REL 101 Class notes, Week 7, Lecture 3

600-800 CE: Formation of Japan as a Nation, Introduction of Buddhism

World of the Kami

1. Indigenous Japanese Religion - Prehistory
   • Migration of Japanese tribes into the Islands
   • Kami - gods and goddesses - and "Shinto"
2. Formation of Japan as a Nation and State Religion
   • Amalgam of Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Kami (Shinto) elements
   • Buddhism as State Religion - Emperor at the main temple of Todaji in Nara: religious and political leader
   • System of Provincial Temples (kokubunji) with headquarters at Todaiji
3. Kawai, "Hollow-centered Balance Model of Japanese Mythology"
   • Triad of Gods: Sun Goddess, Storm God, Moon God
   • Amaterasu, Susano-o, Tsukiyomi
   • Political and Religious Implications
     
4. Characteristics of Kami Worship
   
   • "Mountains are kami, rivers are kami"
   • Ancestors are kami 
   • Nature is fertile, humans are part of nature, humans are fertile