Asian Folk Religion and Cultural Interaction

By (author) Yoshihiro Nikaidō

Book cover: Asian Folk Religion and Cultural Interaction

Extent: 230 pages

Publisher: V&R unipress

Subjects: Asian/Pacific Studies & Religions, Religious Studies

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(October 2015)

ISBN: 9783847104858

6.3 x 9.33 inches

Price: $94.00

In stock

The author uses traditional and electronic texts to understand intercultural interactions among the folk religions of East Asia, with specific reference to the Sinosphere and Japan. By using an intercultural approach, he has been able to trace the relationship, for example, of the Chinese deity, Zhaobao Qilang, which is extant in Japan but has disappeared from its homeland, China. Nikaid? also examines the sources of syncretism for Japanese deities that originally derived from Chinese renditions of Indian bodhisattvas.


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 Myoken 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.

  • By (author) Yoshihiro Nikaidō