State Shinto

Empire of Japan banknote with Yasukuni Shrine, now a private corporation due to the Shinto Directive.

State Shintō (国家神道, Kokka Shintō) is a neologism introduced during the Occupation of Japan in 1945 to identify certain aspects of Japanese patriotism as "religious". The Meiji Constitution adopted a separation of church and state based on the Prussian model, but the American-authored Shinto Directive redefined this separation and privatized some elements of the Japanese government, creating the concept of "State Shinto". In the Empire of Japan, shrines were considered secular organs of the state, a classification that garnered no serious opposition from the Japanese public.^[1]

When they defined the concept of "religion", the Japanese distinguished shrines from the term Shinto, identified with the category called Sect Shinto today. At first, a ritual bureau called the Jingi-kan was established to propagate kokugaku-related information, but the Diet of Japan rejected calls to make this a "state religion", and it was soon disbanded.^[2] Religious scholar T.E. Maxey calls it "grossly inaccurate" to describe the Jingi-kan using the Western concept of "established religion."^[3] A number of rules were established to keep shrines separated from sectarian doctrines and religion in general. For example, preaching at shrines was forbidden, shrine officials were prohibited from conducting funerals, and the use of the torii gate was restricted to government-owned shrines.^[4]

In a 1911 article, the head of the Home Ministry declared that attendance at shrines was not a matter of religious faith but of respect for one's ancestors and the nation. In 1936, the Catholic Church's Propaganda Fide announced that visits to shrines had "only a purely civil value".^[5] According to the religious scholar Jason Ānanda Josephson, It is inaccurate to describe shrines as constituting a "state religion" or a "theocracy" during this period since they lacked organization or doctrine.^[6] Jolyon Baraka Thomas writes that the Empire of Japan's constitutional system "should be considered a secular system rather than a system of state religion."^[7]

After the surrender of Japan American Occupation authorities determined that Japan had constructed a "state religion". In December 1945, the elements of this State Shinto were announced and privatized. On 1 January 1946, Emperor Shōwa issued a statement, sometimes referred to as the Humanity Declaration, in which he quoted the Five Charter Oath of Emperor Meiji and announced that he was not an Akitsumikami and Japan was not built on myths. As a result of the privatization of shrines, Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, a monument to war dead, has become a "religious corporation".

Government offices

The following table shows the evolution of the Japanese government institutions related to shrines and religion from the Meiji Restoration to the present. From this table, it can be seen that shrines and religions were controlled by the same department from 1872 to 1900, but by separate departments before and after.

References

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