Welcome to our blog! This is a blog focusing on vegetarians in Japan.
First of all, I would like to tell you what I had know about vegetarians. I had a vague image about vegetarians, which was "There are people who can't eat because of their religious belief." And that was all I knew.
But through this project, I was able to know that this was only a tip. I eventually knew that there are people who can't eat meat because of their kindness to animals. These types of people are so-called, "No-meat eaters." There are no religion in Japan which is deeply tied with vegetarians, so Japanese people who cannot eat meat are classified as "no-meat eaters."
I suppose you had thought what little I know about vegetarians. Although, I will try to know little by little about them and try my best to send you new information through this blog.
Thank you for reading!
Shoko,
返信削除You'll find that Buddhism (but not Shinto so much) has an important connection to vegetarianism. There are two major schools of Buddhism: Mahayana and Theravada. The former is associated with vegetarianism and it comes from the concept called "ahimsa"--doing no violence to any other creature.
You've probably heard of shōjin ryōri (精進料理). This comes from the Buddhist tradition. So, although religion isn't the biggest motivation for most people in Japan to be vegetarian (and it wasn't a factor for me), some religions do advocate vegetarian diets (Hinduism and Jainism, as well).
So, your notion that vegetarians practiced their lifestyle due to their religious beliefs wasn't too far from the truth.