Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 35/1: 1–12

© 2008 Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture

Rafael Shoji and Frank Usarski

Editors’ Introduction
Japanese Religions in Brazil

T
he date of the publication of this special issue on “Japanese Religions
in Brazil” coincides with the centenary festivities of Japanese immigra-
tion to Brazil. On a number of occasions throughout the year, including
18 June—the day of the arrival of the vessel Kasato Maru in 1908 in the port of
Santos (Federal State of São Paulo) with the irst seven hundred and eight-one
immigrants on board—the Japanese-Brazilian community will be celebrating
the successful integration of its members into Brazilian society. hey have con-
tributed to virtually every aspect of life in a country that, at the beginning, was
considered only a temporary location, but ater World War II became the perma-
nent home for the majority of the immigrants and their descendents.
The centenary is a welcome opportunity for the Japanese religious estab-
lishment in Brazil to relect upon their past and present status. In many cases
the retrospective transcends the institutional existence of the groups, but also
relects the appreciation of their “pioneers” who, under precarious material and
socio-political circumstances, prepared the ground for the establishment of their
respective religious organizations in Brazil. In this sense, adequate light has been
shed on the time before World War II, a signiicance that is oten neglected in
the face of the wave of the institutionalization of Japanese religions in the 1950s.
his is true even for Shinto, although the heterogeneous composition of the
colonies did not foster rituals associated with a local shrine. Instead, collective

Rafael Shoji is currently a Japan Foundation Fellow at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and
Culture. Frank Usarski is Professor of Science of Religion at the Pontifical Catholic University, São
Paulo, Brazil.

1
2 | Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 35/ 1 (2008)

religiosity was principally expressed by the organizationally diffuse venera-

tion of the Japanese emperor. Only two shrines were constructed before World
War II, both in the Federal State of São Paulo, one in 1920 by inhabitants of
Bugre, the other in 1938 by members of the immigrant “colony” of Bastos (Mori
1992, 568–69). he situation changed slightly only in the 1950s, partly due to the
arrival of post-war immigrants who founded a number of small sanctuaries in
forested settings in the States of Pará, Amazonas, and Mato Grosso. Nonetheless,
even today Shinto activities and organizations are not very common in Brazil
(Maeyama 1983c, 185) and due to the lack of research, little data is available in
terms of the statistical relevance of Shinto in Brazil.
As far as the pre-war history of Buddhism is concerned, all activities were
directed to Japanese “colonies” located in the Federal State of São Paulo. he irst
group that comes to mind is Honmon Butsuryū-shū whose pioneer, Tomojiro
Ibaragi, was among the immigrants that arrived on the Kasato Maru. Ibaragi
also became responsible for the irst oicial institution of his order, the Taisseji
temple in the city of Lins. he temple was founded in 1936 as the outcome of a
nucleus of Honmon Butsuryū-shū practitioners initiated by the layman Yoneji
Matsubara in 1932. In the same year, the irst Shin Buddhist institution was inau-
gurated in the city of Cafelândia (Gonçalves 2004). Other activities related to
Shin Buddhism were undertaken in the Iguape colony to which Masumo Ikoma
had been sent by the Honpa Honganji headquarters in 1928. Six years later, Rev-
erend Shinba introduced Shingon to Brazil (Shoji 2006, 43).
he years following World War II witnessed an intensiied efort by virtually
all the traditional Buddhist branches. In the irst half of the 1950s, Tendai-shū and
the Ōtani branch of Jōdo Shinshū had already inaugurated their irst temples,
the Honpa branch of Jōdo Shinshū had founded its national headquarters, and
the Jōdo, Zen, Nichiren, and Shingon sects announced the oicial start of their
missions in Brazil. Stimulated by the beginning of the internationalization of its
then lay-organization Soka Gakkai and the visit of its president, Ikeda Daisaku, to
Brazil, Nichiren Shōshū began to publicly articulate itself in 1960. Ater the split
from Nichiren Shōshū, Soka Gakkai has become the only group in the Buddhist
spectrum with a considerable growth rate in terms of members. It is estimated
that there are some 120,000 Soka Gakkai adherents in the country, more than
50 percent of all Brazilian Buddhists counted in the last national census in 2000.
In a more systematic sense, the eforts of new Japanese religious movements
before World War II were undertaken by only Tenrikyō and Seichō-no-ie.
Tenrikyō began its work in 1929, either due to the arrival of the irst oicial mis-
sionary (Lone 2001, 156) or at least in an informal sense in terms of the engage-
ment of some laypersons. In any case, Tenrikyō’s national organization in Brazil
was implanted in 1941 (Mori 1992, 572). Ater some initial informal activities of
Seichō-no-ie adherents in colonies in the Federal State of São Paulo, the move-
ment began to consolidate itself institutionally in the second half of the 1930s.
 shoji and usarski: editors’ introduction | 3

