The Concepts of Religion and Religious Studies in Transcultural Contexts, with a Focus on Japan

This discussion draws attention to religion as a Western concept turned global, and to the ways this concept is investigated and produced by the academic discipline of religious studies in both Japan and the West.
Originating in the West, ‘religion’ as a field of study was early on employed by and imposed upon societies worldwide. Only recently, however, have scholars become aware of the profound effects of this transplantation, raising questions of analytic comparability as well as cultural and academic identity. By broadening the scope of this investigation to postcolonial contexts and those who do and do not practice a religious discourse outside Europe and North-America, we can better our understanding of non-Western concepts of religion and modernity. I will thus first introduce briefly recent scholarship on religion in non-Western societies, giving my impression of a set of intellectual and analytical tools that are needed in the study of religion. This is followed by an observation of Japanese religious studies and problems concerning the concept of religion that appear specific to Japan.