Title: Purity and Danger in Japanese Religion and Everyday Life Description: Where Abrahamic religions assume an axis of good and evil, I will argue that the key concepts in Japanese religion are purity and impurity. Maintaining a state of purity will in turn ensure good fortune. Referencing Mary Douglas’ anthropological classic, Purity and Danger (1966), I will show how time, space, and, problematically, people, are classified on the pure/impure axis and the implications this has for the conduct of everyday life.