"State Shinto" in Recent Japanese Scholarship

Okuyama, Michiaki

doi:10.1353/mni.2011.0019

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The Japanese war crime trials are a related and similarly contentious issue that has been covered in a recent monograph by Yuma Totani (). Recent Japanese scholarship on the disputed category of ‘State Shintō’ received thorough treatment in a review article by Okuyama ().…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the one hand, some scholars have seen the activities of some postwar institutions such as the ‘emperor system’, the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, the National Association of Shrines (Jinja Honchō), and various right‐leaning political groups such as the Shintō Seiji Renmei as evidence of the continued postwar survival of a nationalistic state religion (Breen and Teeuwen, , 199–220; Mullins, ). On the other hand, recent research has questioned the historical accuracy, internal consistency, or analytic coherence of the term ‘State Shintō’ (Okuyama, ); a small body of scholarship has attempted to take the idea of ‘non‐religious Shintō’ or a ‘Shintō secular’ seriously without necessarily condoning wartime practices or policies (Josephson, ; Scheid, ). Where one falls on the interpretive spectrum of this politically charged issue depends largely on the type of evidence one prefers and the basic political orientations one brings to the topic of the Occupation, but neither position should be rejected out of hand.…”

Section: Three Phases In Occupation Religions Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Religions Policies During the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1945–1952

Thomas

2014

Religion Compass

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Religion played a prominent role in the Allied Occupation of Japan (1945)(1946)(1947)(1948)(1949)(1950)(1951)(1952) that followed the brutal Pacific War (1941)(1942)(1943)(1944)(1945). Officially, the occupiers were to promulgate religious freedom, separate religion from the state, and encourage the Japanese people to develop a 'desire for religious freedom'. Promulgating religious freedom was the easy part. Separating religion from the state without infringing on religious freedom was far more challenging, and the ambiguous objective of instilling a desire for religious freedom in the Japanese populace was nearly impossible to measure. This review article provides a brief overview of trends in Occupation research, traces historical changes and paradoxes in Occupation religions policy and examines the unexpected and frequently ironic outcomes of that policy. It provides a cursory look into the postwar eff lorescence of 'new religions' and the politically fraught category of 'State Shintō'. It closes with an overview of archives and records on the Occupation. Video abstract (click to view)The Allied Occupation of Japan (1945)(1946)(1947)(1948)(1949)(1950)(1951)(1952); 'the Occupation' hereafter) that marked the close of the brutal Pacific War (1941)(1942)(1943)(1944)(1945) was a pivotal moment in the history of modern Japanese religions. This was not only because Occupation reforms brought significant changes to

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Three Phases In Occupation Religions Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Religions Policies During the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1945–1952

Thomas

2014

Religion Compass

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Rethinking “State Shinto” in the Past and the Present

Okuyama

2019

Numen

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This article reflects on the meaning of recent arguments concerning “State Shinto” in the contemporary Japanese right-wing and conservative social context. Shimazono Susumu’s recent analyses of State Shinto in postwar Japan have stimulated discussion of the subject. His understanding that State Shinto has survived from the prewar years is based on his analysis of both Imperial House Shinto, which was not affected by the Shinto Directive issued in 1945, and the postwar political activism of the Association of Shinto Shrines and its political arm, the Shinto Association for Spiritual Leadership. The political campaigns of these Shinto groups can be situated in a larger context of the rise of neonationalism in contemporary Japanese society. Given the relationship of Japanese politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine and Ise Jingū (Ise Shrine), and the current interest among the public in the rituals of the emperor and the imperial family, a reconsideration of the concept of State Shinto seems warranted. A critical rethinking of State Shinto may be regarded as a warning against attempts by conservative religio-political movements to revive prewar State Shinto.

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Trapped in Text

Loo¹

2023

The Journal of Asian Studies

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This article situates the discourses produced during an anti-yuta shaman campaign in 1913 within a longer trajectory of the changing position of Okinawa's female ritualists following Japan's formal colonization of Okinawa. Women have historically dominated Okinawa's ritual world as its practitioners but their power and position were less certain by the 1940s. Examining the arguments produced in newspaper articles and by the prominent Okinawan intellectual Iha Fuyū in 1913, this article argues that the campaign contributed to the erosion of these women's position by introducing new ways of thinking that called their relevance to Okinawan society into question.

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"State Shinto" in Recent Japanese Scholarship

Cited by 7 publications

References 5 publications

Religions Policies During the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1945–1952

Religions Policies During the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1945–1952

Rethinking “State Shinto” in the Past and the Present

Trapped in Text

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