Meiji Restoration
The Meiji reinterpretation of Shinto
Meiji period painting of Izanagi and Izanami creating Japan, by Kobayashi Eitaku c.1885 ©
The Meiji Restoration in 1868 brought a sudden change in the religious climate of Japan. The aim was to provide a sacred foundation and a religious rationale for the new Japan and its national ethos, and to support the system of central administration.
Shinto was reorganised, completely separated from Buddhism, and brought within the structure of the state administration. Amaterasu, who until then had not been a major divinity, was brought to centre stage and used to validate the role of the Emperor, not only as ruler, but as the high priest of Shinto.
Shinto became the official state religion of Japan, and many shrines were supported by state funding. However, this financial aid was short-lived, and by the 1890s most Shinto shrines were once again supported by those who worshipped at them.
One result of this reformation was that it was no longer acceptable for kami to be identified with Buddhist deities, and a considerable reorganisation of the Japanese pantheon of spirit beings had to take place.
Shrines were cleaned of every trace of Buddhist imagery, apparatus, and ritual, and Buddhist deities lost their godly status. Buddhist priests were stripped of their status, and new Shinto priests were often appointed to shrines with a tacit mission to purify them.
Once again, this zeal for the reformation and purifying of Shinto did not last, and within a few years shrines were cautiously re-incorporating elements from Buddhism or tribal tradition.
Meiji period painting of Jimmu, the first Emperor, by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi c. 1876-1882 ©
Shinto was enthusiastically promoted by Japan's militaristic rulers, who stressed that the emperor was a divine being, directly descended from the gods who had given birth to the Japanese islands.
Shinto became the glue that bound the Japanese people together with a powerful mix of devotion to kami, ancestor-worship, and group loyalty to family and nation.
Shinto's 'non-religious' period
It was during this period that Shinto was declared 'non-religious'. Traditional historians say (rather cynically) that this was done to avoid any conflict between the imposition of Shinto by the Japanese state and the Japanese constitution's guarantee of religious freedom.
In fact it was more subtle than that - Shinto was regarded as inseparable from the 'Imperial Way' and inseparable from the fundamental ethical and social code of Japan. This made Shinto so superior to other religions (which, although of enormous value, were created by human beings) that it counted as non-religious.
In his criticism of popular conceptions of Shinto, historian Kuroda Toshio explains that it has come to be regarded as "the cultural will or energy of the Japanese people, embodied in conventions that precede or transcend religion".