Religion and Conflict in Japan with Special Reference to Shinto and Yasukuni Shrine

Abstract

Japan today projects an external image in which harmonious coherence provides a basis for technical efficiency and cultural excellence. Indeed there is much justification for this image. At the same time there are significant internal tensions which have a long history. Politics and religion have been intertwined for centuries. Political need has often been a powerful motor for religious developments. For example, the major Buddhist denominations were used to register the population and provide stability during the Tokugawa period (1600-1867). Subsequently, the political modernization of the Meiji Restoration (dating from 1868) set this aside and pushed up a new form of ideologized Shinto as a focus of national consciousness. Looking at it from the other side, religions themselves have often provided identities and loyalties, and therewith a motivation for political conflict. This applies to various forms of Buddhism, to Shinto, and to some of Japan's new religions. Thus while Japanese society in some respects appears to be very coherent, its history has frequently been one of internal tension and strife. Factionalism is strong even today, and takes both political and religious forms.