Millennialism with and without the Violence: An Examination of Late Twentieth-century Japanese New Religions

Presented at the Numata Conference in Buddhist Studies / “Violence, Nonviolence, and Japanese Religions: Past, Present, and Future,” held in Honolulu, Hawaii, March 20–21, 2014Millennialism has long been a feature of the Japanese religious landscape, especially with the rise of new religions that, from the mid-nineteenth century, presented stark critiques of modern society and preached the immanence of a new spiritual realm in which the existing order would be overturned and materialism destroyed. Such themes were widely articulated in the 1980s and early 1990s by movements such as Agonshū, Kōfuku no Kagaku and Aum Shinrikyō that either argued that spiritual transformation was needed in order to avert chaos in the run-up to the year 2000 or that welcomed global catastrophe as a pre-requisite to world salvation. Despite the recurrence of violent language and imagery within such millennialism, however, only one new religion, Aum, actually espoused violence as a concomitant element in the advent of a new spiritual dawn. In this paper I will examine why different modes of millennialism in the Japanese new religions produced different (violent or non-violent) results, while drawing attention also to other cases of late twentieth century millennial violence in new religions beyond Japan, to suggest how the Japanese case might contribute to wider studies of this topic

Problematic conceptions and critical developments: the construction and relevance of 'religion' and religious studies in Japan

In this article I examine the concept of religion (shūkyō in Japanese) with reference to the claims that as a term and category it did not exist in Japan prior to the country's 19th century encounter with Western powers, and to the notion that 'Religious Studies' in Japan was simply implanted wholesale from the West. By referring to recent work in this area, I argue that such claims are overstated. I further examine some of the implications of the development of a concept of religion in pre-war and post-war Japan, and discuss why in the postwar era new laws and constitutional safeguards relating to religion were inaugurated. By looking at controversial areas in which actions are viewed as religious or not, while in parallel looking at how post-war academia has interpreted 'religion' and how Japanese Religious Studies (shūkyōgaku) has developed, I argue that the concept and discipline are highly important in the present day, and that suggestions that the term and the academic discipline be abandoned could have serious implications for contemporary society and Japanese civil liberties

Dynamism and the Ageing of a Japanese 'New' Religion

“This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. This book examines the trajectory and development of the Japanese religious movement Agonshu and its charismatic founder Kiriyama Seiyu. Based on field research spanning 30 years, it examines Agonshu from when it first captured attention in the 1980s with its spectacular rituals and use of media technologies, through its period of stagnation to its response to the death of its founder in 2016. The authors discuss the significance of charismatic leadership, the 'democratisation' of practice and the demands made by movements such as Agonshu on members, while examining how the movement became increasingly focused on revisionist nationalism and issues of Japanese identity. In examining the dilemma that religions commonly face on the deaths of charismatic founders, Erica Baffelli and Ian Reader look at Agonshu’s response to Kiriyama's death, looking at how and why it has transformed a human founder into a figure of worship. By examining Agonshu in the wider context, the authors critically examine the concept of ‘new religions’. They draw attention to the importance of understanding the trajectories of 'new' religions and how they can become ‘old’ even within their first generation

Dynamism and the Ageing of a Japanese 'New' Religion

“This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. This book examines the trajectory and development of the Japanese religious movement Agonshu and its charismatic founder Kiriyama Seiyu. Based on field research spanning 30 years, it examines Agonshu from when it first captured attention in the 1980s with its spectacular rituals and use of media technologies, through its period of stagnation to its response to the death of its founder in 2016. The authors discuss the significance of charismatic leadership, the 'democratisation' of practice and the demands made by movements such as Agonshu on members, while examining how the movement became increasingly focused on revisionist nationalism and issues of Japanese identity. In examining the dilemma that religions commonly face on the deaths of charismatic founders, Erica Baffelli and Ian Reader look at Agonshu’s response to Kiriyama's death, looking at how and why it has transformed a human founder into a figure of worship. By examining Agonshu in the wider context, the authors critically examine the concept of ‘new religions’. They draw attention to the importance of understanding the trajectories of 'new' religions and how they can become ‘old’ even within their first generation

Promotions, Inventions and Exhibitions: Strategies for Renewal or Evidence of the Secularisation of Pilgrimage and the Decline of Religion in Contemporary Japan?

