ipl-logo

Interpreting Religion In Japan's Rich History And Culture

1741 Words7 Pages

Japan is a country filled with rich history and culture, and it has a completely different sense of history than any other country that we have seen so far. Archaeologists where surprised to find out that the world’s first property was in Japan dating 10,000 B.C.E which is before other cultures developed their ceramic traditions. Japan was known for following Chinese traditions, which is why that discovery was hard to believe. For a big time of Japan’s history, it was called as Nippon or Nihon (日本), which is the origin of the name Japan. Moreover, Japan’s culture mostly revolves around religion and most of their traditions involve religious rituals. Therefore, this paper will be covering religion in Japan. Buddhism is the most common religion …show more content…

Shinto started from the 8th century and it is a very unique religion, because it does not have a founder, or specific rules. Shinto is simply very traditional with the Japanese people. It includes the worship of nature (rain, wind, lightening, fertility…etc) which they believe that Shinto gods, that are called Kami, take these forms. However, the sun goddess is seen as the most important god in Shintoism. Shintoism is considered a very optimistic religion, because there is no believe in absolute right and wrong, and they believe that no human is perfect. They believe that evil is caused by evil spirits and they do rituals to keep evil spirits away any purify themselves. Moreover, Shinto priests are the ones that perform the rituals in Shinto shrines, and they live in the shrines. A priest could be a man or a woman, and they are allowed to marry and reproduce unlike Christian priests …show more content…

Most misconceptions are that samurais are basically swordsmen but they were well equipped with spears and bows and arrow; although, their main weapon is the sword which was also their symbol as a samurai. The samurai were brought up to be loyal warriors by Confucian ethics where they would live their lives by the ethic code of bushido. ‘Bushi’ translates to ‘swordsman’ and ‘do’, meaning ‘the way of’. Other than Confucianism, they also took practices and teachings of Zen Buddhism to better their flow of chakra or life-flow during battle. Samurais were probably the most loyal warriors in military history; giving their life to their bushido, they would more than eagerly give their life for their master, have respect for common people. They would not rob anyone postwar even if they were starving to death but would rather work for food

Show More
Related

  • Mongol And Samurai Dbq

    1102 Words  | 5 Pages

    Japanese in a country in North-east Asian, and it stretches for 1200 miles crescent in the Pacific Ocean. Japan is rich with volcanoes and hot springs, and it is also deal with earthquakes and tidal waves. However, today, Japan has high economic growth, and became a world economic powerhouse. In history, Japan was known when it had miracle victories in invasion of Mongol and samurai that is warrior of Japan.

    Read More

  • Christianity In Flyboys

    289 Words  | 2 Pages

    During World War II the Japanese had a very strong opinion about themselves. The Japanese were the absolute power holders, they decide everything. The thoughts of the Japanese being the creators, rulers of the universe, the source of all moral authority, and the supreme beings filled their minds. In the non-fiction book Flyboys written by James Bradley highlights the idea of the Japanese being the gods of the universe. During the World War II Christianity and the Japanese were compared.

    Read More

  • Japanese Propaganda Used In War Without Mercy

    775 Words  | 4 Pages

    Like the Americans, the Japanese felt that they were a superior race. “Japan is the divine country. The heavenly ancestor it was who first laid its foundations, and the Sun Goddess left her descendants to reign over it forever and ever. This is true only of our country, and nothing similar may be found in foreign lands. That is why it is called the divine country.

    Read More

  • The Idea Of Exceptionalism In The 1800's

    639 Words  | 3 Pages

    The feeling of being with the gods gave the Japanese a large ego, which leads them to do unnecessary things to their

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Shinto And Buddhism

    299 Words  | 2 Pages

    Two major religions make up Japan, Shinto and Buddhism. The Shinto religion arose first, whereas Buddhism was a result of radiating popular culture in the mainland around 600 CE. The two religions had a rough as the most powerful rival clans fought wars amongst each other defending their religious positions. When the Fujiwara clan accepted Buddhism, it proved that the Shinto and Buddhists had started influencing each other. The government capital was moved to Kyoto in 794 in order to distance the court from religious influence.

    Read More

  • Cultural Differences Between Samurai And Ninjas

    163 Words  | 1 Pages

    Samurai and ninjas have long been a part of what has made Japanese culture unique. These two warriors that lived during ancient Japan may seem like the same thing to most people, but in reality there are a number of differences between them such as: origin, clothing, weapons, jobs, beliefs etc. A major difference between the samurai and the ninja is their origin and who they represent. The samurai were warriors that belonged to the noble classes of ancient Japanese society.

