State Shinto
The state Shintō ( Japanese 国家 神道 kokka shintō ) was in the narrower sense of the Shintō promoted by the government as a state ideology from the Meiji Restoration to the defeat in the Second World War in Japan , from 1900 exclusively the shrine Shintō .
In the sense of a national unification of Japan, it should be a reconstruction of the original and pure national Japanese customs and traditions, as they should have existed before the arrival of the foreign belief systems ( Buddhism , Confucianism , Daoism , Christianity ) in Japan. From when Shinto actually existed as an independent religion has not been clarified either historically or in terms of religious studies. The historian Kuroda Toshio (1926-93) even put forward the thesis that the idea of Shinto as an indigenous religion was only in the Kokugaku under Motoori Norinagahas been developed. However, this view is by no means certain.
The term "State Shinto" is not originally a Japanese term; it was used by authors outside of Japan and foreign observers in Japan as early as the late 19th century. Its translation into Japanese did not take place until after the end of World War II, before there was no corresponding Japanese term. There only a distinction was made between sect-Shinto ( kyōha shintō ) and shrine-Shinto ( jinja shintō ).
The political and historical conditions of State Shinto go back to the time before the Taika reform , whereby the term "State Shinto" in its general meaning can refer to this entire prehistory as well as to the time after the end of the war.
Since freedom of religion was prescribed in the Meiji constitution based on the European model, the official view was that the state propagated and operated shrine Shinto was not a religion. The shrines were subordinated to various institutions within the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Education (see also the table of institutions ) and received support from public funds. After the end of World War II through the capitulation of Japan , the State Shinto was dissolved by the General Command of the Allies by the decree later called the "Shinto Directive".
Historical preconditions
Before the Taika reform
The important role of Shinto and especially Shinto shrines for the Japanese state is documented in the oldest Japanese writings from the eighth and ninth centuries. There is a strong mixture of mythology and historical facts in these writings. But foreign writings on Japanese history, such as the Chinese Wei Zhi from the time of the three empires, also confirm a number of traditional political circumstances.
This included the intertwining of the dominant Japanese clan being with the shrines. Each clan had its own kami (see Ujigami ). The veneration due to this, practiced together in the shrine, united the respective clan. In the course of the consolidation and hierarchization of the balance of power, the shrines gained more and more geopolitical importance as the main places of worship for the Kami of the clans, who ruled over ever larger areas and more people.
This development reached its preliminary climax with the establishment of the Yamato court as the central authority of the Japanese nation state in the early fourth century. Closely related to this was the development of the Ise Shrine , which has been considered the most important and important site of the national Shinto at least since the reign of Emperor Yūryaku . Since the reign of Emperor Sujin , an unmarried princess of the Japanese imperial family , a so-called Saiō (斎 王), held the office of high priestess there. For a long time and still present, the sacred mirror yata no kagami , one of the three , has also become in himPreserved throne insignia of Japan , which are indispensable for the accession of the Japanese emperor to the throne.
Taika reform
The Taika reform ended the period of clan rule in Japan and established the Japanese empire with the Japanese imperial court as the supreme and central authority of the newly established provinces and districts. At the same time as the legal regulations for the uniformity of the Japanese nation state, several state regulations for the practice of Shinto were established. Particularly significant in this context were the comprehensive collections of legal texts of the Taihō Code of 701 and the Yōrō Code of 718. With the latter, the central Kami office (jingikan) was established. The jingiryō was also created in the eighth century(Codex on the kami of heaven and earth). This contained specific instructions for ceremonies, festivals and the administrative affairs of the shrines. The denryō (Code of Land Lease ) made special exceptions for shrines and temples to lease land longer than the usual 6 years.