However, a national association was only founded in 1951. In 1955 the World
Messianity Church initiated its activities in Brazil, followed by Perfect Liberty
two years later. Finally, Risshō Kōseikai, Sūkyō Mahikari, and Reiyūkai made
important institutional steps in Brazil in the 1970s. According to the last national
census in 2000, the most successful movement among the above-mentioned
movements is the World Messianity Church, with some 100,000 adherents. Sec-
ond is Seicho-no-ie with about 27,000 practitioners, followed by groups that can
only be counted in the low thousands such as Perfect Liberty (approx. 5500),
Tenrikyō (approx. 3800) and Mahikari (approx. 3000). he statistics provided by
the census are, however, oten misleading for Japanese religions in Brazil. Seicho-
no-ie, for example, claims to have more than 1,000,000 adherents and has its
doctrine propagated by nationwide magazines, radio, and even a TV program.
It is commonly regarded as a “life philosophy” and not as a religion by Brazil-
ians. Statistics for these groups are only estimates, being highly underestimated
in the census igures and inlated in the numbers provided by the group itself.
he historical complexity and factual diversiication of Japanese religions and
religious movements in Brazil bear no relation to the contemporary status of
academic research in the ield, and it is symptomatic that some of the few Brazil-
ian researchers engaged in relevant projects were or are associated with foreign
universities. At the same time, the contribution of non-Brazilian researchers,
although precious in terms of quality, has remained limited, especially as far as
the study of Shinto and Buddhism are concerned. Few Japanese scholars have
done extensive ieldwork in Brazil, and the perspective for the study of Japanese
religions is mostly provided by Japanese immigrants or Japanese missionaries.
he situation is more auspicious in the ield of research on new religious move-
ments, which conirms the observation of Inoue (1991), who claims a growing
interest at the international level in the overseas mission activities of new reli-
gious movements in South American countries.
The unsatisfactory status of research on Japanese religions in Brazil is a
relection of historical and epistemological peculiarities of the Brazilian aca-
demic field, that from a historical perspective gained momentum only after
the foundation of the first university in the country, the University of São
Paulo, in 1934 (Trindade 2005). Although the latter defined the Faculty of
Philosophy, Literature, and Humanities as its intellectual nucleus, a lack of a
theoretical foundation in the related areas was obvious and compensated for
by employing foreign specialists trained in countries such as France, Italy, or
Germany (Melatti 1990). Ethnologists and anthropologists from abroad
concentrated their resources on the investigation of phenomena considered
authentic for Brazil, and especially anything associated with indigenous people
(Peirano 1999). he focus on genuine Brazilian phenomenon coincided with
the simultaneous but broader debate among Brazilian intellectuals over the
cultural identity of their country, whose uniqueness was seen in the fusion of
4 | Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 35/ 1 (2008)

