History has placed certain limitations on the study of Japanese Buddhism. Buddhism came to Japan in the sixth century, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period in China, via the Korean peninsula. It took on characteristics of the Buddhism of the Southern Dynasties, in particular, the practice of preaching about Buddhist sutras, as well as a robust system of doctrinal learning, and these have been the focus of the study of Buddhism for the majority of its history. However, during the Meiji period, Buddhist Studies advanced greatly with the advent of philological methods brought over from Europe. After the introduction of this style of research, philological studies became the mainstream of Buddhist studies in Japan, however this research tends to focus on ideological or philosophical writings, while neglecting the study of more literary works such as tanka (poetry), as well as classical fiction and other narrative forms. In brief, there are relatively few works focusing on writing influenced by Buddhism. Although there is a deep interest in the makers of Buddhism, as it were, those whom it was made for have been neglected. Furthermore, there are many handwritten manuscripts that remain from ancient Japan. Although some of these documents have been published with modern typesetting, and thus made into a more accessible format, many have not yet been made into modern printed editions. In particular, documents recording sermons (shōdo) and debates (rongi), and sermons and debates from the Cloistered Government (insei) period to the Kamakura period are largely unstudied topics. Although there are projects that aim to digitize these documents, these have still not been developed to their full potential. Another important issue to be rectified is that although there are many researchers outside Japan studying Japanese Buddhism, the results of their research seem to be by and large overlooked by those working inside Japan. Although there is a lack of consensus on the periodization of Japanese Buddhism, there is nevertheless a tendency to study the Buddhism of medieval and modern eras, while neglecting the study of the ancient and early modern periods. Finally, although we can broadly divide the study of Buddhism into the categories of (doctrinal or academic) learning, and (religious) practice, the study of how Buddhism has been practiced, particularly how meditation (samatha and vipassanā styles in particular) has been practiced in Japan, has not sufficiently been discussed. This may be a product of the tradition of Japanese Buddhism, but is nevertheless a question the field faces in the future.
