The Search for Peace in Times of Chaos—Volume There were disputes about who would ascend to power and support the imperial family The Soga family eventually prevailed and later helped assimilate Buddhist faith into Japan The mythological anthologies, along with other poetry anthologies, like the collection of and others, were intended to impress others with the worthiness of the imperial family and their divine mandate to rule In the latter sixth century, there was a breakdown of the alliances between Japan and Korea, but the situation led to the codification of Shintō as the native religion Up to this time, Shintō had been largely a clan-based religious practice, exclusive to each clan Confucianism reached Japan in the fifth century ad and spread among the people together with Chinese Taoism and yin-yang (harmony of two basic forces of nature) philosophy All of these stimulated the development of Shintō ethical teachings In 552 ad, a Buddha image was given to the Yamato leader, who profoundly changed the course of Japanese religious history, especially in relation to the undeveloped native religious conglomeration that was Shintō Greatly affected by the new religion, Japan’s Prince Shotoku (574–622 ad) institutionalized Buddhism as a state religion and built many great temples Buddhism started gaining in popularity among the Japanese people The introduction of Buddhism was followed by a few initial conflicts, however Buddhism and Shintōism were eventually able to coexist and even complement each other “Buddhism brought new theories on government, a means to establish strong centralized authority, a system for writing, advanced new methods for building and for casting in bronze and new techniques and materials for painting—and it allowed Japan to gain the benefits of joining the larger cultural sphere of mainland Asia.”7 The arrival of Buddhism from China marked the first use of the term ǦǦ (the way of the kami) It distinguished native religion from those brought in by Chinese/Korean missionaries Prior to this introduction, Japanese religious consciousness centered around a vast mythology of creation stories about the origin of the islands of Japan, indigenous occult forces or energies called kami, as well as a great reverence for ancestors and the well-being of their spirits ~ 28 ~