Lusitanian, African, and Native Indian components. his tendency of bound-

ing up in itself is also characteristic for the non-theological study of religions
in Brazil. his is understandable when one takes the richness of Brazil’s reli-
gious landscape into account (Engler 2006), but it is contentious with the
disciplines’ commitment to the historically and geographically universal study
of religion. he study of issues related to the Asian continent and more spe-
ciically to Japan is, in the great majority of cases, motivated by the solution of
contemporary problems predominantly in the areas of international relations
or economics (Oliveira and Masiero 2005). Historical, cultural and explic-
itly religious issues are systematically neglected or play only a secondary role.
All this means that, although “no other ethnic group from Asia received as
much attention in research as the Japanese” (Pereira 1999a, 4), the study of
Japanese religions in Brazil did not beneit satisfactorily from these eforts. Con-
sequently, research on relevant issues remains in many aspects incomplete and,
due to the lack of institutional support, progress in the ield will continue to
depend on the initiative of individual researchers challenged by the demands of
overcoming the fragmentation of relevant academic knowledge.
References for future studies can be summarized according to a threefold
typology. he irst type consists of relections on religious issues in the context
of more general considerations of the history and current situation of Japanese
immigrants and their descendents. Relevant articles (Baldus and Willems
1941; Willems and Saito 1947; Smith 1979) and books (Fujii and Smith 1959;
Lesser 1999; Lone 2001; Carvalho 2003) have contributed to the research in
calling attention to the interdependence of religious elements and the over-
all conditions of a formerly ethnically-defined minority and their efforts at
acculturation. he second category of relevant literature contains overviews
of the spectrum of Japanese religions at the national level (Gonçalves 1971;
Maeyama 1983a and 1997; Nakamaki 1986; Ozaki 1990; Pereira 1992; Pereira
and Matsuoka 2007) or in a geographically or demographically more speciic
sense (Maeyama 1972, 1983c, 1997).
he third rubric embraces studies on manifestations in the three sub-areas of
Shintoism, Buddhism, and Japanese Religious Movements. he most demand-
ing subject is Shinto, until now academically represented only in terms of basic
information about the history and the general character of certain local temples
and organizations (Maeyama 1983c; Mori 1992).
Japanese Buddhism has been far better investigated. he bibliography con-
tains general information on Japanese Buddhists in Brazil compared to its
parallel manifestation in the United States (Nakamaki 2003, 101–115) and
relections on Japanese branches in the context of an overall discussion of Bud-
dhism in Brazil (Gonçalves 1990; Shoji 2004; Usarski 2002a, 2004, 2006a).
Furthermore, relevant studies refer to the relation between ethnicity, Japanese
Buddhism and the dynamics of conversion (Shoji 2002a, 2002b) as well as to
 shoji and usarski: editors’ introduction | 5

speciic Japanese Buddhist currents, namely Zen (Rocha 2000; 2004a; 2004b;
2006; 2007; Usarski 2006b), Shin (Matsue 1998, Gonzaga 2006), Shingon
(Shoji 2003; 2006), Soka Gakkai (Maranhão 1999; Pereira 2001 and 2007)
and Honmon Butsuryu-shū (Nakamaki 2002 and 2003, 143–67).
Research on Japanese new religions can be classiied according to the degree
of speciication of the investigated subject. Among the more general publica-
tions, one inds analysis of the international progress of Japanese new religious
groups that have also afected Brazil (Shimazono 1991, Clarke 2000b), a sys-
tematic overview of the relevant ield in Brazil (Clarke 1994; Nakamaki 1990;
Watanabe 2001) and consideration of how the dynamics of universalization of
the movements evolved (Clarke 1999; Watanabe 2001). he next level consists
of studies dedicated to the comparison between two or three movements estab-
lished in Brazil. Relevant publications refer to Seicho-no-ie, Perfect Liberty and
Tenrikyō (Yamada 2003), Seicho-no-ie and Perfect Liberty (Paiva 2002), and
to the Church of World Messianity and Perfect Liberty (Tomita 2003, 2004).
Finally, there are articles and books that focus on only one particular Japa-
nese religious movement. For example, on Ōmoto (Fernandes 1941; Maeyama
1983b), on Seicho-no-ie (Maeyama 1967, 1983c; Marrach 1978; Carpenter
and Roof 1995; Diniz 2006; Albuquerque 2007), on the Church of World
Messianity (Oro 2000; Clarke 2000a and 2002; Matsue 2002; Gonçalves,
2003; Matsuoka 2001, 2007a, and 2007b) and on Perfect Liberty (Nakamaki
1991; 2003, 168–95; Fujikura 1992; Silva 2000).
his special issue takes up the discussion summarized above on “Japanese
Religions in Brazil.” he seven articles selected are representative of the com-
plexity of the matter, and each of them ofers an insight into a speciic facet of
the overall topic. First, Rafael Shoji deals with the former role of State Shinto
in the life of Japanese immigrants and reviews the historical process of its sub-
stitution by nominal Catholicism. Four articles are dedicated to the relection
of particular aspects of Buddhism. Frank Usarski is especially interested in the
evolution of Japanese immigrant Buddhism and the causes for its continuous
statistical decline. Eduardo Albuquerque’s essay gives an overview of the difer-
ent sources that had familiarized Brazilian intellectuals with Eastern spiritual-
ity, Buddhist philosophy and—in certain cases—with the practice of zazen. his
then leads to Cristina Rocha’s article on the Soto Zen temple Busshinji in the city
of São Paulo and the importance of this institution for the “pioneers” of conver-
sion Buddhism in Brazil. Ronan Alves Pereira calls attention to the expansion of
Soka Gakkai in Brazil, and associates its success with organizational and histori-
cal features characteristic to the Brazilian branch of the movement. Soka Gak-
kai makes another appearance in Watanabe Masako’s article, which questions
to what degree new Japanese religious movements have incorporated princi-
ples such as individualism and autonomy in order to attract a Brazilian audi-
ence beyond the ethnic milieu, and to maintain the converts within their ranks.
6 | Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 35/ 1 (2008)

