Japanese Culture: The Religious and Philosophical Foundations

I just finished reading this and though a bit outdated from the time I read this to when it was published, a lot of the concepts and themes presented in the book are still relevant today. I actually read this book after arriving in Japan to do some volunteer work during the summer before I return to university in August, and the book talking about cleanliness being embedded naturally in Japanese culture via Shintoism. Anyways, I was having a conversation with my friend Satoshi-san, who is born & raised in Japan, and one of the first things we were talking about toilets. I think I was complementing the technology he used in the toilets and he said that their toilets are great! And he couldn’t understand why the rest of the world hadn’t adopted their toilets fast enough. Then this book popped up in my head and I said, “Ah! I think I can answer that.” I told him that Japanese people value cleanliness and prefer/enjoy/need to be clean all the time. I said that in the US we basically just need to take a shower once a day and we’re clean for the whole day.” I, of course, was just trying to make a quick generalization and not trying to speak for everyone, but he said, “Ahhhhh, I see,” and understood the point in cultural differences - that Japanese people really value cleanliness than people do in the US. And I wouldn’t have been able to realize these differences in our cultures without this book. ;)

I really enjoyed reading this as it was far more readable than most history books I have read with some interesting information, although I'd warn anyone looking for a very comprehensive look at Japanese religion that this is quite surface level.

This book was a lot shorter than I was expecting, but it gave a good crash course in a 'multilayered model' of Japanese cultural history. Very good introduction to the complex religious and philosophical background to Japanese culture, but left a number of my questions unanswered.

Excellent writing on culture and religion, Buddhist and Shinto. Well documented.

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I am a Shinto adherent and In my opinion, as I see it, I would really have to disagree with some of the description of Shinto laid out in the chapter on Shinto. I think someone reading it could seriously misunderstand some of Shinto as it is practiced today by reading this. Again, it's just my opinion, my own thought on the matter, others could see it differently - but that's how I see it.

Short and informative introduction of Japanese religious and philosophical culture. Given that this book was born out from a graduate course, it is not unusually this book reads like a textbook, with endnotes and discussion prompts. The author however, relies a little too heavily on dated literature from 1960s to 1980s, and was mainly from the western point of view (not a lot of authors he quoted are Japanese, or even East Asian). It is also a bit lacking in substance, with important information taken out and over generalizing events and details, such as how the integration of Budhism in Japan in the 6th century went over very smoothly. If anything, this book will function better as a companion to a more scholarly text. There are also no sources listed for images and the appendix so it is unknown where the author got the images and information from. There are also some outright misinformation such as stating that Taoism does not have a "formal place of worship".

Highly interesting book. Planning up read other books of him as well.

A rather brief intro to Japanese religion and philosophy. Based on university lectures to international students in Tokyo. Discussion sections for each chapter encourage further research.

an introduction to religious and philosophical aspects of Japanese society

For anyone interested in Japan or planning a visit I would say this is a must. It is inciteful and informative