Shinto: The Way Home written by Thomas Kasulis is a book designed to inform the reader of Shinto traditions and history, but how does his work stand on its own as a scholarly source. Kasulis uses simple organization strategies to control the flow of the work the simplest method is the separation of the book into six chapters as well as a two prefaces one from the editor and one from the author. The first chapter discusses Shintoism in the terms of a western audience while the second chapter confers the connection with normal Japanese culture with Shinto traditions. The third, fourth, and the fifth chapter canvases the history of Shinto traditions in chronological order from prehistory to 2002. Chapter 6 explains Issues with Shinto in a modern …show more content…
The third chapter is about Shintoism during the prehistory to 1794 and discusses how the tradition was passed down and how Shintoism was fused with Buddhism since Shintoism was too simple to compare with Chinese Confucianism. Chapter four discusses Shinto history from 1794 to 1801 and is about how many Shinto philosophers tried to rewrite Shintoism to separate it from Buddhism. To continue the thought chapter 5 starts from 1801 to 2002 theorizes the Shinto separation leads to an imperialist mentality such as kamikaze pilots and World War 2. The final chapter six speculates the future of Shintoism after WW2 and the Yasukuni controversy plus the tug of a war battle between essentialist and existentialist Shintoism and the issues with vocabulary that both types of Shinto has.
This book can be a useful tool when researching Shintoism because it contains various topics in Shintoism. Since the second chapter discusses many Shinto practices in the modern context one can look at this book for the explanation of various beliefs, tradition, and Japanese culture. Maybe a researcher might want to learn about the history of Shintoism as a whole or how Shintoism was connected to Japanese imperialism. This piece is even a decent source of the Yasakuni shrine controversy in japan after WWII. Kasulis does a good job at explaining Shinto traditions and cultural
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He discusses the nature of Shintoism before writing and the justification of the emperor. To explain ancient Shinto practice he states “From this evidence most scholars speculate that the ancient Japanese were animists—that is, believers in spirits who operate in both the natural and human domains” (Kasulis, 75). In Shintoism for a long period of its life, it was fused with Buddhism and Kasulis explains this connection when he states “Emperor Shömu had already formally associated the Sun Buddha with Amaterasu, the Shinto sun kami” (Kasulis, 96). When it come to the Yasakuni shrine controversy he even covers that by saying “A second way in which the shrine officials goad their critics is the justifications they offer for such practices as the enshrinement of war criminals” (Kasulis, 146) he said this because the Yasakuni shrine enshrines all the Japanese soldiers that died in WWII even war
Joseph Conlans “State of War; The Violent Order of Fourteenth Century Japan” is an depth look at Japans emerging warrior class during a time period of constant warfare in Medieval Japan. His work however doesn’t revolve around the re-fabrication and in-depth analysis of battles sieged like many contemporary examinations of wars and battles won and lost. Instead the author vies to navigate the reader on journey into the warrior class’s lives and how they evolved through a statistical analysis of records. This illustrates how warfare changed and transformed with the constant evolving of the Samurai, but it also includes how their actions affected their Political environment as well as the society in which they dwelled from the bottom up. Through his survey of records and documents, Conlan is able to give readers a compelling look into the Warrior class and at times shatters in the process many of the pre-conceived general notions that one may hold about this ancient class of professional warriors. Many of the notions & common misconceptions debunked in this scholarly piece include the idea that the Samurai was a male only fraternity, reserved for those of impeccable candor and loyalty. When truth be known, woman and young men (boys) were also trained in the art of war and thus were as likely to be found on the battle fields as men when times were tough and solider numbers were depleted. Further, another misconception (Generally thought to be caused by the popular and well known; “The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the Samurai”) of the warrior class is that all of these men were truly Samurai which translated to “one who serves” when really, loyalty for the warrior class as Conlan points out only went as far as ones right to ...
New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print. The. Shinran. Tannisho: A Shin Buddhist Classic. Trans.
There are many regions that entail the belief of a spirit transcending into a place of serenity. One religion that focuses on transcending is Shintoism. Shintoism is a religion of Japanese origin that devotes its belief in spirits of natural forces. This is expressed by the meaning of Shinto, which means “the way of Kami.” A kami is a divine being or spirit in the religion such as the Emperor who was believed to be a sun goddess. In the movie, Spirited Away, Shintoism is expressed by Chihiro finds purity through the use of liminal process. Liminal Process are the steps needed to allow an individual to pass the threshold of the Earthly world to the Spiritual realm. These steps are similar to the way an alcoholic would reach sobriety.
The origin of this book is from the Hagakure, which this book was based on was dictated by Tsunetomo Yamamoto, a samurai. And later scribed verbatim by Tsuramoto Tashiro over a period of seven years (1710-1716) in which they lived together in a far off mountain retreat in Japan. Tashiro was sworn to secrecy over the texts contents because the author believed the teachings to be far too radical and too militaristic for the then peaceful times during the Shogunate Rule (1603-1867). During this time of unusual calmness, the teachings of Buddhism and the ethical codes of Confucius permeated Japan, enriching every aspect of its culture from arts to politics. But the old samurai, Yamamoto, believed that the samurai, as a class, had become effeminate and weak. Yamamoto's basic premise was that the samurai could not serve two masters, religion and the clan, and by doing so had become less effective. The service of the lord and the clan should come first, and once this was done, one could then amuse oneself with the studies of the humanities.
