Download or read book The Invention of Religion in Japan written by Jason Ānanda Josephson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-10-03 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of what we call “religion.” There was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning. But when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this Western idea. In this book, Jason Ananda Josephson reveals how Japanese officials invented religion in Japan and traces the sweeping intellectual, legal, and cultural changes that followed. More than a tale of oppression or hegemony, Josephson’s account demonstrates that the process of articulating religion offered the Japanese state a valuable opportunity. In addition to carving out space for belief in Christianity and certain forms of Buddhism, Japanese officials excluded Shinto from the category. Instead, they enshrined it as a national ideology while relegating the popular practices of indigenous shamans and female mediums to the category of “superstitions”—and thus beyond the sphere of tolerance. Josephson argues that the invention of religion in Japan was a politically charged, boundary-drawing exercise that not only extensively reclassified the inherited materials of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto to lasting effect, but also reshaped, in subtle but significant ways, our own formulation of the concept of religion today. This ambitious and wide-ranging book contributes an important perspective to broader debates on the nature of religion, the secular, science, and superstition.
Download or read book A History of Japanese Religion written by 笠原一男 and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2001 with total page 660 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seventeen distinguished experts on Japanese religion provide a fascinating overview of its history and development. Beginning with the origins of religion in primitive Japanese society, they chart the growth of each of Japan's major religious organizations and doctrinal systems. They follow Buddhism, Shintoism, Christianity, and popular religious belief through major periods of change to show how history and religion affected each-and discuss the interactions between the different religious traditions.
Download or read book The Development of Religion in Japan written by George William Knox and published by . This book was released on 1907 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Religion in Japanese History written by Joseph M. Kitagawa and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1990-11-21 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracing Japan's religions from the Hein Period through the middle ages and into modernity, this book explores the unique establishment of Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism in Japan, as well as the later influence of Roman Catholicism, and the problem of Restoration--both spiritual and material--following World War II.
Download or read book The Development of Religion in Japan written by George William Knox and published by Legare Street Press. This book was released on 2023-07-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive history of the development of religion in Japan, covering all the major traditions and their evolution over time. From Shinto to Buddhism to Christianity and more, George William Knox presents a thorough exploration of the religious landscape in Japan and its impact on Japanese society and culture. With its engaging style and wealth of information, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history and culture of Japan. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Download or read book History of Japanese Religion written by Masaharu Anesaki and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2012-12-18 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Masaharu Anesaki's History of Japanese Religion continues to be a much-cited pillar of Japanese studies and is now available in digital format. The original draft of the present book was an outcome of the author's lectures at Harvard University during the years 1913-15, when he had the honor of occupying there the chair of Japanese Literature and Life. In response to the encouragement given by several friends at Harvard, the author tried to put the material of the lectures into book form and redrafted it from time to time. The history of Japanese religions and morals shows the interaction of various forces which manifested their vitality more in combination than in opposition. A saying ascribed to Prince Shotoku, the founder of Japanese civilization, compares the three religious and moral systems found in Japan to the root, the stem and branches, and the flowers and the fruits of a tree. Shinto is the root embedded in the soil of the people's character and national traditions; Confucianism is seen in the stem and branches of legal institutions, ethical codes and educational systems; Buddhism made the flowers of religious sentiment bloom and gave the fruits of spiritual life.
Download or read book Folk Religion in Japan written by Ichiro Hori and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1974 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ichiro Hori's is the first book in Western literature to portray how Shinto, Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist elements, as well as all manner of archaic magical beliefs and practices, are fused on the folk level. Folk religion, transmitted by the common people from generation to generation, has greatly conditioned the political, economic, and cultural development of Japan and continues to satisfy the emotional and religious needs of the people. Hori examines the organic relationship between the Japanese social structure—the family kinship system, village and community organizations—and folk religion. A glossary with Japanese characters is included in the index.