In 927, the Engishiki (延 喜 式'Codex of the Engi Era') made extensive surveys and subdivisions relating to the shrine system. In it, the total number of shrines was estimated at about 30,000. 3,000 of them were classified as kanpaisha (government shrine ) or kansha (central government shrine ), which received imperial offerings (kanpei) by the Kami office at the spring prayer festival (toshigoi no matsuri) . Similar offerings (kokuhei) , which were obligatory on the part of the state , have existed since 798 for the large shrines of the provinces (later national shrines or people's shrines (kokuheisha)) and the governors of the provinces.
Military rule / shogunate
The military rule of the Shogunate , which began in 1185 with Minamoto no Yoritomo , did not bring about any significant political changes for the Shinto. The legal privileges of the shrines, which at this time were already working actively with the numerous newly created and powerful shōen , were not touched by the shōguns. Also, the Shinto was not given a preferential position in comparison with the Buddhism introduced in Japan in the 6th century.
From the reign of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa , several civil wars (such as the Ōnin War ) and internal power struggles broke out in the empire, the aggression against the families in dispute with one another was consequently also directed against the Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples belonging to them, many buildings were destroyed. This period also saw the reasoning of the falls Yoshida Shinto by Yoshida Kanetomo(1435-1511), a school of Shinto, which first took over the term Shinto as its own name and held the leading authority in administrative matters of the organization of Shinto until the beginning of the Meiji Restoration. The period of armed conflict ended with the rule of the Shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi . It was followed by a period of centrally controlled reconstruction, which was also completed in administrative terms from 1635 and culminated in the establishment of the magistrate for temples and shrines (寺 社 奉行 jisha bugyō ) in terms of religious policy . This Bakufu institution determined a new, pyramidal hierarchy of main and branch temples and shrines (本末 制度 honmatsu seido ; in German, for example, “main and secondary temple system”) the legal norms and foundations of religious practice.
Significantly, the census system introduced as part of the persecution of Christians in the early 17th century was mainly implemented in practice via the Buddhist temples (寺 請 制度 terauke seido ; in English, for example, “system of temple confirmations”). This system said that every Japanese had to register his or her belief in a temple (which was then confirmed by a certificate of belief ( terauke )).
Meiji period
Meiji Restoration - Hirata Shinto, Shinbutsu Bunri, and the Kami Office
The beginning of the Meiji Restoration , which aimed at the unification of Japan under the symbolic figure of Tennō in the new Japanese Empire , was marked by bloody civil wars. The Yasukuni Shrine was built in 1869, primarily to commemorate the national merit of the fallen in the Boshin War , and it is still today where all the Japanese military who died for their country are venerated.
From the beginning, the Shinto was the essential ideological basis of the political reformers who, with reference to the direct relationship of the Tenno to the mythical Emperor Jimmu, sought to restore the Japanese Empire.
This was especially a demand of the Shintoists of the Hirata faction, a group that referred to the Edo period Kokugaku scholar Hirata Atsutane (1776-1843). A national return to pure, original Shinto, without the influence of Buddhism and Confucianism , was called for through philological studies of classical Japanese literature . Furthermore, with the return of government power to the emperor, who was revered as a Kami, the unity of religion and state should also be established. A widely accepted basic myth for this ideological core of state politics (also known as "national polity" or "national nature");kokutai ) is the following excerpt from the Nihonshoki , in which the sun goddess Amaterasu-ō-mi-kami calls her grandson Jimmu to rule over the Japanese islands:
“This land of the one thousand-five hundred autumn fresh ears of the reeds is the region which my descendants are to rule as rulers. You go, my sovereign illustrious grandson, and rule it! May the heavenly dynasties such as heaven and earth flourish and prosper without end! "
An English translation of the more recent passage reads:
“This Reedplain Land of Fifteen Thousand Autumns of Fair Riceears is the country over which my descendants shall be lords. Do thou, my August Grandchild, proceed thither and rule over it. Go! and may prosperity attend thy dynasty, and it shall, like Heaven and Earth, endure forever. "
The Meiji government implemented these demands of the so-called Restoration Shinto (復古 神道 fukko shintō ). In February of the first year of the political upheaval in 1868 as a result of the Restoration, the Shinbutsu-Bunri laws were enacted to separate Shinto from Buddhism. Up until now, Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines were closely intertwined in religious and philosophical tradition, but also in specific questions of location and administration (cf. Shinbutsu-Shūgō). The Shinbutsu-Bunri laws abolished this interdependence and the separation of temples and shrines was made mandatory by law. As part of this legislation, there was massive state and public repression of Buddhists in Japan. Also, essentially religious institutions and tasks (such as burial) were legally transferred piece by piece from the responsibility or ownership of Buddhism to that of Shinto.
