- 0. To start this collumn
- 1. The religion of Japan
- 2. A hint to think about the Japanese Shintoism and Buddism
- 3. References
0. To start this collumn
It struck my mind suddenly that I as an ordinary Japanese guy should write about the Japanese history in terms of japanese in English.
The reason I thought like this is caused by the following youtube.
I was truly shocked at and disappointed with this youtube that the author superficially understood the Japanese culture but substantially never.
Moreover, I was even shocked that some Japanese totally agreed to the details of the program in the comments.
I will upload articles regarding the Japan's history from a fair standpoint as much as possible.
This memorial first article is about the "religion" of Japan.
But of course, as the theme is quite huge, the reference is fairly brief.
1. The religion of Japan
It is said that the religion of Japan can be divided into 2 factions, the Shintoism (神道) and the Buddhism (仏教).
The Shintoism is an animism, and needless to say what the Buddhism is.
But the above explanation is, to some extent correct, but totally wrong.
Firstly, the wording of "divided" is wrong.
The Shintoism and the Budhism have been, through the not short history of Japan, not in a relation of competitors.
They have been connected with each other tightly, and developed unique philosophies.
Secondly, the main religious ideas were not limited to those two streams.
There have been an Idea bridging those two -- Mikkyou (密教).
This is a kind of mysticism of the Buddhism.
The philosphic system is based on the Buddhism, but the serendipity is obtained from the sense of the Shintoism.
Tercially (I don't say "thirdly"), basically, the idea of the "religion" is not perfectly applicable to explain the substances of Shintoism and Buddhism.
The "religion" is from "religionum" in Latin, which has been used by people who have monotheism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism.
It is true that the polytheism of Rome/Hellenia is also referred to as the "religion".
And it seems that the Shintoism has similar points with the polytheism.
But, the idea of religion is just one of the potential multiple ways to divide and explain a society.
Especially, the Buddhism has an aspect of religion as well as philosophy, even as well as schience, linguistics, etc.
In other words, the Buddhism (and Shintoism also, as it is tighly connected with the Buddhism in Japan) can and must never simply categorized as one of the religions of the world.
2. A hint to think about the Japanese Shintoism and Buddism
Before the modernization of Japan in the middle of 19th century, the Edo Bakufu (江戸幕府) government (the government of the Shoguns/tycoons of Japan) treated the the Buddhism, Shintoism, and Mikkyou equally as the social infrastructure to some extent.
But through the violent revolution by the lords of Satsuma (薩摩) and Choushu (長州) against the Edo Bakufu, they did propaganda of nationalism which was based on arrogant fictions grown through the 250 years of isolattion (Sakoku, 鎖国).
That was expressed as Haibutsu Kishaku (廃仏毀釈).
This is vandalism against the Buddhism and Mikkyou by silly riots.
The revolutionists believed the Emperor of Japan must be the center of Japan and he is the representative of Shinto Gods.
It is true, but they ignored the fact that no one but the emperors leaded the Buddhism to spread in Japan 1000 years ago.
Then, after the modernization of Japan in Meiji era, the Shintoism was treated as the previlledged "Religion" of Japan, just like the Christianity in European countries.
The revolutionists believed that the Shintoism must correspond to the Christianity, and the Emperros to the Pope.
They didn't understand that religion is the idea to explain the society of western countries, and substantially that position can not substituted by Japanese original animisn nor the Buddhism.
3. References
Todays study is over.
The following are the referennces to understand easily and deeply about what I say in this article.
These are all written in Japanese though, I hope you have a chance to read them someday.
To know the change of Buddism philosophy from the original in India by way of China to Japan, the following is good.
To understand the Haibutsu Kishaku vandalism during the period of revolution, the following is concise.
