Study of Daoist and Shamanistic Ritual Documents Transmitted by Performers of Religious Drama in Southwest China

2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 15520063
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Religious studies
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: MORI Yuria Waseda University, Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Professor, 文学学術院, 教授 (30247259)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): INAHATA Koichiro Waseda University, Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Professor, 文学学術院, 教授 (30063803) ; INABA Akiko Waseda University, School of Social Sciences, Lecturer, 社会科学総合学術院, 講師
• Project Period (FY): 2003 – 2004
• Keywords: nuo xi / shamanism / wu / ritual performance / religious opera / Guizhou / Daoism / Daozhen

Research Abstract

In this research, we noticed the importance of the feet that numerous ritual documents had been transmitted in the rural villages in Southwestern part of China. These documents reflected various situations where the wu jiao, or shamanism, closely related to other religious activities, namely "Qingwei Lineage," a bunch of tradition having developed among orthodox Daoist activities and shamanistic religions since post-Tang periods.
On 19th and 20th in August 2004, we successfully carried out our research project with two groups of practitioners of Shamanistic rites at Daozhen prefecture. One is with master Zhang Fangyi and his disciples, who performed the Rite for the Earth Government, or Di fu dao cheng, at Meijiang village, Hekou county, Daozhen prefecture. The other is with master Yang Hai'an and his disciples performing Chong nuo Rite at Sanba village, Hekou county.
In both researches, we recorded the process of all the component rites of the ritual with videos, while we took pictures of the documents used in the rites. We made a series of tables showing in the order of procedures of each rite the combinations of ritual performances, performers, tools (including musical instrument and other items needed for the ritual), documents, and the way the practitioners using the documents. The whole process of this research was recorded and described in our "Final Report." Through this research, we have learnt how to cooperate with local scholars in both recording the whole process of the ritual and in interviewing with local practitioners. In next occasion, we would like to follow the context of each component rite through interviews with the practitioners.