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Abortion, Buddhism, And The Middle Way: What A Buddhist View Of Abortion In Japan Can Teach Us In The United States Following The Overturn Of Roe V. Wade, Anna Grace Kalvelage

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

This paper takes up the question of whether there is a “middle way” approach in addressing the issue of abortion, particularly in light of the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States. It explores this question through examining how schools of Buddhism have addressed the issue of abortion in Japan, especially considering Japan’s unique history with abortion issues and the mizuko kuyo rituals, and what initially appears to be a gap in theory and practice when it comes to Buddhism and abortion. It further explores how some of the central tenets of Buddhism including karma, rebirth, and compassion …

Sankyoku Magazine And The Invention Of The Shakuhachi As Religious Instrument In Early 20th-Century Japan, Matt Gillan

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The early 20^th century was a period in which understandings of music, religion, and the nation-state underwent rapid change in Japan. In this article I examine Japanese cultural discourse from the first decades of the 20^th century in which the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute, was frequently portrayed as a religious instrument. In some cases, this discourse referenced pre-20^th century historical affiliations of the shakuhachi with the Fuke-sect, an organization that was loosely affiliated to Rinzai Zen Buddhism. But the article also explores how religio-musical discourse surrounding the shakuhachi intersected with developments in modern Japanese religious life, …

Japanese Baptismal Vows, Bruce L. Bauer

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"Initiation ceremonies are important in most cultures; however, they need to be carried out in culturally sensitive ways. The changes suggested above did not change in any way the purpose or content of the baptismal day. The only thing that was changed was a strong emphasis on groupness. The missiological implication from this case study is that one size does not fit all situations. There is more than one way to do most church ceremonies, so church leaders need to be encouraged to rethink what they do and do everything in culturally sensitive ways."

The Trek East: Mormonism Meets Japan, 1901-1968, Stephen J. Moody

BYU Studies Quarterly

Shinji Takagi. The Trek East: Mormonism Meets Japan, 1901-1968.

Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2016.

Silence, Caesar A. Montevecchio

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Silence (2016), directed by Martin Scorsese.

Asian New Year Reflection, Maho Morishita

Obsculta

What follows is the transcript of a reflection given by Maho on the occasion of a Convivuim fellowship, here at Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary on February 4, 2016.

The Papers Of Jay Jensen And The Japan First Mission

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Academic objectives of our research project have been extremely successful. Several of our students produced papers from our research and presented them at a regional conference of the Association for Asian Studies. One of our students published her essay in the Religious Education student journal and won an award for her contribution.
We have produced a whole transcript of the journal of Jay Clair Jensen, including translations and reproduction of thousands photographs. We also produced annotation of the whole journal, which will be submitted for publication at the Religious Studies Center, to add to literature about the worldwide church.

Japan On The Medieval Globe: The Wakan Rōeishū And Imagined Landscapes In Early Medieval Texts, Elizabeth Oyler

The Medieval Globe

This essay explores how the poetry collection Wakan rōeishū becomes an important allusive referent for two medieval Japanese works, the travelogue Kaidōki and the nō play Tsunemasa. In particular, it focuses on how Chinese poems from the collection become the means for describing Japanese spaces and their links to power, in the context of a changing political landscape.

Japan Dreaming, Jill Mellick

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Art has its own voice, and demands that the artist listen, feel, and give it birth. This account relates the artist's experience of creating two works in a series entitled, "Japan Dreaming," works that evoke Japanese scrolls, fabric space dividers, paper streamers, kimono, and gates into sacred space.

Shugendo Now, Jonathan Thumas

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Shugendo Now (2010) directed by Jean-Marc Abela and Mark Patrick McGuire.

Early Mormon Missionary Activities In Japan, 1901–1924, Reid L. Neilson, R. Lanier Britsch

BYU Studies Quarterly

Reid L. Neilson, PhD, the managing director of the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is well known among LDS Asian and Pacific scholars as a gifted and productive editor and bibliographer. His research and writing on the history of the Church in Japan is informative, enlightening, and enriching. Although the topic of missionary work in Japan has been written about by other authors, Neilson's book adds much to what has already been written.

In Early Mormon Missionary Activities in Japan, 1901-1924, Neilson has created one of the few LDS books dealing with Mormon …

The Fate Of The Davao Penal Colony #502 "Branch" Of The Lds Church, 1944, David L. Clark, Bart J. Kowallis

BYU Studies Quarterly

On September 7, 1944, 668 American POWs were killed when the unmarked Japanese ship in which they were being transported was hit by friendly fire. Among those POWs were several members of an unofficial LDS "branch" that had formed in a penal colony near Davao, on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. The branch of POWs had contraband scriptures and a hymnbook and met together weekly. This article tells as much of their story as has come to light: who they were, their service, and their capture. The article ends with a discussion of the theological implications of their …

Alessandro Valignano And The Restructuring Of The Jesuit Mission In Japan, 1579-1582, Jack B. Hoey Iii

Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal

When Alessandro Valignano arrived in Japan in 1579, the Society of Jesus had been working in the country for thirty years. However, despite impressive numbers and considerable influence with the feudal lords, the mission was struggling. The few Jesuit workers were exhausted and growing increasingly frustrated by the leadership of Francisco Cabral, who refused to cater to Japanese sensibilities or respect the Japanese people. When Valignano arrived, he saw the harm Cabral was doing and forcibly changed the direction of the mission, pursuing policies of Jesuit accommodation to Japanese culture and respect for the Japanese converts who were training to …

John P. Hoffmann. Japanese Saints: Mormons In The Land Of The Rising Sun, Henri Gooren

BYU Studies Quarterly

John P. Hoffmann. Japanese Saints: Mormons in the Land of the Rising Sun. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2007

Memoirs Of The Relief Society In Japan, 1951-1991, Yanagida Toshiko

BYU Studies Quarterly

My poems are my tears,

as my eyes are moistened at once

in joy and in sorrow.

—Yanagida Toshiko

Heber J. Grant's European Mission, 1903-1906, Ronald W. Walker

BYU Studies Quarterly

Elder Heber J. Grant landed in Liverpool, England, in November 1903, and by the first of the year he officially assumed his new position as president of the European Mission. The mission began at Tromso, Norway; and ran to Cape Town, South Africa; with Iceland and India serving as distant east-west meridians. While the church had branches in each of these extremities, Grant's field of labor was more compact. Most of the mission's effort was reserved to the Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia, and Switzerland, where he had a general superintendency, and especially in the British Isles, where he had duties that …

Mormons In The Press: Reactions To The 1901 Opening Of The Japan Mission, Shinji Takagi

BYU Studies Quarterly

During the first month when a Mormon Apostle and three missionaries arrived to begin proselytizing work in Japan, the local and national press published at least 160 articles on Mormonism, many of the articles appearing on the front page. The media attention was unprecedented for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in that country. Here the author explores the reaction from the Japanese press toward Mormons, the social and historical context that led to such interest, and some of the media controversies that arose. The author concludes that one of the biggest reasons Mormons received such attention when …

Tomizo And Tokujiro: The First Japanese Mormons, Shinji Takagi

BYU Studies Quarterly

In August 1901, Heber J. Grant and his companions arrived in Japan to open the first permanent mission in Asia and begin their difficult proselyting labors among the Japanese. It took them almost seven long months to claim the first fruit of their labors. On March 8, 1902, on the shore of Omori in Tokyo Bay, Hajime Nakazawa, a professed Shinto priest, was baptized, confirmed, and ordained an elder. This event was symbolic indeed. For one thing, Nakazawa was presumably affiliated with a religious sect whose roots went back to the ancient indigenous religion of Japan. For another, more interestingly, …

The Closing Of The Early Japan Mission, R. Lanier Britsch

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Christianity And Nichiren In Japan, Donald Neiswender

Concordia Theological Monthly

There is a force building up in Japan which has a most threatening aspect, no matter whether one views it from East or West, from the base of the church or the base of communism. The throbbing nationalism of this force is antithetical both to the unity needed among free nations and to the enforced internationalism of communism. And since this force is preeminently a religious force, it must appear terribly anachronistic to a believing and practicing communist who believes that man is outgrowing his need of religion. It is also a heart-breaking phenomenon to behold from the viewpoint of …

The Pair Of Japanese Bronze Lanterns At Brigham Young University, Schuyler Cammann

BYU Studies Quarterly

Two bronze Japanese lanterns, or kane doro, acquired by Brigham Young University date to 1716 and originally were placed in a courtyard of a mausoleum of a member of a noble family in Japan. The author describes the lanterns and their symbolic meaning.

China And Japan: An Analysis Of Conflict, Lee W. Farnsworth

BYU Studies Quarterly

In analyzing the conflict between China and Japan in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the author asserts that the conflict resulted from a series of incidents. The article gives a brief overview of China and Japan's relations with each other and with Western powers, such as American's Open Door policy. By examining this conflict, the author hopes that he can bring to light principles and concepts that will lead to international cooperation.

Toward A Japanese Theology: Kitamori's Theology Of The Pain Of God, Richard Meyer

Concordia Theological Monthly

Christian theologians of the younger churches in Asia have complained, perhaps facetiously, perhaps seriously, that they have not yet produced a serious indigenous heresy. Behind this is the realization that Christianity is still largely a foreign, an imported, religion for most people of Asia. Christians gather in buildings of foreign architecture, sing unfamiliar melodies, and hear the Gospel preached in strangely foreign thought patterns. Their concern is not merely nationalistic but also evangelical They want the Gospel to be meaningful and relevant also in Asia.

Our Missions In India And China, O. H. Schmidt

Concordia Theological Monthly

The second century - a century of mission expansion! What an appropriate slogan this would be for the second century of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other states! As we observe the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of this church organization, and as we give thanks to the Lord for the blessings of the past century, we should like to express the hope that the second century of our synodical existence will be made a century of mission expansion. And in order to stimulate interest and prompt action along this line, we beg our readers briefly …