In this article I introduce four promotional events related to Japanese pilgrimages, each of which occurred in the period between 2007 and 2008. The article discusses how each of these events has been designed and instigated by Buddhist priests and Buddhist pilgrimage organisations in order to remedy a decline in pilgrim numbers in recent years and to increase the potential of pilgrimage temples and routes to attract visitors. Such activities have involved, variously, putting on exhibitions of pilgrimage in department stores and shopping malls, putting on display normally hidden Buddhist icons, developing new pilgrimages based in the acquisition of consumer items, and trying to get one famous pilgrimage route designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Such events can be seen as modern extensions of an enduring Buddhist strategy of using pilgrimages to promote themselves and revive declining fortunes. They are in such contexts indicative of the problematic circumstances that Buddhist institutions and religion in Japan in general face in the present day of declining support levels, and as such should be seen as a strategic response to such decline. However, the article notes that they should also be considered not just as strategic responses to decline and to the advances of a secularisation process in Japan but also as potentially contributing factors to the processes of secularisation. The manner in which pilgrimages have been promoted, as is evident in the events outlined in the article, involve downplaying notions of miracle and shifting the emphasis of pilgrimage publicity away from issues of faith and religious practice and towards concepts of cultural heritage and consumerism. As a result, the article asks whether such strategies for ensuring that pilgrimages and Buddhist temples continue to be supported and to attract visitors are in fact contributing to the process of secularisation in Japan, by making pilgrimage into an increasingly commodified activity and transforming it into an object of cultural spectacle and tourist interest that thereby is becoming increasingly detached from its religious origins.In diesem Artikel werden vier Werbeveranstaltungen für japanische Pilgerfahrten vorgestellt, die alle in den Jahren 2007 und 2008 stattfanden. Der Artikel beschreibt wie all diese Veranstaltungen von buddhistischen Priestern und buddhistischen Pilgerorganisationen entworfen und veranlasst wurden, um der in den letzten Jahren sinkenden Zahl von Pilgern entgegenzuwirken und Pilgertempeln und -routen weitere Möglicheiten zu geben, Besucher anzuziehen. Diese Aktivitäten beinhalteten zum Beispiel Ausstellungen über Pilgerfahrten in Kaufhäusern und Einkaufszentren, Ausstellen normalerweise verborgener buddhistischer Ikonen, die Entwicklung neuer Pilgerrouten basierend auf dem Erwerb von Konsumartikeln und den Versuch, eine der berühmten Pilgerstrecken als UNESO Weltkulturerbe anerkennen zu lassen. Solche Veranstaltungen können als moderne Fortsetzungen althergebrachter buddhistischer Strategien gesehen werden, mit Hilfe von Pilgerfahrten für Lehre und Tempel zu werben und schwindende Anerkennung wieder zu beleben. Sie sind in diesem Zusammenhang ein Anzeichen dafür, dass buddhistische Institutionen, und allgemein Religion, in Japan zur Zeit durch sinkende Unterstützung in einer schwierigen Lage sind, und müssen somit als strategische Reaktionen auf diesen Schwund betrachtet werden. Der Artikel weist jedoch darauf hin, dass diese Veranstaltungen nicht nur als Reaktionen auf sinkende Unterstützung und Fortschreiten des Säkularisierungsprozesses in Japan betrachtet werden dürfen, sondern möglicherweise selbt zu diesem Prozess beitragen. Die Art, wie Pilgerfahrten beworben werden, die sich aus den hier beschriebenen Veranstaltungen unschwer erkennen lässt, beinhaltet, dass die Vorstellung von Wundern heruntergespielt wird und die öffentliche Darstellung von Pilgerfahrten weniger Aspekte von Glaube und Religionsausübung thematisiert als vielmehr solche von kulturellem Erbe und Konsum. Im Ergebnis hinterfragt dieser Artikel daher, ob solche Strategien, die sicherstellen sollen, dass Pilgerfahrten und buddhistische Tempel weiterhin unterstützt werden und Besucher anziehen, nicht eigentlich zum Prozess der Säkularisierung beitragen, indem sie Pilgerfahrten in zunehmend kommerzielle Aktivitäten und kulturelle Spektakel von touristischem Interesse verwandeln, die auf diese Weise ihre religiösen Wurzeln mehr und mehr verlieren