In the same year, on the advice of Hirata Kanetanes (1801-1882), the central Kami office (jingikan) from the Yōrō Codex of the Nara period was brought back to life. His task was to determine the legal and administrative rules of State Shinto, including the nationalization of shrine property, the abolition of the inheritance of the priesthood and the introduction of a binding system of ranks for priests and shrines. In mid-1868 the Ise Shrine, as well as other large shrines (taisha) and the shrines that had been venerated by imperial messengers ( chokusaisha )directly subordinated to the central Kami office, the other shrines fell under the responsibility of regional administrative bodies. In December 1868, all administrative districts, daimyates and prefectures were instructed to prepare detailed reports on all shrines in their administrative area that had been mentioned in the Engishiki, as well as those that were otherwise of particular local importance. Other similar reports were requested by 1870. In mid-1869, the Kami office within the government was given the same powers as the Council of State.
In 1869 the Kami Office founded the institution of the propagandists of the Shinto doctrine (宣 教師 bekyōshi ) "for the spiritual leadership of the people in order to consolidate the foundation of the new government". These were initially composed of the entirety of the Shinto priests and the local governors and their councils. In 1870 an imperial decree was issued which proclaimed the Great Doctrine (大 教 taikyō ). This was taken as an opportunity to set up propaganda offices in the cities and some rural areas. The followers of the Hirata Shinto were given priority.
Tennō, conformity and nationalization
As a result of the restoration movement, the Tennō became immensely important for the state Shintō cult. Previously it was only customary for the shrines to be worshiped by imperial messengers, but the Meiji emperor now personally visited the Kamo shrine in Kyoto before moving his residence to Tokyo . Once there, he immediately visited the Hikawa shrine (near Omiya). In 1869 he was the first Tenno to visit the Ise Shrine.
At the same time the political conformity of the shrines and temples was prepared. On February 19, 1869, the shrines and temples were deprived of the right to appoint and dismiss the village officials and the responsibility for the religious registers and transferred to the daimyats. This initially did not affect the ownership of the property from the feudal period and the associated income from tax collection, whereby the determination of the amount had meanwhile also become a matter of the daimyos.
On February 23, 1871, however, the shrines and temples were ordered to transfer the rights to all lands to the state (with the exception of only the immediate shrine or temple grounds and the lands that were directly cultivated by the shrines or temples themselves). The shrines were to be financed in the future through government grants in the form of rice units, the amount being calculated according to the average income of the last six years, for which purpose extensive surveys of ownership and balance sheets of the shrines were carried out in July 1871.
In 1871 the abolition of the hereditary priesthood was legally implemented by a declaration by the State Council that the execution of the Shinto rites was not reserved for a single family, but that they were rites of the state (kokka no sōshi) . In the course of this, the Shinto shrine priesthood was completely subordinated to the national, prefectural and local government agencies. They had to decide on admission, support, disciplinary procedures and the expulsion of the priests.
