The Religious Traditions of Japan 500-1600
Richard Bowring describes in outline the development of Japanese religious thought and practice from the introduction of writing to the point at which medieval attitudes gave way to a distinctive pre-modern culture, a change that brought an end to the dominance of religious institutions. A wide range of approaches using the resources of art, history, social and intellectual history, as well as doctrine is brought to bear on the subject in order to give as full a picture as possible of the richness of the Japanese tradition as it succeeded in holding together on the one hand Buddhism, with its sophisticated intellectual structures, and on the other hand the disparate local cults that eventually achieved a kind of unity under the rubric of Shinto. An understanding of this process of constant and at times difficult interaction is essential to a deeper appreciation of Japan's history and its cultural achievements.
Richard Bowring is Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Cambridge and Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge. He is co-author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Japan (1993) and has written a number of Japanese Language textbooks.
Author: Richard Bowring (University of Cambridge)
Format: Hardback, 502 pages, 152mm x 229mm, 840 g
Published: 2005, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom
Genre: Non-Christian Religions
Richard Bowring describes in outline the development of Japanese religious thought and practice from the introduction of writing to the point at which medieval attitudes gave way to a distinctive pre-modern culture, a change that brought an end to the dominance of religious institutions. A wide range of approaches using the resources of art, history, social and intellectual history, as well as doctrine is brought to bear on the subject in order to give as full a picture as possible of the richness of the Japanese tradition as it succeeded in holding together on the one hand Buddhism, with its sophisticated intellectual structures, and on the other hand the disparate local cults that eventually achieved a kind of unity under the rubric of Shinto. An understanding of this process of constant and at times difficult interaction is essential to a deeper appreciation of Japan's history and its cultural achievements.
Richard Bowring is Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Cambridge and Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge. He is co-author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Japan (1993) and has written a number of Japanese Language textbooks.
