Religious affiliation in Japan 2021

The majority of Japanese adhere to Shintoism, a traditional Japanese religion focusing on rituals and worship at shrines. In 2021, around 48.6 percent of the total population of Japan participated in Shinto practices. Closely behind is Buddhism, with more than 46 percent of the population adhering to its practices. Most Japanese thus practice both religions.  The original ShintoShintoism adherents worship spirits or gods at shrines, often publicly, through rituals and traditions. Shintoism is deeply ingrained in the Japanese culture and way of life, but the number of followers has been decreasing over the past years, as has the number of Japanese who are adhering to any kind of religion. Tradition seems to have to make way for modern attitudes and choices – still the number of people who call themselves Shinto adherents is quite high, even if they do not actively practice it. Everything zen in BuddhismWhile Shintoism seems to become a thing of the past, the number of Buddhists, on the other hand, has been stable over the last decade, and if anything, has only slightly decreased. Japan is, in fact, among the countries with the largest Buddhist communities, right after China, of course, and Thailand. This might be due to Buddhism being able to adapt much easier to modern times and its adherents’ everyday lives, as well as a better PR machine – Buddhism is, after all, also quite popular in the Western world.

日本大多数民众信奉神道教，这是一种以仪式和神社崇拜为核心的传统宗教。至2021年，约有48.6%的日本总人口参与了神道仪式。紧随其后的是佛教，超过46%的民众遵循其教义。因此，大多数日本人同时信奉这两种宗教。神道教信徒通常在神社中崇拜神灵或神祇，这些崇拜活动往往公开进行，通过仪式和传统来体现。神道教深深植根于日本文化与生活方式之中，然而近年来信徒数量呈下降趋势，信奉任何宗教的日本人数量亦然。传统似乎不得不为现代态度与选择让步——尽管如此，自称神道教信徒的人数仍然相当可观，即便他们并不积极践行。至于佛教中的禅意——虽然神道教似乎已成为过往，但另一方面，佛教徒的数量在过去十年中保持稳定，甚至在某种程度上略有减少。事实上，日本是拥有最大佛教信徒群体的国家之一，仅次于中国，当然还有泰国。这或许归因于佛教能够更轻易地适应现代时代及其信徒的日常生活，以及其更为出色的宣传机器——毕竟，佛教在西方世界也十分流行。