TALES FROM HISTORY

Buddhism in Japan — A Little History of this Powerful and Influential Religion

Inextricably woven into the tapestry of culture

The Great Buddha, flanked by one of the eight great bodhisattvas, Kokūzō Bosatsu. Todaiji temple, Nara. (Depositphotos)

A walk down the hill from my house takes me to the grounds of a Shinto shrine. For more than 250 years, though, this shrine had been a Buddhist temple.

Remnants of those former years are kept in a small clearing in the forest near the shrine — a broken Nio Guardian deity and some statues that have been repaired after being defaced, mossy gravestones and gorintō (small stone pagodas used as memorials for the dead) gathered together after having been scattered in the forest.

Buddhist gorintō grave memorials gathered into a jumble near a Shinto shrine, Kagoshima. (©Diane Tincher)

This is not unusual. A visit to any temple in my prefecture of Kagoshima reveals the same troubled past. Yet, despite this unfortunate historic episode of widespread destruction, Buddhism has had a tremendous influence in Japan, profoundly impacting the culture.

One school of Buddhism, Zen, gave birth to many of the arts we consider quintessentially Japanese —

• Noh theater
• Ikebana flower arranging