Finally, the article by Nakamaki Hirochika is the result of a comparative analysis

of calendars edited by diferent Japanese religious groups and their particular
symbolic meanings. We are also pleased to present reviews of three recent books
on topics related to Japanese religions in Brazil.

references
Albuquerque, Leila M.
2007 he nationalization of foreign gods: Seichō-no-ie among Brazilians. In
Japanese Religions in and beyond the Japanese Diaspora, Ronan A. Pereira,
and Matsuoka Hideaki, eds., 170–82. Berkeley: University of California.
Baldus, Herbert, and Emílio Willems
1941 Casas e túmulos japoneses no Vale do Ribeira de Iguapé. Revista do
Arquivo Municipal 7, 77 (June–July): 121–36.
Carpenter, Robert T., and Wade Clark Roof
1995 he transplantation of Seicho-no-ie from Japan to Brazil: Moving beyond
the ethnic enclave. Journal of Contemporary Religion 10/1: 41–54.
Carvalho, Daniela de
2003 Migrants and Identity in Japan and Brazil: he Nikkeijin. London and New
York: Routledge.
Clarke, Peter B.
1994 Japanese “old,” “new,” and “new, new” religious movements in Brazil. In
Japanese New Religions in the West, ed. Peter B. Clarke and J. Somers,
150–61. Kent: Japan Library.
1999 Japanese new religious Movements in Brazil: From ethnic to “universal”
religions. In New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response, ed. Bryan
Wilson and Jamie Cresswell, 197–210. London and New York Routledge.
2000a Modern Japanese millenarian movements: heir changing perception of
Japan Global Mission with special reference to the Church of World Mes-
sianity in Brazil. In Clarke, ed., 129–81.
2000b “Success” and “failure”: Japanese new religions abroad. In Clarke, ed.,
272–311.
2002 A construção de um mundo sem doença e sem violência: o alvo de Sekai
Kyusei Kyo (Igreja Messiânica Mundial). REVER—Revista de Estudos da
Religião 2/4: 20–33.
Clarke, Peter B., ed.
2000 Japanese New Religions in Global Perspective. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon
Press.
 shoji and usarski: editors’ introduction | 7