In the middle of the same year, a systematic gradation of the shrines on a pyramidal principle with the Ise shrine at the top was also established. For the first time, all shrines down to the lowest village shrine were included in a comprehensive hierarchy. After the preliminary final determination, the system looked as follows:
-
kansha (central government shrine )
- kanpeisha (government
- kanpa taisha (Great Government
- kanpei chūsha (Middle Government Shrine )
- kanpei shōsha (Small Government Shrine )
- kokuhei taisha (Great National
- fusha (city shrine or administrative district shrine )
- hansha (clan shrine or daimyat shrine; reclassified into kensha after the daimyates were converted into prefectures )
- kensha (prefecture shrine )
- gōsha (regional shrine )
- sonsha (village shrine )
- mukakusha ( unranked shrines)
The distinction between kanpeisha and kokuheisha was largely only nominal. The main difference was that the shrine office was responsible for the official festivals of the kanpeisha , while the regional authorities were responsible for the festivals of the kokuheisha . A mention in the Engishiki or other mention in the six official Japanese empire histories ( rikkokushi ) was a necessary criterion for admission to the rank of kanpeisha . All kansha were also completely financed by the relevant government agencies.
The shōsha were all subordinate to the regional authorities. The classification of the gōsha was initially still tied to the vague definition of the local deities ( ubusunagami , see Ujigami ), later determined by a regional coverage of the gōsha with the family register districts, whereby at least about 1,000 households in several villages were assumed. If several shrines occurred in a region that came into question for the rank of gōsha , the locally most suitable one was selected and the other shrines subordinate to this. The class of these remaining shrines later became an independent class, that of the sonsha .
In addition, on June 4, 1872, the special class of bekkaku-kanpei-taisha or bekkaku-kanpeisha was added with the elevation of the Minatogawa shrine to this rank. This class was equal to the kan / kokuhei shōsha, but was nominally subordinate to the kanpei shōsha. To them belonged since June 4, 1879 the Tokyo Shōkonsha, which was also renamed Yasukuni-jinja .
In addition, the Ise shrine formed a class of its own, which stood above all other shrine classes.
Taikyō - the great teaching
In 1872 Japan's religious policy changed significantly. With the abolition of the Shinto Ministry of Religions (jingishō) in March and the establishment of the new Ministry of Religions (kyōbushō) , all religious communities in Japan except for Christianity were now subordinate to a central government institution for the first time. At the same time, the previous institution of the propagandists of Shinto teaching was transformed into the new one of ethics teachers (kyōdōshoku)convicted, in which Buddhist priests were now allowed to participate in the proclamation of the Great Teaching. Through the involvement of the influential Buddhist priests, it was hoped that indoctrination (which had been unsuccessful up to now) would also result in rural areas of Japan, whose religious tradition had remained predominantly Buddhist. In addition, other religious communities and individuals were allowed to exercise the function of ethics teachers in order to ensure the most complete legal involvement of the relevant religious forces in the country in the propagation of state ideology.
The basic requirement for recognition as an ethics teacher was the binding observance of the three teaching commandments (sanjō kyōken) of the Great Doctrine formulated by the Ministry of Religions :
- Consistent with the spirit of devotion to the kami and love for the emperor
- Clarification of the heavenly principle and the human way
- Praise to the emperor and obedience to the imperial family
The actual content of these Doctrinal Commandments, like the Great Doctrine itself, remained largely vague. The exact interpretation was left to the individual ethics teachers. Mostly it was about a general education of the Japanese people, based on Confucian ideals, to become good citizens, who should pay their taxes on time, send their children to school and accept the conscription, but it was also about the expulsion of various, than customs superstitious and backward scolded by the government, such as the use of the traditional Japanese lunar calendar (see Japanese calendar ). At the same time the practice of Shinto rites was propagated.
The high priests of the Ise shrine were appointed as the highest authority of the ethics teachers, but in many regions Buddhist priests, former daimyo and other former members of the old nobility were also de facto responsible for indoctrating the population. Apprenticeships have been systematically set up across the country. With around 100,000 such institutions, which in the smallest case were even housed in private apartments, the government carried out extensive propagation of the new Japanese empire in the spirit of the Great Teaching.
