Shinto and the State, 1868-1988

by Helen Hardacre

Overview

Helen Hardacre, a leading scholar of religious life in modern Japan, examines the Japanese state's involvement in and manipulation of shinto from the Meiji Restoration to the present. Nowhere else in modern history do we find so pronounced an example of government sponsorship of a religion as in Japan's support of shinto. How did that sponsorship come about and how was it maintained? How was it dismantled after World War II? What attempts are being made today to reconstruct it? In answering these questions, Hardacre shows why State shinto symbols, such as the Yasukuni Shrine and its prefectural branches, are still the focus for bitter struggles over who will have the right to articulate their significance.


Where previous studies have emphasized the state bureaucracy responsible for the administration of shinto, Hardacre goes to the periphery of Japanese society. She demonstrates that leaders and adherents of popular religious movements, independent religious entrepreneurs, women seeking to raise the prestige of their households, and men with political ambitions all found an association with shinto useful for self-promotion; local-level civil administrations and parish organizations have consistently patronized shinto as a way to raise the prospects of provincial communities. A conduit for access to the prestige of the state, shinto has increased not only the power of the center of society over the periphery but also the power of the periphery over the center.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691221298
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	11/10/2020
Series:	Studies in Church and State , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	625 KB

Table of Contents

	List of Tables	xi
	Foreword	xiii
	Acknowledgments	xv
	Introduction	3
	Studies of State Shinto	5
	Issues, Themes, and Goals	7
	Shinto in the Tokugawa Era (1600-1868)	9
	The Relation between Buddhism and Shinto	14
	Ise Pilgrimage	15
	The Influence of National Learning	16
	Summary	18
1.	The Modern History of Relations Between Shinto and the State	21
	Chronological Overview	21
	The Meiji Restoration and the Beginning of State Shinto	27
	The Separation of Buddhism from Shinto	27
	Building Institutions	28
	Disunity in the Department of Divinity	29
	Reform of Imperial Ritual	31
	The Creation of National Rites and Ceremonies	32
	The Slump of Middle Meiji (1880-1905)	33
	Is Shinto a Religion?	34
	The Movement to Reestablish the Department of Divinity	36
	Shrine Building after the Russo-Japanese War	37
	Freedom of Religion	39
	Postwar Shinto	40
2.	The Great Promulgation Campaign	42
	The Campaign	42
	The Pantheon Dispute	48
	The New Religions in the Great Promulgation Campaign	51
	Conclusion	58
3.	The Shinto Priesthood	60
	The Internal Diversity of the Shinto Priesthood	60
	The Evolution of a Concept of Religion	63
	Shrine Administrators	65
	The Idea of a National Teaching	66
	Shrine Administrators' Diversity and Influence	68
	National Teaching in Practice	70
	Questions of Doctrine and Rites	72
	The Provincial Priesthood	73
	Concluding Remarks	76
4.	Shrines and the Rites of Empire Part I: Shinto Shrines	79
	The Separation of Buddhism from Shinto	81
	Shrine Registration	83
	Shrine Rankings	84
	Distribution of Ise Talismans and Almanacs	86
	The Ise Shrines and Their Outposts	87
	The State-Sponsored Cult of the War Dead and Loyalists	90
	Provincial Centers of the Cult of the War Dead	92
	The Meiji Shrine	93
	Shrines in the Colonies	95
	State Shrine Support	96
	Shrine Mergers	98
5.	Shrines and the Rites of Empire Part II: Shrine Rites	100
	Shrine Rites: Types and Standardization	100
	The Liturgical Structure of Shrine Rites	102
	Large-Scale State Rites	104
	Civic Rites in Provincial Society	106
	Shrine Observances Involving Schoolchildren	108
	Customary Observances and Shinto	110
	Conclusion	112
6.	Religious Freedom Under State Shinto	114
	The Meiji Constitution	115
	The Imperial Rescript on Education	121
	The Religious Organizations Law	124
	The Suppression of New Religious Movements	126
	Shinto's Role in Restricting Religious Freedom	128
	Conclusion	131
7.	Shinto and the State Since 1945	133
	Shinto and the Occupation	134
	The Shinto Directive	136
	Religious Freedom and the Separation of Church and State	137
	The Religious Juridical Persons Law	139
	The Implementation of the Occupation's Policy on Religion	140
	Shinto since World War II	142
	Postwar Challenges to Religious Freedom and to Separation of State and Religion	143
	The Attempt to Reestablish State Support for the Yasukuni Shrine	145
	The Tsu Grounds Purification Case	149
	Cabinet Tribute at the Yasukuni Shrine	150
	The Self-Defense Force Apotheosis Case	153
	Conclusion	157
	Epilogue	160
	Appendixes	165
1.	Government Expenditures for Shrines in Comparative Perspective	165
2.	The Shinto Directive	167
	Notes	171
	Selected Sources	191
	Index	199

Editorial Reviews

On a major influence upon Japanese politics before 1945 and its subsequent decline. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1991

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