In 1977, Ronald Eyre released the “Japanese Buddhism” installment of his documentary series The Long Search, titled Land of the Disappearing Buddha. This film is designed to introduce various forms of Buddhism in Japan to the anglophone audience of the late 1970s. While it succeeds in providing such an introduction, albeit a rather romanticized one, to some degree the title of the film is rather misleading. Eyre’s main point seems to be that it is difficult to find in Japan forms of Buddhism presented in the Pali Canon or practiced today in South and Southeast Asia. The title of his film also seems to echo Zen sayings such as the famous “kill the buddhas and the ancestors” (Jap: satsubutsu satsuso) (T 1997.47.792a09) and “when you see a buddha, kill that buddha; when you see an ancestor, kill that ancestor” (Jap: kenbutsu satsubutsu kenzo satsuso) (T 1999.47.979b23, T 2000.47.1041b25-26). However, and this is important to note, “Buddha” is not absent in Japan; on the contrary, descriptions and images of—as well as devotion to—a multiplicity of buddhas (including the Buddha himself) can be easily found. In this essay, I will introduce some images of, and forms of, devotion to various buddhas in Japan.

One of the tropes circulated about Buddhism in Japan is its division into many different schools. This “sectarian nature” of Japanese Buddhism is sometimes juxtaposed with the seeming unity or uniformity of, especially, Korean and Chinese Buddhism. And it is true that in Japan one finds a variety of institutionalized Buddhist schools. However, this rhetoric overlooks that Buddhism everywhere is diverse, manifesting itself in a variety of movements, traditions, schools, lineages, practices, and forms of devotion. At the same time, despite the sectarian rhetoric in Japan, there are quite a few features (such as the nationwide danka, parish, system which assigns Buddhists to an ancestral temple) and practices common to the various schools of Buddhism in Japan.

The Heart Sūtra (Skt: Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra, Jap: Shingyō) plays a significant liturgical and emotional role in most forms of Buddhism in Japan. In addition, sūtras and iconography, but also practices and beliefs are shared and not limited to specific schools or traditions. For example, the Shikoku pilgrimage (Jap: Shikoku hachijū hakkasho reijō)* in honor of Kūkai (commonly known by his posthumous name Kōbō Daishi), ostensibly a practice sanctioned and institutionalized by Shingon Buddhism, entails temples affiliated with Tendai Buddhism, Rinzai Zen, and Sōtō Zen as well. It is also not uncommon that a practitioner, whose family is affiliated with the temple of one school, has chosen a practice from, and is associated with, a temple of another. In addition, some temples offer practices that are seemingly at odds with the main doctrine of the school with which they are affiliated.** In the remaining sections, I will present a variety of religious systems central to Japanese Buddhism and identify the schools with which they are traditionally (but not exclusively) associated.

The overwhelming majority of the Buddhist schools in Japan belong to Mahāyāna (and/or Vajrayāna) Buddhism and privilege Mahāyāna Buddhist scriptures, imagery, philosophy, and soteriology. The schools inherit and disclose the wide variety in scriptures, practices, and forms of devotion that can be found in Mahāyāna Buddhism in general. One admittedly imperfect strategy to categorize the various religious systems found in the Buddhist schools in Japan is to differentiate them by practice as devotional (Nichiren, Pure Land, and True Pure Land), esoteric (Tendai and Shingon), and contemplative (Rinzai, Sōtō, and Ōbaku Zen) forms of Buddhism. However, before I continue, I need to add a disclaimer: most forms of Buddhism in Japan practice some sort of devotion as well as contemplation, and the esoteric school of Tendai Buddhism claims to promote all traditional Buddhist practices conceivable. Ultimately the identifying mark used to categorize the various religious systems is to be found in the rhetoric of the respective schools rather than their concrete practice.