The Invention of Religion in Japan
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- A Note on Texts and Translations -- Introduction -- 1. The Marks of Heresy: Organizing Difference in Premodern Japan -- 2. Heretical Anthropology -- 3. The Arrival of Religion -- 4. The Science of the Gods -- 5. Formations of the Shinto Secul...
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| Format: | Electronic Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subito Delivery Service: | Order now. |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Chicago
University of Chicago Press
[2012]
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| In: | Year: 2012 |
| Further subjects: | B
RELIGION / Generals
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| Online Access: |
Contents Cover (Verlag) Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- A Note on Texts and Translations -- Introduction -- 1. The Marks of Heresy: Organizing Difference in Premodern Japan -- 2. Heretical Anthropology -- 3. The Arrival of Religion -- 4. The Science of the Gods -- 5. Formations of the Shinto Secular -- 6. Taming Demons -- 7. Inventing Japanese Religion -- 8. Religion within the Limits -- Conclusion -- Appendix: Religion Explained -- Notes -- Character Glossary -- References -- Index Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of what we call “religion.” There was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning. But when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this Western idea. In this book, Jason Ananda Josephson reveals how Japanese officials invented religion in Japan and traces the sweeping intellectual, legal, and cultural changes that followed. More than a tale of oppression or hegemony, Josephson’s account demonstrates that the process of articulating religion offered the Japanese state a valuable opportunity. In addition to carving out space for belief in Christianity and certain forms of Buddhism, Japanese officials excluded Shinto from the category. Instead, they enshrined it as a national ideology while relegating the popular practices of indigenous shamans and female mediums to the category of “superstitions”—and thus beyond the sphere of tolerance. Josephson argues that the invention of religion in Japan was a politically charged, boundary-drawing exercise that not only extensively reclassified the inherited materials of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto to lasting effect, but also reshaped, in subtle but significant ways, our own formulation of the concept of religion today. This ambitious and wide-ranging book contributes an important perspective to broader debates on the nature of religion, the secular, science, and superstition |
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| Item Description: | restricted access online access with authorization star |
| Format: | Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web. |
| ISBN: | 0226412350 |
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.7208/9780226412351 |