Shinbutsu bunri

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Shinbutsu-Bunri ( Japanese. 神 仏 分離 ) refers to the separation of the previously closely interwoven religions Shinto and Japanese Buddhism (cf. Shinbutsu-Shūgō ) carried out in the course of the Meiji Restoration .

As part of the measures to raise the Shinto to the state religion ( State Shinto ) one set up in January 1868 an "office for Shinto affairs" ( jingijimuka ), which in the following month by the "authority for Shinto affairs" ( Jingijimukyoku ) as one of the eight authorities of the State Council was replaced. But already in April of the same year this authority went into the "Shinto office" ( jingikan ), which was active until August 1871.

One of the first measures taken by the Shinto Affairs Authority was a directive dated April 4, 1868, directed to all Shinto priests in the country, that those " directors who wear Buddhist costumes" and "so-called shrine monks" should give up their religious activities.

A few days later, the decree to separate Shinto and Buddhism ( 神 仏 分離 の 令 , Shinbutsu-Bunri-no-rei ) was issued. According to her, Buddhist statues, images and other relics had to be removed from all Shinto shrines and those Shinto shrines that had received Buddhist names had to be renamed. Previous state subsidies and recognitions were no longer applicable. A few months later enacted laws extensively regulated the secularization , d. H. the spiritual ban on all Buddhist priests in the shrine service. Those who refused to obey this ban "because of inevitable obstacles or out of Buddhist beliefs" were expelled from the shrines.

A decree in December to the schools of Nichiren Buddhism ordered the burning of all Shinto relics in their temples and prohibited the hitherto customary use of the "Thirty Guardian Gods" of Shinto or other Kami in their teachings and ceremonies. Similar edicts directed against Buddhist elements were issued to the larger Shinto shrines in which Buddhist influence was still significant.

These measures also led to the propagation of the "Kill the Buddhas, Destroy the Buddhist Scriptures" movement ( Haibutsu kishaku ), in the course of which Buddhist monks were massacred, Buddhist scriptures burned and a large number of temples looted, destroyed or closed. With regard to the extent, methods and state involvement there were considerable differences between the regions, as the local authorities had been given a lot of freedom in implementing the laws. In addition, smaller temples in particular had to struggle with considerable financial problems, as the mandatory and perceived repressive registration of the population in one of the Buddhist temples ( Danka system ) was now exempted.

This policy of separating Shinto and Buddhism was largely discontinued in March 1872. The turning point is the dissolution of the Shinto Ministry of Religion ( jingishō ) and the establishment of the Ministry of Religion ( kyōbushō ) in April 1872, in whose jurisdiction both religions now fell equally.

For the foreigners living in Japan at the time, this was an opportunity to acquire Buddhist sculptures and pictures, which have now undergone a change from a religious object to an object of art contemplation.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See e.g. B. Hiroyuki Suzuki: The Buddha of Kamakura and the “Modernization” of Buddhist Statuary in the Meiji Period

literature

  • Wilhelmus HM Creemers: Shrine Shinto after World War II . EJ Brill, 1968.
  • Ulrich Dehn : State and Religion in Japan . 2005.
  • Ernst Lokowandt: The legal development of the state Shinto in the first half of the Meiji period (1868-1890) . Bonn, 1976
  • Article by the Evangelical Academy Bad Boll (PDF file; 272 kB)

Web links