Transnational Exorcism?: The Spiritual World of Brazilian-Japanese Neo-Pentecostalism
Transnational Exorcism?: The Spiritual World of Brazilian-Japanese Neo-Pentecostalism
Transnational Exorcism?: The Spiritual World of Brazilian-Japanese Neo-Pentecostalism
Rafael Shoji
*
Rafael Shoji holds a PhD from Leibniz University of Hannover (Germany) and is a
co-founder and researcher at the Center for the Study of Oriental Religions (ceral) at
the Pontifical University of Sao Paulo. He has published on Japanese religions in Brazil,
Japanese-Brazilian culture, and comparative studies on Buddhism and Christianity. This
research was supported by the Japan Foundation and Nanzan University.
1. Macumba is a generic term for “black” witchcraft in Brazil. Initially the term was not
used in a negative sense. The word is derived from the name of an old African instrument,
but in Brazil the term gradually came to be used for magical practices, usually for reasons
of love or the attempt to harm someone, especially in offerings to African-Brazilian deities
(especially Exus), and sometimes involving animal sacrifice.
30
rafael Shoji | 31
5. For a summary of the variations and the evolution of the concept of karma inherited
from the ancestors, see Hardacre 1984. For a general discussion on karma see Obeye-
sekere 2002.
6. See Yanagita 1970 for the relation of the ancestor cult with Japanese folklore, Smith
1974 for a more contemporary view and Mullins 1998 for its impact on Christianity in
Japan. Although Yanagita is considered by many scholars as somewhat dated, he is insight-
ful in the context of this article because he lived and described the worldview in the decades
rafael Shoji | 33
of increased immigration to Brazil. Yanagita describes many practices among rural areas
that disappeared in the process of modernization, but some of these practices survived in
Brazil among the Japanese immigrants until recent times.
7. In comparison with the role that ancestors have among Japanese Christians as
described by Mullins (1998), the world of the dead has little impact on Japanese-Brazilian
Christianity, but it an important influence on the Nikkei that attend to Japanese New Reli-
gions, Spiritism and Umbanda.
34 | “Brazilian-Japanese” Neo-Pentecostalism
performed this role in the “white” incorporation of the worship of the spir-
its and ancestors by the Bantu African ethnic group, resulting in Umbanda.
Given the existence of a concept of karmic evolution in Brazilian religions
and the possible influence of the spirits, the influence of the ancestors shows
plausibility and coherence. The influence of hereditary factors that cause
physical and emotional illnesses also becomes a spiritual inheritance.
This blending of Japanese religiousness with the Brazilian religious uni-
verse enabled the incorporation and development of a hybrid spiritual
world, adding Brazilian and Japanese meanings to a world of deities and
practices that frequently get mixed up.8 With the increasing migration to
urban areas in the twentieth century, which uprooted many Brazilian rural
immigrants, the Brazilian religious field entered a phase of rapid transforma-
tion. This enabled the transplantation of several Japanese religions, who had
their roots in the Nikkei community, some of them attracting many sym-
pathizers and converts among Brazilians. In this context, a basic factor in
the development of several Japanese religious movements in Brazil was this
Japanese-Brazilians religiousness through the search for worldly benefits.9
In the context of this article this blending in the search for results in this
world will be described by analyzing their impact on the emergence of a
Brazilian-Japanese Pentecostalism. The immigration of many Brazilians
(mostly Japanese-Brazilians) to Japan as temporary workers has introduced
neo-Pentecostalism (the Brazilian new religions) in a transnational fashion.
8. See for example Shoji 2003 for the case of Shingon in Brazil and Mori 1998 for the
case of Okinawan Shamanism combined with Umbanda in Brazil.
9. The search for benefits in this world is indeed one important shared characteristic of
Japanese and Brazilian religions. The possibility of actual proof of a religion means that it
is possible to attain benefits by religious practices and intervention of the spiritual world.
