The Religions of Japan: Past Tradition and Present Tendencies

by IICHI OGUCHI

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THERE are so many faiths in Japan that it has been aptly called a museum of religions. The main divisions — Shinto, Buddhism, and Christianity — have many subdivisions, and there are also syncretistic sects which combine elements of several religions, including Confucianism and Taoism. And, to top it all, many Japanese believe in several faiths at once. This does not indicate confusion or inner conflict. For Oriental religions are, as a rule, not mutually exclusive, as are Christianity and Mohammedanism; the average Japanese is a polytheist, or more exactly, a henotheist. He usually gives first allegiance to the local Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine, but he is aware of the protective power of other divine beings. Furthermore, it is the religion of the family rather than the personal creed which is considered primary in community life.

Thus, a newborn baby is usually taken to a Shinto shrine for a simple religious service, but should it die, the funeral would probably be Buddhist. In the majority of homes, a Buddhist altar and the Kami-dana (sacred shelf) of Shinto, may be found side by side. And on that shelf, initially dedicated to the tutelary deity, there may be a charm of Ise to honor the divine ancestor of the Imperial Family. A child entering school is taken to the local Shinto shrine dedicated to a famous scholar. When a couple is to be married, a priest, is called from another shrine regarded as especially propitious for successful marriage. When sickness develops, the average Japanese, although he calls a local doctor, will not fail to visit a nearby Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine noted for its efficacious charms, and on the way, visit a private priest who specializes in exorcism and healing by magical rites. On anniversaries of the deaths of relatives, he will set up a photograph surrounded by flowers, food offerings, and an incense pot, before which the family gathers while a Buddhist priest repeats passages from a sacred text. Funerals are held at the temples and a fee is paid to the temple for prayer and scripture-reading for the repose of the dead. These mixtures represent a differentiation of functions, not contradictions, and shrines and temples have almost always existed peacefully side by side.

The overlapping of religions is reflected in religious statistics. Here are the 1953 figures of the Ministry of Education: Shinto, 70,044,623; Buddhism, 43,637,000; Christianity, 415,081; others, 2,945,909; a total of over 117 million — 20 million more than Japan’s total population! But this discrepancy is due not only to dual adherence and exaggerated claims; more important is the fact that there is no individual membership system for Buddhism or Shinto. Buddhist totals usually represent the number of households whose ancestral graves or tablets are in a temple’s custody, multiplied by five. Shinto shrines generally base their reports on such factors as the number of charms and amulets sold. Neither represents anything approximating the Occidental notion of a religious congregation.

It is clear then that the religions of Japan are, both theologically and institutionally, quite different from those of the Western world. Let us examine the principal faiths.

Shinto is the indigenous or ethnic religion of Japan. It has no definite founder or fixed doctrines. Various elements, native and foreign, have entered into its composition; but since scientific research on Shinto was, till recently, frowned upon and even punished, there is little certainty about its original form. It has always been closely connected with the Imperial Court on the one hand and with the folkways of every hamlet on the other.

In 1882, early in the Meiji Period, Shinto was arbitrarily divided by law into two categories: Shrine Shinto and Sect (or “Religious”) Shinto, a schism more political than religious. The thirteen sects of Sect Shinto had little in common beyond legal recognition as independent religious organizations. Tenrikyo, last organized and currently strongest of the thirteen, holds itself aloof from other Shinto circles and seeks to be regarded as a separate religion. Shrine Shinto designates the cult of some 100,000 shrines reorganized after the Meiji Restoration and placed under Home Ministry administration in 1871. Its function was to enhance the glory of the state and foster worship of the Emperor; hence it was known in the Occident as “State Shinto.”

Shinto shrines originated in spots where, in ancient times, Kami, or spirits, had demonstrated their supernatural character. On sites usually chosen by soothsayers, they were at first distinguished only by a stone or a tree. Later, sacred structures were erected in these divine precincts. The Kami were spirits of many kinds — ancestors (real or mythological) emperors of the past, cultural and national heroes, including soldiers killed in battle. Hence the connotation of the word Kami plainly differs greatly from the God-the-Creator concept of the English word “god" by which Kami is customarily translated.

