The Reception and Development of the Concept of 'the Occult' in 1970s Japan: On the 'Mikkyō Boom' and its Influence

The Reception and Development of the Concept of 'the Occult' in 1970s Japan: On the 'Mikkyō Boom' and its Influence

Han Sang-yun (Translated by Ronnie Dickson)

    The term ‘Occult’ comes from the Latin word meaning ‘Hidden Wisdom’. However, it is defined by researchers of today as ‘A self evident truth of a substance or power that exists behind our physical reality grasped by intuitive analogical reasoning’ (1). The specific content within the framework of the ‘occult’ differs according to the speaker but historically ‘magic’, ‘telepathy’, ‘precognition’, and ‘fortune telling’ are representative amongst others. In Japan, the 1970s were considered to be the era of ‘The Occult Boom’ (2) and the term ‘Occult’ came to be used as part of the Japanese vocabulary in that context. The driving force behind this process was the monumental work ‘The Occult’ (1971) by British author Colin Wilson (1931-2013). Since the book’s Japanese translation in 1973, the title ‘Occult’ spread across Japan in a blink of an eye. At the same time, Yuri Gellar and his spoon bending had gain massive popularity as well as William Friedkin’s ‘The Exorcist’ (released in Japan 1974) amongst other societal phenomena began to construct this Occult Boom. 

    Certainly, the term Occult stuck in Japan with the aforementioned Wilson being the cause. However, as later mentioned in this manuscript, it certainly doesn’t mean that the these various events that came together to construct this framework were not seen in Japan before the 1970s. 
For example, you can infer that from the popularity of ‘Kokkuri-san’ and ‘The Clarivoyant Murders’, that a certain level of societal interest in mystical things had existed since the Meiji Period. (3) Thus, this was something that could be consistently seen up until the post-war period. However, the re-organisation of these under newly introduced term ‘Occult’, marked a turning point in the ideology of mysticism in Japan and held great significance in the formation of modern Japanese culture. This paper will consider the story behind its establishment with this in mind. Namely, bringing to light the process in which the existing terms ‘Kagaku’ (science), ‘Meishin’ (Superstition), and ‘Shukyou’ (Religion) which had been continuously used up until then, had come to be reorganised under the blanket term of ‘Occult’. 

 
         The one who drew attention to importance of examining the occult as a word was Wouter Hanegraaf, representing the field of esotericism. Hanegraaf defined ‘The Occult’ (and esotericism, something used interchangeably at the time) by comparing it to a dustbin (4) in which rejected knowledge that could not fit in the categories of religion or science would be put into (5). This was in the framework of the enlightenment movement from the 18th Century onwards, // as the boundaries of religion and science were being (re) constructed, bodies of knowledge (such as astrology and alchemy) were being gradually excluded from both and came together to form the realm of The Occult. (6) Thinking from this point of view, the process of forming concept of The Occult itself is meaningful in promoting backlighting to modern ways of thinking and it is important consider to how became a term in the non-western world.  

 
Ocuult research in Japan, especially from the 21st century onwards, made remarkable progress. The combined results of this are represented in sister publications ‘Occult Empire’ (Okaruto no Teikoku, Ichiyanagi Hirotaka, 2006) as well as ‘Planet of the Occult’ (Okaruto no Wakusei, Yoshida Morio, 2009). Both are based upon the concept of ‘occultism’ as an esoteric landscape that permeates many domains, and are the results of investigations into various cultural phenomena regarding the occult. With each focusing on the 1970s and 1980s respectively. However, even in such exemplary works of Japanese occult research, the focus is on the historical clarification of the phenomena known as ‘occultism’ but we do not see investigations into how occultism as a concept came to be introduced to Japan. This manuscript will, whilst taking into consideration the above acheivements, investigate how the trashbin of the occult, as Hanegraaf put it, came to be constructed in modern day Japan. In other words, this manuscript will take a discourse history approach in order to trace the history of the concept of occultism across the Japanese archipelago, focusing on the historical developments of the spoken ‘occult’ rather than the understood events that took place within the framework of the so-called occult. 

