Buddhist, Confucian, Shinto and Tao

On the World War II home front, Americans turned to their diverse religious beliefs to make sense of the world. Explore this page to learn more about Japanese American religion, Christian conscientious objectors, the Jewish experience in wartime America, and more stories of religion and World War II.

This lesson was adapted from the article "Buddhism Under Japanese Incarceration During WWII." It can be taught as part of a unit on Japanese Incarceration and World War II or when teaching World Religions. The lesson allow students to identify the role Buddhism played in the lives of Japanese Americans during and after incarceration in World War II as well ad how religion shows continuity and change in communities under pressure.

Religion is crucial to the history of Japanese American incarceration during World War II. Many Japanese Americans turned to their beliefs for comfort in a time of upheaval. Buddhists faced particular challenges. Many American authorities considered Buddhism to be alien, suspicious, and potentially disloyal. Nevertheless, Buddhists held on to their traditions. Their beliefs helped support them through the hardship and injustice of their wartime experience.

Kiyome Hirai Tsuda was a kibei, a US citizen educated in Japan, who exemplified the deep connections between Hawai‘i and Japan before World War II.

Once an actress with abandoned dreams of joining a convent, Carlotta Monterey O’Neill collaborated with her playwright husband Eugene O’Neill on some of his most famous work during their five years in “Tao House” in Danville, California.

Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site consists of 13.19-acres of land and is situated within Las Trampas Hills at 700 feet above sea level on the western edge of the city of Danville, California. Within the historic site, buildings, roads, several small orchards, and ornamental vegetation were developed between the years 1880 and 1944, and characterize the property as a small working ranch.