Haibutsu kishaku

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Haibutsu kishaku (廃仏毀釈, Haibutsu kishaku^?) (literally "abolishing Buddhism and destroying Shākyamuni") is a term that indicates a current of thought in Japan which advocated the expulsion of Buddhism from Japan^[1]. It also indicates a historic movement and historic events based on that ideology that produced the destruction of Buddhist temples, images and texts, and the forced return to secular life of Buddhist monks^[1].

[edit] Haibutsu kishaku in history

An example of the first type of haibutsu kishaku is the Mononobe clan and their anti-Buddhist policies during the Yamato period (250–710)^[1]. The Mononobe were opposed to the spread of Buddhism not on religious grounds, but rather because of nationalism and xenophobia. The Nakatomi clan, ancestors of the Fujiwara, were allies of the Mononobe in their opposition to Buddhism.

Another example is the policies of temple closure and monk defrocking of the Okayama, Aizu, and Mito Domains, also adopted for political and economic, rather than religious, reasons during the early modern period. These domainal policies were in general based on Confucian anti-Buddhist thought^[1].

[edit] The Meiji era's haibutsu kishaku

The second type of haibutsu kishaku was a phenomenon triggered during the Meiji Restoration by the official policy of separation of Shinto and Buddhism (or shinbutsu bunri) ^[1] that after 1868 caused great damage to Buddhism in Japan. The destruction of Buddhist property took place on a large scale all over the country. For example, the five-storied and the three-storied pagodas of the Kōfuku-ji in Nara were destroyed and sold as wood (the first brought in just the equivalent of 200 thousand yen)^[2]. The temple, which is now a National Treasure, was hit with full force by the movement. All sub-temples were abolished, the temple's land was seized, the priests forced to become Shinto priests, walls were torn down, trees were planted, and the area became part of one of the city's parks^[3]. The anti-Buddhist riots caused damage to all large temples of the city^[4]. Some, like the Uchiyama Eikyū-ji, were completely destroyed, leaving behind no trace^[2]. In the traditionally Confucian Satsuma Domain alone 1616 temples were closed, and 2966 priests were forcibly defrocked^[2].

The violence released pent-up popular anger at the Buddhists that had been brewing for a couple of centuries because of their close alliance with the Tokugawa in the danka system^[5], an alliance from which the religion had derived immense benefit. Although the shogunate's official philosophy was lay Neo-Confucianism^[6], Buddhism had become an integral part of the state as a consequence of the Tokugawa's anti-Christian policy. To stop the propagation of the Christian religion, they had introduced the danka system, which obliged families to affiliate themselves with a Buddhist temple^[7] and, in return, this would certify that they were not Christian. Without this certification a normal life in Tokugawa Japan was impossible^[7]. Because of this, temples could and often would blackmail parishioners^[8].

During the Tokugawa period, under the so-called danka system families had by law several obligations towards Buddhist institutions, among them monetary donations to their temple of affiliation^[7]. Because there were some 100,000 temples in a country of 30 million people, on average 300 persons had to support a temple, so the burden was considerable^[8].

Another factor that explains the violence is that Buddhism was so deeply involved with the shoguns that it had become one of its symbols, and therefore an enemy of all the parties who wanted the shogunate's fall.

There were definite political and economic motivations too, in that the domainal governments wanted to restore public finances at Buddhists's expense, and the shinbutsu bunri offered a pretext to appropriate Buddhist lands^[1].

An estimate of how many temples were closed during the turmoil is difficult, because it seems likely that many disappeared simply because Buddhist authorities, taking advantage of the fall of the Tokugawa, were trying to streamline the system and eliminate redundancies^[9]. Under the shogunate, obtaining the permission to open or close a temple had not been easy. However, the complete disappearance of Buddhist temples from domains like Satsuma was indeed due to the haibutsu kishaku^[9].

[edit] References