Issei Buddhism in the Americas

Foreword

Foreword Roger Daniels Although the study of the religions of most immigrant groups to what is now the United States has been a major element in their historiography, up to now this has not been particularly important for Asian American groups. In addition, when such study has occurred, the focus is usually on the immigrants ’ adaptation to the various forms of Christianity they found in their new homeland or, in some instances, to the missionary-inspired religion they had acquired in Asia. Only rarely has significant attention been paid to the religions they brought with them.1 The present volume is particularly welcome. Its authors focus on the varieties of the Japanese Buddhist immigrant religion experiences in Hawaii, the United States mainland, Canada, and Brazil. They treat both the formal religious structures and the largely religious language schools that became bones of political contention in Hawaii and North America. Until recently almost all English-language literature on Buddhism in America focused solely on the relatively few Caucasian converts while ignoring the much larger and expanding numbers of Asian American Buddhists. Although it seems clear that the Buddhist newcomers were essentially just another variety of immigrant religion, they were not regarded as such by New World governments. From the 1920s on these governments, led by the United States, became increasing hostile to both Buddhist churches and language schools. The Japanese language schools in the United States found protection from onerous government restriction in a 1927 Supreme Court decision, Farrington v. Tokushige (273 US 284), but when war came in 1941 constitutional protections for Japanese Americans and Japanese American churches were simply disregarded. Buddhism was regarded as an enemy viii Foreword religion, and Buddhist priests and language teachers were well represented on the Department of Justice’s lists of persons to be interned at the onset of hostilities. After 1942, when the War Relocation Authority began the phased release of incarcerated Japanese Americans for resettlement in the interior, its regulations made it more difficult for Buddhists to regain their liberty. The editors point out that, viewed from a Japanese perspective, the transPacific expansion of Buddhism into the New World was a continuation of its eastward transmission from India through Southeast and East Asia to Japan. The offshoots planted in the New World received direction and financing from various church headquarters just as Christian churches that were part of the westward plantation from Europe looked to ecclesiastical authorities in London, Amsterdam, and Rome for direction and support. Since many, perhaps most, readers will be unfamiliar with even the basics of Japanese Buddhism, the editors have provided a double set of introductions : the initial one at the beginning of the volume, and four mini-introductions , one at the beginning of each of the four parts into which the essays are divided. It might be prudent for some readers to read them all before beginning the essays themselves. Note 1. An earlier volume in this series, David K. Yoo and Ruth H. Chung, eds., Religion and Spirituality in Korean America (2008), focused on variants of Korean American Protestantism, Catholicism, and Buddhism. ...