BUDDHISM IN JAPAN 265and production goals. Traditional manuals on military strategy were studied as
guides to capturing domestic and foreign markets.
This single-minded focus on economic success has created one of the most
secular societies on Earth. Polls indicate that large numbers of Japanese do not
view themselves as belonging to any particular religion. Interest in traditional
Buddhism is largely confined to two widely disparate groups: (1) the rural
agricultural classes, who look to Buddhist institutions for the same services
they have performed for centuries; and (2) the urban intelligentsia, who look
to Buddhist thought as a model for creating distinctively Japanese forms of
such Western enterprises as critical philosophy and psychotherapy.
For the remainder of society, however, traditional Buddhism has lost much
of its appeal, except as a relic of Japan's cultural past. "Funeral Buddhism" is
the name that many people use to refer to the traditional sects, in light of the
ritual role to which many of the priests have been reduced. The Japanese point
to their continued appreciation of art and the beauties of nature as a sign that
their religious sensitivities have not atrophied, but this simply means that they
are still sensitive to the old notion ofkami. Because the ujis currently in power,
unlike the ujis of the past, are devoted to no kami at all, many Japanese have
turned to the new religions of charismatic leaders to provide them with the
traditional connection between their religious and social/political life; that is,
to ujis that have reestablished the kami connection.
The postwar growth of the new religions came in two waves: first, during
the rapid industrialization following the Korean War, and then during the dis-
locations of the 1980s, when the conglomerates that had once promised their
workers lifetime job security began to abandon the home labor force in search
of cheaper labor abroad. The first wave involved what were termed shinko
shukyo (the new religions)-; the second, shinko shinko shukyo (the new new reli-
gions). Both waves consisted of widely disparate groups, some claiming con-
nections with Buddhism, others not, but what they have in common is a
modern urban version of a pattern typical of traditional Japanese folk reli-
gions: utopian, sometimes apocalyptic, visions; direct connection with divini-
ties or divine agents; healing-now expanded to include not only physical
healing but also psychological healing and subsequent social and economic
success; and a concern for physical and mental purification. Where these new
religions differ from older Japanese folk religions is in their use of modern or-
ganizational skills and the mass media to win and maintain their followings.
They are essentially ujis, but the pattern for a successful uji is now no longer
the tribe, but the modern industrial corporation. The new religions have this
pattern down pat.
The most successful of the new religions is Soka Gakkai, or the Society of
Creation ofValues, founded in 1938 by Tsunesabar6 Makiguchi, who com-
bined classical Nichiren doctrine and practice with his own secular views on
value creation. The sect recommends the traditional Nichiren practice of
chanting the daimoku Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, although the purpose of the
chant is to attain this-worldly goals: job promotion, financial success, family
harmony, and the alleviation of physical and psychological ills. The sect is