HOW DIFFERENT RELIGIONS INFLUENCE JAPANESE'S LIFE?
Japan is a multi-religious country that includes Shintoism, Buddhism, Christianity, and other religions. Based on Aaron O’Neill’s data (2022), people who believe in Shintoism and Buddhism take the most；the former share of population for 79% and the latter share of population for 66.7%. According to article posted on Japan Wonder Travel Blog (2020—2021), many people think they are similar despite they are different religion. Nevertheless, there are many significant differences between Shintoism and Buddhism, and are you aware that there are differences between both religions in several aspects, including religious doctrine, religious architecture and worship practices? If you want to learn more details and interesting information, just keep reading!
The Figure 1 is a pie chart of top religion in Japan:
source:yourinternationalguide(2022/11/20)
We find an interesting fact in this pie chart: the graph above exceeds 100%, for Japanese religion is syncretistic, and many people who practice Shinto also practice Buddhism. The people who adhere to Shintoism take the most percentage in the chart; and people who believe in Buddhism are slightly less than that. The people who believe in Christianity and other religions are dramatically lower than people believing in Buddhism and Shintoism.
In Figure 2, we can notice some distinctive data. Niigata County has most shrine in Japan. Since the population here once surpassesd that of Tokyo in the agricultural era, people rely on agriculture. When people open up new farmland, a village will be formed, and there is at least one shrine in each village. Despite once requiring the consolidation of shrines during the Meiji era, they have the most shrines than any other country. Aichi County has most temple in Japan. Some people speculate that Aichi County was very prosperous in ancient times. This is because there once was protected by the Tokugawa family, so there are the largest number of temples in Aichi County. (完美行旅行情報, Retrieved date: 2022/11/30)
As I said in the beginning of the article, Japan is a multi-religious country. There are many historical shrines and temples which being important places to deeply experience Japanese culture and customs. It is worthwhile to visit shrines and temples across the country when you travel to Japan so that you can experience the historical atmosphere that has been passed down since ancient times.