The Religious Traditions of Japan 500-1600 (review)

Richard Bowring has taken on the challenging task of writing, despite the more inclusive title, a history of Buddhism in Japan from its introduction in the sixth century to the beginning of the Tokugawa era. The author rightly observes that available overviews, including Charles Eliot's Japanese Buddhism (1935), Joseph M. Kitagawa's Religion in Japanese History (1966), and Daigan and Alicia Matsunaga's Foundation of Japanese Buddhism (1974), are notably dated. "There is clearly a need," Bowring writes in his preface, "for a new history of the subject" (p. xi). Although Bowring may have fallen short of providing some of the things one would hope an overview of Japan's Buddhist tradition would include, that is not to say that this volume is a failure or unimportant. Bowring himself, in the preface, anticipates some of the criticisms I will offer as well as notes the challenges he was sure to encounter when he embarked on this project. In many ways extraordinary, this volume must be understood for what it is and, perhaps also, what it is not.

The book is ordered chronologically and divided into four parts, each covering important eras of Japanese history up to 1600. The first deals with the introduction and establishment of Buddhism from the first half of the sixth century to the beginning of the Heian era (784). Chapters within this section cover the introduction of Buddhism from Paekche, its early conflict with native beliefs and practices, the close relation between Buddhism and the early state, and the establishment of powerful temple complexes in Nara. Part 2 spans from 800 to 1180, basically the Heian era, concluding with Taira no Shigehira's destruction of Tōdaiji and Kōfukuji (1180). Among other topics, Bowring highlights the growing influence of tantrism, including both its Tendai and Shingon variations, as well as the rise of devotionalism. Part 3 covers the Kamakura era (1180-1330) with key chapters on the debate over the exclusive nenbutsu, Chan and Zen Buddhism, and the emergence of Shinto as an independent tradition. Finally, part 4 extends from the fall of Go-Daigo to the death of Nobunaga (1330-1582). Three chapters review the political battles between the Northern and Southern courts (including religious elements thereof), the rise of Muromachi Zen, the end of the medieval era with the introduction of Christianity, and the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Although the vast majority of this study focuses on Buddhism, indigenous religious practices and beliefs are certainly not ignored. Chapter 8, in particular, offers a coherent analysis of the survival, indeed flourishing, of native jingi cults "largely thanks to a philosophical flexibility within Buddhism, which recognized the possibility of provisional truths." Bowring goes on to note that "Buddhism needed local gods to ground itself in new areas via these intermediaries, and in turn it provided local cults . . . with something of much greater significance, a universal context which became increasingly necessary if the divine right to rule was to be maintained" (p. 179). A close analysis follows of what has problematically been labeled Buddhist-Shinto syncretism and of the rise of national state shrines at Kamo and Ise. Despite the inclusion of these sections on the native cults and rise of Shinto, the overriding focus on Buddhism and the absence of any substantive discussion of Taoist, Confucian, and Chinese cosmological influences makes the title of this volume somewhat misleading.

Bowring is also to be complemented for highlighting the rise of devotionalism (chapter 9) during the Heian era, an important element for understanding the later teachings of Hōnen and Shinran, in particular, that are so often anachronistically abstracted from their social and historical contexts. His inclusion of at least one representative of the established schools, Myōe, in an overview of the exclusive nenbutsu teachers is also noteworthy. In addition to an extensive section on Chan and Zen, Bowring also includes the reform efforts of Eison (1201-1290) at Saidaiji, Ippen (1239-1289), and Nichiren (1222-1282) during...