right|thumb|The [[Dai Heiwa Kinen Tō, Peace Tower built by Perfect Liberty Kyōdan]]

Japanese new religions are new religious movements established in Japan. In Japanese, they are called or . Japanese scholars classify all religious organizations founded since the middle of the 19th century as "new religions"; thus, the term refers to a great diversity and number of organizations. Most came into being in the mid-to-late twentieth century and are influenced by much older traditional religions including Buddhism and Shinto. Foreign influences include Islam and Christianity, the Bible, and the writings of Nostradamus. Most of those who joined in this period were women from lower-middle-class backgrounds.

A few Shinto-based , such as Tenrikyo and Konkokyo, refer to themselves in English as churches rather than as temples or shrines. In both Tenrikyo and Konkokyo, some branches abroad are known as missions.

Soka Gakkai has a particular influence on politics since 1964, due to their affiliated party Komeito, later New Komeito. In 1999, it was estimated that 10 to 20 per cent of the Japanese population were members of a .

In Brazil , like Honmon Butsuryū-shū, were first introduced in the 1920s among the Japanese immigrant population. In the 1950s and 1960s some started to become popular among the non-Japanese population as well. Seicho-No-Ie now has the largest membership in the country. In the 1960s, it adopted Portuguese, rather than Japanese, as its language of instruction and communication. It also began to advertise itself as philosophy rather than religion in order to avoid conflict with the Roman Catholic Church and other socially conservative elements in society. By 1988 it had more than 2.4 million members in Brazil, 85% of them not of Japanese ethnicity.<br />1946||500,950||2,520,430||1,259,064||942,967

|-

| Seichō-no-Ie ()||Masaharu Taniguchi (1893–1985)||1930||1,461,604||2,375,705||838,496||618,629

|-

| Sōka Gakkai ()||Tsunesaburō Makiguchi (1871–1944)<br />Jōsei Toda (1900–1958)||1930||341,146||10,000,000 (claimed)||12,000,000 (claimed) / 2 to 4,000,000 (scholars)||12,000,000 (claimed) / 2 to 4,000,000 (scholars)

|-

| Sekai Kyūsei-kyō ()||Mokichi Okada (1882–1955)||1935||373,173||661,263||835,756||835,756

|-

| Shinnyo-en ()||Shinjō Itō (1906–1956)||1936||155,500||296,514||679,414||902,254

|-

| Kōdō Kyōdan ()||Shōdō Okano (1900–1978)||1936||172,671||417,638||400,720||184,859

|-

| Risshō Kōsei-kai ()||Myōkō Naganuma (1889–1957)<br />Nikkyō Niwano (1906–1999)||1938||1,041,124||4,562,304||6,348,120||3,232,411

|-

| Tenshō Kōtai Jingū-kyō ()||Sayo Kitamura (1900–1967)||1945||89,374||386,062||439,011||479,707

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| Zenrin-kyō ()||Tatsusai Rikihisa (1906–1977)||1947||404,157||483,239||513,321||132,286

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| Ōyamanezunomikoto Shinji Kyōkai ()||Sadao Inaii (1906–1988)||1948||||59,493||826,022||

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| Bussho Gonenkai Kyōdan ()||Kaichi Sekiguchi (1897–1961)<br />Sekiguchi Tomino (1905–1990)||1950||352,170||1,210,227||2,196,813||1,277,424

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| Myōchikai Kyōdan ()||Mitsu Miyamoto (1900–1984)||1950||515,122||673,913||962,611||709,849

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| Byakkō Shinkō-kai ()||Masahisa Goi (1916–1980)||1951||||||500,000||

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| Agon-shū ()||Seiyū Kiriyama (1921–2016)||1954||||500||206,606||353,890

|-

| Reiha-no-Hikari Kyōkai ()||Hase Yoshio (1915–1984)||1954||||||761,175||

|-

| Jōdo Shinshū Shinran-kai ()||Kentetsu Takamori (1934–)||1958||||||100,000||

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| Sekai Mahikari Bunmei Kyōdan ()||Kōtama Okada (Yoshikazu Okada) (1901–1974)||1959||||||97,838||

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| Honbushin ()||Ōnishi Tama (1916–1969)||1961||||||900,000

|}

Data for 2012 is from the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

List of scriptures

Below is a list of scriptures in various Japanese new religions, most of which are considered to be direct divine revelations in their respective religions.

