The history of religion in Japan has been characterized by the predominance of animistic religions practiced by its mainland, Ryukyuan, and Ainu inhabitants. In addition, on the Yamato-dominated mainland, Mahayana Buddhism has also played a profoundly important role. Throughout the Japanese middle ages, many different schools of Buddhism flourished, such as Tendai, Shingon, Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren, and others. With time, Shinto and Buddhism gradually became intertwined with each other in Japanese culture, rather than being viewed as mutually exclusive. The first conclusive appearance of western religions in Japan was Christianity, which had been introduced by European travelers beginning in 1549. In the period between 1614 and 1889, Christianity and all other foreign religions were banned and its adherents persecuted, with Buddhism being co-opted by the Tokugawa authorities as a means to keep the population in check through the danka system.
After this period ended, freedom of religion was restored with the Meiji Restoration, and it was in this period that Christianity once again began to pick up steam. Ironically, this period was marked by both the heavy persecution of Buddhism as well as the ascendancy of State Shinto to almost all walks of Japanese life. Following the end of World War II, the State Shinto machine was mostly disassembled, and Japan saw the rise of many new religions, the most popular one being Soka Gakkai, which is rooted in ideas from the indigenous Japanese Nichiren school of Buddhism. Overall, however, traditional forms of Buddhism have stagnated heavily in modern history and contemporary Japanese society has been marked by high levels of secularism and apathy towards organised forms of religion in favour of unorganised local or personal expressions of spirituality through Shinto rituals and festivals.
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