In order to come to grips with the above, the author will think about the background of the popularity of Wilson’s book whilst giving thought to the larger context surrounding it being craze of ‘Mikkyo’, a kind of Esoteric Buddhism practiced by the Shingon sect, that had been developing in the latter half of the 1970s. At the time, ‘Mikkyo’ had been frequently used as a translation for the english word ‘occultism’. In response to this, those related to the Shingon sect of Buddhism were using the term ‘Occult Mikkyo’ whilst redefining themselves in relation to, and at a distance from the term ‘occultism’ could be seen. In other words, it can be said that the ideological negotiation process between ‘occultism’ and ‘Mikkyo’ has been a problem in the history of it’s research and, in this essay (?) I will bring to light the are of discourse that begun to blend these two words as an introduction and will utilise subjects that cover a broad range from publications or magazines of those related to Mikkyo Buddhism and literary reviews of Wilson’s works relating to the occult. In addition, I will attempt to portray one more historical and ideological aspect of the time, that was not well known. 

 

1. The Typically Japanese Reception of Colin Wilson’s “The Occult” and Mikkyo 

It has been mentioned in prior studies that the translation of Colin Wilson’s “The Occult” is alluded to be a catalyst for the reception and the establishment of the term ‘occultism’ across the Japanese Archipelago. (8) However, close investigation into it’s reception has still not happened. Takeshi Kaneko who contributed to the aforementioned “Empire of the Occult (Okaruto no Teikoku)” will introduce the mode in which this concept was received.  

‘Wilson does not act in a fanatical, bewitched manner, nor does he take the firm stance of a skeptic who will not believe in something that has not been demonstrated or proven. He attempts to present it as a new stage of scientific reference that can be controlled by opening one’s mind in a sense. (…) When occultism spread in a Japanese context, it was the complete opposite of the picture that Wilson had painted, it was truly the ‘fanatical, bewitched manner’, surely.(9) 

In other words, Kaneko says that despite understanding the positive aspects of Wilson’s ‘The Occult’ when it came to be associated with the negative asspects once it was received in Japan. Of course, Kaneko’s indentification of this was, from a certain point, spot on. However, as I will discuss below, in a time when Japan’s pollution problems caused public criticism to become an uproar, it was in that context that Wilson’s ‘The Occult’ was highly apprasied as ‘a new existential philosophy’. For that reason, rather than perceiving it’s reception within the binary dynamic of ‘Zealtosim vs. Science’ that Kaneko points out, there is much more to gain by reevaluating ‘The Occult’ as the formation of a new field being a combination of both. Bearing this in mind, this chapter will examine the translation of 1973’s ‘The Occult’ and investigate the first stages of it’s reception. 

However, befoe we think about it’s Japanese reception, I will first briefly introduce ‘The Occult’ and it’s author, Wilson. Wilson was born in 1931 in Leicester, United Kingdom and made his writing debut with 1956’s “The Outsider” which garnered great attention (10). However, since the works following ‘The Outsider’ did not receive the same amount of success, in 1959 he decided to leave London for the time being, to continue writing in Cornwall. 

There, he released “The Occult” in 1971 which became a big hit and was the first time his work had become a best seller in 15 years following “The Outsider” (12). “The Occult” begins with the words ‘The thesis of this book is revolutionary’ and attempts to convert the reader’s perception toward the mystic (13). Wilson examines occultism whilst ‘raising big examples’ and on top of this, regards various phenomena such as witches, alchemy, telepathy spiritualism and the like as proof that humans have latent abilities, which he described as Faculty X. Furthermore, Wilson goes so far to claim that depending on the development of this ability, humans would become aware of their trifling existence and would be able to break free from modern civilisation. 

The background in which Wilson wrote “The Occult” in which youths of contemporary western society were gripped by mysticism cannot be overlooked. After a while, this movement tied to the New Age Movement held a strong presence as a counter culture toward the modern day matieral society. (14). If we refer to “Religion in the Age of Aquarius” (J.C. Cooper, translated by Yuma Hayakawa) which examined and analysed the contemporary youth culture of America, the youth culture of the time felt distrust toward the established society of the time and taking part in drugs, divination and magic as a means of having a spiritual experience was popular. Admidst this situation, Wilson too, accepted the request from his publisher and ended up writing “The Occult” (16).  

