Women in Japanese Religions (Women in Religions, 1)

Synopsis

Drawing On A Diverse Collection Of Writings By And About Women, Ambros Argues That Ambivalent Religious Discourses In Japan Have Not Simply Subordinated Women But Also Given Them Religious Resources To Pursue Their Own Interests And Agendas. Comprising Nine Chapters Organized Chronologically, The Book Begins With The Archeological Evidence Of Fertility Cults And The Early Shamanic Ruler Himiko In Prehistoric Japan And Ends With An Examination Of The Influence Of Feminism And Demographic Changes On Religious Practices During The Lost Decades Of The Post-1990 Era. By Viewing Japanese Religious History Through The Eyes Of Women, Women In Japanese Religions Presents A New Narrative That Offers Strikingly Different Vistas Of Japan's Pluralistic Traditions Than The Received Accounts That Foreground Male Religious Figures And Male-dominated Institutions.--publisher's Website. The Prehistorical Japanese Archipelago: Fertility Cults And Shaman Queens -- Ancient Japanese Mythology: Female Divinities And Immortals -- The Introduction Of Buddhism: Nuns, Lay Patrons, And Popular Devotion -- The Heian Period: Women In Buddhism And Court Ritual -- The Medieval Period: Buddhist Reform Movements And The Demonization Of Femininity -- The Edo Period: Confucianism, Nativism, And Popular Religion -- Imperial Japan: Good Wives And Wise Mothers --the Postwar Period: Nostalgia, Religion, And The Reinvention Of Femininity -- The Lost Decades: Gender And Religion In Flux. Barbara R. Ambros. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.