Dynamism And The Ageing Of A Japanese New Religion
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| Author | : Erica Baffelli |
| Publisher | : Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Total Pages | : 215 |
| Release | : 2018-12-13 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 1350086533 |
“This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. This book examines the trajectory and development of the Japanese religious movement Agonshu and its charismatic founder Kiriyama Seiyu. Based on field research spanning 30 years, it examines Agonshu from when it first captured attention in the 1980s with its spectacular rituals and use of media technologies, through its period of stagnation to its response to the death of its founder in 2016. The authors discuss the significance of charismatic leadership, the 'democratisation' of practice and the demands made by movements such as Agonshu on members, while examining how the movement became increasingly focused on revisionist nationalism and issues of Japanese identity. In examining the dilemma that religions commonly face on the deaths of charismatic founders, Erica Baffelli and Ian Reader look at Agonshu's response to Kiriyama's death, looking at how and why it has transformed a human founder into a figure of worship. By examining Agonshu in the wider context, the authors critically examine the concept of 'new religions'. They draw attention to the importance of understanding the trajectories of 'new' religions and how they can become 'old' even within their first generation.
| Author | : Erica Baffelli |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 215 |
| Release | : 2018 |
| Genre | : Buddhism |
| ISBN | : 9781350086548 |
"This book examines the trajectory and development of the Japanese religious movement, Agonshu, commonly portrayed in Japan as a 'new religion', and its charismatic founder Kiriyama Seiyu. Based on field research spanning 30 years it examines Agonshu from when it first captured attention in the 1980s with its spectacular rituals and use of media technologies, through a period of stagnation, until its response to the 2016 death of its founder. Via an in-depth profile of Agonshu and the pivotal role of Kiriyama Seiyu as founder, the authors examine and critique the concept of 'new religions', and discuss the nature and significance of charisma, charismatic leadership and religious entrepreneurship. The book discusses the 'democratisation' of practice and the demands made by movements such as Agonshu on members, while examining how a movement that developed in Japan has expressed seemingly universal concepts while becoming increasingly focused on revisionist nationalism and issues of Japanese identity. In examining the dilemma religions commonly face on the deaths of charismatic founders, Baffelli and Reader look at Agonshu's response to Kiriyama's death, how and why it has transformed a human founder into a figure of worship, and how, through such founder veneration, it has become increasingly normative in Japanese contexts. By examining Agonshu in the wider context, the authors draw attention to the importance of understanding the trajectories of 'new' religions and how they can become 'old' even within their first generation"--
| Author | : David C. Lewis |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 312 |
| Release | : 2017-09-22 |
| Genre | : Social Science |
| ISBN | : 1317194373 |
Are Japanese people religious – and, if so, in what ways? David Lewis addresses this question from the perspective of ordinary Japanese people in the context of their life cycles, and explores why they engage in religious activities. He not only discusses how Japanese people engage in different religious practices as they encounter new events in their lives but also analyses the attitudes and motivations behind their behaviour. Activities such as fortune-telling, religious rites in the workplace, ancestral rites and visits to shrines and temples are actually engaged in by many people who view themselves as ‘non- religious’ but express their motivations in terms other than the conventional ‘religious’ ones. This book outlines the religious options available, and assesses why people choose particular religious activities at various times in their lives or in specific circumstances. The author challenges some widespread assumptions about religion in urban and industrial contexts and also shows how some of the underlying motivations behind Japanese behaviour are expressed both in religious and non-religious forms.
