Abstract
This chapter examines Japanese Buddhists affiliated with traditional denominations in their role as relief donors and reveals how international relief work has come to provide them with an important channel to break out of their traditional sectarianism and parochial mindset, and as a consequence, help them become integrated as part of Japanese “civil society.”1 I focus especially on the activities of Japan Buddhist Federation (JBF), a loose union of self-governing Buddhist sects whose role is particularly important in promoting the collective interests of Japanese Buddhists and building a national network for relief groups that have worked in relative isolation for centuries. In recent years, JBF has put its efforts into making Japanese Buddhism more beneficial for the public good, and young members in particular have been at the core of a movement to promote humanitarian activities in the international community. Social engagement, on the other hand, may be effective in building communal bonds in a milieu where people share their public values and expectations, but the notion of supporting “strangers” in foreign countries has been unfamiliar to the Japanese public until recently. This allows us to examine the significance of “international relief work” in Japan, and what it implies to Buddhists who are trying to extend their support beyond the traditional confines of their local congregation and sect members.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Works Cited
Alagappa, Muthiah. 2004. “Introduction.” In Civil Society and Political Change in Asia: Expanding and Contracting Democratic Space, edited by Muthiah Alagappa, 1–21. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Bornholdt, Suzana R. C. 2009. “Missionary Strategies and Establishment of Soka Gakkai in Brazil.” PhD diss., Lancaster University, UK.
Hardacre, Helen. 2004. “Religion and Civil Society in Contemporary Japan.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 31 (2): 389–415.
Inagaki Masami. 1993. Kindai Bukkyōno Henkakusha. Tokyo: Ōkura Shuppan.
Kashiwahara Yūsen. 1990. Nihon Bukkyōshi: Kindai. Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan.
Kinenshi Hensanbukai. 1954. Zenbutsu Nijūnen no Ayumi. Tokyo: Zen Nihon Bukkyōkai.
Kinenshi Hensanbukai. 2009. Zaidan S ō ritsu Gojisshūnen Kinen Zen Nihon Bukkyōkai no Ayumi to Tenbō. Tokyo: Zen Nihon Bukkyōkai.
Reader, Ian. 2011. “Buddhism in Crisis? Institutional Decline in Modern Japan.” Buddhist Studies Review 28 (2): 233–63.
Schwartz, Frank J. 2003. “What Is Civil Society?” In The State of Civil Society in Japan, edited by Frank J. Schwartz and Susan J. Pharr, 23–41. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Shimada Hiromi. 2010. Sōshiki was Iranai. Tokyo: Gentōsha.
Shimazono Susumu. 2004. From Salvation to Spirituality: Popular Religious Movements in Modern Japan. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press.
Stone, Jacqueline. 2003. “Nichiren’s Activist Heirs: Soka Gakkai, RosshōKoseikai, Nipponzan Myohoji.” In Action Dharma: New Studies in Engaged Buddhism, edited by Christopher S. Queen, Charles S. Prebish, and Damien Keown, 63–94. London: Routledge Curzon.
Sueki Fumihiko. 2004. Nihon to Bukky ō: Kindai Nihon no ShisōSaikō, vol. 2. Tokyo: Transview.
Ueda Noriyuki. 2004. Ganbare Bukkyō: Otera Runessansu no Jidai. Tokyo: NHK Books.
Watts, Jonathan S. 2004. “A Brief Overview of Buddhist NGOs in Japan.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 31 (2): 417–28.
Watts, Jonathan S. 2005. “The Search for Socially Engaged Buddhism in Japan.” http://www.inebnetwork.org/thinksangha/tsangha/jsebcs.htm
Zen Nihon Bukkyōkai. 2009. Zen Nihon Bukkyōkai no Ayumi to Tenbō Tokyo: Zen Nihon Bukkyōkai.
Zen Nihon Bukkyōkai. 2011. Higashi-Nihon Daishinsai Shien Chūkan-Hōkokusho. Tokyo: Zen Nihon Bukkyōkai.
Booklets and Newsletters
Rentai Nihon Pagodakai DayoriShanti
Zenbutsu
Zenbutsu Tsūshin
Websites
http://www.brelief.org/index.htm
http://www.npo-hiroba.or.jp/know/answer02.html#a01
http://www.sir.or.jp/org/detail.asp?id=109
http://renge.asia/modules/tinyd0/
http://www.asianotomo.jp/?q=history
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2013 Hiroko Kawanami and Geoffrey Samuel
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kawanami, H. (2013). Implications of International Relief Work and Civil Society for Japanese Buddhists Affiliated with Traditional Denominations. In: Kawanami, H., Samuel, G. (eds) Buddhism, International Relief Work, and Civil Society. Contemporary Anthropology of Religion. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137380234_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137380234_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-47916-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-38023-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)