Choosing the other : conversion to Christianity in Japan

This thesis explores conversion to Christianity in contemporary Japan. Christianity is widely regarded as having failed to make any impact on Japanese culture, and to be a foreign body (indeed in the opinion of some an irritating foreign body) that has failed to accommodate with or indigenise itself in Japan. And yet, Japanese people continue to choose to convert to Christianity. What is the significance of this? Are people who convert those who feel excluded from mainline Japanese society, the proof of which is their affiliation with a foreign religion, or can this phenomenon of conversion be understood in a different way? This thesis suggests that it can be, and that the fact that small but significant numbers of Japanese regularly convert to Christianity means that the understanding of Christianity's place in the Japanese religious landscape needs to be re-examined.Theories of conversion are studied, with a view to identifying the particular approaches to analysing and understanding conversion which will be appropriate for the Japanese context. The work of Rodney Stark and William Bainbridge on conversion to a deviant perspective forms the starting point for the study. Cultural and religious norms of Japan are identified, with a view to investigating in what ways and to what degree Christianity in Japan represents a deviant perspective. The history of Christianity in Japan is studied, indicating that at certain times in Japan's history when there is a feeling of national uncertainty and of a lack of social integration there is an openness to Christianity, although at times of national self-confidence there is more resistance to it. Christianity is also compared and contrasted with Japan's New Religious Movements, which may also represent a deviant perspective. Qualitative research among converts to Christianity is carried out. The results of this research show that while there are parallels between conversion to Christianity and to New Religious Movements there are also areas of difference, especially in terms of motives for conversion. Motives for conversion to Christianity tend to focus on what might be termed 'the spiritual', and conversion is experienced in terms of emotional peace, welcome into a Christian congregation, and the promise of salvation to come, rather than the 'health and wealth' or 'this worldly benefits' which are reckoned to be, or to have been, motives for conversion to New Religious Movements. As Shimazono Susumu points out, however, the so called 'New' New Religions also have a focus on spiritual salvation.The conclusion reached is that, though Japanese who convert to Christianity are choosing 'the other' in that their choice is clearly not to stay within the religious mainstream of the country, yet Japanese society is more heterogeneous than is often assumed and actually embraces a range of diverse groups. Christian converts, while being aware of the tensions which they face as a result of conversion, do not feel 'outsiders' in Japanese society. So, while Christianity cannot be said to have indigenised in the way that Buddhism clearly has, yet it should not be seen as an unsuccessful foreign import, but rather, in terms of glocalisation, as a culturally appropriate local expression of a global movement.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Farmers’ spending on variable inputs tends to maximise crop yields, not profit

We estimate the marginal returns to spending on Crop Variable Inputs (CVI) (such as fertilizers and crop protection), to explore whether observed spending maximises physical or economic returns to farmers. Data are taken from the Farm Business Survey for 2004-2013, where gross margins and input spending are available, in over 10,300 crops of conventional winter wheat or oilseed rape in England and Wales. Marginal spending on CVIs generate financial returns significantly less than £1 per marginal pound spent. This suggests that expenditure on CVIs exceeds an economic optimum that would maximise profit. However marginal physical products (crop yields) are positive, but small and significantly different from zero. This suggests that, on average, farmers approximately maximise yields. These results hold across a wide range of alternative economic models and two crop species. Similar results have been reported in estimations for Indian grain production and for maize in China. In practice, farmers are making decisions on input use in advance of having information on a variety of factors, including future yield, product quality and price, making it difficult to optimise input levels according to expected profit. Farmers may be consistently optimistic, prefer to avoid risk, or deliberately seek to maximise yields. Some farmers may put on the standard recommended application irrespective of input or expected output price. It is also possible that advice may sometimes aim to maximise yield, influenced by an incentive to encourage greater sales. Excessive input use both reduces private profits and is a cause of environmental damage. There are thus potential private as well as social benefits to be gained from optimising levels of input use