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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
Despite its far-reaching influence (for better and for worse), the doctrine of karmic cause-and-effect is hardly the only religious resource on which modern Japanese have drawn to grapple with suffering and evil. Reflecting on the devastating aftermath of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe in and around Fukushima, Brian Victoria describes some of the religious ideas and practices that have continued to shape Japanese responses to disaster. Buddhist temples hold a virtual monopoly on the Japanese funeral industry, but Buddhist doctrine - which affirms suffering as a feature of all experience - also offers a framework within which to make sense of pain and loss. Yet, as he notes, the Buddhist tradition is not alone in this respect. Not only do Shinto shrines join Buddhist temples in offering protective rituals and amulets designed to avert catastrophe, but Shinto religious ideas provide a framework for understanding and reacting to disaster, if not always in the most socially progressive fashion. He finds that, like the Buddhist law of karma, the Shinto notion of ritual impurity (tsumi) has led to regrettable cases of discrimination, as those exposed to the “pollution” of radiation are shunned by society. Yet these unfortunate instances are matched by inspiring stories of those, like the abbot of Joenji temple in Fukushima, whose religious commitments have led him to compassionate service.
1 Quoted in Brian Victoria, Zen at War, 2nd edition, p. 139. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006).
2 Harvey Wasserman, “Fukushima and the Radioactive Sea,” Counterpunch, May 26, 2011. link.
3 “The costly fallout of tatemae and Japan's culture of deceit,” The Japan Times, November 1, 2011. link.
4 Quoted in John Dower, Embracing Defeat, 2000, p. 496. (New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2000).
5 Found in “The Practices & Vows of Samantabadra Bodhisattva,” Avatamsaka Sutra, Chapter 40.
6 Quoted in Victoria, op cit, p. 160.
7 “‘Daishinsai wa tenbatsu’ ‘Tsunami de gayoku arai otose’ Ishihara tochiji,”Asahi Shimbun, March 14, 2011. Available here.
8 Quoted in Brian Victoria, Zen War Stories, Routledge, 2003, p. 159.
9 Justin McCurry, “Tokyo governor apologizes for calling tsunami ‘divine punishment,” The Guardian, March 15, 2011. Available here.
10 “Tokyo Governor Apologizes for Calling Disasters Divine Punishment,” Global News (@Sizly.com). Available here. (Accessed on November 11, 2011)
11 Nick Pisa, “Cleric who said Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for how homosexuality is made bishop by Vatican,” Mail Online, February 2, 2009. Available here. Due to the controversy surrounding his views, the Pope effectively revoked Wagner's appointment a month later.
12 Zvi Alush, “Rabbi: Hurricane punishment for pullout,” ynetnews.com, July 5, 2009. Available here.
13 Dower, op cit, p. 61.
14 “Unsafe at Any Dose,” New York Times, April 30, 2011. Available here.
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