No. 10 Building, Room 653

JS751 RELIGION AND MODERN JAPANESE SOCIETY
Instructor: Mark R. Mullins
Autumn 2009
Office Hours: Monday, 2:00-3:00 (other times by appointment)
No. 10 Building, Room 653 E-mail: [email protected]
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This seminar will focus on the topic of neo-nationalism and religion in contemporary
Japanese society. Recent decades have seen a rise in religious nationalism around the
world, particularly in connection with various fundamentalist movements. Although
studies of fundamentalism usually focus on social forms related to Christianity and Islam,
there are also versions that have appeared in the context of East Asian religious traditions.
Some scholars look to the New Religions for Japanese examples of religious phenomena
that bear a “family resemblance” to fundamentalism (SØka Gakkai, and, more recently,
KenshØkai, for example). Other scholars have suggested that the Association of Shinto
Shrines (Jinja HonchØ) and affiliated socio-political movements, such as ShintØ Seiji
Renmei, SeikyØ Kankei o Tadasu-kai, Nippon Kaigi, and more recently, Atarashii rekishi
kyØkasho o tsukuru kai, represent a diffuse Japanese expression of fundamentalism in the
postwar period. These movements collectively seek to recover the public role of Shinto—
disestablished by the Occupation reforms—and restore the social order and values
expressed in the Emperor-centered State Shinto of wartime Japan. The “restoration”
efforts include the movement to re-nationalize Yasukuni Shrine, attempts to legitimize
“official” visits to Yasukuni by government representatives (kØshiki sanpai), the
movement to revise the postwar Constitution (particularly Articles 9, 20, and 89), and
various strategies to reform the public school system through the inclusion of “moral”
and “patriotic” education and revision of the Fundamental Education Law (KyØiku Kihon
HØ). These neo-nationalist initiatives have generated considerable conflict and debate
over a range of religion-state issues. This seminar will review the efforts to revitalize
Japanese civil religion and consider the critical opposition that has emerged from both
religious (Buddhist and Christian) and secular individuals and groups. The topics and
readings covered may be adjusted according to the background and research interests of
the enrolled students.
REQUIREMENTS
Students will be expected to make regular seminar presentations on the assigned readings
and prepare a final paper (15 pages) that addresses one of the religion-state issues or
some aspect of neo-nationalism in contemporary Japanese religion and society. Topics for
the final paper must be approved in advance by the instructor.
TEXTS AND READINGS
Readings from a variety of English and Japanese sources will be assigned over the course
of the semester, including selections from:
John Breen, ed. Yasukuni, the War Dead and the Struggle for Japan’s Past. New
York: Columbia University Press, 2008.
Helen Hardacre, Shinto and the State, 1868-1988. Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1989.
菱木正晴『市民的自由の危機と宗教−憲法、靖国神社、政教分離』白擇社,
2007.
井門富二夫編『占領と日本宗教』未来社, 1993.
Mark R. Mullins, Shimazono Susumu, and Paul L. Swanson, eds. Religion and
Society in Modern Japan. Berkeley, CA: Asian Humanities Press, 1993.
村上重良『国家神道』岩波書店, 1970.
日本カトリック司教協議会社会司教委員会・編『信教の自由と政教分離』
東京カトリック中央協議会, 2007.
西山俊彦『靖国合祀取り消し訴訟の中間報告−信教の自由の回復を求め
て』サンパウロ, 2006.
Franziska Seraphim, War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945-2005.
Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2006.
Shimazono Susumu. “State Shinto and Religion in Post-War Japan.” In James A.
Beckford and N.J. Demerath III, eds. The Sage Handbook of the Sociology of Religion.
London: Sage Publications, 2007.
島薗進『ポストモダンの新宗教ー現代日本の精神状況の底流』東京堂,
2001.
高橋哲哉『靖国問題』ちくま新書, 2005.
高橋哲哉『教育と国家』講談社現代新書, 2004.
高森明勅編『日本人なら知っておきたい靖国問題』青林堂, 2007.
*A detail syllabus and list of readings will be distributed at the beginning of the semester.