Thought and religion: 1550–1700

Abstract

Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, Japanese society underwent fundamental changes that led to the dissolution of the traditional state structure and the appearance of new forms of state and social organization. This chapter focuses on the period from the middle of the sixteenth century to the end of the seventeenth century. The transformation of cultural activities into enterprises engaged in by the individual houses influenced in various ways the thought and religious outlook of this period. The most prominent evidence of the establishment of Buddhism among the populace on a national scale in this period is the fact that a majority of the Buddhist temples surviving into the modern era were founded during this time. The outlook characteristic of Tokugawa Buddhism linked the everyday life and human relations that centered on the house with the sacred. In Chinese Confucianism, the principles of Heaven regulated the entire universe, including the seasonal cycles.

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