Shinto-Buddhism in Japan
Japan's main religious tradition is a combination of the conventional Shinto beliefs integrated with the imported Buddhist practices. Long been considered the land of several million gods, Japanese base their traditional Shinto beliefs on this pantheon. But the introduction of Buddhism in the mid 500's A.D. forced an amalgamation of the two belief systems. Over time these two very different religious traditions blended together into a unique system practiced throughout Japan.
Shinto, also known as the "way of the deities," arose during Japan's earliest period and focused on what the early Japanese believed as gods, or kami, which inhabited the natural world. Kami were usually some extraordinary aspect of nature and could be anything including trees, rocks, mountains, rivers and even people. The introduction of agriculture began the association of Shinto rituals with the agricultural cycle and festivals and other religious events often coincided with times of planting or harvesting. "Major rituals contained four parts: purification, offerings, recitations or prayers, and a concluding meal." (Watt, 2003) Originally the Shinto religion was a naturalistic religious tradition and thus the Japanese built no religious buildings or structures, but by the year 600 A.D., the Japanese began to built shrines that represented the kami and offered a permanent place for religious...
Thus to some, Chinese acceptance of Buddhism was surprising given that "China was already a very old civilization, with a written language, a well-organized government system and educational system, with two well-established philosophical and religious traditions -- the Confucian and Daoist Traditions -- sophisticated literature, poetry, art & #8230; so we had here a very highly developed highly literate civilization, and Buddhism came from outside via missionaries" (Garfield 2010).
Japan complex set of factors affect the culture of any country. One of the most important aspects that determine the way of life of a people is the geography of the area in which they reside. In case of Japan, a single geographic feature of the country alone -- it being an island -- determines much of the country's insular character giving rise to a unique language, culture and religion.
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