Tenrikyo in Brazil from the Perspective of Globalization.

This article analyzes from the perspective of "globalization" how the Japan-born Tenrikyo religion has contributed to the enrichment of Brazilian religious pluralism by becoming an option of religious markets there. Tenrikyo, emerged in 1838 and spread throughout Japan and abroad. It reached Brazil in 1929, but was primarily the religion of Japanese immigrants for a long time. Only from around 1990, when Brazil adopted liberal economic policy, did the number of non-Japanese followers begin to increase, many of whom interpreted Tenrikyo within the more familiar context of Christianity and Spiritualism. Accordingly, it may be supposed that globalization, as a result of the emergence and growth of a foreign religion, may help relativise and revitalize the context of local Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]