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Buddhism in the Land of the Rising Sun:

A Contemporary House of Worship in Japan

Ciphia May D. Molina

University of the Philippines, Diliman

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INTRODUCTION

Japan, also known as “The Land of The Rising Sun”, is an archipelago of 6,852 islands

with a population of 126,045,211 people (Worldometers Inc., 2017). Found in the east coast of

the mainland Asia and is situated on the high road and thoroughfare of maritime traffic across

the Pacific, this country is booming with economic success and the advancement of

technologies while its culture and traditions are very carefully preserved and practiced

everyday by its people. The Japanese culture and traditions is much engrained in the hearts and

souls of the Japanese people that it is only very natural to mix in with the modernity that has

taken place in the country during the past years and decades. Being on the upper part of the

equator, Japan is a country that experiences four seasons annually: winter, spring, summer, and

fall. The complexity of the country’s climate greatly contributes to the complexity of the

country’s traditions and cultures, making the people’s belief systems very interesting. Although

most of its people have no specific religion due to affiliation with many religions, Japan’s

people are mostly followers of Shintoism and Buddhism. According to the U.S. Government’s

“Japan 2015’s International Religious Freedom Report” (2015), a total of 197 million people

out of 126 million people are affiliated with multiple religions, 48 percent of which are Shinto

followers while 45 percent are Buddhists. A small number of the population are Christians (2.3

percent), while the rest are from nonregistered religious groups including Islam, Bahai Faith,

Hinduism, and Judaism. Aside from this, the Ainu people from Honshu and Hokkaido also

practice animistic faith, which possibly rooted from the periods long ago (Cobbold, 1905). .

Having said this, Japan is a country of various cultures and belief systems, yet the people have

a common belief that their culture and tradition should be preserved at all costs, for it is who

they are, who they have been, and who they will be as the people of the Land of the Rising

Sun.
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THE ROOTS OF BUDDHISM

As mentioned earlier, a major part of the population practices Buddhism as their

religion in Japan. Not only that, but the Japanese people are also observed to practice multiple

religions at once due to the presence of an ancient religion that came from the early periods of

the country’s development and the globalization that has been and is currently at large

throughout the world, making even the religions spread across the world, and specifically

across Japan.

Buddhism, now one of the most practiced religion across the world, started out from

Siddharta Gautama’s spiritual journey to Enlightenment that led him to pain and suffering, and

later on to rebirth towards Enlightenment, thus calling him as “Buddha” or the “enlightened

one” or “awakened one”. Gautama was born in the family of the Kshatriya king named

Suddhodana. At the age of 29, he decided to go out into the world where he saw its suffering.

This is then how his journey started as he searched for the truth. The Buddhist scriptures say

that Siddharta Gautama sat nder a tree for seven weeks, uncertain of whether he should keep

his attained knowledge through journeys to himself or if he should share it to the world. He

decided to share it to everyone, and from there gained followers of his teachings. From his few

followers and the community that he founded, his teachings spread through India basically as

a tradition which later on evolved into a religion that is practiced throughout the world, and has

been developed into what it is now: a religion that has been followed by many and changed

according to how the culture of a specific country adapted to it.

BUDDHISM THEN AND BUDDHISM NOW IN JAPAN

Having said this, the Japanese people also have their own take on how Buddhism is in

their country. As written in a book published by the Japan Buddhist Federation (2004),

Buddhism in Japan started out in 583 A.D. when the ruler of the Korean kingdom called Baekje
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presented an image of Buddha along with scripture-scrolls and ornaments to the Japanese

Emperor Kimmei. Two of the orthodox clans, the Mononobe and Nakatomi clans strongly

disagreed to take in a new religion due to the fact that the indigenous religion of Shinto is

already being practiced by the people. However, the influential Soga clan believed that

Buddhism can further enrich the Japanese culture. In the end, the emperor favored the Soga

clan. Thus, Buddhism was introduced to the locals of Japan. 40 years later, Prince Regent

Shotoku was appointed regent to Empress Suiko, and declared Buddhism as the country’s

official religion. He was a devoted to this mission of spreading the religion across the country

that he even issued the 17-Article Constitution which emphasized Buddhist and Confucian

principles. He also ordered the construction of Buddhist temples across Japan. From there on

Buddhism was developed into a religion more specific in the country, mainly through its

coexistence with the ancient Shinto religion of the Japanese people.

And indeed, the Japanese culture was further developed and enriched through the acquisition

of a new religion. Buddhism has greatly affected the culture and tradition of the Japanese

people. From the iconic temples and shrines that people from around the world wishes to visit,

down to the very specific practice of grace at meals, Buddhism has had a tremendous effect on

the daily lives of the people (Nukariya, 1913). This does not, however, mean that the people

practicing Buddhist traditions in Japan are fully entitled to Buddhist faith. Many are indifferent

to religious matters except on special occasions like festivals or funeral services. Japan also, in

a way, transformed Buddhism in a very interesting manner. Unlike the hard core patronage of

Buddhism and the view of it as a fixed religion in other countries, the Japanese people have a

unique way of seeing and practicing it. Because of this, we can observe that the Japanese people

have a unique perspective of religion and ways of life. As said in “A Guide to Japanese

Buddhism” (2004),
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“When you ask any Japanese person, “Are you a Buddhist?” the answer may be

an ambiguous, “I may be so.” This does not mean that they are not followers of

Buddhism. Form many, such a question is similar to asking, “Are you good or

pretty?” Likewise, most are rather hesitant to confirm or commit themselves to

any particular religion. They do not want to confine themselves within the

domain of any fixed form of religion, rather they tend to regard religion as a

means of attaining and ever-renewing a higher state of being.”