However, this approach practically failed. The Buddhist doctrine could not be completely subsumed under the state doctrine, and independent Buddhist ideas began to reach the Japanese people in a way that the government did not want in addition to state propaganda, which was the idea of the government of the unification of cult and state in popular belief contradicted. In particular, representatives from abroad also complained in the international public about the massive state-run violation of religious freedom.
From May 1875, the work of ethics teachers was largely stopped and the highest educational institution, the daikyōin, dissolved at the request of the Buddhist side. As a replacement, the semi-state, semi-privately run Shinto Secretariat (神道 事務 局 shintō jimukyoku ) was founded as the central business and liaison office of Shintō, which is not organized through the shrines. The Shinto sects that became independent from 1876 to 1882 consisted for the most part of formations that split off from the Shinto Secretariat. In 1886 the secretariat became an independent sect (神道 本局 shintō honkyoku or神道 大 教 shintō taikyō ).
From now on, however, the focus was no longer on teaching but on cult in the planning of the State Shinto.
The secularization of the shrines
After the abolition of the Ministry of Religion in January 1877, the new shrine and temple authority (shajikyoku) was established in the Ministry of the Interior . Despite being incorporated into an independent ministry, this authority retained responsibility for all religious questions (including for the first time Christian ones) until 1900.
The division of responsibilities of the shrine and temple authority from 1878 provided for the regulation of the following areas of responsibility:
- "The erection of shrines and temples" (§ 1)
- "The establishment of sects or their prohibition, as well as divisions, amalgamations, reforms of sects and changes to sect names" (§ 7)
- "Resolving disputes in doctrines of the faith" (§ 14)
In 1882 Shinto priests were officially forbidden from exercising the function of ethics teacher by the shrine and temple authorities (in 1884 the institution of ethics teachers as such was finally also formally abolished), as was the conduct of funeral ceremonies. In May of 1882 a decree was issued that ordered the registration of all Shinto sects as independent organizations with the name suffix kyōha (sect) instead of the usual registration via the state-recognized shrines (jinja) . They were thus classified as independent religious communities. Their places of worship were no longer allowed to be called shrines (jinja) , instead they were given the name kyōkai (Training facility).
In 1889 the Meiji Constitution was adopted. Article 28 guaranteed religious freedom . There it says:
"All Japanese subjects enjoy freedom of religious belief, provided that it does not violate peace and order and does not detract from their duties as subjects."
The Shinto was not specifically mentioned in the constitution. In his comment on Article 28, which was not published at the time, Hermann Roesler , one of the most important advisers in drafting the constitution, had already pointed out the possibility of a possible establishment of a state religion . Article 28, unlike the other articles, did not provide for any statutory provision or limitation of its content.
The Imperial Edict of Education issued on October 30, 1890 appealed in Confucian languageTone to the citizens to honor basic social values that would have been part of the Japanese nation since time immemorial, including already common values such as respect for parents, kindness towards siblings and truthfulness among friends, but at the same time also modern demands such as Respect for the constitution, compliance with the law and willingness to make sacrifices to the state in order to preserve the imperial throne. The warned commandments were all traced back to the divine imperial ancestors and their eternal infallibility. This legendary origin of the postulated customs and obedience to them has been referred to as the "Glory of the Fundamental Character of Our Kingdom" (kokutai no seika) .
In 1891 the Shinto priests were placed under the disciplinary control of ordinary public officials.
In 1899 the shrine authorities issued an order prohibiting religious instruction in public and private schools. The teachings of the Shrine Shinto, on the other hand, were on the agenda in every school of morality. The directive was not implemented particularly strictly for private schools above the primary level.
In April 1900, the shrine and temple authority was abolished and two new authorities were simultaneously established in the Ministry of the Interior: the shrine authority (jinjakyoku) and the religious authority (shūkyōkyoku) . The Imperial Order No. 136 of April 26th divided shrines and shrine Shinto into the task area of the shrine authority, “all matters relating to religion” in the task area of the religious authority.
