In search of a lost reformation: A reconsideration of Kamakura Buddhism

Abstract

In the study of Japanese religion, holds a special place. Every scholar who has written on the subject has perceived a fundamental change in the of the period as it moved beyond the aristocracy into the lives of peasants, traders, craftsmen, and warriors in conjunction with the emergence of feudal political, economic, and social structures. Exactly what this change was, however, has yet to be thoroughly or convincingly defined. On the surface, such a definition would seem simple enough. Japanese scholars have long referred to a New Buddhism (shin bukky6) of the period arising in opposition to the Old Buddhism (kyii bukky6) of the Heian and Nara periods. By these terms, they divide Japanese along sectarian lines, grouping the various sects according to the age of their founding. The New Buddhism of the period, and hence Kamakura Buddhism, has come to mean, then, five sects represented by five founders: the Jodo Shi founded by Hbnen (11331212); the Jbdo Shinshf founded by Shinran (1173-1262); the Nichiren Shh or Hokke Shi founded by Nichiren (1222 -1282); the Rinzai Shf founded by Eisai (1141-1215); and the SWth Shi founded by D6gen (1200-1253). Such simplistic limitations hardly seem tenable anymore, but the term Kamakura Buddhism still suggests these five sects and, even more peculiarly, these five founders.