Susumu Shimazono
Biographic Data
| ID | 654994 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Susumu Shimazono |
| GIVEN NAMES | Susumu |
| FAMILY NAME | Shimazono |
| SIGNATURE | SHIMAZONO S |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Tokyo |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1979 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Rituals of Death and Remembrance
This chapter reviews death rituals from ancient times to the present, but is limited to corpse treatments across traditions. It is shown that death may be a drawn-out process, wherein several death rituals precede the final one. Grave monuments have more purposes than simply salutation of the dead. The Catholic communities show a form of funerary behaviors, from gathering at wakes to the performative displays of professional mourners. The spread …
The many faces of Religious Studies and the multiplicity of religious traditions in Japan
The Japanese Association of Religious Studies (JARS) had 2112 members in 2006, a fairly large number. On the other hand, among 756 universities in Japan, there are only ten universities with departments or courses in Religious Studies or the academic study of religion. In spite of this unfavorable situation, JARS has been quite active and Religious Studies is widely recognized within Japanese academia. Because religious traditions in Japan are mu…
The ethical issues of biotechnology: Religious culture and the value of life
Advances in biotechnology and medical science, especially breakthroughs in cloning and stem cell research, have raised great expectations for curing diseases, repairing damaged body tissue and organs, enabling conception at advanced age and selecting embryos based on genetic diagnosis. However, the question arises whether these advances will improve the happiness of humankind or whether human bodies are being assaulted as development resources in…
State Shinto in the Lives of the People: The Establishment of Emperor Worship, Modern Nationalism, and Shrine Shinto in Late Meiji
Taking lead from Helen Hardacre's scholarship as well as recent postcolonial theory, this article seeks to delineate new terms in longstanding debate over Shinto. It traces historical process by which penetrated lives of people, focusing especially on period from 1890 through 1910. During this time, conceptions of national polity and reverence for emperor were crucial in familiarizing people with Shinto. Concerned primarily with how people were d…
State Shinto and Religion in Post-War Japan
From Salvation to Spirituality: Popular Religious Movements in Modern Japan
Book Review| February 01 2006 From Salvation to Spirituality: Popular Religious Movements in Modern Japan Susumu Shimazono Susumu Shimazono Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Nova Religio (2006) 9 (3): 138–139. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2006.9.3.138 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions…
Traditional Japanese Religious Society
This is a reference for understanding world religious societies in their contemporary global diversity. Comprising 60 essays the volume focuses on communities rather than beliefs, symbols or rites
State Shinto and the Religious Structure of Modern Japan
Many Japanese are feeling uneasy not only with the word “religion” but also with the word “Shinto,” especially the term “State Shinto.” The present author will explain the academic confusion surrounding the term “State Shinto” in contemporary Japan and will attempt to delineate an adequate strategy of how to use this term. Because of the occupation regime’s “Shinto Directive’s” narrow definition and the broad definition of the term “State Shinto,…
“New Age Movement” or “New Spirituality Movements and Culture”
The author considers that the “New Age movement” and the “World of the Spiritual” (so called in Japan) are distinct although similar phenomena which should be grouped together under a common term: New Spirituality Movements and Culture (NSMC). “Movements” embraces various types of “New Age” and “World of the Spiritual” groups and can also include other groups with common characteristics. The word “spirituality” is used because many people in the …
Christianity Made in Japan: A Study of Indigenous Movements
For centuries, the accommodation between Japan and Christianity has been an uneasy one. Compared with other Asian countries, the churches in Japan have never counted more than a small number of believers resigned to a pattern of ritual and belief transplanted from the West. There has however been a rise in indigenous movements aimed at a Christianity that is at once made in Japan and faithful to the scriptures and apostolic tradition. This text p…
The commercialization of the sacred: The structural evolution of religious communities in Japan
