ABSTRACT
Scholars of Japanese religions used to discount early modern religion, but the period has now been recognized as tremendously important for the development of Christianity, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Shinto, as well as popular and new religious movements. The Edo period was rife with popular religious movements, many of which escape precise classification as Buddhist, Shinto, or Confucian. Several popular religious movements that arose in the Edo period were also influenced by mountain asceticism. The movement stressed the idea of world renewal millenarianism that emerged as an important component of most popular and new religious movements in the late Edo period. New religious movements were particularly accommodating of women, as their religious leaders questioned traditional notions of female impurity and inferiority, promoted fertility and healing, and allowed women to take leadership roles as shamanistic mediums. During the Edo period, shogunal religious policies were established to preserve the social order and suppress heterodox movements.
