New Religions
[Table of Contents]
Recent Trends in the Study of Japanese New Religions
INOUE Nobutaka
1. The Concept of "New Religions"
Theconcept of "new religions" was first used in Japan following the end of World War II. The "new religions" are often contrasted with the "established religions," namely the various sects of Buddhism and shrine Shinto. The latter category is also occasionally called "traditional religion." Various suggestions have been made regarding both the dating of the "new religions," namely when the new religions first arose, and the nature of the category itself, namely, which movements should be characterized as indeed "new." Four primary suggestions have been made with regard to the dating issue:
1. The beginning of the 19th century.
2. In the general period surrounding Meiji Restoration (1868).
3. The beginning of the 20th century.
4. Following World War II.
Thosewho adopt the first suggested starting period deem it important that new organizations based on mountain worship, such asFuji-kô, became popular around the beginning of the 19th century, and thus consider those groups to be the earliest type of new religious movement.1
Thesecond suggested starting date is considered important sinceKurozumikyôwas growing in western Japan at the same time thatKonkôkyôandTenrikyôwere gaining adherents in their early stages of development, and since these three movements had strong influence on later groups.
Thosewho suggest that new religions be dated from the beginning of the twentieth century place heavy importance on the roles of ÔmotoandReiyûkaiwithin the mass movements characterizing the burgeoning capitalism of that period.
Andthe last date is selected based on the rapid expansion of new movements under the principles of separation of Church and State and religious freedom in the postwar period.
Whileeach of these suggested starting dates has its own merits, they all demonstrate weaknesses as well. Against the first position, it might be argued that while the germinal forms of new religious movements surely existed around the beginning of the nineteenth century, they only appeared in substantial numbers late in the Tokugawa era. Against the third suggested dating, it might be pointed out that the new movements of the early twentieth century, such as Ômoto or Reiyûkai, were crucially influenced in organization and doctrinal areas by earlier movements. In turn, the last position ignores the continuity of new religions after the war with those existing before, and instead pays excessive attention to the superficial novelty of the new postwar movements. As a result of these factors, many students of the new religions have adopted the second position, as is also the case in the "Dictionary of The New Religions" published recently.2
Onthe other hand, differences of opinion also exist with regard to what kind of movements should be included in the category of new religions. Generally speaking, the problem involves two fundamental concerns. One regards the kind of distinction to be drawn between new religion and renewal movements within otherwise established religions, while the other regards the distinction drawn between new religions and folk religions.
Noclear standard has been established with regard to the first issue, but most students consider a religion to be "new" if it begun by a new leader and called by a new name, even though the group's intimate connections with a previous traditional sect might make it possible to understand it functionally as a renewal movement.
Thedebate regarding the distinction between new religions and folk religion has focused on organizational characteristics. In the case of small movements guided byogamiya3(shaman) types of figures, it becomes extremely difficult to ascertain whether the groups are to be included in the category of "new" or traditional "folk" religions. In such small-scale movements, followers are usually related to the group leader as "clients." Some of the groups, however, evidence activities similar to those of larger new religions, and as might be expected, this similarity becomes more striking as the groups grow in scale. Overall, the decision of whether to include such groups in the category of new religions is made on the basis of the degree of novelty in ideals or purposes demonstrated by the group.
Whilethe problem of the definitive traits of the new religions remains unresolved, the study of the new religions has advanced vigorously during the past twenty years in Japan, and has achieved an established position as an academic area for research. In the following, I will give a brief sketch of the development that has taken place in the study of new religions during the postwar period, and indicate a few of the problems waiting to be researched more intensively.
2. Studies of New Religions in the Postwar Period
A. Development of Studies
Thefirst studies of "new religions" in Japan appeared in the mid-1950s. While some studies of the prewar period dealt with what are today called new religions, the authors of that time considered themselves studying "sectarian Shinto"4and "quasi-religious" or "pseudo-religious" movements5, since the concept of "new religions" had not yet been accepted. As a result, Tenrikyô, Konkôkyô and Kurozumikyô were referred to as denominations belonging to sectarian Shinto, whileÔmotoorSeichô no Iewas normally considered a quasi-religious movement.
Thetermsshinkô shûkyôor "newly arising religion" andshin shûkyôor "new religion" began to be used by journalists and scholars sometime after the end of the war. While the wordshinkô-shûkyôwas generally used in the beginning,shin shûkyôbecame the preferred term from the 1960s, especially among scholars, and that trend has continued to the present.
Untilthe 1960s there existed only a small number of scholars who could be called students of the new religions. The best known of those includedMurakami Shigeyoshi6andTakagi Hiroo.7The scholars of this period studied a relatively small number of groups, most of which were large in scale, such asSôka Gakkai,Risshô Kôseikai,Reiyûkai,Ômoto, Perfect Liberty (PL Kyôdan), Tenrikyô, together with some others which were considered of particular interest due to their association with social incidents or trouble.
Interestin the new religions as a subject of academic research grew rapidly in the 1970s, particularly among younger scholars. From the time of its organization in 1975 until its disbanding in 1990, the Association for the Study of Religion and Society8played an important role in promoting the study of new religions. With a membership composed of numerous active students of the new religions, the Association provided its members with an opportunity to participate in surveys and mutual discussions that contributed greatly to advances in the study of new religious movements in Japan. Indeed, the aforementioned "Dictionary of New Religions" can be considered the fruit of the Association's combined research, since all of the editors of the dictionary, together with most of the authors of individual entries, were members of the Association.
