Matara A Dream King Between Insight and Imagination

William M. Bodiford

Matara (or Matarajin ^#)H#) is the name of a god who is no longer worshiped and all but forgotten in modern Japan. During the medieval and early modern periods of Japanese history, however, Matara was one of the most influential gods in Japan. Matara stood in the doorway between religion and government, between universal Buddhist ideal and local religion, and between personal religious realization (insight) and popular entertainment (imagination). As befitting a god of such broad cultural influence, Matara has attracted attention from many diverse commentators, but without producing definitive conclusions or widespread scholarly consensus. Historians and scholars of Japanese religion still find Matara mysterious and undefined. To explain the continuing mystery of Matara it is useful to briefly review previous explanations of Matara. We will begin with Matara's role as a tutelary deity of the Tokugawa family and then recount Matara's better known roles as a patron of theater and performance and as a hybrid deity of confused folklore. Then I will introduce an eighteenth century source that became available only recently which places Matara at the center of Buddhist dream theory and meditative practice. Matara's role as a dream king helps explain not only Matara's multiva- lent roles within popular entertainment and folklore, but also sheds new light on

Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie 16 (2006-2007) : 233-262