US Occupation Policy on Shinto in Postliberation Korea and Occupied Japan

Abstract

This study examines the US occupation policy for Shinto shrines in postwar Japan and Korea, where the Japanese colonial government and settlers left more than 1000 shrines. For this reason, how to deal with the local shrines was a common policy concern in the two occupied countries placed under the same command of General Douglas MacArthur, appointed as the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP). By tracing Shinto policy in the two occupied zones, this chapter shows that there was a stark contrast between the two policies. In Japan, SCAP aimed at disestablishing Shinto as a state religion, but preserved shrines as religious sites. In Korea, the US occupation forces did not regard Shinto as a religion and ordered all shrines to be closed and confiscated the property despite the SCAP’s concern that abolishing shrines could violate the freedom of religion. This chapter argues that this policy difference eventually led to the formation of different church–state relations in postwar South Korea and Japan.