Religion in Japan

PENIL OBJECTS

| year = 1988 | edition = 2nd | page = 215 }}</ref> known as Shinbutsu shūgō (神仏習合, amalgamation of kami and buddhas). Shinbutsu Shūgō officially ended with the Shinto and Buddhism Separation Order of 1886, but continues in practice. Shinto and Japanese Buddhism are therefore best understood not as two completely separate and competing faiths, but rather as a single, rather complex religious system. (Christianity in Japan also has a cultural influence on mainstream culture.)

Japan grants full religious freedom, allowing minority religions such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism to be practiced. Figures that state 84% to 96% of Japanese adhere to Shinto and Buddhism are not based on self-identification but come primarily from birth records, following a longstanding practice of officially associating a family line with a local Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine. About 70 percent of Japanese profess no religious membership, according to Johnstone (1993:323), 84% of the Japanese claim no personal religion. In census questionnaires, less than 15 percent reported any formal religious affiliation by 2000. And according to Demerath (2001:138), 64% do not believe in God, and 55% do not believe in Buddha. According to Edwin Reischauer, and Marius Jansen, some 70 to 80 percent of the Japanese regularly tell pollsters they do not consider themselves believers in any religion. Japanese streets are decorated on Tanabata, Obon and Christmas.

Shinto

File:SHINTOHEMP.jpg

Typical Shinto shrine with paper streamers made out of unprocessed hemp fibre.

Main article: Shinto

See also: Association of Shinto Shrines

Shinto, meaning "the way of the gods", is Japan's indigenous religion and is practiced by about 83% of the population. Note that unlike Judeo-Christian religions Shinto due to its nature does not require the same admission of faith, instead merely participating in certain aspects of Shinto is generally considered enough for association. Shinto originated in prehistoric times as a religion with a respect for nature and for particular sacred sites. These sites may have originally been used to worship the sun, rock formations, trees and even sounds. Each of these was associated with a deity, or kami, and a complex polytheistic religion developed. Shinto worship of kami is performed at shrines. Especially important is the act of purification before visiting these shrines.

There are a variety of denominations within Shinto. Shinto has no single founder and no canon, but the Nihongi and Kojiki contain a record of Japanese mythology. Individual Shinto sects, such as Tenrikyo and Konkokyo, often have a unique dogma or leader. Shinto began to fall out of fashion after the arrival of Buddhism, but soon Shinto and Buddhism began to be practiced in tandem. On the sites of Shintō shrines, Buddhist temples were also built.

Before 1868, there were three main forms of Shinto: Shrine Shinto, the most popular type; Folk (or Popular) Shinto, practiced by the peasants; and Imperial Household Shinto, practiced by the imperial family of Japan. In the 18th and 19th centuries, independent Shinto sects – Sect Shinto – formed, some of which were very radical, such as the monotheistic Tenrikyo. These became known as the Shinto Sects or the New Religions. Following the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Shinto and Buddhism were forcefully separated. The Emperor Meiji made Shinto the official religion, creating a form of Shinto known as State Shinto by merging Shrine, Folk, and Imperial Household Shinto. The radical Sect Shinto was separated from State Shinto. Under Meiji, Japan became a moderate theocracy, with shrines under government control. Shinto soon became a reason for Japanese nationalism. After Japan took over Korea and Taiwan, State Shinto became the official religion of those countries as well.

During World War II, the government forced every subject to practice State Shinto and admit that the Emperor was divine. Those who opposed the Imperial cult, including Oomoto and Soka Gakkai, were persecuted. When the United States occupied Japan in 1945, the shrines were taken out of government control, and State Shinto was abolished. Shrine, Folk, and Imperial Shinto again became separate, and Sect Shinto further distanced itself from mainstream Shinto.

Buddhism

Main article: Buddhism in Japan

Buddhism first arrived in Japan in the 6th century from the Southern part of the kingdom of Baekje on the Korean peninsula. The Baekje king sent the Japanese emperor a picture of the Buddha and some sutras. Japanese aristocrats built Buddhist statues and temples in the capital at Nara, and then in the later capital at Heian (now Kyoto).