 

Wilson’s “The Occult” played an important role in establishing ‘occult’ as a comprehensive term which classified various information that you couldn’t be identified as either ‘religious’ or ‘scientific’ (17), but as has been stated until now even in Japan, the translated work held great significance. This book not only, introduced Japan to the current state of mind in the west at the time, but offered a new genre called ‘the occult’ and brought about the Occult Boom in the 1970s. In 1974, the year following the translation of Wilson’s work, sociologist Jun Inoue appraises the influence that Wilson’s work had on Japan. 

“Until just recently - perhaps until Colin Wilson’s “The Occult” came out – I didn’t know the meaning of the word occult. There are some in this field that would probably laugh at me. However, the general trend was that those who didn’t know would have been normal, I thought. They say that changed because of the Occult Boom.” 

As if as the the above article, published in Chikuma Shobo’s general interest magazine ‘ Outlook’ (Tenbo), suggests that Wilson’s translated work being the catalyst for the spread of the term occult throughout Japan was already knowledge even at the time. Another piece of evidence that proves that Wilson’s work was a turning point in the discourse on mysticism was the previously mentioned Religion in the Age of Aquarius by J. C. Cooper. The Japanese edition released in 1972 is said to have been the first comprehensive introduction of ‘Western Occultism’ to Japanese audiences (19). In the Japanese translation, it was given the heading of ‘The Restoration of Mikkyo’ and the term ‘occult’ was translated as ‘Mikkyo’ throughout (20). In other words, at the point of 1972, the word ‘Occult’ was one still unfamiliar to Japanese people and so we can assumed that in Religion in the Age of Aquarius, the word Mikkyo was chosen as a synonym for this (21). From the above, the word ‘occult’ was introduced in 1973 and it can be said that it that the awareness of the ‘occult boom’ itself became possible due to the translated version of Wilson’s work. 

However, as mentioned above, it should also be kept in mind that when thinking about occultism as discourse in post war Japan, for a period of time, Mikkyo was used as a translation for ‘occult’. Ultimately, through contact with the term ‘occult’, ‘Mikkyo’ a part of Japan’s indiginous traditional culture too, became reconstructed. To put it in another way, the acceptance of ‘occultism’ in Japan brought about the reinterpretation of ‘Mikkyo’. This concrete example can be verified by the following data/document. Firstly, please take a look at the ‘Translation Afterword’ by Nakamura Yasuo, the translator of “The Occult.” 

“Occult powers, especially ‘Faculty X’ was, as something met the needs of an automatic system disposing of toxins that arose due a complex and monotonous civilisation, became urgently necessary (and?) black magic and occultist abilities were necessary to build future society, being ‘Science of the Future’ as Wilson puts it. Coincidentally, this is also strongly called for in Kiriyama Seiyu’s ‘Principle of Transformation’ (Henshin no Genri), a book published around about the same time in my own country as well as in “Mikkyo”. The former was Bunichi Publishing and the latter published by Hirakawa Publishing both of which presented similarities in their appearance so much that they seemed to be the Japanese version of “The Occult”. It can be said that the fact they shared such similarities and came out at the same time, is truly a coincidence (22).” 

Here, Nakamura (at the time) Kiriyama Yasuo (1921-2016) the leader of the Kannon Jikei, the predecessor of Agon Shu, whilst alluding to the Mikkyo doctrine, introduced the idea that “They seemed to be the Japanese version of the ’The Occult’’. That is ‘truly a coincidence’ that Katayama’s Mikkyo doctrine and Wilson’s ‘The Occult’ share simultaneous and similar existence (23). Furthermore, we will check Sakai Kakusaburo’s book which published not much longer after “The Occult” was. 