This source provides the background of different Japanese Buddhism sects, especially the development of Jodo Shinshu, in both religious and political aspects during that time period. What’s more, it argues that, called as the second founder of Jodo Shinshu, Rannyo politicized the Honganji and his followers.
Japan has been a home for Shinto and Buddhist religions for centuries. The Christian missionaries during the 16th, 19th and 20th centuries worked hard to evangelize the Japanese nation but could not get desired success. There efforts in past failed partly due to sanctions imposed by the local rulers. The Jesuits missionaries traveled with Spanish and Portuguese traders to many areas of America and Asia-Pacific and established their churches and religious missions. They were funded, sponsored and trained by their respective governments in order to spread Christianity. At several places they preached the Christian faith by force but the aboriginal population did not accept it wholeheartedly. Initially the Jesuits targeted the elite class of the country and a large number was converted. The rulers also forced their subject to embrace the same faith. About 300,000 Japanese were converted in the first phase. Later on, Christianity was prohibited as the rulers started seeing them as a threat to their authority. Following a change of regime, the ban was lifted and missionaries were again allowed to enter Japan. Like many Native American tribes, the Japanese also resisted the new religion. As a result, presently Christians form only 1% of the total population in Japan. This paper is focused on how the Christian religion was introduced in Japan, the evolution of evangelism, establishment of churches, the restrictions and hurdles faced by the missionaries and priest of the new religion and the response of Japanese nation towards an alien faith. All these queries are answered in detail given as follows.
...es of Japanese Tradition: From Earliest Times through the Sixteenth Century. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001. Print.
Shinto is the belief of honoring of spirits from nature. This religion is mostly not rarely observed outside of Japan. Even though the origins of Shinto is unclear, we do understand the importance they put on nature. Within Shinto, there is this concept called Tsumi. Tsuni is said to describe the impurity and or misfortune and is caused by multiple factors. It is said you will need to perform rituals to cleanse yourself of these negative energies that you brought upon yourself. It resembles Karma as ones action can cause Tsumi and result in the person having misfortune. But the difference is that while Tsumi only lasts
De, Bary William Theodore, Carol Gluck, and Arthur E. Tiedemann. Sources of Japanese Tradition. New York: Columbia UP, 2006. Print.
Shintoism, for Westerners and many Easterner, is a strange word. Except for the people who study world religion, most people does not know what Shintoism is, or if they know, it is very vague. Just like Taoism is not very popular outside of Asia , Shintoism is not popular outside of Japan. Shintoism might not be popular, but it played and continue to plays an undeniable role regarding culture and history of Japan. Shintoism, with Buddhism, is the most popular religion as well as a life style in Japan and this religion is very unique. Shintoism has exerted a huge influence on Japan’s culture and custom in the past as well as a huge role in the history of this country. Now, Shintoism still play a huge role in Japanese modern culture, politics
In Japan, there was a time when both Buddhism and Shintoism were seen as reflections of one another. The religion of Shintoism did not evolve to what it is now without the help of Buddhism. John Breen and Mark Teeuwen suggest that “Before the Meiji policy that authorized the ‘separation’ of Shinto and Buddhism, Japanese religious culture had been to all intents and purposes defined by Buddhism” (4). In fact, Shintoism and Buddhism are the two religions that are most often practiced in Japan. Although the religion of
Shinto priest, Rev. Yukitaka Yamamota, once said, “To be fully alive is to have an aesthetic perception of life because a major part of the world’s goodness lies in its often unspeakable beauty” (Fisher, 224). Yamamota’s quote summarizes one of the main concepts of theology in Shinto. However, Shinto theology is not only about natural beauty. Shinto is the ancient indigenous religion of Japan, and is a major influence in the Japanese culture. The basis of Shinto theology is that there is no God, but there is kami in everything.
Its definitive flexibility could be one of the reasons for its longevity, and it has virtually become deeply interwoven with the Japanese culture so much that it has become an independent philosophical body. Consequently, Shinto’s principal concepts of harmony, family, respect, purity, and subordination of the person before the professing group have been imbedded in the Japanese character regardless of whether the person has any religious affiliations to it or not (Cartwright).
Susumu, S. (2009). State Shinto in the Lives of the People. Japanese Journal Of Religious Studies, 36(1), 93-124.
Although its origins are unknown, it is the oldest religion in Japan and one of the eldest in the world. Shintoism shaped Japanese culture greatly by influencing their art, music, and education. The ideologies of Shintoism are unique to the religion it self, except for the few that there are show similarities to the Buddhism from influences because of the religions co-existing. Other religions can learn from Shintoism because they believe in the fact that their Gods are not perfect’ therefore, because human beings are decedents from kami, they too are prone to making mistakes. Shintoism is also in touch with the natural world unlike other religions that separate themselves from nature by believing in a God and going to see him in church. Instead they could go out and look for their God or Gods in all things because everything possesses kami. Shintoism remains an interesting and complex religion because one cannot read sacred texts to discover more about Shintoism. Instead to be apart of Shintoism one must be one with the natural world and the