Comissão de Elaboração da História dos 80 anos da imigração

Japonesa no Brasil
1992 Uma Epopéia Moderna. 80 Anos da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil. São
Paulo: Hucitec, Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa.
Diniz, Ediléia Mota
2006 Carisma e Poder no Discurso Religioso: Um Estudo do Legado de Masa-
haru Taniguchi—A Seicho-No-Ie no Brasil. Dissertação de Mestrado em
Ciências da Religião, São Bernardo de Campo: Universidade Metodista
de São Paulo.
Engler, Steven
2006 Religious studies in Canada and Brazil: Pro-pluralism and anti-theology
in context. Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 35/3–4: 445–71.
Federação das Seitas Budistas do Brasil
1995 Simpósio e Conferência Brasil-Japão de Budismo. A contribuição do Bud-
ismo para a Ordem e o Progresso do Brasil. São Paulo: Federação das Seitas
Budistas do Brasil.
Fernandes, Gonçalves
1941 Uma Seita Nipo-Brasileira: A Associação Universal Humanitária. In O sin-
cretismo religioso no Brasil, Gonçalves Fernandes, 77–94. Curitiba: Guairá.
Fujii, Yokio, and T. Lynn Smith
1959 he Acculturation of the Japanese Immigrants in Brazil. Gainesville: Uni-
versity of Florida Press.
Fujikura, Yumi
1992 Alguns aspectos de inculturação no trabalho missionário da PL no Brasil.
Dissertação de mestrado em Ciências da Religião, Pontifícia Universidade
Católica de São Paulo.
Gonçalves, Ricardo Mário
1971 A religião no Japão na época da emigração para o Brasil e suas reper-
cussões em nosso país. In O Japonês em São Paulo e no Brasil. Relatório do
Simpósio realizado em junho de 1968 ao ensejo do 60° Aniversário da Imi-
gração Japonesa para o Brasil, 58–73. São Paulo: Centro de Estudos Nipo-
Brasileiros.
2004 Homenagem aos Imigrantes Japoneses Pioneiros do Budismo no Brasil.
http://www.dharmanet.com.br/honganji/vesak2004.htm (accessed 23
May 2008).
2005 As lores do dharma desabrocham sob o Cruzeiro do Sul: Aspectos dos
vários “budismos” no Brasil, Revista USP, 67 (September/October): 198–
207.
8 | Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 35/ 1 (2008)

Gonçalves, Hiranclair Rosa

2003 O Fascínio do Johrei: um estudo sobre a Religião Messiânica no Brasil. Tese
de Doutorado em Ciências Sociais. São Paulo: Pontifícia Universidade
Católica.
Gonzaga, Elisabeth
2006 Buda de Casa faz Milagre? Estudo sobre o Conlito entre Tradição e Mod-
ernidade em Grupos da Escola Jôdo Shinshu em Suzano (SP). Dissertação
de Mestrado em Ciências da Religião, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de
São Paulo.
Inoue Nobutaka
1991 Recent trends in the study of Japanese New Religions. In New Religions,
ed. Inoue Nobutaka, 4–24. Tokyo: Institute for Japanese Culture and Clas-
sics, Kokugakuin University.
Lesser, Jefrey
1999 Immigrants, Minorities, and Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil. Durham &
London: Duke University Press.
Lone, Stewart
2001 he Japanese Community in Brazil, 1908–1940. Between Samurai and Car-
nival. Houndmills and New York: Palgrave.
Maeyama Takashi 前山隆
1967 O Imigrante e a religião. Estudo de uma seita religiosa japonesa em São
Paulo. Dissertação de mestrado em Ciências Sociais, São Paulo: Fundação
Escola de Sociologia e Política.
1972 Ancestor, emperor, and immigrant: Religion and group identiication of
the Japanese in rural Brazil (1908–1950). Journal of Inter-American Studies
and World Afairs 14/2: 151–82.
1983a Religion, kinship and the middle classes of the Japanese in urban Brazil.
Latin American Studies 5: 57–82.
1983b Omoto: A Japanese “New Religion” in Brazil. Latin American Studies 5:
83–102.
1983c Japanese religions in southern Brazil: Change and syncretism. Latin
American Studies 6: 181–238.
1997 Ihō ni “Nihon” o matsuru: Burajiru Nikkeijin no shūkyō to esunishitī 異邦
に「日本」 を祀る—ブラジル日系人の宗教とエスニシティ－. Tokyo: Ochanomizu
Shobō.
Maranhão, Alba
1999 Nam-myoho-renge-kyo: A lei que rege o universo: Um estudo explor-
atório do movimento budista da Soka Gakkai na cidade de Recife. Dis-
sertação de mestrado em Antropologia Cultural, Universidade Federal de
Pernambuco.
 shoji and usarski: editors’ introduction | 9