Buddhism is divided into three forms: the orthodox Theravada Buddhism, which is prevalent in India and most of Southeast Asia; Mahayana Buddhism, which spread to China, Tibet, Vietnam, and ultimately to Korea and Japan; and Vajrayana Buddhism. From the beginning, the largest form of Buddhism in Japan was the Mahayana school. According to the Agency of Cultural Affairs, 91 million Japanese identify themselves as Buddhist.

The six Buddhist sects initially established in Nara are today together known as "Nara Buddhism" and are relatively small. When the capital moved to Heian, more forms of Buddhism arrived from China, including the still-popular Shingon, an esoteric form of Buddhism similar to Tibet's Vajrayana Buddhism, and Tendai, a monastic conservative form known better by its Chinese name, Tiantai.

When the shogunate took power in the 12th century and the administrative capital moved to Kamakura, more forms of Buddhism arrived. The most popular was Zen, which became the most popular type of Mahayana Buddhism of the time period. Two schools of Zen were established, Rinzai and Sōtō; a third, Ōbaku, formed in 1661.

The Tōshōdai-ji was an early Buddhist temple in Nara.

Another form of Buddhism known as Jodo-kyo, or Pure Land Buddhism, arrived in the Kamakura period. Pure Land Buddhism emphasizes the role of Amitabha Buddha and promises that reciting the phrase "Namu Amida Butsu" upon death will result in being removed by Amitabha to the "Western Paradise" or "Pure Land", and then to Nirvana. Jodo-kyo attracted the merchant and farmer classes. After Honen, Jodo-kyo's head missionary in Japan, died, the form split into two schools: Jodo-shu, which focuses on repeating the phrase many times, and the more liberal Jodo Shinshu, which claims that only saying the phrase once with a pure heart is necessary. Today, many Japanese adhere to Nishi Honganji-ha, a conservative sect of Jodo Shinshu.

The monk Nichiren established a more radical form of Buddhism, Nichiren Buddhism, which praised the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren's teaching was revolutionary, and the shogun distrusted him; when Nichiren predicted that the Mongols would invade Japan, the shogun exiled him. Nichiren was a progressive, the first Japanese thinker to declare that women could gain enlightenment. Nichiren Buddhism is the second largest Buddhist sect in Japan today. Sub-sects of Nichiren Buddhism include Nichiren-shu, Nichiren Shōshū and Sōka Gakkai, a controversial denomination whose political wing forms the conservative New Komeito Party, Japan's third largest political party.

In modern times, Japanese society has become very secular, and religion in general has become less important. However, many Japanese remain nominally Buddhist and are connected to a local Buddhist temple, although they may not worship regularly. Buddhism remains far more popular in traditional rural areas than in modern urban areas and suburbs. For instance, while some 90% of rural households include a Buddhist altar (Butsudan), the rate drops to 60% or lower in urban areas.

New religions

File:Sarin Wanted Poster.jpg

From left, Shin Hirata, Katsuya Takahashi, and Naoko Kikuchi were perpetrators in attacks in the Tokyo subway and belonged to the new religion Aum Shinrikyo, renamed Aleph.

Main article: Shinshūkyō

Beyond the two traditional types of religions, a great variety of popular religious movements exists in modern Japan. These movements are normally lumped together under the name "New Religions". These religions draw on concepts from Shinto, Buddhism, and folk superstition. The officially recognized new religions number in the hundreds, and total membership is reportedly in the tens of millions. The largest new religion is Sōka Gakkai, a Buddhist sect founded in 1930, which has about 10 million members in Japan.

