Everything about State Shinto totally explained
has been called the
state religion of the
Empire of Japan. The term wasn't used until after
World War II and in a broad sense is used to classify those
Shinto ideals, rituals and institutions created by the government to promote the
divinity of the emperor and the uniqueness of Japan (
kokutai).
History
In the late
Edo period, numerous scholars of
kokugaku believed that Shintō could become a unifying agent to center the country around the
Emperor while a process of modernization was undertaken. After the
Meiji Restoration, the new imperial government needed to rapidly modernize the polity and
economy of Japan, and the
Meiji oligarchy felt that those goals could only be accomplished through a strong sense of national unity and cultural identity.
In 1868, the new
Meiji government established a government bureau, the to oversee religious affairs and to administer the government-ordered
separation of Buddhism from Shintō. In 1871, all Shintō shrines throughout Japan were declared to be property of the central government, were assigned an official rank within a hierarchy and received a subsidy for their upkeep. Shrines were divided into twelve levels with the
Ise Shrine (dedicated to
Amaterasu, and thus symbolic of the legitimacy of the Imperial family) at the top.
Furthermore, all citizens were required to register as a parishioner of their local shrine, and each parishioner of a local shrine was automatically also a parishioner of the Ise Shrine. This was a major reverse from the
Edo period, in which families were required to register with Buddhist temples, rather than Shintō shrines.
In 1872, an was established to develop and promote new government-centered rites of worship, and all
Shintō priests officially became government employees. Thus, from a legal perspective, State Shintō wasn't a religion and its values came under the heading of moral instruction rather than religious teaching.
This concentrated on the more important shrines; folk Shintō practices were mostly left unmolested and various fringe Shintō movements dating from the Edo period were allowed to continue under the rubric Sect Shintō.
In 1890, the
Imperial Rescript on Education was issued, and students were required to ritually recite its oath to "offer yourselves courageously to the State" as well as protect the Imperial family. The practice of emperor worship was further spread by distributing imperial portraits for esoteric veneration. All of these practices, used to fortify national solidarity through patriotic centralized observance at shrines, gave pre-war
Japanese nationalism a tint of
mysticism and cultural introversion.
Article 28 of the
Constitution of the Empire of Japan reaffirmed the privileged position of Shintō, but also guaranteed
freedom of religion “within limits not prejudicial to peace and order and not antagonistic to their duties as subjects”. In practice, this meant that religious groups were required to receive government approval and that their
doctrines and
rituals came under government scrutiny.
During World War II, the government used State Shintō to encourage patriotism and to support efforts towards
militarism. Noted figures in government, including
Kuniaki Koiso,
Heisuke Yanagawa,
Kiichirō Hiranuma and
Prince Kan'in Kotohito, participated in public rituals modeled after ancient ceremonies to foster a sense that supporting the war was a sacred duty.
State Shintō came to an end after the
surrender of Japan. On
1 January 1946,
Emperor Shōwa issued a statement, sometimes referred to as the
Ningen-sengen, in which he quoted the
Five Charter Oath of
Emperor Meiji and announced he wasn't an
akitsumikami. The
Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers ordered the separation of the government from religious affairs during the
occupation of Japan, and
separation of church and state was incorporated into the 1947
Constitution of Japan.
Further Information
Get more info on 'State Shinto'.
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