In this part of the blog, Japanese lovers and history lovers are looking at the religious history of Japan. In this post on the blog, we are going to look at the religious history of Japan. Animism has dominated the religious history of Japan, with Mahayana Buddhism being especially important on the Yamato-dominated mainland. Throughout the Japanese Middle Ages, various Buddhist schools, including Tendai, Shingon, Pure Land, Zen, and Nichiren, flourished. Shinto and Buddhism became intertwined in Japanese culture.

Introduced in 1549, Christianity was outlawed and its followers were persecuted between 1614 and 1889. The Meiji Restoration restored freedom of religion, and Christianity resumed. However, the period saw heavy persecution of Buddhism and the rise of state Shinto. As a result of the state Shinto apparatus being dismantled after World War II, new religions, like the Nichiren school of Buddhism-based Soka Gakkai, proliferated. Despite this, traditional Buddhism has stagnated in modern Japan, with high levels of secularism and apathy towards organized religions.

Earlier Religious Customs (Before 538 CE)

Jōmon Venus, a female dogū from the present-day prefecture of Nagano, lived from 3,000 to 2,000 BC.
Ko-shintō (“ancient shintō”) refers to the theorized proto-religion from which contemporary indigenous forms of Japanese religion and spirituality, such as Shinto and Ainu religion, are descended. Since Shinto, as it is represented in these early Japanese texts, had already been influenced by mainland Asian religions and there are no known writings from Japan before the eighth century AD, most of the information about ancient.

Japanese religion that can be found comes from less direct sources like archaeology and the accounts of ancient Chinese historians. This article examines this historical project much later, having started in the 17th century with the Kokugaku school of historiography.

Jōmon Period of Spirituality

The earliest Japanese period, the Jōmon period, is mostly animistic and distinguished by hunter-gatherer cultures. Subsequently, items including masks, elaborate pottery, and clay figures (dogs) appeared; they were mostly located in eastern Japan. The interpretations of these artifacts as spiritual symbols have included recurrent themes such as prayers for conceiving, getting pregnant, giving birth, rebirth, and exhumation. The majority of dogū sculptures are said to be utilized for birthing and safe pregnancies; they are mostly female. The Jomon people may have built these circular stone structures for burial sites or holy festivals, similar to the Ōyu Stone Circles. Nevertheless, its phallic-shaped characteristics caused their popularity to diminish before the end of the Jōmon era.

Yayoi Period of Spirituality

The Yayoi people, who migrated to Japan during the first millennium BC, formed societies that shifted the Japanese archipelago from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a more centralized agricultural wet-rice cultivation-based society. Modern mainland Japanese (Yamato people) derive most of their genetic ancestry from these immigrants and are believed to have been introduced to Japanese languages through these Yayoi migrants.

The Yayoi people left behind a distinctive material culture, including large bronze dōtaku bells, which were used almost exclusively for ritualistic purposes. These bells were often buried in isolated hillsides away from settlements, with some believed to be used when praying for rain. The Yayoi period also saw an advance in the types of weapons used and martial culture becoming more prominent.

Deer played a strong role in the Yayoi religion, as it was the most common animal drawn on dōtaku and pottery. The Wa people regularly used burnt bone cracks for divination, a practice believed to have been brought by the Yayoi, according to the Chinese San Guo Zhi of the third century. Early literature, such as the Nihon Shoki, contains many stories of deer, connecting them to divinity.

There are also religious practices of the Yayoi period connected to modern Japanese spirituality, such as the Wei Zhi, which suggests that men of importance simply clap their hands instead of kneeling or bowing in worship. The most well-known figure of Yayoi-period Japan is Pimiko, a shamaness-queen of Yamatai who ruled in the 3rd century AD.

Period of Transition (538–1185 CE)

Buddhism’s Introduction from Asia

During the Yayoi and Asuka periods, Japan experienced the introduction of continental Asian culture and technology from China and Korea. Scholars prefer an earlier date of about 538 AD for the first official transmission of Buddhism to Japan, which the Nihon Shoki dated to 552 AD. Initially, some clans, such as the Mononobe and Nakatomi, were resistant to the new religion, while others, like the Soga and Hata, supported it.

The Emperor decreed that only the Soga clan could worship the Buddha to test its efficacy. The question of whether Buddhism had been introduced prior is a matter of debate. The Chinese Book of Liang claims that five Buddhist monks from Gandhara visited the mythical eastern land of Fusang in 467 with scriptures and preached to the native people. Japan had experienced Chinese and Korean immigration during this period, and it has been argued that some locals introduced Buddhism before it formally reached the Imperial House in 538 AD.

