A History of Japanese Buddhism

Kenji Matsuo has taught the history of Japanese Buddhism at Princeton University, Beijing Foreign Language University, London University and the State University of New York. He has published sixteen books on this and related subjects in Japanese; this is his first in English. He is currently professor at Yamagata University, Japan.

Acknowledgements; Japanese Calendar, Temples, Names and Words; List of Plates; Introduction; 1 Characteristics of Japanese Buddhism; 2 Ancient Buddhism - Official Monks; 3 Official and Reclusive Monks; 4 Medieval Japanese Towns and the Rise of Kamakura New Buddhism; 5 Fieldwork in Kamakura; 6 Black and White: The Symbolism of the Colour of the Kesa; 7 Era of Religious Fund-raising; 8 Salvation of Outcasts; 9 Salvation of Women; 10 The Logic of Funerals - the Salvation of the Deceased; 11 The New Thinking of Kamakura New Buddhism - Shinran and Eizon; 12 Rise of the Medieval Towns and Awareness of the 'Individual'; 13 Buddhism in the Muromachi Era; 14 Buddhists in the Edo Era - 'Official Monks' of the Edo Shogunate; 15 Modern Times and Japanese Buddhism; 16 Shikoku Pilgrimage - Visiting the Ancient Sites of Kobo Daishi; Afterword; Bibliography; Index