One strong aspect in Japanese religions is a sense of luck or good fortune. At every shrine in Japan you are able to buy small pendants that have a specific area in which they may bring you good fortune such as safe driving, good fortune in studying and test taking, and pregnancy and a healthy child. You are also able to collect fortunes which are similar but much more complex than what you will find in a fortune cookie in the states. However, these fortunes also can give you bad luck. If you have bad luck in ways concerning your birth year or your unlucky fortune you can tie up certain things in which to ward off these bringers of bad luck. In the picture above, you can see a 1 yen coin that I dropped into a basin of water. I’m not completely certain of the meaning of this task, but I know that if your coin floats it is good luck. I think the main difference between Abrahamic religions and religions in Japan (focusing specifically on shinto) is a difference idea in where the spirit(s) are found. Focusing specifically on Christianity (simply because it is the area of abrahamic religions that I know best), there is basically only one entity where spiritual/unearthly power lies, in God. In the Shinto religion it is a bit different. My host mother explained to me that ‘itadakimasu’ (what one says before eating) is an expression meaning to express gratitude. However this does not mean gratitude specifically to the person who made the meal. It also refers to the life that was taken for this meal. This life is from not only the animals but from the plants as well. In Japanese culture there is a stronger idea of life or a spirit of some sort being in everything. For this reason, everything you do, even small everyday things, involves some type of spirit. This can be easily seen in Japanese folktales about Youkai where everyday objects or spirits come to life to haunt a family, person, or place.
Closely fit with the last topic, connected with this photo I’m going to discuss the use of nature in religion. Above is a classic picture of the Golden Pavilion or the Ginkakujin. Beside the structure of a temple or shrine, one of the main characteristics is the environment which is focused around simplicity in nature. To get to a shrine or temple you usually must climb up a mountain, walk through a rock garden, or make your way through a small forest. There is a big focus on the environment of where a person, shrine, or temple is. I believe this is a result of the idea of life and spirit being everywhere in the world and earth. In Japan, a shrine without the surrounding nature and environment feels significantly different. In western religions, all that is needed is the building in which houses spiritual objects. At one time we were able to visit a Japanese rock garden. While it itself is not a shrine or a place of specific spirituality, it has a very spiritual feel.
When talking about religion in Japan, there is very little discussion about afterlife, which is focused in Buddhism. In a family’s house you can usually find a shrine for the ancestors of the fathers side of the family. Other than this I have only heard of the afterlife mentioned once. This was in Nagano where I saw a row of figures representing the realms of afterlife, which includes more than just humans such as animals and godly beings. Instead of focusing on afterlife, as I was grown up as a Catholic I can safely say that there is a large focus on ones afterlife in Christianity, Japanese religions focus more on ones place while living. The environment is important in this because being part of the life in all things around you and finding a place of philosophy is important.
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