Pub Date : 2018-12-12DOI: 10.1163/22118349-00702002
E. Porcu
Drawing on the theory of second modernity and individualization postulated by Ulrich Beck and his colleagues, Japanese sociologists have noted that a radical shift in Japan’s societal structure and modes has occurred since the mid-1990s, when institutions that had so far maintained a stable social order and integrated society started to collapse (Suzuki et al. 2010). In this context, religion too has no longer been able to provide stability and support to individuals, and its role in public life has been reduced. One of the most cited consequences has been the lack of trust in religious institutions that has led individuals to sever their ties with them. This has affected religious organizations dependent on traditional family ties, in particular Buddhist temples. Against this backdrop, this paper reflects on how some recent outreach activities carried out by religious institutions in contemporary Japan are the result of a crucial transformation of their configurations and structure rather than a representation of the same old patterns in new clothes. To this end, the paper focuses on the attempts made by the resident priest of an urban temple to come to terms with conditions proper to second modernity, where uncertainties and “risks” have replaced stability and security, and categories such as the family and religion have been destabilized.
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Pub Date : 2018-12-12DOI: 10.1163/22118349-00702006
I. Zhang
{"title":"Ritualized Writing: Buddhist Practice and Scriptural Cultures in Ancient Japan, by Bryan D. Lowe","authors":"I. Zhang","doi":"10.1163/22118349-00702006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22118349-00702006","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion in Japan","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2018-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/22118349-00702006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44406760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-12-12DOI: 10.1163/22118349-00702008
Lehel Balogh
{"title":"Handbook of East Asian New Religious Movements, by Lukas Pokorny and Franz Winter (eds.)","authors":"Lehel Balogh","doi":"10.1163/22118349-00702008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22118349-00702008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion in Japan","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2018-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/22118349-00702008","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47537719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-12-12DOI: 10.1163/22118349-00702005
Komei Sakai
{"title":"Zen and Material Culture, by Pamela D. Winfield & Steven Heine (eds.)","authors":"Komei Sakai","doi":"10.1163/22118349-00702005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22118349-00702005","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion in Japan","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2018-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/22118349-00702005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45627299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-12-12DOI: 10.1163/22118349-00702007
C. Harding
{"title":"Darwin, Dharma, and the Divine: Evolutionary Theory and Religion in Modern Japan, by G. Clinton Godart","authors":"C. Harding","doi":"10.1163/22118349-00702007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22118349-00702007","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion in Japan","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2018-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/22118349-00702007","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45993314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-12-12DOI: 10.1163/22118349-00702004
J. Law
{"title":"The Book of Yōkai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore, by Michael Dylan Foster","authors":"J. Law","doi":"10.1163/22118349-00702004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22118349-00702004","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion in Japan","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2018-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/22118349-00702004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44330649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-12-12DOI: 10.1163/22118349-00702001
J. Shields
Tsuji Zennosuke 辻善之助 (1877–1955), the dominant figure in Buddhist historical scholarship in Japan from the 1930s until the mid-1950s, is known to have employed a broad range of sources in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of his subject. This essay examines Tsuji’s conception of Buddhist history in relation to the emergence of both National Historical Studies (kokushigaku 国史学) and so-called State Shintō (kokka shintō 国家神道) and argues against the image of Tsuji as an “objective historian” resistant to nationalist trends in historical scholarship. In fact, Tsuji was involved in the creation of an alternative, “Buddhistic” national history, or bukkyōshugi kokushi 仏教主義国史的. In particular, comparisons are drawn between Tsuji’s conception of Buddhism and the earlier arguments of New Buddhism (shin bukkyō 新仏教) and the Daijō hi-bussetsuron 大乗非仏説論, in addition to his more general conception of the contributions of Buddhism to the humanitarian spirit of Japanese leaders—both emperors and military warlords. Can there be—should there be—an objective history of religion? What is the significance of sacred history—and the history of Buddhism more particularly—to the still-emerging “modern” nation of Japan? How does Buddhism, a pan-Asian and “borrowed religion,” fit with the “Japanist” ideology of national uniqueness? These are some of the questions posed by Tsuji in his writings.
