Medieval Shinto and Christianity in Japan

Much has been made of Shinto as a religious tradition nearly superseded by Buddhism in pre-modern times in Japan. However, the fact of the matter is that while Buddhism flowered on the "formal" and "institutional" levels, Shinto was preserved on the "informal" and "local" levels. It is thought as well that Shinto's integration of Buddhist rites and practice are in some ways responsible for the broadened appeal of Buddhism.

Buddhism was not the only religious tradition that medieval Shinto drew from in Japan, however, as Confucian ethical concepts and Taoist cosmology (including a religious calendar, divinities and festivals) were also accepted and adopted along with Buddhist philosophies and practices.

The term "medieval Shinto" refers to this period when Shinto was actively incorporating concepts and practices from other religious traditions and was organizing itself along those lines, roughly from the Heian period onward and culminating around 1868, the date of the Meiji Restoration (near when Buddhism and Shinto were separated by force).

While many traditions influenced Shinto at this time, Buddhism was the most important. The Buddhist theory of "original substance manifest traces" permeated Shinto thought, with the Japanese considering the kami as "manifest traces" of the "original substance" of particular Buddhas and bodhisattvas. While this practice was widespread, it was never uniformly constituted, so a kami with a Buddha counterpart in one part of the country may have a different counterpart in another part of the country.

Medieval Shinto borrowed especially from the Tendai and Shingon sects of Buddhism, as the Japanese character of the traditions made them more readily available and their richer philosophies and practice was something Shinto longed for.

Christianity was introduced to Japan largely after the major religious traditions had appeared and intermingled to become the complementary traditions that exist today. Roman Catholic missionaries introduced Christianity in 1549, an initially difficult concept for the Japanese to accept with its exclusivity of all other religious commitment.

The first Christian missionary to Japan was Saint Francis Xavier (the "Apostle of Japan"), who was drawn to Japan while on a missionary trip to Asia. While Xavier saw many initial converts, persecution followed, and after the "Christian century in Japan" (ending around 1650) Christianity was either practiced in secret or not at all.

It appears that Christianity was at its peak in terms of converts in Japan during times of trouble or social unrest, such as during the latter part of the Japanese civil wars (1482 - 1558). After these periods of upheaval, when the Japanese would again begin to develop a more nationalistic attitude, Christianity's "foreignness" would again lead it to criticism and persecution.

Christianity was more widely accepted in the first half of the Christian century (1549 - 1597), partly in response to the civil wars of the time and the immorality that came with them. Christianity was especially attractive to the Japanese bushi (warrior) for its tenet of absolute loyalty to a sovereign God, not too great a step from the warrior's already disciplined loyalty to his feudal lord. The common people, in turn, were drawn to Christianity for its promise of salvation and its strong morality.

The fate of Christianity was closely linked to that of three military rulers of the period: the first, who supported Christianity largely to check the power of Buddhism; the second, who persecuted Christians as well as Amida and Pure Land Buddhists, and who issued an edict in 1587 to expel Catholic priests (which went mostly unenforced); and the third, who actually drove the missionaries from Japan with a 1614 edict proscribing Christianity. To make things worse for Christianity, the Shimbara Revolt (1637 - 1638) by Japanese Christians, which led to the deaths of many thousands, only served to justify the government in abolishing Christianity outright in the final exclusion order of 1639.

Japanese Christianity carried on as an "underground" religion, mixing naturally with the customs and beliefs of the Japanese people. Even so, Christianity has yet to become "Japanized" enough to be considered an inherent Japanese religious tradition.

Sources:

Earhart, H. Byron. Japanese Religion: Unity and Diversity. 4^th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004.

Earhart, H. Byron. Religion in the Japanese Experience: Sources and Interpretations. 2^nd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1997.