Publication Type
Book Review
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
6-2012
Abstract
Issei Buddhism in the Americas makes a unique contribution both to Asian and Asian American studies. The authors premise Issei Buddhism in the Americas as a final stage in bukkyo tozen, the eastward-moving transmission of Buddhism from India traditionally thought to have ended in Japan. Their work is thus a contribution to Asian studies, both in terms of how Japan entered a global age and of extending the analysis of a Japanese religious form to the Americas. Following Eiichiro Azuma, the editors and their colleagues demonstrate that Issei Buddhists lived "between two empires," as their experiences of dislocation from Japan and relocation during the American internment transmitted Buddhism farther into the American interior. This volume's particular strength is in the authors' extensive usage of Japanese language sources, a method that transcends the contemporary historiography's over-dependence on Nisei Christian sources. That said, most of the essays also position first-generation Japanese forms of Buddhism in relation to versions of Christianity found in the Americas.
Discipline
Religion
Research Areas
Humanities
Publication
Journal of Asian American Studies
Volume
15
Issue
2
First Page
235
Last Page
238
ISSN
1097-2129
ISBN
9780252077197
Identifier
10.1353/jaas.2012.0013
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press
Citation
TSE, Justin Kh.(2012). Review: Issei Buddhism in the Americas. Journal of Asian American Studies, 15(2), 235-238.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3143
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1353/jaas.2012.0013