Shinto, Nationalism and the Catholic Church in the Early Showa Era

Abstract

This article discusses the topic of ‘accommodation’ in the Church's policy in mission as it was understood by the Japanese Catholic Church in the early Showa era when ultra nationalism was very influential. The Catholic Church in Japan had rejected participation in the practice of shrine visitation since worshipping at shrines was regarded as a sin, and shrine rites were considered superstition. However, the ‘Sophia University -Yasukuni Shrine Incident’ in 1932 and its aftermath precipitated a shift in the Church's policy. The Vatican's Propaganda Fide issued an instruction Pluries instanterque that not only allowed but also encouraged Catholics to attend the Shinto shrine rites, since ceremonies at shrines, it maintained, had only civil values. With the Vatican decree and also guarantees by the Japanese government stating that offering reverence at shrines had patriotic but in no way religious meaning, shrine visits were seen by the Catholic Church as no more than an act of accommodation. However, this article points out, the problem was that the ‘State Shinto’ was founded on the unique religious authority of the Tenno(Emperor). Expressions of patriotic sentiment by the Church became unavoidably acts of obedience to a living god, the Tenno. Thus, although the Catholic Church in Japan intended to seek ways of accommodating to the Japanese culture, what the Church actually did resulted in accommodation to the demands of Japan's ultra nationalism.