Religion in the Japanese Experience: Sources and Interpretations

by H. Byron Earhart

The author's intention in compiling this anthology is to help the reader see Japanese religion more concretely, as it is found within the history of the tradition and experience of the people. The overall purpose of the selections, which represent various historical periods and schools of thought, is to show what religion means in the Japanese experience.

Genres: Japan

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1973

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A VERY USEFUL SOURCE AND OVERVIEW OF RELIGION IN JAPAN

H. Byron Earhart is a professor emeritus in the Department of Comparative Religion at Western Michigan University.

He wrote in the Preface to this 1974 book, “my own experience in the classroom demonstrates the need for concrete materials to illustrate the variety and richness within Japanese religion… The intention in compiling these materials is to help the reader see Japanese religion more concretely, as it is found within the history of the tradition and experience of the people. The selections vary considerably, from prehistoric to modern examples, from archaeological descriptions and mythological records to folk festivals and modern religious movements. And yet the overall purpose of the selections is to show what religion means in the Japanese experience.”

In his Introduction to Part One, he explains, “Japanese religion comprises an amazing panorama of a wide variety of practices and traditions through several thousand years… To top off this already interesting religious scenario, in the past century many new religious movements (usually called New Religions) have arisen. With such a broad spectrum of traditions to draw on, it is not surprising that the picture of Japanese religion is painted with every imaginable color… Folk religion operates in the activities of many seasonal celebrations in the home, in unorganized shamanism, and even in folk tales. Christianity, although it has never attracted a large percentage of the population has exerted an important stimulus for educational and social reform. The New Religions in many ways reflect the earlier traditions: they incorporate practices from divination and faith healing to shamanism and seasonal festivals, and their beliefs range from unsystematic folk beliefs to scriptures and elaborate doctrines.” (Pg. 1-2)

He says of Shinto, “During the past century, Shinto’s fate has undergone two major changes. After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Shinto shrines were used by the government as part of the official rationale for unifying the people in the new nation-state… This placed Shinto’s religious status in an ambiguous position, but at the end of World War II Shinto underwent another momentous change. In 1945 the Allied Occupation forces entered Japan and initiated the disestablishment of shrine Shinto which placed it on an equal footing with all other religions, in Japan. Shinto shrines had already felt the change from a rural agricultural nation to an urban industrial nation, and the defeat in World War II was a severe blow to Shinto, due to its close tie to the war effort.” (Pg. 7-8)

Later, he explains, “In medieval times, Shinto was dominated by Buddhism, but in late medieval times, Shinto attempted to restrengthen her own tradition. The major political changes of 1868 favored Shinto, and from that time until 1945, Shinto was increasingly treated as a state religion… During this period most Shinto shrines and Shinto priests came to be considered state institutions and state officials. Attendance at shrines… was a patriotic obligation… Schools taught an ethical system based on the mythological origin of the Japanese people and absolute loyalty to the state as embodied in the person of the emperor… At the end of World War II, the Allied military leaders and many Japanese intellectuals felt that Shinto had become a tool of the ultra-nationalists and the military rather than a religion of the people. Therefore, the Allied occupation forces in Japan required the disestablishment of Shinto … Shinto would be allowed to exist as a religion on the same legal basis as other religious organizations in Japan… Since 1945, various problems have arisen regarding the interpretation and implementation of this document. Shinto authorities claim that the directive was foreign intervention into the Japanese traditions, creating an artificial division of state and religion which had never existed in Japan. Controversy arises particularly around such concrete issues as the religious status of the emperor and whether his annual ritual ceremonies are only a private matter or … are actually state ceremonies.” (Pg. 27)

He notes, “Buddhism includes many rituals, but none is so crucial to the religious life of the people as the funeral most important religious life of the people as the funeral and memorial rites, which constitute the single most important religious function of Buddhist priests and temples… Practical matters were taken care of by the ‘kogumi,’a voluntary association for mutual aid. Religious beliefs concerning death enter from several traditions, such as folk religion and religious Taoism, but the funereal ceremony itself is Buddhist. The purpose of the ceremony is to enable the dead person to pass from the defiled state of death to a purified state in paradise. Philosophically and doctrinally, salvation is seen in terms of nirvana, but in ordinary religious experience the dead person is seen as entering paradise.” (Pg. 61)

He observes, “Taoism, like Confucianism, never enjoyed the status of an organized religion in Japan. In fact, Taoism’s influence is even more difficult to trace in Japan than that of Confucianism. Confucianism had a clear identity in the Confucian ‘Analects’ and socioethical systems Taoism, by contrast, lived on in Japan primarily in the fragments of its tradition that found their way into organized religion, especially folk religion… the text of philosophical Taoism, the “Tao Te Ching,’ arrived in Japan at an early date. But the major influence of Taoism in Jaan comes from the area known as religious Taoism, including a wide range of cosmological and calendrical beliefs and practices.” (Pg, 75)

He points out, “One of the major features of Japanese religious life is the way in which man, gods, and nature are closely interrelated on the same plane. The term ‘gods’ can mean ‘kami,’ Buddhist divinities, or even venerated human beings and souls of the dead. ‘Nature’ means not an objective and inert collection of substance but the sacred rhythm of the cosmos as a living unity. From the earliest times to the present, the Japanese people have celebrated their closeness to the kami and their intimate relationship to nature… As seen in Shinto mythology… the kami express their sacredness and power through their embodiment in nature, such as the wind, trees, rivers, and mountains. The idea contrast sharply with the Judaic and Christian traditions, which tend to emphasize the distance between God and man and the inferiority of nature to man.” (Pg. 127)

He says of Mrs. Miki Nakayama, the foundress of the Tenrikyo religion, “Miki’s message can be summed up briefly as follows: since creation, God the Parent has wanted people to live a joyous life, but they are lost in greed and selfishness, this covering up their true divine nature. Religious awakening occurs when each of us realizes, like Mike, that we are the creation of the gods, that our bodies are ‘loaned’ to us. This helps us overcome the greed and selfishness which makes us miserable and at the same time leads us to the ‘joyous life’ of religious celebration (in Tenrikyo rituals) and service to others. Tenrikyo… was one of the thirteen officially recognized branches of Sect Shinto. The official Sect Shinto was abolished after World War II, and the proclamation of religious freedom enabled Tenrikyo to lead a more independent career. Tenrikyo seems to have served as a prototype for other New Religions because it laid down a precedent: it was the first such movement to succeed in developing from a charismatic leadership to a full-scale organized religion.” (Pg. 238-239)

This book will be of great interest to those studying Japanese religion.

[Richard Janzen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in 1974, and I first read it in a university course around 1985.

Decided to reread it in 2020. Keep in mind that this book focuses on Religion in Japan, basically using source documents to provide a base or insight into each point. Starting with the base religions of Buddhism and Shinto, and ending with New Religions in Japan. Fascinating glimpse at elements and progression of religions in Japan. Certainly not comprehensive, but informative and thought-provoking. Would be happy to follow this up with a similar, more updated, version.