Japanese Buddhist War Support and the <em>Kanchō</em> System

Abstract

When Jōdo Shin Buddhist leaders gathered for a conference in early 1941 to formulate their sect’s wartime response, they did so at the bidding of their sect’s <em>kanchō</em>, or administrative head. To explain organizational dynamics that contributed to patterns of war support by Japanese Buddhists, this article details the state’s imposition of a <em>kanchō</em> system of governance on Buddhist organizations from 1884 to 1945. While Buddhist organizations had leeway in determining the selection process, term length, and specific powers of their <em>kanchō</em>, in all cases extraordinary authority was concentrated in a single individual. This article details how the <em>kanchō</em> system was implemented in major Zen, Jōdo Shin, Jōdo, Shingon, Nichiren, and Tendai organizations; examines the pro-war activities of <em>kanchō</em> prior to and during the Fifteen Years’ War period (1931–1945); and uses the case of the 1941 Shin Doctrinal Studies Conference to illustrate how the autocratic <em>kanchō</em> organizational structure amplified a sect’s most pro-war voices.