Many of these new religions arose as part of Shinto and retain elements of Shinto in their teachings. Some, though not all, of the new religions are considered Sect Shinto. Other new religions include Aum Shinrikyo, Gedatsu-kai, Kiriyama Mikkyo, Kofuku no Kagaku, Konkokyo, Oomoto, Pana-wave laboratory, PL Kyodan, Seicho no Ie, Sekai Mahikari Bunmei Kyodan, Sekai kyūsei kyō, Shinreikyo, Sukyo Mahikari, Tenrikyo, and Zenrinkyo.

Minority religions

Bahá'í Faith

Main article: Bahá'í Faith in Japan

The Bahá'í Faith was brought to Japan by `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1875.

Christianity

Main article: Christianity in Japan

In the year 1542, the first Europeans from Portugal landed on Kyushu in Western Japan. The two historically most important things they imported to Japan were gunpowder and Christianity, in the form of Roman Catholicism. The Japanese daimyo on Kyushu welcomed foreign trade because of the new weapons and tolerated the Jesuit missionaries. These missionaries were successful in converting large numbers of people in Western Japan, including members of the ruling class. In 1550, Francis Xavier undertook a mission to the capital, Kyoto.

Near the end of the 16th century, Franciscan missionaries arrived in Kyoto, despite a ban issued by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1597, Hideyoshi proclaimed a more serious edict and executed 26 Franciscans in Nagasaki as a warning. Tokugawa Ieyasu and his successors continued the persecution of Christianity with several further edicts.

In 1873, following the Meiji restoration, the ban was rescinded, freedom of religion was promulgated, and sustained Protestant missionary work began. Today, there are around 0.6–3 million Christian adherents of various denominations. Most of them live in Western Japan, where the missionaries' activities were greatest during the 16th century. Since World War II, a number of Christian customs, including Western style weddings and the celebration of Valentine's Day and Christmas, have become popular among the non-Christian population.

Islam

Main article: Islam in Japan

Estimates of the Muslim population have been placed at around 115,000–125,000, of which about 90% are foreign residents and the remainder are ethnic Japanese. Indonesians, Bangladeshi, Pakistanis, and Iranians make up the largest communities of foreign Muslims in Japan.

Hinduism

Main article: Hinduism in Japan

Hinduism is a minority religion in Japan. There are currently 4,000 registered Hindus in the country, about one third of whom are located in the Kansai area and living in Kobe.

Judaism

Main article: Judaism in Japan

Jews are a minor ethnic and religious group in Japan, presently consisting of only about 2,000 people or about 0.0016% of Japan's total population. Although Jews have been present in Japan and Judaism has been practiced since the 16th century, on a very limited scale, in Japan, Japan comprised but a small part of Jewish history from the ending of Japan's "closed-door" foreign policy to World War II. After World War II, a large portion of the few Jews that were in Japan left, many going to what would become Israel. Some of those who remained married locals and were assimilated into Japanese society.

Presently, there are several hundred Jewish families living in Tokyo, and a small number of Jewish families in Kobe. A small number of Jewish expatriates of other countries live throughout Japan, temporarily, for business, research, a gap year, or a variety of other purposes. There are always Jewish members of the United States armed forces serving on Okinawa and in the other American military bases throughout Japan.

There are two major active synagogues in Japan. The Beth David Synagogue is active in Tokyo, and the Ohel Shlomo Synagogue is active in Kobe. The Chabad-Lubavitch organization has two centers in Tokyo.

Ryukyuan religion

Main article: Ryukyuan religion

The indigenous belief system of the people of Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, while distinct, has been heavily influenced by Japanese Shinto.

Religious practice

Most Japanese participate in rituals and customs derived from several religious traditions. Life cycle events are often marked by visits to a Shinto shrine. The birth of a new baby is celebrated with a formal shrine visit at the age of about one month, as are the third, fifth, and seventh birthdays and the official beginning of adulthood at age twenty. Wedding ceremonies are often performed by Shinto priests, but Christian wedding ceremonies, called howaito uedingu ("white wedding"), are also popular. These use liturgy but are not always presided over by an ordained priest.

Japanese funerals are usually performed by Buddhist priests, and Buddhist rites are also common on death day anniversaries of deceased family members. 91% of Japanese funerals take place according to Buddhist traditions.