Functionally, shrines are places where peasants seek divine help for bountiful crops, tradesmen pray for thriving business, and the family invokes blessings on the successive experiences of life from birth through old age. Worship of the spirits of nature develops particularly in farm communities where a close relationship is felt between man and the land. On mountains, shrines are dedicated to mythological deities believed to dwell in that mountain, or to the mountain itself conceived as a divine being. Since ancient times many who climb Mount Fuji do so as a religious observance and worship at its peak, even though the mountain itself may not always be believed to be divine.

But the most influential element in Shinto worship, since the days when the early Japanese ceased to be nomadic, has been ancestor worship. Thus was evolved the concept of the Uji-Kami, a clan Kami, perhaps the founder of a village, from whom kinship was derived and in whom territorial unity was centered. Technically, those residents who are not real descendants of the mythological ancestor protecting their present habitats, should not be called Uji-Ko, “clan children,” or expected to worship at the local shrine. But, in practice, there is a sense of regional unity, and the shrines treat all residents as if they were Uji-Ko and encourage their worship.

Besides shrines of primarily local significance, there are others, without Uji-Ko, which have Sakei-sha, or followers, all over the country. Such are the Sengen shrines dedicated to Mount Fuji, the Great Shrine of Izumo, worshiped as a deity of fertility and agriculture, and the Great Shrine of Inari, at first an agricultural deity. Most famous of all is the Great Shrine of Ise, sacred to the ancestors of the Imperial Family.

Shinto has nothing equivalent to the Christian Bible. Some ancient classics such as the Kojiki and Nikonshoki are regarded as more or less authoritative, but not as holy writ.

With the disestablishment of Shrine Shinto as a state cult in December, 1945 — one of the social reforms of the Allied Occupation — there was a serious new attempt to develop basic doctrines and ethical systems around the Shrine faith. There had been similar attempts in the Edo Period, but later the Meiji Government, in using the Shrine System as a cult of national loyalty, prohibited all teaching of doctrine, preaching, or even ethical instruction. Now Shrine Shinto is beginning the metamorphosis from a state cult of patriotism to a fully developed religion. After 1945, most of the shrines incorporated as religious bodies and some 86,000 of them formed an association. Besides the Shrine Association Headquarters (Jinja Honcho) in Tokyo, there are associations (Jinja Cho) at the prefectural and sometimes local level. Under their leadership, an effort is being made to develop doctrines and ethics, through a priesthood trained to preach to and teach parishioners. The shrine priests are also taking increasing interest in the social life of the people. Organizations for children, youths, and adults, nursery schools, kindergartens, playgrounds, and other social-welfare activities are being promoted. It is too early to judge how effective this new extension will be.

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CONFUCIANISM is primarily an ethical system based on the teachings of the Chinese sage, Confucius, who lived in the sixth century B.C. Unlike the Chinese Taoists, who were concerned with nature and its laws, Confucius was a humanist and at the same time a devout observer of the ancestral faith. Confucian morality extols the “five relations ”: affection between father and son; respect and loyalty between lord and servant; harmony between husband and wife; precedence between elder and younger brother; fidelity between friends.

In the Edo Period, Confucianism was dominant and there were many institutions for the study of the classics and the wisdom of the sages. Outside these centers of learning, however, the cult as such never gained wide observance. It has gradually disappeared, until today the Yushima Seido in Tokyo is the only surviving Confucian temple in Japan. But the fundamental Confucian ethics have had a widespread and continuing influence, particularly in respect to family relations.

Taoism, which came to Japan from China at about the same time as Confucianism, has also had great influence. Like Confucianism, Taoism was not institutionalized in Japan, but many of its ideas and techniques penetrated the country and became a part of folk religion. Taoism, as used here, includes the dualism of Yang and Yin, the ancient popular folk faith of the Chinese people, and also the more specific religious system based on a belief in the orderliness and harmony of the Way (Tao) of Nature.

