18.Dr. Stephen G. Covell, Japanese Buddhism in America.doc

Japanese Buddhism in America
Dr. Stephen G. Covell
Professor, Dept. parative Religion,
Western Michigan University
Abstract: The journey of Buddhism from Japan to America is one not easily told briefly. Within Japan one hundred years ago, Buddhism was undergoing great changes in the face of declining state support and the onslaught of modern and western views on religion. At the same time, Japanese were traveling to the United States to work in Hawai’i and California. This was a moment of monumental change for Japanese Buddhism as well as for those Japanese Buddhists striking out to work thousands of miles from home. But, that was only the beginning. Japanese Buddhists both in Japan and in the US, each for their own reasons, sought to appeal to non-Japanese as well--both to so-called Convert Buddhists and to munities and the nation at large. Next, the first wave of settlers gave way to a second generation of ethnic Japanese Buddhists who in their own time put new demands on the Buddhism of their parents. And finally, we cannot understand the spread of Buddhism from Japan to America, without considering diffuse Buddhism; the Buddhism of popular culture, poetry, music, and the martial arts. I won’t try to cover all of this here in depth, but in order to introduce plexity of this rich history I will briefly touch on each in turn.
The journey of Buddhism from Japan to America