Book summary
The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji summary
- 8 min read
- 10 key ideas
- Audio soon
A young American teacher walks Japanese shrines in 1870 and asks why one people holds three faiths at once.
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The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 7 h 35 min6 h 5 min fast, 9 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 108,800 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1895by William Elliot Griffis
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji in short
Griffis argues that Japanese religion is a layered growth. At the bottom lie spirits, charms and strange animals. Above them stand Shinto, Confucian duty and Buddhism, which blend in daily life while the older layer shapes all of them.
What The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji is about
What would you learn if you lived among priests and neighbors in Japan and asked questions until you became a nuisance? William Elliot Griffis did exactly that. He reached Japan on December 29, 1870, as a young teacher sent from Rutgers College, and spent four years in Fukui and Tokyo.
His lectures in the Morse series at Union Theological Seminary became this book, with a preface dated 1894. You get a sweep of about thirteen centuries, from charms and spirits through Shinto, Confucian duty and Buddhism to the Christian century and the years of silence. He writes as a Christian, and his views stand in plain sight.
Who it’s for. You will enjoy this if you love comparative religion, Japanese history, old shrines and temples, or the question of how a nation blends several faiths into one daily life.
The 10 key ideas
Key idea 1 · free to read
A witness to Japan before the changes
Griffis opens as a witness, not only as a scholar. Japanese students at Rutgers College stirred his interest in their country. In 1869 Fukui asked the college for a young man to set up schools on the American model, and the faculty chose him.
He lived in Japan four years. On his first walk near Yokohama he visited a hilltop temple and studied the roadside shrines. He saw things that have since vanished so completely that some people doubt they ever existed. He says that anyone who learns religion from books alone learns only half, so he thanks the Japanese people first.
He also tells you what he is painting. He wants a picture of the past, a tree from acorn to oak, and not a snapshot of belief in 1894. The book is a view from its own time, with the author's hopes and judgments in the open.
Read it as the account of a curious, sympathetic outsider who wants to understand before he concludes.
- 2Start free to read
Most Japanese hold three faiths at once
Griffis begins with the land.
- 3Start free to read
Beneath the books lies older belief
Before there were sacred books, Griffis says, there was a flat plain of unwritten belief, and the great religions rise from it like mountains.
- 4Start free to read
Shinto grows from sun, ancestors and purity
Shinto means the Way of the Gods, a name that came late to set it apart from the Way of the Buddhas.
- 5Start free to read
The Kojiki tells of gods and mud
The Kojiki, or Record of Ancient Things, was written down in 712.
- 6Start free to read
Confucian ethics put loyalty above family
Confucius was born in 551 B.C. and, Griffis says, invented nothing.
- 7Start free to read
Buddhism travels from India to Japan
Griffis traces Buddhism to India, where Gautama was born about 557 B.C. He left his home, wife and child to seek release from suffering.
- 8Start free to read
Kobo mixed Buddhist and native gods
Griffis gives a whole lecture to Mixed Buddhism.
- 9Start free to read
Japanese sects turn doctrine into faith
The old schools of Nara held subtle ideas, and none survives today.
- 10Start free to read
Christianity arrives, is crushed, and returns
In 1549 Francis Xavier landed at Kagoshima.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Check yourself
How do Shinto, Confucianism and Buddhism function for many Japanese people in Griffis's account?
Right. “In Japan the three faiths work like parts of one household, not rival camps.”Not quite. “In Japan the three faiths work like parts of one household, not rival camps.”
What change distinguishes Japanese Confucian ethics in Griffis's account?
Right. “Because the samurai carried both pen and sword, loyalty to the lord outranked duty to parents.”Not quite. “Because the samurai carried both pen and sword, loyalty to the lord outranked duty to parents.”
How did Kobo connect Shinto gods with Buddhism?
Right. “Kobo then gave each native god a Buddhist name, and the sun goddess Amaterasu became the Buddha Dainichi.”Not quite. “Kobo then gave each native god a Buddhist name, and the sun goddess Amaterasu became the Buddha Dainichi.”
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Questions about The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji
What is The Religions of Japan by William Elliot Griffis about?
It follows Japanese belief from early spirit worship through Shinto, Confucianism and Buddhism to the arrival of Christianity. It was written as a series of lectures, and it draws on the author's years of living in Japan.
What is Riyobu Shinto?
Riyobu, or Mixed, Shinto is the blend of Shinto and Buddhism credited to the monk Kobo Daishi in the ninth century. Native gods were treated as forms of the Buddha, and temples and shrines merged for nearly a thousand years.
Is it a true account, and when was it written?
It is a nonfiction work from 1894, based on the author's own observation in Japan from 1870 to 1874 and on the research of other scholars. Readers will notice that it carries the views of its time and place.
What does the Kojiki mean?
The Kojiki means Record of Ancient Things. Finished in 712, it is the oldest book in Japanese, and tells of creation by Izanagi and Izanami, the birth of the sun goddess Amaterasu, and the early gods and rulers.
Is the book easy to follow?
Yes, in plain terms. The lectures move in time order, use scenes from the author's own travels, and explain Japanese words as they come, so readers can follow each faith without special background.
Cite this edition
Griffis, William Elliot. The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-religions-of-japan-from-the-dawn-of-history-to-the-era-of-meiji.
Griffis, W. E. (2026). The religions of Japan, from the dawn of history to the era of Méiji. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-religions-of-japan-from-the-dawn-of-history-to-the-era-of-meiji (Original work published 1895)
Griffis, William Elliot. The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-religions-of-japan-from-the-dawn-of-history-to-the-era-of-meiji.
@book{griffis2026religions,
author = {Griffis, William Elliot},
title = {The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-religions-of-japan-from-the-dawn-of-history-to-the-era-of-meiji},
note = {First published 1895}
}
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