Japanese Spiritual Resources and their Contemporary Relevance

Abstract

No other major tradition in the world has manifested attitudinal ambiguity, pluralistic diversity, and ideological complexity as much as the Japanese tradition. First, as far as attitudinal ambiguity is con- cerned, Japan's religious population always far exceeds its actual population, For example, in the Religious Yearbook for 1966 published by Japan's Ministry of Education, the total religious population was 139,607,789; if the religious group not officially recognized and counted by the Ministry were also included, the number should reach 155,905,502, which seems logically impossible, considering the fact that the entire actual population of Japan in 1966 was just about one hundred million. The explanation for this seemingly impossible statis- tics is that it is customary for Japanese believers to be associated with more than one religion. One may belong to both Shinto ("The Way of kami or gods'') and a particular sect of Japanese Buddhism; one may be associated with a newly founded religion, which is yet to be officially recognized, in addition to one's Shinto and Buddhist beliefs: one may also loosely belong to several religions without being fully aware of any apparent doctrinal conflicts. If Japanese Confucianism, which constitutes the basic pattern of individual behaviour and social decorum in Japan, is also regarded as a religion, as most Western observers do, then Japan's religious population will have to be even higher than the number officially given.