Japan Religion 09

8/20/2019 Japan Religion 09

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HISTORICAL OVERVIEW• Yayoi Period, 300 BC: Agricultural development.

• Nara Period, 700 BC: First strong central state.

• Heian Period, 78 CE: Indigenous Japanese culture developed, noted forart, poetry, and literature.

• Era o! "arrin# !e$da% &'a'e&, ((80: Samurai culture emerges.

• To)$#a"a *Edo+ Period, (00: Japan is unified and Samurais are divestedof some power. Japan flourishes, and becomes isolationist, only tradingwith utch and !hinese from "agasa#i.

• -ei.i Period, (88: Japan is forced open by !ommodore $erry%s &S "aval threats. Samurai culture is abolished, and Japan begins to moderni'eand industriali'e.

• Era o! /aane&e I1eria%i&1, (2(0: (o establish itself as a world power,Japan begins invading and occupying )orea, !hina, and other regions ofAsia. Japan declares war in the $acific with the attac# at $earl *arbor in+-+.

• Po&' WWII Era: Japan has developed into one of the world%s economic

powers.


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Samurai were the military nobilityof feudal Japan who servedoverlord Shoguns.

Samurais were epected to be

educated, and were influenced bythe religious philosophies of/uddhism, 0en, Shinto, and!onfucianism.

(he Samurais were disbanded inthe late +122s during the 3ei4i$eriod.

*owever, Samurai culture was atthe base of the Japanese nationalidentity as a martial nation.


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SHINTO• Shinto is animistic and polytheistic,

and devotees worship the )ami deitiesand spirits, and ancestors.

• Japan%s indigenous and largest religion.

• It is syncretic with /uddhism.• uring the 3ei4i $eriod, Shinto was

declared Japan%s official state religion,and the religion of the 5mperor.

• (here are three main types: 6 S*7I"5 S*I"(8

6 S5!( S*I"(8

6 F89) S*I"(8


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SHINTO SHRINE ON MOUNT HAKONE


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SHINTOKAMI GODS


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B44HIS-• /uddhism is comprised of a variety of teachings, but a common characteristic is

learning a way of life to bring personal peace and spiritual enlightenment.• THREE -AIN BRANCHES: -a5ayana, T5era6ada, and Va.rayana

• (he -a5ayana schools strongly encourage the idea that all people can be

enlightened and that the ultimate goal is to help all beings find freedom from

sufferingenlightenment. 5ven the mon#s chant and ma#e vows to help all

sentient beings when they are not in meditation. In comparison, T5era6ada/uddhists mostly believe that lay people have a limited potential to achieve

enlightenment, so T5era6ada mon#s are more personal in the sense that they are

primarily striving for their own enlightenment. In T5era6ada, the goal is to be an

;arhat;, a selfenlightened one. In -a5ayana, the goal is to be a ;bodhisattva,<

someone near enlightenment who comes bac# to 5arth, teaching others until all

beings are enlightened. -a5ayana is very =other< focused, though you ac>uire

your ability to help others by perfecting yourself. As for Va.rayana, one thing

that ma#es them uni>ue is that they believe their practice is effective enough to

ma#e one a /uddha in only one lifetime. ?(han#s to J. *ennessee for these

clarifications.@

• 3ahayana came to Japan in the th century.


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EN• A particular type of 3ahayana

/uddhism.

• 5merged in Japan around ++22,

and was particularly favored bythe Samurai culture.

• 0en teaches meditation in order

to =awa#en,< and live in theimmediate present, bespontaneous, and liberated fromself conscious and 4udgmental

thoughts.


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CON9CIANIS-• An overall philosophy of life and

society.

• "eo!onfucianism was introducedto Japan in the +Bth century and

impacted Japanese politics andsocial structure.

• It emphasi'es harmony, nature,and humanism.

• "eo!onfucianism supports asocial hierarchy in which eachindividual fulfills the obligationsof their place to the fullest for the

benefit of the entire society.


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• ON : A Japanese, hierarchical social systemthat operates on the concepts of honor,responsibility, and obligation.

• Individuals are born into their social place,and must conform and fulfill the obligations

of that place.• !onformity to on will foster material progress

for all.

• Japanese society has long been intolerant ofindividualistic views and behaviors, but

younger generations are instigating socialtransformation in Japan.

• Cith modern industriali'ation, a capitalistclass system has emerged in Japan, and beenintegrated with the on system.

/APANESE

SOCIAL STRCTRE


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SHYO

ASCETIC 4ISCIPLINE

• (his Shinto, 3ountain sect was established in +B2 bylocal women, and is supervised by many women spiritmediums.

• uring the spring and summer, devotees ritualisticallyclimb the mountain.

• Although shugyo may be profoundly transformativefor the soul of the ascetic and the wellbeing of herfamily, it is also dangerous. Ascetics may be possessed

by the numerous mountain demons ?oni@.

• Schattschneider analy'es the sect as emerging to deal

with local upheavals wrought by moderni'ation andeconomic hardships. (hrough the rigors of ritualclimbing, ascetics incorporate their selves and personal

biographies with the landscape, opening up intimacywith the spirits and ancestors. For the ascetic, this canresult in both resolution, or eacerbation of personal ,

family, and community issues.


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SHUGYO RITUAL ON MOUNT AKAKURA


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Shugyo ascetics believe3ount A#a#ura isinhabited by dangerousoni who can possess them

and cause harm.(hroughout Japan, oni

are considered to be once but no longer venerated

indigenous divinities that, because they are notsub4ugated, have becomeangry and dangerous.


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/APANESE HOSTS• Japanese culture is steeped in

ghosts, hauntings, and dynamicsof the uncanny.

• OBA;E or BA;E-ONO:

Anything that is weird, grotes>ue,or uncanny.

• YO;AI: Dhouls, goblins, andmonsterssome dangerous, othersamusingthat appear at dawn ordus#.

• YRIE: Spirits of dead peoplewho remain among the living for aspecific reason, often vengeance.

THE GHOST OF OKIKU


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(*5 &"!A""E• 9re$d


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/APANESE HOSTS

ONE LOBAL

THE RING 2


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irected by )en4i 3i'oguchi,a socialist feminist, in +GH, itis often included in top tenlists of the world%s greatest

cinematic wor#s. It is a ghost story set in

medieval Japan that is politically situated as a criti>ue

of martial culture, materialism,and the status of Japanesewomen.


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S'$dy $ide !or UGETSU MONOGATARI

• (he film ta#es place during the era in Japan of warring statesand the dominance of Samurai culture. Samurais practiced a

combination of Shinto, /uddhism, 0en, and !onfucianism.

Chat characteristics of these religions do you see in the film

• In what scenes do you see 3i'oguchi%s criticisms of Japanesemartial culture, materialism, and the treatment of women

• Japanese culture has a spiritual and philosophical relationship to

the landscape. In which scenes is this emphasi'ed

• emons and ghosts haunt Japanese culture and the landscape.Identify the ghosts, hauntings, and uncanny occurrences in the

film. Chat points and issues about Japanese culture might

3i'oguchi be ma#ing with these scenes

Japan Religion 09

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