Oku No Hosomichi: Breaking The Barrier

Oku no hosomichi, is the story of a Buddhist man’s travels throughout Japan during the Kamakura Period. The book has many names in English, but here it will be referred to by the name contained with the reading: The Narrow Road to a Far Provence. The tale is but one example of many Buddhist themed stories during the Japan’s Kamakura period. Japan was one of the only countries to incorporate Buddhism into the already standing religion: Shintoism. This offers a unique look into Japan and the development of later and even modern Japanese culture. Buddhism originated in India 2,500 years ago amid the infancy of Hinduism. Gautama or Siddhartha (later Buddha) took issue with the teachings of Hinduism and broke away from his life of aristocracy. To be very brief, Guatama taught that the only way to enter spiritual heaven is to gain mastery over earthly desire and obtain inner peace. This was hugely popular among the poor and was largely responsible for softening more than a few authoritarian governments throughout the Asia. Hinduism spread from the Silk Road to China, from Chinese academia to Korea, from Korean trade to Japan. …show more content…
The other oddity being the fact that Japanese blended Buddhism and Shintoism into indistinguishable entities. This is really only odd juxtaposed with China and Korea. China already had Daoism and Confucianism. The addition of Buddhism was like the difference between Math, English, and Gym Class. Korea had incorporated Confucianism and Daoism, as well. However, Korea still practiced a lot of its shamanistic heritage from the ancient times. One last note on Buddhism before moving forward, like any religious/spiritual doctrine there exists several sects with Buddhism. Japan practices a style of Mahayana Buddhism, known commonly as