Editors' Introduction: Japanese Religions in Brazil

Abstract

Japanese Religions in Brazil 1 T he date of the publication of this special issue on "Japanese Religions in Brazil" coincides with the centenary festivities of Japanese immigration to Brazil. On a number of occasions throughout the year, including 18 June-the day of the arrival of the vessel Kasato Maru in 1908 in the port of Santos (Federal State of São Paulo) with the first seven hundred and eight-one immigrants on board-the Japanese-Brazilian community will be celebrating the successful integration of its members into Brazilian society. They have contributed to virtually every aspect of life in a country that, at the beginning, was considered only a temporary location, but after World War II became the permanent home for the majority of the immigrants and their descendents. The centenary is a welcome opportunity for the Japanese religious establishment in Brazil to reflect upon their past and present status. In many cases the retrospective transcends the institutional existence of the groups, but also reflects the appreciation of their "pioneers" who, under precarious material and socio-political circumstances, prepared the ground for the establishment of their respective religious organizations in Brazil. In this sense, adequate light has been shed on the time before World War II, a significance that is often neglected in the face of the wave of the institutionalization of Japanese religions in the 1950s. This is true even for Shinto, although the heterogeneous composition of the colonies did not foster rituals associated with a local shrine. Instead, collective

The Rivers of Dharma in the Face of Religious Challenges: A Comparative Analysis of Three Japanese Buddhist Temples in Brazil

“…In 2002, an important collection on the subject was published, titled O Budismo no Brasil , edited by Usarski ( 2002a , b ), which outlined some of the epistemological guidelines for the analysis of Dharma in the country, mainly regarding the categories of immigration and conversion Buddhism. It is also worth mentioning the issue edited by Shoji and Usarski ( 2008 ) and published in the Japanese journal of religious studies , from Nanzan University, considering the centenary of Japanese immigration to Brazilian territory.…”