Just like many other Buddhist 's, Kishimoto wanted to change the way the Japanese youth perceived religion, and he was able to accomplish that in a secretive way. I will argue that the mange/anime Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto is culturally significant to Japanese culture due to its religious connection
Shinto has ancient origins that can be traced all the way back to 500 B.C.,but it wasn’t called Shinto until 8th century Japan when Buddhism started to threaten the Japanese way of life. The religions begun, of course, in Japan. Shinto has no founder, it has been practiced by the Japanese since they appeared on the earth apparently so nobody knows who the heck started it (). There is no specific person who spread the religion, due to the fact Shinto didn’t spread much, There are some temples in Hawaii, South America, and Europe, which are most likely from immigrants into those regions from Japan (). Some say that Shinto is tied in with the land of Japan.
The Shinto religion is not a spiritual faith but more of a ritualistic way of life. Shinto or way of the gods, was not an established uniform religion until the 6th century c.e. after Buddhism was introduced into Japan through Korea in 538 c.e. However, the Shinto faith begins over a thousand years earlier around 660 b.c. when the world was still pure chaos.
All around the world, religion is a dominant idea for many cultures; exemplifying a certain way of life, serving as a basis for faith, and bringing charity to the world, religion is a extensive concept. For several cultures and countries religion may vary according to demographics, socio-economical class, and ethnicity. Main concepts of religion in Japan are natural and superstitious based. The leading religion in Japan remains Shinto, while other religions have come and go, interweaving themselves among the Japanese society. For any Japanese person who may practice Shinto, another religion that may dually be practiced is Buddhism.
These very distinctive Buddhist characteristics have influenced Korean culture throughout the different time periods in many ways such as art, architecture, spiritual civilization, and Korean society as a whole. Buddhism was first introduced into Korean society by China during the Three Kingdoms period (Overview). Chinese Monk-emissaries had a large role in making Buddhism the main religion of Korea (Lee). The Three Kingdoms of Korea consisted of three different kingdoms, the Koguryo in the northern part of Korea (37 BC-668AD), the Paekche in the southwest peninsula (18BC-660AD), and the Silla (57BC-935AD). The first to adopt Buddhism was Koguryo in 372 AD, who then sent Buddhist Monks the Paekche the spread the religion.
Moreover, because the Japanese, often practices syncretism, or the attempts to reconcile two different belief systems, they might not consider themselves as belonging to any religion at all. Religions are definitely present within the modern Japanese culture, even though they might not be considered as "religions" any longer. It is truly a phenomenon to see religion being integrated into a society so well that it became a part of the culture.
Some have suggested that the object came into China along with Buddhism, while others suggests that the object has been long part of Chinese culture (Kieschnick, 142). John Kieschnick, author of The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture, has gathe... ... middle of paper ... ...ject somehow gives a feeling of religious ideals. Overall, the purpose of this paper was to analyze the symbolic nature of the Ruyi and how it developed from being a simple backscratching tool to a noble object. It is truly hard to prove the origins of the Ruyi, although scholars do agree that the Ruyi was originally a tool for scratching. What is truly interesting was how the circulation and function of the Ruyi changed when scholars, Buddhist monks, foreigners, and the Emperor used it.
In addition to this, Chinese tales became more than a story, and took on a didactic nature focusing on Buddhist ideology. This was the influence that Buddhism brought to these strange ancient tales of China.
Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism constitute the essence of the traditional Chinese culture. The relationship among the three has been marked by both competition and complementation in history, with Confucianism playing a more dominant role. Confucianism emphasized a reiteration of current moral values and Taoism developed a system of based upon a harmonization of man with the natural order. These two popular philosophies, however, developed into popular religions eventually. Besides the major religions, ancestor worship and animism also have strong support in China.
Other deities like the bodhisattvas achieved nirvana, but choose to stay on earth. This form also relied more on priests and scriptures. The Buddha and Bodhisattvas were the ones viewed as the people who will help those struggling to reach salvation. Buddhists follow the ... ... middle of paper ... ...rought an emergence of communism and resurgence of authoritarianism. But the doctrine communist has no precedent in cultural traditions or sanction in current national aspirations.