Religion in japan

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Since the emergence of the Japanese Empire there have always been several religions that interacted and also mixed (see syncretism ). The most important are Shinto and Buddhism . There are also influences from Chinese Daoism and Confucianism . The majority of the Japanese feel connected to both Shinto and Buddhism. The Christianity which, although experiencing growth, but plays in the history of Japan a subordinate role. Since the end of World War II , there has been a high level of religious tolerance in Japan, which has led to a sharp rise in neo-religious movements .

Shūkyō - the Japanese term for religion

The term religion is translated in modern Japanese as shūkyō ( Japanese 宗教 ), literally. "Religious teaching". The term originated in the 19th century as a translation of Western religion and the concept evokes the idea of an on dogmas justified, religion of the book '. In order to fully understand the traditional religious worldview of Japan, however, the term 'Japanese religion' has to be understood more broadly.

Japanese religion in this sense is a conglomerate of different Buddhist teachings and institutions, of indigenous deities ( kami ) and the taboos and ideas of purity associated with them , as well as various Indian, Chinese and Korean deities handed down to Japan with Buddhism, most of them in Shinto today . Shrines are worshiped (cf. Shinbutsu-Shūgō ). This pantheon also includes dead souls, ancestors and spirits . For a long time, the dividing lines between these teachings were indistinct. It was not until the "Separation of Kami and Buddhas" enacted by law in the Meiji era that it became necessary to assign the mixed-religious institutions to either Shinto or Buddhism (cf. Shinbutsu Bunri and State Shinto ). Since the abolition of this legal situation after the Second World War, there has been a gradual regression of this separation, which in practice was only partially implemented.

All traditional religious communities share the belief that the deities can grant benefits ( riyaku ) in this or the next life. Everyday religiosity is still strongly oriented towards obtaining such benefits. Every Japanese is familiar with simpler practices, while the more difficult ones are left to religious experts (monks, priests, etc.) who act as mediators to the deities. There is no conversion, no set dogma, and affective belief is not required. The Japanese religion can be distinguished from religions with exclusive or exclusive doctrine (such as some new religions in Japan or Christians ), which reject such practices.

Official religious statistics for Japan often appear strange at first glance, since almost all Japanese are listed as Shintoists and Buddhists at the same time. Anyone who uses the services of a Buddhist monk in Japan is statistically considered a Buddhist, whoever donates money to the local shrine is considered a Shintoist. Therefore, officially around 85% of the population are Buddhists and over 90% Shinto.

Shinto

Izumo-Taisha , founded before the 7th century
Shinto Festival in Hyogo

Shintō (dt. Way of the Kami ) - often also referred to as Shintoism - is the belief in the native gods of Japan, who can embody natural forces, but also deified ancestors. Shinto is a polytheistic religion without a founder and without fixed teachings and is therefore based on a different religious concept than the so-called monotheistic scriptural religions . Concepts of the afterlife and morals are also not clearly worked out and are strongly influenced by Buddhism or Chinese concepts. Basically, Shinto is a coexistence of local traditions with a common ritual core. However, many directions of Shinto refer to the myths of antiquity. The focus is on the sun goddess Amaterasu , from whom the family dynasty of the Japanese Tennō is derived. At times, especially from the Meiji period to the end of World War II , the Tennō was considered a visible deity.

Shinto is associated not only with the Tenno, but also with popular religious customs. In particular, the festivals of the shrine deities (Japanese matsuri ) usually take on the character of cheerful, exuberant folk festivals. Shinto is therefore often seen as the here and now counterpart to otherworldly Buddhism. In fact, Buddhism and Shinto became inseparable from the 6th century , and much of what is now considered Shinto was once brought to Japan from China or India with Buddhism .