There are two categories of holidays in Japan. Matsuri (festivals), which are largely of Shinto origin and relate to the cultivation of rice and the spiritual well-being of the local community, and nenjyū gyōji (annual events), which are largely of Chinese or Buddhist origin. During the Heian period, the matsuri were organized into a formal calendar, and other festivals were added. Very few matsuri or nencho gyo are national holidays, but they are included in the national calendar of annual events. Most matsuri are local events and follow local traditions. They may be sponsored by schools, towns, or other groups but are most often associated with Shinto shrines.

Most holidays are secular in nature, but the two most significant for the majority of Japanese – New Year's Day and Obon – involve visits to Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples, respectively. The New Year's holiday (January 1–3) is marked by the practice of numerous customs and the consumption of special foods. Visiting Shinto shrines to pray for family blessings in the coming year, dressing in a kimono, hanging special decorations, eating noodles on New Year's Eve, and playing a poetry card game are among these practices. During Obon, bon (spirit altars) are set up in front of Buddhist family altars, which, along with ancestral graves, are cleaned in anticipation of the return of the spirits. People living away from their family homes return for visits with relatives. Celebrations include folk dancing and prayers at Buddhist temples as well as family rituals in the home.

Religion and law

In early Japanese history, the ruling class was responsible for performing propitiatory rituals, which later came to be identified as Shinto, and for the introduction and support of Buddhism. Later, religious organization was used by regimes for political purposes; for instance, the Tokugawa government required each family to be registered as a member of a Buddhist temple for purposes of social control. In the late 19th century, rightists created State Shinto, requiring that each family belong to a shrine parish and that the concepts of emperor worship and a national Japanese "family" be taught in the schools.

Article 20 of the 1947 Constitution states, "Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all. No religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any political authority". Restrictions on the relationship between the government and religion was mandated by the United States during the occupation of Japan because of the role State Shinto played in encouraging the rapid territorial and economic expansion of the Empire of Japan significant enlargement of the Empire's geopolitical sphere of influence by endorsing and promoting the right of conquest in the in the years just before and during World War II.

Irreligion in Japan

Japan has a long history of irreligiousity. Most Japanese were irreligious for over half a century.

According to 1952 survey by Yomiuri Shimbun, 64.7 percent of Japanese said they believed in a specific religion. A 1958 survey produced a figure of 35 percent of Japanese having religious beliefs, in 1963 and 1968 it fell to 31 percent, going down to 25 percent in 1973 before climbing back up to 34 percent in 1978. In 1983 it had slipped to 32 percent.

According to a 2000 survey by the Yomiuri Shimbun, 76.6 percent of the Japanese polled said they do not believe in a specific religion. A survey by the Yomiuri Shimbun in 2005 revealed that 72 percent of Japanese do no have a specific religious affiliation and only 25 percent said they believed in religion and 20 percent said they practice a faith.

According to Steve Heine (2011) in Japan less than 15 percent say they believe in God.

Shichihei Yamamoto argues that "Japan has had more freedom of speech than Europe has had. Japan had nothing like the trial of Galileo or the 'monkey trial' about evolution. No Japanese Giordano Bruno was ever burned at the stake for atheism."

Japan had a couple of atheists and agnostics, including Shin'ichi Hisamatsu(1889-1980), Yanagida Kenjuro, Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989), Masami Kurumada (1953-), Haruki Murakami, Nakai Chikuzan (1730-1804), Nakae Tokusuke/Chomin (1847-1901), Takatsu Seido, Sakai Toshihiko, Fukuzawa Yukichi, Denjiro (Shusui) Kotoku, and Yamagata Bantō (1748-1821) which has the Yamagata Banto Prize named after him. Ando Shoeki is also a possible pantheist.

