Deck 12: Japanese Traditions

Question 1

Who are the kami in Japanese tradition?

A) Small shrines set up in the household for domestic worship
B) Small pieces of paper on which prayers are written and left in trees at shrines
C) Warriors who adhere to a strict code of discipline and honour, including religious devotion to Japan
D) Charms blessed by priests that can be bought during festivals
E) Individual spirits associated with specific natural phenomena, powers, and places

Answer 1

E

Question 2

What does "Shinto" mean?

A) Power
B) Way of the kami
C) Way of nature
D) Ritual religion
E) Ancient stories

Answer 2

B

Question 3

For its first 150 years in Japan, how was Buddhism primarily sustained within this territory?

A) Commerce between China and Japan brought support for Buddhism
B) Government supported Buddhism in Japan as an alternative to folk religions
C) Clans in Japan were supported by their contacts in Korea
D) Thai missionary efforts by Buddhist monks amongst the people of Japan
E) Support from the Tibetan Buddhist monks

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What second-oldest book in Japan combines origin myths with accounts of the reigns of early emperors?

A) The Nihon Shoki
B) The Kojiki
C) The Heart Sutra
D) The Lankavatara
E) The Lotus Sutra

Question 5

According to the Nihon Shoki ("Chronicles of Japan"), what religion did the Korean ruler recommend to the Japanese king in the sixth century?

A) Daoism
B) Shinto
C) Buddhism
D) Confucianism
E) Christianity

Question 6

When was the first Buddhist temple in Japan constructed?

A) 1965 CE
B) 596 CE
C) 965 CE
D) 1596 CE
E) 695 CE

Question 7

Which of the following is central to most religious practices in Japan?

A) Affirming the sincerity of deeply held beliefs
B) Worship of a supreme being
C) Affirming one's commitment to a particular religious tradition over any other
D) Chanting repeatedly the name of a deity or spirit
E) The pragmatic desire to secure various benefits, either in this world or in the next

Question 8

What is the name of the eighth-century text containing the creation myths of Japan?

A) Lankavatara
B) Kamidana
C) Lotus Sutra
D) Kojiki
E) Ankoku-ron

Question 9

Who are the primordial kami couple in Japanese mythology?

A) Amaterasu and Kannon
B) Kannon and Jizo
C) Izanagi and Izanami
D) Saicho and Kukai
E) Izanagi and Amaterasu

Question 10

Which kami of the sun became the primary deity associated with the Japanese imperial family?

A) Izanami
B) Kannon
C) Jizo
D) Amaterasu
E) Izanagi

Question 11

The bodhisattva known as Guanyin in China is called what in Japan?

A) Izanagi
B) Amida
C) Amaterasu
D) Jizo
E) Kannon

Question 12

What popular bodhisattva is known in Japan for his ability to free tormented souls from hell, as well as protect children and travellers?

A) Amaterasu
B) Kannon
C) Izanami
D) Jizo (or Ojizo-sama)
E) Amida

Question 13

What important ritual, whose roots are in a combination of native Japanese, Korean, and Chinese folk beliefs, has been an enduring responsibility for all of Japan's religious traditions?

A) Predicting the future through the use of divination
B) Blessing children
C) Requesting aid in battle
D) Calming and controlling unsettled spirits
E) Thanking animals for their sacrifice after a successful hunt

Question 14

What two Japanese monks brought back new forms of Buddhism from China in the ninth century, helping to domesticate and popularize it in Japan?

A) Nichiren and Niko
B) Honen and Shinran
C) Eisai and Dogen
D) Gyoki and Kuya
E) Saicho and Kukai

Question 15

What does the phrase honji suijaku imply in the Japanese tradition?

A) One must rely on one's own power to achieve spiritual enlightenment.
B) Shinto is the one true national religion of Japan.
C) Shinto shrines can be built within Buddhist temples, and vice-versa.
D) The highest honour is to sacrifice oneself for Japan.
E) Kami are local manifestations of buddhas or bodhisattvas.

Question 16

Who are the warrior elite in Japanese tradition?

A) Mizuko
B) Nenbutsu
C) Matsuri
D) Kami
E) Samurai

Question 17

In Japan, which term refers to the "degenerate age," during which it was believed Buddhist dharma would decline and corruption and conflict would increase?

A) Mappo
B) Obon
C) Honji suijaku
D) Matsuri
E) Nenbutsu

Question 18

Who is the author of Essentials of Salvation?

A) Nichiren (1222-1282)
B) Genshin (942-1017)
C) Shinran (1173-1262)
D) Honen (1133-1212)
E) Eisai (1141-1215)

Question 19

Who developed Pure Land Buddhism, as we know it today, in Japan?

A) Eisai
B) Shingon
C) Honen
D) Kukai
E) Nichiren

Question 20

By what name is Amitabha, the central buddha of the Pure Land tradition, known in Japan?