Protection, health, financial, or family problem-solving are understood as being possible
to achieve through a transaction with the spiritual world. This does not necessarily mean
a view primarily materialist or magical; it frequently includes a religious practice that
searches for the creation of conditions to achieve what is needed by means of ethics and the
belief in the possibility of attaining these objectives. Japanese popular religiosity is in this
sense not distant, in its main characteristics, from what Brazilians also understand as an
important function of the religion. Most Brazilians search and hope for solutions of exist-
ing problems when practicing a religion. An actual verification of the attainment of benefits
in this world and the union of different creeds, frequently analyzed in a disdainful way
as magic and syncretism in many countries, are also present and generally understood as
something positive or neutral both in Japan and in Brazil.
rafael Shoji | 35
10. The peak occurred in the late 1990s, with demand for temporary workers in Japan
and the era of high inflation and economic crisis in Brazil.
36 | “Brazilian-Japanese” Neo-Pentecostalism
11. As reported by Higuchi (2006), Brazilians who migrated more recently have tempo-
rary employment contracts with contractors, which often means ever-changing workplaces
and shift work. In keeping with a system of offering “just-in-time,” to provide manpower
in times of fluctuating demand and a shortage of workers, this system puts the dekasegi
in a very fragile situation with the economic crisis. Still, legal immigration offers formal
employment, the possibility of funding for qualifications, social assistance, language profi-
ciency, and study in Japanese schools for children.
rafael Shoji | 37
Spiritism and
Umbanda
2.6%
Catholic Church
New Japanese 20.8%
Religions
25.6%
Evangelical
Traditional
Churches
Buddhism
47.0%
4.2%
Japan by the dekasegi, there are also many connected with the different
Assemblies of God in Brazil. Since Catholicism has difficulties identifying
itself as a “Brazilian religion,” and has limited services in Portuguese, Pente-
costal groups spread efficiently through the ethnic social networks, with the
churches optimized for the existing demand and with dekasegi themselves
as pastors. Pentecostalism has played a social role that has not been offered
by other institutions in Japan, using networks of assistance and proposing
evangelical conversion as a way of dealing with the situations of crisis that
the Brazilian immigrants suffer in Japan. These churches that originated
among the dekasegi are now expanding back in Brazil through missions and
former dekasegi (Shoji 2008).
The second stream is represented by Brazilian neo-Pentecostal move-
ments such as the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (Universal Church of
38 | “Brazilian-Japanese” Neo-Pentecostalism
the Kingdom of God, uckg) and the Igreja Internacional da Graça (Interna-
tional Church of Grace). In Brazil, the theology of prosperity and exorcism
are the main characteristics that distinguish the activity of neo-Pentecostal
churches from other groups (Oro 2003, 2006; Chesnut 2003).
The concept of neo-Pentecostalism in Brazil is related with the new expan-
sion of native Pentecostal movements. In Brazil, the strong trend of urban-
ization and modernization that has occurred since the 1960s has produced
changes that resulted in a reorganization of the religious market in Brazil.
Several new religious groups have established themselves in the process
of migration and rapid social change, often occupying a place of worship
that was typical of rural Catholicism. After the end of a period of persecu-
tion, Umbanda and Candomblé became present and visible in this growing
diversification of the Brazilian religious field. Emigration was a driving force
towards the establishment of new Pentecostal networks and the emergence
of neo-Pentecostalism in the 1980s. According to the World Christian Data-
base, Brazil today has the largest Pentecostal population, with 24 million
people, compared with around 6 million Pentecostals in the United States.
The neo-Pentecostal churches (among the best known are the Universal
Church of the Kingdom of God,12 God is Love, and International Church
of God’s Grace) were other religious suppliers that benefited from this pro-
cess, with an intense and systematic use of the media, often actively pros-
elytizing this-worldly benefits or cures, and in some cases spreading the
demonization of African-Brazilian religions (especially the uckg). Offering
a space for “religious services” and clearly targeting a market of those seek-
ing mundane benefits, these neo-Pentecostal movements seem to fill a need
for individual expression for the poorest sectors of Brazilian society, even
with the repression of the public sphere and political interests outside the
group (Pierucci and Prandi 1996). As an important difference from other
Pentecostal groups, neo-Pentecostal groups such as the uckg represent a
12. The uckg was founded in 1977 by Pastor Edir Macedo in the north of Rio de Janeiro.
Edir Macedo practiced Catholicism and African-Brazilian religions before converting
to Pentecostalism. He founded the uckg with the pastor Romildo Ribeiro Soares (R. R.
