At present, one of the differences that can be observed between individuals and communities of Japanese origin in Latin America in relation to the countries of the north of the American continent is religion. The predominance of Catholicism among the populations of Latin American countries is also reproduced in the Nikkei and, among the communities of this origin in the region, it seems that Peru is the one with the largest relative number of Catholics. 1
In the second and last census on the Nikkei population in Peru (1989) 2 92% of family members declared themselves Catholic 3 2.9% Buddhist and with figures less than one percent: Shintoist, evangelist, Protestant, among others , and 1% without religion. Despite such preponderance of the Catholic religion, in approximately a third of the homes - according to the same study - funeral customs and rituals with Buddhist roots continued to be in force. The confrontation of both information would indicate the presence of syncretism.
With such bases, we will ask ourselves: 1. What was the religion of the Japanese immigrants? 2. Why, how and since when has the Catholic religion been spread and practiced within this oblation? and 3. Why and how do these religious practices with Japanese or Asian roots persist within a majority Catholic population?
The religion of Japanese immigrants
To answer the first question we start from some studies - carried out by specialists about religion in Japan at the beginning of the emigrations. According to Yamaguchi 4 , the concept of religion in Japan emerged during the beginning of the Meiji Era (1868 – 1912), that is, in the era of Westernization of society and the State, in which a term even had to be invented. about it ( Shukyoo ). During the previous era – the Edo period (1603-1867), under the rule of the Tokugawa family – “syncretism between Shintoism and Buddhism was common, and it was frequently possible to find Shinto porticos, known as torii , inside temples.” Buddhists” (p. 38).
The conception of Shintoism as a religion in Japan, then, began only in the Meiji Era and its official preeminence over other religions - mainly Buddhism - occurred in the 20th century, towards the end of that Era and after the victories in the wars against China and Russia and that is when – according to Yamaguchi – we can already speak of the presence of a State Shintoism (p.42) and a national religion, promoted by politicians and intellectuals. On the other hand, taking into account that the first massive emigrations of Japanese began during the Meiji Era and that changes in aspects such as religion do not occur automatically, it can be inferred that the emigrants - mostly from rural origins - came to America with a religion that combined elements of Shintoism and Buddhism 5 , just as in the Edo Era. During this Era, which lasted more than two and a half centuries, Buddhism and Confusionism from China had officially spread.
Among the immigrants who came to America - and specifically to Peru -, the most palpable evidence of the practice of Shintoism was the presence of " kamidana 6 " in homes, brought by both men and women. In relation to Buddhism, the evidence is multiplied through material records, facts and manifestations that are still in force.
Unlike Peru, in Brazil and the United States the spread of Buddhism was broad, Buddhist temples were numerous and became fundamental centers for the construction of communities and later their reconstruction in the postwar 7 . Such a process, however, was somewhat late. In the first decades of the emigration of Japanese to America, especially to Brazil (which began in 1908), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan - according to Moreira - prohibited the departure of Buddhist monks because their presence could enter in conflict with the predominant Catholic culture of Latin American societies. At that time, both in Brazil and in other South American republics, at an official level and in the media, a recurrently discussed topic was the supposed threat or danger of non-racial and cultural assimilation of the Japanese.
Likewise, it is important to consider - as Moreira points out - that it was not the eldest children of Japanese families who emigrated. Those were not only the heirs, but also those responsible for maintaining the traditions; among them, the care of elderly parents, of offspring and, at the same time, the worship of ancestors, symbolically expressed in the butsudan 8 . Immigrants in Peru, as in other countries, rather, founded new family lines and some of their relatives began to acquire their own butsudan and ihai for their homes after the death of their immediate ancestors, following the Buddhist tradition.
The arrival of the first Buddhist monks to Peru occurred with the second contingent of Japanese immigration in 1903, they were 3 young people: Ueno (Zen Master, Sotoshu School), Matsumoto and Kinoshita (Jododoshu School), who had the authorization of their administrative headquarters. In order to support themselves, they were hired as group supervisors and assigned with other immigrants to the Tumán (Lambayeque), Casablanca (Cañete) and Santa Clara (Lima) haciendas. However, they were not successful in their doctrinal work and, later, they maintained that the main reason for the failure was the immigrants' excessive dedication to work 9 .
Of the 3 monks, only Master Tain Ueno left any mark due to the construction of the temple known as “ Jionji ” (today in the San Vicente de Cañete Province) and the first Japanese school in South America, built in 1908 at the Hacienda Santa Bárbara . Until the Second World War, two other Buddhist monks arrived, who later returned to Japan. Some of the first, from the Sotoshu School, traveled to Brazil.