The shrine Shinto was classified by the government as a purely state cult until the end of World War II.
In 1911, the Ministry of Education issued a decree that from now on school children would have to visit the shrines regularly. In fact, these obligations of citizens to participate in the state rites could be justified explicitly with Article 28 of the constitution, as this restricted freedom of religion precisely where religion would otherwise have hindered the exercise of civil duties and where "peace and order" a social primacy was, the definition of which was imprecise enough to require the state to comply with almost any means.
After the Meiji period
Taishō period
The brief period of the Taishō period did not bring about any significant changes in State Shintō. However, the first theoretical problems with the exact definition of the essence of the shrine Shinto showed up.
In 1913, the religious authority was outsourced to the Ministry of the Interior and incorporated into the Ministry of Education, in which it was to remain active until 1942.
In response to general protests from the various non-Shinto denominations and also from the secular foreign press, the government repeatedly issued new notices that essentially confirmed the view that state Shinto was not a religion, but a state cult and that a rejection of such a thing could only be due to a lack of patriotic sentiments.
In April 1916 the shrine authority stated:
“Whatever thoughts and beliefs the people may have, the government sees nothing religious in the shrines. And whether it may seem desirable to the people to think and explain the shrines again as they used to be, the government is currently not thinking of supporting it. She simply expects respect for the shrines and believes that the shrines can also be worshiped by those who have a religion without them coming into conflict or feeling bothered by it. You may think what you want to do with regard to the religious attitude towards the shrines, the government will act neutrally according to the principle that religious belief should remain free. "
In 1926 the committee for the investigation of the religious system (shūkyō seido chōsakai) was founded. He was supposed to clarify the relationship between shrines and religion in order to provide the theoretical model for a planned new religious law. The committee came to no conclusion, however, and the draft law on religion presented to parliament in 1927 was rejected.
Shōwa period until the end of the war
The 1929 establishment of the committee to investigate the shrine system (jinja seido chōsakai) made it clear that not only a law of religion, but also a law of shrines would be necessary for legal clarification of the complicated, theoretical separation of shrine Shinto and religion. Despite lengthy and detailed investigations and debates, the new committee was not to come to a conclusion by the end of the war.
In 1935, a new draft for a " law on religious communities " (宗教 団 体 法 Shūkyō dantai hō ) was drawn up, which was passed on April 8, 1939 and on April 1, 1940 with the Imperial Decree (勅令 chokurei ) No. 855 of It came into force on December 1939. It represented a compromise of extensive previous debates made by ultra-nationalist politicians; a similar draft had been rejected in 1929. The first article of the law, which defined its objects, did not mention the shrine Shinto:
"§1 In this law Shintoist sects (kyôha), Buddhist denominations (shûha) and Christian or other religious associations (kyôdan) (hereinafter referred to as sects, denominations and religious associations for short) as well as temples and churches are designated as religious communities."
The critical voices of the other denominations in Japan fell almost completely silent with the beginning of the Pacific War in 1937.
On December 7, 1941, Japan declared war on the United States of America and the British Empire with an Imperial Edict . It was read out again in ceremonies in shrines throughout Japan on the anniversary of the declaration of war in subsequent years, and it was expected that every Japanese household would attend it through at least one representative.
Shōwa period after the end of the war
With the unconditional surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945, the Second World War ended with a defeat for Japan. The Allied Occupying Power in Japan was represented by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP). The Potsdam Declaration of July 26th (not to be confused with the Potsdam Agreement ) called on the Japanese government to remove all obstacles to a revival and strengthening of democratic tendencies in the Japanese people. The freedom of speech , religion and freedom of thought should like the respect for the fundamental human rights are made.
