise nature of Daishōgun worship, including offerings, occasions, and manner, and that the almanac offers no insights on these points; it also notes that the distribution of the Wakan sansai zue is unknown.
- Evident from the text: the argument rests on a limited sample of calendars and almanacs, mainly one 1864 Kyoto calendar and one 1840s almanac, and lacks direct evidence of individual practice or systematic regional comparison.
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Claims the paper makes
29 Own interpretation · 23 Own result · 4 Sources not found · 4 Not checked yet · 2 No basis given
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In the paper
“They are not, the reader learns, the eight royal offspring from the coupling of Susano'o and Inada hime, as legend would have it.This is fabrication 'for, when one consults calendrical sources, it is clear they are the spirits of the five planets [Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury and Saturn]' (Section 15).”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“The year 1864 was one of those in the sexegenary cycle that corresponded to the elder brother of wood (hi no e 丙) phase; in such years Toshitokujin resides in the direction of the monkey, between the directions of the tiger and rabbit.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Tokugawa space and Tokugawa time 1. Space
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In the paper
“It discloses the centrality of the worship of stellar kami.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Abstract
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In the paper
“Here it must suffice to recall that the calendar achieved near saturation in rural and urban Tokugawa Japan.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“They seem to have drawn much of their information and evidently most of their illustrations directly from Terajima's work Wakan sansai zue.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“Several generations before the end of the Tokugawa period, however, single-volume compendia of knowledge, known generically as zassho 雑書 ('books of assorted knowledge') had begun to proliferate.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“By the 19 th century, almanacs were proliferating to such an extent that it is estimated pretty well every household in urban and rural Japan had access to one.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“None of these now survives, however, since they were eliminated in the iconoclastic fury of the Meiji Restoration of 1868.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“Its three jewels are, after all, 'three celestial maidens of the sun, the moon and the stars, who bring good fortune as they move through the heavens'.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“Of the cult of Daishōgun, the kami of the planet Venus, who was hardly less malevolent than the other kami of Venus, Konjin, there is material evidence over a wide swathe of Japan.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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- It may state two separate claims as one. 31
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In the paper
“The annual printing of 4.5 million calendars and their distribution among a population of some 30 million suggest that most families in Japan owned a calendar; most families, we know, had access, too, to an almanac.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“Here in Terajima's text is to be found knowledge, in textual and pictorial form, of Konjin, Taisai and Daishōgun.Detailed expositions of the logic of the twelve stellar coincidences, the twenty-eight lunar lodges and, of course, yin yang, the five phases and the sexegenary cycle, are all to be found in the pages of the Wakan sansai zue.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“Here, he is styled a 'military deity' charged with protecting the realm.His wanderings are plotted in caption and diagram, with greater precision than the calendar allowed.The reader is reminded that Daishōgun resides in any one quarter for a full three years before moving on, and this of course explains the three-year taboo cited in the calendar.Here are specific warnings against building, moving”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“The first month of Bunkyū 4 (1864) coincides with the western i lodge, the 17 th of twenty-eight in total, a month inauspicious for marriage and building work, but not for the cutting of cloth.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > 2.Time
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In the paper
“Explanations in clear, concise, furigana-glossed Japanese are furnished here for any wishing to delve into the logic of the twelve stellar coincidences (Section 24, 114), the twenty-eight lunar lodges (Section 29) and, of course, the yin yang, five-phase thinking that underpins them both (Sections 89, 90, 108, 109).”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“The 1 st day of this month aligns with the 26 th chō lodge.The sowing of seeds, and indeed, all sericulture-related activities are taboo on chō days.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > 2.Time
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In the paper
“The almanac offers no insights at all.Its unique concern is to plot Daishōgun's movements in order that mere mortals might avoid his devastating wrath.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“The 10 th section of the Eitai daizassho is entitled Koyomi no chūshaku 暦の注釈 ('Calendrical commentary'), and it is herein that the keys for decoding the calendrical secrets are revealed.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“For example, the Kyoto Daishōgun hachi shrine keeps a Tokugawa period register, known as the kakiagechō 書き上げ帳, which lists a network of Daishōgun shrines in the Kansai area, subordinate to it; all of these were Tokugawa creations.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“This first page is typical in that it is dominated by spatial concerns, but the second and, indeed, all subsequent pages of the calendar plot the passage of Tokugawa time and, as they do, they encode its cosmic significance.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Introduction
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- Rests on an assumption: The 1864 Bunkyū calendar and the Eitai daizassho are representative of Tokugawa calendars and almanacs generally.