In conclusion of this presence in Peru, the Japanese journalist and author Ota 10 maintains that “the Japanese in Peru have not been persistent in maintaining the Buddhist sects...the work of the mission ()..and moralization passed to the hands of Catholic parents. …Buddhism's demand for priests was only to perform ceremonies for the dead, with no interest in doctrines, teachings or (in) meditation. There was only need for a person who knows Buddhist prayers or recite the sutra ( O-kyo )."
Indeed, such a function was fulfilled by the immigrant Ryoko Kiyohiro - like other immigrants, before and after the arrival of the Buddhist monks - from 1960 until his death in 1992. During his period as a priest, the Jionji Temple of Cañete became in an ossuary or, rather, in a place where the ihai of some deceased people are left.
The Catholic Religion among Japanese immigrants and their descendants
The first Catholic influence experienced by the immigration pioneers was related to the burial of the numerous deceased, especially the first group admitted in 1899. For their burial they had to improvise places 11 , since, due to the control exercised by the Catholic Church Regarding public cemeteries, those not baptized in that faith could not be buried there. Later, with the move to the cities, where the majority converged - to the point that Lima alone concentrated between 80 and 90% of this population at different times -, Catholic influences became accentuated, but in a more inclusive way through Evangelization. One of these first experiences - recognized by the Peruvian-Japanese community - was that of Sister Francisca Gros (of the French Congregation of Saint Vincent de Paul), who cared for and baptized numerous sick immigrants at the 2 de Mayo Hospital, many of them poor and without family in Peru.
The evangelizing work was also carried out by successive priests, who were uninterruptedly close to groups and organizations of immigrants, their children and grandchildren, until the present. The first were foreigners with a command of the Japanese language and in the post-war period, two priests, one Jesuit, Father Luis Martínez and the other Franciscan, Father Nisei Manuel Kato (ordained in 1954) have been linked to most of the religious services. within the Peruvian-Japanese community and at the same time kept a meticulous record of baptisms, marriages, and deaths. On the other hand, Father Kato and the nun Sister Clara Tome (since 1953), who were the first Nisei to take the habits, were joined by 5 priests and 23 more nuns of Japanese origin until 1979 12 . The majority developed and continue to carry out their work in education and care for orphans and poor elderly people in Lima and other places in the country, generally outside the Peruvian-Japanese community.
The evangelizing work among the first children of immigrants was also carried out through religion courses in Japanese and Peruvian schools in general; However, through the ethics courses of Japanese schools, contents of State Shintoism were also disseminated since the 1920s. In this apparent religious counterpoint, school teachers and baptismal godmothers and godfathers performed an effective work. Catholic Peruvians, as many of the children of immigrants remember.
During the first decades of the post-war period, Catholic baptism went beyond a matter of faith, since in most private schools and colleges, and some state ones, an essential condition for enrollment was the presentation of a certificate certifying it. , rather than the simple birth certificate. For this reason, baptism - which then tended to take place later than today among the Nikkei - forced many Nisei parents to speed it up for their children. Around that same time, on the other hand, numerous young people of the second generation began to get involved in Catholic movements and associations and some of them, such as the San Francisco Committee and then the Emmanuel Association, have dedicated themselves to the present in works for the health and education of children and adults in poverty, especially in Lima.
Religious syncretism?
At present, Catholicism among people of Japanese descent is not only a statistical issue; the practice of this religion in a large sector of them includes both the sacraments and their rituals such as baptism, first communion and religious marriage, as well as weekend masses and the exercise of some values such as charity for the poor. However, in funeral rituals the combination of Buddhist elements (such as the senko and other offerings and installations at wakes) and Catholic elements continue to be in force, with Catholic prayers and masses being - on the other hand - increasingly predominant in these ceremonies. Likewise, the Catholic festivities that occupy most of the holidays in the Peruvian calendar are also celebrated by people of Japanese descent. Among them, Christmas has displaced New Year's as the main holiday of the year and the day of "all saints or dead" leads them to visit family graves on November 1, as Peruvians in general celebrate massively.
