Leiden University Student Repository

Rijnties, Mark Mikel (2017)

Japanese New Religious Movements and the Creation of an Identity - Anime and Manga's Influence on Souka Gakkai, Aum Shinrikyou, and Koufuku no Kagaku

Bachelor thesis | International Studies (BA)

New Religious Movements in Japan are both inspired by and inspire the contents of Japanese works of fiction. This influence is notable in the fictional works of anime and manga in particular, which have always contained varying degrees of religious themes. Three new religions are discussed in this paper: Soka Gakkai, Aum Shinrikyo, and Kofuku no Kagaku. All of these religions have used manga as a tool for self-promotion, but have also indirectly been inspired by the medium itself. Two of the larger inspirations for the religions Aum Shinrikyo and Kofuku no Kagaku were the feature animation films Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Akira. This and other examples are used to create an image of the interconnected web that links these religious movements and anime and manga together.

japan

religion

manga

aum shinrikyo

kofuku no kagaku

soka gakkai

Author

Rijnties, Mark Mikel

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

East Asia

Supervisors

Hoogerbrug, J.E.

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en