The author's purpose in this paper is to elucidate changes in the activities of religious groups in contemporary Japan by examining new forms of oblation (monetary donations and volunteer labor), as well as new relationships between believers and the religious groups to which they belong. The paper begins with an overview of the prevailing views of religious activity as a manifestation of the relationship between an individual follower and a part…
Alternative Knowledge Movements as Religion: An Alternative Farming Movement in Japan
L'A. aborde les mouvements de connaissance alternatifs qui sont en rapport avec la production agricole. En effet, des les annees 1940, des mouvements d'agriculture alternative, appeles agriculture naturelle, ou bien agriculture microbiologique, se developperent et recurent le soutien de nombreux fermiers. Certaines nouvelles religions, mais aussi des individus et des societes, promurent ces methodes. L'A. decrit un exemple d'agriculture microbiol…
New New Religions and This World: Religious Movements in Japan after the 1970s and their Beliefs about Salvation
Cet article examine les caracteristiques de l'approche adoptee par ce qu'on a pu appeler les nouvelles nouvelles religions, qui ont attire de nombreux disciples au Japon apres 1970. Deux groupes sont pris comme exemples : le GLA (God Light Association), fonde en 1968, et Kofuku no Kagaku (IRH), fonde en 1986. Ils partagent des idees fondamentales sur le salut, croyant en l'existence de l'âme individuelle qui a sa demeure eternelle dans le Monde R…
In the wake of Aum: The formation and transformation of a universe of belief
Religion and Society in Modern Japan
Religion and Society in Modern Japan: Selected Readings
The expansion of Japan’s New Religions into foreign cultures
The beginnings of the expansion of Japan's New Religions overseas go back as far as the Meiji period.1 At first it spread to nearby colonies and among immigrants to new continents. Then war brought an end to propagation in migrant communities, and defeat in the war checked propagation in colonial territories. Most of the New Religions at first re stricted their postwar propagation activities to Japan. But it was not long before they were renewing…
Conversion stories and their popularization in Japan’s new religions
The study of religion and the tradition of pluralism
Since beginning my study of R eligionswissenschaft, one of the topics that has often come up in discussions with colleagues is that of whether the discipline could have its own particular scholarly position. My opinion on this varied from discussion to discus sion, but at the moment I believe, in my own idiosyncratic way, that a R eligionswissenschaft "position" is indeed possible. I am afraid, however, that my position is not so clearly defined …
Religious influences on Japan’s modernization
The Weberian view and popular thought. Max Weber's The Prot estant ethic and the spirit of capitalism remains an important starting point in considerations of the relationship between religion and modernization in any society. This is primarily because of the following two points he makes
The living kami idea in the new religions of Japan
The conventional classification.The new religious or ganizations or ''New Religions of Japan are generally clas sified as Buddhist-or Shinto-derived.This way of classifying them starts from the existence of certain "big" historical religions to which the New Religions can be thought of as related by virtue of their objects of worship, rituals, scrip tures, doctrines, and the like.This does not mean, how ever, that the New Religions actually spran…
The vitalistic conception of salvation in Japanese new religions: An aspect of modern religious consciousness
This paper aims to clarify the structure of teachings presented by Japanese New Religions through an analysis of their conception of salvation. From the apparently diverse teachings of the New Religions, we have discerned a common structure to their teachings of salvation, one which may be called vitalistic. It regards the cosmos as a living body or the Original Life from which all living things emanate, and advocates the full realization of the …
In the wake of Aum: The formation and transformation of a universe of belief
State Shinto and the Religious Structure of Modern Japan
Many Japanese are feeling uneasy not only with the word “religion” but also with the word “Shinto,” especially the term “State Shinto.” The present author will explain the academic confusion surrounding the term “State Shinto” in contemporary Japan and will attempt to delineate an adequate strategy of how to use this term. Because of the occupation regime’s “Shinto Directive’s” narrow definition and the broad definition of the term “State Shinto,…
Christianity Made in Japan: A Study of Indigenous Movements
