Abstract/Sommario: At the beginning of the 20. century (1908) the Japanese vessel Kasato Maru arrived in the port of Santos, with the first 781 Japanese immigrants on board. Their religiosity was principally expressed by the organizationally diffuse veneration of the Japanese Emperor. Only two Shinto shrines were constructed before World War 2., both in the State of Sao Paolo. The situation changed slightly after 1950, with the arrival of post-war immigrants. Nonetheless, even today Shinto activities and ...; [Leggi tutto...]
At the beginning of the 20. century (1908) the Japanese vessel Kasato Maru arrived in the port of Santos, with the first 781 Japanese immigrants on board. Their religiosity was principally expressed by the organizationally diffuse veneration of the Japanese Emperor. Only two Shinto shrines were constructed before World War 2., both in the State of Sao Paolo. The situation changed slightly after 1950, with the arrival of post-war immigrants. Nonetheless, even today Shinto activities and organisations are not very common in Brazil. Buddhism intensified its presence in the after World War 2. years, in all the traditional Buddhist branches. Soka Gakkai has now become the only group with a considerable growth rate in terms of members (some 120,000 adherents, that's to say more than 50% of all Brazilian Buddhists). The articles of the issue: Japanese Religions in Brazil / Rafael Shoji and Frank Usarski; The Failed Prophecy of Shinto Nationalism and the Rise of Japanese Brazilian Catholicism/ Raphael Shoji; "The Last Missionary to Leave the Temple Should Turn Off the Light": Sociological Remarks on the Decline of Japanese "Immigrant" Buddhism in Brazil / Frank Usarski; Intellectuals and Japanese Buddhism in Brasil / Eduardo Basto de Albuquerque; All Roads Come from Zen: Busshinji as a Reference to Buddhism / Cristina Rocha; The Transplantation of Soka Gakkai to Brazil: Building the 'Closest Organization to the Heart of Ideka-Sensei" / Ronan Alves Pereira; The Development of Japanese New Religions in Brazil and Their Propagation in a Foreign Culture / Watanabe Masako; Japanese Religions, Calendars, and Religious Culture in Brazil / Nakamaki Hirochika