The traditional religions in Japan have always occupied a special place in the social order. Shrine Shinto, Japan's aboriginal religion, is a community-based religion, and in agricultural society it enjoyed a position of security and excercised a unique social function. Buddhism, which originally stressed enlightenment of the individual, became in Japan a religion devoted to rituals for ancestors and supported the primacy of the family as the unit of social life.
目次
Contemporary religions in Japan: Coexistence and conflict I. Folk religion and Shinto Religious behavior and the actor's position in his household The impact of suburbanization on Shinto belief and behavior II. Buddhism Preferential non-mixed marriage among Shin Buddhist believers Buddhist sects and the family system in Japan The changing family and Buddhism in postwar Japan III. Christianity Christianity in the Japanese rural community: acceptance and rejection The impact of demographic changes on Christian churches IV. Conclusion The impact of the physical movement of population on Japanese religions after World War II Appendices: Development of the sociology of religion in Japan, 1900-1967 An integrated bibliography