The practice of magic is still prevalent, both in most Buddhist sects and at Shinto shrines. The charms for sale are regarded as having efficacy in the fields of medicine, accident prevention, safechildbirth, and business prosperity. Numbered sticks, costing ten yen, are pulled out of boxes, and reveal printed fortunes; almanacs list lucky and unlucky days. Possession by evil spirits (foxes, for example) is still feared in many parts of Japan, and magical rites are used to exorcise spirits.

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BUDDHISM is the religion founded in India in the sixth century B.C. by Siddartha Gautama, called the Buddha, or Enlightened One. He was primarily a moral teacher who appealed “to reason and to recognized human values” and urged his followers to cultivate “those tendencies and acts which produce and preserve the true values of life, and destroy life’s evils.” His followers, however, have created elaborate religious systems which seem far removed from their mendicant Master. Buddhism has all but disappeared in India, and for centuries has languished in China. But it is the faith of Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, and one of the dominant faiths of Japan. The sacred scriptures of Buddhism are too numerous to mention, but the Lotus Sutra is probably the most influential.

Japanese Buddhism appears to give little importance to the historical Buddha, Gautama. The emphasis is on other Buddhas and Buddhas-to-be¹: Amida, Lord of the Pure Land; Kannon, the Merciful; Dainichi, the Cosmic Buddha; Yukushi, the Healing Buddha; and Jizo, the Protector of Travelers and Children.

Buddhism in Japan today has five major divisions: Tendai and Shingon, which came from China early in the ninth century; Zen, which took root at the end of the twelfth century; and three schools originating in Japan — Jodo (Pure Land), Jodo Shin (True Pure Land), and Nichiren.

Of these the sect which is of most interest to the West is Zen. Though all Buddhist sects praise meditation, the intuitive Zen sects alone make it the sole way to salvation through enlightenment. Simple living and strict self-discipline are prerequisites for the inner vision. The use of scriptures, symbols, and rites, as well as training in prescribed practices, are permissible and even often necessary; but they are never substitutes for meditation. Two common methods of Zen training are the use of enigmatic questions to test the novice’s spiritual development, and brute force to startle him into a new comprehension of his problem.

Knowledge of the full texts of Buddhism is still largely limited to the priesthood. The more important ones have been translated into Japanese and there are numerous small “shorter” Sutras in a form handy for the layman. Perhaps the fact that Buddha preached for nearly fifty years and Jesus only three, partially explains why Buddhist scriptures are so bulky, in contrast to the Bible.

Prayer as communion with the deity is not characteristic of Japanese Buddhism. In the Pure Land sects, for example, prayer consists solely of praise and thanksgiving to Amida. The most common form of prayer is the repetition of sacred texts in temples by priests on behalf of the bereaved for the repose of the souls of beloved ones.

Buddhism in postwar Japan has had to face unprecedented difficulties, attributable to long years of government regimentation, the country’s economic exhaustion, Occupation-sponsored reforms such as religious freedom, land reform, and social and spiritual unrest attendant upon defeat. Overburdened already by devastation of their temples, death or dispersion of their followers, and depreciation of their financial assets, Buddhist leaders were dismayed by what seemed an attempt to undermine and perhaps destroy Buddhism itself. For example, religious freedom made secession possible, so that hundreds of temples, previously held together by government pressure, became independent.

Furthermore, separation of church and state deprived many temples of their principal source of income: tenant farms and custodial forest lands. The resultant confusion and loss of prestige were baffling. In addition, the Japanese feared (mistakenly, as it turned out) an Occupation-sponsored expansion of Christianity; and they were deeply troubled — with good reason — by the mushrooming of many aggressive religious movements, including Tenrikyo. This last is a faith-healing sect founded in the mid-nineteenth century by Miki Nakayama, a well-to-do farm woman who through revelation in middle life became convinced that she was the living shrine of Tenri-o-no-mikoto, the Parent God. A number of the several hundred new sects which have burgeoned recently existed within the system of established religions before the war, protected by more classic sects. With the end of the war they emerged rapidly and have flourished because of their unique appeal in guaranteeing prosperity and health and because people have grown indifferent to the older sects.

