Weekly Notes Summary

Week of April 21
 

Initial contacts with Western Technology and Christian Mission

n      1542: a Portuguese shipwreck in Kyushu

n      1549: Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier arrives in Kyushu, makes his way to Kyoto

n      Japanese impressed with Jesuit order: modern, academic, scientific, disciplined (reminiscent of the best Zen monks)

n      Many Japanese converts; Jesuit success alarms the Buddhist authorities

n      Over the next 50 years, trade relations (and rivalries) develop with Portugal, Spain, Holland, and England

n      1597: first major persecution of Christians in Japan (both missions and converts)

n      1614: official edict to suppress Christianity

Tokugawa (Edo) Period (1615-1868)

n      Basic characteristics of Pre-Tokugawa and Tokugawa Japan

n      Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu: the three-tiered foundation of a unified Japan (1534-1615)

n      Western firearms and resulting changes in war tactics

n      Hideyoshi’s sword confiscation: the clear distinction of the samurai class

n      In 1615, Japan ultimately unified under one powerful military shogunate (Tokugawa clan)

n      Samurai pledged themselves to the service of a daimyo 大名 (lit., “great name”), a feudal lord who governed a district under the ruling shogun

n      Under Ieyasu, capital moved from Kyoto to Edo (modern Tokyo)

n      Figurehead emperor remained in Kyoto

n      Sankin-kotai: “alternate attendance” of the daimyo and the “hostage system”

n      Sought to isolate Japan from ever-increasing foreign influences (both Asian and Western), including sometimes violent suppression of Christian mission

n      Early 17th century religious persecution: the Fumi-e

n      The exceptional affinity for the Dutch, who are allowed to maintain limited trading privileges in the southern port of Nagasaki

n      Science, technology, and illustration

n      Edo painting and the development of Ukiyo-e

Religion in Tokugawa Japan

n      Buddhism institutionalized into state-sanctioned tool of social control

n      Every family must register with local temple

n      Evolves into consciousness of religion as family tradition, not personal faith

n      As a mere political tool, Buddhism’s influence declines

n      Neo-Confucianism provides a rationale for the existence of the political order (recall li as “natural order”)

n      But in regard to the samurai, changes in the Confucian notion of “self-cultivation” as a basis for discipline

n      The samurai class becomes one of name only, as their responsibilities become more bureaucratic and less martial in a time of relative peace and political stability

n      “Martial skills” become “martial arts” (the “art” of the sword)

n      Many samurai are without occupation, and become wandering masterless warriors, or ronin; cf. Kurusawa’s “The Seven Samurai” (1954) or Kobayashi’s “Seppuku” (1962)

Tokugawa Restoration Shinto  

n      Due to its political institutionalization, Buddhism falls into relative disfavor

n      Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801)

n      Edited both the Kojiki and The Tale of Genji, in order to strip away the layers of Buddhist and Confucian socio-ethical ideas that had been artificially imposed on them (also, the Kojiki is written in the Japanese kana syllabary so that it is much more accessible)

n      The Kojiki accounts for both good and evil kami, for all of life is a composite of good and evil, right and wrong

n      The ethical inconsistencies of Genji demonstrate that human emotions do not follow the dictates of reason

n      Better to accept the inconsistencies than to follow the deceptive Buddhist and Confucian views that attempt to hide the truth

n      Mono no aware 物の哀れ (“the sadness of things”): life is an immense opera that hurts, and the kami of the natural world are behind it

The Meiji Restoration (1868)

n      Historical Background (late Tokugawa Period)

n      The political and economic power of the Tokogawa shogunate was declining in the 19th century

n      The foreign insistence on trade relations seen as a political threat to which the shogunate was unable to respond effectively

n      More Japanese come to favor the restoration of the emperor as internal factions compromise the control of the shogunate

n      1853: U.S. naval forces sail into Edo harbor in an attempt to open trade relations with Japan

n      The weakened shogunate had no real choice but to cede to their request

n      1868: the shogunate was formally abolished and, under the name of Meiji (“enlightened rule”), the emperor (16 years old!) is “restored” to direct power for the first time in 700 years

n      The Meiji Period (1868-1912) marks Japan’s transformation from feudal society to modern nation-state

