Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War

Rate this book
This groundbreaking history tells the little-known story of how, in one of our country’s darkest hours, Japanese Americans fought to defend their faith and preserve religious freedom.

The mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II is not only a tale of injustice; it is a moving story of faith. In this pathbreaking account, Duncan Ryūken Williams reveals how, even as they were stripped of their homes and imprisoned in camps, Japanese American Buddhists launched one of the most inspiring defenses of religious freedom in our nation’s history, insisting that they could be both Buddhist and American.

Nearly all Americans of Japanese descent were subject to bigotry and accusations of disloyalty, but Buddhists aroused particular suspicion. Government officials, from the White House to small-town mayors, believed that Buddhism was incompatible with American values. Intelligence agencies targeted the Buddhist community for surveillance, and Buddhist priests were deemed a threat to national security. On December 7, 1941, as the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor, Attorney General Francis Biddle issued a warrant to “take into custody all Japanese” classified as potential national security threats. The first person detained was Bishop Gikyō Kuchiba, leader of the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist sect in Hawai‘i.

In the face of discrimination, dislocation, dispossession, and confinement, Japanese Americans turned to their faith to sustain them, whether they were behind barbed wire in camps or serving in one of the most decorated combat units in the European theater. Using newly translated sources and extensive interviews with survivors of the camps and veterans of the war, American Sutra reveals how the Japanese American community broadened our country’s conception of religious freedom and forged a new American Buddhism.

400 pages, Hardcover

First published February 18, 2019

Loading interface...
Loading interface...

About the author

Duncan Ryūken Williams

14 books12 followers
Duncan Ryūken Williams was born in Tokyo, Japan to a Japanese mother and British father. After growing up in Japan and England until age 17, he moved to the U.S. to attend college (Reed College) and graduate school (Harvard University, where he received a Ph.D. in Religion). Williams is currently Professor of Religion and East Asian Languages & Cultures and the Director of the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture at the University of Southern California. Previously, he held the Shinjo Ito Distinguished Chair of Japanese Buddhism at UC Berkeley and served as the Director of Berkeley's Center for Japanese Studies for four years. He has also been ordained since 1993 as a Buddhist priest in the Soto Zen tradition and served as the Buddhist chaplain at Harvard University from 1994-96.

He is the author The Other Side of Zen: A Social History of Soto Zen Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan (Princeton University Press, 2005) and American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War (Harvard University Press, 2019). He is also the editor/co-editor of seven volumes including Hapa Japan (Kaya Press, 2017), Issei Buddhism in the Americas (U-Illinois Press, 2010), American Buddhism (Routledge/Curzon Press, 1998), and Buddhism and Ecology (Harvard University Press, 1997). He has translated four books from Japanese into English including Putting Buddhism to Work: A New Theory of Economics and Business Management (Kodansha, 1997). He has previously received research grants from the American Academy of Religion, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, the Japan Foundation, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Numata Foundation/Society for the Promotion of Buddhism.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
61 (42%)
4 stars
57 (39%)
3 stars
23 (15%)
2 stars
3 (2%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
Profile Image for Penny.
35 reviews
March 1, 2019
This book was the most comprehensive and readable account of Japanese American Buddhist influence during the years of Japanese incarceration of WWII, I've yet to come across. If you read; and pause, you can envision everyone struggling to understand what it means to be American. It illustrates using the Buddhist Eight-fold path to resolve this suffering. but I think you need to be mindful about this as you read. It makes me wonder what the image of being a Japanese American is today. The yonsei, gosei, and mixed hapa citizens surely have a unique perspective and definition of "Japanese American." Will there be a time when the Japanese part of that term is dropped? Should it be? Should it be retained? Or maybe the terms should be flipped, "American Japanese?"