Marquis Hirobumi Ito, four time Prime Minister of Japan (the 1st, 5th, 7th and 10th), who made Japan a Great Power is reported to have said "I regard religion itself as quite unnecessary for a nation's life; science is far above superstition, and what is religion - Buddhism or Christianity - but superstition, and therefore a possible source of weakness to a nation? I do not regret the tendency to free thought and atheism, which is almost universal in Japan because I do not regard it as a source of danger to the community."

Fukuzawa Yukichi (1834-1901), regarded as one of the founders of modern Japan, found it impossible to combine modern learning with belief in gods and openly declared that "It goes without saying that the maintenance of peace and security in society requires a religion. For this purpose any religion will do. I lack a religious nature, and have never believed in any religion. I am thus open to the charge that I am advising others to be religious while I am not so. Yet my conscience does not permit me to clothe myself with religion when I have it not at heart...Of religions there are several kinds - Buddhism, Christianity, and what not. From my standpoint there is no more difference between those than between green tea and black...See that the stock is well selected and the prices cheap."

The Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami wrote: “God only exists in people’s minds. Especially in Japan, God’s always has been a kind of flexible concept. Look at what happened to the war. Douglas MacArthur ordered the divine emperor to quit being a God, and he did, making a speech saying he was just an ordinary person.”

Shin-ichi Hisamatsu (1889-1980) rejected theism. According to him God or Buddha, as objective beings, are an illusion.

Ando Shoeki denounced Confucian scholars and Buddhist clergy as spiritual oppressors of his age, he preserved a veneration for the genial gods of old Japan, but like a pantheist, he seems to have equated them with the forces of nature.

Hiroyuki Kato (1836-1916) who was head of the Imperial Academy from 1905-1909, stated that "Religion depends on fear."

Galen W.Fisher, Secretary of the Y.M.C.A, in Tokyo, says that a census of 409 students in three schools showed that only 21 acknowledged any faith; and that of these, 15 were Buddhists, 1 was a Confucian, 1 a Shintoist, and 4 were Christians. The young men in the Imperial University in Tokyo were asked to indicate their religions. The responses were as follows: Buddhists, 50; Christians, 60; atheists, 1,500; agnostics, 3,000. In other words, out of men of the future, 4,500 had discarded the national religious faiths and become atheists or agnostics.

"Several critics of Buddhism founded in September 1931 the Alliance for anti-religion combat (Han-shukyo Toso Domei), which later became the Japan Militant Atheists Alliance (Nihon Sentoteki Mushinronsha Domei, also known as Senmu). The former opposed belligerent imperialism, home missionary efforts by Buddhist priests in factories, the ideology of kokutai, the myth of the founding of the nation, the infusion of religion into public education, pilgrimages to shrines, and the ceremonies and holidays of State Shinto. And while Buddhism and Shinto were the proximate objects of criticism by the Atheists Alliance, the ultimate target was the imperial system itself. In November 1931, Sakai Toshihiko and Takatsu Seido formed the Japan Anti-religion Alliance (Nihon Hanshukyo Domei). This group oriented itself around an eight-article declaration, which, among other things, condemned religion as a spiritual tool wielded by the upper classes, as a "poisonous gas" that prevented liberation of laborers and farmers. The alliance also opposed contributions to religious organizations, prayers for practical benefits (kito), preaching in factories, and the religious organizations of all stripes."

See also

• Japan
• Religion in Asia
• Taoism in Japan

References

• Alexander, Agnes Baldwin (1977). History of the Bahá'í Faith in Japan 1914–1938. Osaka, Japan: Japan Bahá'í Publishing Trust. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• R. Sims, Barbara (1989). Traces That Remain: A Pictorial History of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Faith Among the Japanese. Osaka, Japan: Japan Bahá'í Publishing Trust.

External links

• 2009 Report on International Religious Freedom – Japan, United States Department of State/UNHCR, 26 October 2009.
• Religion and the Secular in Japan: Problems in History, Social Anthropology and the Study of Religion, discussion paper by Tim Fitzgerald in the electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, 10 July 2003.
• Christianity is popular in Japan today, Article in Pravmir Magazine
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