    Read More

  • Shinto Beliefs

    1287 Words  | 6 Pages

    Buddhism had already become a big organized religion with many different manuscripts and sects before even making it to Japan. Despite the fact that Buddhism was much more organized than Shinto, Shinto with all of its deep entanglement with ancient japanese life, was still able to remain an important religion in Japan. In fact the new threat of Buddhism actually helped Shinto to become more organized and gain a better footing as a real religion, and not just a loosely defined collection of traditions and practices. Shinto and Buddhism had a little conflict during their initial contact with each other, but it never ended up getting as dramatic and as bloody as many western religions did as they fought for power over one another throughout history. Thankfully Shinto and Buddhism found ways to be relatively peaceful with one another as each religion grew and developed throughout Japanese history, instead of fighting each other every step of the

    Read More

  • Summary: The Rape Of Nank

    1581 Words  | 7 Pages

    The learnings of Bushido focused mainly on the combination of frugality, loyalty, martial arts & honour till death. These teaching were heavily implemented during a soldier’s training in the Imperial Japanese Army. While thr teachings of Shinto encouraged total emperor worship, racism & military aggression. “various games and exercises were set up by the Japanese military to numb its men to the human instinct against killing people who are not attacking.” During the Sino - Japanese war, soldiers were expected to perform brutalities in order to keep their (people above) happy.

    Read More

  • What Were The Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Tokugawa Dynasty

    790 Words  | 4 Pages

    “To guard against external influence, they also worked to close off Japanese society from Westernizing influences, particularly Christianity. When the Tokugawa shogunate grew increasingly weak by the mid-19th century, two powerful clans joined forces in early 1868 to seize power as part of an “imperial restoration” named for Emperor Meiji.” This restoration was the beginning of the end of feudalism, or the way of structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour, in Japan. The Tokugawa regime acted to exclude missionaries because of suspicion of foreign intervention and colonialism. Eventually, they issued a complete ban on Christianity in Japan.

    Read More

  • The Samurai's Influence On Japanese Culture

    995 Words  | 4 Pages

    Today we can still see the values of Bushido in some parts of modern Japan. The Japanese have the tons of respect and loyalty to their country and families. They would do nothing to shame or dishonor them. In World War 2 kamikaze suicide pilots look to the samurai and Bushido as inspiration. Today the two largest religions in Japan are Buddhism and Shintoism, and both influenced Bushido dramatically.

    Read More

  • How Did The Samurai's Impact On Japanese Culture

    532 Words  | 3 Pages

    Samurai were warrior class who lived by an unwritten code called “Bushido.” They fought for the large landowners called Daimyo, they worked for the Daimyo’s protection and against other powerful landowners. The Samurai was taught the values and traditions, and had to be educated in literature and writing. Therefor samurai were also trained in meditation and fighting techniques such as archery, swordsmanship, and martial arts.

    Read More

  • The Secularization Of Japanese Buddhism In Honganji

    623 Words  | 3 Pages

    These observations lead me to ask the question that, in what extent did Rennyo, the eighth abbot of the Honganji, support the secularization of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism sect. This question has several plausible answers. For example, Sugiyama claims that it was because of Rennyo’s efforts “that the Honganji was to become the dominant branch of Jodo Shinshu as well as the force to be reckoned with by the warlords” (Sugiyama 60). However, there are also others argue that Rennyo tried to restrain his followers from involving into political affairs base on the evidence that he “reprimands to the temples that had mobilized members for battle” (Sugiyama 62). However, his efforts on restraining his following temples from warfare should be considered with the demand of expelling Shinshu participants of Kaga from Ashikaga Yoshihisa, the 9th shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate, and understood as a political action to avoid too many enemies.

    Read More

  • What Are Sacred Places

    1014 Words  | 5 Pages

    Even though one religion is Shinto while the other is Islam, both places provides a safe location where the two can be practiced without any disturbance. Another similarity both possesses is that just by looking at the structure, we can differentiate what kind of religion is being practiced at said places. The Shinto shrine has that triangular roof with raised verandas all around the building. That particular form of building lets us know that this structure is from Japan, and their main religion is Shinto. For the Mosque, one or more dome shaped structure on a large building is mainly for Islamic place of worship.

    Read More

  • Christianity Vs Shintoism

    1289 Words  | 6 Pages

    Shintoism: Shintoism is having been around since the 6th century CE. Shintoism has no founder or official sacred scripture and it has somehow been preserved through the ages (bbc 2). Shinto is

    Read More

  • Buddhism And Confucian Influence On Japan

    794 Words  | 4 Pages

    “The period of disunion in China [during the T’ang Dynasty] produced conditions favorable to the spread of Buddhism”(Varley 19). Buddhism would become a crucial component of the early Sinification project in Japan. Buddhist traditions and texts were kept in Chinese, so Buddhist monks and scholars were required to study Chinese. Additionally, many Buddhist works of art were brought to Japan for religious ceremonies and rituals. These artworks would later influence Japanese art.

    Read More

More about Interpreting Religion In Japan's Rich History And Culture

Open Document