The
History
of
Islam
in
Japan
Islam's
relation
with
Japan
is
quite
recent
as
compared
to
those
with
other
countries
around
the
world.
There
are
no
clear
records
of
any
contact
between
Islam
and
Japan
nor
any
historical
traces
of
Islam's
coming
into
Japan
through
religious
propagation
of
any
sort
except
for
some
isolated
cases
of
contact
between
individual
Japanese
and
Muslims
of
other
countries
before
1868.
Islam
was
firstly
known
to
Japanese
people
in
1877
as a
part
of
Western
religious
thought.
Around
the
same
time
the
life
of
prophet
Muhammad
(PBUH)
was
translated
into
Japanese.
This
helped
Islam
to
find
a
place
in
the
intellectual
image
of
the
Japanese
people,
but
only
as a
knowledge
and
a
part
of
the
history
of
cultures.
Another
important
contact
was
made
in
1890
when
Ottoman
Turkey
dispatched
a
naval
vessel
to
Japan
for
the
purpose
of
starting
diplomatic
relations
between
the
two
countries
as
well
introducing
Muslims
and
Japanese
people
to
each
other.
This
naval
vessel
called
"Ertugrul"
was
capsized
and
sank
with
609
people
aboard
drowning
540
of
them,
on
its
way
returning
to
home.
The
first
Muslim
Japanese
ever
known
are
Mitsutaro
Takaoka
who
converted
to
Islam
in
1909
and
took
the
name
Omar
Yamaoka
after
making
the
pilgrimage
to
Makkah
and
Bumpachiro
Ariga,
who
about
the
same
time
went
to
India
for
trading
purposes
and
converted
to
Islam
under
the
influence
of
local
Muslims
there
and
subsequently
took
the
name
Ahmad
Ariga.
However,
recent
studies
have
revealed
that
another
Japanese
known
as
Torajiro
Yamada
was
probably
the
first
Japanese
Muslim
who
visited
Turkey
out
of
sympathy
for
those
who
died
in
the
aftermath
of
the
shipwreck
of
the
"Ertugrul".
He
converted
to
Islam
there
and
took
the
name
Abdul
Khalil
and
probably
made
pilgrimage
to
Makkah.
The
real
Muslim
community
life
however
did
not
start
until
the
arrival
of
several
hundred
Turkoman,
Uzbek,
Tadjik,
Kirghiz,
Kazakh
and
other
Turko-Tatar
Muslim
refugees
from
central
Asia
and
Russia
in
the
wake
of
the
Bolshevik
Revolution
during
World
War
I.
These
Muslims
who
were
given
asylum
in
Japan
settled
in
several
main
cities
around
Japan
and
formed
small
Muslim
communities.
A
number
of
Japanese
converted
to
Islam
through
the
contact
with
these
Muslims.
With
the
formation
of
these
small
Muslim
communities
several
mosques
have
been
built,
the
most
important
of
them
being
the
Kobe
Mosque
built
in
1935
(which
is
the
only
remaining
mosque
in
Japan
nowadays)
and
the
Tokyo
Mosque
built
in
1938.
One
thing
that
should
be
emphasized
is
that
very
little
weight
of
Japanese
Muslims
was
felt
in
building
these
mosques
and
there
have
been
no
Japanese
so
far
who
played
the
role
of
Imam
of
any
of
the
mosques.
During
World
War
II,
an
"Islamic
Boom"
was
set
in
Japan
by
the
military
government
through
organisations
and
research
centers
on
Islam
and
the
Muslim
World.
It
is
said
that
during
this
period
over
100
books
and
journals
on
Islam
were
published
in
Japan.
However,
these
organisations
or
research
centers
were
in
no
way
controlled
or
run
by
the
Muslims
nor
was
their
purpose
the
propagation
of
Islam
whatsoever.
The
mere
purpose
was
to
let
the
military
be
better
equipped
with
the
necessary
knowledge
about
Islam
and
Muslims
since
there
were
large
Muslim
communities
in
the
areas
occupied
in
China
and
Southeast
Asia
by
the
Japanese
army.
