Austin Lanphear Professor George History of Modern Japan 11 October 2020 Modern Society, Divine Rule During the transition from the Meiji to a more modern society, the government started making sweeping reforms in many areas to modernize Japan to try and become a strong world power like the other European countries. However, their historic ties to the emperor made their reforms quite unique compared to other countries modernizing. The government introduced schools, land taxes, etc; everything a modern society would come to have. But, their focus of divine rule set Japan apart. The government still ran with courts, councils, ministers, diet, and so on. But the emperor was at the top of the government and had monarchist powers. Japan’s government made completely sure to ensure that the emperor and his power were not questioned and started to teach early on in school and in state Shintoism to essentially worship the emperor. This largely worked an shown in books such as Kokoro, the small details within the text reveal how much devotion the general population had to the emperor. Although not the focus of the text, signs were clearly there. This however later would become a problem shown in WWII with Japan’s rapid expansionist tendencies leading to their downfall in the end with soldiers sacrificing their lives in the name of the emperor. Their feverish devotion to protect and serve the emperor because of his god-like status shows a huge issue that Japan once had during the Meiji to 1940s period. The article “State Shinto in the Lives of the People” by Shimazono Susumu and Regan E. Murphy describe these issues in detail. “’Look, there’s more news of His Majesty today.’ He always referred to the Emperor and ‘His Majesty’... ‘But I am sure His Majesty will be all right,’ my father said. ‘Why, if a worthless fellow like me can be up and about like this...’” [1]. A minor dialog scene from the book Kokori shows the public’s general devotion to their emperor at the time. In the book the emperor has fell into an illness and the author’s father is more concerned with the emperor’s health than his own. Although not surprising or amazing in explicit content, this subtle detail shows a lot of cultural undertones of state Shintoism and worship; that the author may not have knowingly expressed. The government’s goal of maintaining power and using the emperor as an divine ruler was indeed working, as expressed by the father’s grievance to the Emperor, to even wish more harm on himself in order to protect the Emperor; akin to how religious figures are worshipped and feared. According to Susumu this is exactly what how the government planned the populous to react, “The Meiji reformers believed that they were establishing an ideal nation in which the people and the sacred emperor maintained a spiritual union, and where the emperor himself performed rituals for the gods and ruled under the protection of the spirits of historical emperors and the progenitor Amaterasu." [2]. The tactic was essentially built up the emperor to a godlike status so high up government actions could not be questioned. So what Kokoro and “State Shinto in the Lives of the People” both confirm the government’s effect of “divine rule”, to ensure the population has complete devotion to the emperor and build Japan’s identity as a strong united nation. 1. Natsume Sō seki, “Kokoro”, 45 2. Susumu Shimazono, "State Shinto in the Lives of the People", 99-100 But how did the government build this public opinion of the emperor so highly, the Emperor has always had cultural significance but not to this level. Again, Susumu describes in his article how the state used Shintoism to mold public opinion. “[T]hree main traits: the treatment of shrines as national institutions separate from religion, the consolidation of palace rituals, and the reorganization of all shrines around, ” [1] essentially “modernizing” Shintoism into a national institution “separate” from religion so it is to be seen as true and not to be questioned. Meaning if someone was born into the society at this time period, they’d be taught that these values are truths of life. That the emperor is a godly being and that Japan is a divine nation. Once said child grows up those ideas become their life truth and any dissent is harshly pushed back. Even self harm is common in thoughts of such extreme devotion. Again in Kokoro the author describes, “It was two or three days later that I decided at last to commit suicide. Perhaps you will not understand clearly why I am about to die, no more than I can fully understand why General Nogi killed himself. You and I belong to different eras, and so we think differently.” [2] General Nogi being a higher up general in the military who committed suicide after hearing of the Emperor’s death. Knowing this, it isn’t far fetched to believe that extreme measures would be taken to quell any dissent towards the Emperor or the nation itself even from the population itself, never mind the military. Since after decades it became the self-identity of the Japanese people, one that would eventually be their undoing as described by Susumu, “State Shinto as having controlled Japanese people spiritually over an eighty-year period from the very start of the Meiji Restoration through the defeat of Japan in World War II” [3] 1. Susumu Shimazono, "State Shinto in the Lives of the People", 95 2. Natsume Sō seki, “Kokoro”, 109 3. Susumu Shimazono, "State Shinto in the Lives of the People", 96 So why did the government choose this path of modern yet divine rule? It was because the existing beliefs of a divine emperor already existed in Japan, and “weaponizing” it for a lack of better words was a fast and efficient way of quickly modernizing without much dissent. Japan saw how other countries were being colonized by larger European powers so they had to act quick, but any large sweeping reforms caused rebellions and slowed the progress they wished to have. And since a government body was made of “flawed” individuals rather than a “flawless” deity, they needed “divine rule” to take the dissent away. “During the Meiji Restoration, the aim of embodying the idea of the nation through popular reverence for the emperor intensified. Although terms such as ‘Great Teaching’ and ‘Imperial Way’ were used, they refer to a system that had largely the same content as State Shinto” [1] so they “modernized” Shintoism; Japan’s most common religions to use it to their advantage in order to push any changes as “divine rule”. As Shintoism has it, the Emperor comes from the sun goddess Amaterasu who gave the Emperor the “divine right to rule”, so what the Emperor’s desires are what become true. Pair that with the belief of Japan’s divine rights to rule because of Amaterasu and problems will surely arrive with time. [1] Susumu Shimazono, "State Shinto in the Lives of the People", 100 Bibliography: [1] Natsume Sō seki, and Edwin McClellan. Kokoro. Kansas: Digireads.com Publishing, 2013. [2] Susumu, Shimazono, 島茴進, and Regan E. Murphy. "State Shinto in the Lives of the People: The Establishment of Emperor Worship, Modern Nationalism, and Shrine Shinto in Late Meiji." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 36, no. 1 (2009): 93-124. Accessed October 15, 2020. http://www.jstor.org.uri.idm.oclc.org/stable/30233855.