Download or read book Becoming One written by Chika Watanabe and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2019-01-31 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: International development programs strive not only to alleviate poverty but to transform people, aid workers and recipients alike. Becoming One grapples with this process by exploring the work of OISCA*, a prominent Japanese NGO in central Myanmar. OISCA’s postwar origins at the intersection of Shinto, secularism, and rightwing politics, and its vision of inter-Asian solidarity and a sustainable future helped shape the organization’s ideology and activities. By delving into the world of its aid workers—their everyday practices, discourses, and aspirations—author Chika Watanabe seeks to understand the NGO’s political, social, and ethical effects. At OISCA training centers, Japanese and local staff teach sustainable agricultural skills and organic farming methods to rural youth. Much of the teaching involves laboring in the fields, harvesting produce, and caring for livestock: what they can’t use themselves is sold at nearby markets. Watanabe’s detailed and multi-sited ethnography shows how Japanese and Burmese actors mobilize around the idea of “becoming one” with Mother Earth and their human counterparts within a shared communal lifestyle. By exploring the tension between intentions and political effects—spanning environmentalism, cultural-nationalist ideologies of “Japaneseness,” and aspirations to make the world a better place—Watanabe highlights fascinating questions and both positive and negative outcomes. Becoming One weaves together vivid descriptions of the intensive, intimate, and “muddy labor” of “making persons” (hitozukuri) with the wider historical resonances of these efforts, decentering common understandings of development, NGOs, and their moral and political promises. This engaging and thought-provoking book combines insights from anthropology, development studies, and religious studies to add to our understanding of modern Japan. *Organization for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement
Download or read book On Understanding Japanese Religion written by Joseph Mitsuo Kitagawa and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-02-09 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joseph Kitagawa, one of the founders of the field of history of religions and an eminent scholar of the religions of Japan, published his classic book Religion in Japanese History in 1966. Since then, he has written a number of extremely influential essays that illustrate approaches to the study of Japanese religious phenomena. To date, these essays have remained scattered in various scholarly journals. This book makes available nineteen of these articles, important contributions to our understanding of Japan's intricate combination of indigenous Shinto, Confucianism, Taoism, the Yin-Yang School, Buddhism, and folk religion. In sections on prehistory, the historic development of Japanese religion, the Shinto tradition, the Buddhist tradition, and the modem phase of the Japanese religious tradition, the author develops a number of valuable methodological approaches. The volume also includes an appendix on Buddhism in America. Asserting that the study of Japanese religion is more than an umbrella term covering investigations of separate traditions, Professor Kitagawa approaches the subject from an interdisciplinary standpoint. Skillfully combining political, cultural, and social history, he depicts a Japan that seems a microcosm of the religious experience of humankind.
Download or read book The Development of Religion in Japan written by George William Knox and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-06-11 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Development of Religion in Japan The writer has been mindful of the announcement of the Committee that it is formed "for the purpose of instituting popular courses in the History of Religion," and he has attempted, therefore, in brief compass, to set forth for the general public the results of the scientific study of the Religions of Japan. His specific object is to exhibit the continuity and the development of the religious life of the people. Modern research shows at once the unity and the variety of religious experience in different ages and lands. There is unity, since men's minds respond in like fashion to the influences which are common to humanity. Given similar surroundings, physical, economic, social, political and the race reveals its oneness by the similarity of its response. Yet circumstances are never quite alike, and, besides, there is the incalculable factor of individual genius, so that there is a wide diversity in the expression of this response. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Download or read book The Religions of Japan written by William Elliot Griffis and published by IndyPublish.com. This book was released on 1895 with total page 494 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Development of Religion in Japan written by George William Knox and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Invention of Religion in Japan written by Jason Ananda Josephson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-10-03 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of how Japan once had no concept of “religion,” and what happened when officials were confronted by American Commodore Perry in 1853. Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of what we call “religion.” There was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning. But when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this Western idea. In this book, Jason Ananda Josephson reveals how Japanese officials invented religion in Japan and traces the sweeping intellectual, legal, and cultural changes that followed. More than a tale of oppression or hegemony, Josephson’s account demonstrates that the process of articulating religion offered the Japanese state a valuable opportunity. In addition to carving out space for belief in Christianity and certain forms of Buddhism, Japanese officials excluded Shinto from the category. Instead, they enshrined it as a national ideology while relegating the popular practices of indigenous shamans and female mediums to the category of “superstitions” —and thus beyond the sphere of tolerance. Josephson argues that the invention of religion in Japan was a politically charged, boundary-drawing exercise that not only extensively reclassified the inherited materials of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto to lasting effect, but also reshaped, in subtle but significant ways, our own formulation of the concept of religion today. This ambitious and wide-ranging book contributes an important perspective to broader debates on the nature of religion, the secular, science, and superstition. Praise for The Invention of Religion in Japan “The Invention of Religion in Japan is truly revolutionary. Original, well researched, and engrossing, it overturns basic assumptions in the study of Japanese thought, religion, science, and history. . . . This book will absolutely reshape the field.” —Sarah Thal, University of Wisconsin-Madison “Written with remarkable clarity, this book makes an excellent contribution to the study of the interface of traditional Japanese religions and politics. Highly recommended.” —Choice “The range of Japanese primary sources consulted in his book is prodigious, as is his familiarity and usage of multidisciplinary theoretical works. . . . Josephson’s book is erudite, informative, and interesting. It should be a worthwhile read for Japan scholars as well as scholars and students interested in religious studies theory and history.” —H-Shukyo
Download or read book The Religions of Japan from the Dawn of History to the Era of M iji written by William Elliot Griffis and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2019-11-25 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book by a Christian missionary Herbert W. Page aimed to present the overall picture of the religious vies in the middle of the Victorian era. The author mentions that Japan at that time had already developed strong boundaries with China and India, yet not absorbed by them. This book is an interesting read in terms of the history of religion or a study of Orient cultures and customs.
