The Shinto Directive was an order issued in 1945BBC
/ref> to the Japanese government by Occupation authorities to abolish state support for the

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

religion. This unofficial "

State Shinto was Imperial Japan's ideological use of the Japanese folk religion and traditions of Shinto. The state exercised control of shrine finances and training regimes for priests to strongly encourage Shinto practices that emphasized the Emperor as ...

" was thought by

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

to have been a major contributor to Japan's nationalistic and

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

culture that led to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The purpose of the directive was ostensibly based in ideas of

freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...

and

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

History

After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, it was generally understood by Allied students of

Japanese culture The culture of Japan has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world. Historical overview The ance ...

and religion that

in the form it took leading up to and during the war was social

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

and was used as a tool of ultra-

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

and a disguise for

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

. However, even though this support of Shinto was defined as non-religious propaganda, in the Allied schools it was being taught as religious in nature. Thus, it was US policy regarding post-surrender Japan to abolish "

," which was not and never had been a formal Imperial policy. The directive, SCAPIN 448, was drafted by the US military's expert on Japanese culture and religion, Lieutenant William K. Bunce, U.S.N.R. and was issued on December 15, 1945, with the full title of "Abolition of Governmental Sponsorship, Support, Perpetuation, Control, and Dissemination of State Shinto (''Kokka Shinto'', ''Jinja Shinto'')". There were two translations given for the term "State Shinto": the first ("Kokka Shinto") was a neologism, and the second ("Jinja Shinto") referred to

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

s, which up until 1945 had been secular wards of the state. According to the directive, State Shinto was to be stripped of public support and of its "ultra-nationalistic and militaristic" trappings. With the severing of its traditional state patronage, the Shinto establishment required privatization, and to that end any Shinto entity that had been dependent on public funding but not actually part of the secular administrative structure was to be assimilated either into what the directive calls "Sect Shinto" with no special privileges above the other popular faiths, or to be reformed, with conditions stipulating complete and permanent loss of government support, as "Shrine Shinto," which was to be supported by voluntary private donation only. No public funds whatsoever could therefore be used to support Shinto

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

s or priests in any manner, nor any other entities that were at all associated with the Shinto religion. Public officials whose duties were in any way directly connected to Shinto religion were immediately to be terminated from office and their positions extinguished. Under the directive, Japan's Emperor could no longer report on public matters to his ancestors in official visits to the shrines. Instead, he was permitted to worship only non-officially and as a private individual, as were all government officials permitted to do. Any educational material considered to convey "Shinto doctrine" was to be categorically censored out of school textbooks, along with any content that at all suggested any positive effects of or justification for any of Japan's military actions in past wars. Public officials alike were forbidden any mention of anything that could be construed as being in any way religious, let alone Shinto, while performing duties in their official capacities. This was meant to stop the propagation of supposed "militaristic and ultra-nationalistic ideology" in particular, which was especially proscribed if conveyed in connection with Shinto or any other creed. These three alleged doctrines were specifically banned: (1) that the Emperor is superior to other rulers because he is descended of the

sun goddess A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The ...

Amaterasu Amaterasu, also known as Amaterasu Ōmikami () or Ōhirume no Muchi no Kami (), is the goddess of the sun in Japanese mythology. One of the major deities (''kami'') of Shinto, she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the ''Kojik ...

; (2) that the Japanese people are inherently superior to other peoples by their special ancestry or heritage, or (3) that the Japanese islands are spiritually superior to other lands, being specially blessed by the

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...

. As a result of the directive, a stream of instructions from the government was issued covering a wide range of prohibitions concerning Japanese culture and rites. Pupils at state schools and children of pre-school age were prohibited from being taken on field trips to religious institutions; local town committees were prohibited from fundraising for shrines; groundbreaking (''jichinsai'') and roof-raising

rite Rite may refer to: * Ritual, an established ceremonious act * Rite of passage, a ceremonious act associated with social transition Religion * Rite (Christianity), a sacred ritual or liturgical tradition in various Christian denominations * Cath ...

s (''jōtōsai'') were not to be performed for public buildings; state and public bodies were prohibited from conducting funerals and rites of propitiation for the war dead; and the removal and/or erection of commemorative sites to the war dead were regulated by the directive. However, the directive was lenient towards imperial court rites. Initially, the directive was rigidly applied. This led to numerous complaints and grievances from local people. In 1949, halfway through the occupation, the directive came to be applied with greater discretion. Typical of this leniency was the approval granted to state funerals which entailed religious rites, such as those of

