Introduction - Religion and Politics in Contemporary Japan - page 6

Armed with newfound legal rights based on freedom of belief as the new
dictum, it was the lay-oriented popular religious movements that became the
more active in terms of regular community activities (Earhart 1984; Hardacre
2003, 2004: 390; Shimazono 2004), compared to so-called

reli-
gions. 3 The practice-oriented Lotus Sutra/Nichiren tradition groups have been
the most active, and among those Soka Gakkai the most successful. Many of
them are also politically involved, although data on this are scarce. 4
In Japan, the term

' established '

' new religion ' generally refers to those organisations that

arose during three periods: the first from roughly 1800 to 1860, the second

during the 1920s, and the third in the immediate post-war period. The typology
' points to the beginnings of some religious organisations as sectarian

developments within Shinto and Buddhism; it does not indicate that they are
of very recent origin. A group may have existed for almost 200 years and
still be referred to as

new '

(cf. Hardacre 2003: 139). Sectarian developments
are not, of course, unique to the modern period, but a lay-centred leadership
characterises these modern developments. The scholar of new religions
Hardacre (2003) estimates that around one quarter of the Japanese population
belong to a new religion; another such religious scholar, Shimazono (2004),
believes it to be somewhere between 10% to 20%. Rissh - K - seikai has around
6 million, Reiy - kai Ky - dan, Tenriky - , and Bussh - Gonenkai have under 2
million each, and Perfect Liberty Ky - dan and My - chikai Ky - dan around 1
million each (Hardacre 2003).
While one could be tempted to conclude from such numbers alone that
religion is indeed popular in Japan, Earhart (1982: 193) famously pointed out
that most Japanese people actually say they are not religious. Also, even if
people say they are Buddhist this may not indicate that they are so exclu-
sively, but rather that their family observe certain Buddhist rituals for family
ancestors (Earhart 1982); many

' new '

' Buddhists ' go on to have a Shinto or Chris-

(shinbutsush - g - )ofkami (gods
connected with Shintoism) and hotoke (Buddhas and Bodhisattvas connected
with Buddhism) has been described as characteristic of the Japanese religious
landscape, a re

tian wedding. Such religious ' syncretism '

ection of the historical way in which Shinto and Buddhism
have co-existed, often within the same premises. As elsewhere, Buddhism has
of course always incorporated local traditions (cf. Gellner 1997). 5 What is
more peculiar to the Japanese case is the way in which religious ' syncretism '

has become part of an ideology that represents speci tolerance

towards other religious beliefs. Davis (1991), for example, argues that such
religious syncretism will prevent fundamentalism and fascism from develop-
ing. This is a rather di

c ' Japanese '

cult argument to make, given the rise of State Shinto
and without acknowledging that the admired tradition of religious ' syncret-

ism ' re ects a pervasive state in uence. The in uence of the state has also

resulted in establishing ' orthodoxy ' . Despite the famous ' Japanese tolerance ' ,

we ered from local shrines

or temples were ostracised from the community if they refused to participate
in local rituals. Such kind of religious syncretism could not be said to easily

find many instances where people whose beliefs di