Empire of Japan's 50 sen banknote, featuring Yasukuni Shrine
State Shintō (国家神道 or 國家神道, Kokka Shintō) was Imperial Japan's ideological use of the Japanese folk religion and traditions of Shinto.[1]: 547 The state exercised control of shrine finances and training regimes for priests[2][3]: 59 [4]: 120 to strongly encourage Shinto practices that emphasized the Emperor as a divine being.[5]: 8
The State Shinto ideology emerged at the start of the Meiji era, after government officials defined freedom of religion within the Meiji Constitution.[6]: 115 Imperial scholars believed Shinto reflected the historical fact of the Emperor's divine origins rather than a religious belief, and argued that it should enjoy a privileged relationship with the Japanese state.[5]: 8 [3]: 59 The government argued that Shinto was a non-religious moral tradition and patriotic practice, to give the impression that they supported religious freedom.[3]: 59 [4]: 120 Though early Meiji-era attempts to unite Shinto and the state failed,[6]: 51 this non-religious concept of ideological Shinto was incorporated into state bureaucracy.[7]: 547 [8] Shrines were defined as patriotic, not religious, institutions, which served state purposes such as honoring the war dead;[6]: 91 this is known as Secular Shrine Theory.[9]
The state also integrated local shrines into political functions, occasionally spurring local opposition and resentment.[4]: 120 With fewer shrines financed by the state, nearly 80,000 closed or merged with neighbors.[6]: 98 [7]: 118 Many shrines and shrine organizations began to independently embrace these state directives, regardless of funding.[7]: 114 By 1940, Shinto priests risked persecution for performing traditionally "religious" Shinto ceremonies.[6]: 25 [10]: 699 Imperial Japan did not draw a distinction between ideological Shinto and traditional Shinto.[7]: 100
US military leaders introduced the term "State Shinto" to differentiate the state's ideology from traditional Shinto practices[5]: 38 in the 1945 Shinto Directive.[5]: 38 That decree established Shinto as a religion, and banned further ideological uses of Shinto by the state.[10]: 703 Controversy continues to surround the use of Shinto symbols in state functions.[2]: 428 [10]: 706 [11]
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^Sakamoto, Koremaru (1993). Kokka Shinto taisei no seiritsu to tenkai. Tokyo: Kobunda. pp. 165–202.
^均, 新田 (2020-08-10). 加藤玄智の国家神道観 [Genchi Kato's view of state Shinto]. Religious Law Research (宗教法研究) (in Japanese) (14): 199–230. Archived from the original on 2023-05-20. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
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StateShintō (国家神道 or 國家神道, Kokka Shintō) was Imperial Japan's ideological use of the Japanese folk religion and traditions of Shinto.: 547 The state...
of Shintō such as popular Shintō, folk Shintō, domestic Shintō, sectarian Shintō, imperial house Shintō, shrine Shintō, stateShintō, new Shintō religions...
Buddhist influence from kami worship and formed StateShinto, which some historians regard as the origin of Shinto as a distinct religion. Shrines came under...
The Shinto Directive was an order issued in 1945 to the Japanese government by Occupation authorities to abolish state support for the Shinto religion...
Sect Shinto (教派神道, Kyōha Shintō, or 宗派, Shuha Shintō) refers to several independent organized Shinto groups that were excluded by law in 1882 from government-run...
Religion in Japan is manifested primarily in Shinto and in Buddhism, the two main faiths, which Japanese people often practice simultaneously. According...
mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, beings...
Overseas Shinto designates the practice of the Japanese religion of Shinto outside Japan itself. Shinto has spread abroad by various methods, including...
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This is the glossary of Shinto, including major terms on the subject. Words followed by an asterisk (*) are illustrated by an image in one of the photo...
use of the traditional folk practices of Japan, later described as "StateShinto." As Japan expanded its control of Korea, it also expanded the number...
native to Japanese beliefs and religious traditions. Many of these are from Shinto, while others were imported via Buddhism or Taoism and were "integrated"...
"Neo-Confucian Shinto" Modern organizations include Shinto Taiseikyo, Shinto Shusei, and Tsuchimikado Shinto. Suika Shinto was a major school of Confucian Shinto. The...
A Shinto shrine (神社, jinja, archaic: shinsha, meaning: "place of the god(s)") is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami...
visit this Shinto shrine and war museum in central Tokyo. The shrine is based on StateShinto, as opposed to traditional Japanese Shinto, and has a close...
Shrine Shinto is a form of the Shinto religion. It has two main varieties: StateShinto, a pre-World War II variant, and another centered on Shinto shrines...
organizational aspect of the establishment of Japanese StateShinto. This system classified Shinto shrines as either official government shrines or "other"...
consolidation of StateShinto in the Meiji era. It promoted a unified, scientifically grounded and politically powerful vision of Shinto against Buddhism...
well as the ascendancy of StateShinto to almost all walks of Japanese life. Following the end of World War II, the StateShinto machine was mostly disassembled...
state in Japan's postwar constitution. Pre-1945 StateShinto or Kokka Shinto is defined as the Shinto activities surrounding the support of government...
was the official state and national church of the Kingdom of Hawaii.[citation needed] Japanese Empire: see details in the StateShintō article. Netherlands:...
traditions of Shinto, including a unique form of participation as temple stewards and shamans, or miko. Though a ban on female Shinto priests was lifted...
The Association of Shinto Shrines (神社本庁, Jinja Honchō) is a religious administrative organisation that oversees about 80,000 Shinto shrines in Japan. These...
granted legal status. On December 15, 1945, the Shinto Directive was issued, abolishing Shinto as a state religion and prohibiting some of its teachings...
Shinto music is the ceremonial and festive music of Shinto (神道), the indigenous religion of Japan. Its origin myth is the erotic dance of Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto...
Shinto Scripture (神典, Shinten) are the holy books of Shinto The main two books are the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki. collectively called the Kiki (記紀) Kojiki...
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