As a
result,
with
the
end
of
the
war
in
1945,
these
organisations
and
research
centers
disappeared
rapidly.
Another
"Islamic
Boom"
was
set
in
motion
this
time
in
the
shade
of
"Arab
Boom"
after
the
"oil
shock"
in
1973.
The
Japanese
mass
media
have
given
big
publicity
to
the
Muslim
World
in
general
and
the
Arab
World
in
particular
after
realizing
the
importance
of
these
countries
for
the
Japanese
economy.
With
this
publicity
many
Japanese
who
had
no
idea
about
Islam
got
the
chance
to
see
the
scene
of
Hajj
in
Makkah
and
hear
the
call
of
Adhan
and
Quranic
recitations.
Beside
many
sincere
conversions
to
Islam
there
were
also
mass
conversions
which
are
said
to
have
amounted
to
several
tens
of
thousands
of
conversions
which
took
placeduring
those
days.
However,
with
the
end
of
the
effect
of
oil
shock,
most
of
those
who
converted
to
Islam
disappeared
from
the
scene.
TOWARDS
A
NEW
PHASE
"In
the
coming
few
years
there
should
be
substantial
developments
for
Islam
in
Japan,"says
Nur
Ad-Din
Mori."If
not,
then
we
cannot
really
speak
of
the
future
of
Islam
in
this
country."
Mori
maintains
it
is a
turning
point
now
because
of
the
relatively
recent
return
of
five
young
Muslims
to
Japan
after
completing
their
studies
on
Islam
in
Arab
countries.
Two
graduated
from
the
Umm
al-Qura
University,
Makkah,
one
from
Islamic
University,
Madinah,
one
from
the
Dawa
College,
Tripoli,
and
the
last
from
Qatar
University.
Though
the
number
may
not
seem
very
impressive
it
is a
significant
increase
in
the
Japanese
scene
where,
before
these
five,
only
six
students
graduated
from
universities
in
Arab
countries
during
the
last
twenty
years,
with
three
of
them
majoring
in
Arabic,
not
Islamic,
studies.
Mori,
who
studied
theology
and
general
Islamic
studies
in
Makkah,
is
one
of
the
recent
five:
he
confirms
their
responsibilities."
Islam
is a
religion
of
knowledge
and
we
cannot
stand
well
without
learning.
I
think
the
efforts
and
activities
made
in
this
respect
in
Japan
remain
very
minor
up
to
this
day."
Mori's
pronouncement
also
refers
to
another
problem
in
Japan:
there
have
been
few
who
can
teach
Islam
to
the
indigenous
people
in
their
own
language.
The
history
of
Dawa
in
Japan
for
the
past
forty
years
has
basically
been
that
of
efforts
by
foreign
Muslims
who
happened
to
stay
here
in
this
mainly
Buddhist
country.
The
Turks
have
been
the
biggest
Muslim
community
in
Japan
until
recently.
Pre-war
Japan
was
well-known
for
its
sympathy
and
favour
towards
Muslims
in
central
Asia,
seeing
in
them
an
anti-Soviet
ally.
In
those
days
some
Japanese
who
worked
in
intelligence
circles
had
contact
with
these
Muslims.
A
few
opened
their
eyes
to
Islam
through
these
contacts,
and
embraced
it
after
the
war
ended.
There
were
also
those
who
went
to
Southeast
Asian
countries
such
as
Malaysia
as
soldiers
during
the
war.
The
pilots
were
instructed
to
say
"La
ilaha
illa
Allah",
when
they
were
shot
down
in
these
regions,
so
that
their
lives
would
be
spared.
Actually
one
of
them
was
shot
down
and
captured
by
the
inhabitants.
When
he
shouted
the
"magic"
words
to
them,
to
his
astonishment
they
changed
their
attitudes
and
treated
him
rather
kindly.
He
has
been
keeping
his
words
until
this
day.
