Belief, Behavior or Both (Part 2 of 3)

by past Project Interfaith intern, Josh Campbell.

In 2000, it was claimed that Japan had 108 million followers of Shinto and 95.4 million Buddhists, which was pretty impressive for a country that, at the time, only had a population of 127 million (Hendry, 2003). This means that either 160% of Japanese people are religious or that the majority of Japanese people identify as both. To understand what is going on here, we have to think not in terms of religious belief, but of religious practice or behavior.

Japan’s religious history helps illuminate this phenomenon somewhat. Originally the main Japanese island was home to an indigenous religion that bears similarities to traditions found in East Asia, as well as the Polynesian islands. These traditions involved the worship of the kami, which can be translated as God, gods, spirits, or sacred entity. The “way” of the kami would later be systemized as Shinto (literally “the way of the kami”) in the 19th century. During the sixth century CE, Buddhism would be introduced from China via Korea at the behest of the Emperor of Japan (an institution which drew its ultimate authority from Shinto mythology and religious rituals). Eventually Buddhist monks would also bring Taoist and Confucian thought into Japan.

By the Tokugawa Shogunate (a.k.a the Edo Period [1603-1868]), Buddhism was a key part of the government’s bureaucracy, as all households had to register with a local Buddhist temple, and Buddhist priests ran many of the schools in Japan. Shinto shrines permeated every Japanese community, with every village organizing community activities and events around the local shrine. This period witnessed a great deal of syncretism (the integration of different religions), with Buddhist Bodhisattvas being worshiped as Shinto kami and Confucian thought and practice being incorporated into Buddhism (which is ironic considering how these represented to rival factions in China that had incited violence against each other throughout history).

While the government would systemize and attempt to separate Shinto from other traditions into an institution known as State Shinto during the modern era, this syncretic culture never really disappeared. It can still be seen today almost anywhere you go in Japan. It may be something as small as finding good luck charms (originally a Shinto tradition) at a Buddhist temple or witnessing an eight-spoked wheel (a Buddhist symbol) on an offering box at a Shinto Shrine. It can also be found at a theological level, with Buddhist deities enshrined at a Shinto Shrine as kami. And one sees it in almost every household, with its members participating in local festivals and religious activities at their neighborhood Shinto shrine and paying tribute to their ancestors and deceased relatives at their butsudan (a familial Buddhist altar usually located at the house of the eldest sibling).

This syncretic religious behavior led a friend of mine to once say, “Japanese religion is being Japanese.” And, in a sense, he is right. Over the centuries, Japan has developed its own integrated form of religion and spirituality that incorporates several different religious institutions, practices, and worldviews. This is, in part, because Japanese religion is more a question of personal behavior than of organizational affiliation.

Just what are these personal behaviors? We'll get to that next time......

Josh Campbell was the Development and Resources Intern for Project Interfaith. Upon completing his time at Project Interfaith he moved on to the Peace Corps. He is currently stationed in Morocco where he is working as a Youth Development Volunteer.

Belief, Behavior or Both (Part 1 of 3)

by past Project Interfaith intern, Josh Campbell

Back in the fall of 2008, I left on my first international adventure – a year of study in Shizuoka, Japan. I had already spent two years preparing through the academic study of the Japanese language and its culture, as well as through personal interaction and discussion with Japanese international students. By the time I came back in 2009, I had experienced and learned so much and, in many ways, had become Japanese myself.

I now found myself in a position where I was often asked to represent the community and culture I had called home for the last year, whether it was at official functions and events or just in casual conversation. I quickly found though that trying to sum up a people, their lifestyle, their worldview, and their identity was nearly impossible. So much to be lost in translation, so much that couldn’t be easily explained without direct exposure. Still, what was the point of going over there and having all of these experiences if I didn’t at least try to help impart a better understanding of the people and the culture.

This was no more the case than in trying to describe and explain Japanese religious behavior to curious Americans. The first thing people ask me about Japanese religion is also probably the worst, and possibly the most misleading, question to ask, “What do they believe?” In the US and other countries with European cultural heritage, the question of religious identity has been usually a choice between the various Abrahamic religions, which are at least partially, if not mostly, defined by orthodoxy, or correct belief. One identifies as a Christian by a belief in God and salvation through Jesus Christ. One identifies as a Muslim by believing in God and that Muhammed (PBUH) is his messenger. Jewish traditions often require the belief in the covenant with G-d.

If one steps off a plane in Japan and asks the first person they see, “What do you believe?” besides the person being confused by your abrupt interrogation, they may very well say they don’t believe in any religion (or that they don’t believe in God). This same person is likely to have been blessed by a Shinto priest when they were born, taught Confucian family values growing up, married in a Christian church, and to plan on being buried in a Buddhist cemetery. This same person’s religious identity is likely to have remained unchanged throughout their lifetime. I can’t imagine the grief it would cause a census-taker when an individual checked off the boxes for Atheist, Buddhist, Confucianist, and Shintoist all on the same sheet.

This has actually happened. In 2000, it was claimed that Japan had 108 million followers of Shinto and 95.4 million Buddhists, which was pretty impressive for a country that, at the time, only had a population of 127 million (Hendry, 2003). This means that either 160% of Japanese people are religious or that the majority of Japanese people identify as both. To understand what is going on here, we have to think not in terms of religious belief, but of religious practice or behavior.

But more on that next time.....

Josh Campbell was the Development and Resources Intern for Project Interfaith. Upon completing his time at Project Interfaith he moved on to the Peace Corps. He is currently stationed in Morocco where he is working as a Youth Development Volunteer.