| Author | : Ian Reader |
| Publisher | : University of Hawaii Press |
| Total Pages | : 318 |
| Release | : 1998-10-01 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 9780824820909 |
Praying for practical benefits (genze riyaku) is a common religious activity in Japan. Despite its widespread nature and the vast numbers of people who pray and purchase amulets and talismans for everything from traffic safety and education success to business prosperity and protection from disease, the practice has been virtually ignored in academic studies or relegated to the margins as a uh_product of superstition or an aberration from the true dynamics of religion. Basing their work on a fusion of textual, ethnographic, historical, and contemporary studies, the authors of this volume demonstrate the fallacy of such views, showing that, far from being marginal, the concepts and practices surrounding genze riyaku lie at the very heart of the Japanese religious world. They thrive not only as popular religious expression but are supported by the doctrinal structures of most Buddhist sects, are ordained in religious scriptures, and are promoted by monastic training centers, shrines, and temples. Benefits are both sought and bought, and the authors discuss the economic and commercial aspects of how and why institutions promote practical benefits. They draw attention to the dynamism and flexibility in the religious marketplace, where new products are offered in response to changing needs. Intertwined in these economic activities and motivations are the truth claims that underpin and justify the promotion and practice of benefits. The authors also examine the business of guidebooks, which combine travel information with religious advice, including humorous and distinctive forms of prayer for the protection against embarrassing physical problems and sexual diseases. Written in a direct and engaging style, Practically Religious will appeal to a wide range of readers and will be especially valuable to those interested in religion, anthropology, Buddhist studies, sociology, and Japanese studies.
| Author | : Erica Baffelli |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 229 |
| Release | : 2013-05-13 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 113682782X |
Japanese Religions on the Internet draws attention to how religion is being presented, represented and discussed on the Japanese Internet. Its intention is to contribute to wider discussions about religion and the Internet by providing an important example – based on one of the Internet’s most prominent languages – of how new media technologies are being used and are impacting on religion in the East-Asian context, while also developing further our understandings of religion in a technologically advanced country. Scholars studying the relationship of religion and the Internet can no longer work on prevailing notions that have thus far characterised the field, such as the assumption that the Internet is a Western-centric phenomenon and that studies of English-language sites relating to religion can provide a viable model for wider analyses of the topic. Despite this growing amount of research on religion and the Internet, comparatively little has focused on non-Western cultures. The general field of study relating to religion and the Internet has paid scant attention to Asian contexts. The field needs a full-length and comprehensive study that focuses on the Japanese religious world and the Internet, not merely to redress the imbalances of the field thus far, but also because such studies will be central to the emerging field of the study of religion and the Internet in future. They will provide important means of developing new theories, constructing new paradigms and understanding the underlying dynamics of this new media form.
| Author | : Christopher Harding |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 321 |
| Release | : 2014-09-15 |
| Genre | : Psychology |
| ISBN | : 1317683005 |
Since the late nineteenth century, religious ideas and practices in Japan have become increasingly intertwined with those associated with mental health and healing. This relationship developed against the backdrop of a far broader, and deeply consequential meeting: between Japan’s long-standing, Chinese-influenced intellectual and institutional forms, and the politics, science, philosophy, and religion of the post-Enlightenment West. In striving to craft a modern society and culture that could exist on terms with – rather than be subsumed by – western power and influence, Japan became home to a religion--psy dialogue informed by pressing political priorities and rapidly shifting cultural concerns. This book provides a historically contextualized introduction to the dialogue between religion and psychotherapy in modern Japan. In doing so, it draws out connections between developments in medicine, government policy, Japanese religion and spirituality, social and cultural criticism, regional dynamics, and gender relations. The chapters all focus on the meeting and intermingling of religious with psychotherapeutic ideas and draw on a wide range of case studies including: how temple and shrine ‘cures’ of early modern Japan fared in the light of German neuropsychiatry; how Japanese Buddhist theories of mind, body, and self-cultivation negotiated with the findings of western medicine; how Buddhists, Christians, and other organizations and groups drew and redrew the lines between religious praxis and psychological healing; how major European therapies such as Freud’s fed into self-consciously Japanese analyses of and treatments for the ills of the age; and how distress, suffering, and individuality came to be reinterpreted across the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, from the southern islands of Okinawa to the devastated northern neighbourhoods of the Tohoku region after the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters of March 2011. Religion and Psychotherapy in Modern Japan will be welcomed by students and scholars working across a broad range of subjects, including Japanese culture and society, religious studies, psychology and psychotherapy, mental health, and international history.
