What is Syncretism?

Syncretism means to combine different cultural or religious traditions to make a new tradition. Most religions of the world have some syncretic elements: ideas or customs that they borrowed from other traditions.

Here is an example from Western culture: Halloween. The name originally comes from “All Hallows Eve” which is a religious holiday to honor the saints and also the dead. The night before this holiday is the evening (eve) of all hallows day, or “Halloween”. At this time of year the Celtics had a harvest festival. When they were converted to Christianity, this harvest festival was given new meanings as a Christian holiday, while still keeping some of the old Celtic customs.

Syncretism in Japanese Religion: early beginnings

Japanese religion is syncretic. It combines teachings and practices from the indigenous religion of Shinto, from Buddhism, and from Confucianism. When you study syncretic religious beliefs and practices in Japan, you are studying a 1400 year old tradition that began with the importation of Buddhism in the sixth century CE.

Before that period, the Japanese had religious rituals and customs, but there was no written language and these practices were mainly done by priestly clans who guarded their knowledge of the rituals and chants. In the sixth century, however, people from the Korean peninsula emigrated to Japan to escape the political turmoil there. Many of these immigrants were highly educated in Chinese literary and religious culture. Others had a high level of technical knowledge of how to build bridges, large temples, large sculptures, and textile arts. The religion of the immigrants was Buddhism, but as educated people in the Chinese sphere of influence, they also used Confucian teachings, mainly in government.

In sixth century Japan, the skills and knowledge of the Korean immigrants and their devotion to Buddhism began to attract the upper classes of Japanese. The priestly clans resisted this influence. But when Prince Shotoku (574-622) converted to Buddhism and supported it from the throne, it became clear that the native religious customs of Japan would have to reach some kind of accommodation with the imported religion of Buddhism. Buddhist “deities” (as the Japanese perceived them) were considered to be more powerful than the native deities (the kami), but as “foreigners” they needed the support of the kami as well.

The accommodation between the indigenous religion and Buddhism became the most important feature of religion in Japan through the following thousand years. Buddhism was a religion with a grand cosmology, literature, and a material culture much valued in the Chinese world view, knowledge that the Japanese sought. The indigenous deities of Japan, on the other hand, offered local protection to Buddhist figures in a land populated by the kami.

Developed Syncretism in Japanese Religion: Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism

One of the earliest examples between Buddhism and the native deities was the production of “histories” of the rulers of Japan: the Nihon Shoki and the Kojiki. These histories, commissioned by Emperor Shōmu in the 8th century, collected legends from the ancient past and composed them into stories of the origins of the rulers of Japan. A prominent myth was about the sacred origins of the ruling lineage through the goddess of the sun, Amaterasu.

These histories are not entirely mythical. But they were definitely influenced by continental (Chinese and Korean) styles and language. This was the first time that they had been written down and organized into a narrative. In the sixth century Japan had no writing system so the histories had to be written using the Chinese system of glyphs. A glyph is a symbol with a particular meaning attached to it, for example: 仁 which has the symbol for human, 人 and two, 二. Together it means “human heartedness.” But it is not an alphabet which assigns sounds to letters. That means that even if the Japanese pronounced the word for human differently from Chinese people, they could still communicate using these symbols.

Writing came from China, but the Japanese used it to express their own ideas and stories. Still, there was influence from China and Korea in putting together this collection. This is why we know very little about Japanese religious traditions before this time: there was no written language, and by the time it was written down, continental ideas were already shaping its meaning.

In the case of Buddhism, at first Japanese people understood the Buddha as an advanced kami with enormous power. Prince Shōtoku, in fighting a major battle against the clerical clan, called on the Buddha (as a kami) for strength and help in defeating them. And Emperor Shōmu had a large temple built in the capital with a huge Buddha statue that would represent the light of wisdom in Japan, and unite the rural districts with the capital. Buddhist ideas were used as a way to unify the state, even though it was never a state religion. In time, some kami became Buddhist figures in their own right. And the idea that the Buddhas would protect the kami, and the kami would help the Buddhas in local matters was a persuasive idea that continued in Japan for more than a thousand years.

Confucianism was seen as a kind of philosophy of ethics and government, in contrast to the supernatural power of Buddhism. Confucian texts contributed ideas for government hierarchies and responsibility. It was seen as useful for secular situations. At the same time its strong moral teachings and its linking of morality with the smooth operation of the human and natural physical world meant that it too had a semi-religious quality that blended well with court culture. The harmony between Buddhism, Shinto, and Confucianism persisted throughout the medieval period and formed a strong cultural bond for the Japanese state to develop.

By the 1600s, after resolving several centuries of inter-clan warfare, Japan sought to establish a strong central government. At this point, Confucian learning and attitudes became the basis for a renewed interest in a strong state that could control the warring clans. The newly retired samurai, warriors who had served local warlords, became the bureaucrats of the Japanese government. Setting aside their weapons, the Samurai began to study Confucian literature and served as a model for the other classes: farmers, artisans, and merchants.

Even though they now had “desk jobs” the Samurai still reflected on the days of military glory and the bonds of loyalty to their lords. While serving in the government, Samurai still retained the sense of military readiness. In addition, they became more committed to the idea of dying for their lord, of self-sacrifice.

The themes of self-sacrifice are not in Confucian thought, however. What we can see here is a syncretic combination of the semi-religious devotion to the lord of the domain and the Confucian idea of obedience to the ruler as a foundation for the harmony of the world.

In contemporary times these ideas are still powerful. The Japanese continue to be embedded in a web of meaning that draws on the indigenous religion of Shinto, and two major imported systems: Buddhism and Confucianism. In order to study this religious culture, we have to set aside the idea of competing, exclusive religions, and see how Japanese religious life weaves together these three systems of thought and practice.