Japanese Journal of Religious Studies - Volume 50 - Issue 2 - Searching for Legitimacy, Tenrikyo, Omoto, and “Marginalized” Religions of Modern Japan

Aug 20, 2026

Special issue on the study of “new religions” (shinshūkyō) in modern Japan, reframing nineteenth-century “early new religions” as “marginalized religions.” The editors’ introduction outlines why the same category may not fit groups from different historical periods, then narrows attention to early formations such as Tenrikyo and Omoto. It emphasizes historical development, contact zones with society, and how modernity shaped emergence, development, and transformation of these movements, offering insights relevant beyond Western contexts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages110

Reading Time4 h 37 min

AccessFree to download

Editors’ Introduction

Searching for Legitimacy: Tenrikyo, Omoto, and “Marginalized” Religions of Modern Japan

Articles

Marginalized Myths and Modern Japan: The Interpretive History of Doroumi kōki and Reikai monogatari

Legitimizing an Evil Teaching: Deguchi Onisaburō and “Superstition” in Modern Japan

From Faith-Healing Group to New Religion: The Discursive Formulation of Tenrikyo in Meiji

From Shinto Sect to Religion: The De-Shintoization of Tenrikyo

issn 0304-1042 Japanese Journal of Religious Studies volume 50, no. 2 2023 Searching for Legitimacy Tenrikyo, Omoto, and “Marginalized” Religions of Modern Japan articles 115 Editors’ Introduction Searching for Legitimacy Tenrikyo, Omoto, and “Marginalized” Religions of Modern Japan Nagaoka Takashi and Masato Kato 127 Marginalized Myths and Modern Japan The Interpretive History of Doroumi kōki and Reikai monogatari Nagaoka Takashi 153 Legitimizing an Evil Teaching Deguchi Onisaburō and “Superstition” in Modern Japan Takashi Miura 175 From Faith-Healing Group to New Religion The Discursive Formulation of Tenrikyo in Meiji Franziska Steffen 205 From Shinto Sect to Religion The De-Shintoization of Tenrikyo Masato Kato Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 50/2: 115–126 © 2025 Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture [dx.doi.org/10.18874/jjrs.50.2.2023.115-126](dx.doi.org/10.18874/jjrs.50.2.2023.115-126) Nagaoka Takashi永岡崇and Masato Kato Editors’ Introduction Searching for Legitimacy: Tenrikyo, Omoto, and “Marginalized” Religions of Modern Japan The purpose of this special issue is to provide a new perspective on the study of “new religions”(shinshūkyō新宗教) by positioning “early new religions”—religious groups that emerged in nineteenth-century Japan—as “marginalized religions.” It also seeks to propose a framework that allows us to reconsider the history of religion in modern Japan from peripheral (marginalized) positions. Scholars of religion in Japan have categorized the religious groups that emerged within the span of approximately two hundred years from around the end of the Edo period to the present day as “new religions,” which are seen to have various characteristics that differ from those of established religions such as Christianity and Buddhism (Shimazono 1992). It is debatable, however, whether it is appropriate to discuss religious groups that arose in the nineteenth century and those that emerged after the end of World War ii under the same category. Social and political contexts in these two time periods were significantly different, as were the challenges faced by each religious group. We therefore limit the focus of our inquiry to “early new religions” and explore the process of their historical development. These groups, which include Kurozumikyo, Tenrikyo, Konkokyo, Renmonkyo, Maruyamakyo, and Omoto, among many others, operated in marginalized positions of society amid the social changes of modern Japan, such as the formation of the nation-state, the proliferation of a modern rationalistic worldview, the development of capitalism, Nagaoka Takashi is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Komazawa University; Masato Kato is Associate Lecturer at Tenri University. 116 | Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 50/ 2 (2023) the imperialization of Japan, and Japan’s wars against China, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and others. By focusing on zones of contact between these religious groups and society, the present volume seeks to foreground the complex relationship between religions and modernity as experienced outside the Western cultural sphere. The focus on the historical context of modernity in Japan can also shed new light on the study of New Religious Movements (nrms) in Western contexts. Oneof the characteristics of “newness” related to Japanese new religions concerns the development of these groups in association with the historical process of modernity (Reader 2005, 93). This sets apart new religions in Japan from their Western counterparts, whose newness tends to be associated with the membership comprising first-generation converts and is not necessarily predicated upon the analysis of specific historical conditions of modernity that would marginalize or even criminalize emergent and relatively “new” religions (Barker 2004) . Dissecting the impact of modernity on the very process of emergence,

FAQs

What is the special issue’s central research aim?

It provides a new perspective on studying “new religions” by treating nineteenth-century “early new religions” as “marginalized religions.” It also proposes a framework to reconsider the history of religion in modern Japan from peripheral positions.

Why does the introduction question grouping all “new religions” under one category?

It argues that groups arising in the nineteenth century and those after World War II faced significantly different social and political contexts and different challenges, making the shared category debatable.

How does the issue connect Japanese “newness” to historical modernity?

It highlights that Japanese new religions’ “newness” is tied to the historical process of modernity, shaping how they emerged and transformed. This offers a different angle for studying New Religious Movements in Western contexts.

Aug 20, 2026

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