‘Seen’ as religious: social and institutional invisibility of Risshō Kōseikai’s youth

ABSTRACT

This contribution investigates how young members of the Japanese lay Buddhist group Risshō Kōseikai have constructed their identity as a minority within both a society increasingly disengaged from religion and a rapidly ageing religious organisation. I argue that younger members of Kōseikai experience a condition of double ‘invisibility’ stemming from the intersection of outward and inward marginalisation. Kōseikai youths’ social interactions are informed by a fear of ‘being seen as religious’ resulting from widespread mistrust and negative public perceptions of religion (and new religions in particular). This has translated into a reticence to disclose their religiosity outside the congregation for fear of encountering prejudice and discrimination. But they also experience marginalisation as a minority within a rapidly ageing religious institution. Kōseikai youth have struggled to reconcile the high expectations of senior members with competing commitments and a lack of influence and decision-making power, which has curtailed their capacity for action and religious agency. Members of the older generation, often oblivious to shifting social circumstances and weakening religious commitment among youth, have resisted young members’ calls for change. Invisibility, however, has not only been suffered but also consciously chosen by members, thus reinforcing their marginalisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Japanese religions
• Buddhism
• youth
• minority
• invisibility

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. All names are pseudonyms. Ethical approval for this research was obtained by the Research Ethics Committee at the University of Manchester.

2. Like many Japanese religious organisations, Risshō Kōseikai is organised into age- and gender-based divisions. The Youth Division comprises members aged under 40 and has five sub-divisions: Children (Shōnenbu), Students (Gakuseibu, from middle school to university), Young Men (Danshibu), Young Women (Joshibu, unmarried women), and Married Women (Fujinbu). Once they turn 40, members join either the Women’s Division (Joseibu) or the Men’s Division (Sōnenbu). Alongside age- and gender-based divisions, congregations are organised into sub-units on a local basis, headed by ‘missionary leaders’. When speaking of Kōseikai youth in this contribution I refer to members aged 19 to 39; I acknowledge that this definition of ‘youth’ excludes a significant age group (under-18s), but engaging minors would have raised issues of sensitivity and data protection that went beyond the limits of the present study.

3. For the purpose of this contribution, I use the term ‘minority’ to refer to a numerically small social group which represents less than half of the population. ‘Marginalisation’ instead will be used to describe the condition of social and institutional exclusion experienced by Kōseikai members.

4. While scholars have especially highlighted the role of family in shaping youth religiosity, with parental socialisation of religious beliefs emerging as a key factor and privileged area of study (Okagaki, Hammond, and Seamon 1999; Armet 2009), some have explored a wider range of factors by shifting their focus to religious agency, i.e. how individuals claim and enact a religious identity (Hopkins et al. 2011), and the crucial role played by sociocultural contexts in shaping individual religious choices (e.g. Sherkat 2003). For a recent collection of articles specifically focusing on the religious lives and experiences of Buddhist youth, see Lam, Schedneck, and Williams-Oerberg (2021).

5. On the category of new religions (shinshūkyō), see Baffelli in this collection.

6. It should be mentioned that some new religious organisations, notably Sōka Gakkai, have been more successful than others in attracting and/or retaining younger members.

7. For an overview of Risshō Kōseikai, see Di Febo (2016).

8. During my extensive stay in Tokyo, I closely engaged with several congregations, which I attended on a daily or weekly basis. This allowed me to develop deep and trustful relationships with the informants. Being a young (early 30s) Italian woman also influenced my relationship with Kōseikai youth. More than one informant felt that my upbringing within the Catholic tradition and within a social context where religion was held in higher regard than Japan enabled me to understand their experience as religiously committed youth better than their Japanese peers could.

9. It should be noted that literature on new religious organisations in the post-war period (e.g. Davis 1980) highlighted a tendency among members of new religious movements to hide their affiliation from others at school or in the workplace. Interestingly, this seems to contrast with the accounts of Kōseikai’s older generation, who claimed to have been more overt in displaying their religious affiliation and engaging in religious practice in the public space. Although I was able to gather limited testimonials of older members’ experiences as young devotee (see the case of Fubuki later in this contribution), extensive archival research on Kōseikai publications from the 1960s and 1970s corroborated these statements, providing a plethora of examples of public-facing activities promoted by the Seinenbu.

10. To guarantee the anonymity of informants, different congregations are distinguished only by letter (Church A, Church B, etc.) and their exact locations omitted.

11. With an estimated number of 1.2 million individuals and 4600 communities, Burakumin represent Japan’s largest minority group. Although the origins of this group, as well as the term used to define it, are unclear, most historians locate them in either the feudal or early modern period. What is distinctive about Burakumin is that racially and ethnically they are the same as traditional Japanese, yet they have long been burdened by social stigma and exclusion and are still discriminated against, especially in the areas of marriage and employment. See Kobayakawa (2021).

12. While the term translates as ‘Koreans resident in Japan’, at present it primarily refers to third or fourth generation immigrants who were born and raised in Japan but still experience discrimination and social exclusion. See Yamada and Yusa (2014).

13. The act of reclaiming agency by negotiating the disclosure of one’s minority status suggests an interesting parallelism with another ‘invisible minority’: the LGBTQ+ community. While the limits of this contribution do not allow for an in-depth comparison, this could represent a noteworthy avenue of investigation for future studies.

14. Hōza (Dharma sittings) are small-group discussion sessions, commonly gathering from ten to twenty people. Participants share their experiences and feelings, while the discussion leader provides spiritual guidance.

15. It is beyond the scope of this contribution to discuss the influence of gender on the ‘invisibility’ of Kōseikai youth. This would be a worthy avenue of investigation for future studies.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the generous contribution of the Arts and Humanities Research Council North-West Consortium (AHRC NWCDTP), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the University of Manchester and the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, and a postdoctoral fellowship awarded under AHRC/ESRC grant number ES/S013482/1 (‘Religion and Minority: Lived Religion, Migration and Marginality in Secular Societies’).

Notes on contributors

Aura Di Febo

Aura Di Febo completed a PhD in Japanese Studies at the University of Manchester in 2019. Her thesis focused on the social welfare and care activities promoted by the lay Buddhist group Risshō Kōseikai to investigate how new religions negotiated their social engagement and public image in contemporary Japan. She has taught at the University of Manchester and University of Leeds and is currently involved in the UKRI project ‘Religion and Minority: Lived Religion, Migration and Marginalities in Secular Societies’ led by the University of Manchester and Tōyō University (Tokyo).