The Shrine Consolidation Policy (''Jinja seirei'', also ''Jinja gōshi'', ''Jinja gappei'') was an effort by the

Government of Meiji Japan The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji oli ...

to abolish numerous smaller

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 ...

shrines and consolidate their functions with larger regional shrines. In 1900, the Shrine Bureau (''Jinja kyoku'') was created as a branch of the Home Ministry, and it was this organ that was responsible for the implementation of the policy. The aim of the policy was to reduce the political influence of Shinto, bringing the remaining shrines under government jurisdiction and making them easier to control. Within the first twenty years of the policy, 77,899 Shinto shrines were closed, despite considerable local opposition. The policy remained in effect until the end of

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 ...

, although its greatest impact occurred in the first six years after its implementation in 1906; by 1912, the rate at which shrines were closed had fallen considerably.

References

Meiji period Politics of the Empire of Japan Shinto shrines {{Shinto-stub