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the funny thing is that this is the way japanese people see Christianity. in most japanese literatute and anime, cristians are always persecuted and pure of hea

by gcb0 9y ago

the funny thing is that this is the way japanese people see Christianity. in most japanese literatute and anime, cristians are always persecuted and pure of hearth and whatnot. oh and also not a male dominated religion at all, they even have women leading mass in some cases.

digi_owl 9y ago
Speaking of Japanese, i ran into a claim some time back that the view of Bushido that we have now is one fabricated by a Japanese writer. That effectively transplanted European chivalry over long after the samurai had turned into career bureaucrats, and was called out on it by his contemporaries.
- kazinator 9y ago
  European chivalry is also a fabrication due to writers.
- krapp 9y ago
  You may be referring to the Tofugu article Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit[0], also discussed on HN two years ago[1]. I don't know why you've been downvoted - your comment brings up a good point, that no culture exists in a vacuum. Japan was being influenced by Western culture even during the Sakoku period when the entire country was locked down, albeit in a very controlled way. [0]https://www.tofugu.com/japan/bushido/ https://www.tofugu.com/japan/bushido/ [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11990721 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11990721
Noos 9y ago
Considering Japan persecuted Japanese Christians so ruthlessly that they went underground for hundreds of years(1), if only they would portray them as such. If anything, anime is notorious for making any Christian in it a distaff version of shinto, just glammed up; TV Tropes has the trope "All nuns are mikos" to show it. (2) Anime's treatment of Christianity and its own Christian history is insulting. Amakusa Shiro is an evil boss in a series of videogames, ffs,(3) Their treatment in real life demands massive censure; Christians never did anything to their co-religionists on the level that Japan did to their own believers. (1) The subject of Endo's "silence," also look up Kakkure Kirishtan for the sect. (2) Notice all all nuns in anime tend to be 23 years old or under? (3) Samurai Showdown to be exact. Shiro led an uprising of Roman Catholics against persecution, one that was brutally put down.
- krapp 9y ago
  > If anything, anime is notorious for making any Christian in it a distaff version of shinto, just glammed up; TV Tropes has the trope "All nuns are mikos" to show it. (2) Also see "Anime Catholicism[0]." But then again, how many accurate portrayals of Eastern religions do you find in popular Western tv and film? It's usually vague mysticism and dragon talismans and nonsense. I don't think your comment and the parent's necessarily disagree. It's entirely possible that Japan's view of Christianity in general has changed in the intervening centuries, or is more complex than one or the other. I'm reminded of the story that Hideaki Anno added the Christian symbolism to Neon Genesis Evangelion because of it's "exotic" appeal, and only recently there was a moe-blob slice of life anime about Christian archangels and demons hanging out in modern Japan (Gabriel Dropout.) And while not all anime portrays Christianity accurately, they also don't do Shinto or Buddhism correctly either, just more so because they're more familiar with those religions. There aren't a lot of actual mikos running around slaying demons and aliens, after all. And some modern writers do put in a surprising amount of research into Western religion and mythology, although it is true that, in most cases, they don't care about accuracy. [0]http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeCatholicism http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeCatholicism
robaato 9y ago
I participated in half a dozen lectures with a Shinto priest and another Japanese participant (who was like me martial arts practitioner). One interesting thing was when the priest asked the other guy (who professed to be a Shinto practitioner) to describe what Shinto was all about and then to describe Christianity - he was more clearly able to describe Christianity! The priest was not surprised. The priest was also clear about the state of religions in Japan: there are a majority of of believers in Shinto and yet may people conduct Shinto ceremonies for young children, Christian marriage ceremonies and Buddhist funerals!

by gcb0 9y ago

digi_owl 9y ago

Speaking of Japanese, i ran into a claim some time back that the view of Bushido that we have now is one fabricated by a Japanese writer. That effectively transplanted European chivalry over long after the samurai had turned into career bureaucrats, and was called out on it by his contemporaries.

kazinator 9y ago
European chivalry is also a fabrication due to writers.
krapp 9y ago
You may be referring to the Tofugu article Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit[0], also discussed on HN two years ago[1]. I don't know why you've been downvoted - your comment brings up a good point, that no culture exists in a vacuum. Japan was being influenced by Western culture even during the Sakoku period when the entire country was locked down, albeit in a very controlled way. [0]https://www.tofugu.com/japan/bushido/ https://www.tofugu.com/japan/bushido/ [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11990721 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11990721

Noos 9y ago

Considering Japan persecuted Japanese Christians so ruthlessly that they went underground for hundreds of years(1), if only they would portray them as such. If anything, anime is notorious for making any Christian in it a distaff version of shinto, just glammed up; TV Tropes has the trope "All nuns are mikos" to show it. (2) Anime's treatment of Christianity and its own Christian history is insulting. Amakusa Shiro is an evil boss in a series of videogames, ffs,(3) Their treatment in real life demands massive censure; Christians never did anything to their co-religionists on the level that Japan did to their own believers. (1) The subject of Endo's "silence," also look up Kakkure Kirishtan for the sect. (2) Notice all all nuns in anime tend to be 23 years old or under? (3) Samurai Showdown to be exact. Shiro led an uprising of Roman Catholics against persecution, one that was brutally put down.

krapp 9y ago
> If anything, anime is notorious for making any Christian in it a distaff version of shinto, just glammed up; TV Tropes has the trope "All nuns are mikos" to show it. (2) Also see "Anime Catholicism[0]." But then again, how many accurate portrayals of Eastern religions do you find in popular Western tv and film? It's usually vague mysticism and dragon talismans and nonsense. I don't think your comment and the parent's necessarily disagree. It's entirely possible that Japan's view of Christianity in general has changed in the intervening centuries, or is more complex than one or the other. I'm reminded of the story that Hideaki Anno added the Christian symbolism to Neon Genesis Evangelion because of it's "exotic" appeal, and only recently there was a moe-blob slice of life anime about Christian archangels and demons hanging out in modern Japan (Gabriel Dropout.) And while not all anime portrays Christianity accurately, they also don't do Shinto or Buddhism correctly either, just more so because they're more familiar with those religions. There aren't a lot of actual mikos running around slaying demons and aliens, after all. And some modern writers do put in a surprising amount of research into Western religion and mythology, although it is true that, in most cases, they don't care about accuracy. [0]http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeCatholicism http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeCatholicism

robaato 9y ago

I participated in half a dozen lectures with a Shinto priest and another Japanese participant (who was like me martial arts practitioner). One interesting thing was when the priest asked the other guy (who professed to be a Shinto practitioner) to describe what Shinto was all about and then to describe Christianity - he was more clearly able to describe Christianity! The priest was not surprised. The priest was also clear about the state of religions in Japan: there are a majority of of believers in Shinto and yet may people conduct Shinto ceremonies for young children, Christian marriage ceremonies and Buddhist funerals!