Most books claiming to be about the religious world of the Japanese exclude 'secular' practices, which in Japanese reality are not essentially different from 'religious' ones. This new introduction to religion in Japan blends the best methodological features from anthropology and religious and historical studies to present a new way of studying Japanese religion, highlighting the importance of the analysis of politics, the state and economics as ritual institutions in contemporary Japan.
Students will get to see Japan in a new way through the linking of topics previously kept separate, while covering all the essential topics of study, including shrines and temples, rites of passage, mortuary rites, weddings, festivals and pilgrimages, and the status, rights and participation of women.
