A common theme in the historiography related to Oda Nobunaga is his strong opposition to religious institutions. While Nobunaga’s conflicts with several temples were brutal, this article argues that the image of Nobunaga as broadly anti-Buddhist is a result of an overreliance on the writings of the Jesuit Luís Fróis. Indeed, an analysis centered on documents issued by Nobunaga and his regime reveal that religious institutions served important roles in Nobunaga’s regime, and that Nobunaga tended toward maintaining precedent in his relationship with religious institutions. This article provides a framework of the Oda regime’s religious policies and the main aspects of it.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, Buddhist higher educational institutions in the Jōdo Shin Ōtani and Sōtō Zen sects became sites of dramatic student protests. This article situates these movements within three overlapping contexts: student strikes in Japan, parallel activism in the United States and parts of Europe, and institutional changes that contributed to the professionalization of the Buddhist priesthood. Student-priests, emboldened by a growing conviction that they had the right to participate in institutional governance, challenged traditional authority and staged collective actions, which were far from isolated incidents. Instead, these protests reflected a broader national and global phenomenon of late nineteenth-century student activism and a shift in attitudes toward educational and religious authority. Student-led campaigns resulted in significant reforms, including the removal of lay administrators and the establishment of public discussion halls. Drawing on frameworks from sociology and the history of higher education, this study argues that such activism was pivotal in the modernization of Japanese Buddhism. These protests not only catalyzed institutional change but also played a crucial role in establishing academic freedom within Buddhist universities and reshaping the relationship between religious authority and educational independence, leaving a lasting impact on Japanese Buddhism.
This review essay examines four recent titles that deal with esoteric Buddhism in medieval Japan: Kamakura Bukky & omacr;: Mikky & omacr; no shiten kara (DaiZ & Omacr; Shuppan, 2023); Rituals of Initiation and Consecration in Premodern Japan: Power and Legitimacy in Kingship, Religion, and the Arts (De Gruyter, 2022); Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism (University of Hawai'i Press, 2023); and Esoteric Zen: Zen and the Tantric Teachings in Premodern Japan (Brill, 2023). They all helpfully challenge sectarian narratives by showing how esoteric Buddhism permeated various medieval schools. In doing so, these works build upon Kuroda Toshio's idea of a hegemonic exoteric-esoteric system (kenmitsu taisei), a concept now fifty years old. While Kuroda's ongoing influence on recent scholarship, including the volumes under review, has been a net positive for the field, my essay raises questions about the definition and coherence of the term "esoteric Buddhism." It also encourages future scholars to examine other non-esoteric aspects of medieval Japanese religions.
