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State Shinto in the Lives of the People: The Establishment of Emperor Worship, Modern Nationalism, and Shrine Shinto in Late Meiji

2009; Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture; Linguagem: Inglês

10.18874/jjrs.36.1.2009.93-124

0304-1042

Susumu Shimazono,

Chinese history and philosophy

Taking lead from Helen Hardacre's scholarship as well as recent postcolonial theory, this article seeks to delineate new terms in longstanding debate over Shinto. It traces historical process by which penetrated lives of people, focusing especially on period from 1890 through 1910. During this time, conceptions of national polity and reverence for emperor were crucial in familiarizing people with Shinto. Concerned primarily with how people were drawn into and embraced broader discourses, this article looks at development of three systems critical to this process: (1) ritual system for emperor worship; (2) education and propagation system for notions of national polity; and (3) training system for Shrine priests. KEYWORDS: Shinto-kokutai-emperor worship-Shrine Shinto-Imperial Rescript on Education-Kogakkan-Koten Kokyusho-saiseikyo itchi (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.) HELEN HARDACRE, whose scholarship covers a wide range of topics, has made an enormous contribution to research on modern Japanese religious history. All of her writings look at religious lives of people and try to grasp Japanese at a deep level, but and State, 1868- 1988 (1989) is of special import: it links these concerns with political history, presenting a discussion that relates to whole of people's lives. Starting from World War II and up to present, relationship between state and has been a subject of major political contention. Scholars within Japan continue to discuss how this relationship should be understood, taking either perspective of history of or of history of Shinto. This complex debate remains confusing even now, mired as it is in political points of view. Starting with Sakamoto Koremaru's work on Kokka (1994), scholars from Shrine side have produced works that examine huge numbers of sources. Scholars of history and religion, however, have remained stalled. In an effort to break through this impasse, I have grappled with research on since 2001, but I continue to encounter various obstacles. Hardacre's and (1989) provides an excellent and unique view of many problems in this continuing debate. While attending to comparative points of reference, its analysis abundantly reveals perspectives on relationship between state and that researchers in Japan did not even notice. How did term come to be used so frequently? How did introduction of concept of religion further contribute to confusion over this term? Such questions remain provocative even today. This landmark study reveals to be not only something government imposed on people but also something that people actively embraced. This perspective is missing in Murakami Shigeyoshi's Kokka (1970), which still represents position of mainstream research literature. In her book, Hardacre showed first and most forcibly that, by participating in Shinto, people sought to gain influence in a society largely dominated by state. Inspired by Hardacre's insights, I will try to delineate new terms in this long-standing controversy over identity of Shinto. The Historical Contours of It is easy to become confused when trying to understand State Shinto (Shimazono 2001a, 2006a, 2006b). We may begin by asking how history of has been described up until now. Sketching a concise overview of Shinto, Murakami, to whom I will refer often, divides history of from Meiji Restoration through 1945 into four periods: the period, the period of completion of doctrine, the period of completion of system, and the period of fascist state religion. Although Murakami insists that characteristics of formative period. …