Soares), who later left the Universal Church and founded the International Church of God’s
Grace. According to its website, the Universal Church is today present in around 180 coun-
tries. Today uckg has around 13,000 temples in Brazil and their own political party (Par-
tido Republicano Brasileiro, the Brazilian Republican Party). It also owns Rede Record, the
second largest television network, that includes a 24-hour news channel.
rafael Shoji | 39
13. If the uckg shows global aspirations in its name and in the title of its newsletter
in Brazil (the title of the journal, Folha Universal, can be roughly translated as “Universal
News”), in Japan the Brazil Times tries to be the main channel of information for the eth-
nic community. Besides its religious propaganda, Brazilian news and cultural themes are
emphasized for the dekasegi. The Brazil Times is distributed free in almost all stores with
a circulation of 45,000 copies in 2008. As of 2012, perhaps because of the return of many
dekasegi, distribution was down to 30,000.
rafael Shoji | 41
verts and around May 2011, and Hideaki Terauchi was consecrated as the
first Japanese pastor of the uckg.
stands out in its magazines and publications in Japan is “No success justifies
failure with the family.” The advantage of having a group practice and dis-
semination based on several reports of their own converts is that the groups
naturally finda way that allows for expansion, since the groups develop not
only in the sense of existing social networks, but also in the contextualiza-
tion of their theology because of the continuous and public dissemination of
the new converts and miracles. The public testimonies themselves influence
the pastors’ messages, and the theology grows from the grassroots. Even if
a more general orientation exists, the most common cases and motivations
are exactly those most publicized, and they attract more people. The group
therefore grows toward the most numerically relevant audience, finding
optimization within the religious market on offer, preferring to give more
emphasis to what has market appeal.
Family therapy days are centered on prayers and blessing by the pastor for
the members of the family, including those in Brazil. One of these practices
involves the Pentecostal blessing of a panel containing family photos. The
uckg in Japan has been based more on healing and dissemination of Bra-
zilian family values, seeking to emphasize themes such as marriage, curing
mental illness, and happiness in love, while through the media seeking to be
the channel for Brazilian news.
14. Literal translation: “unload.” It means to “unload” evil spirits that have a bad influ-
ence in the life of the faithful.
15. See Almeida (2009) for ethnographic descriptions of these exorcism sessions in Brazil.
rafael Shoji | 45
Devil and its evil African-Brazilian spirits in the uckg are very important in
the Brazilian neo-Pentecostal worldview and for the practice of exorcism. In
this sense it seems to me (strangely enough) that the neo-Pentecostal reli-
gions are doing more than the African-Brazilian religions to preserve these
deities in the collective memory among Brazilians in Japan.
This even includes the purification and exorcism of Japanese places that
could be used by African-Brazilian deities. The exorcism ritualsof the pos-
sessed in the temple are made concurrently with the purification of Japa-
nese places. On the thirteenth Friday of 2012 a special series of descarrego
sessions began in all uckg temples in Japan because on this day the “the
channel of evil is open and many perform evil witchcraft and macumba,
as one pastor explained to me. In Hamamatsu these sessions were held for
seven weeks. Three sessions were performed on the Friday the thirteenth,
the main one beginning at eight pm. Upon arriving, I realized that many
assistant pastors had already left the church, each with several pieces of
rope. They went to seven places, in seven groups of two persons each. The
places to be exorcized from evil spirits were: 1. a beach (the sea), 2. a river,
3. a waterfall, 4. a crossroads, 5. a train line, 6. a street without an exit (dead
end); and 7. cemeteries. While the exorcism session happened in the temple,
the assistant pastors would make a “strong prayer” in these places, beating
the ropes on the floor in order to prevent the actions of spirits and calling
them to be exorcised, so they would have no more influence on the life of
the church converts.
