Religious Ideology in Japan

The Japan of today has many religious ideologies practiced in its borders. The main ones being the native Shintoism, Buddhism from across the sea and Christianity. Although there has been a rather large Christian influence in Japan, with some major holidays stemming from Christian roots, it was not always welcome in Japan. In the early 1600’s Japan banned Christianity and thousands of Japanese people were put to death for being Christian while Buddhism suffered much less harshly in Japan.

 The hollow Buddha statue in Kamakura.

 Taken from bestsingletravel. (Being inside it is so cool and there are some interesting things to see in the area around the statue.)

Originally the Christian missionaries and merchants were welcome in Japan and their ideologies were not persecuted. However as the missionaries started to feud with missionaries from other western countries  and as the shoguns were further lead to believe they were being set up to be taken down by the western countries, it was only a matter of time before the shogun decided to fix the problem. It is possible that the way in which the missionaries conveyed their messages about Christianity made the Japanese believe they were a threat though more likely it was just the fact their religion separated the people that made the Japanese reconsider letting them walk free on Japanese soil. From the perspectives of the Japanese shoguns this was turning into a major problem and weakening their country to outside influence.They solved their problem by banning Christianity and killing all who practiced while probably getting rid of the missionaries. It was about 250 years later that Christian missionaries were allowed to go to Japan and spread their beliefs. People didn’t necessarily convert but it was accepted and no longer persecuted. The number of Christians in Japan did go up again during this time.

Japan's oldest church in Nagasaki.Picture taken from bookhostelbook guide Nagasaki.

Buddhism had been in Japan for quite a long time by the time Christianity arrived. It was an ideology that was fairly easy to accept for the Japanese people. The nobles accepted Buddhist practices and many  of them chose to follow it. Over time various Buddhist temples were raised in Japan and many people followed Buddhism. In fact one of the most famous places in Japan is a hollow statue of Buddha that you can actually go inside and see. It wasn’t until the time of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi that Buddhism faced any real threats. These two great leaders of the Japanese Sengoku era were strong believers in Shintoism and did not want Buddhism to distract people from their Shinto beliefs. The result of this was a decline in Buddhist practices and temple building but now many Japanese consider themselves Buddhist. It’s quite common for Japanese people to Practice Shintoism in everyday life even if they consider themselves Buddhist. The most common time for Japanese people to practice Buddhist beliefs is funerals. Japanese people often have traditional Buddhist funerals and memorials.

Kiyomizu Dera a Buddhist temple in Kyoto. Picture from khiart.com. (I highly suggest looking up pictures of this temple. Pictures aren't enough to truly capture how beautiful it is but they get close.)

Contrary to Christianity, Shinto and Buddhist beliefs and practices can co-exist as seen in Japan. Christian rules and beliefs are fairly strict in comparison and practitioners of Christian beliefs at the time seemed to have believed that all non-Christians would go to hell. However Buddhism and Shintoism have a very different take on this that allows people to practice both beliefs. Buddhism is all about finding inner peace and enlightenment which can be done without intruding on their Shinto beliefs. Some Buddhist and Shinto beliefs are very similar so to practice one isn’t disregarding the other.Their teachings are fairly peaceful making them pleasant to follow. 

Sensoji Shrine in Asakusa. Taken from dreamstime. (This place gets really busy but it is a really cool experience and there are tons of shops leading up to the shrine itself so you won't get bored.)

So by the time we reach the present day and age we see how these ideologies have been received in Japan. The Shinto beliefs originated in Japan and have been generally accepted, Christianity was not accepted very well since their ideologies clashed with the resident Shinto beliefs and Buddhism was well received most of the time. The 1600’s was a time where control was everything so any religion that wasn’t Shintoism suffered quite harshly but they still survived to this day in Japan. Christianity aside, Japan is a good example and perhaps one of the few examples of a place where two separate religions can practiced side by side without conflict by the same person. 

Picture of Kinkakuji in Kyoto. Taken from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Absolutely gorgeous. Definitely go see it if you get the chance. You're not allowed inside but the outside and the surrounding area is really breathtaking.)

