Japanese Religion: Did you mean...?

Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604-1651) governed Japan as the third shogun of the Edo period. He implemented a number of important policies that not only consolidated his family's hold on power but also greatly impacted Japanese society for several...

The Ginkakuji Temple in Kyoto, Japan, formally referred to as Jisho-ji and otherwise known as 'The Serene Temple of the Silver Pavilion', was first built in the 15th century CE. It is a Rinzai Zen temple with the complex consisting of the...

For well over 1,000 years, sacred stories and heroic epics have made up the mythology of Hinduism. Nothing in these complex yet colourful legends is fixed and firm. Pulsing with creation, destruction, love, and war, it shifts and changes...

Statues of the Japanese Tanuki (or Japanese raccoon dog) are found all over Japan, especially around shrines and taverns. The Japanese have many legends about the tanuki, but they are generally believed to be playful and foolish creatures...

Following the conquest of North Africa by Muslim Arabs in the 7th century CE, Islam spread throughout West Africa via merchants, traders, scholars, and missionaries, that is largely through peaceful means whereby African rulers either tolerated...

In this interview, James Blake Wiener, Co-Founder and Communications Director at Ancient History Encyclopedia (AHE), speaks to Emeritus Professor James H. Grayson, Professor of Korean Studies at the University of Sheffield, about the historical...

The “Ancient Japan” initiative at Ancient History Encyclopedia arose as there is a dearth of open access and digitally curated information concerning early Japanese history available online and in English. East and Southeast Asia are arguably...

The 'horse-rider theory' is a controversial proposal that Japan was conquered around the 4th or 5th century CE by a culture from northern Asia to whom the horse was especially important. Although archaeological evidence and genetics point...

This is a portion of the "Bussetsu zoho ketsugi kyo," which was a sutra copied by hand in ink on paper in 12th-century CE Japan. (Tokyo National Museum)

Made of wood with polychrome, cut gold leaf, and crystal eyes, this is one of the most remarkable statues from ancient Japan. The ink inscription eclosed in the statue of Bishamon Ten (Vaisravana) reveals that it was dedicated on the seventh...