Marrach, Leila
1978 Seichô-no-ie: um estudo de sua penetração entre os brasileiros. Disserta-
ção de mestrado em Ciências Sociais. São Paulo, Pontifícia Universidade
Católica.
Matsue, Regina Yoshi
1998 O Paraíso de Amida: Três Escolas do Budismo em Brasília. Dissertação de
Mestrado em Antropologia, Universidade de Brasília.
2002 A Expansão Internacional das Novas Religiões Japonesas: Um Estudo
sobre a Igreja Messiânica Mundial no Brasil e na Austrália. REVER—
Revista de Estudos da Religião 2/4: 1–19.
Matsuoka, Hideaki
2001 “Messianity makes a person useful”: Describing diferences in a Japanese
religion in Brazil. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 28/1–2: 77–102.
2007a Japanese Prayer below the Equator. How Brazilians Believe in the Church of
World Mesianity. Lanham: Lexington Books.
2007b Elevation of the spirit: On the continuity and discontinuity between the
Church of World Messianity and Brazilian religions. In Pereira and
Matsuoka, 183–200.
Melatti, Julio Cezar
1990 A Antropologia no Brasil: Um Roteiro. In O que se Deve Ler em Ciências
Sociais no Brasil, vol. 3, 123–211. São Paulo: Cortez e ANPOCS.
Mori, Koichi
1992 Vida religiosa dos japoneses e seus descendentes residentes no Brasil e
religiões de origem japonesa. In Comissão de Elaboração da História dos
80 Anos da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil: Uma epopéia moderna. 80 anos
da imigração japonesa no Brasil, 559–601. São Paulo: Hucitec, Sociedade
Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa.
Nakamaki Hirochika 中牧弘允
1986 Religiões japonesas no Brasil: Estratégias multinacionais. Comunicações
do ISER 5/18 (março): 16–23.
1990 Shin shūkyō no kaigai fukyō: Burajiru 新宗教の海外布教･ブラジル. In
Shin shūkyō jiten 新宗教事典, ed. Inoue Nobutaka 井上順孝 et al., 626–29.
Tokyo: Kōbundō.
1991 he indigenization and multinationalization of Japanese religion: Perfect
Liberty Kyōdan in Brazil. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 18/2–3:
213–42.
2002 A Honmon Butsuryū-shū no Brasil: Através de registros do Arcebispo
Nissui Ibaragui. In Usarski 2002b, 73–105.
2003 Japanese Religions at Home and Abroad. London and New York: Rout-
ledge Curzon.
10 | Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 35/ 1 (2008)

Oliveira, Henrique Altemani de, and Gilmar Masiero

2005 Estudos Asiáticos no Brazil: contexto e desaios. Revista Brasileira de Polí-
tica Internacional, 48/1: 5–28.
Oro, Ari Pedro
2000 he new Japanese religions in Brazil: Some remarks on the Church of
World Messianity. In Clarke, ed., 113–28.
Ozaki, André MaSão
1990 As Religiões Japonesas no Brasil. São Paulo: Edições Loyola.
Paiva, Geraldo José de
2002 Imaginário e Simbólico: Aspectos psicológicos na adesão à Seicho-no-iê e
à PL-Instituição Religiosa Perfeita Liberdade. REVER—Revista de Estudos
da Religião 2/2: 74–84.
Peirano, Mariza G. S.
1999 A Alteridade em Contexto: A Antropologia como Ciência Social no Bra-
sil, Brasília: Série Antropologia.
Pereira, Ronan Alves
1992 Religião Japonesa e Diversidade Religiosa no Brasil. In Anais do III Encon-
tro Nacional de Professores Universitários de Língua, Literatura e Cultura
Japonesa, ed. Centro de Estudos Japoneses, 107–15. São Paulo: Centro de
Estudos Japoneses da Universidade de São Paulo.
1999a Japanese studies in the West: Brazil today (Part 1). Tsūshin 5/1: 3–4.
1999b Japanese studies in the West: Brazil today (Part 2). Tsūshin 5/2: 2–4.
2001 O Budismo Leigo da Sôka Gakkai no Brasil: Da Revolução Humana à
Utopia Mundial. Tese de Doutorado em Ciências Sociais, Universidade
Estadual de Campinas.
2007 “A paradise of happiness will unfold in you in Brazil”: Sōka Gakkai suc-
cess in and beyond the Japanese expatriate community. In Pereira and
Matsuoka, 201–30.
Pereira, Ronan A, and Hideaki Matsuoka
2007 Japanese religions in Brazil: heir development in and out of the diaspora
society. In Pereira and Matsuoka, ed., 123–45.
Pereira, Ronan A, and Matsuoka Hideaki, eds.
2007 Japanese Religions in and beyond the Japanese Diaspora. Berkeley: Univer-
sity of California Press.
Rocha, Cristina
2000 The appropriation of Japanese Zen Buddhism in Brazil. Japan Studies
Review iv: 33–52.
2004a Zazen or not zazen? he predicament of Sōtōshū’s kaikyōshi in Brazil.
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 31/1: 163–84.
 shoji and usarski: editors’ introduction | 11