| Author | : Ian Reader |
| Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
| Total Pages | : 265 |
| Release | : 2021 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 0197573584 |
The Shikoku pilgrimage : history, legends, ascetics, and the structure of repetition -- Modern stimulations : money, health, time and commemoration -- Living on the pilgrimage : perpetual itinerancy and 'professional pilgrims' -- Attitudes, practices, schedules and triggers : addictive patterns and the intensity of performance -- Pilgrims and their cars : sociability, scenery, faith and enjoyment -- Walkers on the way : multiplicity, motivations, health and retirement -- Concluding comments and new challenges.
| Author | : George D. Chryssides |
| Publisher | : A&C Black |
| Total Pages | : 457 |
| Release | : 2014-01-02 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 1441198296 |
The Bloomsbury Companion to New Religious Movements covers key themes such as charismatic leadership, conversion and brainwashing, prophecy and millennialism, violence and suicide, gender and sexuality, legal issues, and the portrayal of New Religious Movements by the media and anti-cult organisations. Several categories of new religions receive special attention, including African new religions, Japanese new religions, Mormons, and UFO religions. This guide to New Religious Movements and their critical study brings together 29 world-class international scholars, and serves as a resource to students and researchers. The volume highlights the current state of academic study in the field, and explores areas in which future research might develop. Clearly and accessibly organised to help users quickly locate key information and analysis, the book includes an A to Z of key terms, extensive guides to further resources, a comprehensive bibliography, and a timeline of major developments in the field such as the emergence of new groups, publications, legal decisions, and historical events.
| Author | : Aike P. Rots |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 296 |
| Release | : 2020-04-02 |
| Genre | : Art |
| ISBN | : 1000045633 |
Sacred Heritage in Japan is the first volume to explicitly address the topics of Japanese religion and heritage preservation in connection with each other. The book examines what happens when places of worship and ritual practices are rebranded as national culture. It also considers the impact of being designated tangible or intangible cultural properties and, more recently, as UNESCO World or Intangible Heritage. Drawing on primary ethnographic and historical research, the contributions to this volume show the variety of ways in which different actors have contributed to, negotiated, and at times resisted the transformation of religious traditions into heritage. They analyse the conflicts that emerge about questions of signification and authority during these processes of transformation. The book provides important new perspectives on the local implications of UNESCO listings in the Japanese context and showcases the diversity of "sacred heritage" in present-day Japan. Combining perspectives from heritage studies, Japanese studies, religious studies, history, and social anthropology, the volume will be of interest to scholars and students who want to learn more about the diversity of local responses to heritage conservation in non-Western societies. It will also be of interest to scholars and students engaged in the study of Japanese religion, society, or cultural policies.
| Author | : Levi McLaughlin |
| Publisher | : University of Hawaii Press |
| Total Pages | : 241 |
| Release | : 2018-12-31 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 0824877896 |
Soka Gakkai is Japan’s largest and most influential new religious organization: It claims more than 8 million Japanese households and close to 2 million members in 192 countries and territories. The religion is best known for its affiliated political party, Komeito (the Clean Government Party), which comprises part of the ruling coalition in Japan’s National Diet, and it exerts considerable influence in education, media, finance, and other key areas. Levi McLaughlin’s comprehensive account of Soka Gakkai draws on nearly two decades of archival research and non-member fieldwork to account for its institutional development beyond Buddhism and suggest how we should understand the activities and dispositions of its adherents. McLaughlin explores the group’s Nichiren Buddhist origins and turns to insights from religion, political science, anthropology, and cultural studies to characterize Soka Gakkai as mimetic of the nation-state. Ethnographic vignettes combine with historical evidence to demonstrate ways Soka Gakkai’s twin Buddhist and modern humanist legacies inform the organization’s mimesis of the modern Japan in which the group took shape. To make this argument, McLaughlin analyzes Gakkai sources heretofore untreated in English-language scholarship; provides a close reading of the serial novel The Human Revolution, which serves the Gakkai as both history and de facto scripture; identifies ways episodes from members’ lives form new chapters in its growing canon; and contributes to discussions of religion and gender as he chronicles the lives of members who simultaneously reaffirm generational transmission of Gakkai devotion as they pose challenges for the organization’s future. Readers looking for analyses of the nation-state and strategies for understanding New Religions and modern Buddhism will find Soka Gakkai’s Human Revolution to be an especially thought-provoking study that offers widely applicable theoretical models.
