Aiming for a Japan with greater autonomy and to make the constitution ‘ours’, says a banner by Jinja Honcho (source unknown)
This year promises to be crucial for official Shinto, since the nationalists currently in power are determined to steer the country back in the direction of State Shinto. Their efforts centre around revising the postwar constitution, forced on the country by the US according to right-wingers who seek to reinstate the status of the emperor as head (rather than symbol) of the nation.
One can expect a lot of imperial propaganda when the Abe regime legitimises Ise Jingu as the nation’s highest religious institution during the G8 summit in the coming year. The move to bolster imperial authority is accompanied by pressure from Jinja Honcho for closer ties between Shinto and the state, as noted here by scholar Mark Teeuwen:
“New Year — the time a majority of Japanese visit shrines. This year, they were met with a campaign by Jinja Honchô/Nippon Kaigi to support revision of the constitution so as to “restore Japan’s autonomy” — which would also involve a return of shrine ritual to the public sphere. Jinja Honchô is now apparently more open and aggressive about its conservative agenda, shocking quite a few unsuspecting romantics in the process.”
A form for shrine visitors to fill in stating that they agree with the proposal to reform the constitution (photo source unknown)
Wanted (says this shrine poster): 10 million people who agree with changing the constitution to make a ‘Beautiful Japan’ in the words of prime minister Abe Shinzo (photo source unknown)
This move by Jinja Honchô/Nippon Kaigi is sure to estrange the younger generation, especially the SEALDs, from shinto. There are strong allegations that the revision of the constitution was stipulated by Washington, not unlike the Postwar Constitution had been forced on the country by the US. The Dutch PM, who will be President of the European Union in the first half of 2016, equally had supported the revision. So the situation for shinto might seem hopeless. However, not all Jinja and/or Guji support the political agenda of Jinja Honcho, so the future of shinto will be sustained by unofficial shinto, it seems.
Thank you for the input, Paul. Coming from the first non-Japanese Shinto priest, you have a unique perspective on developments of this kind. Certainly the leanings of official Shinto are at odds with many at the grass roots and overseas. Congratulations by the way on making it 35 years as a practising Shinto ritualist and pioneering the path of European Shinto. (SEALDS incidentally, for those who don’t know, refers to Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy. See http://www.sealds.com/)