I've yet to come to a conclusion, especially as it relates to current immigration and citizen behaviors towards new immigrant populations. It makes me concerned and curious about what's being repeated today. The results that come from defining who's American and who's not based on where you're physically from... that's a continuously moving and evolving target. One that Duncan Williams cleverly poses without being obvious.
Profile Image for Greg Soden.
158 reviews8 followers
March 11, 2019
This book tells such an important perspective on why religion mattered in the wake of Pearl Harbor. This is a deeply insightful, important, and compassionate book that explores an egregious violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Check out my conversation with the author, Duncan Ryūken Williams, here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
Profile Image for Karis.
104 reviews5 followers
January 15, 2022
a really admirable herculean effort to frame and present a story that challenges popular considerations of religion and national identity in america, and historicizes an event of asian american history in a way that challenges our own constructions of that too. i think it's kind of on me for diving in with the anticipation of reading more of a spiritual epic rather than a political and legal history (and a very good one!). it's a long read that felt like at least three books in one, though that's also due to the nature of the complex topic. bukkyo tozen was evoked once at the beginning and once at the end--perhaps i wish that spiritual throughline was a clearer structural force in the book for me.
Profile Image for Erica.
21 reviews1 follower
October 6, 2019
Woah. My understanding of “American” Buddhism just shifted under my feet.

Grateful for the insights from this thorough, thoughtful, & readable account of American governmental policies against Japanese & Japanese American people during WWII.

Grateful for Duncan Williams’ scholarship in these times.
Profile Image for Noreen.
510 reviews35 followers
February 4, 2020
Just as the one paragraph story of Thanksgiving misses the “complicated details” of why the Pilgrims even came to North America, the economic and religious turmoil in England at the time, so the ancestral story of a Jodo Shinshu raised Sansei misses significant interdependent history. American Sutra reads a bit like “The Barbarous Years” by Bernard Bailyn for American Buddhist’s instead of Protestants. There remain significant gaps in Japanese to English cultural and language concepts. Appreciate Duncan Ryuken Williams explanation of concept “hoben” skillful adaptation, skillful means, expedient means/Chapter 6 which I learned from my mother by example.

Would like longer explanation of “Atarimae” obvious? As in “Blinding glimpse of the obvious”?

Univ of Minnesota grad students, a Japanese and a Hawaiian from Hawaii went to the South in the 1950s. At a restaurant they were asked if they were white or black to be seated in the correct section. The Hawaiian said “ I’m white, my ancestors ate Capt Cook.”

What are the differences and similarities between Bushido and Sakakida’s Hongwanji Japanese history/ethics instruction? Page 153.

Very educational read......Thank you for writing your 17 year project.

Profile Image for Kaela Lavin.
17 reviews
January 26, 2023
I had to read the first half of this for one of my classes (so I only read up to chapter 7) and, to my surprise, really enjoyed it. I learned a lot about Japanese American Buddhism and its Americanization/assimilation as a means of survival before and during camp. Really interesting to learn more about community strength through Buddhism and interfaith connections. The photos and long direct quotes helped to build the story. I'm more interested in Buddhism's role as resistance than the JA Buddhism's recovery post-war, so this is where I'll end my reading (and this review)
Profile Image for Mary Whisner.
Author 5 books9 followers
September 6, 2022
Interesting—an aspect of Japanese American internment (and US military service) I’d never known about. A very scholarly work. Given that I didn’t have much background, I might have been satisfied with less (e.g., a good magazine article or American Experience episode).

Internment was bad enough—but treatment of Buddhists was worse. For one thing, internees who belonged to Christian denominations often had support from white church groups, but Buddhists didn’t.

The chapter about Nisei in the Army was particularly interesting. Although most Japanese Americans were Buddhist, the Nisei regiment had no Buddhist chaplains.

Also very interesting: the chapter about returning after internment. Many Buddhist temples had been occupied or trashed. Very sad.

Read it for FCIL-SIS book group (via Zoom). Having an SIS book discussion is a great idea!


