Japanese Shrine Mergers 1906-12: State Shinto Moves to the GrassrootsWilbur M. Fridell
Monographs (1973) pp. 1–142
Confronted with domestic unrest following the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5), Japanese state authorities sought through a variety of socio-ideological agencies to buttress national unity and governmental administration down to the village level. This book describes that facet of the national effort which had to do with Shinto shrines. officials of the national Bureau of Shrines attempted, by massive mergers, to consolidate the many hamlet shrines according to a policy of ‘one shrine per (administrative) village.’ The professed purpose behind this movement was to reinvigorate the shrines and ‘deepen the people’s spirit of reverence’. Actually, the intent went much beyond this to such politically inspired objectives as the generation of emperor-centered patriotism, support for familial socio-ethical patterns, and the strengthening of town and village administration.
1973. xiii + 142 pages.
Hardback ¥2,000/$20.00/€20.00.