Buddhism, Shinto and Japanese New Religions in Brazil

chapter 16 Buddhism, Shinto and Japanese New Religions in Brazil

Frank Usarski and Rafael Shoji

Introduction

Although Buddhism, Shinto and Japanese New Religions represent a relatively small segment of Brazil’s religious landscape, they deserve attention for at least three reasons. First, there is the historical aspect: these traditions were initially associated with Asian immigrants, the majority of whom came to Brazil in the first half of the twentieth century. Second, despite low numbers of formal adher- ents, the Institute for Geography and Statistics (ibge), which has been respon- sible for censuses since 1940, has challenged academic findings by revealing a continuing wider interest in “Eastern” religions. Third, the attraction of a non- nikkei audience to Buddhism and to groups such as Seicho-no-ie from the 1960s onwards has prompted academic studies which, among other questions, inves- tigate why Asian religions in Brazil have not benefited from a non-regulated, highly pluralistic religious-market, as it is the case in other Western countries.

The Historical Evolution of Buddhism, Shinto and Japanese New Religions in Brazil

For analytical purposes, this review of the evolution of the field distinguishes four periods.

First Period Taking into account the private religious practice of early Chinese guest workers, the first phase of Asian religiosity in Brazil dates roughly between the first decade of the nineteenth century and the beginning of World War Two. How- ever, the religious situation of the not more than 300 Chinese tea-planters in the city of Rio de Janeiro and approximately 1,000 miners in the State of Minas Gerais at the end of the nineteenth centry is unknown, and is far less signifi- cant than the continuous waves of Asian immigration from 1908 onwards. This brought almost 190,000 registered Japanese to the country (Izumi 2012: 130). According to official statistics, 98.8% of the Japanese immigrants who came

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��7 | doi 10.1163/9789004322134_018 280 Usarski and Shoji to Brazil prior to World War ii were owners of small farms and field workers strongly affected by a profound rural crisis that had made survival in their homeland extremely difficult. They were bound to the traditional Japanese household and committed to local corporate groups based on household al- liances, reflecting the ideological conditions of the Meiji era into which they had been socialized. This fostered strong nationalist sentiments and demand- ed loyalty to the Emperor. In accordance with bilateral agreements, 94.5% of the pre-war immigrants were adults who entered Brazil together with at least three adult family members (Smith 1979: 56). In many cases, parents brought their second or third sons into the country. The oldest sons remained in Japan and waited for their rela- tives to return, since those who had left did not intend to remain in Brazil lon- ger than economically necessary. In order to avoid political friction and private religious animosities, Japanese monks or priests were not allowed to be active in Brazil and the immigrants were advised to refrain from any public religious behavior that could offend the predominantly Catholic population. In accordance with a self-concept of being a separate social group living in an artificial situation of temporary dislocation, the immigrants maintained their traditional worldview, cultural routines and spiritual habits as best they could. State Shinto, an organizationally diffuse veneration of the Emperor and symbolic confirmation of Japanese ethnicity, played a major role. Due to the absence of clergy, Shinto and Buddhist rituals and ceremonies were im- provized, often within the family, or, in special cases, within the neighborhood. Only two Shinto sanctuaries were built before World War ii. Both were located in the State of São Paulo. In 1920, Uetsuka Shūhei (1876–1935), established the Bugre Shrine in the Japanese colony of what is now the city of Promissão (Pick- en 2011: 274). Eighteen years later, members of the immigrant ‘colony’ of Bastos built the Sanso Jinja (Mori 1992: 568–569), a sanctuary inspired by a correspond- ing major shrine in Fukushima Prefecture. In the meantime, Ogasawara Shōzō (1892–1970) visited the settlement of Aliança with the intention of inaugurating an ‘overseas shrine’ on behalf of the Suwa sanctuary located in Nagano Prefec- ture. However, even a promise that the Suwa shrine would finance the acquisi- tion of a nearby piece of land in order to install the sanctuary did not convince the settlement’s majority. Instead of a full shrine, he was permitted to build only a tiny tentative shrine using scraps of wood and timber to enshrine a talisman from Suwa Shrine in a sympathizer’s yard. Ogasawara’s activities were some- times ridiculed by the Japanese-Brazilian newspapers, and later the Aliança Set- tlers Committee petitioned the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs to prohibit anyone intending to build Shinto shrines from entering Brazil (Kōji 2010: 59).