Shintoism and World War II in Japan

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

The impact of religions on the world throughout history is undeniable, it can be seen how different religions include in their teachings all of the life aspects and affect them in a way or another. Religions have always created a stronghold on their believers by deep belief, fear, or nationalism that they become a tool for political intrigues or global conflicts. In this article, the main theme is Japan’s Shinto religion.

This subject is going to cover the definition and the origins of Shintoism.

The connection between the Shinto religion and the nationalism in Japan and how this affected the way Japan behaved in World War II. This topic will also include the main ideologies of the Shinto and its radical movement. At last, the fate of Shintoism in the post-war period is going to be discussed along with the way it has been changed in modern Japanese life.

Main body

Shinto is the traditional religion of Japan which involves worship of Kami – a Japanese word that refers to spirits within objects. The Kami worship is the main element of the practical definition of the Shinto along with shrine rituals that were indicated back in ancient times. Shintoism is viewed as the presence of the gods in every object in nature such as a stone or a tree.

Shinto is not a system or a set of specific rules, and in a religious context, it is a religion that rose naturally within the historical progress of independent culture, in opposite to ‘founded religions’, which were based on the rules and laws of their historical founders.

These founded religions often are viewed as world religions, because their impact was wide across its founder’s countries to reach a global role.

On the other hand, Shinto as a religion is specifically linked to a single nation of Japan and did not have the purpose of spreading its teachings outside of the country or to popularize it around the globe.

There were always difficulties in following Shinto through history as a separate religion for it was always influenced by other religious traditions.

“The influence of the religions of China has been prominent since ancient times, and among them, the religion that left the most profound impact was Chinese Buddhism. Even if we were to use the term ‘Early Shinto’ to refer to some archaic prototype of Shinto, we would find that such a distant ancestor of Shinto would already have been transformed in important ways by Chinese forms of Buddhism.

In addition, other continental traditions such as Confucianism, Taoism, and theories about Yin and Yang and the Five Phases of matter (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) left their imprint in ideas about, and practices around, the kami from an early date.” (Satoshi, Jun, and Mizue 2).

With the presence of Buddhism and its fast adoption in the country, there was an apparent need to distinguish the differences between original Japanese beliefs and Buddhist teachings. In fact, Shinto was nameless until there was a need to separate it from Buddhism.

Buddhism and Shinto existed together and were up until the end of the Edo period.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century in what was called the beginning of the Meiji era, Shinto was made the state religion of Japan, its rules of morals and the code of honor.

The emperors learned Shinto’s principles and have revived and sharply strengthened the cult of goddess Amaterasu.

Not only in the main temples, but also in each house altar, henceforth there should be a plaque with the name of the goddess, which transformed into a symbol of Japanese nationalism. The revival of Shintoism was accompanied by anti-Buddhist actions, however, Buddhism has appeared resistant enough and has skillfully adapted to the new conditions, and the 1889 decree about the freedom of belief has helped Buddhism to survive and even to keep its influence.

Shinto’s laws laid in the basics of the patriotism and fidelity to the emperor (not to the homeland) and the Japanese Samurais from which during the Second World War the staff of suicides was scooped.

The official Japanese propagation in her nationalist claims leaned on the basis of the ancient Shinto’s myths about the creation of the world, goddess Amaterasu, the emperor, and the country, it is called to create ” Great Asia ” and to unite the world under the authority of Japan and the Japanese emperor, the descendant of goddess Amaterasu.

It was no wonder that for the first half of the twentieth century the influence of Shintoism in the country has sharply increased.

There was a set of new very popular temples in the country, a significant part of which has been devoted to the fallen in the war (especially known generals), who was by the Shinto’s tradition, considered as godlike heroes, whose death for the Emperor cleared them from all lifetime sins and even crimes. In looking back we can see that with the introduction of mass education, industrialization, and foreign wars, Japanese nationalism began to present itself as a powerful force in society.

The massive popularization of education and conscription served as a possible new standard to teach the new generation the idea of Japan as a whole country and nation instead of identifying it as a feudal domain. In such a manner the loyalty to the state was achieved.

The strong emphasis on the industry awoke in the Japanese people the sense of competition with the West.

The government has declared, that henceforth Shintoism loses the status of religion and becomes a cult of a national patriotism within the limits of which the ritual of reverence of the emperor and his divine ancestors, which was executed in Shinto’s sanctuaries, began to be considered as a civil duty of all citizens of the country; for example, schoolboys should visit Shinto’s sanctuaries and give there “tribute” to divine founders of Japan.

Many Shinto sanctuaries and clerics openly received grants from the state.

Special law that forbidden at school the sermon of any religions (such as the Buddhism and Christianity), however, an obligatory subject have been entered under the name ” national ethics ” – a mix of Shinto’s and Confucian’s ideas, that proved the sacred character of Japanese people and the state that they have been brought into the Kami world, and as the main ethical precept of each Japanese was to express faithful feelings to the emperor and to the government of the country.

Along with the rise of Japanese nationalism, which paralleled the growth of nationalism in the West, came the growth of ultra-nationalism.

It was apparent for a moment that with industrialization and westernization something purely Japanese from the religious aspect was missed.

Throughout the Meiji period, many nationalists stood against this westernization, but in the years after the First World War, criticism of Japanese ambitions changed the direction of the nationalist movement in Japan.

