Instructions: For each question, click on the radio button beside your answer. When you have completed the entire quiz, click the “Submit my answers” button at the bottom of the page to receive your results.

Question 1:

What does the term matsuri mean?
a) Amulets
b) Meditation
c) Rituals
d) Grand festivals

Question 2:

The “way of the kami” is known as which tradition?
a) Shinto
b) Buddhism
c) Aum Shinrikyo
d) Soto Zen

Question 3:

Haiku is associated with which tradition?
a) Zen Buddhism
b) Shinto
c) Pure Land Buddhism
d) Confucianism

Question 4:

According to the Japanese origin myth, who gives birth to Amaterasu?
a) Es
b) Izanagi
c) Izanami
d) Kami

Question 5:

What does the Japanese term butsudan mean?
a) Amulet
b) Flower arrangement
c) Ritual drum
d) Household altar

Question 6:

The Japanese creation myth takes shape in which text?
a) The Kami
b) The Kojiki
c) The Lotus Sutra
d) The Gomadaki

Question 7:

Which monk developed Pure Land Buddhism as we know it today?
a) Genshin
b) Dogen
c) Honen
d) Shinran

Question 8:

In Tendai Buddhism, what does the term honji mean?
a) Trace
b) Original ground
c) Manifestation
d) True sign

Question 9:

Tendai was founded by which monk?
a) Saicho
b) Kukai
c) Koya
d) Dogen

Question 10:

When was the door to Christianity and Europe closed in Japan?
a) 1853
b) 1692
c) 1641
d) 1596

Question 11:

What is the Japanese name for religion?
a) Shinto
b) Shu
c) Kyo
d) Shukyo

Question 12:

Which tradition is known to promote “gradual enlightenment”?
a) Bushido
b) Shinto
c) Nichiren
d) Soto Zen

Question 13:

Which bodhisattva is known for helping the souls of dead children?
a) Guan-yin
b) Kannon
c) Ojizo-sama
d) Amitabha

Question 14:

The term mappo is associated with which of the following?
a) The dharma
b) An age of decline
c) The golden age
d) Samurai

Question 15:

In the Japanese Zen tradition, what is zazen?
a) A collection of statues
b) Veneration of ancestors
c) Seated meditation
d) Funeral rituals

Question 16:

Which clan is associated with the Kojiki?
a) Muromachi
b) Kamajura
c) Yamato
d) Meiji

Question 17:

Which cult believed that Japan needed to be cleansed through an apocalypse?
a) Shinnyo-en
b) Aum Shinrikyo
c) Rissho Koseikai
d) Honji Suijaku

Question 18:

Who reversed the honji suijaku principle?
a) The Ise priests
b) The Zen masters
c) The government
d) The kami

Question 19:

What is the name of the bodhisattva of compassion in Japan?
a) Amaterasu
b) Izanami
c) Kannon
d) Guanyin

Question 20:

Which government in Japan promoted a national cult?
a) Honen
b) Tanaka
c) Tokugawa
d) Meiji

Higher Education

A Concise Introduction to World Religions, Third Edition: Chapter 11