Japan, Part Nine

Japanese Temples, Part Two

The three major religions in Japan are Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism, although the latter is far more a philosophy than a religion. Other religions are also common, including Christianity--but the Japanese rarely belong to only one religion. In fact, most Japanese will claim that they are not religious at all, and a few minutes later stop to pray at an office shrine.


Here is a Bahaii temple, one of the many other religions represented in Japan.

We learned that since WWII the Japanese have become smitten with the Christian wedding ceremony, so frequently people who continue practicing Shinto and Buddhism (almost everyone practices both) get married in a Christian church. That's the best example I know to show that the Japanese have a very different attitude toward religion from that of westerners.


Because there are no funerals in Shinto, Buddhism provides them. No one seems bothered by the difference between the importance of ancestors--implying that their spirits remain in shrines or around the family home in some kind of conscious awareness and individuality--and the Buddhist belief in reincarnation.

To my knowledge, the Japanese attitude toward religion is unique, and I don't think westerners will ever really understand it.



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Learn to Speak Japanese

How to import a car from Japan. Click here.

Click here for Seven Reasons to Visit India.

This series of posts on my trip to Japan begins here.

The journal of my trip to India and Nepal begins here.

The series of posts on my trip to Italy begins here.

Geezer-Chick's guest blog on York, England is here.

MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that the author of this blog has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

Japan, Part Eight

Japanese Temples, Part One

Japan is a land of many religions, although the three primary ones are Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Most Japanese participate in more than one.


There are Shinto shrines everywhere, little shrines in homes and offices, and in the streets and countryside, where people stop to offer prayers about any problem in their lives.


Torii, the gates of Shinto temples, are found in the streets, marking the way to the nearest temple, where anyone is welcome. One place we visited is called "Thousand Torii," a thousand gates.


Anyone who shows proper respect is welcome in a Shinto temple. Before entering, you remove your shoes and wash your hands and face at the fountain always provided. Inside you invoke the various gods, or kami, like the fox god. Shinto is all about life--it marks the stages in a person's life from childhood to old age, but there are no Shinto funerals. It is believed that the dead would pollute the temples ... even though some people become kami after death.

For funerals, the Japanese turn to Buddhism. More about that next week.
__________________________________

Learn to Speak Japanese

How to import a car from Japan. Click here.

Click here for Seven Reasons to Visit India.

This series of posts on my trip to Japan begins here.

The journal of my trip to India and Nepal begins here.

The series of posts on my trip to Italy begins here.

Geezer-Chick's guest blog on York, England is here.

MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that the author of this blog has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.