“Recently, hearing that youths following the Hippie trend which came from Wilson’s country of England state without hesitation that Mikkyo is the greatest ideology and one that can save the modern era, I was struck by the realisation that I had just been informed of an ideology that was sweeping the world. (…) The thought that this giant (Author’s Note - Kukai), who for a millenium, had a deeply permeating influence on the flesh and sensibility of the Japanese people was being neglected and forgotten by the superficial logic of 100 years of modernity, is now not just being rediscovered with new fervour but is even somehow connected to the great strides made in the rebirth and reconstruction of things related to Mikkyo in general this year. 

This literary review by Sakai, was published in the weekly publication “Asahi Journal” and pointed out the similarities between Japan’s Mikkyo ideology and occultism. Sakai again ranks Mikkyo as an outstanding example of Japanese ideology, that can be evaluated in light of global trends. In this way, occultism was at the early stages of it’s reception, spoken of as being related to the Japanese indiginous idealogical system of Mikkyo and through that, both parties ended up being blended. What’s deeply interesting is that in the occult special feature of the magazine ‘Monthly Economist’, Nakamura states “I did not do this expecting a ‘sensational boom’ but rather as an extension of the many Japanese translations of Wilson’s works that I have done up until now, “The Occult” was one of a number of those have been published by Shinchosha as an introduction to Wilson’s works in Japan. Namely, this unexpected boom was one that broke out by way of “The Occult”. In other words, the environment in which Wilson’s “The Occult” was easily accepted into, had already been formed in Japanese society at the time (26). Of course, the background in which occultism was received is wide-ranging but the next chapter focuses on the close relationship that occultism and Mikkyo held that was confirmed above, and will investigate the condition of Mikkyo in Japan at the time especially. 

2. The Mikkyo Boom Predating Occultism

In the previous chapter, we established that in the early days of it’s adoption, the term ‘occult’ was spoken of in relation to Mikkyo. The contemporary term ‘Mikkyo Boom’ becomes a clue in understanding the background of such a phenomena. In the January 1973 edition of the specialist magazine on Shingon Buddhism “Rokudai News” a number of articles under the theme of ‘How can we perceive the Mikkyo Boom’ were published (27). As you can guess from this, directly before the ‘Occult Boom’, the ‘Mikkyo Boom was developing as cognition in the same era and existed as an influential trend. As previously stated, if you think about the fact that Mikkyo was referred to share similarities with Wilson’s work, the ‘Mikkyo Boom’ was a significant element towards the concept of occultism being accepted and established in Japan. 

Now then, one thing that I want to point out is, although it took the name of ‘Mikkyo Boom’, the people and groups involved were varied and the aims and definitive activities took on a complex form. Whilst keeping this in mind, in order to investigate the true nature of events, I will introduce the adoption of 3 components? which are thought to have constructed the Mikkyo Boom and the specifics in detail. 

1. (a) The ‘Mikkyo Boom’ and Kiriyama Seiyu 

Upon thinking about the ‘Mikkyo Boom’ in the 1970s, what we should first touch upon is the popularity of Kiriyama Seiyu’s Mikkyo doctrine. Kiriyama Seiyu was a Shingon Monk who founded the new religion of Mikkyo as the successor to Agon Shu (28). And released several books such as “The Principle of Transformation – Mikkyo – The Secret Divine Power it Posesses” (Bunichi Shuppan, 1971), “Mikkyo - The Secret Superpower” (Hirakawa Shuppan, 1972), “Willpower, 7 Methods of Attaining Superpowers” (Tokkanshoten. 1973). At the time Kiriyama had yet to found Agon Shu but if we refer to  the thesis published in the December 1972 “Koyasan Times” called ‘Thoughts on the Mikkyo Boom’, that his Mikkyo doctrine focusing on Mikkyo’s pragmatic aspects is seen as Unorthodox by Shingonists. Religious Sociologist Nishiyama Shigeru states that during of the ‘first stage of modernisation’ (from the end of Meiji era to the start of the Taisho era), at the same time that a boom in clairvoyance prepared the Taisho era for the appearance of a new form of Medium-based religion, the ‘second stage of modernisation’ (1970 onwards) following a mysticism/witchcraft boom too, spiritualistic religions made a remarkable appearance again, Agon Shu being one example of those. (29) In this way, we should understand Kiriyama’s activity within the wider context of the ‘first stage of modernisation’, the popularity of ‘mysticism and witchcraft’ and intertwined with those, the prominence of spiritualistic religion. However, I will make the finer details the subject of a following investigation but for the time being, want to point out that it is more appropriate to treat his activity as a different branch, different from the activity of an establish religion. 