Modernity, natural disaster, war, and hard times have so seriously affected many Buddhist sects that they can no longer maintain their former elaborate establishments, with hundreds, and even thousands, of buildings in one center. But the monasteries still continue to train their monks and carry on educational and eleemosynary work. And most of the major sects have flourishing universities in Tokyo or Kyoto. Pilgrims throng the temples in the festival seasons, but are not ordinarily seen in large numbers in city streets. Mendicant monks or priests are also inconspicuous as they go about their routine duties; the garb is not striking, and many of them wear the clothes of ordinary laymen.

On the surface, local Buddhist temples appear to have recovered much of their prewar strength, but the lack of a positive program to hold the younger generation is causing the leaders concern. Some temples have established nursery schools, kindergartens, and various vocational and cultural activities, many of which are income-producing. Flower-arrangement and Tea Ceremony classes are not uncommon, especially in Zen temples. There is more preaching than heretofore, and printed propaganda is constantly appearing. Mostly, however, Buddhist priests must continue to depend on funerals and memorial services for their income. These are not always sufficient to support the temples and the priests, so many have had to engage in other work besides.

The Buddhist Federation, composed of representatives of most of the sects, molds thought and develops co-operative action among Buddhist leaders on matters of common interest. Notably it has helped promote the World Fellowship of Buddhists which held its first conference in Ceylon (1950), its second in Tokyo (1952), and its third in Rangoon (1954). Foreign Buddhist leaders have been frequently entertained here and a number of Japanese Buddhists have visited Southeast Asia and India for study and fellowship. In recent months this Federation has been absorbed into a Buddhist Association which has a wider range of membership; and under this new organization Buddhism promises to play an important role in the reconciliation and cementing of ties among many countries of Asia.

Christianity first reached Japan with the Portuguese “discovery” in 1542—43. It was well received for commercial reasons, and began really to penetrate with the arrival of St. Francis Xavier in 1549. After tumultuous years of alternating favor and persecution it was definitively suppressed in 1637 and did not return until after the reopening of Japan by Commodore Perry in 1853. Today, Christianity is represented in Japan by the Catholic Church (with 171,785 estimated followers), the United Church of Christ (167,407), the Episcopal Church (32,000), the Orthodox Church (32,889), and smaller Protestant denominations too numerous to mention. Practically all have from one to several hundred foreign missionaries associated in their work. A National Christian Council, acting as co-ordinating agency, represents four Protestant denominations and several related agencies comprising about eighty per cent of the total number of Protestants. An aggressive program of evangelism has been undertaken in the postwar period, but the total Christian membership is still less than one half of one per cent of the population. Their most noteworthy addition to the country’s institutional life has been the International Christian University.

The nearest thing to a universal element in all Japanese religions is that deep-seated regard for ancestors commonly called ancestor worship, which transcends sectarian lines. In other than Christian circles, the dead are normally referred to as Kami or Hotoke, Shinto and Buddhist terms respectively which are used also to designate divine beings. According to traditional belief’s, the spirits of the departed can be called back to this world — usually by shamanistic rites similar to those widespread throughout Asia.

In modern Japan, services for the dead may vary in form from ordinary commemoration to naïve worship, thanksgiving for their lives and virtues, prayers for their repose and protection, and incantations for their appeasement. Memorial tablets to the dead are customarily set on a family altar, food is offered for their delectation, and their graves are visited at least once annually. The midsummer Obon, or Feast of Lanterns, and the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, are the principal occasions for commemoration. Regardless of faith, social status, occupation, or geographical location, the sense of close relationship between the living and the dead is the outstanding characteristic of the Japanese religious consciousness.

Although interfaith activity is still very limited, it is greater than in prewar years. Just as America has been the melting pot of a complex of all races, creeds, and nations, so, we may hope, Japan will continue to be a testing ground for religious cooperation. For is there any nation where so many faiths meet and work together for the common good?

Translated by Shoko Watanake