Abstract
The 2011 Tohoku earthquake and the subsequent tsunami compel us to reflect on a religious function, especially Japanese Buddhism’s role in contemporary Japan. This chapter explores how Japanese Buddhism faced with natural disasters previously and today. It is organized into four parts. First, Japan experiences two major disasters: typhoons and earthquakes. In addition, droughts and long-continued rains caused famine in the past. Second, I discuss that prayer was the center of Japanese Buddhism against natural disasters in the past. Major periods are discussed. Third, I discuss two events that caused the secularization of Japanese Buddhism. During the Tokugawa regime, temple registration was enforced and the danka (households that support a temple) system was established which made Japanese Buddhism an institution to support the regime. During the Meiji era, haibutsu kishaku (a movement to abolish Buddhism and destroy Shakamuni) promoted State Shinto. Through secularization, Japanese Buddhism lost enthusiasm to tackle with disasters and misfortune. Fourth, I discuss the role of Japanese Buddhism in contemporary Japan which was rediscovered when monks and believers faced recent natural disasters. Today many Buddhist temples and organizations actively participate in volunteer activities such as offering their facilities, holding counseling sessions, distributing foods, collecting contributions and cleaning up debris. Faced with natural disasters, the role of Japanese Buddhism changed from prayers to overcome violent nature to volunteer works to lessen victims’ sufferings.
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Notes
- 1.
Jingi worship became Shinto after the Middle Ages when it was systematized. At this time, the name, Shinto, did not exist.
- 2.
Ascetic practices in mountains and forests have a strong affinity with esoteric Buddhism (Uejima 2002: 249). Thus, Saicho and Kukai had an inclination to select esoteric Buddhism when they studied in Tang-dynasty China.
- 3.
The majority of higher ranking monks in large temples were from the Imperial Family and the upper Court nobles.
- 4.
Fu His and Shen Nung were legendary kings who reigned over ideal societies in ancient China (Nichiren Daishonin and Gosho Translation Committee 1991: 397).
- 5.
New religions have mainly two different types, Buddhism-based and Shinto-based. In this paper, I focus on Buddhism-based new religions.
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Yotsumoto, Y. (2015). Japanese Buddhism and Its Responses to Natural Disasters: Past and Present. In: Brunn, S. (eds) The Changing World Religion Map. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9376-6_13
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