Profile Image for Marleen.
513 reviews4 followers
May 26, 2019
A story of faith and how Buddhism traveled east from India, Tibet, China, Japan, the west coast and Midwest. Most Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during WW II were Buddhists. Their religion immediately made them suspect as unAmerican and more likely to be disloyal. In spite of discrimination and prejudice Buddhism survived and became the new American Buddhism. Temples became churches. Priests were ministers. Sutras became hymns. This is a story that took the author 17 years to write. In helping his academic advisor’s widow clean out her husband’s office, Williams finds the 60 year old diary of his advisor’s father who wrote this during WWII when he was incarcerated in the American Concentration Camp. A compelling story of believing in America’s promise: freedom of religion in spite of daunting obstacles.
Profile Image for Martha.
336 reviews
April 8, 2019
If you're at all familiar with American history of WW2, you probably know about the mass imprisonment of Japanese-Americans. This book focuses on the religious aspect of that incarceration, namely the way in which the conflation of American with Christian meant that the majority of Japanese-Americans who were Buddhist faced another barrier in addition to their ethnicity. While there were exceptions, Williams documents throughout this book how how Buddhist priests were the first targets of imprisonment, how Christians received more support than Buddhists, how Buddhist soldiers were denied the right to self-identify on their dog tags, and so on. By the time you get to the part about how there were no Buddhist chaplains and Japanese-American soldiers were all given Christian burials, anyone believing in religious freedom is going to be angry as hell.

But this is also a book about how Japanese-Americans faced those challenges, managed to still practice their religions under very restrictive circumstances, and pushed to get better recognition of their religious rights. There is definitely an uplifting aspect to this book, and it's full of fantastic stories about individual perseverance and bravery. Especially given recent trends to consider some religions less American than others, well, this book may be vital reading as well.

While the last 80 pages or so are footnotes, the main text itself is very readable and does not feel like a stodgy scholarly work at all. I learned a lot, and I highly recommend it.
Profile Image for Mark Bourdon.
253 reviews6 followers
April 25, 2019
“America is a Christian nation and Christianity’s God given mandate was to Americanize and Christianize Asians and all foreigners who immigrated to the US; regardless of freedom of religion. Buddhism began to be seen by the government of the US as a national security threat, even before the Pearl Harbor invasion.“

Williams outlines the discrimination that existed against Buddhism before and after the Pearl Harbor invasion. The author had a significant note section. I wish he would have incorporated some of the notes in the chapters because it was challenging going back and forth between the chapters and the notes.
96 reviews3 followers
June 29, 2019
I asked the Sacramento public libraries to purchase this book because it tells an American history hitherto untold -- the suppression of the Japanese American Buddhist faith by the U.S. government as a national security threat during World War II. It also tells how the Japanese Americans struggled to maintain their faith in the face of adversity, and the re-branding of American Buddhism after the war with the resettlement of Japanese Americans from their original homes. It is also one of the few books that discusses the life of Japanese Americans in Hawaii under martial law. It will be seen that it was the Buddhist community that suffered the most, as they were denied the liberty to practice their religion in peace.

This is a meticulously researched book, using many sources that have been largely overlooked in the past, such as Japanese language diaries and other texts. It has many pages of footnotes; perhaps too many. I would in no way say that this is an easy read, or one that is "fun" to read. But, it is an important book, and for Buddhists and Asian Americans, a compelling one. It is A book that everyone that should be read to gain a deeper understanding of the Japanese American experience during World War II. -- to see, as the author says, that one can be both Buddhist and American.
Profile Image for Ray.
Author 2 books17 followers
April 21, 2019
Duncan Williams provides a thoughtful exploration of the Buddhist Japanese American experience during World War II, particularly how the religion set a group of immigrants either further apart from their fellow Americans. But it was that religion, which emphasized peace, that gave Japanese Americans the strength to endure their treatment during the war.
Profile Image for Claire Lucas.
17 reviews1 follower
June 10, 2019
It is clear the Dr. Williams clearly understands his responsibility to speak truth because of his deep relationship with his audience. An incredibly powerful and important read, especially for those who who have, do or will reside in the Pacific Northwest. This book again whiteness and Christian nationalism are not new. Additionally, the story of "American" Buddhism is one that is often ignored. This story is not told enough.
Profile Image for Ammi Bui.
155 reviews
August 28, 2019
A bit repetitive at times, but extremely informative-- I didn't know that Buddhists were discriminated against more so than Christians during WWII and, as an American Buddhist, some of these accounts were very sobering to read.

