근대 일본불교의 군국주의 -니치렌주의(日蓮主義)를 중심으로-1)

Abstract

This thesis is a study on the relation between militarism and Nichirensyugi that modernly interprets the lesson of Nichiren who is the most unique in great masters of medieval Japanese Buddhism. After the feudalism was broken down, the modern Japan in the form of autocracy was facing the period of social chaos like conflicts between tradition and modernization, and capitalization. In the national system with the pinnacle of Japanese emperor, the nationalistic and exclusive national character is formed such as the military and civilian unity, patriotism, and rejection of foreign religions through Kokutairon. Especially, when the nationalism reaches the climax by Japan’s victory in the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War based on its policy of national prosperity and defense, the Nichirensyugi by Tanak Chigaku and Honda Nisshyō gets the limelight. The Nichirensyugi and militarism show the two major characteristics. First, it is the Japan-centrism. Focusing on the Japanese emperor who is a descendant of God, Japan should become the central nation of the world in the imperialism. According to Tanak, the Japanese emperor has the same root with Amaterasu Ōmikami who is the ancestral god of the emperor’s family, Buddha, and Chakravartin, and Japan has a mission to spiritually unify the world. His statements and Kokutyūkai that he organized had huge influences on social thinkers, soldiers, and politicians. And even in the 1940s, the soldiers like Ishihra Kanji argue that the world should be unified focusing on Japan through the final war, and the Japanese emperor who is the emperor god should become the emperor of the world. This Nichirensyugi has largely two limitations. First, it is the lameness of Hōkokumyōgō meaning the unity of church and state, and the limitation of nationalism based on the emperor worship. It denies Nichiren’s lesson in which the pains of mankind should be removed through Buddhism. Next, the Shakubuku that correctly teaches and leads the heart of wicked persons, is applied to the inhumane method like war. It completely denies the Buddhist lesson of no destruction of life. Such a miserable result could happen like this when a religion is voluntarily controlled by a state, Today, the Nichirensyugi should be reviewed once again because it is the matter of how a religion take the middle course in the relation with state. Especially, considering the reality in which the Nichiren-like religion participates in politics, there should be realistic analysis and introspection on the past.