Giving in Japan: The Role of Philanthropy in Strengthening Civil Society

Abstract

Japanese philanthropy and civil society extends as back as the 7th century, in the form of public benefit corporations. Until the Edo era (around 1600), religion greatly contributed to the development of the Japanese philanthropy and civil society. In the Nara period of the 8th century, Buddhist monks carried out fund-raising activities called Kanjin — the collecting of individual donations called Houga to support the maintenance and construction of public infrastructure such as bridges, roads and irrigation and riparian works (Imada, 2006). Kanjin conducted by the expert monks with Kanjin-cho, the prospectus for collecting donation, was a popular way of fund-raising for (re-)construction of public infrastructure.