Recent Trends in the Geography of Religion in Japan - Geography of Religion in Japan: Religious Space, Landscape, and Behavior - page 5

Historical geographers have published several research papers in this fi eld. Miki
( 1996 , 1998 , 2001 , 2005 ) examined the development and regional acceptance of the
religious associations ( ko ) of Mt. Mitsumine in the latter half of the Edo era in Edo
(Tokyo) and Chichibu. The Mt. Mitsumine religion, which connotes faith in several
gods, could be characterized as a branch of similar local religions. Miki ( 1996 )
argued that specifi c religious practices penetrated the Chichibu Area in the latter
half of the seventeenth century because of the socioeconomic condition of the area
and communication among different neighborhoods.
In the seventeenth century, Otaki Village produced lumber for Edo, and Mt.
Mitsumine functioned as a tutelary mountain ( Chinju ) for the region. Miki ( 1998 )
assumed that the association of economic activity (forestry, sawmilling, and lum-
ber) with chinju could explain development and acceptance of the Association of
Mt. Mitsumine. Miki considered the connections of religious practice by local peo-
ple to Mt. Mitsumine.
The acceptance of faith in a neighborhood area is also described in a series of
papers by Funasugi ( 1994 , 1997 ). Funasugi explained that the regional penetration
of the ise faith in Echigo and through Japan during the sixteenth century depended
on the relationship between the distribution of amulets ( onshi ) and guide priests
( douja ). Funasugi ( 1994 ) explored the penetration of the ise faith to new frontier
villages in the Chichibu Area, and emphasized the importance of the relationship
between community and faith.
Fujimura ( 2001 ) described the relationship between the foreign and existing reli-
gions in the Okukumano Area. Takemura ( 2000 ) argued that as the Mormonism was
disseminated and became accepted, the faith formed a relationship with existing
religions such as the Jodoshinshu sect of Buddhism. Both Fujimura and Takemura
focused on the coexistence and competition between multiple religions in a given
area, and described the necessary conditions needed for certain foreign religions to
take root.
Sakano ( 2003 ) described the distribution and diffusion of the mountainous faith
of Mt. Hakkaisan in Niigata. Two factors have infl uenced the diffusion of this faith:
the infl uence of the Mt. Kiso-Ontake faith and the road traffi c system. We should
evaluate his concept of a hierarchy among the sacred mountains of Japan. Hiromoto
( 2004 ) showed the distribution of the belief in two mountains, Hakuyu and Takayu,
in Tochigi, and the historical changes in the distribution of belief. Tsutsui ( 2004 )
investigated several religious groups of Mt. Chokai (Chokai-ko) in Yamagata to
discover how and why Shinto priests created new groups for certain shrines. Her
study found the main reason to begin a new group was to gain fi nancial support to
reconstruct and repair the shrine.
Matsui ( 1995a , 1999 ) examined the regional characteristics of the catchment
areas of religious faith through case studies of the Kanamura Betsurai and the
Kasama Inari shrines. Some evidence suggests this faith has a concentric-circle
structure, but the spatial difference between neighborhood areas (the fi rst area) and
outer areas (the second area) explained how beliefs are accepted in the different
areas and the relationship with other religions (Matsui 1999 ). Other case studies
consider specifi c mountain religions, including those at Mt. Iwaki (Kaneko 1998 ),