In order to implement these demands, SCAP issued on December 15, 1945 the " Directive on the Abolition of Governmental Sponsorship, Support, Preservation, Control and Dissemination of State Shinto" (Directive on the Abolition of Governmental Sponsorship, Support, Perpetuation , Control, and Dissemination of State Shinto) , also known simply as the Shintō directive (神道 指令 Shintō Shirei ) in Japan . The main aim of the directive addressed to the Japanese government was the actual and complete political and economic separation of religion and state. In addition, it prohibited the abuse of religion, especially Shinto, to spread militarist and ultra-nationalist ideologies.
The support of the shrines with public funds was forbidden by the directive that banned the Shinto doctrine from school books. The latter circumstance was in part the cause of the dispute, which later reignited over and over again, about the content of school books and its determination by the Japanese state.
Around the same time, also at the instigation of the SCAP, the law on religious communities was abolished and replaced by the new decree on religious communities , which now for the first time also defined Shinto shrines as potential religious communities.
All government institutions with direct administrative control over religious affairs were abolished by March 1946. Earlier, on January 23, 80,000 of the approximately 100,000 shrines registered nationwide had come together under the new, privately run umbrella organization, the Association of Shinto Shrines (神社 本 庁 Jinja-Honchō ).
Article 20 of the new Japanese Constitution , which came into force on May 3, 1947 , once again guaranteed freedom of belief and at the same time prohibited the privileging of religious organizations by the state, the exertion of any form of compulsion on persons to participate in religious activities, and the exercise of any religious activities on the part of the State. Article 89 of the Constitution also prohibited any financial support for the use, benefit or maintenance of religious institutions or associations.
Article 89 was often the subject of protracted legal and political discussions and interpretations in the following decades (compare the legal dispute over the Jichinsai of Tsu ). The roots of the religions of Japan , which go deep into society and culture, made an absolute separation of state and religion impossible and, literally, would have even led to discrimination against religious organizations. The possible state sponsorship of such important shrines as the Yasukuni Shrine , the national place of worship for the war dead of Japan, is also the subject of constant controversy .
Institutions
This table provides an overview of the major government institutions in Japan from the Meiji Restoration to the present, under whose jurisdiction the religious groups in Japan were or are, indicated by the dark gray coloring of the respective cells.
| Government institutions charged with religious issues | Groups under the respective responsibility | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese name | Translated name | founding | abolition | Shrines | Sects ( 1 ) | Buddh. | Christianity | Other |
| Jingi Jimu-ka (神祇 事務 科) |
Shinto Affairs Department | January 1868 | February 1868 | |||||
| Jingi Jimu-kyoku (神祇 事務 局) |
Shinto Affairs Authority | February 1868 | April 1868 | |||||
| Jingi-kan (神祇 官) |
Kami office | April 1868 | August 1871 | |||||
|
Mimbu-shō Shajigakari (民 部 省 社 寺 掛) |
Ministry of Civil Affairs, Department of Shrines and Temples ( 2 ) |
July 1870 | October 1870 | |||||
| Mimbu-shō Jiin-ryō (民 部 省 寺院 寮) |
Ministry of Civil Affairs, Temple Authority |
October 1870 | July 1871 | |||||
|
Ōkura-shō Koseki-ryō Shaji-ka (大 蔵 省 戸 籍 寮 社 寺 課) |
Treasury Department, Census Records Bureau, Shrines and Temples Division ( 3 ) |
July 1871 | March 1872 | |||||
|
Jingi-shō (神祇 省) |