Kiriyama advocated this revival of ‘Mikkyo, the embodiment of Heian Buddhism (30)’ and developed a distinct Mikkyo doctrine. At that time, he had emphasised psychic abilitites (psychokinesis) as one of Mikkyo’s outstanding characteristics. Kiriyama stated that, if you undertook Mikkyo training, you could unearth latent abilities and that anybody could use extrasensory powers. Furthermore, he declared that it Mikkyo would be the appropriate ‘system’ and ‘science’ for future society and explained that through it, we can survive in today’s competitive society. (31) The claim that extrasensory powers could be attained through Mikkyo’s training was not a new one, but it was onw that was previously only seen as secondary and was not emphasised as a main feature of Mikkyo (32). However, Kiriyama presented Mikkyo as a self-development system to the modern people such as students or businessmen and worked psychic abilities into a means of popularising Mikkyo. His Mikkyo doctrine, which seemed tangible and scientific, explained that through Mikkyo training, you could learn to pass your driving test, or an academic exam in one go (33), explains in detail the principle of improved memory relying on physiology (34), amongst others. This attracted the attention of the public and played an important role in the formation of the ‘Mikkyo Boom’ (35). 

(b) The Rediscovery of Mikkyo as a Component of Ideological Movement

One aspect of the ‘Mikkyo Boom’ was the movement to rediscover ‘Mikkyo’ in cultural and entertainment worlds, as opposed to the religious one. For example, Shiba Ryotaro (1923 – 1996), a notable author in the post-war era, wrote a novel based upon Kukai, a monk in the Heian Period. Through this, public awareness of Kukai was re-elevated to almost pop-culture level. Also, Yukawa Hideki (1907-1981) winner of Nobel Prize for Physics expressed admiration for both Mikkyo and Kukai (36). Here, as an example of someone who used ‘Mikkyo’ as a component for an ideological movement, I will introduce Umehara Masaki (1929 – 1992) who was referred to as ‘one of the individuals who rediscovered Mikkyo’ in Sakai’s literary review of “The Occult” which was touched upon on the previous paragraph.  

Umehara, developed unique religious doctrine whilst working as a journalist on religious matters and recognised the coming of ‘the esoteriscm of the modern day’ that underground movements and the hippies that appeared during that time foretold. He held Mikkyo in high regard as a revolutionary ideology that freed people from the technological era characterised by modern science (38). The “Prayer Group to Curse Poulluting Company Owners to Death” was planned to put this ideology into practice. This group was formed in September 1970 by 8 buddhists belonging to the Nichiren and Shingon sects in response to various issues of pollution at the time such as the Minamata disease which shook Japan (39). Umehara deemed these pollution issues ‘A massacre caused by civilisation’ and insisted that protest is necessary whilst forming the “United Front of the Dead” in solidarity with those who died due to these issues (40). As a means of protest, Umehara carried out a prayer cursing the recipient to death based upon Mikkyo scriptures, explaining that it was enacted to take back the power of the people that was stripped from them by the government (41). This movement in which not only temple buddhists, but also amateur and at-home practitioners joined in this, received critisicm from even Buddhist monks and scholars who were closer to the religious organisation side of it (42) but Umehara’s recognition of Mikkyo as the new revolutionary movement following the Campaign Against the Japan-US Security Treaty was deserves attention as an explicit example of the rediscovery of ‘Mikkyo’. 

（c）The 'Mikkyo Boom' and Shingon Buddhism

Another very important question was how far established religious groups were involved in the ‘Mikkyo Boom’.  In that regard, I want to bring attention to the words of Miyasaka Yusho (1921-2011) who was a Shingon Monk and Buddhist Scholar as well as a professor Koyasan University. In January 1973, he stated: “If what they call the ‘Mikkyo Boom’ exists, it is something that has naturally occurred with absolutely no connection with the present Buddhist sects.” (43). 

