ENGLISH

Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan

By Jr. , Ian Reader , George J. Tanabe

Book information

Publisher
University of Hawaii Press
Year
1998
ISBN
0824820657, 9780824820657
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
3 MB (2943158 bytes)
Pages
303\317
Time added
2015-08-14 15:52:08

Description

Praying for practical benefits is a common religious activity in Japan. Basing their work on a fusion of textual, ethnographic, historical and contemporary studies, the authors of this volume demonstrate that far from being marginal, the concepts and practices surrounding "genze riyaku" lie at the very heart of the Japanese religious world. The authors discuss the economic and commercial aspects of how and why institutions promote practical benefits, drawing attention to the dynamism and flexibility in the religious marketplace. The authors also examine the business of guidebooks, which combine travel information with religious advice, including forms of prayer for the protection against embarrassing physical problems and sexual diseases.

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