These
are
the
Muslims
of
"the
old
generation".
They
found
themselves
as a
minority
group
of
Japanese
Muslims
after
the
war,
and
lived
with
already
established
foreign
Muslim
communities.
Generally,
the
Japanese
in
those
days
had
quite
strong
prejudices
against
Islam
and
their
knowledge
of
international
society
was
very
limited.
For
example,
in
an
article
published
in a
magazine
in
1958,
the
five
pillars
of
Islam
were
described
under
the
title
"The
strange
customs
of
Mohammedans".
The
Japanese
had
a
stereotyped
image
of
Islam
that
it
was
"a
strange
religion
of
underdeveloped
countries".
Even
these
days,
though
modified
and
corrected
in
many
respects,
such
an
image
has
not
died
out.
Just
a
few
years
ago,
a
famous
writer
in
social
affairs
could
say
in a
TV
program
that
Islam
is a
religion
whose
followers
worship
the
sun.
A
comparison
of
Japanese
attitudes
towards
Christianity
is
interesting.
Christianity
has
spread
in
Japan
over
the
last
hundred
and
twenty
years
as
part
of
its
Westernisation
and
is
greatly
respected
even
by
those
who
do
not
adhere
to
its
creeds.
The
population
of
Japanese
Christians
is
one
million,
which
constitutes
less
than
one
percent
of
the
total
population.
Many
of
them,
however,
belong
to
be
middle
class
and
to
intellectual
circles,
as
demonstrated
by
the
fact
that
the
present
Minister
of
Culture
is a
Christian
writer,
so
their
influence
is
much
greater
than
their
numerical
strength
may
suggest.
The
spread
of
Christianity
can
be
ascribed,
not
only
to
western
influence
but
also
to
the
long
history
of
its
presence
in
Japan,
having
arrived
more
than
five
hundred
years
ago.The
spread
of
Islam
went
eastwards,
from
India
to
Malaysia
and
Indonesia,
and
was
blocked
after
reaching
the
southern
Philippines
by
the
Spanish
colonization
of
the
North.
From
there,
Spanish
missionaries
were
able
to
carry
their
message
to
Japan.
The
Japanese
invasion
of
China
and
South
East
Asian
countries
during
the
second
world
war
brought
the
Japanese
in
contact
with
Muslims.
Those
who
embraced
Islam
through
them
established
in
1953,
the
first
Japanese
Muslim
organisation,
the
Japan
Muslim
Association
under
the
leadership
of
the
late
Sadiq
Imaizumi.
Its
members,
numbering
sixty
five
at
the
time
of
inauguration,
increased
two-fold
before
this
devoted
man
passed
away
six
years
later.
The
second
president
of
the
association
was
the
late
Umar
Mita,
a
very
dedicated
man.
Mita
was
typical
of
the
old
generation,
who
learned
Islam
in
the
territories
occupied
by
the
Japanese
Empire.
He
was
working
for
the
Manshu
Railway
Company,
which
virtually
controlled
the
Japanese
territory
in
the
north
eastern
province
of
China
at
that
time.
Through
his
contacts
with
Chinese
Muslims,
he
was
convinced
of
its
truth,
and
became
a
Muslim
in
Peking.
When
he
returned
to
Japan,
after
the
war,
he
made
the
Hajj,
the
first
Japanese
in
the
post-war
period
to
do
so.
He
also
made
a
Japanese
translation
of
the
meaning
of
the
Quran
from
a
Muslim
perspective
for
the
first
time.
Thus,
it
was
only
after
the
second
world
war,
that
what
can
properly
be
called
"a
Japanese
Muslim
community"
came
into
existence.
In
spite
of
the
initial
success,
however,
later
developments
were
quite
slow
in
terms
of
membership.
Though
many
Islamic
organisations
were
established
since
the
1900s,
each
of
them
has
only
a
few
active
members.
There
is
no
reliable
estimate
on
the
Japanese
Muslim
population.
Claims
of
thirty
thousand
are
without
doubt
an
exaggeration.
