Myazin N. A.

Protestantism in Japan: the failed conversion. Pp. 55–64.

UDC 284(520)(09)

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2024.84.3.007

 

Abstract. The article looks at the development of Protestantism in Japan from the end of the country’s self-isolation to the present day. Initially, Protestantism was more actively spread among representatives of the samurai class and the better educated strata of the population. In the pre-war period, Shintoism became part of the state ideology, and Christianity was perceived as a foreign religion. After Japan’s defeat in the war, freedom of religion was restored. Christians made up about 1 % of Japan’s population, but new religions based on Buddhism became much more widespread. The article focuses on the interaction of Christianity with Japanese religious traditions: Buddhism and Shintoism. It is concluded that the main cause of the limited adoption of Christianity was the population’s rootedness in Buddhist culture.

 

Keywords: Japan, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Shintoism, new religions.

 

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