{"title":"After the Fall","authors":"J. Shields","doi":"10.1163/22118349-00702001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22118349-00702001","url":null,"abstract":"Tsuji Zennosuke 辻善之助 (1877–1955), the dominant figure in Buddhist historical scholarship in Japan from the 1930s until the mid-1950s, is known to have employed a broad range of sources in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of his subject. This essay examines Tsuji’s conception of Buddhist history in relation to the emergence of both National Historical Studies (kokushigaku 国史学) and so-called State Shintō (kokka shintō 国家神道) and argues against the image of Tsuji as an “objective historian” resistant to nationalist trends in historical scholarship. In fact, Tsuji was involved in the creation of an alternative, “Buddhistic” national history, or bukkyōshugi kokushi 仏教主義国史的. In particular, comparisons are drawn between Tsuji’s conception of Buddhism and the earlier arguments of New Buddhism (shin bukkyō 新仏教) and the Daijō hi-bussetsuron 大乗非仏説論, in addition to his more general conception of the contributions of Buddhism to the humanitarian spirit of Japanese leaders—both emperors and military warlords. Can there be—should there be—an objective history of religion? What is the significance of sacred history—and the history of Buddhism more particularly—to the still-emerging “modern” nation of Japan? How does Buddhism, a pan-Asian and “borrowed religion,” fit with the “Japanist” ideology of national uniqueness? These are some of the questions posed by Tsuji in his writings.","PeriodicalId":41418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion in Japan","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2018-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/22118349-00702001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42410719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-12-12DOI: 10.1163/22118349-00702003
Paola Cavaliere
Many sociological studies have discussed the importance of religion and gender as two key components facilitating civic engagement, which in turn is believed to foster citizenship and democratization. Most female members of Japanese new religions engage in a variety of service-oriented volunteer initiatives where they tend to provide help and support to individuals directly, outside of organized volunteer organizations and civic associations. Such volunteer behaviour is defined in the literature as informal volunteering. In this respect, this paper addresses three main questions: 1) What aspects of religiosity relate to women’s participation in informal volunteering sponsored by Japanese religious organizations? 2) What specific volunteer models of women’s social engagement are articulated through informal volunteering and what is the dominant background neoliberal ideology? 3) How do these models foster women’s citizenship and social participation? This paper draws upon two sets of qualitative data (2010–2012 and 2015–2017) of religious-based volunteer activities performed by women belonging to four Japanese religious organizations: Risshō Kōseikai 立正佼成会, Shinnyoen 真如苑, the Roman Catholic Church in Japan (Nihon Katorikku Kyōkai 日本カトリック教会), and GLA ジーエルエー (God Light Association).
{"title":"Mothers and Moral Activists","authors":"Paola Cavaliere","doi":"10.1163/22118349-00702003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22118349-00702003","url":null,"abstract":"Many sociological studies have discussed the importance of religion and gender as two key components facilitating civic engagement, which in turn is believed to foster citizenship and democratization. Most female members of Japanese new religions engage in a variety of service-oriented volunteer initiatives where they tend to provide help and support to individuals directly, outside of organized volunteer organizations and civic associations. Such volunteer behaviour is defined in the literature as informal volunteering. In this respect, this paper addresses three main questions: 1) What aspects of religiosity relate to women’s participation in informal volunteering sponsored by Japanese religious organizations? 2) What specific volunteer models of women’s social engagement are articulated through informal volunteering and what is the dominant background neoliberal ideology? 3) How do these models foster women’s citizenship and social participation? This paper draws upon two sets of qualitative data (2010–2012 and 2015–2017) of religious-based volunteer activities performed by women belonging to four Japanese religious organizations: Risshō Kōseikai 立正佼成会, Shinnyoen 真如苑, the Roman Catholic Church in Japan (Nihon Katorikku Kyōkai 日本カトリック教会), and GLA ジーエルエー (God Light Association).","PeriodicalId":41418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion in Japan","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2018-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/22118349-00702003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41785078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-08DOI: 10.1163/22118349-00701002
Jessica Starling
{"title":"Tracing the Itinerant Path: Jishū Nuns of Medieval Japan, by Caitilin J. Griffiths","authors":"Jessica Starling","doi":"10.1163/22118349-00701002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22118349-00701002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion in Japan","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2018-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/22118349-00701002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44021886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-08DOI: 10.1163/22118349-00701003
T. Miura
This article responds to a call for more research on the theme of “universality” in Japanese religion as articulated by Michel Mohr in his recent monograph (2014). The article focuses on Deguchi Onisaburō 出口王仁三郎 and examines the ways in which he utilized “Shintō” as a self-universalizing framework. He argued that Shintō is the spiritual foundation of the entire world, a kind of cosmic principle that pervades the universe. Based on this, he claimed that all religions around the world are merely different forms of Shintō. Onisaburō was not the first to advance this type of universalizing argument, as a number of Shintō thinkers had made comparable claims since the medieval period. What was at stake for Onisaburō and his predecessors, in other words, was not Shintō’s “indigeneity” to Japan, but its universality. This observation helps to further relativize and historicize the prevailing characterization of Shintō as Japan’s “indigenous religion.”
{"title":"Shintō is the Indigenous Religion of the World","authors":"T. Miura","doi":"10.1163/22118349-00701003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22118349-00701003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article responds to a call for more research on the theme of “universality” in Japanese religion as articulated by Michel Mohr in his recent monograph (2014). The article focuses on Deguchi Onisaburō 出口王仁三郎 and examines the ways in which he utilized “Shintō” as a self-universalizing framework. He argued that Shintō is the spiritual foundation of the entire world, a kind of cosmic principle that pervades the universe. Based on this, he claimed that all religions around the world are merely different forms of Shintō. Onisaburō was not the first to advance this type of universalizing argument, as a number of Shintō thinkers had made comparable claims since the medieval period. What was at stake for Onisaburō and his predecessors, in other words, was not Shintō’s “indigeneity” to Japan, but its universality. This observation helps to further relativize and historicize the prevailing characterization of Shintō as Japan’s “indigenous religion.”","PeriodicalId":41418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion in Japan","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2018-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/22118349-00701003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64570868","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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