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In the paper
“Hi no e tora identifies this 1 st month as the third in the sexegenary cycle, which the calendar applies to years and days, as well as to months.It is that month when the elder brother of the fire phase of matter (hi no e), which is the third of the ten heavenly stems (jikkan), coincides with the tiger (tora) of the twelve earthly branches (jūnishi).”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > 2.Time
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In the paper
“Evidence of the cult is to be found across Japan in sites known as Kōshintō 庚申塔.Sometimes they were a simple vertically-set stone engraved with the characters Kōshin.More typically they displayed an image of Shōmen kongō, beneath whom are the three monkeys identified with Sarutahiko.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Kōshin
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In the paper
“Unlike the Wakan sansai zue, this Eitai daizassho is written in Japanese, with all Sino-Japanese characters glossed with furigana.It is abundantly illustrated, with many of its illustrations replicating those used by Terajima in his earlier work.The almanac, moreover, compacts all its information between the covers of a single volume of about 300 pages.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“The Tokugawa almanac insists that the reality was quite different.The human body was not inhabited by worms at all: 'This is no more than a parable to get men and women to stay awake all night and abstain from sexual intercourse for, on these nights, it is bodily fluids, but especially semen, which are indeed polluting.'(Section 41).”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Kōshin
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In the paper
“On Kōshin days, early modern Japanese worshipped either the indigenous kami Sarutahiko 猿田彦or the Buddhist deity Shōmen kongō 青面金剛 (the blue faced Vajrapani), but the almanacs informed their readers that both Sarutahiko and Shōmen kongō were none other than Buddhist and Shinto manifestations of the kami Kōshin.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Kōshin
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In the paper
“Daion, for her part, is the spirit of Saturn, dosei 土星 or the planet of earth, and the princess of Daisai.She is, on the whole, benevolent, especially towards those engaged in academic pursuits, but woe betide the pregnant mother who gives birth facing Daion in the north west.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Tokugawa space and Tokugawa time 1. Space
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In the paper
“Knowledge of the sexegenary cycle, the five phases of matter and yin yang theory, as well as of the stars and the planets, is essential to decoding the spatial and temporal information on the opening pages of this Bunkyu 4 calendar.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Introduction
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In the paper
“The mitsu phase of the cycle identifies a day overflowing with good fortune for the most part, though taking medicines is ill-advised.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > 2.Time
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In the paper
“The second of his volumes on astronomy, the fourth on time and the fifth on fortune telling, are a treasure-trove of specialist knowledge vital to the decoding of the Tokugawa calendar's secrets.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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In the paper
“Chinese Daoist theory held that three worms inhabited the head, stomach and legs, and that these left the body during sleep on Kōshin days; they ascended to heaven and reported to the deity of the pole star, Tentei 天帝, on evil deeds done.Their purpose was to call down the wrath of heaven on the person responsible.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Kōshin
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Livia Kohn
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
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In the paper
“The benevolent kami Toshitokujin brings good fortune throughout the four seasons but especially at New Year.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Tokugawa space and Tokugawa time 1. Space
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In the paper
“Taking, by way of example, the first three days only, each is first marked according to the sexagenary cycle, composed of the ten heavenly stems and the twelve earthly branches.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > 2.Time
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In the paper
“Daion, Daisai and Saikei appear not to have developed as cults independent of the kami Daishōgun, but the Daishōgun hachi shrine accommodates statues of these and the other kami, and this may have been the model for Daishōgun shrines across Japan.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A statement the paper makes itself — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“From the late 17 th through the early 18 th centuries, however, this knowledge began to percolate to a much wider audience, until by the end of the period it constituted early modern Japanese 'common sense'.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A statement the paper makes itself — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Taira days are blessed, and marriage, travel and wall-painting may all be undertaken with confidence, but the sowing of seeds is inauspicious.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > 2.Time
plainstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A statement the paper makes itself — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The Daishōgun hachi 大将軍八 shrine in Kyoto, which dates from the 8 th century, and was one of four built to protect the imperial capital, is the best preserved example of a shrine, but there survive to this day Daishōgun shrines across Japan from Fukuoka in the south west through Hyogo and Fukui in central Japan to Iwate in the north.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The calendar, and the almanac commentaries on the calendar, were the principle carriers of this common sense.They were responsible for ensuring that it and its various prescriptions were reproduced the length and breadth of Japan.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A statement the paper makes itself — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Daishōgun, the third kami, is a second manifestation of Venus.This kami is cold, metallic and only marginally less malevolent than Konjin.The caption cautions of a taboo in the western quarter for the three years during which Daishōgun is resident there.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Tokugawa space and Tokugawa time 1. Space
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“The suku, rendered into English by Richard Smith as 'lunar lodges', identify lunar patterns projected onto the zodiac.7 The zodiac, that band of fixed stars marking the apparent course of the sun about the earth, comprises four lunar lodges -east, north, west and south; each 'lodge' is then subdivided into seven, giving twenty-eight.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > 2.Time
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Richard Smith
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A statement the paper makes itself — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It may be that the compilation and subsequent publication of the Wakan sansai zue 和漢三才図絵 in 1712 was a pivotal moment.The Wakan sansai zue was Japan's first ever encyclopedia, its 105 volumes constituting a stupendous feat of editing, synthesis and learning by Terajima Ryōan 寺島良安 (dates unknown).”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