Some
claim
that
there
are
only
a
few
hundred.
This
probably
amounts
to
the
number
of
Muslims
openly
practicing
Islam.
Asked
to
give
an
estimate
on
the
actual
number
of
Muslims
in
Japan,
Abu
Bakr
Morimoto
replied,
"To
say
frankly,
only
one
thousand.
In
the
broadest
sense,
I
mean,
if
we
do
not
exclude
those
who
became
Muslims
for
the
sake
of,
say
marriage,
and
do
not
practice
then
the
number
would
be a
few
thousands."
Apparently
such
a
slow
development
is
due
partly
to
external
circumstances.
Japanese
traditional
religious
atmosphere
and
highly
developed
materialistic
tendencies
must
both
be
taken
into
consideration.
But
there
are
also
shortcomings
on
the
part
of
the
Muslims.
There
exists
a
difference
in
orientation
between
the
old
and
new
generations.
For
the
old
generation.
Islam
is
equated
with
a
religion
of
Malaysia,
Indonesia,
or
China
etc.
But
for
the
new
generation,
these
East
Asian
countries
are
not
very
appealing,
because
of
their
western
orientation,
and
so
they
are
more
influenced
by
Islam
in
the
Arab
countries.
"The
old
generation
have
lived
closely
connected
with
non-Japanese
Muslims,"
points
out
Nur
Ad-Din
.
"It
is
an
excellent
act
in
the
spirit
of
brotherhood.
But
on
the
other
hand,
we
cannot
deny
its
side
effect,
that
is,
this
way
of
life
could
not
prevent
other
Japanese
from
thinking
of
Islam
as
something
foreign.
How
to
overcome
this
barrier
is a
problem
to
be
solved.
It
is a
task
for
us,
the
younger
generation
."
When
visiting
Muslim
countries,
the
remark
that
Japanese
Muslims
are
the
minority
religious
group
always
brings
a
question
from
the
audience,
"What
percentage
of
Japan's
total
population
are
Muslims?"
The
answer
at
the
moment
is:
One
out
of a
hundred
thousand.
Nevertheless,
the
younger
generation
has
aspirations.
Perhaps
some
day
it
will
be
said
that
Islam
is a
popular
religion
in
Japan.
DA'WA
IN
JAPAN
The
history
of
Islam
in
Japan
reveals
therefore
some
random
waves
of
conversions.
In
fact,
religious
campaigns
are
no
more
successful
for
other
divine
revelations
or
"new
religions".
The
statistics
indicate
that
some
80%
of
the
total
population
believe
in
either
Buddhism
or
Shintoism
while
as
few
as
0.7%
are
Christians.
The
latest
results
of a
poll
conducted
by a
Japanese
monthly
opinion
magazine
imply
however
an
important
caveat.
Only
one
out
of
four
Japanese
effectively
believes
in
any
particular
religion.
The
lack
of
faith
is
even
more
pronounced
for
Japanese
youth
in
their
20s
with
an
alarming
rate
of
atheism
as
high
as
85%.
The
potential
direct
agents
of
da'wah
represented
by
the
Muslim
community
in
Japan
with
its
estimated
one
hundred
thousand
believers
is
itself
extremely
small
compared
with
the
total
population
of
more
than
one
hundred
and
twenty
million
citizens.
Students
together
with
various
kinds
of
workers
in
precarious
conditions
constitute
a
large
segment
of
the
community.
They
are
concentrated
in
big
urban
cities
such
as
Hiroshima,
Kyoto,
Nagoya,
Osaka
and
Tokyo
but
are
seldom
organised
into
established
units
in
order
to
conduct
effective
programs
of
da'wah.
In
fact,
the
Muslim
students
association
as
well
as
some
local
societies
organise
periodical
camps
and
gatherings
in
an
effort
to
improve
the
understanding
of
Islamic
teachings
and
for
the
sake
of
strengthening
brotherhood
relations
among
Muslims.