The Unification of Shinto and State

n      Due to its spiritual decline, Buddhism posed no obstacle to Shinto’s ascension to prominence

n      The close association of temples and shrines made it a relatively simple matter for the Buddhist priest simply to “change his robe”

n      In 1868, Shinto is proclaimed as the sole basis of the Restoration government: one need only to invoke the Kojiki to legitimize the link between religion and state

n      The Imperial Rescript of 1870: Japan created by the kamis and by the unbroken line of the imperial family

n      All citizens required to register with a local Shinto shrine

n      A government “Department of Shinto” is created

The Creation of a State Shinto

n      Due to the foreign pressure to increase religious freedom (particularly for the re-admittance of Christian mission), the government was forced to grant allowance

n      The government response to this foreign imposition was to create a category of Shinto practice that is “non-religious”

n      Referred to as “Shrine Shinto,” it was distinguished from the “religious” form known as “Sect Shinto”

n      “Sect Shinto” held the same religious status as Buddhism and Christianity, thereby allowing for religious freedom (while “Shrine Shinto” was presented as “non-religious”)

n      The Imperial Rescript on Education (1890) assured that Shinto (and Confucian) principles would be respected in the moral education of the people, while “religious” teaching, as defined by the state (Buddhist, Sect Shinto, and Christian) was excluded from the educational curriculum

Imperialism and Expansion

n      Any Japanese who grew up between 1890 and 1945 received a public education that was grounded in kokutai (“nationalistic values”)

n      The Sino-Japanese War of 1895

n      The Russo-Japanese War of 1905

n      These stunning military victories served to reinforce kokutai in the Japanese mind, thereby providing a rationale for expansionism as a kind of divine destiny

Bushido: “The Way of the Warrior”

n      It is generally held that bushido is a “formal” code of honor that dates back to the medieval age of the samurai

n      Evidence suggests that the term itself never existed until it was artificially romanticized into the modern 20th century Japanese mind

n      Bushido: The Soul of Japan, by Inazo Nitobe (1900, revised 1905) presented bushido as the means by which Japan rose to become a world power

n      Bushido evolved into the basis of the nationalist spirit that led to Japan’s aggressive military expansionism in the Pacific War (1930-45)

Shinto in Postwar Japan

n      National pride is not to be equated naively with nationalist aggression

n      Shinto should therefore not be condemned as the impetus behind Japan’s expansionism in the Pacific War

n      Rather, it was Japan’s expansionist policies that appropriated and exploited Shinto doctrine for its own aggressive purposes

n      Nevertheless, due to its use of Shinto as an ideological tool, as well as the concern that it might continue as such, Japan was ordered by the occupation forces to abide by the following:

The Shinto Directive (December 15, 1945)

n      All government sponsorship or promotion of Shinto will cease

n      All public financial support of Shinto shrines or teachings will cease (voluntary private support to be permitted)

n      Religious-oriented teachings will be removed from the curriculum and textbooks of all public educational institutions

n      No political official, acting in his public capacity,  shall visit a Shinto shrine nor shall he participate in any ceremony or observance thereof

The Imperial Rescript (January 1, 1946)

n      “…we will construct a new Japan through being thoroughly pacific, the officials and the people alike…”

n      “The ties between Us and Our people… do not depend upon mere legends and myths.  They are not predicated on the false conception that the emperor is divine, and that the Japanese people are superior to other races and fated to rule the world.”

n      “Love of the family and love of the country are especially strong in this country.  With more of this devotion should we now work towards love of humankind.”

Ongoing Religious Issues in Japan

n      Formal separation of religion and state is one thing…

n      The interrelationship of religion and public life of a nation is yet another

n      The question of Yasukuni Jinja

n      A Shinto shrine that memorializes the war dead

n      Should it receive public support?

n      Is it a “private shrine” or a “public memorial”?

•  The former can only be funded privately

• The latter may be funded publicly