Meiji Buddhism: Religion and Patriotism

State Shintoism and Buddhist Persecution. THAT THE MEI]I RESTORATION \'\'AS BROUGHT ABOUT BY A COMbination of forces (such as the development of commerce, industry and capitalism) which were united under the slogan of the Restoration of· Imperial Rule which, in turn, was concocted bv the students of the Hirata School of Shintoism under the impending atmosphere of \'V'estern encroachment to the Far East, meant that the character of the Meiji government was, to a large extent, influenced by Shinto ideology geared to inculcate nationalism. That the political idealism of Shintoism constituted an all out revivalism of a pre-historic society, meant that the new government represented not merely a transformation of power from the samurai government of the Tokugawas to the Emperor, but the establishment of a theocracy based on the dogma of the divinity of the Emperor around ·which nationalism gathered forces. Shintoism, having resigned itself to playing a minor role under the Tokugawas, now entertained ambitions of restoring its ancient prestige and asserting its authority over Buddhism-its major foe in the game of power politics. As one of its seven executive offices, the new government established the Office of Shinto Affairs 1 on Tanuarv 17, 1868. Its functions were: to disseminate the policy of the state," to ad~ance the idea of the unity of state and Shintoism, and to propagate the Shinto way of life, rooted in the mythological ambiguity of the Kojiki and Nihon Shold. As means of restoring the purity of Shintoism-undefiled by Buddhist elements-the Shinto-Buddhist Separation Policy was announced on March 17, 1868 and enforced. the following month under the authority of the Office of Shinto Affairs. The separation policy was not of the kind that aimed to challenge the rational basis of the honji-suijaku theory 2 (Shinto-Buddhist syncretic theory). It represented efforts, on the part of the Shintoists, to expel Buddhist priests, who heretofore assumed social and economic prominence within the Shinto-