Required every household to be affiliated with a particular Buddhist temple. Into the feudal administrative institution known as danka seido, a system that Religious organizations in the interests of the state.' The Feudal System and Religionĭuring the Tokugawa period (1600-1868), Japanese Buddhism was formally incorporated World War II, the basic principle of government religious policy was to supervise As Kawawata (1996, 199) puts it, 'Fromħ01, when the law of the land was first codified, until 1945 the end of Religious history in Japan has been characterized by a variety of forms ofĪssociation with the government, which has traditionally used religious bodies Historical Relations between Church and State The exception of opposition from certain religious minorities. As aĬonsequence, threats to religious freedom have rarely met with resistance, with Other factors inhibiting the maturation of a culture of religious liberty areĪn atmosphere of religious apathy, a general lack of respect for human rights,Ī tradition of social authoritarianism, the absence of a truly independent judiciaryĪnd, in recent years, an officially-sanctioned intolerance of religion. In the words of Metraux (1997, 217), 'Americans haveĪ long tradition of the separation of the two entities, but that distinction,ĭespite the postwar constitution, does not exist in the Japanese cultural mind.'

Instead, the usual pattern of Japanese history has been for governments Such as the United States tend to take for granted, has no parallel in Japanese The principle of the separation between church and state, which Western countries Religious liberty-is still very much in its infancy. In the economic arena, however, Japan's culture of civil liberty-particularly In marked contrast to the rapid development it has enjoyed Since mid-century, Japan has grown to become one of the most highly industrializedĬountries in the world. Religious Freedom Problems in Japan: Background and Current Prospects - Tokihisa Sumimoto The International Journal for Peace StudiesīACKGROUND AND CURRENT PROSPECTS Tokihisa Sumimoto Introduction

Japanese feudalism chart