Mahikari

The pragmatism of Japanese religions is well known. Here, I consider the experimental tendency as evidenced in the Japanese new religion Mahikari; namely, the idea that ritual effects may be tested in experimental trials. By means of a conceptual contrast between two types of operation - representation and intervention - I argue that Mahikari experiments disclose an understanding of ritual as an empirically verifiable and efficacious practice of producing conversions.

The Japanese new religion, Mahikari, is known primarily for its practical technique of manual purification. This paper focuses, instead, on the programme of practices that is regarded as being equally important in terms of its purificatory effects: that of engaging with revelatory teachings, a form of engagement that is often articulated in terms of the expression, ‘sticking the teachings to the body’ (oshie o mi ni tsukeru). l consider this particular idiom of attachment and the ways in which it is actualized in devotional practices, and I suggest that this concept of somatic - yet also spiritual - 'sticking' acts as a conceptual corrective to overly internalising models of conversion in sociology

This article aims to explore the concept of conversion by means of the transformative practices of Mahikari, a Japanese new religion. Examining current theories in the sociology of conversion, it argues that the epistemological preoccupations of the latter are inadequate for an understanding of conversion as transformation. Instead, an ontological approach is recommended in which Mahikari conversions show up as visceral, sensuous transitions, mediated through touch. In conclusion, the article attempts an anthropological critique of the sociology of religion’s turn away from religion.

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