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Chapter 1 Renmonkyō and the Meiji Press
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24 1 Renmonkyō and the Meiji Press On 22 January 1947, poet and children’s story writer Satō Hachirō (1903–1973) wrote an article in his regular column in the newly established Tōkyō Taimuzu on the subject of the new religion Jiu, which had just become embroiled in what the media were calling the “Kanazawa incident.” Police involvement, arrests, and a shadowy figurehead featured in media reports about Jiu. Rather than focusing on the incident itself, Satō traced a clear line that seemed to connect Jiu to new religions since the Meiji period. Satō wrote: “Since the Meiji period, how many new religions do you think have suddenly appeared and then disappeared, or somehow struggled on? (If you’ve got some time on your hands, you should start counting away.) It’s hard to believe but yet another one has just reared its head.” He makes a call to the past when other religious groups became the center of public attention and caused trouble for society. In expressing scorn and incredulity about ephemeral new religions, Satō attempted to educate his readers on how these groups behave and how rational people (by implication, Satō and his readers) should react to them. He was effectively saying that new religions indicated trouble for society, and the roots of the trouble could be located in the past. During the Meiji period, mass-produced newspapers and other print organs became part of the process of “creating a public,” according to James Huffman.1 Cheaply produced papers fed the public a mixed diet of political and social commentary, combined with scandals and moral lessons. The growth of this industry coincided with the broad development of some of the larger new religions, such as Tenrikyō, Maruyamakyō, and Renmonkyō. Satō does not specifically mention Renmonkyō or other new religions of the Meiji period. Yet the concentrated press campaign related to Renmonkyō combined with the reaction from established religious organizations and actions by government authorities in some ways mirrored what happened to new religions that followed. renmonkyō and the meiJi press | 25 According to Janine Sawada, the Renmonkyō case shows “how public moralists of the late nineteenth century used the new religious movements of the time to demarcate their vision of a Japanese religious orthodoxy.”2 The media’s reaction to Renmonkyō became an important part of the formation of orthodoxy in its labeling of the group as an immoral and evil social influence. Confucian discourses on religion and morality played a significant role in the language used. As imperial China’s state ideology and the official faith, Confucianism relegated its rivals to the status of heterodoxy (Ch. yiduan; Jpn. itan), and other faiths had to obtain permission by registering with the state. Nevertheless , powerful organizations, mainly syncretic Buddhist or Daoist groups, did arise from time to time to challenge the status quo. These were labeled “cults” (Ch. xiejiao; Jpn. jakyō), which originally indicated rituals that were considered to be outside the prescribed state rites. They were instrumental in fomenting popular rebellions and change.3 Jakyō was also combined with inshi (literally “shrine of lewdness,” a Confucian moralistic judgment implying sexual immorality and female promiscuity) to form inshi jakyō (“immoral heresy;” sometimes translated as “evil cult”). In Japan inshi jakyō was used in the Tokugawa period to refer to Christianity, Fujikō, and the Nichiren Fuju Fuse sect. James Ketelaar notes that jakyō (which he translates as “heresy”) was “a common word used by everyone in the internecine struggles between Shinto, Confucian , Buddhist, Protestant, and Catholic writers. Again, this separation or distinction between teachings served to define each, in turn, in relation to ‘others’.”4 While the media representations of Renmonkyō and its founder played a crucial role in the growing definitions of religious orthodoxy during the Meiji period, they also contributed to standards of normative behavior for good citizens of society. superstitions and social evils Japan’s social and religious policies underwent dramatic change in 1868. Ideologues who formed the first Meiji government sought to introduce emperor-centered Shinto as the national faith. The Tokugawa-era ban on Christianity continued and the government ordered the separation of Shinto and Buddhism in order to remove Buddhist power within shrines and to elevate Shinto above all other faiths. In effect, the authorities attempted to define the boundaries of acceptable interaction between the public and religious institutions. Strong debate ensued for [44.200.249.42] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 15:37 GMT) 26 | celebrity gods some years over what constituted...