Dimensions of Religiosity among Believers in Japanese Folk Religion

Many folk religions are deeply ingrained in Japanese daily life. Believers in such religions often rely on observances such as fortune-telling, prayer recitation, and incantation to protect them from accident and misfortune. The purposes of this research were: 1) to determine the dimensionality of religious beliefs in Japanese folk religion; 2) to clarify the relationship between religious beliefs and folk observances; and finally, 3) to compare religious behaviors of believers in folk religion with those of adherents of Jodo Shinshu, which is regarded as one of the most intrinsically-oriented sects of Japanese Buddhism. A questionnaire was administered to 129 worshippers at the Ishikiri Shinto Shrine in Osaka. A principal axis factor analysis of the data, with varimax rotation, identified five dimensions of religiosity: Pro-religiousness, Belief in Soul, Belief in Guardianship, Ancestor Worship, and Modern Rationalism. Partial correlational analysis revealed that two of these dimensions, Belief in Guardianship and Ancestor Worship, both essential components of Japanese folk religiosity, were closely correlated. These two beliefs were also moderately correlated with Pro-religiousness. Among these five factors, Belief in Soul had a strong relationship to folk observances. Results confirmed that the religious behaviors of these worshippers were substantially more extrinsic than were those of Jodo Shinshu members. These findings suggest that Japanese folk religious beliefs are quite multidimensional and therefore cannot be interpreted solely by the Ailportian intrinsic vs. extrinsic dichotomy.