STATEMENT OF THE THESIS

One of the reasons for the author’s choice of topic is the interest in the said country, in

its culture, tradition, and way of living. Not just that, but also in its peoples’ way of thinking

that be further presented through the architecture in the country. Another reason for the choice

of topic would be the extreme difference of Japan’s culture, traditions, and belief systems from

the Filipinos’, making it more evident in the design process, which should be discussed later

on in this paper, that the Filipino biases should mostly be separated from another country’s

own contextual and cultural needs, unless otherwise the designer sees the need to incorporate

these biases to further improve the initial design. As for the religion, the author chose Buddhism

since it is one of the most practiced religion in Japan. This religion has also largely contributed

to the field of architecture in Japan. With this, the paper aims to convince its readers that

architecture not only meets and satisfies the users’ physical needs, but also and more

importantly the users’ emotional and spiritual needs.

THE DESIGN PROCESS

To begin with, the objective of the paper is to explain the author’s personal design

process in designing a contemporary house of worship. The chosen religion is Buddhism,

practiced by most in Japan. To begin with the design process, it is important to study the
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contextual background of the country and of the site. The study of the terrain, the wind

directions, the views, the noise and traffic circulation, the surrounding structures or areas if no

structure if built. This site analysis is an essential part of the design process since the design

concept will be coming primarily from it and from the study of the country’s culture and

context.

The next part to be considered as part of the design process is the study of precedents.

A precedent, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “an earlier occurrence of

something similar”. In the design process, a precedent is a structure of the same category as the

one that the designer will later on build. The study of precedents is important to be able to know

how to start off with the structure that you are going to build, the general requirements for it,

etc. (Simitch & Warke, 2014) . In this case, the study of constructed Buddhist temples in Japan

is considered the study of precedents. Japanese Buddhist temples are mainly made of wood in

various forms. There are also times when stone is considerable to use, especially in pagodas

(Hien, 1998). In the construction of Buddhist temples, it is suggested that the designer sees the

temple as an interrelationship of structures, landscape, and the ritual participation of people

(Johnson, 1993). It can be said that the interplay of the structure and the natural environment

is essential in designing a Buddhist temple in Japan. These are important to take note of in the

design process because this is what initially sets your deign into the context of the site and the

culture that you are designing in. The designer should also be careful in this stage of the process

since this can also influence the spirit of place of the structure that will be built. In this case,

the intervention Filipino biases is not completely necessary since this part of the design process

heavily depends on the culture and the traditions of the users.

The next part of the personal design process is the process of conceptualization. As

defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, conceptualization is “the process of forming

something (an idea, picture, etc.) in your mind”. The conceptualization is the part where the
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designer takes into account his/her concept transforms it into the physical representation

through the conceptual massing of the structures on site. This is the part where the designer

studies on how the spaces should go together, where what should be, how high should the

structure in line with the context of the surroundings (Simitch & Warke, 2014). There is usually

a template for Buddhist temples and its structures’ arrangement, but it is still up to the designer

to follow this. In this part of the design process, it is important to be remember the foundations

of the culture and the religion that the designer is working in, but he/she can infuse his/her own

take on how the structures should be placed on site, on how the circulation should be, and on

many other things. It is, after all, a contemporary house of worship where the result of

globalization can be evident through the introduction of the culture of other people that are

living within the area. Having said this, the author believes that the intervention of Filipino

biases in this stage of the design process is possible, making sure that these biases do not step

on the fundamentals of the culture that he/she is working on, and of course making sure that

these biases will contribute to the development of the site. The next part of the design process

for the designer would be the refinement of the details in the project, the finalization of the

exterior details and the other features of the contemporary tem house of worship. It is important

to study the exterior details that will be decorating the temple since this can also influence the

spirit of place of the structure that will be built.

In conclusion, it is important to know when to use our Filipino biases, or any other

biases for that matter, during the design process as architects. These biases may or may not

contribute to the development of the design, depending on how these biases were used and for

what specific reason. Many of these Filipino biases usually intersect with the culture of other

Southeast Asian countries since our countries share some similarities, therefore making it

acceptable to include in the design process for foreign countries, specifically the countries

neighboring us.
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References
Cobbold, G. A. (1905). Religion in Japan: Shintoism—Buddhism—Christianity. London:

Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge.

Hien, P. T. (1998). Abstraction and Transcendence: Nature, Shintai, and Geometry in the

Architecture of Tadao Ando. Cincinnati, U.S.

Japan Buddhist Federation. (2004). A Guide to Japanese Buddhism. Tokyo: Japan Buddhist

Federation.

Johnson, N. B. (1993). Zen Buddhist Landscapes and the ldea of Temple: Muso Kokushi and

Zuisen-Ji, Kamakura, Japan. Arch. & Comport. /Arch. & Behav, pp. 213-226.

Nukariya, K. (1913). The Religion of the Samurai: A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline

in China and Japan. Tokyo.

Simitch, A., & Warke, V. (2014). The language of architecture : 26 principles every architect

should know. Beverly, Massachusetts: Rockport Publishers.

United States Department of State - Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

(2015). U.S. Department of State. Retrieved from state.gov:

https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/256321.pdf

Worldometers Inc. (2017, May 19). Japan Population. Retrieved from worldometers:

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/japan-population/