ABSTRACT
More concretely, although difficult to demonstrate by documents for the early periods of its history, Japanese society showed many regional differences, while also having considerable class differentiation from early times on. Japanese society, like other similar societies, shows a rather conspicuous differentiation between the political cultural elite and the common-folk strata, and at certain times, a third class formed which held the middle ground between the former two. The religion of ancient Japan can be characterized as that of the public-collective type, even though the unification of the country as a whole showed early signs of relaxation. During the Modern Period, Japanese religions passed through great moments of social change, to wit, the Meiji Restoration and the end of World War II. With some reservations, the dominant characteristic of traditional Japanese religious life derives from these religious organizations, which are fundamentally different in origin and in nature.