Buddhism

Hōryū-ji , founded in the 7th century

Within the large Buddhist schools in Japan, especially the Mahayana - Buddhism is important. Its subgroups include Zen Buddhism , the schools of Nichiren Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism (Japanese Jōdo-shū or Jōdo-Shinshū ). These schools differ not only in their scriptures and religious practices, but also in their focus on different Buddhas . In Buddhism of the Pure Land, Amida (Skr. Amitabha ) is the focus. This direction is the most widespread in Japan today, but has followers in other Asian countries as well. Hardly any direction categorically excludes the other directions, and Shinto is also generally viewed as a supplement or local manifestation of one's own religion.

From the beginning, Buddhism was an important link between Japan and the originally superior cultures of China and Korea . Especially in ancient Japan, Buddhist monks functioned as teachers of Chinese culture. When the influence of the mainland in the Japanese Middle Ages (13th - 16th centuries) waned, it was mainly Zen Buddhism (Chinese Chan ), the Chinese knowledge, that kept alive. At the same time, it contributed significantly to the development of an aesthetic form that is still considered characteristic of Japan today. The tea ceremony and garden architecture are particularly noteworthy here. The alleged relationship between Zen and martial arts (e.g. archery), however, is often based on later historical constructions. There were martial traditions in all major currents of Japanese Buddhism, and many monasteries had their own armies.

In modern Japanese society, Buddhism plays an important role in the cult of the dead and ancestors. Most Japanese are buried according to the Buddhist rite (that is, cremated and buried in an urn). Many households have a Buddhist house altar that serves as ancestral memory. On the other hand, rites are also performed at the temples, which are supposed to serve the "benefit of this world" ( genze riyaku ).

In the course of social and demographic change, some, especially small temples, have faced loss of membership and financial difficulties. Individual monks are pursuing new strategies in order to regain social relevance. They become active, for example they help socially isolated people or set up suicide prevention groups. John K. Nelson calls this phenomenon "Experimental Buddhism".

Syncretism and Autonomy: Kami and Buddhas

The idea of ​​introducing a native, original, national religion in Japan, which arose in the course of the Meiji Restoration (1868), goes back to the school of 'National Studies' ( Kokugaku ) and led to the establishment of Shinto as an independent religion. Previously, there had been shrines independent of Buddhist institutions, but no overarching system. Until the Middle Ages, the word Shinto also contained political and religious components, but not the meaning of a religion that it has today.

The state enforced separation of kami and Buddhas ( shinbutsu bunri ) created a historically unprecedented split between Buddhism and Shinto. After that there were only (Buddhist) temples and Shinto shrines . Since then, only Shinto deities ( Kami ) have been worshiped in shrines .

Buddhism also changed during this time. The attempt to eradicate “foreign” influences under the slogan Haibutsu kishaku was ultimately unsuccessful. However, some monks and followers tried to transform Buddhism into New Buddhism ( Shin-Bukkyō ), that is, to a modern religion based on the Western model. Certain areas were made accessible to laypeople, social missions based on the Christian model emerged, and the search for a comprehensive, pure teaching intensified - also in Indian origins, etc. The current image of Zen Buddhism is a product of that time.

The differences in the teachings of the major schools ( Shingon , Tendai , Sōtō , etc.) were not felt in most of the temples. As a rule, they were restricted to large, administratively and politically active temples. In contrast, there are different Buddhist deities in every temple that can be worshiped. Therefore, go-riyaku offers all temples , benefits for this life and after death. Otherwise, Buddhism in Japan is very different locally.

If the Japanese profess one of the Buddhist schools, then in most cases it is probably more related to the Danka system than to a commitment to the teaching system of that school. In the Edo period , each family had to belong to a community temple ( Danka-Dera ). The burials, almost entirely in the hands of Buddhist temples, are usually still carried out in the families by the school of the community temple.

Practices

At certain times of the year and holidays (esp. Hatsu-mōde and O-bon ), at festivals ( matsuri ) and burials, for tourists or in the course of everyday life, the Japanese visit religious places such as temples and shrines. A variety of motives or beliefs exist, among the visitors are atheists as well as admirers of Kannon . The basic rituals are well known. This includes washing hands, making small sacrifices, bowing, clapping (in the Shinto shrine) and praying. Usually several deities "reside" in the respective shrine or temple areas.

