3/30 - Japanese Buddhists in America

1871 Treaty of Amity and Commerce

between Japan and Hawaii — Japanese came to Hawaii to be agriculture workers

1893 US Businessmen

US businessmen in charge of pineapple plantations advised US govt to annex Hawaii — Queen Liliuokalani highly resisted — US govt ousted her

1898 US annexed Hawaii

everyone there (Japanese immigrants and native Hawaiians) became American citizens

1899 Buddhist Mission of North America was founded

some Japanese moved to the mainland, so they wanted to make sure they had all the resources to practice Buddhism

1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor

immediately began detaining Buddhist priests — Japanese Americans recognized this threat

1942 Executive Order 9066

detain all people of Japanese descent and put them in internment camps

what did the US govt ensure while in these camps?

religious freedom

how Japanese Buddhist kept their religion going while in the camps

celebrated holidays, gathered for celebration, built alters with any resources they could find, shared books, wrote poetry about their experiences

Rocks with Japanese Characters

the letters on these rocks made up the Lotus Sutra; copying it down is a meditative process and some would chant while writing it

Results of the camps/attack on Japanese Buddhists

under the pressure they faced to show their loyalty, Japanese Buddhism became more Americanized

ways Buddhism became more Americanized

Buddhist Churches of North America, began encouraging meetings on Sundays, more practice in English rather than Japanese, began called their leaders bishop or minister instead of preist