The above-mentioned ideology promoted the union and the mobilization of the Japanese population while preparing and during the second world war. In the foreground of all of this ideological campaign was Shintoism, however, in support of nationalistic and militaristic aspirations, Buddhism and even Japanese Christianity acted along in characteristic unity with Shintoism.

The military mood of the Japanese Empire was at its peak, this was the apparent result of the propaganda which was based on Shinto’s teachings. The self-sacrifice of the Japanese pilots was marked even by Americans against whom the attacks were actually directed. National patriotism in Japan is strong, and it was even stronger down to the end of the Second World War. Japanese patriotism is characterized by full unanimity. In particular, there are no documents on any Japanese dissidents, who would have been accused of sending the Japanese armies to China or for the attack of the American military base in Pearl Harbor in 1941.

In this sense, it is possible to speak about national support of the Japanese military doctrine in Japan. Many Japanese understand patriotism as absolute loyalty to the Emperor. The authority of the Emperor was firm for centuries. In particular, Emperor Hirohito, even having lost the largest war in the history of mankind, has been kept not only his life and freedom, but also the formal position, and a dynasty of emperors continues existence. The Japanese patriotism was in full conformity with the cult of service and Shinto’s ideals. Therefore the secret service of Japan was not expensive for the Empire. To serve ideals, instead of money, apparently was rather favorable to the state. For Japan, the road to war began with the imperial ambitions which were brought to life and popularized through the country by the teachings of Shintoism. The military affected civilian life by mixing religion with national identity and ambition.

The teachings of Shinto gave major inspirations for the Japanese in the battle.” It was Shinto that fostered Japan’s feverish nationalism. It was Shinto that inspired Article I of Japan’s constitution, which said: “The Empire of Japan shall be reigned over and governed by a line of Emperors unbroken for ages eternal,” and Article III, which said: “The Emperor is sacred and inviolable.” It was Shinto that taught Japanese law students: “Subjects have no mind apart from the will of the Emperor.” Shinto taught Japanese Army privates: “Those who, with the words ‘Tenno Heika Banzai!’ (May the Emperor live forever!) on their lips, have consummated a tragic death in battle, whether they are good or whether they are bad, are thereby sanctified.” (Shinto (Way of the Gods)).

Another side of Shintoism is its delivery to the Japanese people a perfectionist view of the community. The all-for-one and one for all mindset along with the social responsibility are evident in Japan. The land and the people of Japan are considered sacred by Shintoists.

The Japanese feel and sense of destiny as they consider the islands of Japan and its people descended from the gods and chosen by them to rule the earth.

This idea reached the extreme borders of fundamentalism in Kamikaze – “the term was used for a Japanese suicide air force composed of fliers who crashed their bomb-laden planes into their targets, usually ships.

The kamikaze was first used extensively at Leyte Gulf and was especially active at Okinawa.” (“Kamikaze”).

After the Second World War, it seemed that Shintoism took another direction of evolution. Japan’s loss in World War II put an end to State Shinto. In the post-war period, various New Religions appeared, many of them were based on Shinto, but in general, we can say that Japanese religiosity might have decreased, and it can be said that Japan’s loss in the world war has been of the main reasons for that. After the war, Shinto has, for the most part, existed with less importance based on mythology or the divinity of the Imperial family.

The shrines started to focus on helping people gain better fortunes and became more of a social aspect of life in contrast to the pre-war nationalistic mood. Post-war, the number of Japanese citizens who can identify their religion as Shinto has decreased, though the main practice of Shinto rituals has not decreased accordingly, and many practices have stayed as general cultural beliefs and focused more on religious practices ideology. The reason for that might have been that the Shinto religion in its origins has been focused on that direction and the emphasis of the ideology and nationalism came after separating the Shinto teachings from Buddhism. From December, 15th 1945 the state religion has been canceled by the instruction of the supreme commander in chief of forces of allies and in Japan, the period of occupation had started.

Shintoism has turned into one of many religions and could count only on the voluntary support of the population.

On January, 1st 1946 an Imperial order has been published in which the emperor renounced his divine origin and declared, that the relations between the throne and people are based exclusively upon mutual trust and love. The Shintoism state has departed in the past, but nationalist ideas of «the sacred ground «and» the sacred nation ” have not disappeared, but only have changed. In the mass form of Shintoism, it is reduced to customs and norms of behavior.

Conclusion

In general, we can see that the connection of religion with political situations in the world as a whole and in Japan, in particular, is more of a need for spiritual assistance in life. The government in Japan’s empire used the religious teachings and transformed them from their initial form to fulfill their imperial ambitions. The use of patriotism and nationalism may have its benefits in the form of raising living standards and achieving leading positions in various aspects of the modern world while maintaining the basic instincts of morality. Nevertheless, the focus on militarism as proof of superiority in the world has given examples in history as a total failure although we can see that as a stimulant the religion was working perfectly for the population. The ideology that raised the warrior spirit in the armed forces of Japan moved the warrior privilege of certain groups in Japan to the masses. Every citizen of the Japanese Empire became a warrior and that if not a total success, was a distinctive historical victory. A victory of ideology that proved that vanity can move nations and start wars.

Works Cited

“Shinto (Way of the Gods)”. Globalsecurity. 2006. Web.

“Kamikaze,” The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed., Questia, 2008. Web.

Satoshi, Endo Jun, and Mori Mizue, Shinto, a Short History, ed. Inoue Nobutaka (New York: Routledge Curzon, 2003) 159.

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Shintoism and World War II in Japan

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