Abstract
A geolinguistic survey was conducted at 300 locations in the Kyushu region of Japan to measure acceptance of the term tengoku. From the survey results a linguistic map of the usage of tengoku was constructed and used to analyze the influence of differences in religion, region, interlocutors and situation. The following things were revealed. 1. Catholics and adherents of Shinto tend to accept tengoku more than the believers of other religions. 2. Adherents of the Jodo-shin-shu sects of Buddhism tend to accept tengoku less than the believers of other religions. The reason for this is that they have original Buddhist terms, such as Jodo, with meanings equivalent to 'paradise' or 'heaven'. 3. Tengoku is more accepted in Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, on the other hand, less accepted in Nagasaki prefecture. 4. Tengoku tends to be used when people speak to children, but not when speaking in a Buddhist temple.