(Fun Fact! Except for the Church I have been to all of the places seen in this post! Sadly I couldn't use my pictures because they are on my mother's computer.)

Information sources:
http://www.omf.org/omf/japan/about_japan/christianity_in_japan
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2298.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2055.html

The Battle of Thermopylae

Does anybody know about the Battle of Thermopylae? Yes? No? Well, I hope those who know will forgive me as I give those who don’t some information on it.

Leonidas at Thermopylae, by Jacques Louis David, 1814

The Battle of Thermopylae happened in the year 480 B.C.; it was a clash between the allied forces of the Greek-city states led by King Leonidas of Sparta and the Persian army led by Xerxes I. It lasted for three days, but things took a turn for the worse on the second day when the Greek forces were betrayed by a man named Ephialtes, who led the enemy behind the Greek’s lines. It was the first battle out of three which would eventually end in a victory for the Greeks, although this particular battle would not end well for them. The size of both armies varies; for the Greeks, Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus have given numbers ranging from 5200 to 7400, although modern historians tend to add 1900 more people to Herodotus’s number, making both of them more or less equal. As for the Persian army, ancient historians claimed about a million people, but modern historians believe the numbers are more between 100,000 and 300,000, which is more believable considering all they had to do.

This was all about the technical side of things. But, if we were to look at the battle from another angle…

The Jupiter de Smyrne, discovered in Smyrna in 1680

The ancient Greeks practiced polytheism, which is the belief in multiple gods. Many of these were associated with certain aspects of nature (Zeus and lightning, Poseidon and earthquakes, and so on) while others were in charge of abstract notions, such as love (Aphrodite). They also believed in the Underworld, divided into sections which you were sent to depending on your behavior (neither good nor bad = Fields of Asphodel, great = Elysium, and bad = Tartarus).

As for the Persians, they practiced Zoroastrianism, based on the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster. It tells of how there is one universal god named Ahura Mazda, who created truth and order, which is the opposite of falsehood and disorder. The basic thing of it is that if you do good deeds it will help keep chaos at bay. Also, since Ahura Mazda is not manifested in the world, then what he has created is being continued through the Amesha Spentas, divine entities who carry out his will. I know there is more to both religion, but I wanted to keep it simple.   

According to Will Straw, an ideology is a value or a belief system that is accepted as either fact or truth by some group. So, if we go by this definition, then we can definitely count religion as being an ideology. Then, if we follow this train of thought, could we not say the battle was also a clash of ideologies? The Greeks have their multiple gods; the Persians have their single universal one who has his work carried on by other divinities. So, when the two sides clashed, and the Greeks lost, history has it was because they were betrayed. But when you count in the gods, who were involved, could it be the Greeks lost because the gods turned on them, or simply because they did not give enough care when it came to making the sacrifices in order to gain their favor? It is a mystery that probably will never be solved. As for me, I would rather believe in multiple gods. When you are a child, and even while you are growing into an adult, you are taught teamwork, to share duties, which is something polytheistic religions do. One person doing everything on their own does not really agree with me. But then, this is my opinion. Everyone has the right to their own, as long as they respect those of others.

Did The Message Go Through?

