The Development of Japanese New Religions in Brazil and Their Propagation in a Foreign Culture

Abstract

This article will examine Omoto, Konkokyo, and Rissho Koseikai as examples of New Religions among Brazilians of Japanese descent, and Sekai Kyuseikyo, Soka Gakkai, and Reiyukai as Japanese new religions that have expanded through propagation to Brazilians of a non-Japanese ethnic background. It will examine the spread of Japanese new religions in the new cultural environment of Brazil, which factors caused the movements to remain only among Japanese-Brazilians, and which factors caused the movements to spread to non-ethnic-Japanese communities. The article will also look at the phenomenon of many Brazilians of Japanese descent who came to work in Japan in the 1990s, and the large impact that has had on Japanese new religions with regard to organizational restructuring. It will also look at how this was a new development for the religions of the ethnic Japanese community in Brazil, and as an opportunity for propagation among Brazilians of non-Japanese ethnic background. keywords: Brazil - Japanese immigrants - new religions - Omoto- Konkokyo - Rissho Koseikai - Sekai Kyuseikyo - Soka Gakkai - Reiyukai (ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.) THE HISTORY of Japanese migration to Brazil began with the mass migration of 1908, and Brazil now has the largest population of people of Japanese descent of any country in the world outside Japan. It is generally true that, concomitant with migration, religion also migrates, but in Brazil's case, the formal propagation of the religions of the Japanese community did not begin until after the Second World War. Before the war, it was thought that the introduction of Buddhism or Shinto in a country where Catholicism was virtually a national religion would only act to inflame anti-Japanese sentiment, so the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs only permitted the migration of Catholic missionaries, and requested a self-imposed restraint on all other missionary activity. In this respect, the Brazilian case contrasts with the case of both Hawai'i and the United States, where temples and shrines were built for existing Buddhist sects shortly after Japanese migration began. Nevertheless, individuals took their personal religious beliefs with them, and there were those who had immigrated to Brazil for missionary purposes, despite migrating under the guise of agricultural immigrants. As a result, by the 1930s, the development of sects such as Seicho no Ie ..., Tenrikyo ..., Omoto ..., and Honmon Butsuryushu ... became evident. Nonetheless, it can be said that the official propagation of Japanese religion in Brazil, especially Japanese new religions,1 only began after the war. The Buddhist sects Jodo Shinshu Honganji ..., Shinshu Otani ..., Soto ..., Jodo .. ., Shingon ..., and Nichiren .. Buddhist Sects all became evident in Brazil in the 1950s, while the new religious sects Sekai Kyuseikyo ... and PL Kyodan (PL ..) appeared in the 1950s, Soka Gakkai ... and Konkokyo ... in the 1960s, Rissho Koseikai ..., Reiyukai ..., Sukyo Mahikari ..., and GLA in the 1970s, Shuyodan Hosekai ... in the 1980s, and Agonshu ... and Kofuku no Kagaku ... in the 1990s. Therefore, many Japanese new religions have entered Brazil, but this article will focus on Omoto, Konkokyo, Rissho Koseikai, Sekai Kyuseikyo, Soka Gakkai, and Reiyukai in particular. In all cases, their propagation was initially focused on the Japanese-Brazilian population, but in some cases, propagation went beyond these ethnic Japanese communities, widely attracting non-Japanese Brazilians, while in other cases, propagation did not go beyond the Japanese community. The object of this paper is to examine the factors which influence the success or failure of a new religion in its propagation and adoption by groups outside the ethnic Japanese population.2 Perspectives Two dimensions will be explored in an effort to trace the development of the propagation of new religions in a foreign culture and to examine the factors that have influenced their development: the classification of Japanese new religions and the issues they dealt with and were forced to resolve in their propagation in another culture. …