However, at the level of the Nikkei organization, especially through the Peruvian Japanese Association, the practice of Buddhism in its ritual aspects is encouraged, such as the ohigan and obon ceremonies, with pilgrimages to the Jionji temple in Cañete and dedicated Buddhist masses to the deceased of Japanese origin, for which they hold calls twice a year. Practices such as the one mentioned, almost invariably referring to funerary aspects, would rather be Japanese cultural remnants (or efforts to preserve some elements of that culture), rather than effectively a return to or preservation of religious roots. Likewise, the presence of butsudan , kamidana and ihai in homes of Japanese origin would have a similar motivation.
In summary, it can be said that the adoption of Catholicism among Japanese immigrants did not imply an abandonment of their religious roots, for whose philosophical basis it would have meant, rather, an enrichment through the inclusion of new elements. An example of this is the inclusion of images of Jesus, the Virgin and other saints in the butsudan of homes. The education of most of their children as Catholics, on the other hand, did not contradict their religious cultural origin; That is, there was no conflict in this aspect. The persistence of ancient Japanese religious practices (mainly Buddhism) would be related only to ritual aspects, and they are considered by their descendants, in essence, as a cultural legacy of the first generation. A better synthesis of what is discussed here is found in the testimony of Issei Masanobu Oka, who was president of the Catholic organization San Francisco Committee: "at one time I was a Buddhist in Japan, I went to the temple every Sunday; but when I arrived in Peru I needed spiritual nourishment, I became Catholic at the age of 20 along with my entire family. However, as I got to know the world better, I see no difference between these two religions" 13 .
Grades:
1. Statistical information on religion by country – except for the United States and Canada – can be found in: Kikumura- Yano, Akemi. 2002. Encyclopedia of Japanese Descendants in the Americas. An Illustrated History of the Nikkei. Walnut Creek, California: Altamira Press-Japanese American National Museum. About religion and the Nikkei in general, articles and bibliography can be found on the Discover Nikkei website.
2. Morimoto, Amelia. 1991. Population of Japanese origin in Peru. Current profile. Lima: Commemorative Commission of the 90th Anniversary of Japanese immigration to Peru; p. 164/ Also in: The Japanese and their descendants in Peru. 1999. Lima: Editorial Fund of the Congress of the Republic.
3. As a reference, the relative numbers of Catholics in Peru, according to the last two censuses carried out in the country and temporally close to the 1989 Nikkei census, were 94.6% (in 1981) and 88.9% (in 1993). Fountain; http://www.inei.gob.pe/biblioineipub/bancopub/est/Lib0007/cap0210.htm (National Institute of Statistics)
4. Yamaguchi, Teroumi. “The State and Shintoism during the Meiji era.” At: http://www.istor.cide.edu-archivos-num_21-dossier2.pdf
5. Ordiales provides a definition that allows us to establish the specific differences between the two most widespread religions in Japan: Shintoism was and is, above all, the basis of Japanese identity, it lacks a creation myth, norms and is more closely linked with life rather than with funerary rituals - which correspond, rather, to Buddhism -, immortality with the survival of the community, rather than that of the individual. Their deities or Kami are natural phenomena: mountains, rivers, etc. In: Ordiales, Enrique. Shintoism: The Spirit of Japan. In: http://www.pasionistas/religión.htm (July 26, 2006)
6. Small altars, made and carved in wood, with doors that generally keep papers inside with phrases or prayers related to deities or " kami ".
7. Moreira da Rocha, work cited/ Kodani, Masao. 1997. The history of Buddhist Churches of America: Problems of Propagation and Projections for the Future. BCA History/ Senshin Buddhist Temple, Prajama: Light of compassion. Vol. 41, No. 4, April 1995. Ed. Dharma Rain.
8. Altars for the cult of ancestors, in which the ihai or small tablets are kept on which the names of the deceased in the family are recorded, generally along the patriarchal line.
9. OTA, Hirohito. 2003. “First Buddhist missionaries in Peru.” In: Zen: Spiritual Friends , No. 3. Tokyo: Administrative Headquarters, Sotoshu School. See also: "Zionji, Colony Temple". In: Nikko, Graphic and Informative Magazine , Year XXVI, No. 241, August-September 1979; p. 36, where it is argued, rather, that there was incomprehension between immigrants and one of the monks. At: http://www.geocities.com/kiyoshi_pe/Zen/misioneros/misioneros.html .
10. OTA, Hirohito, work cited above.
11. Which later became modern Japanese cemeteries, in places like Supe, north of Lima.
12. Until that year there is a record and the names and congregations to which the priests and nuns belong appear in: Nikko , cited above; p. 113.
13. In Nikko , p. 41.
© 2007 Amelia Morimoto
