nine Buddhist and seventy-seven Christian four-year colleges, according to my
survey.^27 The same holds true with schools. Around two-thirds of religious
schools are Christian, only five are Shintÿschools.
There are two major reasons for this strange fact. The first reason is that
Shintÿdoes not propagate itself. There is no ‘Shintÿmission school’. The second
reason derives from the pre-war State Shintÿsystem. One may assume that
there had been many Shintÿschools and colleges until Japan was defeated and
the system was abolished in 1945. However, this was not the case. Rather
than encouraging people to establish Shintÿprivate schools, the government
promulgated the Imperial Rescript on Education, a list of virtues to become
the emperor’s loyal subjects, to all schools, public and private alike. All schools
were thus transformed into ‘State Shintÿschools’, although they were not
1111
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1011
1
2
3111
4 5 6 7 8 9
20111
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
30111
1
2
3
4
35
6
7
8
9
40111
42222
3
411
JAPAN
209
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
A
32
34
General
B
27
138
C
36
91
D
93.5
116 3
E
16.5
7
F
3.5
29
G
23
11
H
5
7
I
9
20
J
17
135
K
23
17
L
47
67
M
17
15
N
22
52
O
35
39
P
2
3
Q
1
4
R
43
54
S
1
2
T
30
35
U
28
13
V
43
100
W
0
0
X
46
Specialized 131
KEY: Classification of courses in religion by 24 categories of religious traditions and topics
A Christianity, Historical
B Christianity, Theological
C Buddhism, Historical
D Buddhism, Theological
E Confucianism/Taoism
F Hinduism
G Islam
H Judaism
I Shinto, Historical
J Shinto, Theological
K Comparative Relgion
L Japanese Studies/Ethnology
M Area Studies
N Ethics/Philosophy of Religion
O Bio/Environmental Ethics from Religious
Perspectives
P Gender and Religion
Q New Religious Movements
R Introduction to the Study of Religion
S Psychology or Religion
T Sociology of Religion
U Anthropology of Religion
V Arts, Literature and Religion
W Interreligious Conflicts/Dialogue
X Other Courses in Religion
1163
Figure 1 Classification of courses in religion among 33 colleges emphasizing religious
studies
1=1 regular course (=2 credits, approx. 22.5 hours classes)
