Religion

Japanese religion is an interesting, syncretic blend of two different traditions: Shinto and Buddhism.  Shinto is the ancient, animistic religion that has existed on the islands in its current form since around the 7th century, but which existed long before that in various forms and traditions.  Shinto recognizes spiritual forces (particularly in nature), and deifies those forces as kami, spiritual forces at work in the universe.  It is important to note that kami are not gods, per se, although some manifestations take the form of figural deities.  Rather, kami are spirits that can take an active or passive role in the goings-on of every day life.  The Wikipedia article compares them to the ancient Roman numina, referring to a sort of spiritual potential in everyday objects, and this comparison feels apt, although kami is a much more encompassing concept, one that I am still trying to come to grips with.

Worship, through prayer, offerings, and ritual, happens at shrines.  Shrines are typically fairly simple structures built on a raised platform.  In visiting a shrine, one stands at the base of the steps of a square building with vaulted roof and looks up into the inner sanctum wherein there is usually some sort of ornate design or pattern.  Shrines themselves rarely contain any sort of figural representation, with the exception of guardian statuary near the entrance, usually in the form of ferocious lions.

Torii gateways (lit. bird perches) are emblematic of Shinto shrines and embody the idea of thresholds as they represent doorways through which both humans and spirits must pass in transitioning between the sacrosanct area of the shrine and the secular area beyond.  Shrines and torii litter the Japanese countryside and from what I've been told most Japanese today still participate in some Shinto traditions, even if only culturally.  Left: Many torii line the path to a high mountain shrine just outside the entrance to Koyasan.

The prevalence of Shinto is not unintentional; Japan's creation story is an important element of Shinto mythology, and its intrinsically tied up with the Imperial line.  To create Japan, greater Kami dipped a spear into the sea and droplets falling from the spear created the archipelago today known as Japan.  Further, the imperial line began as a direct descent from the first founder of Japan, given authority by these divinities.  Today's emperor comes from a direct lineal descent.  As such, the emperor is known as a 'son of heaven,' and throughout history the Shinto beliefs have been used to maintain the authority of the imperial regime.  

Buddhism was imported to Japan from China not long after the codification of Shinto, and the two religions have been in constant dialog since.  Depending on the tendencies of those in power, Buddhism has alternately thrived and suffered in its 1200-year development in Japan.  At times Buddhism was persecuted by the emperor, who saw it as a threat to the divine mandate that Shinto provided the imperial throne.  As late as the mid-19th century Buddhist temples throughout the country were razed to the ground, and many historical sites were destroyed.  Eventually, however, a balance was struck, and now Buddhism and Shinto coexist peacefully.  Most Buddhist temples even contain Shinto shrines, and many of the deities within Japanese Mahayana Buddhism are treated as kami--a prime example of how fluid the concept can be.

Buddhist temples are much more complex and elaborate structures than the typically simple Shinto shrines.  Complexes can span acres and include grand, elaborate buildings with specific, compartmental purposes like worship, ritual, or even religious debate.  Temples usually include a great deal of artwork: statuary, paintings, mandalas; that feature prominent bodhisattvas, (Japanese: bosatsu) who are worshiped like deities within Mahayana Buddhism.  Right: Jizo bosatsu statues in a Buddhist graveyard at Koyasan.  Jizo bosatsu is the guardian of children; a child stands at the foot of each statue, and each Jizo holds a golden, unborn embryo.


There's a short introduction to the two main religions of Japan.  Religious sites are some of my top priorities in my travels, so I'll be writing about specific locations.

Japan

Updating at last: I'm posting now from an all-night internet cafe in Hiroshima, where I've spent the night in a comfortable, pillowed booth available for hourly renting.  I7m getting a bit ahead of myself, though.  Tomorrow will mark the end of my third week in Japan, and I've got quite a bit of catching up to do.

Rather than make this a marathon post, I'm going to write a shorter post for each of the cities I've been to so far, and I'll have them update automatically over the next week or so.  First, though, I'd like to introduce some information about Japan to help place my future posts into contexts.

I may intersperse later posts with these kinds of informational posts

Culture

I've certainly neither done enough research nor had enough experience with Japanese culture in three weeks to claim anything definitively about Japanese culture, but suffice it to say it differs from American culture in significant ways.  Where America is an individualistic society, emphasizing the success of the individual--and ideally all individuals.  Japan, on the other hand, is a more collectivist society, now organizing around the family unit--and interestingly, around corporations--despite previously focusing primarily on feudal ties.  Japanese collectivism is aimed at producing wa or harmony, in which dispute doesn't arise.  This very fundamental distinction extends beyond nominal organization and influences conceptualization, with Japanese identifying foremost with roles within groups: mother, son, employee; rather than as individuals in the western sense.  These ideas seem to rise from Confucianism, which values order in society through well-defined roles, particularly based on age and family structure.  As a result, Japanese society is one in which men with seniority have traditionally dominated both public and private spheres.

The emphasis on maintaining harmony creates a very polite and efficient, if slightly stiff society.  Kata, which are defined customs for handling different, pre-defined situations, provide the oil to keep Japanese social interactions running smoothly, and therefore society as a whole.  Here's an interesting looking book that explains kata better than I could.  The somewhat mechanized approach to interface kills some of the potential of meaningful human connection, or certainly seems to from a western perspective.  Japanese meaningfully differentiate between the inward self and the interactional self.  While the fundamental inability to truly communicate ideas is one that has plagued philosophers of every culture, the Japanese system of acknowledging that inability seems to give power to it in a way that ensures distance between any two people, regardless of relationship.  Again, I feel that I should offer a disclaimer, because much of the analysis is speculation.  A seemingly well-researched and fascinating book on the subject of Japanese self can be found here.

On the bookshelf of the guesthouse at which I stayed in Kyoto, was this book, from the wonderful bilingual publishing house Kodansha.  Called The Inscrutable Japanese  , its table of contents included subjects like "Why won't Japanese make eye contact with me?" and "Why does everyone respond with yes all of the time?"  I didn't have time to read very much, but I drew some comfort from the fact that these are prominent questions.

All of this being said, I've had the good fortune of spending time with some of the nicest,　friendliest, most generous people I've ever met here in Japan.  I don't intend to exoticize Japanese culture or its constituents, but merely to highlight some of the more striking and initially disorienting aspects.

That's it for my brief introduction post about culture.  Look for more posts within the week.  Tomorrow I'll post a very short introduction to religion in Japan, and after that I'll get to the travel stuff.

I'm also going to experiment with Twitter to see if I can't use it for shorter, more regular updates.  You can find my latest tweets on the right-hand side of this page, along with a link to follow me if you're on Twitter.

Sayonara for now!

Mitchell