Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan

Smyers, Karen A.; Reader, Ian; Tanabe, George J.

doi:10.2307/2668398

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…6. For similar ideas, see Tanabe (1998), andKavanagh (2016). 7. https://hobby7.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/occult/1105800317/ (accessed 23 September 2023).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practicing belonging, vicarious spirituality, and gendered fetishism: The transformation of the non-religious/religious in contemporary Japanese youth culture

Fujiwara,

Miura

2024

Social Compass

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This article discusses the transformation of religious and non-religious practices in contemporary Japanese youth culture. The article employs both western analysis of ‘nones’ and Japanese theories to explain this transformation. Three concepts characterize (non-)religiousness in Japanese youth culture: ‘practicing belonging’, ‘vicarious spirituality’, and ‘gendered fetishism’. These concepts are first exemplified in a culture surrounding the concept of ‘tulpa’ (created paranormal beings, derived from Tibetan Buddhism) in Japan. Other examples reflecting each of these concepts are presented, along with a discussion of why Japanese youth culture came to manifest such characteristics. In so doing, we will refrain from drawing a rigid line between religious and non-religious settings, acknowledging that what may appear religious to Japanese scholars may not be viewed as such by western scholars. The factors behind the transformation of religiousness in Japan affect not only religious and spiritual but also non-religious or secular settings, resulting in parallel phenomena.

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“…6. For similar ideas, see Tanabe (1998), andKavanagh (2016). 7. https://hobby7.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/occult/1105800317/ (accessed 23 September 2023).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practicing belonging, vicarious spirituality, and gendered fetishism: The transformation of the non-religious/religious in contemporary Japanese youth culture

Fujiwara,

Miura

2024

Social Compass

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“…Covell, for example, speaks of pilgrimage as a major source of income even for small temples (2005,143) and as a popular practice that can enable temples to survive without needing to rely on household affiliations and funerals (2005,23). Reader and Tanabe (1998) have also argued that the innovative ways in which many Buddhist temples have developed new modes of prayer related to worldly concerns, are a sign that they could handle the vicissitudes of change and find new markets and clienteles, However even here one must make some cautionary remarks. I have already noted the decline of pilgrim numbers in Shōdoshima in recent years -but Shōdoshima is not an isolated example.…”

Section: Pilgrimage Benefits and Further Causes For Concernmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buddhism in Crisis? Institutional Decline in Modern Japan

Reader

2012

BSRV

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Concerns that established temple Buddhism in Japan is in a state of crisis have been voiced by priests in various sectarian organizations in recent years. This article shows that there is a very real crisis facing Buddhism in modern Japan, with temples closing because of a lack of support and of priests to run them, and with a general turn away from Buddhism among the Japanese population. In rural areas falling populations have led to many temple closures, while in the modern cities people are increasingly turning away from the prime area in which Japanese people have traditionally engaged with Buddhist temples — the processes of death and their aftermath. Partly this is due to competition from new secular funeral industries, but partly also it is because public perceptions of Buddhism — which has become over-reliant on death rituals in Japan — have become highly negative in modern times. Even practices which have often been seen as areas in which Buddhist temples have been able to attract people — such as pilgrimages — are proving less successful than in the past, contributing further to a sense of crisis that threatens to undermine Buddhism’s roots in Japan.

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“…Historical and ethnographic evidence points to the contrary: early Buddhism featured beliefs and practices relative to 'demons' or genii loci called yakkha (DeCaroli 2004); similarly, to practice religion to gain mundane benefits (Jp. genze riyaku) is a cross-cutting feature of contemporary Japanese religiosity (Reader and Tanabe 1998). This is not to completely deny elements appealing to Euro-American tastes, such as the disenchanted ideal of a Zen monk in meditation or the philosophical allure of certain Daoist or Buddhist texts.…”

Section: The Challenges Of Asian Religionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching Asian Religions through the Internet—How Online Representations Interact with Dynamics of Eurocentrism, Orientalism, and Confessionalism in the Case of Italian Teaching of Catholic Religion

Lapis

2024

Religions

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The religions of South and East Asia resist Eurocentric interpretations, such as the so-called World Religion Paradigm. However, they are subjected in various ways to hetero- and auto-orientalist representations that respond to Western ideals and expectations. This article analyzes how Italian Catholic teachers use online representations of East Asian religions in their lessons to teach these traditions. The aim is to shed light on the interplay, facilitated by online environments, between contemporary processes of Eurocentric and Orientalist interpretation and the educational and confessional motivations of confessional religious education teachers. The result of the analysis indicates that these factors concur to reinforce misleading representations, which contradicts the intercultural aims proclaimed by teachers and other Teaching of Catholic Religion stakeholders. Nevertheless, this article also individuates those elements that could be fruitfully framed in an academic study-of-religions perspective and suggests a modality of cooperation between Catholic Religion teachers and scholars of religions.

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Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Practicing belonging, vicarious spirituality, and gendered fetishism: The transformation of the non-religious/religious in contemporary Japanese youth culture

Practicing belonging, vicarious spirituality, and gendered fetishism: The transformation of the non-religious/religious in contemporary Japanese youth culture

Buddhism in Crisis? Institutional Decline in Modern Japan

Teaching Asian Religions through the Internet—How Online Representations Interact with Dynamics of Eurocentrism, Orientalism, and Confessionalism in the Case of Italian Teaching of Catholic Religion

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