For centuries, the accommodation between Japan and Christianity has been an uneasy one. Compared with other Asian countries, the churches in Japan have never counted more than a small number of believers resigned to a pattern of ritual and belief transplanted from the West. There has however been a rise in indigenous movements aimed at a Christianity that is at once made in Japan and faithful to the scriptures and apostolic tradition. This text p…
The many faces of Religious Studies and the multiplicity of religious traditions in Japan
The Japanese Association of Religious Studies (JARS) had 2112 members in 2006, a fairly large number. On the other hand, among 756 universities in Japan, there are only ten universities with departments or courses in Religious Studies or the academic study of religion. In spite of this unfavorable situation, JARS has been quite active and Religious Studies is widely recognized within Japanese academia. Because religious traditions in Japan are mu…
Religion and Society in Modern Japan: Selected Readings
The living kami idea in the new religions of Japan
The conventional classification.The new religious or ganizations or ''New Religions of Japan are generally clas sified as Buddhist-or Shinto-derived.This way of classifying them starts from the existence of certain "big" historical religions to which the New Religions can be thought of as related by virtue of their objects of worship, rituals, scrip tures, doctrines, and the like.This does not mean, how ever, that the New Religions actually spran…
The vitalistic conception of salvation in Japanese new religions: An aspect of modern religious consciousness
This paper aims to clarify the structure of teachings presented by Japanese New Religions through an analysis of their conception of salvation. From the apparently diverse teachings of the New Religions, we have discerned a common structure to their teachings of salvation, one which may be called vitalistic. It regards the cosmos as a living body or the Original Life from which all living things emanate, and advocates the full realization of the …
Religious influences on Japan’s modernization
The Weberian view and popular thought. Max Weber's The Prot estant ethic and the spirit of capitalism remains an important starting point in considerations of the relationship between religion and modernization in any society. This is primarily because of the following two points he makes
The study of religion and the tradition of pluralism
Since beginning my study of R eligionswissenschaft, one of the topics that has often come up in discussions with colleagues is that of whether the discipline could have its own particular scholarly position. My opinion on this varied from discussion to discus sion, but at the moment I believe, in my own idiosyncratic way, that a R eligionswissenschaft "position" is indeed possible. I am afraid, however, that my position is not so clearly defined …
Conversion stories and their popularization in Japan’s new religions
The expansion of Japan’s New Religions into foreign cultures
The beginnings of the expansion of Japan's New Religions overseas go back as far as the Meiji period.1 At first it spread to nearby colonies and among immigrants to new continents. Then war brought an end to propagation in migrant communities, and defeat in the war checked propagation in colonial territories. Most of the New Religions at first re stricted their postwar propagation activities to Japan. But it was not long before they were renewing…
Religion and Society in Modern Japan: Selected Readings
New New Religions and This World: Religious Movements in Japan after the 1970s and their Beliefs about Salvation
Cet article examine les caracteristiques de l'approche adoptee par ce qu'on a pu appeler les nouvelles nouvelles religions, qui ont attire de nombreux disciples au Japon apres 1970. Deux groupes sont pris comme exemples : le GLA (God Light Association), fonde en 1968, et Kofuku no Kagaku (IRH), fonde en 1986. Ils partagent des idees fondamentales sur le salut, croyant en l'existence de l'âme individuelle qui a sa demeure eternelle dans le Monde R…
In the wake of Aum: The formation and transformation of a universe of belief
Religion and Society in Modern Japan
Alternative Knowledge Movements as Religion: An Alternative Farming Movement in Japan
L'A. aborde les mouvements de connaissance alternatifs qui sont en rapport avec la production agricole. En effet, des les annees 1940, des mouvements d'agriculture alternative, appeles agriculture naturelle, ou bien agriculture microbiologique, se developperent et recurent le soutien de nombreux fermiers. Certaines nouvelles religions, mais aussi des individus et des societes, promurent ces methodes. L'A. decrit un exemple d'agriculture microbiol…
The commercialization of the sacred: The structural evolution of religious communities in Japan
The author's purpose in this paper is to elucidate changes in the activities of religious groups in contemporary Japan by examining new forms of oblation (monetary donations and volunteer labor), as well as new relationships between believers and the religious groups to which they belong. The paper begins with an overview of the prevailing views of religious activity as a manifestation of the relationship between an individual follower and a part…