Atthe early stages of research on the new religions, clear trends could be observed in the methods employed as well as in the specific organizations selected as subjects for research. Generally speaking, the majority of studies dealt more with the histories of group founders and the historical development of the organizations than with other themes. The generalized trend toward treatments of group founders was a natural tendency, given the fact that the existence of a specific founder is one of the hallmarks of the new religions. And since a study of a group founder is closely related to the development of the movement as a whole, scholars collected numerous documents as a means of investigating the overall process of development followed within each movement.
Asthe number of researchers increased, however, the methods employed also became more diverse. Sociological, psychological, and ethnological perspectives were introduced, resulting in a diversification of interests in the analysis of subjects. An increasing number of comparative studies involving multiple organizations were seen, together with case studies of local organizational development.
Themost influential perspectives adopted within these studies were taken from sociology, a fact which reflected strong interest in the development of social movements and typologies of organizational structures. The most frequently discussed issues in such studies included how to distinguish the characteristics of new religious organizations or movements from those of established religions, and how to typify the principles involved in the groups' process of development. A recent example of the latter kind of research is the study byMorioka Kiyomi,9who discusses the birth, and maturation of Risshô Kôseikai from the perspective of the "life-cycle of a religious organization." Many similar articles have been published regarding the local development of various movements, or the way in which new religious groups have settled in different local areas.
Whilemost researchers have been drawn to their study of the new religions due to the "this-worldly benefits" proclaimed by the groups, the aspects of thought and doctrine have become an aspect of investigation in recent years, as the result of a full-scale development of studies of new religions. In this kind of study, students tend to portray the new religions as groups proclaiming original forms of thought and doctrine meant to apply to actual human lives. Concepts such as "vitalistic salvation"10or "living deity" (ikigami)11have thus found their way to the center of such researches.
Thenew religions have displayed varying degrees of interest in overseas proselytization activities, based on the achievement of certain levels of success within Japanese society at home since the 1960s.12In turn, research on the overseas mission activities of such groups is gradually increasing. The surveys carried out byYanagawa Keiichiand others of his group in Hawaii and California represented the first joint research on Japanese religions overseas, and they helped to promote further studies of that kind.13Conducted in 1977, 1979, and 1981, the surveys were designed primarily to investigate the religious life of Japanese Americans living on U.S. West Coast.
Themembers of these research teams and other scholars with interests in the result of the research began to make further studies of actual conditions within overseas missions, especially in North and South America and other parts of Asia. Factors lying behind the active overseas missions undertaken by new religious groups include the existence of substantial numbers of Japanese emigrants and their descendants, together with other Japanese living temporarily overseas as the result of jobs or study. Some new religions, however, reach out to non-Japanese in their proselytization attempts, rather than to Japanese or people of Japanese origin.14This is a noteworthy development, given the fact that the sects of established Japanese religions have generally taken little or no interest in missionary activities among non-Japanese people.
B. Themes for Study
Asnoted above, studies of Japanese new religions have increased in both quantity and diversity during recent years. More organizations have been researched and more sophisticated methods of analysis have been developed. As a result, the question "what is a new religion" has once again become a focus of debate. Accumulation of many case studies naturally requires the investigation of characteristics of new religions as a whole, or their significance in the historical development of modern Japanese religions. In the process of this kind of research, careful attention has been paid to establishing a typology of new religions in relation to their social background. It is assumed that the type of movement or organization will naturally be deeply influenced by the social situation in which it was formed.
Thedevelopmental history of the new religions covers more than one-hundred and fifty years. Given the drastic nature of social changes which have occurred during this period, it is natural to expect such factors would have an impact on the kinds of activities the new religions engage in, the contents of the teachings they promulgate, and the specific claims they make to the larger society. If, as I noted at the beginning of this essay, the researcher wishes to make a distinct contrast between the new religions and prior established religions or folk religions, he or she must consider to what degree the new religions, as a product of modern society, possess common distinctive characteristics vis a vis the established or folk religions with which they are contrasted. In other words, it is necessary to clarify the specific position of the new religions within Japanese religions as a whole, while simultaneously analyzing the distinctive aspects of each movement.
Inaddition to these basic issues, there is also the pressing need for more studies of detailed features of the new religions. One striking omission, for example, is the current lack of studies focusing on the ritual component of the new religions. While the ceremonies of some new religions initially appear to be entirely new, careful observation discloses that they in fact transmit numerous traditional elements. The combination of these traditional and innovative elements is actually the most typical pattern of ritual observance among the new religions. How the two are combined, however, must be considered independently in each case, and no general principle of combination has yet been established. Needless to say, this kind of study will require considerable knowledge of traditional religious rites as well as an ability to observe the modern side of ritual. In that sense, even rituals of faith healing should not be treated as activities belonging solely to the realm of "this-worldly benefit." They must be studied within a comparative framework that also takes into account traditional healing methods, or one which also considers their accommodation to recent medical knowledge and therapeutics.
Oneof the most striking features of Japan's new religions is the high number of women acting as founders and current leaders.Nakayama Miki15,Deguchi Nao16andKitamura Sayo17are occasionally referred to as "the trinity of foundresses" by students of the new religions. This not only because these women held important roles in Japan's modern religious history, but also because they displayed even greater dynamism than many of their male counterparts. To this list we could add numerous others, includingAida Hide18,Fukada Chiyoko19,Honjô Chiyoko20,Koyama Mihoko21,Miyamoto Mitsu22,Mizuno Fusa23,Ômori Chiben24, andSugiyama Tatsuko25. These women are all deeply venerated by the members of their groups.