Use of the phrase "Buddhism in Japan" suggests in part that, on the one hand, the modern terminology of the nation-state of Japan can be appropriately used throughout discussions of Buddhist belief and practice in the geographic area usually referred to as the "Japanese isles." On the other hand, the use of the language of "Buddhism" might suggest that Buddhist beliefs and practices developed as a singular phenomenon bearing internal consistency. Use of either of these concepts has limitations, since the nation-state of Japan developed only in the late nineteenth century, and Buddhism does not connote a singular institution or way of life followed in the Japanese isles. In particular, while we speak of "Buddhism" in the Japanese case, Buddhistic beliefs and practices did not historically constitute a creedal faith of the kind common to monotheistic religions; neither did it historically feature universally agreed-upon...