2004b Being a Zen Buddhist Brazilian: Juggling multiple religious identities in

the land of Catholicism. In Buddhist Missionaries in the Era of Globaliza-
tion, ed. Linda Learman, 208–38. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
2006 Zen in Brazil: he Quest for Cosmopolitan Modernity. Honolulu: Univer-
sity of Hawai‘i Press.
2007 he Brazilian Imaginaire of Zen: Global inluences, rhizomatic forms. In
Pereira and Matsuoka, 146–69.
Shimazono Susumu 島薗 進
1991 he expansion of Japan’s New Religions into foreign cultures. Japanese
Journal of Religious Studies 18/2–3: 105–32.
Shoji, Rafael
2002a Uma Perspectiva Analítica para os convertidos ao Budismo Japonês no
Brasil. REVER—Revista de Estudos da Religião 2/2: 85–111
2002b O Budismo Étnico na Religiosidade Nikkey no Brasil: Aspectos Histó-
ricos e Formas de Sobrevivência Social. REVER—Revista de Estudos da
Religião 2/4: 47–80.
2003 Buddhism in syncretic shape: Lessons from Shingon in Brazil. Journal of
Global Buddhism 4: 70–107.
2004 he Nativization of East Asian Buddhism in Brazil. PhD hesis, Seminar
für Religionswissenschat, University of Hannover.
2006 Continuum Religioso Nipo-Brasileiro: O caso do Budismo Cármico da
Shingon. Debates do NER 7/9 (Jan/Jun): 35–56.
Silva, José Charles Paulino da
2000 Entre o Desejo e o Despreendimento: a noção do dinheiro na Igreja Per-
fect Liberty do Brasil. Bragança Paulista (SP): Universidade São Francisco,
Instituto Franscicano de Antropologia, Cadernos do IFAN 27.
Smith, Robert J.
1979 he ethnic Japanese in Brazil. Journal of Japanese Studies 5/1: 53–70.
Tomita, Andréa Gomes Santiago
2003 As Novas Religiões Japonesas como instrumento de transmissão de
cultura japonesa no Brasil. REVER—Revista de Estudos da Religião 2/3:
88–102.
2004 Um outro lado da moeda: Novas religiões japonesas como transmissoras
de noções culturais japonesas—Exemplos da Igreja Messiânica e Perfect
Liberty. Dissertação de Mestrado em Língua e Literatura Japonesa, Uni-
versidade de São Paulo.
Trindade, Hélgio
2005 Social sciences in Brazil in perspective: Foundation, consolidation and
diversiication. Social Science Information 44: 283–357.
12 | Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 35/ 1 (2008)

Usarski, Frank
2002a Buddhism in Brazil and its impact on the larger Brazilian society. In West-
ward Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Asia, ed. Charles Prebish and Martin
Baumann, 163–76. Berkeley: University of California Press.
2002b O Budismo no Brasil. São Paulo: Lorosae.
2004 O dharma verde-amarelo mal-sucedido: Um esboço da situação acanhada
do Budismo. Estudos Avançados 52/18: 303–20.
2006a Conlitos Religiosos no Âmbito do Budismo Internacional e Suas Reper-
cussões no Campo Budista Brasileiro. Religião e Sociedade 26/1: 11–30.
2006b Abraçando árvores no espírito zen: Relexões sobre o movimento Cami-
nhada no Parque. Religião & Cultura v/9: 125–38.
Watanabe Masako 渡辺雅子
2001 Burajiru Nikkei shinshūkyō no tenkai: Ibunka fukyō no kadai to jissen ブラ
ジル日系新宗教の展開―異文化布教の課題と実践 . Tokyo: Tōshindō.
Willems, Emilio, and Hiroshi Saito
1947 Shindo-remmei: um problema de aculturação. Sociologia 9/2: 133–52.
Yamada, Masanobu
2003 “A Concepção Vitalista da Salvação” no Brasil: As Novas Religiões Japone-
sas e o Pentecostalismo. REVER—Revista de Estudos da Religião 2/3:
29–49.