Prayer, luck, and spiritual strength: The desecularization of entrance examination systems in East Asia

Comparative Education Review

Volumn 40, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 264-276

  Zeng, Kangmin ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0030509983     PISSN: 00104086     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/447385     Document Type: Article

References (40)

1. Thomas Rohlen, Japan's High Schools (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1983), p. 78.
2. Roger Caillois, Man and the Sacred, trans. Meyr Barash (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1980), pp. 22-23.
3. See C. K. Yang, Religion in Chinese Society: A Study of Contemporary Social Functions of Religion and Some of Their Historical Factors (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961), pp. 265-72.
4. John Cogley, Religion in a Secular Age: The Search for Final Meaning (New York: Praeger, 1968).
5. Ezra F. Vogel, Japan's New Middle Class: The Salary Man and His Family in a Tokyo Suburb, 2d ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971). For a detailed statistical study of the effects of extracurricular preparation on exams, see D. L. Stevenson and D. P. Baker, "Shadow Education and Allocation in Formal Schooling: Transition to University in Japan," American Journal of Sociology 97, no. 6 (May 1992): 1639-57.
6. Ezra F. Vogel, Japan's New Middle Class: The Salary Man and His Family in a Tokyo Suburb, 2d ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971). For a detailed statistical study of the effects of extracurricular preparation on exams, see D. L. Stevenson and D. P. Baker, "Shadow Education and Allocation in Formal Schooling: Transition to University in Japan," American Journal of Sociology 97, no. 6 (May 1992): 1639-57.
7. Takehiko Aoki. Tenjinsama gokakushitai (Heavenly God: I want to succeed in exams) (Tokyo: Keimei, 1977), pp. 24-25. Unless otherwise indicated, the examples of ema texts quoted later in the article come from this source. Translations throughout are mine unless otherwise noted.
8. Robert Borgen, Sugawara no Michizane and the Early Heian Court (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994).
9. Kenni Shimizi, Gakumon no kamisama (The gods of scholarship) (Tokyo: Kamakura Shishyo, 1990).
10. Ibid.
11. Nihon Hoso Kyokai, Kyoiku: Nani ga kohai shiteiru no ka (Education: Why education is being ravaged) (Tokyo: Nihon Hoso, 1983), pp. 20-21.
12. Aoki.
13. Ibid.
14. Fathers in Japanese families normally pressure children to achieve, while mothers make countless sacrifices such as taking on extra work to pay for tutors and other educational expenses to improve the competitiveness of their children. See George A. De Vos, Socalization for Achievement: Essays on the Cultural Psychology of the Japanese (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973).
15. Hae-joang Cho, "Children in the Examination War in South Korea: A Cultural Analysis" (paper presented at the "Children at Risk" World Conference, sponsored by the Norwegian Center for Child Research, Bergen, June 1992).
16. One U.S. dollar equals about 100 yen.
17. Sato Kenichiro and Tamura Zenjiro, Koema: Inori to katachi (Ema: Prayer and pattern) (Tokyo: Tankosha, 1978); Hiromi Iwai, Kindai no daiema (Modern ema) (Tokyo: Bajizaidan, 1979).
18. Sato Kenichiro and Tamura Zenjiro, Koema: Inori to katachi (Ema: Prayer and pattern) (Tokyo: Tankosha, 1978); Hiromi Iwai, Kindai no daiema (Modern ema) (Tokyo: Bajizaidan, 1979).
19. Because the ancient Japanese believed that deities came to earth on horseback, the horse came to be considered divine. During religious rites, horses were used to carry sacred or spiritual objects, and farmers used black horses to pray for rain and white horses to pray for sun. Archeological evidence shows that horses were used during the Nara period for religious purposes, and there was a custom for devotees to donate horses to church. However, as horses were expensive and also needed to be fed during religious activities, people instead started to use earth horses, wooden horses, or pictures of horses. These alternatives evolved into the ema, which initially was related to agriculture. The artistic themes in emas later expanded from horses to include representations of other animals, humans, deities, and natural scenes. As Shinto shrines became the "spiritual nexus" of villages in Japan, the ema became an emblem of unity representing the collective local interest. This use of emas as a symbol of the community gradually superseded the incipient animal worship. This feature bore close resemblance to the nature of totem. Since then, happiness, health, and love have been perpetual themes of the ema, although its specific function has changed along with changes in local or national concerns. The typical examples were such natural disasters as the 1886 famine and the devastating earthquake of 1923. War topics became popular during the Meiji Restoration, the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, and World War II.
20. These two moderately sized shrines were Enoshimajinja and Hasekannon, both located in Kanagawa Prefecture. According to a 1994 guidebook of Shinto shrines, the former promotes business success, family harmony, and traffic safety, while the latter focuses on good luck and business success. See Takeshi Nakajima, Jinja, buggaku, gorieki no ryo (Benificiary visits to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples) (Tokyo: Ikuhosha, 1994), pp. 60, 74.
