Book Review Japanese Buddhism: A Cultural History

·期刊原文

Book Review Japanese Buddhism: A Cultural History

by Yoshiro Tamura，Reviewed by Steven Hei

Florida International University， H-Buddhism

H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online

，September, 2003

Copyright 2003 by H-Net

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This book is a recent English translation of a work by Yoshiro Tamura originally published in Japan in the late 1960s. Tamura, who died in 1989, was in his era one of the most prominent scholars of Japanese Buddhist studies who was probably best known for his major study of "New" Kamakura era Buddhist figures, including Shinran, Dougen, and Nichiren. In that book Tamura executed a very sophisticated textual analysis of the often overt but sometimes subtle distinctions in doctrinal positions of the leading Kamakura Buddhist thinkers in their respective appropriations of Tendai original enlightenment thought (_hongaku shisou_), which was a dominant ideology and major influence on those who may have departed from or criticized its contents. Tamura's approach to Buddhist studies, with its emphasis on analyzing the textual tradition, has perhaps been superceded for many scholars by the approaches of such figures as Kuroda Toshio, Amino Yoshihiko, and Sasaki Kaoru, who have examined medieval Buddhism from a social-historical perspective. Also, some of Tamura's other writings may be questioned for espousing a standpoint that could be associated with _nihonjinron_ (Japanese exceptionalism) theory by highlighting the distinctiveness of Buddhist practices in the context of Japanese cultural tradition.

A focus in the current book on Japanese cultural uniqueness for understanding Buddhism in Japan seems indicated by the subtitle and back-cover copy, which refers to the way "Japan's Buddhism and the nation's cultural matrix are so inextricably linked that it is impossible to explicate the one without understanding the other." However, the work itself does not really delve into _nihonjinron_ territory, but rather offers a conventional historical approach, with some exceptions, including chapter 4 on "The Japanese Response," which discusses Japanese poetic expressions of Buddhist doctrine.

The contents of the book were originally published in a Kosei monthly magazine under the title "Hyakuman Nin no Bukkyou-shi" ("A History of Japanese Buddhism for a Million Readers") and then in book form by Kadokawa Shoten under the title _Nihon Bukkyou-shi Nyuumon_ (_An Introductory History of Japanese Buddhism_). Since the original publication date was thirty-five years ago, and the book does not represent cutting-edge scholarship at this point, it can best be evaluated for its possible usefulness as a general survey in the classroom. The key question is whether this would make ideal required reading for an advanced undergraduate course on Japanese Buddhism.