The Encyclopedia of World Religions

234 S Japanese religion

do such “martial arts” as Zen archery and swords manship. They are seen as ways of expressing the universal Buddha-nature in spontaneity of expres sion. Zen and its arts flourished especially in the Muromachi period (1336–1573); during this time, Japan suffered like Europe in its Middle Ages from feudal wars, and as in Europe it was monasteries, particularly Zen, that kept culture alive. CHRISTIANITY The short Momoyama period, 1573–1600, was the first golden age of Catholic Christianity in Japan. Jesuits under St. Francis Xavier and later Francis cans, following Portuguese lines of trade, brought the faith to the island empire and, amidst troubled times, at first had remarkable success. But the Tokugawa house came to power as shoguns or mil itary dictators in 1600 and persecuted Christianity, fearing that it would lead to more foreign influence if not foreign rule. Where it survived it was forced deep underground. The Tokugawa, who ruled from 1600 to 1868, tried to keep out nearly all foreign ideas and to organize society along strict Confu cian lines. MODERN JAPAN By the 19th century, there was growing social fer ment within and growing outside pressure from Europe and America to open up the country. Even tually, in the so-called Meiji Restoration of 1868, the shoguns were retired and the emperor restored, nominally, to direct rule. Christian missionaries returned. Part of the Meiji ideology was to bring back ancient Shinto as a national religion of patrio tism and loyalty to the throne. At the same time, Japan was being built up as a modern industrial and military power. This was the situation that led to the extreme nationalism and militarism of the 1930s and 1940s and Japan’s World War II surren der in 1945. Shinto and the “imperial will” were used, often cynically, by the militarists as supports for their policy; religion was under tight govern ment control during this period. After 1945 Japan enjoyed religious freedom. Shinto reorganized itself independent of the state. Buddhism, though shorn by land reform of estates

great impetus to art. Tendai stressed the suprem acy of the L OTUS S UTRA but tolerantly allowed many forms of practice to develop under its aegis, since it thought there were many paths for people in dif ferent stages of spirituality. In the end, it became almost as given to esoteric practices as Shingon. Both Shingon and Tendai were complex, sophisti cated styles of Buddhism; each was headquartered in its own vast mountaintop monastery. KAMAKURA BUDDHISM The next period in Japanese history, the Kamakura (1185–1333), brought a new class to power, the sam urai warlords, and also new Buddhist movements: P URE L AND B UDDHISM , N ICHIREN , and Z EN B UDDHISM . Each was a reaction against the complexity of Heian Buddhism, in favor of radical simplification and popularization. The new people, warriors prepar ing to die on the field of battle, as well as peasants and shopkeepers, wanted to learn of some single, simple, sure key to SALVATION , which was accessible not just to monks, but also to those facing death in battle, or in the midst of everyday life. Faith was the answer. Pure Land Buddhism, taught by Honen (1133–1212) and his disciple Shinran (1173–1262), said that all one really needs is to have faith in the vow or promise of the Buddha A MIDA to bring all who call upon his name into the Pure Land or Western Paradise after death. Honen founded the Jodo-shu sect of Pure Land and Shinran the Jodo shinshu sect, both major DENOMINATIONS of Japa nese Buddhism today. Nichiren (1222–82), a fiery prophet, taught faith in the Lotus Sutra, expressed through a chant; his message also spawned major denominations and the largest religious movement in 20th-century Japan. ZEN Zen came to Japan from China as a separate institu tional presence, and two major denominations, in the Kamakura period. It appealed especially to the samurai class because of its emphasis on self-disci pline and an austere way of life, and also because of the artistic creativity it fostered. Traditional Jap anese arts, like rock gardens, flower arrangement, No plays, and the tea ceremony, have Zen roots, as