Daoism in Japan

Daoist Immortality beliefs and techniques spread to Japan in the 7th century. Japanese students studied Daoist magical arts in China and took Daoist scriptures to Japan. From the Pianan era, Daoist practice of Gengshen Day of Alertness was very popular in Japan. (Daoism believes that there are three cadavers named Peng Ju, Peng Zhi and Peng Qiao in the human body. They would go the heaven to tell of peoples' demerits while people are asleep on the Day of Genshen, and in this way one's life span will be shortened.) For the Daoist followers, they will stay awake day and night on the Day of Genshen to prevent the departure of the three cadavers. This custom is called Keeping Awake on the Day of Genshen ( 守庚申 Shou Gengshen ). On Supreme Correspondence ( 太上感應篇 Taishang Ganying Pian )was disseminated among the Japanese in the 15th century. Daoist folk beliefs like the sacrifice to the Stove God, Earth God, City God, Mazu and Emperor Guan are still kept in Chongsun county.

Nowadays, besides the temples of Emperor Guan in Hakodate, Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe and Nagasaki by the Chinese, the Japanese have built Daoist temples too. Duomo Temple is located on Dayue Mountain in West Tokyo, and Muxiu is its director. Tianzhong Jiaofu founded Xian-dao-lian in Tokyo, which aims at attainment of the immortal realm of no aging and no death. Tianzhong jiaofu studied at the White Cloud Temple in Beijing. Zaodao zhengxiong founded Chiboli in the Fuxian Island. He said that he once studied Daoism in Taiwan and claimed himself the thirteenth patriarch of the Dragon Gate Tradition. In 1991, he led 124 Daoist believers to make a pilgrimage to the White Cloud Temple. The Scripture Master of the White Cloud Temple conducted the "Ritual for Blessing, elimination of Disaster and Longevity", and presented each of them Daoist a costume and a scarf. Recently, hundreds of Japanese have come for pilgrimage and obeisance. 日本的道教