For example, according to the same article, in “Toyo no Kokoro – Hanya Shingyo” an NHK programme broadcast in October 1972, artists and commentators participated, none of whom belonged to religious orders. So in a way, it is best to think of the established religious order of the Shingon Sect as having followed the ‘Mikkyo Boom’ that spread across society, rather than them being a main factor in it. In fact, whilst the ‘unrelated’ Mikkyo boom was developing, a book on Kukai, the founder of Mikkyo Buddhism was going to be released by a Mikkyo Scholar with relations to the Shingon Sect. When “Rokudai Shinpo” which discussed the Mikkyo Boom was released in 1973, it was precisely 1200 years since Kukai’s birth and as we can seen from graph 1 that follows, many books were published on the founder, using the anniversary as an opportunity. Moreover, amidst the clamour for Mikkyo that came from various circles, the Shingon Sect also reprinted a complete book in the Taisho Era that defines the ‘peace of mind’ of their sect (44) and this too can be thought of as a reactionary action from Koyasan. 

  

表 1 弘法大師関係著作リスト（1965-1975）
年度	タイトル	著者	出版社
1965	『永遠の書像 空海編』	平山観月	有朋堂
1965	『弘法大師の生涯と思想』	大山公淳	大山教授古稀   記念出版会
1965-67	『空海』上下	西野寿二著	理論社
1967	『新・弘法大師伝』	宮崎忍勝	大法輪閣
1967	『弘法大師の詩と宗教』	宮崎忍勝	高野山出版社
1968-73	『弘法大師著作全集』全 3 巻	空海著・勝又俊教編	山喜房仏書林
1970	『弘法大師伝記集覧』	三浦章夫	密教文化研究所
1973-1975	「「空海」の風景」	司馬遼太郎	『中央公論』連載
1973-1976	『弘法大師真蹟集成』全 6 巻	佐和隆研・中田勇次郎編	法藏館
1973	『文化史上より見たる弘法大師伝』	守山聖真	国書刊行会
1973	『弘法大師空海：密教と日本人』	和歌森太郎編著	雄渾社
1973	『空海の軌跡』	佐和隆研著	毎日新聞社
1973	『弘法大師空海』	山本智教編	講談社
1973	『弘法大師行状絵巻：東寺本重文』	東寺記念出版委員会編	八宝堂
1974	『弘法大師伝説集』	斎藤昭俊編著	仏教民俗学会
1974	『弘法大師紀行(歴史と文学の旅)』	真鍋俊照著	平凡社
1975	『空海の風景』上下	司馬遼太郎著	中央公論社

  

＊＊＊ 

As we can see from table 1, including Shiba Ryotaro’s series of novels, there was an explosion in Kukai themed publications in 1973. In the same year, on the 1200th anniversary of Kukai’s birth, Nii Yusuke - the head of Koyasan’s Department of Shingon Studies, and said to the authority on orthodox Mikkyo studies – stated: ‘As if in reponse, the so called ‘Mikkyo Boom’ swept Japan and people clamoured for the re-acknowledgement of Shingon Mikkyo’ (45). In addtition, Shingon monk and art historian Sawa Ryuken similarly argues: ‘In recent years the renewed interest in Mikkyo has built in mementum and reached climax, and interest in Kukai, Kobo Daishi (title of...) has also been powerfully reignited.’ (46) (that is to say,) It can be definitely seen that projects during the anniversary of Kukai’s birth too played a role in the development of the Mikkyo Boom even between those within the Shingon sect. 

As we can see above, the ‘Mikkyo Boom’ during the early 1970s in Japan was constructed on 3 levels at 3 different angles. Namely, from the angles of new religions, ideological movements and traditional religions. In this way, during the reconstruction of Mikkyo within the framework of the Mikkyo Boom, Wilson’s “The Occult” was published, and as confirmed in the previous paragraph, part of the Mikkyo Boom was tied to the new discourse on ‘occultism’. In summary, it can be said that part of the varied wave that was the ‘Mikkyo Boom’ was ‘occultism’ that was newly introduced into discourse and subsequent resonance and how it functioned as an avenue toward the establishment and acceptance of the concept of ‘occultism’ in Japan. 