Indeed, in this special session all participants received a paper upon
which they would write their names eight times, one to be left at the altar,
and the other seven to be given to the assistant pastors to go to the places
listed above, since there the evil forces would be called to be exorcized.
The desmanche16 ritual was unlike others that I participated in (especially
in Nagoya), since this time the number of possessed was high and many
were in a highly emotional state with signs of possession such as alteration
of voice and uncontrolled body. I also noticed many more references to
Afro-Brazilian deities. One entity that proved especially present in posses-
sion (five times) was the Tranca-ruas.17 I think the Tranca-ruas was mani-
16. Approximate translation: “erase,” “undo.” This ritual is another name given to the
ritual of descarrego. The general meaning of the ritual is to undo witchcraft or a curse.
17. Tranca-ruas (a word composed in literal translation from “lock” and “street”), is an
46 | “Brazilian-Japanese” Neo-Pentecostalism
fested because the pastor quoted his activity more often at the beginning
of the session, emphasizing that he is an entity that closes the way to hap-
piness, prosperity, and health. When the assistant pastors came back from
the places listed above they claimed to have felt the evil spirits being burned
through their strong prayers and the use of the ropes. Some of them were
afraid because of the noise produced, but they claimed to continue on with
this spiritual combat in any case, even if the police are called.
The association with the exorcism of places in Japan is direcrly related to
the role that these places have for African-Brazilian religions, and where they
realize their rituals. The neo-Pentecostals are trying to symbolically conquer
the Japanese places that would be used by Umbanda practitioners in Bra-
zil. Moreover, prayer sessions were also held at a mountain near Hamamatsu
before a pilgrimage of the pastor to Mount Sinai. In the case of mountains,
the role of these places are still not clear, but I would not exclude the possibil-
ity of confrontation with Japanese religions in the future.
African-Brazilian entity that belongs to the Exu class, long since long considered a demo-
niac entity. This entity is especially understood as having the power to “open” or “close” the
direction of people’s lives.
rafael Shoji | 47
18. Encostos (roughly translated as “touch”, used as a proper name) means spirits of
deceased persons who curse the living and bring about evil results. They can be evil spiri-
tual deities or disembodied spirits without a clear destination after death. The term encosto
refers to the perception of the living person that a negative force (the disembodied spirit)
stays in touch with them as a curse.
48 | “Brazilian-Japanese” Neo-Pentecostalism
tion of evil spirits and the Devil, and the presentation of the consequences
of their actions in the lives of the spectators, the pastor urges that the Devil
himself will be humbled, and that the chains and the curse will be broken in
Jesus’ name. The descarrego itself then reaches its apex with the passage of
the faithful through a tunnel composed of pastors and assistants (obreiros)
who, by a laying on of hands and invoking the name of Jesus, send away
the bad energies through the power of the Holy Fire. Sometimes the uckg
members form a line to be individually exorcized by the main pastor.
In one of the descarrego sessions, a major theme was the Devil in Japan.
The pastor of the uckg was a newcomer to Japan, but his perception
described in the sermon seems almost unanimous among other uckg pas-
tors in Japan. They emphasize that one major difference with the Devil’s
work in Japan is that in this country he is more focused on the mind. The
characterization is convenient if we consider that possession with clear signs
of an uncontrolable body is more common in the uckg in Brazil. The fact
that the Devil works predominantly in the mind justifies the difference of
the external behavior of the possessed in Japan.
