Asian Folk Religion and Cultural Interaction

　　This book uses a cultural interaction approach to discuss numerous temples and shrines of Sinitic origin that house Daoist, Buddhist, and folk gods. Such deities were transmitted outside the Chinese continent, or were introduced from other regions and syncretized. Examples include temple guardian gods that arrived in Japan from China and later became deified as part of the Five Mountain system, and a Daoist deity that transformed into a god in Japan after syncretizing with Myōken Bosatsu. The profoundly different images of Ksitigarbha in China and Japan are discussed, as well as Mt. Jiuhua, the center of Ksitigarbha in modern China. Lastly, the process by which Sinitic gods were transmitted to regions outside of the Chinese continent, such as Taiwan, Singapore, and Okinawa, is explored.

Foreword
 
Section I: Cultural Interaction and Sinitic Gods in Japanese Buddhist Temples
 
Chapter 1: Temple Guardian Gods in the Sino-Japanese Five Mountain Temple System and Cultural Interaction
 
Chapter 2: Temple Guardian Gods of the Ōbaku School of Zen Buddhism and Cultural Interaction
 
Chapter 3: Cultural Interaction: Myōken Bosatsu 妙見神 and the God Zhenwu 真武
 
Chapter 4: Differences and Cultural Interaction between the Japanese and Chinese Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha
 
Section II: Travels and Cultural Interaction of the Gods in Asia
 
Chapter 1: Temples and Cultural Interaction in Taiwan and Singapore
 
Chapter 2: Sinitic Gods and Cultural Interaction in Nagasaki and Okinawa
 
Conclusion

作者簡介



　　Yoshihiro Nikaidō is Professor of Asian Cultural studies at the Kansai University, Japan.