The Strategies and Adaptation of Japanese Religion in a Christian Society

A Case Study of Honpa Hongwanji Mission in Hawaii before the World War II

Abstract

The Japanese religion Jodo-Shinshu Honpa Hongwanji was influential in the Japanese immigrant society in pre-war Hawaii. Its successful adaptation has often been attributed to the fact that the majority of the Japanese immigrants to Hawaii were from the areas Jodo-Shinshu was prevalent, or to the similarity of the principles of Jodo-Shinshu to that of Protestantism in traditional acculturation theory. In this paper, I will oppose these views by analyzing the development of Honpa Hongwanji in relation to its strategies formulated as responses to the strategies of individual immigrants and the needs of the Japanese immigrant society, while taking into the consideration the pressure of assimilation rooted in the host society.