The footnotes are a must-read... which is why it would have been nice if some of those giant chunks of text could have been made part of the body of the book instead of being relegated to footnotes; I felt like they added 100 pages or something.
746 reviews7 followers
June 20, 2019
A great exploration of the stories of Buddhist incarcerees across contexts. I was interested in more context on the overall WRA position and the reformation of Buddhist community after the war. This is an often overlooked lens for this history and a books filled with deeply poignant moments (ex. Buddhist dog tags marked Protestant as a matter of expediency).
Profile Image for Jessica Zu.
1,177 reviews144 followers
March 1, 2022
The bookends, Ryogen Senzaki’s poems, are brilliant. Sūtra is truly a genre of world literature ...
Profile Image for Karen.
418 reviews
April 1, 2020
See other reviews for thoughtful comments. Two key new learnings for me:
"The arrests of the majority of Buddhist leaders in the initial roundup were not simply a panicked reaction to a sudden military emergency, but the enactment of an already considered contingency plan." "In 1936, five years prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, in a confidential memorandum to the military’s chief of operations, President Roosevelt endorsed the plan to maintain a secret list of Japanese to be detained."

I did not know that there had been 5 years of planning for the arrest and internment of Japanese Americans.

"most Japanese Buddhist traditions emphasize that for the lotus flower to exist, the nutrients from the muddy waters are essential. It is a metaphor that emphasizes how the karmic obstacles of this world are interconnected with liberation and enlightenment."




Profile Image for Paul.
742 reviews74 followers
May 29, 2022
An amazing book, so well written and chock full of important information. Williams unpacks for the first time the religious nature of the unjustified imprisonment of Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Typically, this story is told as one of race and nationality, but Williams shows that while Japanese Americans of all religions were sent to concentration camps, those who were Buddhist or Shinto were far more likely to be arrested, far more likely to be imprisoned, and far less likely to be released early than those who were Christians. In fact, in Hawaii, which was under martial law, Buddhist temples were closed and Japanese Americans were encouraged to become Christians to prove their loyalty to the United States – a fact that calls deeply into question the notion of America as a land of religious freedom.

Overall, this is a must-read book. It's so powerful.
Profile Image for Sieglinde.
279 reviews
May 1, 2020
This is a good overview of the WW II era of Japanese internment through the lens of the suspicion and bigotry towards Buddhists and Shintoists. It is part of the story of how Buddhism became an American religion.

The US government wanted the Japanese to assimilate. In this they were successful. Though many cultural and religious things have remained as part of the Japanese American and now the larger culture.

It is well written and there are copious notes.
148 reviews1 follower
April 16, 2022
Have to admit that I skipped various parts of the detail in this well written book. It documents how being both Japanese-American AND Buddhist (rather than Christian or something else) had dire consequences at the time of WW2. It's a complex story.
Profile Image for Kurtie.
135 reviews2 followers
August 19, 2022
Interesting angle on Japanese-American internment during WW2: the disparity between Christians and Buddhists. Seems internment inadvertently caused the transformation and the spread of Buddhism in America. Didn’t realize Douglas MacArthur pushed a Christian agenda during the rebuilding of Japan.
33 reviews
April 12, 2020
Well researched book that help put the experience of our family elders in context.
There are as many unique stories regarding this incarceration as there are people incarcerated.
Profile Image for Tripp.
17 reviews5 followers
June 27, 2023
I really, really wanted to like this book. However, it reads more like a trhesis paper than a standard nonfiction.
Profile Image for Rohan Katpally.
48 reviews
January 31, 2022
Very comprehensive account of the Japanese-American internment, especially looking through racial and religious lenses at the dual outsider status of Asian and Buddhist (non-Christian and non-Abrahamic). There's stories from both California and Hawaiʻi, which is nice because I didn't hear as much about Japanese internment in Hawaiʻi in my history class.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.