Japanese religions in the context of globalization and secularization
Asian Studies
Final Report Abstract
This project has analyzed the repositioning of Japanese religions vis-à-vis global society against the backdrop of a working definition of religion based on the concept of authority, and the focus on two main sources of relativization, that is, the augmented circulation of global ideas and polycentric functional differentiation. The project’s results illustrate that there are three main varieties of relativization (that derive from the two main sources of relativization mentioned above) affecting Japanese religions’ authority structure under conditions of accelerated globalization. That is, religions can be relativized by the increasing presence of a) other religious systems, b) discrete elements circulating in the global cultural network, and c) other social systems (e.g. science, politics). This distinction is intended to address the confusion of levels of analysis often found in studies on religion and globalization in Japan and beyond. To these three forms of relativization correspond three different modalities of Japanese religions’ global repositioning: 1) Global repositioning occurring at the inter-religious level implies that Japanese religions are prompted by relativization to reposition themselves on the world religious map in relation to other religions. The authority of other religions may be rejected, conditionally accepted, or fully acknowledged; 2) global repositioning occurring at the discrete-elements level implies that Japanese religions are prompted by relativization to rethink themselves in relation to religious or non-religious ideas circulating in the global cultural network. These ideas may be rejected, indigenized, indigenized and used to promote cultural nationalism, or accepted unconditionally; 3) global repositioning occurring at the inter-systemic level implies that Japanese religions are prompted by relativization to rethink their relationship with other global social systems such as science and politics. The authority of other social systems may be rejected, conditionally accepted, or fully acknowledged. Moreover, religion can try to address the global problems (e.g. war, poverty) generated or left unsolved by these systems. Based on his ethnographic and archival research in Japan and Hawaii, Dessì has shown that these three modalities of Japanese religions’ global repositioning are deeply interrelated with each other. In fact, they are all underlain by important factors such as the emergence of a global consciousness, the pursuit of power, and the reassertion of cultural nationalism. Moreover, he has illustrated that Japanese religions can be simultaneously affected by the three forms of relativization (inter-religious, discreteelements, and inter-systemic), and can switch from one modality of repositioning to another to strategically maximize the impact of their responses to relativization and their own relevance in global society. The project originally aimed to analyze in detail the new religious movement Risshō Kōseikai and two denominations of traditional Japanese Buddhism, that is, Sōtōshū and Jōdoshū. As for Jōdoshū, access to information and permission to administer the questionnaires was granted, but unfortunately the response rate was too low (less than 30 percent), and the data gathered were not apt to be used for a detailed analysis of this denomination as a single case study in a book chapter. As for Sōtōshū, probably also because of a financial scandal occurring within this religious organization at that time, after long negotiations the institution denied permission to administer the questionnaires and did not facilitate participant observation and the collection of relevant material. Subsequent attempts to get permissions from two other denominations of Japanese Buddhism, Nichirenshū and Tendaishū, and a new religious movement, Sōka Gakkai, to conduct qualitative/quantitative research among their members were unsuccessful. However, the case studies chosen as contingency measures to provide insight into the three different modalities of Japanese religions’ global repositioning have proven to be both feasible and successful: the research has focused on inter-religious dialogue and inclusivism in Japanese Buddhism, Shintō, and new religious movements; on religious environmentalism in Japanese Buddhism, Shintō, and new religious movements; on the glocalization of Hawaiian Shin Buddhism through the issue of meditation; and on the three different modalities of global repositioning in a large Japanese new religious movement, Risshō Kōseikai.
Publications
- 2012. “Religion, Hybrid Forms, and Cultural Chauvinism in Japan.” Journal of Religion in Japan 1/2: 168-187
Dessì, Ugo
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1163/221183412X649629) - 2013. “‘Greening Dharma’: Contemporary Japanese Buddhism and Ecology.” Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture 7/3: 334-355
Dessì, Ugo
(See online at https://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v7i3.334) - 2014. “Approaching Japanese Religions under Globalization.” Journal of Religion in Japan 3/2-3: 83-95
Dessì, Ugo and Galen Amstutz
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1163/22118349-00302001) - 2014. “Pure Land Buddhism in the Global Age.” In Fujimoto Kiyohiko Sensei Koki Kinen Ronbunshū Kankōkai 藤本淨彦先生古稀記念論文集刊行会, ed., Hōnen Bukkyō no shosō 法然仏教の諸相, Kyoto: Hōzōkan
Dessì, Ugo
- 2014. “Religious Change as Glocalization: The Case of Shin Buddhism in Honolulu.” In Leah Kalmanson and James Mark Shields, eds., Buddhist Responses to Globalization, 33-50. Lanham: Lexington Press
Dessì, Ugo
- 2014. “Risshō Kōseikai within Globalization: A Multidimensional Approach.” Journal of Religion in Japan 3/2-3: 121-140
Dessì, Ugo
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1163/22118349-00302003) - 2017. The Global Repositioning of Japanese Religions: An Integrated Approach. London and New York: Routledge
Dessì, Ugo
(See online at https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315557601) - 2017. “Japanese Buddhism, Relativization, and Glocalization.” Religions 8/1 (special issue “Glocal Religions” guest edited by Victor Roudometof): 1-14
Dessì, Ugo
(See online at https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8010012)