A) Kannon
B) Jizo
C) Shinran
D) Amaterasu
E) Amida

Question 21

What is the nembutsu?

A) The code of honour followed by the samurai
B) Chanting of Namu Amida Butsu as a central practice in Pure Land Buddhism
C) The Shinto practice of ritual purification under a waterfall
D) The massive statue of the Buddha built in Nara
E) The degenerate age of Buddhist dharma, believed to have begun in Japan in the eleventh century

Question 22

In Japanese Pure Land tradition, what does the term "tariki" refer to?

A) "Merit" as part of our slavation
B) "Self-power" must be asserted for assuring our salvation
C) God's grace is unnecessary for salvation
D) "Other-power" is needed for deliverance from suffering
E) "The Way" of transcendence by meditation

Question 23

Buddhist True Pure Land militias in Japan in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were made up of whom?

A) Former Zen masters
B) Shinto priests pretending to be Buddhist
C) Independent shoguns (warrior-princes) and their followers
D) Buddhist "monk warriors"
E) Common people and low-ranking samurai

Question 24

The word "Zen" is the Japanese version of which Chinese word?

A) Jodo
B) Tian
C) Faxiang
D) Dao
E) Chan

Question 25

What Japanese Buddhist school promotes "gradual enlightenment" through the practice of "just sitting" (zazen)?

A) Nichiren
B) Rinzai Zen
C) Shingon
D) Tendai
E) Chan/Zen

Question 26

Who founded the Rinzai sect of Zen in Japan after visiting China?

A) Kukai
B) Dogen
C) Eisai
D) Saicho
E) Nichiren

Question 27

Which influential Japanese Buddhist monk believed that believed that the only path to salvation, for the individual and for the nation, lay in the teachings of the Lotus Sutra?

A) Saicho
B) Eisai
C) Dogen
D) Kukai
E) Nichiren

Question 28

Which major new Japanese religious movement traces its roots ultimately to the teachings of Nichiren?

A) Sokka Gakkai
B) Jodo shinsu
C) Mahikari
D) Shinnyo-en
E) Perfect Liberty Kyodan

Question 29

When did "Shinto" begin to take form as a distinct and self-conscious entity?

A) From the sixth century
B) The medieval period
C) After World War II
D) The late eighteenth century
E) The second century

Question 30

Where are the Grand Shrines of Amaterasu located?

A) Kamakura
B) Mount Fuji
C) Ise
D) Kyoto
E) Nara

Question 31

What is the significant Japanese religious practice of matsuri?

A) Passing through a symbolic gateway (torii) before entering a shrine
B) Climbing Mount Fuji to commune with the kami
C) Ritual purification under a waterfall
D) Leaving prayers on small pieces of paper hung in trees at a shrine
E) Grand festivals involving the entire community

Question 32

In what traditional Japanese festival are the spirits of the departed honoured?

A) New Year's
B) Obon
C) Ikebana
D) Shichi-Go-San
E) Kokugaku

Question 33

What is the term that denotes the Japanese art of flowering making?

A) ikebana
B) zazen
C) dhyna
D) matsuri
E) kokugaku

Question 34

What Japanese form of minimalist poetry reflects the Zen emphasis on penetrating to the essence of reality?

A) Nenbutsu
B) Haiku
C) Noh
D) Bushido
E) Ikebana

Question 35

When did the first Europeans reach Japan?

A) 1490s
B) 1200s
C) 1540s
D) 1600s
E) 1620s

Question 36

What military unifier of Japan first tolerated Christianity and allowed its missionaries to spread their religion in the sixteenth century?

A) Oda Nobunaga
B) Emperor Meiji
C) Tokugawa Ieyasu
D) Hayashi Razan
E) Emperor Go-Daigo

Question 37

In 1637, around 25,000 Japanese peasants and samurai mounted an insurrection, in which, they used what symbol on their flags?

A) Buddhist Symbols
B) Christian Symbols
C) Kami Symbols
D) Shinto Symbols
E) Zen Symbols

Question 38

Which Japanese ruler effectively closed the door on both Christianity and Europe in the seventeenth century?

A) Oda Nobunaga
B) Hayashi Razan
C) Emperor Go-Daigo
D) Emperor Meiji
E) Tokugawa Ieyasu

Question 39

What is the content of Arai Hakuseki's "Tidings from the West" (1709)?

A) Inquisition of a Jesuit missionary
B) Theological diary of a Jesuit missionary
C) Letters between a Jesuit missionary and Hakuseki
D) Interview between a Jesuit missionary and Hakuseki
E) Novel about a Jesuit missionary and his conversion to Shintoism

Question 40

What system of thought or religion inspired the creation of four distinct classes (samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants) in during the Tokugawa regime?

A) Rinzai Zen
B) Confucianism
C) Shinto
D) Hinduism
E) Christianity

Question 41

What codified samurai ethics is known as the "way of the warrior"?

