Though diverse in religious practices and ideas, a network of individuals in 19th century Tokugawa Japan, converging on an ideology of "personal cultivation" (mi o osameru; shusin), began to form coalitions in order to promote their beliefs. In this work of intellectual history, Sawada (U. of Iowa) studies these networks or "figurations" (in the sense as it is used by Norbert Elias) in order to show how multireligious connections have contributed to the strengthening of social and political ties in Japan's past. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)