Referring to religion in Japan, many people do not know what religion in Japan, some will immediately say that Buddhism is because most images in Japan are associated with temples. However, not so, religion in Japan is a mixture of many different religions such as Shinto, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Christianity ….
Religion in Japan – Shinto
Shintoism is a religion that worshiped the god in the true sense, each region has different gods. At first, Shintoism was a combination of Shintoism and Buddhism forming a mixed belief system. Later, however, Buddhism was thought to be extraterrestrial and should be separated from the god.
Religion in Japan – Buddhism
Due to many historical events, there were many periods of limited Buddhism, at the same time the appearance of many other religions such as Christianity, Confucianism, and Christianity. Only Buddhism retains its position and the vast majority of Japanese people follow Buddhism. However, the religions in Japan are flexibly reconciled by the Japanese according to the will of Japan, so even though Buddhism is the majority, those who follow Buddhism do not strictly follow the Buddhist rules. A typical example is the tea ceremony, this is a combination of tea and meditation to create tea ceremony as today has its own Japanese style.
Buddhism is now considered the national religion of Japan. According to statistics, there are 75,000 pagodas spread across Japan, many of which become a very famous temple complex and are visited by many tourists. When coming to Japan, you can visit some famous temples such as Todaiji Temple with the largest Buddha statue in the world, Kurama Shrine with the legend of heavenly crane or the famous Kiozumi temple complex. In addition, other religions still exist and have many followers. A person can follow many religions, not necessarily one. At the beginning of the year, people come to the Shinto shrine, visit the temples in the spring, the wedding is held according to the Shinto ritual but the funeral ceremony is Buddhist.
