Before Shinto

Buddhism and the Japanese Gods

AvFabio Rambelli

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

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1 436 kr

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Beskrivning

Focusing on the fundamental role played by Buddhism in shaping general ideas about and attitudes toward the Japanese gods (kami), this book presents a new revisionist history of Shinto. Based on in-depth historical and cultural analysis and presenting numerous pre-modern sources in English translation, Before Shinto goes against received assumptions that something called “Shinto” has always existed in Japan as a foundation upon which religions and philosophies of foreign origin were first accepted and then developed. Rather, it demonstrates that Buddhism, in a complex process of assimilation of pre-existing forms of the sacred combined with foreign divinities, created narratives and representations of the kami, which were until then mostly anonymous and invisible, before adding them to its vast cosmology of gods and meta-human beings.Shinto emerged as a separate tradition around the sixteenth century as part of a conscious movement away from Buddhism; within this newly formed framework to envision the gods, different interventions by Confucian and by Nativist authors in particular, became possible. Fabio Rambelli highlights the multiform and shifting nature of discourses on the kami and the continuous process of re-invention of Shinto.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-11-12
Mått:156 x 234 x 16 mm
Vikt:431 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Bloomsbury Shinto Studies
Antal sidor:304
Förlag:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:9781350640979

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Mer om författaren

Fabio Rambelli is Distinguished Professor of Japanese religions in the Departments of Religious Studies and East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, where he holds the International Shinto Foundation chair in Shinto Studies, at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.

Recensioner i media

This book effectively confronts shallow understandings of the ancient origins of Shinto as Japan’s 'indigenous religion' by offering a detailed analysis of Buddhist interpretations of the kami and their shrines. It does not debunk modern Shinto; rather, it displays and celebrates the multiplicity of ideas and meanings that the kami have inspired throughout Japanese history. Rambelli shows us that Shinto is even more fascinating than we thought.

Innehållsförteckning

AcknowledgementsList of IllustrationsNotes for the ReaderPrefaceIntroduction: Buddhism, Shinto, and the KamiPart I: Buddhism and Local Gods1. The Kami Encounter BuddhismPart II: In and Out of Buddhism2. The Dangerous Kami Called Buddha3. Japan as the Land of the Kami 4. Buddhism, the Kami, and the Origin of the Universe5. The Ritual World of Buddhist Kami6. Origins of Non-Buddhist Discourses on the Kami Part III: New Kami Discourses7. The Kami in a Fragmented World: The Emergence of Shinto 8. Conclusion: Floating Signifiers: Alternative Discourses on Kami NotesBibliographyIndex