Religions of Japan in Practice - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691057893 ISBN 13: 9780691057897

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1999

Synopsis

This anthology reflects a range of Japanese religions in their complex, sometimes conflicting, diversity. In the tradition of the Princeton Readings in Religions series, the collection presents documents (legends and miracle tales, hagiographies, ritual prayers and ceremonies, sermons, reform treatises, doctrinal tracts, historical and ethnographic writings), most of which have been translated for the first time here, that serve to illuminate the mosaic of Japanese religions in practice.


George Tanabe provides a lucid introduction to the "patterned confusion" of Japan's religious practices. He has ordered the anthology's forty-five readings under the categories of "Ethical Practices," "Ritual Practices," and "Institutional Practices," moving beyond the traditional classifications of chronology, religious traditions (Shinto, Confucianism, Buddhism, etc.), and sects, and illuminating the actual orientation of people who engage in religious practices. Within the anthology's three broad categories, subdivisions address the topics of social values, clerical and lay precepts, gods, spirits, rituals of realization, faith, court and emperor, sectarian founders, wizards, and heroes, orthopraxis and orthodoxy, and special places. Dating from the eighth through the twentieth centuries, the documents are revealed to be open to various and evolving interpretations, their meanings dependent not only on how they are placed in context but also on how individual researchers read them. Each text is preceded by an introductory explanation of the text's essence, written by its translator. Instructors and students will find these explications useful starting points for their encounters with the varied worlds of practice within which the texts interact with readers and changing contexts.



Religions of Japan in Practice is a compendium of relationships between great minds and ordinary people, abstruse theories and mundane acts, natural and supernatural powers, altruism and self-interest, disappointment and hope, quiescence and war. It is an indispensable sourcebook for scholars, students, and general readers seeking engagement with the fertile "ordered disorder" of religious practice in Japan.

About this title

About the Author

George J. Tanabe, Jr., is Professor and Chair in the Department of Religion at the University of Hawaii. Having research interests covering doctrinal and practical issues in medieval and modern Japan, he is the author of MyÉe the Dreamkeeper, coeditor of The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture, and coauthor of Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan.

From the Back Cover

"Religions of Japan in Practice demonstrates the wide variety of topics and source materials being studied by current scholars of Japan. More important, its very diversity demands that we rethink scholarly categories and boundaries within the field of Japanese religious studies. Both teachers and students will find much that is new and fascinating."--William M. Bodiford, University of California, Los Angeles

Reviews

The latest offering in the Princeton Readings in Religions series rises to the same high standards as previous volumes on India and China. Editor Tanabe (Practically Religious) has gathered 45 documentsAranging from legends and prayer rituals to sermons and theological treatisesAto illustrate the dynamic, living character of Japanese religion. Rather than classifying the documents according to religious traditions (Shintoism, Buddhism, Confucianism), Tanabe has divided them into sections that reflect the ways that people use certain texts in religious practices. In the first section, "Ethical Practices," Mary Evelyn Tucker provides a translation of Confucian scholar Kaibara Ekken's (1630-1714) "Precepts on Family," in which the teacher offers advice on raising children, serving parents and things to do in the morning ("Every day we should get up early, wash our hands and face, and first inquire about the health of our parents."). Other writings in the section deal with such matters as syncretism, monastic discipline, celibacy and nationalism. A second section, "Ritual Practices," contains documents related to the gods and spirits and to faith. For instance, William E. Deal offers a translation of "Tales of Birth in the Pure Land," legends that accompany birth rituals in Amida, or Pure Land, Buddhism. A final section collects documents concerned with "Institutional Practices," including excerpts from imperial histories and tales of great heroes. Perhaps the most fascinating offering in this section is H. Byron Earhart and Etsuko Mita's translation from Our Master Teshima Ikuro, a record of Ikuro's (1910-1973) call to the Christian ministry and the subsequent development of his preaching style combining the elements of his Japanese heritage with his Christian religion. Tanabe's collection is one of the finest anthologies available of primary documents illustrating the diversity and liveliness of Japanese religions.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The fifth in a distinguished series of anthologies on world religion from Princeton, this volume brings together a variety of documents representing the diverse and complex religious traditions of Japan. Each of the 45 chapters is introduced by a scholar in the field. The book as a whole is arranged thematically (e.g. "Social Values," "Faith," and "Spirits"), with each section containing articles that illuminate the theme as it manifests itself in different areas of Japanese religious thought and practice. Rather than canonical literature, the volume presents more obscure texts, including pamphlets, folktales, and ritual manuals in an attempt to depict the influence of religion in the daily life and culture of Japan over the centuries. An enormous undertaking, this is a book to be admired rather than enjoyed, and its value to those in the field of comparative religions is undeniable. Neither an introductory text nor for the casual reader, it is indispensable for academic collections supporting religious studies programs.AMark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691057893
• ISBN 13: 9780691057897
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 584
• Editor: Tanabe Jr. George J.