3. The Spread of Occultism and the Trend of Mikkyo  

3. 
   

As we have already pointed out, since the translation of Wilson’s work, the word ‘occult’ came to be seen in various types of media and in/by the following year 1974 and begun to be labelled ‘The Occult Boom’. For instance, a variety of dissertations and articles such as: Fujita Shoji’s ‘Shuppan/publishing Topics Final Sense of Impending Crisis and the Occult Boom’ (Shinkan Tenbo p337, April 2974), Inoue Shun’s ‘Thoughts on the Occult Boom’ (Tenbo p187, July 1974), Kawamura Nozomu’s ‘Science and Sorcery – Thoughts on the Recent Occult Boom’ (Bunka Hyouron’ p157, August 1974), Yoshida Mitsukuni’s ‘From Anxiety to Transcendence – Searching for Dangers of the Modern Day at the Hidden at the Bottom of the Occult Boom’ (Gekkan Sekai Seikei p3 (9), September 1974), Fukuda Junichi’s ‘The Occult Boom and the Generation that Took No Sides’ (Gekkan Advertising p19 (10), October 1974), Otani Shuji’s ‘The Occult Boom – The Background Seen From Parapsychology’ (Kyoiku Shinri p22 (12), December 1974) were published in general interest magazines of the time. What we can understand from this is that the terms ‘Occult’ and ‘The Occult Boom’ were strongly rooted in the cognition of the time. 

We can see another example that showed the spread of ‘Occult’ as a word if we refer to Tairiku Shobo’s publishing list. Tairiku Shobo was established in 1967 as a publisher for specialist content and was recognised by scholars of the time to have supported the Occult Boom (47). In Table 2, we can see their published translations from 1973 to the following year. As we can tell from this, The word Occult, which had not once been seen in a book title until 1973, made several appearances in the titles of translated works from 1974 onwards and reveals the trending of this term. Subsequently, in order to identify which books had the occult as their theme, we will look into the original text of the works that featured ‘occult’ in their titles when they were translated into Japanese, as follows. 

As we can see from figure 3, the only work we can see that features the term ‘occult’ in the title is Dal Lee’s (Real name Adalbert Nebel, 1895-1973) ‘Understanding the Occult’. The rest concerned various subjects like magic and precognition but were translated under the term ‘occult’. As we can see from above, we can see the trend in 1974 from various angles but we can also see from articles related to the occult boom that there was also content that had been labelled under ‘the occult’ and bunched together with it. 

For instance in ‘Occult - The Book of ESP – Growing Interest in the Irrational and Mysterious’ in the February 1974 issue of “Shuppan News”, introduced all books related to supernatural phenomena including gothic and sci-fi books, and books about including Kaiju, ESP, hypnotism, the fourth dimension, UFOs, fortune telling, and yoga as ‘Occult’ books (48). In other words, various content which was previouslyrecognised as belonging to different genres had then been tied together under the blanket term of ‘Occult’ for the first time. This was a very important point in the history of occultism in Japan. 

//TABLE 2+3// 

 

When ‘occultism’ made an appearance as the framework of new narrative (?), ‘Mikkyo’ too became seriously discussed within that framework. Proof of this can again be seen in the article ‘Occult - The Book of ESP’, touched upon previously. As we have already mentioned, the translator of Wilson’s works, Nakamura Yasuo himself discussed the works of Kiriyama Seiyu as ‘occultist’ but, in addition to this, literary critic and writer of that article Yamashita Takeshi (1926-2009), when introducing the new publications at the time, referenced Shingon monk Matsuyama Yukei “The Heir of Mikkyo”// Inagaki Taruho and Umehara Masaki’s “The End of Mikkyo”, and Utagawa Taiga’s “The Mikkyo Secret Method” as quoted in the following passage. 

 

From the above ciatations, we can see that from the time that various books on Mikkyo were compiled together under the name of ‘Mikkyo Boom’, came to be known as part of the genre ‘occult’. It can be said that, since being introduced to Japan in Colin Wilson’s “The Occult”, the word ‘Occult’ was greatly covered in the media and came to be established as a comprehensive concept that included even Japan’s indiginous Mikkyo. 

