Shin Buddhism (Jodo Shinshu) is the largest of the traditional Japanese Buddhist institutions. In the late nineteenth century it included about a third of the entire Japanese population, and it possesses unique qualities. Shin, however, has not been given its due in studies of Japanese religious history. Some reasons for this relative neglect include modern nationalism, the biases of Buddhist studies, the limits of Western interest in new religious ideas, and general friction between Japan and the West. Yet no aspect of Japanese culture or Asian Buddhism opens up more possibilities for creative interaction with the West in the future.
