BA East Asian Studies / Course details

The course will begin by outlining some of the main themes of Buddhism from its origins until the time it entered Japan. It will then examine key Buddhist sectarian traditions and teachings, and look at how these sectarian traditions interacted with state and society, discuss the role of charismatic and ascetic figures in the spreading and promotion of a popular, faith-oriented folk Buddhism and examine the main areas of popular practice that have been associated with and used by Buddhist temples in historical and modern contexts in Japan.  Finally, it will assess the problems faced by Buddhism since 1945, discuss the various ways in which Buddhist institutions and individual priests are seeking to re-contextualise the tradition in line with modernity and changing circumstances, and will examine how this is impacting on, and is likely to affect, Buddhism in the longer term.

Available on: Japanese Studies programme

• To provide students with a knowledge of the ways in which Buddhism has developed in Japan, especially in the modern (i.e. Meiji Restoration onwards) period and in conjunction with the processes of modernity and the rise of the modern state.  
• To provide an understanding of Buddhism’s relationships with other religious traditions, its impact on Japanese culture, its sectarian manifestations, its popular realms of practice, and its various social roles in pre-modern and modern Japan.
• To provide students with an awareness of the problems faced by Buddhism in the late 20th/early 21st centuries, the ways in which Buddhist institutions are facing these problems, and the implications this has for Buddhism as a religious entity in Japan and beyond.

Lectures and class discussion of the readings

A review session on paper-writing formalities

Oral feedback on contributions to seminars and assessment of written work 

•    Gain a good knowledge and critical understanding of the main topics concerning the cultural history of Buddhism in Japan, especially in the modern era.
•    Gain an understanding of the continuities and discontinuities between modern and pre-modern Buddhism in Japan.

•    Broaden intellectual interests and nurture cultural awareness for areas beyond English-speaking countries.
•    Read critically: evaluating information using critical and analytical thinking and judgment
•    Write analytically: gain exposure and practice in appropriate presentation and written skills related to a discipline or profession

•    Construct ideas and arguments from own research and apply knowledge to finding solutions to authentic real-world problems.
•    Improve basic skills for academic writing, in particular reviewing academic literature.
•    Improve presentation skills

•    Develop personal qualities of independence of mind in order to make ethical judgments.
•    Develop awareness that will enable students to confront their own values as global citizens

Ambros, Barbara Women in Japanese Religions. (New York and London: New York University Press, 2015)  

Covell, Stephen G. Japanese Temple Buddhism: Worldliness in a Religion of Renunciation (University of Hawaii Press, 2005)

Rowe, Mark Bonds of The Dead: Temples, Burial and the Transformation of Contemporary Japanese Buddhism ( University of Hawai’i Press, 2011)

Starling, Jessica, Guardians of the Buddha’s Home: Domestic Religion in the Contemporary Jōdo Shinshū (University of Hawai’i Press, 2019)  

Thomas, Jolyon B. Drawing on Tradition: Manga, Anime, and Religion in Contemporary Japan (H University of Hawai’i Press, 2012)

William E. Deal, Brian Ruppert, A Cultural History of Buddhism (Wiley, 2015)

Williams, Duncan R. The Other side of Zen. A social History of Sōtō Zen Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan. (Princeton University Press, 2005)