During New Year’s, people visit shrines, hold weddings in Christian churches, and funerals follow Buddhist traditions. Westerners, whose cultures are primarily monotheistic, find it difficult to understand the Japanese view of religion, where multiple religions coexist in daily life. Several American media outlets are exploring the reasons behind this.
Religion as Part of Life in Japan
The Christian Science Monitor (CSM) published an article discussing the situation in Japan, where religion and faith are largely separate. Despite 62% of Japanese people reportedly having no faith according to a survey by WIN/Gallup International, many people visit temples and shrines. For many, visiting these places is separate from believing in the religion itself. Religion exists as a part of daily life customs, where the sacred and secular are inseparable.
One reason cited by CSM is that Japanese shrine visits often have a strong utilitarian aspect. Ema (wooden plaques) at Meiji Shrine, for example, bear various wishes, from healing illnesses to getting concert tickets. Religion is not about personal belief but about praying for wishes to come true, as written on these ema.
CSM also notes that the year of the Shikinen Sengu ceremony at Ise Grand Shrine in 2013 attracted a record-high of 14 million visitors. They speculate that the increase in young visitors is due to anxiety about the future caused by the prolonged economic downturn. A spokesperson from the Ise Grand Shrine Public Relations Office, Satoru Otowa, stated that many people have lost their purpose due to the 20-year recession and are seeking “spiritual healing.”
Acceptance of Myriad Gods and Foreign Gods
Public Radio International (PRI) finds the background of Japanese religious views in Shinto, the indigenous belief in eight million gods. According to Katsutoshi Tadokoro, the chief priest of Kinryu Hachiman Shrine in Shibuya, Tokyo, “One day, a god called Buddha came from the Asian continent. Later, a god called Christ arrived by ship. Two more gods were added to the already existing eight million gods.” Tadokoro further explains this high level of acceptance among Japanese people using tempura as an analogy. Tempura originally came from Portugal, but the Japanese accepted it and incorporated it into their culture.
Tadokoro also states, “People view religion not from the perspective of what they believe but from the perspective of rituals.” Thus, the situation arises where, while people visit shrines for various life events, if asked, they would immediately answer that they are Buddhists, as discussed by PRI.
Accepting Fierce Gods as Nourishment for the Soul
However, another American media outlet, PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), reports that this high level of acceptance is manifested in another aspect. Jeffrey Ritchie, associate professor of religious studies at Berea College in Kentucky, discusses the resilience shown by people affected by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami from a religious perspective.
Ritchie, who specializes in religious studies and is the director of the college’s Asian studies program, first notes that the Japanese view of disasters, as seen in movies like “Godzilla” and manga like “Akira,” is rooted in the image of gods as fierce entities in traditional Japanese religious culture. He then quotes from Motoori Norinaga’s “Kojiki-den” (Commentary on the Kojiki) to illustrate the Japanese view of gods, which suggests that Japanese gods are diverse in nature, with both good and bad aspects, and their intentions and actions are beyond human comprehension.
Therefore, when a disaster strikes, Japanese people with their traditional religious views are more likely to ask not “Is the disaster a divine judgment?” as monotheistic believers of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam might, but rather “How should we perceive the disaster? How can the disaster serve our inner selves?” as Ritchie poses.
From a Western perspective, it may seem that there is no faith, and even among Japanese themselves, some may feel they have no faith in religion. However, the articles mentioned above suggest that there is a reverence and awe for things beyond human understanding among the Japanese.