عنوان

The Conceptual Formation of the Category "Religion" in Modern Japan:

Number

LA116687

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

The Conceptual Formation of the Category "Religion" in Modern Japan:

General Material Designation

[Article]

Other Title Information

Religion, State, Shintō

First Statement of Responsibility

Jun'ichi Isomae 磯前順一

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

The Japanese word shūkyō was originally a coined word occurring in Chinese Buddhist dictionaries, but it became used as the translation for the English word "religion" when the English word was transmitted to Japan from the West after the opening of the country at the end of the nineteenth century. At that time, a new kind of Japanese language treating Shintō and Buddhism as 'religions' was born, with Christianity forming the axis, but while still intertwined with Buddhism and Shintō. Bearing in mind the Protestant influence on acculturation processes in Japan at the beginning of the Meiji period, this paper aims to offer an overview of how the term "religion" became embedded in Japan and how the Meiji government dealt with the competition of Shintō against Christianity and Buddhism. In that context it touches upon crucial historical and social developments such as the clash between science and religion of the late 1870s and the opposition between the state and religion in the early 1890s, together with well-known incidents such as the Uchimura Kanzō affair. The paper focuses in particular on the period from the end of the early modern Edo regime through the end of the Meiji period and analyzes how views of religious issues underwent transition within Japan. The Japanese word shūkyō was originally a coined word occurring in Chinese Buddhist dictionaries, but it became used as the translation for the English word "religion" when the English word was transmitted to Japan from the West after the opening of the country at the end of the nineteenth century. At that time, a new kind of Japanese language treating Shintō and Buddhism as 'religions' was born, with Christianity forming the axis, but while still intertwined with Buddhism and Shintō. Bearing in mind the Protestant influence on acculturation processes in Japan at the beginning of the Meiji period, this paper aims to offer an overview of how the term "religion" became embedded in Japan and how the Meiji government dealt with the competition of Shintō against Christianity and Buddhism. In that context it touches upon crucial historical and social developments such as the clash between science and religion of the late 1870s and the opposition between the state and religion in the early 1890s, together with well-known incidents such as the Uchimura Kanzō affair. The paper focuses in particular on the period from the end of the early modern Edo regime through the end of the Meiji period and analyzes how views of religious issues underwent transition within Japan.

Date of Publication

2012

Physical description

226-245

Title

Journal of Religion in Japan

Volume Number

1/3

International Standard Serial Number

2211-8349

Subject Term

Buddhism

Subject Term

Christianity

Subject Term

concept of religion

Subject Term

dichotomy of religion and the secular

Subject Term

Emperor institution

Subject Term

Shintō

Jun'ichi Isomae 磯前順一

Call Number

10.1163/22118349-12341236

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y