Japanese Religions and the Global Occult

The last issue of Japanese Religions that Yoshinaga Shin’ichi commissioned while he was the editor of the journal from 2015 to 2021 was titled “Japanese Religions and the Global Occult.” The entire issue is now available for download from this page, with permission of the publisher and Yoshinaga Shin’ichi. 

 

Download the full issue here or download the articles separately from the table of contents below. 

Articles

pp.1-32. Japanese Religions and the Global Occult: An Introduction and Literature Review (Ioannis Gaitanidis and Justin Stein)

pp. 33-64. Bunko Bishop: Swami Mazziniananda, the Udana Karana Order, and the Buddhist Mission of North America (Philip Deslippe)

pp. 65-88. Matsumoto Chiwaki’s Theory of Human Radioactivity: A Case of Reception of Western European Science in Japan (Okumura Daisuke, translation by Matthew Anning and Ioannis Gaitanidis)

pp. 89-110. Palm Healing and the Japanese Right: Tanasue no Michi and the Body of the Imperial Japanese Subject (John Person)

pp. 111-130. A Spider’s Web, Spanning the Ages: Entanglements of Space, Time, and Power in Japanese Spiritual Warfare (S. Jonathon O’Donnell)

pp. 131-159. The Idea of a Pure Land on Mt Takakura at the Outer Shrine: Beliefs about Kōbō Daishi at the Ise Shrines [Part 1] (Itō Satoshi, translation by Peter Knecht).

 

Book reviews (download file here)

  • Avery Morrow The Sacred Science of Ancient Japan: Lost Chronicles of the Age of the Gods and Avery Morrow, translated by Miyazaki Sadayuki 宮崎貞行 Hotsuma, Katakamuna, Sendai kuji hongi: koshi koden de toku ‘taiko Nihon no sei naru kagaku’ 『ホツマ・カタカムナ・先代旧事本紀―古史古伝で解く「太古日本の聖なる科学」』― History vs. Romance in Japanese Antiquity (Matthieu Felt)
  • The Romance of the Academy: A Response to Matthieu Felt (Avery Morrow)
  • Takashi Miura Agents of World Renewal: The Rise of Yonaoshi Gods in Japan (Martin Nogueira Ramos)
  • Richard M. Jaffe Seeking Śākyamuni: South Asia in the Formation of Modern Japanese Buddhism (Aihua Zheng)
  • James Mark Shields Against Harmony: Progressive and Radical Buddhism in Modern Japan (Wu Peiyao)
  • Jeff Wilson and Tomoe Moriya (Volume editors) Selected Works of D.T. Suzuki, Volume III: Comparative Religion (Rossa Ó Muireartaigh)
  • Erica Baffelli and Ian Reader Dynamism and the Ageing of a Japanese ‘New’ Religion: Transformations and the Founder (Carole M. Cusack)