Download or read book The Religions of Japan written by William Elliot Griffis and published by . This book was released on 1904 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Church Space and the Capital in Prewar Japan written by Garrett L. Washington and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2022-01-31 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christians have never constituted one percent of Japan’s population, yet Christianity had a disproportionately large influence on Japan’s social, intellectual, and political development. This happened despite the Tokugawa shogunate’s successful efforts to criminalize Christianity and even after the Meiji government took measures to limit its influence. From journalism and literature, to medicine, education, and politics, the mark of Protestant Japanese is indelible. Herein lies the conundrum that has interested scholars for decades. How did Christianity overcome the ideological legacies of its past in Japan? How did Protestantism distinguish itself from the other options in the religious landscape like Buddhism and New Religions? And how did the religious movement’s social relevance and activism persist despite the government’s measures to weaken the relationship between private religion and secular social life in Japan? In Church Space and the Capital in Prewar Japan, Garrett L. Washington responds to these questions with a spatially explicit study on the influence of the Protestant church in imperial Japan. He examines the physical and social spaces that Tokyo’s largest Japanese-led congregations cultivated between 1879 and 1923 and their broader social ties. These churches developed alongside, and competed with, the locational, architectural, and social spaces of Buddhism, Shinto, and New Religions. Their success depended on their pastors’ decisions about location and relocation, those men’s conceptualizations of the new imperial capital and aspirations for Japan, and the Western-style buildings they commissioned. Japanese pastors and laypersons grappled with Christianity’s relationships to national identity, political ideology, women’s rights, Japanese imperialism, and modernity; church-based group activities aimed to raise social awareness and improve society. Further, it was largely through attendees’ externalized ideals and networks developed at church but expressed in their public lives outside the church that Protestant Christianity exerted such a visible influence on modern Japanese society. Church Space offers answers to longstanding questions about Protestant Christianity’s reputation and influence by using a new space-centered perspective to focus on Japanese agency in the religion’s metamorphosis and social impact, adding a fresh narrative of cultural imperialism.
Download or read book Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan written by Ian Reader and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-11 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tokyo subway attack in March 1995 was just one of a series of criminal activities including murder, kidnapping, extortion, and the illegal manufacture of arms and drugs carried out by the Japanese new religious movement Aum Shinrikyo, under the guidance of its leader Asahara Shoko. Reader looks at Aum's claims about itself and asks, why did a religious movement ostensibly focussed on yoga, meditation, asceticism and the pursuit of enlightenment become involved in violent activities? Reader discusses Aum's spiritual roots, placing it in the context of contemporary Japanese religious patterns. Asahara's teaching are examined from his earliest public pronouncements through to his sermons at the time of the attack, and statements he has made in court. In analysing how Aum not only manufactured nerve gases but constructed its own internal doctrinal justifications for using them Reader focuses on the formation of what made all this possible: Aum's internal thought-world, and on how this was developed. Reader argues that despite the horrors of this particular case, Aum should not be seen as unique, nor as solely a political or criminal terror group. Rather it can best be analysed within the context of religious violence, as an extreme example of a religious movement that has created friction with the wider world that escalated into violence.
