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31. Nationalistic Shinto: A Child's Guide to Yasukuni Shrine

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Religions of Japan in Practice
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31Nationalistic Shinto: A Child's Guideto Yasukuni ShrineRichard GardnerThe following text is excerpted from a pamphlet, intended for children, explainingthe history of Yasukuni Shrine, one of the more controversial religious and po-litical sites in Japan. The shrine was established in 1869 at its present location,the top of Kudan slope in Tokyo's Chiyoda-ku, at the request of Emperor Meiji.It served to enshrine and pacify the spirits of those who had died on both sidesof the fighting in the Boshin War (1868-1869), which resulted in the overthrowof the shogunate and restoration of the emperor to power. The shrine came to beunderstood as the place for enshrining all of those who lost their lives in battlefor the sake of the nation in both civil and foreign wars. From early on, Yasukunihad a close connection with the imperial family, came under military jurisdiction,and served as a center for nationalistic propaganda.Following the Japanese defeat in the Second World War, State Shinto wasbanned by the occupation authorities and the new Japanese constitution includeda provision formally separating church and state. Yasukuni Shrine thus becamean independent religious organization. While many younger Japanese rarely ifever think of the shrine, it has remained, nevertheless, a site of contention anddispute. Traditionalists, conservatives, and the Association of Bereaved Families(Izokukai) have, since the mid-1950s, waged a campaign to reestablish the con-nection between Yasukuni Shrine and the state. Liberals, leftists, Christians, andothers have fought to oppose any effort to reforge such a link. The shrine is alsoa point of contention throughout Asia. For many Asian countries, Yasukuni Shrineis a symbol of Japan's aggression during the war years. The last major "event" inthe history of the shrine—Prime Minister Nakasone's official visit to the shrinein 1985—sparked a vehement protest by China and other nations in the region.The controversy surrounding the shrine today is inevitably bound up withliving memories of the period of Japan's militarism in the 1930s and 1940s.
© 2021 Princeton University Press, Princeton

31Nationalistic Shinto: A Child's Guideto Yasukuni ShrineRichard GardnerThe following text is excerpted from a pamphlet, intended for children, explainingthe history of Yasukuni Shrine, one of the more controversial religious and po-litical sites in Japan. The shrine was established in 1869 at its present location,the top of Kudan slope in Tokyo's Chiyoda-ku, at the request of Emperor Meiji.It served to enshrine and pacify the spirits of those who had died on both sidesof the fighting in the Boshin War (1868-1869), which resulted in the overthrowof the shogunate and restoration of the emperor to power. The shrine came to beunderstood as the place for enshrining all of those who lost their lives in battlefor the sake of the nation in both civil and foreign wars. From early on, Yasukunihad a close connection with the imperial family, came under military jurisdiction,and served as a center for nationalistic propaganda.Following the Japanese defeat in the Second World War, State Shinto wasbanned by the occupation authorities and the new Japanese constitution includeda provision formally separating church and state. Yasukuni Shrine thus becamean independent religious organization. While many younger Japanese rarely ifever think of the shrine, it has remained, nevertheless, a site of contention anddispute. Traditionalists, conservatives, and the Association of Bereaved Families(Izokukai) have, since the mid-1950s, waged a campaign to reestablish the con-nection between Yasukuni Shrine and the state. Liberals, leftists, Christians, andothers have fought to oppose any effort to reforge such a link. The shrine is alsoa point of contention throughout Asia. For many Asian countries, Yasukuni Shrineis a symbol of Japan's aggression during the war years. The last major "event" inthe history of the shrine—Prime Minister Nakasone's official visit to the shrinein 1985—sparked a vehement protest by China and other nations in the region.The controversy surrounding the shrine today is inevitably bound up withliving memories of the period of Japan's militarism in the 1930s and 1940s.