In this present day and age we take communication over distances for granted. We look at the miscommunications that transpire and the messages that fail to send with annoyance, expecting them to always be successful %100 of the time. We forget that these technologies haven’t been around very long and that nothing is perfect. To us, the messages we try to send out and the ideas we try and get across are for  a moment the most important things in the world. What we fail to realize is that in the past, especially in times of war, these same miscommunications could be deadly.
Over 400 years ago Japan was in a state of almost constant war. The warlords of Japan were fighting each other for wealth and power in an attempt to take over all of Japan. thousands of people lost their live and among them some of the most important yet underappreciated people. Messengers were all over the country, delivering messages from warlord to warlord outside of battle and delivering messages from officer to officer in a battle. As you will find out in virtually any warring state type simulation game, messengers can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Often times you’ll find yourself trying to protect your messenger as the rush to carry out important messages to the warlords or other important figures. The death of that one messenger could spell disaster for your entire army. On the flip side you could be trying to kill the enemy messenger to stop them from delivering a potentially dangerous message to their warlords. These situations are a good reminder that during those times of war these messengers could be killed and those important messages could be lost to enemies or to bandits much in the same way that one’s text message may get blocked or fail to send. For some people it may not be to the same degree of importance but for others it could feel like losing a battle.
We treat these losses of communication as the greatest horror in our lives but is it really all that bad? Right now miscommunication could cost us a part of our reputation. In the past miscommunication could cost lives. Sometimes hundreds and sometimes thousands of lives could be lost due to one small error. In order to do something like call a friend could be misinterpreted to not call them and cause a lot of confusion. We have gotten to a point with technology where we take long distance communication for granted. When waiting for emails we often complain that it will take too long to arrive and when we receive mail through the post we react the same way. In more ancient times it took months to get mail across the ocean and this was assuming the boat didn’t sink along the way. Now we complain that it takes weeks to get mail which in comparison isn’t very long at all. Small countries like Japan were able to get mail across the country somewhat faster than in Canada but it may have been even more dangerous. Canada in the 16th century wasn’t exactly known for things like bandits and thieves lurking around its roads. However in Japan there were thousands of bandits, thieves and pirates all over the country. Rarely did these people discriminate against messengers and nobles when picking targets to attack and steal from. In this way avoiding getting attacked by animals and criminals made messages even more likely to be lost en route to their destinations in Japan than in Canada. So should we really be complaining about our “snail mail”? The only real concern we have is that it’ll be delivered to the wrong address.

The Battle of Marathon

This battle took place in the year 490 B.C. It was a conflict between Athens and Persia. This conflict, or rather the first invasion of Greece by Persia, was Persia’s response to Athens’s involvement in the Ionian Revolt.

Before the battle had started, Athens had sent a runner to Sparta to request her aid against the invading force. Unfortunately, because they were in the middle of a religious festival, the Spartans could not come to the aid of the Greeks until at least ten days later.

As the two opposing sides clashed, there was a vast difference in the size of the troops. For Athens, according to Cornelius Nepos, a Roman biographer, and Plutarch, a Greek historian, there were 9000 Athenians and around 1000 Plataeans. As for  the Persians, their numbers varied between 200,000 and 600,000, though 200,000 was the only number repeated twice, by both Cornelius Nepos and Simonides, where they speculated that only half that amount was at Marathon, while the other half were part of the fleet that went on to try and attack Athens directly. However, modern historians place the Persian force somewhere around 20,000-100,000 men. Basically, if the Athenians had been defeated at Marathon, there would have been some serious problems.

When the Athenians launched an attack, the Persians were surprised, because up until now the mere mention of the Medes would send the Hellenes into a panic, and now here they were, charging in, toughing out the sight of the enemy in their dress in order to defeat them.

The battle ended when the Persians panicked, turned and ran, with the Athenians nipping at their heels. Because they did not have much knowledge of the area (really, if I was sending troops into enemy area, I would make sure to find out what kind of terrain I would send them into), an unknown number of them drowned in nearby swamps. Herodotus wrote that, in the end, 6400 Persian bodies were counted, while only 192 Athenians and 11 Plataens were counted.

So, what sorts of communication can one find by examining this battle?  Well, there was definitely a case of mediated communication, when Athens sent a runner to Sparta to request her aid in the upcoming battle. Usually, when one thinks of a media, a phone or a computer will probably come to mind. But they did not have those items back then, so they had to use runners, which, considering they were delivering a message and bringing back a reply, I would say counts as a media.

You can also find a case of miscommunication. This is easily seen in the Persians’ surprise at the Athenians’ charge. The Persians believed their opponents to still be afraid of them, so I bet they were completely shocked to see them charging. Clearly, no one had told them things would be different so close to one’s home turf.

According to Straw, words are a representation of reality and not reality itself. If words indeed represent reality, then could it mean that what we think of the details of The Battle of Marathon, could either be worse or even better than they really are? Translation is always a tricky business; some words could be merely misspelled or their meaning could be totally different…