The pastor, however, developed his sermon preaching that the activity
of the Devil in the mind leads to madness, depression, and suicide. Social
isolation, often a consequence of the immigration process, means that a
considerable portion of the immigrant community have mental disorders,
family problems, and abuse alcohol and other drugs. Moreover, as the pas-
tors tend to stress for the immigrant community, Japan is a country with
many suicides. The Japanese are seen as a people to be admired in terms of
material well-being, but are seen as lacking in happiness and bliss, often the
victims of psychological problems, depression, and suicide. The predomi-
nant activity of the Devil in Japan would be one of the main factors.
As a pattern already established in the neo-Pentecostal sermons, evil and
disembodied spirits also have a significant share of the blame in mental dis-
tress. The pastors warn that paranormal phenomena such as hearing voices
or seeing figures is much more common among Brazilians in Japan. The
actions of these disembodied spirits is indicated as the cause of mental pain
in Japan.
In recent years, another emerging pattern in the explanation of evil has
also been highlighted, and this is the interpretation of evil as an ancestral
curse. Here the possibility of suffering may be mental or physical. In fact,
rafael Shoji | 49
those that reinforce or seek a friendly relationship with the spiritual world
(belief in spirits that normally do not include the Holy Spirit, present in the
diverse forms of nature and native religions, including Shamanism, but also
in many new religious movements). Considering the East Asian context it
is interesting to consider this pattern, and in particular, in comparison with
native Christian movements and with the Korean churches in Japan, it will be
important to observe the evolution of Brazilian Pentecostalism within Chris-
tianity in Japan.19
This pattern was analyzed considering the context of the different religions
of Japanese-Brazilians, themselves the fruit of an earlier transnationaliza-
tion and the emergence of globalization. The “transnationalization” of spir-
its is based on the spirits as a universal category, from a phenomenological
perspective. From this standpoint I suggest that we need to review concepts
such as acculturation, inculturation, indigenization, and transculturalism in
the case of Brazilian neo-Pentecostalism and Shamanism. This is especially
true if we accept a new understanding of Shamanism and the concepts of
nature and culture as proposed by anthropologists such as Viveiros de Cas-
tro.20 Nature is often underestimated in the transplantation of religions. The
religions associated with native and shamanistic religions, even if these reli-
gions are the enemies to be confronted, should not be viewed as primarily
transcultural (between cultures).21 The spiritual worlds of Shamanism and
19. See especially Mullins, with an analyses based on Hayashi Minoru, “Apparently,
only a Christian ‘shamanism’ can compete with the shamanism of the New Religions” (1998,
181), but on the other hand he correctly remarks later on the same page that “Pentecostal
Christianity may ‘fit’ the current social climate better than the intellectual expressions of
Christianity associated with Western churches. This fact alone, however, hardly assures
church growth in the Japanese context. The decline of indigenous Pentecostal movements
has shown us that much.” Brazilian Pentecostal churches are today ethnic churches and
there is no indication of eminent change.
20. See Viveiros de Castro (1998). Based on Amerindian perspectivism he argues
that in the native religions based on nature and possession in the American continent (and
more generally in Shamanism) there is a multinaturalism due to the fact that the same spirit
occupies several bodies. Here I am especially interested in the extension of a spiritual world,
based on a particular geographical and natural landscape, to other natural landscapes.
21. This is most likely because of Western tradition that is based historically on mono-
theism, that assumes one nature and many cultures, that the role of nature was often under-
estimated in any studies of transplantation. These factors are often ignored in the research
based on acculturation even if disciplines such as the geography of religion were detached
from the importance of space and nature for religion (see for example Park 1994).
rafael Shoji | 51
22. Viveiros de Castro suggests Shamanism as a magical and cosmic policy based on
multinaturalism, but in the case of Pentecostalism the natural world so understood is inter-
preted in a negative fashion.
52 | “Brazilian-Japanese” Neo-Pentecostalism
not interpret the spiritual world in another way. The desert as the symbol of
the abstract principle of decoupling nature beyond time and space, which
simultaneously symbolizes monotheism, limits and seeks to subdue all
nature spirits to God. In Pentecostalism, these natural deities are reinter-
preted as the evil to be defeated by the Holy Spirit.
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