Tsuneo Matsudaira was a Japanese diplomat of the 20th century. Diplomatic and political career The son of Lord Matsudaira Katamori of Aizu, Tsuneo served as Japanese Ambassador to the United States. In 1929–1935 served as Ambassador to Britain, and in that ...

of the

Upper House An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

(Shintō-style) and of

Kijūrō Shidehara Baron was a pre–World War II Japanese diplomat and politician. He was Prime Minister of Japan from 1945 to 1946 and a leading proponent of pacifism in Japan before and after World War II. He was the last Japanese Prime Minister who was a mem ...

of the

Lower House A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

(

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

Legacy

The Directive had a dramatic impact on

postwar Japan Post-occupation Japan is the period in postwar Japanese history which started when the Allied occupation of Japan ended in 1952 and lasted to the end of the Showa era in 1989. Despite the massive devastation it suffered in the Second World War, ...

ese policy. Although it was only enforced by the GHQ, many of the changes it made became a part of a revised postwar legal interpretation of

separation of religion and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

. The only notable reversion, besides the Occupation-era approval of state funerals, was a 1965 Supreme Court decision approving of jichinsai (a ritual to purify the land before construction) and jōtōsai (a flag-raising ritual) for public buildings. Shinto remains one of the most popular religions in Japan; and is tied to nationalism in Japan. Political parties like the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) seek to reinstate Shinto as the state religion. The LDP has passed key initiatives to do so like restoring National Foundation Day and the Reign-Name Law. Former Prime Ministers

Koizumi Junichiro Junichiro Koizumi (; , ''Koizumi Jun'ichirō'' ; born 8 January 1942) is a former Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2009. He is ...

and Nakasone Yasuhiro visited

Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Emperor Meiji in June 1869 and commemorates those who died in service of Japan, from the Boshin War of 1868–1869, to the two Sino-Japanese Wars, 1894–1895 and 1937–1945 resp ...

during their time as Prime Ministers. This upset Chinese and Korean officials who regarded these visits as the Japanese government neglecting its war responsibility. Prime Minister Nakasone discontinued his visits after these criticisms, but Prime Minister Koizumi continued his visits to Yasukuni Shrine. Prime Minister Koizumi stated that foreigners should not influence Japanese domestic affairs. In 2006, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo pushed the revision of the Fundamental Law of Education to promote patriotism in classrooms which was tied to Shintoism. Former

Emperor Akihito is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 7 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. He presided over the Heisei era, ''Heisei'' being an expression of achieving peace worldwide. Bo ...

stated that he preferred patriotism to not be coerced. The reinstitution of Shinto as a state religion is a source of contention; a prime example is

. Yasukuni has come under recent controversy because of its inclusion of Class-A war criminals. Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto memorial to the war dead of Japan, this includes conscripted non-Japanese soldiers. The enshrinement of the war dead gave meaning to their deaths, creating a national consciousness of community in Japan. Yasukuni Shrine celebrates soldiers who died in Japan's wars since the

Taiwan Expedition of 1874 The Japanese punitive expedition to Taiwan in 1874, referred to in Japan as the and in Taiwan and Mainland China as the Mudan incident (), was a punitive expedition launched by the Japanese in retaliation for the murder of 54 Ryukyuan sailo ...

and the end of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

in 1945. Shinto celebrates the dead soldiers as glorious spirits who died for the glory of Japan, this celebration continues today. Soldiers enshrined at Yasukuni are venerated for their sacrifice, which according to Yasukuni was their attempted liberation of Asia from Western imperialism. Yasukuni Shrine does not acknowledge Japan's involvement in the Pacific War as an act of aggression. Yasukuni Shrine is an important symbol of the Shinto religion and their stance has raised concerns among the affected nations of Japan's imperialism during the Pacific War. Shinto is seen as a Japanese essence, the fight to maintain it at the forefront is claimed to be a protection of Japanese culture. The renationalization of Yasukuni Shrine remains an ongoing issue. An event related to the Shinto Directive was an Imperial Rescript issued on January 1, 1946, in the name of

Emperor Shōwa Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

, claiming the Emperor was no god, but a person enjoying good relations with the public.Imperial Rescript Renouncing Divinity
/ref>

References

{{Authority control Occupied Japan Shinto in Japan Japanese governmental reforms 1945 in Japan 1945 in religion 1945 in law History of Shinto State Shinto

History

Legacy

See also

References