Japanese Culture Influence On American Culture

When Americans think of Japanese culture the images that first comes to mind are sushi, anime, kimonos, architecture, samurais, and cherry blossom trees. Religion is an aspect in which not many Americans considered when thinking of Japanese culture and its development. In reality religion was an important aspect when it came to developing Japan’s culture of today. It influenced the way in which the Japanese view nature, relationships, and life. It would be foolish to say that Japanese culture was not influenced by any religion during its development in the past and present. Religion could be seen in Japanese daily life throughout the whole of Japan through theater, literature, the arts, and even history. Even before Japanese was unified or even though as a nation, Japan had developed its own religion by this time. Shinto originated early Japan and has had a great influenced in the development of Japan as a whole. As stated by historian Paul Varley in his book Japanese Culture, Shinto has a rich mythology and is mostly concerned with the existence of this world with an optimistic point of view of the world. It is believed …show more content…
During the Heian period the court focused on Buddhist concepts such as rebirth in the pure land, karma, and impermanence. These notions took a huge role on the Fujiwara way of life and court distracting them from the decentralization of their power. It was after the end of the Heian period that the samurai culture emerged. They, like their Fujiwara counterparts, kept the same Buddhist establishment. However, because of their profession as warriors the samurai sponsored a new Buddhist school of Zen Buddhism. This type of Buddhism encourage discipline, but also self-reliance. Tales such as the Tale of the Heike emphasized the suffering of the samurai and became very popular among the