  • Konkokyo: Konkōkyō Kyōten (金光教教典)
  • Tenrikyo: Mikagura-uta (御神楽歌), Ofudesaki (御筆先), Osashizu (御指図)
  • Honmichi: Kyōgi Ichiban (教義一斑)
  • Honbushin: Tenkei Mikyōsho (天啓御教書)
  • Oomoto: Oomoto Shin'yu (大本神諭), Reikai Monogatari (霊界物語), Michi no Shiori (道の栞), Michi no Hikari (道の光)
  • Seicho-No-Ie: 4 sutras (Kanro no Hōu 甘露の法雨, Tenshi no Kotoba 天使の言葉, Zoku-zoku Kanro no Hōu 続々甘露の法雨, Seishimei Bosatsu Sange 聖使命菩薩讃偈) and Seimei no jissō (生命の實相, 40 volumes)
  • Ananaikyo: Reikai-de Mita Uchū (霊界で観た宇宙, about 12 volumes)
  • Tenshō Kōtai Jingūkyō: Seisho (生書, 4 volumes)
  • Shintō Tenkōkyo: Tomokiyo Yoshisane zenshū (友清歓真全集, 6 volumes)
  • Ōyamanezunomikoto Shinji Kyōkai: Shinjitsu no hikari: shinji (真実の光・神示)
  • Makoto no Michi: Makoto no Michi shinji (真の道神示, 2 volumes)
  • Ennokyo: Ennōkyō Kyōten (円応教教典)
  • Tensokokyo: Voice of the Sphinx (スフィンクスの声)

Sacred mountains

Sacred mountains in Japanese new religions include the following.

  • In Honbushin: Mount Kami or Kami-yama (神山) in Okayama
  • In Kurozumikyō: Mount Shintō or Shintō-zan (神道山) in Okayama
  • In Oomoto: Mount Takakuma or Takakuma-yama (高熊山) in Kameoka and Mount Hongū (本宮山) in Ayabe. Mount Hongū is considered to be a .
  • In Shintō Tenkōkyo: Mount Iwaki or Iwaki-yama (石城山) in Yamaguchi Prefecture
  • In Sukyo Mahikari: Mount Kurai. The Inner Shrine (Okumiya) of the World Shrine (世界総本山奥宮) is located on its summit. A memorial complex dedicated to the religion's founders is located near the mountain's base.
  • In Seicho-No-Ie: , the hill where Seicho-No-Ie's spiritual headquarters is located in Saikai, Nagasaki

See also

  • Chinese new religions
  • Buddhism in Japan
  • Buddhist modernism
  • New religious movements
  • Religion in Japan
  • Shinto sects and schools (only some in the list count as )
  • Shūkyō nisei

References

Bibliography

  • Clarke, Peter B. (1999) A Bibliography of Japanese New Religious Movements: With Annotations. Richmond, Vi: Curzon. . OCLC 246578574.
  • Clarke, Peter B. (2000). Japanese New Religions: In Global Perspective. Richmond, Vi: Curzon. . OCLC 442441364.
  • Clarke, Peter B., Somers, Jeffrey, editors (1994). Japanese New Religions in the West, Japan Library/Curzon Press, Kent, UK. .
  • Dormann, Benjamin (2012). Celebrity Gods: New Religions, Media, and Authority in Occupied Japan, University of Hawaiʻi Press. .
  • Dormann, Benjamin (2005). “New Religions through the Eyes of Ōya Sōichi, 'Emperor' of the Mass Media”, in: Bulletin of the Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture, 29, pp.&nbsp;54–67.
  • Dormann, Benjamin (2004). “SCAP's Scapegoat? The Authorities, New Religions, and a Postwar Taboo”, in: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 31/1: pp.&nbsp;105–140.
  • Hardacre, Helen. (1988). Kurozumikyo and the New Religions of Japan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. .
  • Kisala, Robert (2001). “Images of God in Japanese New Religions”, in: Bulletin of the Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture, 25, pp.&nbsp;19–32.
  • Shimazono, Susumu (2004). From Salvation to Spirituality: Popular Religious Movements in Modern Japan. Japanese Society Series. Melbourne, Vic.: Trans Pacific Press. .
  • Staemmler, Birgit & Ulrich Dehn, eds. Establishing the Revolutionary: An Introduction to New Religions in Japan. Munster: LIT, 2011. .
  • Thomsen, Harry. The New Religions of Japan. Tokyo and Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle, 1963.
  • Wilson, Bryan R. and Karel Dobbelaere. (1994). A Time to Chant. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .