A Messenger from the Buddha to Modern Japan : Matsudaira Toshiko’s Social Activism, Writings, and Faith in the 1920s and 1930s

Until recently, the history of Nichiren Buddhism, and modern Japanese Buddhism in general, has focused chiefly on male clerics and intellectuals. This article restores to that history the neglected figure of Matsudaira Toshiko (1890–1985), a prominent female figure within the Nichiren Buddhist tradition. Although famous as a darling of the mass media in the 1920s and 1930s and respected beyond Nichirenist circles as an emerging Buddhist leader and female role model, she is little known today. Matsudaira Toshiko sought to improve the status of women in Japan through a vast array of social activities, especially after the Great Kantō Earthquake. These efforts were deeply rooted in her religious beliefs. This article analyzes Matsudaira’s activism, writings, and faith to explore how women in modern Japan approached, accepted, and practiced Nichiren Buddhism. It contributes to the literature on women and Nichiren Buddhism from the Meiji period through the early Shōwa era by shedding light on what meaning Buddhism had for female believers in modern Japan, and reinterpreting the history of Buddhism in modern Japan as the practice of faith, rather than as a story of Buddhist doctrines, institutions, and reform movements.Early Access Publishing date: 2025/07/31journal articl

In the Dragon Girl’s Footsteps : Women in Nichiren Buddhism and Modern Nichirenist Gender Ideology

In the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, the movement known as Nichirenism sought to realize an ideal Japan based on the Lotus Sutra and the teachings of the medieval Buddhist figure Nichiren (1222–1282). In pursuing this goal, leaders within the movement sought to mobilize the efforts of women. They formulated a female gender ideology that drew both on Nichiren’s egalitarian reading of the dragon girl episode in the Lotus Sutra and on the contemporary discourse of “good wives, wise mothers” as exemplifying women’s proper social roles. This article has two major aims. One is to provide a preliminary overview of women in Nichiren Buddhist history, considering women in Nichiren’s early community and introducing examples of women practitioners from later medieval and early modern times. The second aim is to analyze how modern Nichirenist advocates crafted and legitimated female gender norms, focusing on writings by the lay leader Tanaka Chigaku (1861–1939) and the elite nun Murakumo Nichijō (1896–1962). The ongoing influence of Nichirenist gender ideology is also addressed. Finally, the article touches on the possibility of alternative readings of Nichiren’s teaching with regard to women.Early Access Publishing date: 2025/06/24journal articl

Belgium

Belgium has a small East Asian diaspora, within which the Chinese community is the largest, as well as a long local reception of Chinese and Japanese art, philosophy and religion which led to some Belgians identifying as Buddhist from the 1950s onward. Today there are a significant number in particular of Belgian Buddhist converts in various East Asian traditions, with centres identifying as “Zen” (sometimes in practice Ch’an, Thiền or Sŏn) the most visible, alongside East Asian-led groups. East Asian Christianities, new religious movements, holistic healing and martial arts are all also visible. Research on East Asian religiosities in Belgium is constrained both by a shortage of statistical data and limited scholarly interest

Teachings and Guidance for Women in Modern Japan’s Nichiren Buddhism : The Activities of the Murakumo Women’s Association and its Journal

In this article, I examine teachings and guidance for women in modern Japan’s Nichiren Buddhism. I focus on the activities of the Murakumo Women’s Association, formed in 1906 by the Nichiren nun Murakumo Nichiei (1855–1920), and particularly on its journal, Murakumo Women. I consider the teachings of male Nichiren priests, the voices of female members, and the Buddhist sermons of Nichiei. My analysis reveals a pattern: male priests quoted from the same Nichiren passages and then presented their own interpretations for modern society. Through this, they attempted to solve “the women’s issue” of the time using Nichiren Buddhism, drawing from Nichiren’s writings to justify patriarchy and the “good wife, wise mother” ideology. Unlike Jōdo Shinshū and other Buddhist schools, Nichiren Buddhism discusses women’s salvation in terms of the attainment of buddhahood by the dragon king’s daughter. This episode frequently appeared in the association’s journal, but in the context of male priests preaching to women about theirsalvation. The evidence also suggests that Nichiei’s ideas, although different from those of male priests, were reinterpreted by them into views of women and the household that conformed to gender-asymmetrical relationships.Early Access Publishing date: 2025/06/24journal articl

On Secular and Radical Buddhism

This is a formatted version (for e-book readers or printing) of a very long blog post about secular and radical Buddhism. It discusses Stephen Batchelor's secular Buddhism, Seno'o Giro's radical Buddhism (as well as its roots in Mahayana philosophy; Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra in particular), and several related topics

The translation and domestication of an oriental religion into a western Catholic country: the case of Soka Gakkai in Italy

This thesis is premised on the fundamental notion of religious translation as a process of interpretation and adaptation that arises out of a complex iinguistic and cultural interplay. Its aim is to examine the types of interpretative problems one encounters as a society deeply rooted in Biblical and Christian practices struggles to integrate the rituals and formulae of Buddhism. As part of a cultural system, the translation of a religion cannot be explored in a vacuum, but needs to be viewed in the mutual interdependence with other elements of such system. Starting from Giambattista Vico's hypothesis that 'whenever men can form no idea of distant and unknown things, they judge them by what is familiar and at hand' (1744) this thesis aims to look at the interplay of local and foreign traditions in the translation and domestication of a Japanese new religious movement, Soka Gakkai, that has migrated from East to West. Through the notion of 'cultural repertoire', i.e. the aggregate of options utilized by a group of people for the organization of life', this work explores the extent in which Catholicism in Italy has influenced the formation of both religious sense and religious vocabulary. It will be argued that in Italy, the translation of an entire set of Japanese key-concepts pertaining to the sphere of religion has been measured on the yardstick of Christian vocabulary, and thus influenced by the search of 'perfect equivalences'. This operation has, in time, secured the successful dissemination of Soka Gakkai in the territory. At the same time, however, the overlap of Catholic and Buddhists practices has given rise to a peculiar form of hybrid religion that can be defined as 'Catho- Buddhism'

Buddhism, Diversity and ‘Race’: Multiculturalism and Western convert Buddhist movements in East London – a qualitative study

This study considers the development of convert Buddhism in multicultural environments. Its focus is on the encounters of people of colour (defined for the purposes of this study as people of African, Asian and Caribbean descent) with Western convert Buddhist movements, which tend to be predominantly white and middle-class. The study uses an ethnographic case study approach informed by feminist epistemologies. The case-studies are of two of the largest Western convert Buddhist movements in the UK – the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) and Soka Gakkai International-UK (SGI-UK) – and focus on their branches in the multicultural inner-city location of East London. The findings suggest that most Buddhists of colour in these movements come from the second generation of the diaspora. For the FWBO, there is an apparently hegemonic discourse of middle-class whiteness that people of colour and working class members of this movement have to negotiate as part of their involvement. In contrast, for SGI-UK, the ethos is one of a moral cosmopolitanism that encourages intercultural dialogue thus facilitating the involvement of a considerably more multicultural and international following. People of colour find that their practices of the techniques of the self provided by each movement enable them to feel more empowered in relation to their quotidian experience of racisms and racialisation, as well as encouraging them in a more anti-essentialist approach to identity that sees it as fluid and contingent. To date, there has been little discussion of how Western Buddhism is developing in multiethnic and multicultural contexts, even though the West has long been a space of significant ethnic and cultural diversity arising largely from processes of colonialism and imperialism. This study therefore develops a new line of enquiry for consideration in studies seeking to illuminate the issue of how Buddhism is being translated in the West

The translation and domestication of an oriental religion into a western Catholic country : the case of Soka Gakkai in Italy

This thesis is premised on the fundamental notion of religious translation as a process of interpretation and adaptation that arises out of a complex iinguistic and cultural interplay. Its aim is to examine the types of interpretative problems one encounters as a society deeply rooted in Biblical and Christian practices struggles to integrate the rituals and formulae of Buddhism. As part of a cultural system, the translation of a religion cannot be explored in a vacuum, but needs to be viewed in the mutual interdependence with other elements of such system. Starting from Giambattista Vico's hypothesis that 'whenever men can form no idea of distant and unknown things, they judge them by what is familiar and at hand' (1744) this thesis aims to look at the interplay of local and foreign traditions in the translation and domestication of a Japanese new religious movement, Soka Gakkai, that has migrated from East to West. Through the notion of 'cultural repertoire', i.e. the aggregate of options utilized by a group of people for the organization of life', this work explores the extent in which Catholicism in Italy has influenced the formation of both religious sense and religious vocabulary. It will be argued that in Italy, the translation of an entire set of Japanese key-concepts pertaining to the sphere of religion has been measured on the yardstick of Christian vocabulary, and thus influenced by the search of 'perfect equivalences'. This operation has, in time, secured the successful dissemination of Soka Gakkai in the territory. At the same time, however, the overlap of Catholic and Buddhists practices has given rise to a peculiar form of hybrid religion that can be defined as 'Catho- Buddhism'.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceArts and Humanities Research Council (Great Britain) (AHRC)GBUnited Kingdo

Correspondences - Online Journal For The Academic Study of Western Esotericism, Volume 6(2)

Welcome to Correspondences, an international, peer-reviewed online journal devoted to the academic study of Western esotericism. By providing a wider forum of debate regarding issues and currents in Western esotericism than has previously been possible, Correspondences is committed to publishing work of a high academic standard as determined by a peer-review process, but does not require academic credentials as prerequisite for publication. Students and non-affiliated academics are encouraged to join established scholars in submitting insightful, well-researched articles that offer new ideas, positions, or information to the field

Shinnyoen and the transmission of Japanese new religions abroad

This study examines the ways and the extent to which Japanese new religions that seek to attain an international presence adapt and alter their techniques of proselytism in moving from one culture to another, and the ways in which their development varies in non-Japanese cultures. In particular I focus on Shinnyoen, one of the largest new religions in Japan, which has achieved a foothold in Hawaii and other areas with large Japanese immigrant populations, but which has also begun to develop in Europe and other parts of Asia. Currently, movements such as Shinnyoen are in their infancy in Britain, although they have already begun to establish a presence and have developed to some degree beyond the Japanese population. Accordingly, the activities of such religious groups and the ways in which they seek to appeal to and attract non-Japanese followers form a highly appropriate topic for research. This study will examine Shinnyoen and its proselytizing campaign in three diverse locations - the UK, Hawaii, and Singapore - in order to glean a clear account of the dynamics involved in the proselytizing activities of Japanese new religions overseas. The ethos of Japanese new religious movements and the conditions (social, organizational, cultural) conducive for dissemination abroad, especially among local populations, are issues explored in the process. The extent to which these patterns differ at the various locations will also be examined in order to determine whether Shinnyoen attracts, and targets, the same type of people in Britain as it does in Singapore and Hawaii. What will emerge at the conclusion of this study is a clearer picture of the challenges Japanese new religions face in their efforts to expand overseas and flourish in foreign soil and the necessary provisions they must possess in their praxis and organizational structure if they are to meet these challenges