A) Kamikaze
B) Kokugaku
C) Ikebana
D) Torii
E) Bushido

Question 42

The Kokugaku movement of the late 1600s emphasized which of the following?

A) Combining kami and bodhisattvas in shrines and temples
B) A strict code of ethics for the warrior samurai
C) Suicidal attacks for the greater good of Japan
D) Sitting quietly in silent meditation
E) Acceptance of the "true" Japanese spiritual traditions instead of Confucianism and Buddhism

Question 43

Nakayama Miki established which of the following religions in Japan?

A) Kurozumikyo
B) Mahikari
C) Tenrikyo
D) Sokka Gakkai
E) Rissho Koseikai

Question 44

At what time was Shinto designated the official state religion of Japan?

A) Post-World War II
B) Sixteenth century
C) Nara period (710-794)
D) Meiji Government (1868-1911)
E) Kamakura period (1185-1333)

Question 45

What does the Japanese term kamikaze, in reference to the Second World War, mean?

A) Holy warrior
B) Saint
C) Enlightened ones
D) Divine wind
E) Great spirit

Question 46

When did the emperor of Japan renounce his claim to divinity?

A) Post- World War II
B) Meiji Government (1868-1911)
C) Kamakura period (1185-1333)
D) Christianization of the 17^th century
E) Samurai period

Question 47

What new religious movement in Japan was responsible for the deadly sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system in 1995?

A) Aum Shinrikyo
B) Sokka Gakkai
C) Shinnyo-en
D) Mahikari
E) Rissho Koseikai

Question 48

Approximately how many Buddhist temples are located in Japan?

A) 12,000
B) 24,000
C) 5,000
D) 250,000
E) 74,000

Question 49

In Japan, what does the derogatory term "funeral Buddhism" refer to?

A) A new religious movement that claims roots in Buddhism but is not recognized formally
B) The slow decline of Buddhism in Japan
C) The obsession with death attributed to Buddhism by many Japanese
D) Temples that have benefited from the income generated by funerals, memorials, and the sale of grave plots on their property
E) The fact that the only Buddhist rituals that exist in Japan are related to funerals

Question 50

What issue has led to a joint statement from, and example of rare cooperation between, the various schools of Japanese Buddhism?

A) Government corruption
B) Poverty
C) Animal Rights
D) Nuclear power
E) Sex equality

Question 51

Estimates of the number of Buddhist practitioners in Japan range from approximately 85 to over 100 million.

Question 52

Since 19^th century, one of the primary texts for Shinto has been the Nihon Shoki.

Question 53

Shinto priests are known as kami.

Question 54

Japan history has no written records from the first four centuries of the Common Era.

Question 55

A 4^th century CE account from the Chinese describes Japan as ruled by a female queen who used "black magic and witchcraft" to control the kami.

Question 56

For its first 150 years in Japan, Buddhism was sustained mainly by clans with ties to China.

Question 57

The Nihon Shoki is Japan's second-oldest book.

Question 58

Japan's first Buddhist monastery was constructed in 451 CE.

Question 59

Belief is less important than activity in Japanese religion.

Question 60

The traditions conventionally associated with Japan are Shinto, Buddhism, and Daoism.

Question 61

Japanese people typically practise either Buddhist or Shinto rituals, but rarely both.

Question 62

"Turning to the gods in a time of trouble" would be a way to describe Japanese religiosity.

Question 63

According to Japanese tradition, kami are capable of entering any object useful for exercising their power.

Question 64

Amaterasu, the Japanese sun deity, is the primordial female kami, "wife" of Izanagi.

Question 65

In Japanese Buddhist tradition, Kannon is the bodhisattva who alleviates suffering.

Question 66

Jizo is a popular bodhisattva who has provided comfort to millions of Japanese.

Question 67

Unlike in China, appeasing the spirits of the dead is of little importance in Japan.

Question 68

The monk Saicho founded Soto Zen Buddhism in Japan.

Question 69

As part of the Japanese honji suijaku principle, local kami were associated with particular bodhisattvas.

Question 70

Three new types of Buddhism emerged during the Kamakura period in Japan.

Question 71

The mappo age in Japanese Buddhist teaching was known as the "golden age," where people could easily achieve salvation with their own power.

Question 72

The nembutsu is the phrase repeatedly chanted in Zen Buddhist practice.

Question 73

Shinran was the founder of the True Pure Land sect of Buddhism in Japan.

Question 74

The Japanese word "Zen" ultimately derives from the Sanskrit dhyana, meaning "meditation."

Question 75

The Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism was founded by Eisai.

Question 76

The Soto Zen school of Buddhism use koan to achieve sudden enlightenment.

Question 77

Nichiren believed the Heart Sutra was an all-encompassing guide to secular and spiritual life.

Question 78

The Ise Grand Shrines in Japan are dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu.

Question 79

In Japanese tradition, the Shikoku pilgrimage spans one thousand sacred temples.

Question 80

The popular form of Japanese poetry, haiku, primarily reflects traditional Confucian values.