I propose we make a million large copies of your sign and carpet-bomb them across Japan – a kind of atheist bus campaign done j-style.

Anyway, thanks for all of those links and descriptions. Very interesting stuff, and I will look for that book someday.

Incidentally, I’ve seen a few mentions of Jesus Christ in Buddhist writings over the years. It seems to be a moderately popular belief that Jesus was one of several incarnations of Buddha throughout history, or different Buddhas, or a Boddhisatva or something like that. Not that I think there are many Buddhists out there who syncretize Christianity, just that Jesus sometimes appears on lists of enlightened human beings throughout history.

“I would really love to know if there is any tradition of mixing Shinto tradition into Japanese Christianity, but I don’t believe I know any Japanese Christians I can ask.”

The Way a Japanese mixture of Christianity and Confucianism

This group rejects the Christian idea of original sin since it is incompatible with the Confucian idea of essential goodness. One of the main beliefs is purification through detachment from the senses (which sounds like Buddhism to me).

Their “Hall of Worship” in Tokyo was modeled after a Buddhist temple on the outside, and similar to a Shinto shrine on the inside. They also used amulets, alters and incense in a “Shinto way”.

However, this style of worship was abandoned after the war. In 1955 they restarted studying the Bible and singing hymns. In 1989 they built a new building that resembles a western church, but the focus of the group still largely emphasizes Neo-Confucianism and self-cultivation.

Christ Heart Church

Maintains that there is some goodness in Buddhism and Christ fulfills Buddhism rather than being opposed to it. Members participate daily in Buddhist meditation and do not participate in communion. “Bible Studies” also include the Confucian classics. And participation in ancestor veneration is accepted as showing proper respect to elders.

The Original Gospel

Regards the Kojiki, Nihon Shoki and Man’yoshuu as important resources. Sees ancient Japanese dependence on the gods (for example Emperor Jinmu’s reliance on the Sun Goddess) as early examples of how Christians should be reliant on the one true God. They participate in purification rituals like standing under a waterfall (takiabi) and walking across hot coals (hiwatari) common among mountain priests.

They are also Neo-nationalist – displaying Japanese flags in their worship services and encouraging members to rediscover their pride by observing Imperial holidays and imitate the spirit of soldiers enshrined at Yasukuni.

Most of this is taken from the book “Christianity Made in Japan”.

I’m not really an expert, I just read the book. It’s all in English, but I’m sure with this info you can find some more info in Japanese if you want.

@Jade Oc: I second that. ‘London and the regions’, my eye.

Why does it have to be? Shinto really isn’t an organized religion in the sense of Christianity or Buddhism, which is one reason it can so easily coexist alongside Buddhism. While there are ancient stories of “Shinto gods” like Amaterasu, those myths are relatively insignificant throughout Japanese history, and you really don’t see them referenced all that much compared with mythical figures in more organized religions.

Like I said, Shinto generally IS used to refer to “any Japanese ethnic tradition that’s even slightly supernatural”, which encompasses a wide variety of different things, that share some common imagery and practices due to the virtue of all being Japanese and sharing a common origin and context. While there are certain traditions within Shinto that are more of an organized religion, such as the semi-defunct State Shinto tradition linking the Emperor with ancient divinity (I say semi-defunct because the Imperial household still practices it, and many shrines are based on it, even if the public at large is no longer nearly as involved)

“If people don’t believe in the gods of the religion, then how is it any more than ethnic tradition.”
Well, for one thing because much of Shinto isn’t theistic religion at all so much as a kind of animism, with some ancient practices showing clear similarities to shamanism. Sure there are certain “gods” that are routinely worshiped, such as Inari the fox god of wealth, but I feel like Inari is really regarded as more a symbol of nature’s bounty than an individual “god”. Then there are of course individuals worshiped as gods, like Sugawara no Michizane or Abe no Seimei, but this is very much borrowed from the Chinese tradition of venerating ancestors and heroes to the point where they become gods.

I’m not exactly sure where I’m going here. Did people in the past worship at these shrines and literally expect something good to happen to them? I don’t know, maybe. Do the millions of Japanese who still pray at shrines for various kinds of good luck have any expectation that it’s going to help? I don’t really know the answer to that either. I really can’t know what goes on in peoples heads, but the practice of praying to kami at shrines, celebrating them at annual festivals, donating to shrines, etc. is still alive and well. I guess it’s possible that everybody does it with the assumption that kami are in fact entirely fictional and their prayers are just a game, but I’m sure even that would make signs like “god is not in the shrine” MUCH less offensive! You know, I’m a 100% atheist, but if some Christian evangelist yelled at me “God is not in the synagogue” (and yes, I know that this statement is probably theologically nonsense from the perspective of Christianity anyway) I would be sorely tempted to punch him.

And let me end by responding directly to your final point:
“I don’t think it’s meaningful to use define Shinto ex-post for any Japanese ethnic tradition that’s even slightly supernatural, because then we’re not even comparing apple and oranges (as Ama does in his book) but apples and leaves.”

I actually agree since, as I said, Shinto is mainly not an organized religion. That’s probably one reason why Buddhism took off so well in Japan, because it provided a structured religion that complemented the folk practices of Shinto, without denigrating or suppressing them, and eventually even providing a cosmological rationalization of the two for the more theologically oriented. BTW, what book are you talking about?

Anyone Japanese and/or more of a religion expert want to chime in?

What I keep punching at here is the idea of Shinto as a practiced religion. If people don’t believe in the gods of the religion, then how is it any more than ethnic tradition (the easter bunny and twice-a-year Christians in the US being perhaps the Western analog)? I don’t think it’s meaningful to use define Shinto ex-post for any Japanese ethnic tradition that’s even slightly supernatural, because then we’re not even comparing apple and oranges (as Ama does in his book) but apples and leaves.

Well, like I said, “Shinto” is a very, very broad thing, which incorporates state Shinto, a wide variety of organize mystical traditions, and pretty much any Japanese folk superstition, religious or magical practice considered “native.” Since all of these things are routinely described as somehow part of Shinto, I think it’s fair to say that most Japanese people “practice” something that falls under the definition. I would love to see some detailed surveys (which I’m sure are out there), but the fact is that most Japanese, in my experience, don’t really consider the folk aspects of “Shinto” to be religion per-se, and will often describe themselves as atheists while still admitting to praying at shrines.

I actually recall doing a survey on religious beliefs among college students as a homework assignment when first studying abroad years ago, which is hardly a serious survey but I believe had 30 or 40 responses, all of which but two self-identified Buddhists and one Christian reported having “no religion” while far more than that reported engaging in folk practices. Incidentally, I have also found that many Japanese people (possibly just younger?) are actually surprised to see Shinto labeled as a religion, and therefore still identify as atheist.

It’s of course also important to point out that one can easily practice Shinto traditions alongside other traditions or religions, particularly Buddhism, which is itself (in many sects anyway) pretty liberal about mixing and matching. Monotheistic religion, such as Christianity, is by contrast an absolutist worldview, as is well illustrated by the Ten Commandments. Of course Christianity has incorporated pagan folk-customs (Christmas tree, Easter bunny, local saints based on old gods, etc.) but is generally hostile to continuing old mystic traditions after conversion. I would really love to know if there is any tradition of mixing Shinto tradition into Japanese Christianity, but I don’t believe I know any Japanese Christians I can ask.