© 2021 Princeton University Press, Princeton

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Princeton Readings in Religions v
  3. Note on Transliteration, Names, and Abbreviations vii
  4. CONTENTS ix
  5. Contents by Chronology xiii
  6. Contents by Tradition xv
  7. Contributors xvii
  8. Introduction 1
  9. Ethical Practices
  10. SOCIAL VALUES
  11. 1. Selected Anecdotes to Illustrate Ten Maxims 25
  12. 2. Kaibara Ekken's Precepts on the Family 38
  13. 3. The Shingaku of Nakazawa Dōni 53
  14. CLERICAL PRECEPTS
  15. 4. Eisai's Promotion of Zen for the Protection of the Country 63
  16. 5. Shingon's Jiun Sonja and His "Vinaya of the True Dharma" Movement 71
  17. 6. A Refutation of Clerical Marriage 78
  18. LAY PRECEPTS
  19. 7. Eison and the Shingon Vinaya Sect 89
  20. 8. Kokan Shiren's Zen Precept Procedures 98
  21. Ritual Practices
  22. GODS
  23. 9. Records of the Customs and Land of Izumo 113
  24. 10. Miraculous Tales of the Hasedera Kannon 117
  25. 11. Japanese Puppetry: From Ritual Performance to Stage Entertainment 124
  26. 12. The Shinto Wedding Ceremony: A Modern Norito 135
  27. SPIRITS
  28. 13. Tama Belief and Practice in Ancient Japan 141
  29. 14. Japan's First Shingon Ceremony 153
  30. 15. Shingon Services for the Dead 159
  31. 16. Genshin's Deathbed Nembutsu Ritual in Pure Land Buddhism 166
  32. 17. Women and Japanese Buddhism: Tales of Birth in the Pure Land 176
  33. 18. Epic and Religious Propaganda from the Ippen School of Pure Land Buddhism 185
  34. 19. Buddhism and Abortion: "The Way to Memorialize One's Mizuko" 193
  35. RITUALS OF REALIZATION
  36. 20. The Contemplation of Suchness 199
  37. 21. The Purification Formula of the Nakatomi 210
  38. 22. Dōgen's Lancet of Seated Meditation 220
  39. 23. Chidō's Dreams of Buddhism 235
  40. 24. A Japanese Shugendō Apocryphal Text 246
  41. FAITH
  42. 25. On Attaining the Settled Mind: The Condition of the Nembutsu Practitioner 257
  43. 26. Plain Words on the Pure Land Way 268
  44. 27. Shinran's Faith as Immediate Fulfillment in Pure Land Buddhism 280
  45. Institutional Practices
  46. COURT AND EMPEROR
  47. 28. The Confucian Monarchy of Nara Japan 293
  48. 29. The Founding of the Monastery Gangōji and a List of Its Treasures 299
  49. 30. Hagiography and History: The Image of Prince Shōtoku 316
  50. 31. Nationalistic Shinto: A Child's Guide to Yasukuni Shrine 334
  51. SECTARIAN FOUNDERS, WIZARDS, AND HEROES
  52. 32. En the Ascetic 343
  53. 33. The Founding of Mount Kōya and Kūkai's Eternal Meditation 354
  54. 34. Legends, Miracles, and Faith in Kōbō Daishi and the Shikoku Pilgrimage 360
  55. 35. A Personal Account of the Life of the Venerable Genkū 370
  56. 36. Priest Nisshin's Ordeals 384
  57. 37. Makuya: Prayer, Receiving the Holy Spirit, and Bible Study 398
  58. ORTHOPRAXIS AND ORTHODOXY
  59. 38. Mujū Ichien's Shintō-Buddhist Syncretism 415
  60. 39. Contested Orthodoxies in Five Mountains Zen Buddhism 423
  61. 40. Motoori Norinaga on the Two Shrines at Ise 435
  62. 41. Shinto in the History of Japanese Religion: An Essay by Kuroda Toshio 451
  63. 42. Sasaki Shōten: Toward a Postmodern Shinshū Theology 468
  64. 43. Contemporary Zen Buddhist Tracts for the Laity: Grassroots Buddhism in Japan 487
  65. SPECIAL PLACES
  66. 44. Keizan's Dream History 501
  67. 45. Tōkeiji: Kamakura's "Divorce Temple" in Edo Popular Verse 523
  68. Appendix: Chinese Romanization Conversion Tables 551
  69. Index 559
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691214740-037

