Religion and Psychotherapy in Modern Japan

Christopher Harding is Lecturer in Asian History in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, UKIwata Fumiaki is Professor in the Department of Social Science Education, Osaka Kyoiku University, JapanYoshinaga Shin’ichi is Associate Professor at the Maizuru National College of Technology, Japan

• Introduction 1. Religion and Psychotherapy in Modern Japan: A Four-Phase View 2. Psychiatry and Religion in Modern Japan: Traditional Temple and Shrine Therapies 3. The Birth of Japanese Mind Cure Methods 4. The Mind and Healing in Morita Therapy 5. The Dawning of Japanese Psychoanalysis: Kosawa Heisaku’s Therapy and Faith 6. Doi Takeo and the Development of the ‘Amae’ Theory 7. From Salvation to Healing: Yoshimoto Naikan Therapy and its Religious Origins 8. Naikan and Mourning: A Catholic Attempt at Naikan Meditation 9. Hayao Kawai’s Transnational Identity and Japanese Spirit 10. The Contemporary View of Reincarnation in Japan: Narratives of the Reincarnating Self 11. A Society Accepting of Spirit Possession: Mental Health and Shamanism in Okinawa 12. Chaplaincy Work in Disaster Areas 13. Conclusion

"This is an outstanding book…the first high-quality academic work on religion and the psy disciplines in modern Japan. It covers the topics of modern religion and psychotherapy in Japan and connects them with the recent major crises of Aum Shinrikyo and the earthquake and tsunami of 3.11."Akihito Suzuki, Professor of History at Keio University, Japan "Chris Harding and his fellow editors have brought together a significant set of essays examining the relationship between the 'psy disciplines' of psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy, and religion in Japan. Harding's overview takes us beyond the problematic definitional issues relating to religion to show how the 'psy disciplines' have helped shape the ways in which religion is manifest in modern Japan. The essays that follow introduce a wealth of Japanese scholarship in the field that will be of value to all who are interested in religion, psychotherapy and Japanese culture in general."Ian Reader, Professor of Religious Studies at Lancaster University, UK"The already weighty tilt of the literature toward textual-philosophical orientations can profit from the contextualization and new voices provided by this excellent volume."Adam Valerio, Temple University, H-Buddhism (August, 2015)"Religion and Psychotherapy in Japan is an important and welcome addition to the growing body of literature on religion and the psy disciplines outside of the Euro-American science-versus-religion cul-de-sac, and would be of interest to scholars and students working in the sociology of religion, psychological anthropology, Japanese intellectual history, modern Japanese history, and Japanese philosophy, in addition to Japanese religion and the psy disciplines."Isaac Gagné, Waseda University