Japanese Buddhism has profoundly influenced Japanese thought and culture since early times. To understand the latter, it is necessary to understand Japanese Buddhism. At the same time, it is also necessary to understand the place of Japanese Buddhism within the entire stream of Buddhism that begins in India. However, it was not easy for ordinary people to gain a good grasp of Buddhism in prewar Japan. This was because Japanese Buddhism was divided into distinct sects, all of which had scholars who carried on the traditional scholarship of that sect, which outsiders found difficult to enter. After the war, traditional scholarship became more open, and it became easier to engage in Buddhist scholarship. The aim of this paper is to inquire into this development.