21. See Thomas P. Rohlen, "The Juku Phenomenon: An Exploratory Essay, "Journal of Japanese Studies 6, no. 2 (Summer 1980): 207-42.
22. To describe this workaholic phenomenon, Ikuo Amano calls Japan a "hardworking world" (ganbaru no seigai). Ikuo Amano, Kyoiku no ima o yamu (Analyze today's education) (Tokyo: Yushindo, 1993), pp. 51-52.
23. The plum tree is a traditional symbol of intellectual detachment and indifference to wordly gain in East Asian culture. It also suggests academic attainment resulting from hard work. Plum trees are often planted at Temmangu shrines, and Michizane reportedly rhymed a famous line on plum flowers at age 11.
24. The severe visage of the daruma is a favorite among Japanese, with its large, glaring eyes, heavily bearded jowls, and a prominent nose. Whether the daruma represents an historical figure or is just a creature of imagination is the subject of a rather sterile scholarly dispute. So-called biographies in Chinese sources are too sketchy and were written too late to provide reliable evidence of his career. There is no reason, however, to doubt the existence in sixth-century China of a venerable Indian monk named Bodhidharma who made seminal contributions to the redirection of Buddhism. For further details, see H. Neill McFarland, Daruma: The Founder of Zen in Japanese Art and Popular Culture (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1987).
25. Examples of how life changes for students after they successfully pass their entrance exams can be found in interviews that appeared in the monthly journal Ascent during 1994. One 19-year-old now studying math at Japan University said that he felt so bad about the mistakes he had made on the exams that he did not bother to check his scores. Nevertheless, he was accepted by all five universities for which he had applied. While on a subsequent visit, he reported a sensation of "floating in the ethereal air" while standing on the sacred field of the university's shrine, surrounded by plum trees and the cooing of doves. An 18-year-old student of international relations at Tsudajuku University, her first choice, described how she had immediately gone to a play. "I wanted to see it for a long time. But I could not afford to go until I passed the exams." Another 19-year-old studying American and English literature at Aoyama Gakuin University said that in addition to studying hard, she also wished to make many new friends on campus. Preparing for entrance exams had forced her to lead a narrow life, she said, and now she wanted to widen her experience. See "Shindaigakusei no gokaku jiko shindan" (Self-diagnosis by the university freshmen) Ascent 20, no. 4 (May 14, 1994): 3-5.
26. To register for a brilliance lamp at Longshan Temple, the usual price was 600 New Taiwan dollars (about US$23). To buy a niche at the top of the lamp stand, however, cost up to 1,000 New Taiwan dollars (US$38;).
27. John C. Condon and Mitsuko Saito, Intercultural Encounters with Japan: Communication - Contact and Conflict (Tokyo: Simul Press, 1974), pp. 24-26; Karel Van Wolferen, The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation (New York: Vintage Books, 1990), pp. 235-36.
28. John C. Condon and Mitsuko Saito, Intercultural Encounters with Japan: Communication - Contact and Conflict (Tokyo: Simul Press, 1974), pp. 24-26; Karel Van Wolferen, The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation (New York: Vintage Books, 1990), pp. 235-36.
29. Andrew M. Greeley, Religion: A Secular Theory (New York: Free Press, 1982).
30. See Edward T. C. Werner, A Dictionary of Chinese Mythology (New York: Julian, 1961), p. xi.
31. See Borgen (n. 7 above).
32. Ibid. Historical study has shown that this charge against Michizane was groundless.
33. Ibid. Tokihira died in A D 909 at the age of 39, followed 13 years later by the death of the 21-year-old crown prince - the son of Tokihira's sister and the emperor Daigo. Because the crown prince's death was blamed on the ghost of Michizane, he was posthumously pardoned 1 month later. Troubles in the Japanese court continued, however, especially among descendants of Tokihira. Michizane's death was also thought to have evoked a series of natural calamities that included solar eclipses, earthquakes, meteors, drought, floods, epidemics, and fires. Confucian rationalists such as Kaibara Ekken denounced stories of divine retribution, though, arguing that Michizane was noted for his honesty, purity, and moderation.
34. Ibid. Michizane also became known as the god of literature, calligraphy, scholarship, honesty, and benevolence.
35. Sakanoue no Tamuamaro was a Japanese military hero reported to have lived from A.D. 758 to A.D. 811.
36. Donald F. Roden, Schooldays in Imperial Japan: A Study in the Culture of a Student Elite (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1980), pp. 61, 101.
37. For further details, see the "Memorandum to Imperial Japanese Government from GHq and SCAP," issued by General Headquarters of the Occupation, December 15, 1945, in Edward Beauchamp and James Vardaman, Japanese Education since 1945: A Documentary Study (New York: East Gate, 1994).
38. For further details, see the "Memorandum to Imperial Japanese Government from GHq and SCAP," issued by General Headquarters of the Occupation, December 15, 1945, in Edward Beauchamp and James Vardaman, Japanese Education since 1945: A Documentary Study (New York: East Gate, 1994).
39. See Borgen.
40. Unless otherwise specified, the following historical account of the Chinese god of literature is based on information I gathered at the Dragon Mountain Temple and on information from Werner (n. 27 above).