Religion in Japanese Culture

Essay # 99207

Asian Studies > East Asian Cultures
History > Asian
History > Religion

This paper discuses two major religions in Japanese culture---Shinto and Buddhism.

825 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that religion in Japan is an amalgamation of various historical influences that has evolved over the last approximate 2000 years. The paper states that the major religions are Shinto, Daoism, Buddhism and more recently Christianity. The author points out that the historical relationship between Japan's imperial symbol and the Shinto faith is causing an ongoing international disturbance in contemporary foreign relations between Japan and its war-time victims. The paper relates that Buddhism, which has been predominant in Japan's culture because of its very early association with Confucianism, was never complicated by any connection with the divinity of the Emperor; thus, for Japan's neighbors, Buddhism is largely viewed as a common cultural thread.

Table of Contents:
Overview
Shinto
Buddhism

From the Paper:

"Japan's Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, has taken it upon himself to visit the Yasukuni Shinto Shrine in Japan on several occasions. Ostensibly, Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine are to pay respects to Japan's war dead, which is a fairly innocuous act in itself but because of the religious, national, and historical combination of Shinto and the Japanese state, this act is viewed as disrespectful by Japan's war-time victims. Although Shinto had been associated with the state and the imperial throne since the 4th century A.D., in 1868 Shinto was made the official religion during the Meiji Restoration and in 1869 the Yasukuni Shrine was erected."

Sample of Sources Used:

Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Tipton, Elise K. Modern Japan: A Social and Political History. London: Routledge, 2002.
Woodhead, Linda, Paul Fletcher, Hiroko Kawanami, and David Smith, eds. Religions in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformations. London: Routledge, 2002.