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Princeton Readings in Religions v
  3. Note on Transliteration, Names, and Abbreviations vii
  4. CONTENTS ix
  5. Contents by Chronology xiii
  6. Contents by Tradition xv
  7. Contributors xvii
  8. Introduction 1
  9. Ethical Practices
  10. SOCIAL VALUES
  11. 1. Selected Anecdotes to Illustrate Ten Maxims 25
  12. 2. Kaibara Ekken's Precepts on the Family 38
  13. 3. The Shingaku of Nakazawa Dōni 53
  14. CLERICAL PRECEPTS
  15. 4. Eisai's Promotion of Zen for the Protection of the Country 63
  16. 5. Shingon's Jiun Sonja and His "Vinaya of the True Dharma" Movement 71
  17. 6. A Refutation of Clerical Marriage 78
  18. LAY PRECEPTS
  19. 7. Eison and the Shingon Vinaya Sect 89
  20. 8. Kokan Shiren's Zen Precept Procedures 98
  21. Ritual Practices
  22. GODS
  23. 9. Records of the Customs and Land of Izumo 113
  24. 10. Miraculous Tales of the Hasedera Kannon 117
  25. 11. Japanese Puppetry: From Ritual Performance to Stage Entertainment 124
  26. 12. The Shinto Wedding Ceremony: A Modern Norito 135
  27. SPIRITS
  28. 13. Tama Belief and Practice in Ancient Japan 141
  29. 14. Japan's First Shingon Ceremony 153
  30. 15. Shingon Services for the Dead 159
  31. 16. Genshin's Deathbed Nembutsu Ritual in Pure Land Buddhism 166
  32. 17. Women and Japanese Buddhism: Tales of Birth in the Pure Land 176
  33. 18. Epic and Religious Propaganda from the Ippen School of Pure Land Buddhism 185
  34. 19. Buddhism and Abortion: "The Way to Memorialize One's Mizuko" 193
  35. RITUALS OF REALIZATION
  36. 20. The Contemplation of Suchness 199
  37. 21. The Purification Formula of the Nakatomi 210
  38. 22. Dōgen's Lancet of Seated Meditation 220
  39. 23. Chidō's Dreams of Buddhism 235
  40. 24. A Japanese Shugendō Apocryphal Text 246
  41. FAITH
  42. 25. On Attaining the Settled Mind: The Condition of the Nembutsu Practitioner 257
  43. 26. Plain Words on the Pure Land Way 268
  44. 27. Shinran's Faith as Immediate Fulfillment in Pure Land Buddhism 280
  45. Institutional Practices
  46. COURT AND EMPEROR
  47. 28. The Confucian Monarchy of Nara Japan 293
  48. 29. The Founding of the Monastery Gangōji and a List of Its Treasures 299
  49. 30. Hagiography and History: The Image of Prince Shōtoku 316
  50. 31. Nationalistic Shinto: A Child's Guide to Yasukuni Shrine 334
  51. SECTARIAN FOUNDERS, WIZARDS, AND HEROES
  52. 32. En the Ascetic 343
  53. 33. The Founding of Mount Kōya and Kūkai's Eternal Meditation 354
  54. 34. Legends, Miracles, and Faith in Kōbō Daishi and the Shikoku Pilgrimage 360
  55. 35. A Personal Account of the Life of the Venerable Genkū 370
  56. 36. Priest Nisshin's Ordeals 384
  57. 37. Makuya: Prayer, Receiving the Holy Spirit, and Bible Study 398
  58. ORTHOPRAXIS AND ORTHODOXY
  59. 38. Mujū Ichien's Shintō-Buddhist Syncretism 415
  60. 39. Contested Orthodoxies in Five Mountains Zen Buddhism 423
  61. 40. Motoori Norinaga on the Two Shrines at Ise 435
  62. 41. Shinto in the History of Japanese Religion: An Essay by Kuroda Toshio 451
  63. 42. Sasaki Shōten: Toward a Postmodern Shinshū Theology 468
  64. 43. Contemporary Zen Buddhist Tracts for the Laity: Grassroots Buddhism in Japan 487
  65. SPECIAL PLACES
  66. 44. Keizan's Dream History 501
  67. 45. Tōkeiji: Kamakura's "Divorce Temple" in Edo Popular Verse 523
  68. Appendix: Chinese Romanization Conversion Tables 551
  69. Index 559
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