Ancient Native American Writings and Japanese Mythology

The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, which are the oldest known works in the Japanese language, were composed in the eighth century and are a valuable resource for learning about prehistoric Japanese religion. The Japanese mythology and traditions of the divine genesis of the Japanese royal dynasty are among the topics covered in the kojiki. It also talks about the relationships between humans and the animistic kami.

Buddhism in Heian

Tendai, a Mahayana school descended from Chinese Tiantai, and Shingon, a Vajrayana school descended from Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, were the two major schools of Buddhism that emerged during the Heian period. Near the former capital of Kyoto, on Mount Hiei, lies the epicenter of Japanese Buddhism.

Buddhism’s Impact on Shinto Customs

Buddhist ideas were progressively incorporated into local Shinto ceremonies, providing a more nuanced understanding of indigenous concepts—like the kami—through a Buddhist perspective.

Even while Buddhism and Shinto eventually blended, certain Shinto shrines, like Izumo-Taisha, maintained their separation from the beginning.

Alternative Faith Practices

Although Daoism was not as directly imported to Japan as Buddhism and Confucianism were, it did have an indirect impact on several native Japanese traditions, such as shugendō and onmyōdō. A fringe idea put forth by certain academics, including P. Y. Saeki, contends that Asian Nestorian Christians first came to Japan during the Yamato era and that the faith was able to flourish in some regions.

Some Nestorians likely traveled to Japan during the Tang dynasty or the abortive Mongol invasions, but there is no solid proof that Christian ideas were effectively disseminated in Japan before the advent of European settlers. Around the eighth century, at least one Persian official was known to be employed in the historic capital of Nara, and the two countries had indirect commercial connections dating back to the seventh century thanks to the Silk Road. It is unclear what religion this official followed, and it is at most conjectural as to whether or not faiths from the west of India had any impact on early Japan.

Religious Reformation & Conflict during the Middle Ages (1185–1651)

The term “Kanagawa Buddhist schools” refers to the group of new Buddhist institutions that emerged in Japan when the Kamakura shogunate was established. First, these new schools arose in opposition to Mount Hiei’s established Buddhist foundation. Most early practitioners of Kamakura Buddhism, who studied under the Tendai of Mount Hiei for their religious education, desired to leave the religion because they felt it was too tainted by political intrigue and was becoming less and less appropriate to meet the spiritual needs of the general public.

Secondly, the emergence of rivalry between the Imperial Court in the nation’s capital city and multiple local clan factions was a reflection of the deteriorating political climate in Japan, which was also reflected in the new Buddhists. Beyond the failure of previous Mongol invasions, there were also frequent natural disasters and anxieties about an outside attack. Buddhists in Japan called this new era “mappo,” a reference to the period in Buddhist mythology when dharma was lost and degeneracy predominated.

The Tokugawa Period of Stability (1651–1868 CE)

After Japan was reunited under the Tokugawa shogunate, Neo-Confucianism emerged as the dominant, officially sanctioned religious movement in Japan. While Buddhism persisted, its significance and influence declined, and academics frequently describe Japanese Buddhism at this time as one of relative

standstill. Although the government preferred Confucianism over Buddhism, they also employed the latter to control the populace through the danka census system, which linked the populace to nearby Buddhist temples and was also utilized to find hidden Christians.

Revivals of Shinto & Nationalism

The Kokugaku school of scholars gave rise to a concern for traditional Japanese spirituality. Their objective was to retrace their origins and gain an understanding of the pre-ideological forms of indigenous Japanese spirituality.

Conflicts Between Religion & The Meiji Restoration (1868–1945CE)

The establishment of State Shinto inside the Japanese Empire was the result of an earlier Shinto resurgence. However, the impact of Western ideologies also resulted in the creation of religious freedom, as stipulated in the Meiji Constitution. This not only enabled Christians to emerge from hiding and welcome new members through missionary work, but it also brought other foreign faiths, like Islam, to Japan, albeit in much smaller quantities.

Secularism, New faiths, & Post-war wealth (1945 CE and beyond)

The American occupation of Japan not only changed the laws but also symbolically destroyed the state Shinto system by forcing Emperor Hirohito to renounce his long-standing claims to divinity. Though more elegant, the new constitution similarly safeguarded religious freedom. New religions arose in post-war Japan as well, adapting old spiritual ideas to the demands of contemporary urban populations. New religious movements faced more mistrust after the Tokyo sarin gas incident.