Shinto Ministry of Religions | August 1871 | March 1872 | |||||
|
Kyōbu-shō (教 部 省) |
Ministry of Religion | March 1872 | January 1877 | |||||
|
Naimu-shō Shaji-kyoku (内務 省 社 寺 局) |
Ministry of the Interior, Shrine and Temple Authority |
January 1877 | April 1900 | |||||
| Naimu-shō Jinja-kyoku (内務 省 神社 局) |
Ministry of the Interior, Shrine Authority |
April 1900 | November 1940 | |||||
| Naimu-shō Shūkyō-kyoku (内務 省 宗教局) |
Ministry of the Interior, Religious Authority |
April 1900 | June 1913 | |||||
|
Mombu-shō Shūkyō-kyoku (文部省 宗教局) |
Ministry of Education, Religious Authority |
June 1913 | November 1942 | |||||
| Naimu-shō Jingiin (内務 省 神祇 院) |
Home Office, Shrine Committee |
November 1940 | February 1946 | |||||
| Mombu-shō Kyōka-kyoku Shūkyō-ka (文部省 教化 局 宗教 課) |
Ministry of Education, Department of Education, Department of Religions |
February 1942 | November 1943 | |||||
| Mombu-shō Kyōgaku-kyoku Shūkyō-ka (文部省 教学 局 宗教 課) |
Ministry of Education, Department of Education, Department of Religions |
November 1943 | October 1945 | |||||
| Mombu-shō Shakaikyōiku-kyoku Shūkyō-ka (文部省 社会 教育局 宗教 課) |
Ministry of Education, Social Education Authority, Religious Department |
October 1945 | March 1946 | |||||
| Mombu-daijin-kambō Shūmu-ka (文 部 大臣 官 房 宗 務 課) |
Secretariat of the Ministry of Education, Department of Religious Affairs |
March 1946 | August 1952 | |||||
| Mombu-shō Chōsa-kyoku Shūmu-ka (文部省 調査 宗 務 課) |
Department of Education, Department of Religious Affairs |
August 1952 | ||||||
1 This expressly only refers to the Shinto sects. 2 only controlled those shrines that were not under the direct control of the jingikan . 3 only controlled those shrines that were not under the direct control of the jingikan or jingishō .
literature
- Daniel C. Holtom: Modern Japan and Shinto Nationalism . Rev ed. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1947.
- Wilhelmus HM Creemers: Shrine Shinto after World War II . EJ Brill, 1968.
- Ernst Lokowandt: The legal development of the state Shinto in the first half of the Meiji period (1868–1890) . Bonn 1976.
- Ernst Lokowandt: On the relationship between the state and Shintô in Japan today . Wiesbaden 1981, ISBN 3-447-02094-6 .
- Muraoka Tsunetsugu: Studies in Shinto Thought . Greenwood Press, 1988, ISBN 0-313-26555-0 .
- Okuyama Michiaki; "State Shinto" in Recent Japanese Scholarship. In: Monumenta Nipponica . Vol. 66, 2011, p. 123-
- Paul Brooker: The Faces of Fraternalism: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan . Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-827319-3
Web links
- State Shinto in the "Religion in Japan" web manual
- Sakamoto Koremaru: "State Shinto" . In: Encyclopedia of Shinto. Kokugaku-in , February 28, 2007 (English)
- Christoph Kleine: Religion in the service of an ethnic-national identity construction: discussed using the example of the “German Christians” and the Japanese Shinto ; in: Marburg Journal of Religion, Volume 7, No. 1; Marburg, September 2002; Retrieved July 19, 2006
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kuroda Toshio: "Shinto in the History of Japanese Religion" in: Religions of Japan in Practice by George J. Tanabe (ed.), Princeton Readings in Religions , Princeton University Press 1999, ISBN 0-691-05788-5 , p 451-467
- ↑ See Ian Reader: " Dichotomies, Contested Terms and Contemporary Issues in the Study of Religion " in: electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies , Discussion Paper 3 in 2004; Retrieved June 10, 2006
- ↑ The Japanese Constitution of February 11, 1889 (Meiji Constitution); Translation according to: Fujii Shinichi, Japanese Constitutional Law, Tokyo 1940, p. 457 ff. On the website of the University of Bern ( Memento from May 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Quoted from Rosenkranz, Gerhard: Shinto - the way of the gods . Regin-Verlag, Wachtendonk 2003, page 96, ISBN 3-937129-00-6 .
- ↑ Quoted from Lokowandt 1981, p. 81