Other common practices are, for example, the labeling of ema (small wooden plates on which wishes are written and hung on the temple / shrine), speaking mantras , and purchasing fortune tellers ( mikuji ), amulets ( omamori , yaku-yoke ) and lucky charms. A central repository for sutras , amulets , death tablets ( ihai ) etc. is the Buddhist house altar ( butsudan ), and there is occasionally a miniature Shinto shrine ( kamidana ) in the house.

The connection to go-riyaku , this and otherworldly benefits is already clear through the transactional character of a large part of the veneration. From general protection to healing, happy marriage, success at work to fancy offers like the blessing of cars, almost everything is on offer. The belief in effectiveness is again a matter for the individual. The religious specialists are intermediaries for the various deities. You are proficient in difficult rituals, recitations and texts. They gain further legitimation, for example, through membership of certain Buddhist lines of tradition or religious institutions, but also through special practices such as asceticism , zazen and the like. The go-riyaku system has always been supported by Buddhism; riyaku is actually a central term in the scriptures. We only find premodern criticism in Shinran and Dōgen . A premonition of the modern in itself, they found that the rituals were not carried out precisely enough and therefore seemed implausible. They called for more order and tougher rules

Christianity

Japanese votive altar, late 16th century

The Christianity plays only a minor role in Japan, since the idea of a single God Almighty is difficult to bring the traditional religious ideas in line. Currently, less than 1% of all Japanese are Christians (as of 2006), a similar proportion of the population as during the first Christian proselytizing in the 16th century. Christianity was banned in Japan between 1612 and 1873, and all sympathizers were subjected to the toughest persecution and repression. Nevertheless, individual Christian communities remained underground, which are summarized under the term Kakure Kirishitan or hanare kirishitan .

The Roman Catholic Church in Japan has about 509,000 members (as of 2005), and the Japanese Orthodox Church founded by Nikolai of Japan in the 19th century has about 30,000 members. Most of the evangelical churches in Japan were founded by American missionaries in the 19th or 20th centuries. Japanese Christians run a disproportionately high proportion of Japanese schools, universities and other educational institutions compared to their share of the population; however, no conversion is expected from the students.

While only a few hundred Japanese made their acquaintance with Jehovah's Witnesses in the 1930s and the religious community was even banned during the Second World War, it has seen a rapid increase to over 217,000 members since the 1950s (as of 2004).

New religions

Since the late Edo period (1603–1868), numerous new religious movements emerged in Japan, most of which contain a mixture of more traditional elements and are difficult to classify into one of the conventional categories. They are therefore collectively called New Religions (Japanese Shinshūkyō ) or, based on religious trends after the Second World War, New New Religions ( shinshin shūkyō ). The latter includes the Ōmu Shinrikyō , which gained notoriety in 1995 for its poison gas attack in the Tokyo subway. The new religions with a strong reference to Japanese traditions include Tenrikyō and Sōka Gakkai .

The New Religions have benefited from liberal legislation since World War II, which makes it very easy to found a religious community. This has led to enormous growth rates in the neo-religious field. As of December 31, 2006, 182,868 religious bodies ( 宗教 法人 , shūkyō hōjin ) were counted, i. H. Religious communities ( 宗教 団 体 , shūkyō dantai ), which had the status of a legal person under the Law on Religious Societies of 1951 . Of these, 182,468 are individual, independent temples, shrines, churches and other communities.

Islam

Tokyo Mosque & Turkish Cultural Center (inaugurated in 2000)

According to estimates, there are around 70,000 to 125,000 Muslims living in Japan today (as of 2007/2008) . The proportion of Muslims from abroad is said to be around 90 percent.