There
is a
continuous
need
for
Muslims
to
withstand
pressures
to
conform
to
the
prevailing
modern
lifestyle
which
appeals
to
the
passionate
element
of
the
soul.
Further
difficulties
are
faced
by
Muslims
with
respect
to
communication,
housing,
child
education
or
the
availability
of
halal
food
and
Islamic
literature,
and
these
constitute
additional
factors
hindering
the
course
of
da'wah
in
this
country.
The
duty
of
da'wah
is
frequently
perceived
as
the
single
obligation
on
Muslims
to
preach
Islam
to
non-Muslims.
However,
important
calls
for
reform
(islaah)
and
renewal
(tajdeed)
constitute
also
distinct
forms
of
da'wah
to
Muslims.
A
betterment
of
the
level
of
Islamic
knowledge
and
living
conditions
of
the
Muslim
community
is
therefore
by
itself
the
very
da'wah
needed
in
Japan.
One
should
bear
in
mind
however,
that
unless
the
attitudes
of
indifference
and
passivity
of
Muslim
residents
in
Japan
with
respect
to
Islamic
issues
of
congregational
aspect
are
changed,
the
risk
of
the
community
being
uprooted
and
diluted
through
severe
distorsions
of
the
Islamic
belief
will
indeed
grow
higher.
This
likelihood
is
in
fact
pertaining
to
the
permanent
exposure
of
Muslims
to
the
influence
of
many
Japanese
customs
and
traditional
practices
such
as
deep
bowing
as a
form
of
greeting
and
collective
participation
in
religious
festivities
and
temple
visits.
The
problem
is
perhaps
being
felt
in
more
acute
terms
for
Muslim
children
who,
in
the
absence
of
any
Muslim
kindergartens
or
schools
constitute
indeed
easy
targets
for
the
transmission
and
cultivation
of
unIslamic
cultural
and
social
habits.
The
remarkable
lack
of
educational
institutions
of
Islamic
character
is
also
reflected
by
the
existence
in
all
over
Japan
of a
single
mosque
which
resisted
with
fadhl
from
Allah
s.w.t
to
the
great
Hanshin
earthquake
that
nearly
destroyed
the
city
of
Kobe
on
the
wake
of
January
17
of
this
year.
There
are
permanent
efforts
to
build
or
transform
housing
units
into
masajids
in
many
other
cities
and
with
the
help
of
the
Almighty,
such
good
enterprises
are
expected
to
bear
fruits
in
the
very
near
future
insha'Allah.
The
misconception
of
Islamic
teachings
introduced
by
the
western
media
stands
to
be
corrected
in a
more
efficient
approach
that
takes
into
consideration
the
significant
feature
of
the
Japanese
society
of
being
one
of
the
world's
most
literate
countries.
Yet,
because
of
poor
distribution,
even
translations
of
the
meanings
of
Quran
into
Japanese
language
are
not
publicly
available.
Islamic
literature
is
virtually
absent
from
bookstores
or
public
libraries
to
the
exception
of
few
english-written
essays
and
books
that
are
sold
at
relatively
high
prices.
As a
result,
it
should
not
be
surprising
to
find
out
that
the
knowledge
of
ordinary
Japanese
about
Islam
is
modestly
confined
to
few
terms
related
to
polygamy,
Sunnah
and
Shia,
Ramadhan,
Makkah,
Allah
the
God
of
Muslims
and
Islam
the
religion
of
Muhammad
!
Will
Islam
echo
louder
in
Japan
?
With
increasingly
significant
evidence
of a
responsible
recognition
of
its
duties
and
rational
assessment
of
its
limits
and
capabilities,
the
Muslim
community
is
showing
stronger
commitment
to
accomplish
its
task
of
da'wah
in a
better
organised
fashion.
There
are
indeed
strong
hopes
that
the
future
of
Islam
and
Muslims
will
be
better
than
their
past
inshaAllah
as
we
believe
that
if
Allah
(s.w.t.)
helps
us,
none
can
overcome
us.