Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions (Nanzan Library of Asian Religion and Culture, 6)

This is quite a useful guide overall, a great introduction for the beginning student and a helpful overview for the seasoned scholar. There's something for everyone here. In my case, many of the interpretive orientations that I had gradually come to sort of intuitively recognize over the years were explicitly clarified for me along with their chief proponents, foundational texts, and history in the academy (I found myself often saying to myself "oh, so this is where that comes from!"). Any graduate student preparing for their qualifying oral exams should find this book a life saver.The book is divided into four main sections:1. Traditions, a sort of summary of Japanese Religions in general, then Shinto, Buddhism, Folk Religion, New Religions, and Christianity (with due attention paid to the permeability of these divisions).2. History, which takes up the story chronologically from Ancient Japan through the Classical Period, the Medieval Period, Early Modern Japan, the Modern Period, up to Contemporary Japanese religions.3. Themes, different approaches and areas of focus within the subject, including Ritual Culture, Literature, Politics, Geography (especially pilgrimage), History of Thought, and Gender.4. Research, an aspiring scholar's guide to reference works & libraries, using archives in Japan, and conducting fieldwork there.A handy timeline is also included.The different articles are all pretty much interesting, helpful, and reliable, but with so many different contributors some uneven spots are bound to crop up, and they do. Nothing major, but it is a bit disconcerting to have, for example, one scholar tell us that the old explanation for Emperor Kanmu's moving the capital from Nara to Kyoto (that is, that he did it to get away from the political influence of the major Nara temples) has been discredited (turns out he did it to relocate the capital next to his own family line's power base), and then have another scholar later on give us the older discredited explanation with a straight face (compare page 150 and page 278). But things such as this are minor glitches in an excellent guide put together with generous effort by experts in the field. I for one will be using this thing for years to come.