Japanese religions

Doorways of a Confucian temple, Japan. Confucian philosophy was introduced from China in the 5th century. Part of its doctrine advocates ancestor worship, a practice also included in the Shinto religion indigenous to Japan.

A Shinto priest. The ancient Japanese Shinto religion combines ancestor worship with animism, the belief that all natural objects possess a soul or spirit.

A Zen Buddhist monk, in traditional robes and straw hat, entering the Asakusa (or Sensoji) Temple in Tokyo, Japan. At the main gate is a 4 m/13 ft tall paper lantern dedicated to the god of thunder.

Japan is dominated by two religions: Shinto and various forms of Japanese Buddhism. Most Japanese, while saying they are not religious, will practise elements of both religions at appropriate times during the year and during central moments of their life. For example, birth is seen as the province of Shinto whereas most funerals are Buddhist.

Buddhism first arrived in Japan in the mid-6th century when a buddha statue was sent over together with a message from a Korean king recommending Buddhism to the Japanese emperor. The prince regent Shōtoku Taishi (573¯621) proclaimed it the state religion 594. However, the descent of the imperial family from the Shinto sun goddess was also official from the 7th century (until 1945), and the ceremonies carried out by a new emperor on accession are Shinto. The first Chinese monk to spread Buddhism in Japan was Ganjin (688¯763), who founded the Ritsu school 759. This emphasized form rather than content, but was soon followed by the Shingon and Tendai schools. Shingon is a Tantric, esoteric Buddhism (understood only by the initiated). In Tendai, the emphasis on the Buddha nature inherent within each person led to belief in the salvationary powers of Amida Buddha. During the Heian period (794-1185), Japanese Buddhism and Shinto accommodated themselves into a syncretic whole. It was decided that all Shinto kami (gods, spirits, or forces) were manifestations of buddhas or bodhisattvas. Under the influence of Buddhism, visual representations of some Shinto kami were made for the first time, and even erected in Buddhist temples. Shinto and Buddhist ascetic practices could also be combined; for example, by the Shugendō school of mountain priests. Although in the 17th century a movement began to separate Shinto from Buddhism - culminating in the official State Shinto 1870-1945, which did not tolerate Buddhist overlap - the two religions still coexist comfortably as a system of interlinked traditions and rituals of Japanese life. Zen Buddhism, introduced in the late 12th century, greatly influenced Japanese aesthetics and attitudes. The tea ceremony, for example, has a Zen basis. Confucianism reached Japan in the 5th century and underpinned the system of government and bureaucracy introduced in the following centuries. Ideologically it was most important during the Tokugawa shogunate 1603-1867 and was variously seen as reinforcing Zen and Shinto beliefs as well as the warrior code of bushido. Christianity was propagated by Jesuits in the 16th century. Although initially fashionable, it soon became a political issue and was officially suppressed from 1587 and proscribed 1638-1889. Less than 1% of Japanese are now Christian. The seven gods of good luck, often depicted as a group, are drawn from Indian, Chinese, and Japanese sources. In addition, the kami Inari, represented by a fox messenger, is particularly associated with commercial success. There is also a rich folk mythology. Many new religions have been founded in the 19th and 20th centuries; some became Shinto sects, others are Buddhist offshoots, and yet others are independent. For example, Tenrikyō, founded 1838, with shamanistic and feminist elements, had 2.3 million adherents 1992. Spreading from 1955, Perfect Liberty Kyōdan encourages the practice of the arts under the slogan ‘Religion is art’. Faith healing is also popular.