Judaism

The history of the Jews in Japan began in 1861 when the first Jewish families settled in Yokohama . Jews represent a small ethnic and religious minority in Japan, currently only consisting of about 2000 people, which is about 0.0016% of the total population of Japan. After the Second World War, only a small fraction of the Jews remained in Japan, especially those who married and assimilated local people . The Jewish Community Center of Japan, located in Tokyo, is home to the city's only synagogue. Several hundred Jewish families currently live in Tokyo. The only other organized Jewish community is in Kobe , which consists of about 35 Jewish families in Kobe and about 35 families in other parts of the Kansai region ( Kyōto and Osaka ). About 100 to 200 Jews are members of the United States Armed Forces stationed in Japan. They are looked after by two military rabbis. One rabbi is stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base outside Tokyo, the other in Okinawa . There are also a few people from abroad who work temporarily for Japanese companies or work in research institutions.

literature

  • Klaus Antoni , Hiroshi Kubota, Johann Nawrocki, Michael Wachutka (Eds.): Religion and National Identity in the Japanese Context. Lit-Verlag, Münster u. a., 2002. ISBN 3-8258-6043-4 .
  • Matthias Eder: History of the Japanese Religion. Volume 1: The old national religion. Asian Folklore Studies Monograph No 7, 1. Nagoya 1978. Digitized version ( Memento from December 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  • Matthias Eder: History of the Japanese Religion. Volume 2: Japan with and under Buddhism. Asian Folclore Studies Monograph No 7, 2. Nagoya 1978. Digitized version ( Memento from December 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  • Kodo Matsunami (Ed.): A guide to japanese buddhism. Japan Buddhist Federation, Tokyo 2004. Digitized version ( Memento from February 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  • Mark R. Mullins, Shimazono Susumu, Paul L. Swanson (Eds.): Religion and Society in Modern Japan: Selected Readings. Asian Humanities Press, Berkeley 1993, ISBN 0-89581-935-X ; ISBN 0-89581-936-8 .
  • Ian Reader: Religion in Contemporary Japan. 3. Edition. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 1991 (1st edition), 1994 (2nd edition), 1995 (3rd edition). ISBN 0-8248-1353-7 ; ISBN 0-8248-1354-5 .
  • George J. Tanabe, Jr. (Ed.): Religions of Japan in practice. Princeton Readings in Religions , Princeton University Press, Princeton 1999. ISBN 0-691-05788-5 ; ISBN 0-691-05789-3 .
  • Toshimaro Ama: Why Are Japanese Areligos? Iudicium, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-89129-899-4 .
  • Ursula Lytton: Death and Transformation - A Study of a Religio-Aesthetic Concept in Japan. In: Journal of the International Association of Japanese Studies, 6th Annual Convention. Yamagata University, Yamagata 1990.
  • Yoshiro Tamura: Japanese Buddhism - A Cultural History. Kosei Publishing, Tokyo 2005, ISBN 4-333-01684-3 .

Web links

Commons : Religion in Japan  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nelson, John K .: Experimental Buddhism. Innovation and Activism in Contemporary Japan. University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu 2013, ISBN 978-0-8248-3833-1 .
  2. ↑ This was one of the reasons for the Americans' difficulties in separating the Shinto into the new structures of State and Shrine Shinto after 1945 .
  3. ↑ For example, the participation of lay people in the meditation exercises ( zazen ) of the Zen temples, which were originally only held by monks
  4. ^ Catholic Hierarchy Directory
  5. ↑ Agency for Cultural Affairs: Religious Juridical Persons and Administration of Religious Affairs ( Memento from February 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file, 52 kB, English)
  6. ↑ Yasunori, Kawakami; Local Mosques and the Lives of Muslims in Japan , JapanFocus (May 30, 2007).
  7. ↑ International Religious Freedom Report 2008 - Japan
  8. ^ Jewish Community of Japan .
  9. ^ Jewish Community of Kansai .
  10. ^ Japan , Jewish virtual library. Retrieved May 14, 2017.