State Shinto Flashcards
State Shinto as Ideology
With the Meiji restoration, the new regime was to be based on the principle of saisei-itchi (unity of rites and government).
In 1868, all shrine priests were placed under the newly (re)established Jingikan (or ministry of kami affairs) that would be nominally in charge of all Shinto shrines
Shinto as the new ideological apparatus to combat Westernization (i.e. Christianity)
In line with Saisei-Itchi (unity of rites and rule), the Jingikan argued that Shinto is not a religion since shrines are not sites of religion but of ritual
The policy on “State Shinto” was not uniform — state
funding, regulation of shrines/priests, the emperor’s religious rites, the teaching of Shinto myth as history, and the suppression of other religions that contradicted some aspect of Shinto.
Many Japanese then participated in it under pressure and not via faith
Great Promulgation Campaign
Shrines Drawn into national Hierarchy
Unified annual ritual calendar
Centered on Imperial Rituals
In-line with national holidays/symbols
Gradual inclusion of Shinto into daily lives
Emperor was eventually viewed as inviolable
tried to equate shinto with emperor worship
Shrines were methodologically separated from Buddhism
Buddhist priests, deities, building, rituals were banned from all shrines
Meiji government forced thousands of monks to return to lay life
Buddhist statues, scriptures, paintings, buildings, ritual implements destroyed, sold, stolen, burnt, covered with excrement.
GPC a failure and Shinto bureaucrats fell out of favor
Yasukuni and Protection of Nation Shrines
Yasukuni (Defense of the Nation Shrines): Cult of war dead – dying for the country the highest honor
Russo-Japanese War in 1905 stimulated a great expansion of Shinto’s influence, and the gradual rise of popular imperialism/culturalism/
expansionism/restorationism only served to heighten Shinto’s influence.
State increased support of Shinto and financed training of priests
Priests became teachers in Public school, teaching mythology as history
1906: thousands of shrines merged with the aim of retaining only one shrine in each community to
serve as a stage for imperial/national rituals
1906: Shrines were again placed under state support
Local Shrine parishes were mobilized to support the war effort.
Construction of Shinto Shrines in Colonies
Deities with national/patriotic associations, but no historical relation to shrines in question, were assigned to shrines, considerably altering the character of local religious life
1940: “A policy for the unification of the national faith”
Emperor at the center of diverse theology.
Many shrines disappeared, and new shrines dedicated to national heroes were built.
These “heroes” ranged from the Meiji Emperor himself to fallen soldiers or historical figures that were paragons of virtue/loyalty.
Establishment of Social Customs
Shichi-Go-San – Coming to Age Rituals
