The importance of religion in Medieval Japan
Religion was a very important aspect of life in Medieval Japan. There were two major religions in Medieval Japan. The first one was Shintoism. This religion consisted of one god called Kami (the overall god), Amaterasu (the goddess of the sun) and many other gods that were not as important as them. The followers of this religion believed that they had to regularly wash and purify to keep the gods happy. If they angered the gods in any way, they would think that the god would punish them for their sins. The other religion is Buddhism. Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, or Buddha. Buddhism is quite similar to Shintoism which is why they both appealing to the Japanese. Buddhism also consist of keeping clean and worshipping only one god, but other than that, everyone is thought to be equal no matter how wealthy someone is. Religion is important because Japan is a very ordered country and being part of a group in the society is very important.
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