Conclusion

Finally, in this essay we have investigated into how the use of ‘Mikkyo’ - considered to be Japan’s traditional esoteric religion - as a translation gained attention as a translation for the word ‘occult’ when it was introduced from the west, and into the complicated phenomena of both parties. Through this paper, we have made clear that the introduction of the concept of ‘occultism’ to Japan was not one-sided, but was something that came about via the the interactions with already existing ideologies and culture. As we have examined in this paper, the word ‘occult’ began to be properly used upon the translation and publication of Colin Wilson’s “The Occult”. On the other hand, interest in the mysterious had already been building in Japan since before then, based upon various concerns at the time. It was within that context that the so-called ‘Mikkyo Boom’ developed. Points of similarity can be seen in 2 trends of thought that aimed to transcend the physical world through the use of mystical powers (The Ideology of Mysticism in post-war West and Japan’s Mikkyo Boom). At the time of the translation of "The Occult", Mikkyo was highly regarded as an esoteric ideology of the East (Japan) that kept pace with Western ideologies. To put it into other words, one could say that the concept of occultism in Japan was accepted as a pathway to understanding contemporary Mikkyo. Since then, whilst Mikkyo was a religion, it was also introduced in many articles as a variety of occultism and occultism and Mikkyo have become intertwined.   

In this essay, we looked into the process of how the concept of the occult came from the West, joined the already developing Mikkyo Boom and how Mikkyo gradually came to be a variety of occultism. Actually, that process of resconstruction was two-way and Mikkyo aslo attempted to re-define its sect in relation to occultism. We can also refer to the editorial ‘Special: Occultism, Science, and Religion’ in the magazine “Economist” (Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1974). Many contributed to this feature, including translator of “The Occult”, Nakamura who has been mentioned previously, as well as Koyasan University professor Miyasaka, Artist Maeda Josaku (1926-2007), and Sociologist Morioka Kiyomi (1923-). Within Miyasaka’s Mikkyo themesd article: ‘The Modern Day Reinstatement of Mikkyo – No Religion without Magic or Miracle’ gained attention. Here, Miyasako appraised occultism as ‘One of the efforts to break through the evil influence on modern-day civilisation brought about by modern-day rationalism’ and stated ‘There is a great amount of occult-like elements within Mikkyo, too’ and claimed that ‘they are attempting to rediscover Mikkyo’ along with the ‘Occult Boom’ of today (50). (In summary), Miyasaka was trying to reevaluate Mikkyo whilst referring to the framework of ‘occultism’ in order to make it a religion fitting for the modern day. From this, we can confirm that both Mikkyo and Occultism were influencing eachother, causing their reconstriction. On the other hand, as mentioned in the introduction, by 1975, we can see that occultism began to be associated with negatively and so Mikkyo once again began to redefine itself to create distance from it. I would like to discuss this development in the future. 

In this paper, I have introduced and analysed one aspect of the relations between the mysterious ideology imported from the West post-war, and the indiginous mysterious ideology developed within Japan through the complicated and intertwined terms ‘Occultism’ and ‘Mikkyo’.  
However, Mikkyo had a proper and historical existence and whilst it had occult-like properties outside of Mikkyo, it is thought that various ideological practices had been developing was an important background when considering the acceptance of occultism in Japan but I was not able to investigate that in this paper. I would like to explore this point further with additional investigation in the future. 

Original as a .pdf at: 東北大学機関リポジトリTOUR (nii.ac.jp)

Translators notes: This was translated as purely practice and as such did not attempt to translate it professionally with any client in mind. As I attached the link to the original, I discovered that there may be an already existing English translation/version, as it had an alternative English title which I have used for this, too. There were two small areas that I didn't fully translate which were the table including list of published books and Tables 2 and 3 which was just a list of books and their authors which were used as reference. Instead I highlighted the books that the author was referring to but didn't translate them nor the latter references because there was no benefit for myself in translating them, as this was an exercise in translation of meaning rather than names.