“New Age Movement” or “New Spirituality Movements and Culture”
The author considers that the “New Age movement” and the “World of the Spiritual” (so called in Japan) are distinct although similar phenomena which should be grouped together under a common term: New Spirituality Movements and Culture (NSMC). “Movements” embraces various types of “New Age” and “World of the Spiritual” groups and can also include other groups with common characteristics. The word “spirituality” is used because many people in the …
Christianity Made in Japan: A Study of Indigenous Movements
For centuries, the accommodation between Japan and Christianity has been an uneasy one. Compared with other Asian countries, the churches in Japan have never counted more than a small number of believers resigned to a pattern of ritual and belief transplanted from the West. There has however been a rise in indigenous movements aimed at a Christianity that is at once made in Japan and faithful to the scriptures and apostolic tradition. This text p…
State Shinto and the Religious Structure of Modern Japan
Many Japanese are feeling uneasy not only with the word “religion” but also with the word “Shinto,” especially the term “State Shinto.” The present author will explain the academic confusion surrounding the term “State Shinto” in contemporary Japan and will attempt to delineate an adequate strategy of how to use this term. Because of the occupation regime’s “Shinto Directive’s” narrow definition and the broad definition of the term “State Shinto,…
From Salvation to Spirituality: Popular Religious Movements in Modern Japan
Book Review| February 01 2006 From Salvation to Spirituality: Popular Religious Movements in Modern Japan Susumu Shimazono Susumu Shimazono Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Nova Religio (2006) 9 (3): 138–139. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2006.9.3.138 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions…
Traditional Japanese Religious Society
This is a reference for understanding world religious societies in their contemporary global diversity. Comprising 60 essays the volume focuses on communities rather than beliefs, symbols or rites
State Shinto and Religion in Post-War Japan
State Shinto in the Lives of the People: The Establishment of Emperor Worship, Modern Nationalism, and Shrine Shinto in Late Meiji
Taking lead from Helen Hardacre's scholarship as well as recent postcolonial theory, this article seeks to delineate new terms in longstanding debate over Shinto. It traces historical process by which penetrated lives of people, focusing especially on period from 1890 through 1910. During this time, conceptions of national polity and reverence for emperor were crucial in familiarizing people with Shinto. Concerned primarily with how people were d…
The many faces of Religious Studies and the multiplicity of religious traditions in Japan
The Japanese Association of Religious Studies (JARS) had 2112 members in 2006, a fairly large number. On the other hand, among 756 universities in Japan, there are only ten universities with departments or courses in Religious Studies or the academic study of religion. In spite of this unfavorable situation, JARS has been quite active and Religious Studies is widely recognized within Japanese academia. Because religious traditions in Japan are mu…
The ethical issues of biotechnology: Religious culture and the value of life
Advances in biotechnology and medical science, especially breakthroughs in cloning and stem cell research, have raised great expectations for curing diseases, repairing damaged body tissue and organs, enabling conception at advanced age and selecting embryos based on genetic diagnosis. However, the question arises whether these advances will improve the happiness of humankind or whether human bodies are being assaulted as development resources in…
Rituals of Death and Remembrance
This chapter reviews death rituals from ancient times to the present, but is limited to corpse treatments across traditions. It is shown that death may be a drawn-out process, wherein several death rituals precede the final one. Grave monuments have more purposes than simply salutation of the dead. The Catholic communities show a form of funerary behaviors, from gathering at wakes to the performative displays of professional mourners. The spread …
Japanese History and Culture (15 works) · History (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Political science (11 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Ancient history (6 works) · Chinese history and philosophy (6 works) · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices (6 works) · Epistemology (5 works)