A statement the paper makes itself — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Nozoku days, for example, are great for banishing evil influences of all sorts, and so bathing and cleaning are highly recommended; marriage, though, and travelling are best avoided.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > 2.Time
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
A statement the paper makes itself — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“So malevolent is Konjin that those who offend him by performing (unspecified) actions facing the directions in which he resides will forfeit their own lives and those of six family members besides.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Tokugawa space and Tokugawa time 1. Space
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A statement the paper makes itself — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Kōshin denotes that phase in the sexegenary cycle when the older brother of metal (kanoe, a character which, in its Chinese reading, is also read as kō 庚) coincides with the metal of the monkey (saru, also read as shin 申; the combination of the two gives Kōshin).”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Kōshin
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“I mean to imply specific actions motivated 1) by dispositions of awe before certain stellar and planetary kami; especially, though, by dispositions of fear of unimaginable punishments, and 2) by a dread of disturbing, through a lack of knowledge or wisdom, the cosmic order embodied, partly at least, by these stellar kami.Religious practice is, in this sense, then, the negotiation of a complex”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Calendars and their almanac commentaries
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
A statement the paper makes itself — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In China, Kōshin days were taboo but, in Tokugawa Japan, this sexegenary coincidence was apotheosised as the kami Kōshin.Kōshin became the focus of widespread popular cult.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Kōshin
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Those directions are, in their turn, determined partly by the movement of the stars and planets through the heavens and partly by calculations of space and time according to the sexegenary cycle, the five phases of matter and yin yang theory.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Tokugawa space and Tokugawa time 1. Space
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A statement the paper makes itself — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“As for the kami Konjin himself, he is the manifestation of the spirit of Venus, which is the planet of metal or kinsei 金星.Konjin is, thus, the kami of metal and so partakes precisely of metal's cold and unforgiving quality.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Tokugawa space and Tokugawa time 1. Space
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A statement the paper makes itself — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Taisai, the first of the eight kami who line up atop the calendar's first page, is the spirit of Jupiter or mokusei 木星 which is why, of course, the caption beneath his name carries not only an encouragement but a warning as well: 'Facing this [northern] direction all will be auspicious, but the cutting of wood is taboo.'”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Tokugawa space and Tokugawa time 1. Space
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“What has been lacking particularly are explorations of religious praxis.”
- Also stated in: § Conclusion · boosted
“it is this which Janine Sawada identifies as sorely lacking”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Janine Sawada
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
- Also stated in: § Conclusion · boosted
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Beneath the 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd days of the month are designated nozoku, mitsu and taira respectively.These refer to the 2 nd , 3 rd and 4 th phases respectively of the cycle of twelve 'stellar coincidences' known as jūnichoku 十二直.”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > 2.Time
plainstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
The authors state this as an assumption.
Tokugawa common people observed calendar and almanac taboos sufficiently for calendars to determine religious practice.
“The question of the extent to which the common man or woman in the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s, the period that is of greatest concern to me, observed these taboos must be tackled if the argument proposed here, namely that calendars offer a vital insight into Tokugawa religious practice, is to be persuasive.”
“Until more detailed research demonstrates the contrary, we are entitled to presume that calendars and almanacs did, indeed, play a vital part in determining religious practice.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The 1864 Bunkyū calendar and the Eitai daizassho are representative of Tokugawa calendars and almanacs generally.
“This first page is typical in that it is dominated by spatial concerns, but the second and, indeed, all subsequent pages of the calendar plot the passage of Tokugawa time and, as they do, they encode its cosmic significance.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Before the Tokugawa period, knowledge of yin yang, the five phases, the sexegenary cycle, and related systems was exclusive to the imperial court and its onmyōji.
“Until the Tokugawa period, knowledge of yin yang, the five phases of matter and the sexegenary cycle -not to mention the multiple lunar and stellar systems which they generated -seems to have remained the exclusive preserve of the imperial court in Kyoto and its yin yang specialists (onmyōji 陰陽師), notably the Tsuchimikado 土御門 family.”
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > Tokugawa space and Tokugawa time 1. Space
“The year 1864 was one of those in the sexegenary cycle that corresponded to the elder brother of wood (hi no e 丙) phase;”
§ Inside Tokugawa Religion: Stars, Planets and the Calendar-as-method > 2.Time
“the elder brother of the fire phase of matter (hi no e), which is the third of the ten heavenly stems (jikkan)”
Citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Breen, J. M., & Teeuwen, M. (2010) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781444317190.refs
Self-citationThe Koshin Day as a Traditional Japanese Holiday, Its Rituals, Attributes and Deities
Sinitsyn, A., & Gabitova, A. I. (2023) · Etnografia · doi:10.31250/2618-8600-2023-4(22)-237-260
Metadata
- Authors
- Breen, J.
- Corresponding author
- Breen, John
- Venue
- Culture and Cosmos
- Publisher
- Sophia Centre Press
- Published
- 2006-10
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 0102
- Pages
- 63-78
- OpenAlex
- W3115702526
- Cited by
- 2
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Culture and Cosmos (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Japanese History and Culture
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Keywords
- calendars, almanacs, religious practice, yin and yang, five elements, early modern Japan
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-04, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-04 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
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