Ad
related to: which two religions dominate japan history
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The history of religion in Japan has been characterized by the predominance of animistic religions practiced by its mainland, Ryukyuan, and Ainu inhabitants. In addition, on the Yamato -dominated mainland, Mahayana Buddhism has also played a profoundly important role.
There is no agreement among specialists as to the exact extent of fusion between the two religions. [5]According to some scholars (such as Hirai Naofusa in Japan and Joseph Kitagawa in the US), Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan, has existed as such continuously since its prehistory, and consists of all the uniquely Japanese rituals and beliefs shaped by Japanese history from ...
Religion in Japan is manifested primarily in Shinto and in Buddhism, the two main faiths, which Japanese people often practice simultaneously. According to estimates, as many as 70% of the populace follow Shinto rituals to some degree, worshiping ancestors and spirits at domestic altars and public shrines .
Shinto is a religion native to Japan with a centuries'-long history tied to various influences in origin. [1]Although historians debate [citation needed] the point at which it is suitable to begin referring to Shinto as a distinct religion, kami veneration has been traced back to Japan's Yayoi period (300 BC to AD 300).
According to estimates by the Japanese Government's Agency for Cultural Affairs, as of 2018, Buddhism was the predominant religion in Japan with about 84 million adherents or about 69% of the Japanese population, while Shinto had the second most, though a large number of people practice elements of both. [1]
A torii gateway to the Yobito Shrine (Yobito-jinja) in Abashiri City, HokkaidoThere is no universally agreed definition of Shinto. [2] According to Joseph Cali and John Dougill, if there was "one single, broad definition of Shinto" that could be put forward, it would be that "Shinto is a belief in kami", the supernatural entities at the centre of the religion. [3]
A Buddhist pagoda (a Yakushi-dō (薬師堂) at Tsurugaoka Hachimangū shrine in Kamakura before the shinbutsu bunri. The Japanese term shinbutsu bunri (神仏分離) indicates the separation of Shinto from Buddhism, introduced after the Meiji Restoration which separated Shinto kami from buddhas, and also Buddhist temples from Shinto shrines, which were originally amalgamated.
According to the annual statistical research on religion in 2018 by the Government of Japan's Agency for Culture Affairs, about two million or around 1.5% of Japan's population are Christians. [28] Other religions include Islam (70,000) and Judaism (2,000), which are largely immigrant communities with some ethnic Japanese practitioners. [29] [30]