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How an epidemic spread Buddhism through Japan
The country's unique blend of Shinto and Buddhism was spurred by an ancient epidemic that decimated the nation
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Ronan O’Connell
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They lurched through Japanese towns like zombies - blinded, disfigured and covered in sores. All around these wretched folk, people fled, unaware they could not outrun the cause of this mayhem nearly 1,300 years ago.
At the time, the Japanese people had won many military battles against foreign forces. Now, however, they had been blindsided by a new and invisible foe that swiftly killed a third of the population.
